28mm Coastal Gun

 28mm Coastal Gun

As well as our jungle plant terrain we needed an 8 inch coastal gun (well "need" is a bit strong -we thought it would look authentic if we had one! LOL)  to represent the ones used on the Tarawa atoll.

No one manufactures one that actually looks like the ones on the Tarawa beach so... 

I ended up drawing one in 3d using Tinkercad. Then I would try to 3d print it.

So I draughted out a shape and imported it to the 3d XYZ printer software. It took a while to get the shape...near the actual (and making sure it looked ok at 28mm and strong (thick) enough to  use for gaming).

If you look at a Google search for Tarawa costal guns you will see lots of refence pics...

Its basically a turret gun which the turret has been cut away. Probably due to heat.

An example of an actual gun on Tarawa, some have doors (square doors some half circle at top) some have not. 

There is a slight angle on the front curved face from top to bottom on the original. 

So I need to make it so!

But the print is ok.

The roof and rear of the turret are gone they cut them off.

I then used an 88 gun breach and extended it - the barrel (and diameter). 

The base of the gun chassis was given a magnet to attach to the casement base - to enable easier storage.

I then had to add some filler to get the angle on the front top to bottom. 

My 3d drawing skills were not able to work out the angle on the curve! 

Looks ok when painted up  Most have a small window cut into the side.

Then I added some "vintage WW2" posters and a camouflage net. 

A lot of the actual gun pictures show camo net or cloth material over the firing area. 

I assume they roll it to the side for action stations. But its so big they would need it. 

The radio, table and map were added - I don't know if they will stay as I still need to get the crew inside! The GI figure is just for scale.

and yes ...its a map of Tarawa on the table

Overall it looks ok and can now represent the type of 8 inch gun we need on Tarawa.

  So now I just need to get a crew...

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28mm Jungle Terrain

 28mm Jungle Terrain

For our Pacific beach game I also found a small MDF hut/building. So to enhance it I cut up some bristles from an old paint brush and glued them onto the roof, drilled out some windows and put in some 3d printed shutters, then placed  more bristles on them, printed some chairs and a table...

The flag pole has a magnet on the base for storage.

Some propaganda posters were printed and added. I also raised the original kit onto some stilts to make it look better. Then had to add a ladder.

Above: If you look close enough on the map you might be able to see/guess which island we heading for  lol. Its Tarawa!

 

It turned out ok for a quick conversion of a mdf kit that was just lying around. 

The side widows were added and a window frame 3d printed.

Also see our previous post on the Pacific and our u tube video.

 

28mm Pacific

 28mm Pacific Game part 7

So our  new mats arrived and they look great (from Deep Cut in their mousemat material). So we placed some troops on one just for the photos.... we cannot wait to get a game on it.

 The beach mat is below.... we have two other mats (sea and grass) but I cannot show them as we have no table space big enough - we are not in a large hall yet.

We like the sand trails on the mat. Very effective.
The sea wall sections are still to have sand added to the slope. We didn't know what the sand mat colour would be..so we just waited.

The 3d printed LVT1's look good and clear scenery bases look good (apart from glare of light). The aquarium plants are cut and then hot glued and painted. We are also working on taller palm trees.

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The surf on the mat looks great and matches our wading Marines 

(we plan to game our way to the actual beach on this section of the game).

p.s. we have made up about 100 marine wading figures and about 90 water causality figures, with about another 100 (full body marine figures) for the actual beach. It should look good.

This is unfinished (the sea wall) but I like how the (made of blue foam) sea wall looked after hot wiring and etching.  

Really like the look of the clear bases - these are just punched from A4 plastic sheet.

This is just some of the hand to hand guys we have made for close assaults.

I think the tropical look of the plastic plants, lichen, cork and clump foliage works for our 28mm. These were still to be weathered and highlighted but you can see the effect. 

We will have LVT1's at different depths / heights to match the mat position. Above some Marines climb out.

The beach boys...

We have a few LVT1 s unloading. Marines in the shallower water are waist to knee in it. Others are in it up to chest but will be further from the shore.

