Emergency Miniature Work – 15mm USMC Super Cobra
Recommendations: 1804
About the Project
It's the return of Oriskany's Web Wargames, where we connect with YOU, members of the community, over the web to stage live wargames. This thread will go over the ideas, concept development, design, LIVE PLAYS, and after-action reports for these games, covering all periods and ranges of the historical genre.
For anyone who's ever interested in participating in one of these games, all you need is an internet connection (so software downloads required). Reach out me (Oriskany) on a PM and so we can agree on a time and a system.
Systems so far include multiple iterations of Panzer Leader (1939-2020), Valor & Victory (1918-1993), Naval Command, AirWar C21, Contact Front, and others!
So feel free to toss in ideas, reach out to play, just spectate, or just comment and +1 on the design and after action reports!
Related Genre: Historical
This Project is Active
Need a new miniature in like ... 2 days?
When gaming, filming, and production schedules dictate that you ABSOLUTELY need a new aircraft on your table within 48-72 hours … and you don’t do 3D printing … Here’s what happens.
I needed a new AH-1W Super Cobra for some 1:100 / 15mm USMC wargames in Desert Storm (30th Anniversary) …
Download a papercraft AH-1S in Japanese markings (best quality / closest technical item I could find ...
Update in Photoshop to AH-1W, change markings to 1991 US Marine Corps, re-size to fit the intended scale (1:100 will be just short of 6", not including the rotors). Print out on 80# card stock.
Build the model, using wooden dowels and plastic sprue bits for some of the pieces. There's also a wooden "beam" inside the fuselage for added strength. Also, a spare VADs cannon for the rotary cannon (not quite the right gun, close enough). The rotor is even magnetized so it will spin. Now this is EXTREMELY rough, and so far this is 5-6 hours from "oh shit, I need one of these" to this point. Obviously I have to add a few bits to the wings, tail rotor, and chin sensor mount, and clean up / paint the gaps greatly ... but given the EXTREME short time span available, I'm hoping this will serve as a workable 1:100 "miniature" proxy for upcoming Marine Corps Gulf War games at places like Al Jaber and Kuwait International Airport.
Okay, here is the completed model. At 1:100 / 15mm, she's just under 6" without the rotors. Still not a true "miniature" of course but definitely fills the requirement of AH-1 to support my Marine Corps force in games coming up this week (table build tomorrow, dice being chucked on Thursday) Total time between "Oh shit, I need one of these" to table ready: 30 hours (including sleep and a busy day the at the office job).
Again, I know the gun is technically wrong (I have a 6-barreled 20mm looted off a VADs turret in my bits box instead of the 3-barrel M197 cannon that should be here), but I'm not building a scratch 3-barrel 20mm cannon in 15mm. Stole a bead from my girlfriend's hobby box for the sensor / targ-aq turret under the chin.
Red navigation light on the port wing, green on the starboard wing, white on the tail.
The rocket pods and tail boom are a little rough, but to be honest I can live with it. Ready for Thursday's game!PzKpfw-VI Tiger I complete (War vs. Pile of Shame Continues)
The war against the pile of shame continues!
This is a 15mm Tiger I sent to me by Piers a while ago which I am finally getting to.
I went for a mid-war (Summer ’43) generalized scheme.
This is the tank built in this Sitrep Hobby Build video:
Primed in black. Base coat with airbrush, shooting yellow-gold acrylic. Then added Vallejo dark green and dark brown ver-r-r-ry carefully for the rest of the camo scheme, touch-up with brush / wet blending. Acrylic medium gray on tracks, followed by Vallejo black wash. Vallejo wash black / dark umber mix for pin-washing the rest of the tank.
Commander in acrylic "pavement" black (very very dark grey), with red-piped shoulder boards (panzerwaffe was technically a dark pink, but close enough), white cuffbands, officer insignia on cap, hint of Knight's Cross at neck.
15mm transfers from PSC. Made sure the number ended in "1" so this would be a platoon leader. Number 121 = 1st Kompanie, 2nd platoon leader).
Added radio antenna (dust broom bristle). Mounted just behind turret on the right hand side (per blueprints).
Achtung! Tiger! All my Soviet and British and American tank minis suddenly feel less comfortable.Iraqi Army Force - 1991 Gulf War - 15mm Complete
Okay, it’s taken nearly a year (I did virtually no traditional “hobby” between Christmas 2019 and August 2020), but I finally have these 15mm Iraqis complete.
I have already talked about the tank conversions, kit bashes, etc (15mm Battlefront originally from Fate of a Nation and Team Yankee). So I won’t bore everyone again. Suffice it to say I have three tank platoons of three tanks, two ZSU-23-4 “Shilka” SPAAGs, and a platoon of five BTR-6o infantry carriers.
So now I just had to finish up my infantry. I used PSC’s Cold War Soviets as a base. A staggering 141 figures come in the box, way more than I need for this this project, so I just used 70, saving the other 7o (and the better support weapons) for a future Soviet project.
Now the force (86 pieces in all) is complete. Note this represents the units, uniforms, and equipment used by the Iraqi ARMY, not the Republican Guard (so no T-72M-based “Lions of Babylon” or BMPs). This is because the project is specifically aimed at 1991 Gulf War battles between Iraqis and the United States Marine Corps, who fought battles further east of where the Republican Guard was deployed (Al Khafji, Kuwait City Airport, etc).
I'm very pleased with the PSC Cold War Soviet infantry box. Includes snipers with Dragunov rifles, RPGs with RPG assistants (AK riflemen carrying additional rockets), AT-3 Sagger ATGWs (AT-4 Spigots and AGS-17 "Plamya" auto-grenade launchers also provided, not pictured here because I am saving them for my actual Soviets), PKM GPMGs, SA-7 MANPADS missile, and of course plenty of AKM riflemen. 
