Purchases from Vapnartak 2026

Hello there! I made a few purchases from the show. Most of them were to help me out with projects I have on going at the moment.

The Beach Sand is for the desert terrain I am currently working on with the option to use for the beach tiles which will be used for the Aegean scenery which will go with the Aegean Harbour

In the absence of the normal AK weathering powders fixative I chose something that does the same job. This is for the mortar work on the La Belle Alliance building. 

The Normandy scenery I am making has some static grass along with the fine flock. The static grass I am using at the moment is from another supplier but I will need much more to cover the remaining scenic tiles. 

This is a 20mm ancient ruined temple. This was from Coritani and was only a passing buy as it fitted very well with the Aegean and desert terrain.

Lastly a mix of nationalities for Normandy and the desert. In 20mm these are from Ready to Roll, of Rapid Fire fame, and are in resin. On closer inspection I saw that these are very crisp and clean castings.

MAFVA Show 2025

Hello There! I decided to get out of the house for a while and the MAFVA show was about an hours drive away.

I have not been to this show since it was at the Duxford Military Vehicle display and coincided with the book fair.

I was very pleased and surprised to find a much bigger show than I was expecting. Spread across a large sports area and other rooms, including an upstairs area with a bring and buy sale. 

The first club who had their models on display, had a very wide range of desert vehicles which was a good presentation of some lesser known or seen axis vehicles.

The diorama back ground was from a matchbox kit. I like the way the desert round was represented.

This was a partially scratch built and the source vehicle was the matchbox Krupp Protz.

I have a coupe of 'Diana' in my DAK forces. The pictures I have seen include a number on the chassis next to the driver and a small elephant motif on the rear fender

An Sdkfz 254. This was present in the desert and used as a scout car.

An addition to the wide range of German ambulances. I did not see what make or mark this was.

I was told that this is an SHQ model. I have not seen this in their catalogue and it is a large model. I wonder if it is still available from the Grubby tanks list, or where the SHQ range will go when Andy Grubb retires next year?

The fascines on this model appeared to be made of individual lengths of bass broom bristles. The figure was an AB miniature.

Another AVRE made from a combination of an Airfix and Matchbox kit.

There were some lovely Desert Air Force aircraft. The Airfix Kittyhawk was one of the first model kits I ever made.

I would love to learn how to use an airbrush to this level and create a mottled camouflage pattern.

I liked the idea of having a background story to some of the models that were on display. This was a great idea from the Brampton club.

This was a very different idea to use the Airfix tank transporter for!

Here was another combination of desert vehicles, this time using 28mm figures.

I also have a Deacon in 20mm which requires decals and a crew. This photo was to remind me!

This was a very detailed figure and was a change from the normal selection of models that were on display.

Almost hidden away in a side room was a further group of model clubs displays. As I have a proposed project for the Aegean conflict in 1943 I liked seeing this selection of vessels.

The aircraft on the back was so small and well detailed!

And finally a further selection of desert vehicles.

Overall this was a great surprise to see a wide range of suppliers that you do not normally see at wargames shows. Also they were very helpful. I was expecting a much smaller show as I was comparing it to the Duxford show. It was a pleasant surprise! Well worth a visit next year!

Vapnartak Show Spoils

Hello There! Well another quick post with some pictures of new and forthcoming painting work.

First up, I have a few Allied tanks and other vehicles planned for North West Europe. I have done some research into the colours used and after experimenting with a few Vallejo paint mixes and browsing the AK website, I have taken the plunge and bought the above.

The paint sets cover Normandy and Late North Africa with a spare SCC15 as I feel I may need a lot of that!

The weathering powders are for the next group of tanks as after using some other shades on the Waterloo building recently I have decided to try them out on a few other things.

The tufts do make coving figure bases a lot quicker and add to the realism. I have used static grass manually placed into a dab of PVA glue, coconut fibre from a broom, sweet chestnut cases made to look like clumps of flowers and various items from the Woodland Scenics range of products in the past, and still do to add a variation to the foliage seen, but the above do save a lot of time as well. 

Although rather expensive, I also use the range of triad paints from Wargames Foundry. I purchased two different Confederate blues and greys, Prussian blue and a butternut, again for the Confederates.

ABC Brushes were also in attendance and I replaced some brushes previously purchased from them, which only started to give out after a long period of use. 

I also wanted to give the larger white handled brushes a go for dry brushing. I keep hearing reference to borrowing the girlfriends wake up brushes for this so will see how they perform.

Another pack of AB Miniatures, WW II desert Sikh troops. These are the usual very high standard from AB. I also caught a glimpse of Tony Barton on the stand. I was diverted to another stand and did not get back in time before he had departed. Shame as I would have loved to have a chat!

Wargames Foundry WW II desert DAK. I have used a couple of these packs in the past and wanted to recruit a few more German troops. I am still keeping the bulk of my Axis desert forces in the same proportions, nationality wise as the Italians made up to 80% of the Axis forces in that theatre.