 With some of our LVTs exploding - these blend into the mats nicely.

Black and white has a feel all in its own.. 

I also like the undulating sand effect on the mat. Nice mats Deep Cut. We can't wait to play!!

We just need to sort out the rest of the tropical scenery.

28mm Pacific Part 6

 So this is a quick post to let you all know how our 28mm WW2 Pacific game is progressing.

Video link...     https://youtu.be/j_l5PiYoTkk 

                           

   Above : An LVT1 enters the danger zone !

We thought about the mats for the game....our "go too" place is Deep Cut. Their mats are really great. We have used the Cobblestone mouse mats for our Stalingrad game. They just sit really well - very  flat. Really good to look at.  So we have now ordered the "Waterworld" and "Beach" mats (with a little help / donation from Donald -you know who you are!).. We already have a DC grass mat. This means we will have access to three 6 x 4 foot mats to play on. Totalling a play area 12 x 6 foot.

.Below: one of the three Deep Cut mats we will be using.

I can't wait to see these mats and get some figures on them - they look tremendous.

We started also looking for some jungle landscape and foliage. This was quite a quest... most of the ready made commercial kit is expensive and we need a lot. So this lead us down the fish tank root! 

So looking around we found something at the correct height and bought some samples (approx. £5 for a 12 inch sq. grid) for testing..

We bought two sheets of aquarium grass...as you can see from the picture its plastic turfs set onto a mesh grid.

              

The turfs can be pulled out of the grid.  Each turf can then be cut into 4 separate turfs.

                        

After it was cut up we then needed to fix it back to an upright position again. To do this we went back to our clear bases (made from thin (2mm) clear A4 acetate sheets).  We could even just cut larger sections too give a jungle feel but keep a movement for vehicles and troops.. 

The cut up clumps were then hot glued onto the clear bases, then the hot glue painted over with green!

 

We then sourced some "cake decorations" for our Palm Trees - these were the most cost effective ones we could fine. These are also hot glued onto larger free cut bases of varying shapes with the grass clumps added.. 

p.s. the red digestive biscuits in the background are an essential accessory LOL.  

                                    

The scale is ok (28mm figure) but our trees could be slightly larger but being plastic they are very durable and robust. Also we have made lots of additional larger palm trees with pipe cleaners and paper to supplement for the height - see previous posts.  

We even put some bunkers together with thin wooden dowels and hot glue. Then weathered and added some foliage. 

We also 3d printed the typical armoured Japanese pillboxes and added some foliage to blend them -a little. 

With the larger pieces...we made some "gaps" so that troops could be placed in the grass cover/ambush.

The overall effect is cool. But I cannot wait to see these on the DC mats. We can cover about 4x2 foot. with the £25 pounds worth of jungle kit - at this density. So we may need more but I think this is a great alternative to the off the shelf stuff. 

This looks ok even before we paint wash the grass. 

I also had some left over US Marine spare parts but had no torso/bodies....so the green stuff came out. 

Thought we might need a medic!

More pics to follow...

We also order up our "pop up" banner for any shows we will attend...they are pricey (so thanks to The  Learning Zone our sponsor). 

I just ordered ... £24 worth of plastic aquarium plants....and I don't have any fish! and my tank a Sherman! LOL  I will post some pics when they arrive.

As usual if you have any spare US or JAP spare parts (helmets, weapons etc.) and wish to donate them - just PM us at 

Glasgowwarhog@gmail.com

  

28mm WW2 Pacific Part 5

 So this is another part of the US Pacific campaign game - built in the boredom of lockdown. 

I 3d printed another few LVT1's and put some marines around them...p.s see our final game entry (Tarawa Pacific game) on right of the site.

Wading marines were "chopped" to suit the water levels.

Below: The blown up LVT before painting...it was printed at an angle to the back then tilted to the side...green stuff used to fix in place the sticks with white cotton. Then spray painted.

Troops were added but made to look like they were falling backwards...

Black and white picture looks different!

Reminder - if you have any spare 28mm US heads, gear etc please email us if you want to donate them.