Team Yankee? To the War Museum!

Howdy folks,

As one of my main objectives for the year, Team Yankee has been much anticipated!! Now, Santa was kind enough to find room in the budget this past Christmas for the Soviet starter box complete with 2 x Mi-24 Hinds and 9...uhm, I mean 10! yes, 10 x T72's (sometimes product delays aren't all that bad)...

While I had some familiarity with Soviet kit and these beautiful pieces in particular...I do recall a sleepy morning sitting down near a field kitchen resting my C7 next to me while the cooks radio broke news that there had been a coup in Moscow...what I really needed was a kick ass excuse to go on a roadtrip (okay, not much of a roadtrip...only 30klicks away...) to the Canadian War Museum.

While the daughter-unit was away at winter camp, I managed to convince the wife and young lad to accompany me, at great risk of history lecture (as said by the lad), to the museum.  My main goal was to get some pictures from their Cold War section of the Soviet vehicles...the Canadian War Museum has a T72 and a Chinese copy recce-BMP (BRM...if memory serves me...)

So anyhow, I thought I'd share my photos...there's only about a dozen or two...maybe this will help anyone who may be painting up Soviet kit as well...

Cheers.

One of many great displays in the Cold War pavilion...the Soviet T72 and RPG infantry.

Soviet small arms display with 125mm tankshell at the bottom...

Front of the T72...the CWMs tank was previously in the service of the East German army...

When the full light is on this tank it is very bright in comparison to pics you see online or what we had in recce class...the shadows certainly show a much darker shade of green, but I tried to get a good picture to represent how much brighter the lighting was making the tank look.

Bright light --- bright coloured fender...not so bright light --- a little darker, still not as dark as I recall in pics

Stoic commander in the hatch...East German tanker suit...

alternate view...

 

View of the IR light mount and gun mantlet cover

Smoke dischargers, wiring and tube covers...

T72 exhaust port...deflecting downwards towards the hull...paintjob not so new anymore...

 

blackout light at the back of the tank, mounted on the side of where the external fuel tanks would go.

 

Left side of the turret, storage tube if memory serves me...

 

Tank track and road wheels...

 

Rear view of the T72...complete with log...cause everyone loves a log...

 

RPG equipped Soviet soldier...NATO had much to fear with the T72's 125mm gun, quick speed, and low-profile...throw in a pack of troops jumping out of their similarly fast and hard to see  infantry carriers with plenty o'RPGs...

 

Carriers like these...although technically this is the BRM recce version 

 

View of right side looking towards the rear...you can see the smoke dischargers and viewing devices on top of the turret...

The museum staff let me go behind the line to get some up close views of the vehicle...they were pretty awesome, so I got up close on the right side...

 

Inside view of the rear-right hatch...

 

Much closer look at the track and road wheels...apparently I was obsessed with the tracks that day... 

 

Looking towards the front of the vehicle from the rear...I did not have to stand on anything to get this pic...I am always impressed with how low this vehicle is...I stand at just over 6 feet and the top of the deck is around my forehead...very impressive...and cramped. 

 

At the end of the day...another great visit to the Museum...no prison break attempts from my captive audience...they were great...we got to speak with a Korean War vet...a fellow gunner, so life was pretty good...

no break attempts, but a little bit of hiding behind the 72...

 

Hail the new year...where to? where from?

Howdy folks,

Happy New Year to all...I hope the holiday season was good to you, I hope the new year see's health and good tidings on the horizon.  I just crept past the 2nd anniversary of this humble little blog and am pretty happy with how the blog's going...

Since 2014, I have published 92 various posts to the internets...not bad for a techno-caveman...my overall stock of unfinished figs is...very very slowly declining...my purchasing...not so much so, lol.  I have steadily tackled lead mountain...or shelf of shame as Mike would say...I have added, but I am definitely trying to be more tactical about it...define project and then purchase, not the other way around.

When 2014 wound to a finish, I was pretty happy with finishing nearly 100 figures (mixed scales), 45 vehicles, and 11 aircraft...with this bit of progress I set my goals for 2015:

1. Have more and more fun!! Goes without saying.   Accomplished!!
2. I'd like to try a major gaming convention this year...I'll have to get some input from the guys.  Not accomplished! Maybe next year, depends on life's other distractions...
3. Vietnam:
• Finish my Air Cav helo's
• Start to put paint to my Viet Cong...hmmm, Hell Yeah!! The Cav were finished and my VC have been started...double Accomplished!!!!
4. WW1: Start to assemble and paint my Battlefront Germans and Vimy Ridge Canadians...Mike has already kindly offered to steal my research, so I've got that going for me...I have started, my second CEF rifle platoon is almost done...so partially accomplished.
5. Cold War: Start to paint some 4CMBG infantry and convert my Battlefront 'nam M113s to A2 and A3 variants...hahaha, no fricking way...definitely not accomplished...however, with the release of Team Yankee, maybe 4 CMBG will be back on the table...Leopard 1's please Battlefront...please.
6. Keep working through the past project pile...Afrika Korps, Old West, FJs...increase my painting output...fairly neutral...I did get to a bunch of FJ's, and some Old West dudes, but my DAK have languished another year...along with some other pieces started long ago...

The Cav...major success story for the year...

6 point Crusader Warband for SAGA...another success.

 

Perhaps my biggest success of the year though was the overall progress through lead mountain...for the year 2015...I was able to paint:

• 31 x 15mm figs painted in 2014 but finished in 2015
• 16 x terrain and objective pieces
• 25 x 15mm vehicles painted and finished
• 58 x 28mm figures...increase from 2014
• 223 x 15mm figures...DRAMATIC increase from 2014...very happy with this, main lesson is that time spent on preparation, like time on recce...is NEVER wasted.

So with these 2 big successes behind me, the dawning of the new year...

 

 

how will the next year look for this blog: 

1. Continue to have more fun!! Always an excellent goal.
2. At the club, we have some Team Yankee coming down the pipe...I managed to pick up the Soviet box at the end of the year, so that will be the immediate goal.  My side objective to this is to limit all of my purchases to only Team Yankee related items.
3. Continue with my Vietnam Main Force VC...when I need a break from the main projects, the VC will fit in nicely.
4. Get moving on my WW1: Finish off my CEF...I have some artillery and HMGs to go...and get my Germans on the painting schedule.
5. For Christmas, my wife bought into the Lich King Nickstarter for me...so I would like to tackle some Frostgrave in the new year...paint the cultists...some more of the extras...maybe some terrain
6. Keep working through lead mountain...I have some awesome figs that need to see the world...amongst them my DAK, FJs, and Mr. Harolds awesome Kickstarter...must get these worked on...

All the best in the year to come...good luck with your small endeavours.

Cheers.