And some Italians in the Colonial helmets. These are to go with the Mirleton troops I already have. 

To save getting a phase of the 'OOhhh Shiny@ syndrome I also went to the show with a list of what I needed and had preordered what I really needed to complete existing things and resisted and careless spur of the moment purchase decisions.

The day was very productive and we even left just after one pm after doing everything we wanted to, photographed some games and felt like we had been there a lot longer! 

Odyssey Re Enactment Show 27-08-2023

Hello There! Better late than never! Here are the photos that I took while at the Odyssey show last year. As you can see there was a very wide range of  periods of military history on show and a very high standard of drill and training shown too.

The re enactors had a number of camps which made some nice vignettes and a varied array of uniforms and units. These were from the Southern Skirmish Association which includes troops from both sides.

It was nice for the groups to make such an effort and was much appreciated. I have some camp sets for the ACW from a number of suppliers which I now have some incentive to put together!

Yet again there was a vast variation in the colour and shade of 'Union trousers' Although re enactors may not be the best source material for such things it is clear that there is no 'single' shade and that over time the blue fades faster than the green part of the dye mix and so can have a greenish hue. I add a small amount of Vallejo 'Green Sky' which works very well.

The Sharpshooter was a welcome surprise as well.

There were a big variation in under shirt and shirts as well. You could almost use any colour you wanted! However the drab and more muted beiges and greys are obviously in the majority.

The positions of soldier who were on picket duty was also interesting. Almost like 1:1 scale skimish!

These officers were having a chat while we browsed through the camp.

The Confederate camp was helpful as well, as the stacked firearms provided a useful picture for that camp set I mentioned earlier.

Something that you do not get to see much, unworn equipment.

Seeing the variation in colours of equipment is something I should perhaps start on my Confederates?

Not too sure about the artillery. I had to shout all the time so they could hear me and answer my questions!

An officer of the Royal Horse Guard, The Blues. Very tall and imposing figure!

The incredible amount of detail in small items, such as motor bikes and side cars are a real challenge for the modeller. As you can see on this full size vehicle all the things that can be carried!

The variations in shade of uniform items, in the command group is plain. Lovely to see a large turnout for the DAK.

Again another smaller vehicle and this has been well recreated. Not sure if it is an original but looks very good.

More shades of the 'same'. Looks like I painted some of my DAK this shade too!

This looks very short in the nose to be a Kublewagen?

I took this photo, not only because of the detail on the motorcycle and side car but also the camo pattern in the background.

There was also a large contingent of Italian troops for the desert as well! A big surprise! As I had an Italian Uncle who was captured in Operation Compass, its good to see what he would have looked like then.

In the Italian forces there is also a wide variation in uniform shades.

To actually see all this equipment up close and have the re enactors be very happy to explain things to you. there was plenty of opportunity to to handle the firearms under supervision.

This Horch did look original but there was no one around to talk to about it. It was a very hot day so is understandable that people wanted to have a break.

The arena, staged fight, was well put together. You can never get enough space to put these on realistically, preserve safety for the public and be close enough to get a good view. 

The main reason I photograph these staged fights is that you can get pictures of actors in the sort of poses that you can get your figures in. then you can hack them around to make them a bit different so making your figures a little more unique.

This marder did appear to be original.

While this was explained to us that this Stug was a British '432' which had a new superstructure fitted to it. The group charge for this service but I cannot remember how much. It was less than £20,000.

This reminded me of the French quad 13.7mm AA gun I placed on the back of a truck, for my FFL Bir Hacheim figures.

This was a surprise to see, especially as I bought a copy of his book recently.

An odd, top heavy looking hybrid. I was more interested in the sand/dust shields on the front of the tracks as I had made some out of brass sheet for the desert carriers I have.

There always seems to be one of these at every show I go to! It maybe the same one?!. This one had rounded corners at the rear which does denote one of the makes that were used during the war. I do not have the book to hand to tell me which one!

I always remember making the ESCI version of the scout car/ I may even still have it in the loft!

The span of military history covered was all the way back to ancients. In the arena the display was very informative and well presented. This group was 'The Hoplite Association' and is the first of its kind in the World, according to the event programme.

Although there were no more than a dozen re enactors here they could show the effects of the large round shields and how they overlapped in formation.

The Diehard Company, is a Victorian Military Society which had a good display which included firing, a small artillery piece and plenty of bayonet drill.

The artillery was an original 1860's Whitworth piece.

I like to be able to give the impression of just how much smoke these firearms generate. This was only a single line. I vaguely remember that that smokeless powder was not available until the 1890's?

And all actually in the same step!

Overall this was a very enjoyable day out and not too far to drive. There was plenty to see and I have excluded the ACW fire fight as this was similar to the one at Stoneham Barns earlier in the year.