"QRF 15mm Canadians/Dutch/Belgians... " Topic

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New Canadian 15mm infantry masters about to go to Chas this week, all 37 of them so far (couple more to add and a couple of heads to go on still!). These are in 1982 pattern battle order. We promised these at least a couple of years ago, when the local wargames group wanted to do a large demonstration game of First Clash in the Bovington Tank Museum and I have finally got them finished!

The eagle eyed will spot a couple of non-Canadian additions in there, notably Panzerfaust 3 and Uzi, enabling these to be used for Dutch and Belgians (when I add a few other rifles next week)

The Dutch were inspired by my visit to the Dutch Nationals Military museum last year,and several uniform museums (they have a thing for showing uniforms in their museums!) where i was given a personal tour by a veteran who had served in Lebanon with UNIFIL. He pointed out that the uniforms were very similar as I was working on the Canadians at the time, and I presented him with a model of our YP-408 and a 15mm miniature of himself with Uzi, which he proudly displays with his Lebanon badges.

In the background you can see what else I have been working on… Dutch Leopard 1V turret (inc Leopard 1A5), YPR765 variants (we already have the base vehicle with 25mm turret, but adding several more, notably the PRAT TOW and pri 50 versions) and YP408 variants, M38A1, Nekaf jeep with and without 106mm recoilless, MO-120-RT mortar and Dutch M113 C&V. The full range will of course include ground mount versions of the TOW, 106mm recoiless, 0.30 (seen) and 0.50, 81mm mortar teams, 120mm mortar teams and artillery.

…Oh and just on the left the Canadian LAV III and (at Chas insistence) there will also be a pack of lawyers to run all over the battlefield!

Oooooo, Jeeps with RRs, TOWs, and MGs. Very useful for Danes as well.

Geoff, are you planning on bagging you inf in TY style units or by type as you have been doing. Thx

Mako: Do you mean the infantry or vehicles are useful for the Danes?

M38 Jeeps.

Not sure about the troops, since I'd need to see them. They wore M-1 helmets, much like the West Germans, Americans, and many others. G3 rifles and MG3 machine guns, plus apparently US .30 and .50 cal ones too.

Would love to see some more Americans in M-1 helmets as well, for the pre-1980s period.

We will bag them by types as always, with 8 infantry per pack enabling you to mix and match for the wide variety of wargames rules on the market, so whether you are into Force of Force skirmishes, Sabresquadron battles or the Battlefront Fire and Fury rules you can make up formations that work rather than be restricted to any one pre-packaged box.

Danes, eh? You'd need some figures with G3/MG3 (which actually I was just working on as the Belgians used the G3-looking FN FNC)… let me know what other weapons packs you might need… then I guess I'd need to check for any other vehicles.

Actually, I forgot you had older West Germans until just now, so those will work fine in most cases.

Could use a 3.5" bazooka though, before they got the Carl Gustavs.

Reading up on Danish TO&Es, looks like the jeeps/short, airborne landrovers need MGs, and 106mm RRs for the majority of the Cold War period. They didn't get TOWs apparently, until about the mid-1980s for some units.

Need something to help out the desperate defense on Bornholm, with those little M41s, and the few troops there, even though it is not doubt a lost cause. They'll still fight for every inch of ground, I suspect.

Would love to see some really old ATGMs too, like ground or vehicle mounted ENTACs, BANTAMs, SS-11s, Suitcase Saggers (I suspect you already do this one), etc..

I took some photos of Dutch uniforms in a museum in Doorn, that had the 3.5" so it was already on the list.

I'm sorting the M38 jeep with a soft top, then MG and 106mm. The Dutch certainly used that instead on the Landrover.

I did make the Entac, we were going to fit it to some jeeps for the Arab-Israeli range. I also have Mamba/Cobra listed to add to the Germans, and Chas has an SS-11 missile to add to a couple of vehicles so I can probably do a pack with each.

With the G3/MG3 options this may be suitable as a more generic NATO range (Greece, Portugal, Norway, Turkey) with mix and match supporting weapons, and could even sub in for Pakistan, so keep telling me what packs are needed to make it as generically useful as possible

@Mako: Steel pots should be on US troops well into the 80s. Airborne was getting them in the early 80s, but the Mi was common for everyone else. If you are using activated reserves or guard, you can use M1s at least until the late 80s for some units.

Geoff,
Any chance you have plans to sculpt either a US M44 155mm SP howitzer or the M52 105mm SPH? I would love to add them to my 1967 Jordanian army.
Dennis

Hadn't planned on either but I can put them into the never ending list for consideration at some point – we do sometimes find ourselves randomly inspired and build something from way down the list just because we want one :-)

Forgot the Cobra, so good to see it.

