Sunday 4 August 2013

WW2 PACIFIC THEATRE (land warfare)


A new scale and a new period ( as in theatre) and it all started when I was up in the loft and came across an old plastic Airfix kit of a 1/32 scale Bamboo House that I had as a young boy, 40 years ago. The kit was issued in 1973 and is now out of production and apparently quite rare. Having said that, I have been watching ebay and managed to buy (although at an over the top price) a second set recently.  I had given the Airfix plastic figures away to my nephews many years ago and kept hold of the building and I am glad I did as it is a wonderful piece of kit.

 With the 'Too Fat Lardies' Chain of Command rule set soon to be released, I have been updating my existing 28mm WW2 collections in preparation for this. As they are for Western Europe and in 28mm I thought a platoon of Japanese and American infantry in a bigger scale and fighting in the Far East would be different and fun to do. I don't think the Chain of Command rules cover the Japanese but hopefully they will bring out lists in the future or if not I will have a tinker with them myself.

The decision I had to make was would I collect and paint the Airfix 1/32 (54mm) scale plastic soldiers for this collection or go with the slightly smaller 1/35 (51.4mm) scale plastic figures kits.
Having checked out on the web what was available and the costs, I decided to go with the 1/35 scale kits. There are some wonderful kits out there especially for Western Europe, that I may be tempted to cover that in this scale at some point in the future as well. Obviously you have to assemble and glue  the figures but they are so good I think it is worth the effort. As for cost, you can pick these figures up for not much more than the cost of a 28mm metal figure. You would have to consider collecting suitable terrain for this scale but with the Pacific Theatre you could probably get away with any jungle terrain you have for 28mm. I plan on scratch building a couple of bamboo huts to go with my two Airfix buildings for a small village setting in the jungle for my platoons to fight over.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings and let me show you what I have so far........

 








      
As you can see in the above pictures, that I had to make a few repairs and make a new door for the building.

 






In this picture you can see the difference in scale between the 1/35 scale figure and a 28mm figure from Artizan Miniatures.


I would like to finish this post off by thanking Simon Walker for buying my complete Zulu War collection. You will see more posts on this blog relating to the Zulu War, as Simon wants me to paint additional figures for the collection.

Apologies for lack of feedback on your blogs chaps but I have just returned from a long weekend back down in Wales and have only just managed to get this done in time before retiring for the day.

Cheers,

Pat.       

22 comments:

  1. That's a great building and those figures are lovely! Your also pretty spoiled for choice so I'll be following this with interest,

    Christopher

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  2. Great buildings and figures Pat!

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  3. Great stuff! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this!

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  4. It is a big project, really big. I have been thinking also about the 1/35 scale games (in fact, I have a Tamiya T34 waiting for my deliberations), so I´m very interested in the development of your project.
    Very nice the painting of the figures, perfect!

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  5. I only need hear the word Airfix and I'm hooked, such is its place in my boyhood memory. This looks like a fabulous project Pat and already you've made a stunning start.

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  6. Buildings and troops look great Pat! I have just started making a little jungle village myself! Great timing!

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  7. Greate new project Pat !!!

    I will follow it closely !

    I hope not to get to much inspiration as I realy need a new project in a new scale ;)

    Best regards Michael

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  8. Wow, those Airfix huts are fantastic. Perhaps I will look less dismissively on the 1/35 stuff from now on.

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  9. I never knew they had this building in scale 1/32 to. I only can remember the 1/72 building. Great work on the building and the figures!

    Greetings
    Peter

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  10. That's definitely looking ACE! Unfortunately it obviously doesn't scale up with 28mm that well. I'm not that keen on doing the same stuff in more than 2 scales.

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  11. Great job on those Pat I always found larger figures harder to paint so my hats of to you!

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  12. Very impressive terrain and figures! I used to build 1/35th Tamiya a lot. I think they are a good alternative scale for WW2 skirmish gaming. Best, Dean

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  13. Thanks very much chaps.
    I have just read on Lard Island News, that they will be doing a Japanese list for their Chain of Command rule set. Good news, as hopefully I will be able to move in the right direction with the collection and making of this project.
    Cheers,
    Pat.

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  14. You *@$&#%?!!! I've been spending the last couple of weeks trying to convince myself not to do the Pacific, 28mm of course, and then I see this. Excellent work Pat, really looking forward to seeing the progress on this project.:)

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  15. Aah , fond memories...great stuff

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  16. Fabulous work. I've been thinking of doing WWII in 1/48 but you make 1/35 so, so tempting. Madness.

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  17. Nice work on the Japs Pat. Youll need a largish table if you plan on wargaming in this scale but man what fantastic photo opportunities.

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  18. Looing so realistic and great! Very nice work!!

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  19. That brings back some memories!

    Great project...looking forward to some more!

    Incidentally, have a look at Normandy Firefight, which is designed for very low level skirmish games using 1/35th scale figures.

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  20. Hello. Airfix have reissued the Bamboo House in 1/32! I thought about buying it this weekend but opted for European theatre stuff from them, such as the Strongpoint and Checkpoint. I plan to use them for Bolt Action (which is 28mm) I know... however, I bought a bunch of the new Airfix 1/32 soldiers because... sufficient Bolt Action minis are nowhere to be found where I am, and in any case importing would cost me the price of a nice plot of land in Malaysia on which to build an an actual bamboo house! Thank you for posting this!

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  21. Yeah I remember that outpost....we are about to start a pacific game.

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