Saturday 25 September 2021

Guess where I’ve been

Just a selection of the photos from my trip down to Bovington with Lincolnshire Tom. Lots of stuff built in that fair county to swell the heart of a Yellowbelly like Tom. It’s fair to say we had a full day!

We didn’t get a proper chance to explore it fully. There were a few sections we glossed over. The museum now has lots of exhibits based on interviews with veterans. We didn’t do this justice. A return trip is in order.

Google has messed up the order of the pictures. The information board is below. Captured T34/76 on loan from the Sotamuseo, Helsinki.

Munitions have gone full circle it seems. Smoothbores and canister.

Back of the 251 (below)

Italian tankette next to a Sdkfz 251 (itself not a large vehicle). Apologies to river counters if I got the number of the half-track wrong).

Inter-War tankette. 

Stug III. Deadly little bugger.

Not sure what this soft toy is for

‘Cute’little Italian tankette. I say cute but that flamethrower isn’t very friendly 

These cutaways are very enlightening, showing both the cramped conditions and thickness of armour. There’s a couple of WWI AFVs that you can climb in. Impossible conditions!


Anyone remember or have this?

This is a big beast. The Jagdtiger, not him. Only 85 built.

The real thing (this should be with the Action Man picture). Old School Tony’s Uncle Alf (a former trooper in the 17/21 Lancers) will tell you, this is not a tank, it’s an armoured reconnaissance vehicle.

Insides of a Buffalo

Ooooh!

I was a lucky little boy and got this the Christmas it came out.

This should be with the T34 picture. I don’t remember seeing this at the Sotamuseo in Helsinki when I went about 19 years ago.

Early Centurian. Very successful development.

Der König!

Post Script: JBM’s ‘lidl tenk’
Was this the Hetzer of Herr Leutnant J. Brümann fame? It is small at just over 7feet high. 


Thursday 16 September 2021

Kabin(et)'s Krieg

So the painting's done. The aircon/heater unit was installed Wednesday. I've actually been using it for work the past week and a bit. Still some more work needed before it can become my war room.

Clearly the lawn needs 'doing'. That table might come in handy in the meantime. And it could do with some guttering.


We moved a bookcase/cabinet from the house to store my milhist/wargaming books in. It fits in the space nicely. I've got 4 linear meters to fit in to 4.8meters of shelf space, which, being the astute mathematicians that you are, you will readily realise is going to be sufficient. Subject to the height of some books. There's another couple of meters worth of general history, football books and Grimsby history books to go somewhere. Maybe they'll have to stay in the house.

This into....

...this, does go

Then there's the small matter of my terrain boxes and 30 Ferrero Rocher boxes of toy soldiers. 

I also still need a table or tables of some sort. A couple of 4 foot by 2 foot (120 x 60cm) fold-up jobs would do, if I use my desk (about 4'6" by 2'4"/140 by 70cm). 3 such fold-up tables would be better. Finding something sturdy enough is the problem. I was tempted by the 'bar tables' and stand/sit desks in the big blue and yellow shed near Croydon*, as they would be easier on the back whilst playing games, but they wouldn't have got past the stern eye of the Ultimate Authority on Interiors. Incidentally, I treated the UAI to a slap-up, no expenses spared meal in said furniture store. Well it was Saturday evening and a chap's got to spoil a lady.

* Other furniture stores are available. In theory.

The Command and Control Centre


The central battle area

From a wider use perspective we still want a sofa unit for the corner opposite the desk, but the preferred model, like more and more things in the UK,  is out of stock with no indication of whether it will ever be back in stock, at least until next year. The object we have in mind is an indoor/outdoor modular unit than can easily be moved.  With the shortages, it seems that as a country we've opted to become the Soviet Union without any of the benefits of actual socialism.

Summat along these lines would do nicely for the wall:

http://www.paineproffitt.com/football.html

In other news, Grimsby Town's start to the new season continues to 'surprise and delight'. Four wins and a draw, including Tuesday night's 3-1 victory in front of a home sell-out crowd over 'Ryan Reynold's Wrexham' (tm all the national football media). It's always nice to beat a moneybags team. In terms of tier 5 in English football, Wrexham FC is a moneybags team. And yes, in typical messy British fashion, Wrexham is actually in Wales but compete in an English league. The last three games have involved Grimsby sportingly given the opposition a head start. That's class! No predictions about the season as a whole, but there's a buzz and togetherness not seen for many a year. What a nice way it would be to mark the 50th anniversary of the (locally legendary) promotion winning side under Lawrie McMenemy. I'm too long in the tooth to get that carried away, but cannot help reflecting that last month marked the 50th anniversary of my first match (a 4-3 win versus Doncaster Rovers, who we also gave a head start to). No! I'm determined to just enjoy the moment.

The one draw so far. I think a little bit more happened than the BBC's 'Live Text' service thought fit to report. But kudos for the Beeb in being strictly objective.