Yea, the G3/M-1 helmet combo, and MG3 works for many, many nations, including Spain as well, IIRC.

Really need M-1 helmeted guys, and AK-47s/AK-74s for some forces too.

Yea, thanks 79thPA. I knew they used those up until about the mid-1980s for some, and thru the Cold War's end, for others, pretty much, which is why I dislike the Ultramodern Fritz helmets for Americans, since they are so limiting. I'd rather have 20+ years of flexibility than just a few years in the Cold War with the more modern helmets.

Need prone riflemen for all nations, to go with the MG teams firing, and a prone 3.5" bazooka team for Americans/Danes/early West Germans, as shown in the famous photo of them with a Bundeswehr M47 during a training exercise:

Some casualties would be nice too, even if it's just a generic pack, or two.

As I say, once I've got these out the door and added a few extras to widen the choice, I may well look at a very similar Warsaw Pact generic range based around the AK and Soviet style webbing that will hopefully cover things like the Baltic nations down to the Balkans. I may then look at a dedicated East German range takung into account the distinctive helmet

Any other weapons packs people want me to add up this range?

Do you want a pack with rifles? G3/MG3 combination? M16/M60 combination?

Dutch Gepard PRTL just finished:

Did you make any Grizzlies or Cougars for the Canadians?

Not done yet, but they are to follow

Spoke to Chas this morning. Canadian infantry are now in mould, expect a release in the next week :-)

So far I have done enough for the Canadian lists. I'm in the process of filling out the weapons packs to make them suitable for Dutch, Belgians

608722, Cougar and Grizzly hull and turret done, just adding detail and should be out by the end of March. Just working on the C1 turret too, as it has subtle differences from the basic 1A3. Then will start on the C2.

Currently sat at Southampton airport watching flights get cancelled around me as I am hoping to get out to Doorn for a little Dutch research so I can finish off the YPR765 and YP408 ranges, the M113 C&V and the Land Rover lightweights.

…sadly that didn't work, as all flights to Amsterdam (and several other places) got cancelled because of the storm…

However meanwhile, the first of the infantry are up… link

Rest coming next week :-)

Jeeps with RRs, TOWs, and MGs. Very useful for Danes as well… Reading up on Danish TO&Es, looks like the jeeps/short, airborne landrovers need MGs, and 106mm RRs for the majority of the Cold War period

I think the Danes used the M38A1 Jeep until the M151 Ford Mutt became available. Like much of Europe, the M151 was in use until they changed to the G-Wagen. Around the late 1980s saw many switch to the G-Wagen or the HMMWV.

The Dutch used the M38A1 Nekaf, then the Land Rover (but only the 1/2 ton lightweight, not the standard one) with a modification to move the turn signals to the tops of the wings! :-)

We have the M151 Mutt vanilla, with MG, 106mm RCL and TOW. I'm just adding a soft top as it is currently open (not much good in Europe…)

I'm just updating the M38A1 to the same, and modifying our Land Rover lightweight.

They [Danish] wore M-1 helmets, much like the West Germans, Americans, and many others. G3 rifles and MG3 machine guns, plus apparently US .30 and .50 cal ones too.

The 0.30 and 0.50 teams are done, along with LAW and MAW. Just about to add FN FNC, G3 and MG3 packs, so that should do you for Belgians and Danes. ;-)

Would love to see some really old ATGMs too, like ground or vehicle mounted ENTACs, BANTAMs, SS-11s, Suitcase Saggers (I suspect you already do this one), etc..

Cant see that ENTAC was used by anyone in Europe except France. Equally the Bantam seems to be Sweden, Switzerland or Argentina! Chas and I were discussing the AMX-13 with SS-11 earlier this week.

@PSADennis "Any chance you have plans to sculpt either a US M44 155mm SP howitzer or the M52 105mm SPH? I would love to add them to my 1967 Jordanian army.
Dennis"

No offence to Geoff's list, but you can find both the M44 and the M52 over at Quality Castings. I have a few M44's for my own 67 Jordanian army.

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@Geoff " I may well look at a very similar Warsaw Pact generic range based around the AK and Soviet style webbing that will hopefully cover things like the Baltic nations down to the Balkans." (sorry, I need to figure out how you guys highlight in white boxes lol)

When do you get around to that. Could you possibly make something that's close to the helmet the Yugoslavian's wore if not themselves. Also maybe if you could also make (add to your ever growing list) the AMX MK 61.
thanks

Brian

I'm definitely interested in G3/MG3, and M16/M60 combos.

Good to see all the new stuff being released.

Now, I just need to get an increase in the "defense budget".

You could also make the AMX MK61

You mean this one