Forces for the 1952 War

All,

So you've seen my concept, my plan, and how I made up the forces.  Here's a closer look at the armies of Hakuna and Matata.

The whole force.

We'll start with the Hakuna Air Force: four F4U Corsairs.  Being a former British protectorate, these were left over from the Fleet Air Arm.

The Martin Baltimore light attack bomber used by the Hakuna Ground Attack Squadron.

On to the Matata Air Force and their Spitfires.

But they actually went to the Soviets for their Ground Attack Squadron, acquiring IL-2 Stormaviks.  I painted them up in two different camo schemes.

Here's a look at the infantry of Hakuna.  All Hakuna ground equipment is in green, while Matata is in khaki.

Infantry from Matata.  The detail on these guys is truly amazing.

Some closeups.  These are all actually Modern US infantry, which I picked because I like the prone troops.  At right you can see weapons bases; each has an LMG and a TOW ATGM.  As this is the 1950s, that's a bit problematic.  For my purposes those TOWs are light mortars for the time being...

And here's a closeup of one of those weapons bases.

And one of the 'regular' infantry bases.

On to the armored fist of the Hakuna Army, their pride and joy, the Fireflies.  These are Sherman tanks armed with 17-pounder guns.

Again.

And one more.  For all the tanks, all I did was spray prime them, throw a wash on them, then paint little national insignia on each side and on top.

Their Matata counterparts, T-34s with the 85mm gun.

Again.

And one more.

The mechanized transports for Hakuna, M-5 Halftracks.

Again.  If my pics weren't so terrible you could see the guys in the back of the halftrack, and the guy manning the .50 cal HMG.

The Matata mechanized troops cruise around in Studebaker trucks.

Again.

The Hakuna command stand.

Again.

And the Matata command stand.

Once more.

Hakuna anti-tank vehicles: M-36 Jacksons with 90mm guns.

And Matata anti-tank vehicles, SU-100s.

Hakuna recon, jeeps with recoiless rifles.

Matata recon, Staghound armored cars left over from the Brits.

Hakuna 155mm howitzers.

While Matata went with Katyushas.  Yeah, I gave them red rockets and steel rails, just to add some color.

Hakuna anti-aircraft, a truck towing a 40mm Bofors.

Matata has the same setup for their AA needs.

Well, there they are, ready for war.  I'm ready, the troops are ready, the campaign is ready, and the boy is ready, so the war starts this weekend.

V/R,
Jack

From Nothin' to Somethin' in No Time Flat

All,

So I decided to get into African Imagi-Nations, and fight a series of wars between two countries, starting in the 1950s and coming all the way up to the present.  And I wanted to use different equipment pretty much every time; quite an expensive undertaking.  Unless you go with 3mm.  I look around and was inspired by Thaddeus, Bishnak, and Tinpot Revolutionary; they're great work in 3mm convinced me I could do this.

So I popped a quick order off to "The Johns" at Picoarmor for two congruent armies and air forces, and received it two days later.  Picoarmor has always been fantastic and extraordinarily quick, I highly recommend them!

Here's what about $75 looks like.

Upon closer inspection...

Doesn't look like much, does it?

But it cleans up nice.  This is not all of it, just the tanks and troop transports for each side.  You can make out Fireflies at top left, T-34/85s at top right, M5 Halftracks at bottom left, and Studebaker trucks at bottom right.

Seen again, this time with a Peter Pig 15mm troop nearby to show some scale.

Here's the whole mess, all cleaned up.  Now I will admit to cheating a bit; each side also has four fighters, but I already had suitable models in my possession, didn't need to order them.

Here's where they're going.

Here's how they look on their bases, 115 in all.  The aircraft were given magnets.

Then I glue them to popsicle sticks.

Then out to the garage to prime them.  I use the Krylon camo paints; green and khaki here.

Paint up a few test patterns.

Then pick the best one and finish them off...

Here's what the Matata force will use.

And the Hakuna force.

Got a lot going on this weekend...

Paint up the rest of the forces, give them their washes, throw some flock on them...

And voila!  Two armies, ready and rearin' to go.  Total time spent from opening the package to taking this finale pic was about six hours.  I'll post closeups soon.

V/R,
Jack