Tuesday 7 December 2010

The Train, Boss The Train (part 2)

Sunday afternoon proved to be quite productive. Not only did I (almost) finish the latest addition to my 1/144 Wings of War “Biggles” collection, I also managed to progress the Sudan armoured train to a high state of completion. My previous entry was made at the point where the construction work had been completed and the wagons and engine were drying. That evening I gave the lot an overcoat of Revell “Tar Black” (an excellent shade, just “not-black” enough to look quite distinctive), and this afternoon I finished off with a dry brushing of “Steel” to emphasise the impromptu nature of the added armour, followed by a  very light brushing with “Beige” to give a slight weatherworn appearance. Finally, a few Peter Pig sailor figures were added to give a sense of scale, and this motley crew will be augmented by additional naval and army personnel (plus a few fellahs I shouldn’t wonder) over the coming weeks.








I will be adding to the collection with (ideally) some water wagons, a few more boxcars and another gun truck. And I'm still looking for a decent tender engine that is more in keeping with my original thoughts on what would be an appropriate locomotive, as well as an obviousy "European" loco that I can use with my Spanish Civil War collection. any suggestions on sources of cheap TT gauge rolling stock in any state of disrepair would be most gratefully received! 

I ought to add a couple of notes regarding inspirations. The following is an excellent resource for 15mm Sudan gamers, and the first three shots show where I pinched the ideas for the gun trucks: warin15mm.com/The-Sudan.html . There was an excellent series on making a Boer War era armoured train in 20mm in Airfix magazine back in the 1970s or 80s (copies up in my loft somewhere) which gave me some ideas - and which will have me building a searchlight car in the not-too-distant future for when I get into that conflict. finally, there is a nice drawing of a train in the Sudan in Howard Whitehouse's "Battle in Africa" which gave me the idea for the crane and gun carriage.

3 comments:

  1. Very well done. I like the shearlegs / derrick over the flat wagon in particular.

    TT stuff crops up on ebay occasionally but I've picked things up at model railway shows before in the second hand bring and buy.

    The other option would be to scratchbuild using some bogie castings from Peter Pig, plastic crad and so on. I'm sure they'd sell you a pack of bogies if you asked them nicely.

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  2. LOL I recognize the Askari French Mountain gun: its small size for a 28mm piece makes it look right for a full sized 15mm piece.

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  3. Hi DM,

    Love the train - very nice work indeed sir!- and by a strange coincidence the discovery of the Revell paint 'Tar Black' has come in very useful and timely for my ACW ironclads project so many thanks!

    All the best,

    DC

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