The whole force. 
So with 16 AFVs and 70 infantry, I basically have an understrength mixed-arms battalion here, actually VERY understrength ... which works given the six weeks of air pounding the Iraqi Army suffered before the ground war started in earnest on 24 Feb 1991.
Here are some of the support teams. AT-3 Sagger ATGW tank killers, sniper, RPG-7 gunner with assistant, officer, and SA-7 AA missile
Side view of the force.
Bedrock of most Arab armies from 1970s to the early 1990s. T-55 tank (or variant), BTR infantry carrier, AT-3 Sagger (these killed an entire Israeli tank division in one day in 1973), and the RPG-7. Oh, and towed artillery. I handle that with off-board units, but trust me, they will be on the list (D-30 howitzers, mostly)
We'll see how these guys stand up to my 15mm US Marines! Iraqi Infantry Started
With the Iraqi armor completed, I’m now building the supporting infantry force to go with it (end goal, an Iraqi Army force to use in 1991 Gulf War themed games).
The minis I am using is the Cold War Soviet Army 15mm box – 141 figures (painting them as Iraqis, of course). I certainly don’t need 141 Iraqis for this project, so I’m splitting the box and doing 70 of them as Iraqis, the other 71 will be Cold War Soviets for future games / projects.
I picked five normal “rifleman” sprues, plus one support sprue. The support sprue, however, includes AGS-17 “Plamya” automatic 30mm grenade launchers and AT-4 Spigot ATGWs infantry missile systems. I will be leaving those more advanced weapons ON the sprue for my future Soviets, and instead using all the AT-3 Sagger ATGWs from various sprues for my Iraqis.
Figures on the sprue. Box comes with nine "Rifleman" sprues and three "support" spues. So for my Iraqis I'm using 5 rifleman sprues and then getting a little choosy with the one support sprue. Basically, I'm giving my Iraqis the second-hand gear and saving the choice weapons for a future Soviet army.
Yeah, Iraqis wore mostly green in the 1991 Gulf War. Primed black and then airbrushed a lighter, "sandier" acrylic green, trying to leave a *little* of the black primer shadow underneath. 
Sand colored helmets and bases. Boots will be black, flesh hands and faces, two-tone AK weapons, and some more sand web gear to come. An umber wash, followed by touch up and some basing material, and we'll be done. With 70 figures ... and in 15mm ... the trick is to not paint each one like a 28mm Golden Button masterpiece. Iraqi Armor Finished
I have now finished my Iraqi Army armor force for upcoming games / content on the 1991 Gulf War (15mm Battlefront, various sets from Team Yankee and Fate of a Nation).
Next up, Infantry! (ugh …) I have a box of 140+ 15mm Soviet Cold War infantry I’ll be working on … half of this will be painted as 1991 Iraqi Army infantry (plenty for this project), the rest will stay as Soviets for various Cold War games in the future.
First platoon of T-55s I had to do the best I could with T-54s from the Syrian "Fate of a Nation" set. Note the unit markings on the bore evacuators. Apparently that's where the Iraqis put them (various yellows, greens, browns, sometimes with white stripes). Also added antennae.
A platoon of five BTR-60 infantry carriers. Drilled small holes for the antennae.
Second platoon of tanks. These were kit-bashed into an approximation of Type 59 Type IIs. These were Chinese knock-offs of T-55s ... but then subsequently upgraded with L7 105mm rifles and rudimentary laser range finders. So an upgrade of a knockoff? Yeah, weird. But those L7s made them pretty dangerous in 1991.
Second platoon of T-55s. Note these have side skirts, the others did not. Wartime photos show plenty of 1991 Iraqi T-55s with both configurations, some with ... some without.
The Iraqi Army had plenty of ZSU-23-4 Shilka SPAAGs in 1991. However, I doubt many of these would be left when then the ground war actually started on 24 February 1991. Nevertheless I have two of them here just in case their USMC opponents will get cute with their AH-1 Cobras and AV-8B Harriers (or hell, F/A-18 Hornets). 
The whole Iraqi force. Next up ... Infantry!NEXT STAGE: Iraqi 15mm Desert Storm force
With the DAK 28mm force complete, the assault on the Pile of Shame continues with a finish-up effort on the 15mm force I’ve been building for the Iraqis in the 1991 Gulf War.
These are 15mm Battlefront miniatures from Fate of a Nation and Team Yankee, kit-bashed into 1991 Iraqi vehicles (not too much update required except on the Type 59/IIs).
These are still works in progress. I have to finish cleaning them up and then do the detail painting (secondary weapons, stowage, commanders, drybrush/weathering, etc). But they’re definitely coming along.
Work for the weekend consisted of finishing up the dark wash, making and applying the Iraqi flag decals, and hand-painting the brigade markings.
We've got x3 T-55s with side skirts, x3 T-55s without side skirts (wartime photos show plenty of both), x3 Type 59/IIs (upgraded Chinese knockoffs of T-55s, retrofitted with L7 105mm rifles and somewhat primitive laser rangefinders), x5 BTR-60s (BMPs were used almost exclusively by the Republican Guard which these are not), and x2 ZSU-23-4 SP AA vehicles.
Little bit more work required on these guys, including stowage, commanders, secondary weapons, etc.28mm DAK Bolt Action Force complete
All right, that’s it. The 28mm Bolt Action DAK force given to me at the Boot Camp is complete. Thanks very much one more time guys!
But the war against the Pile of Shame continues!
Next up, the 15mm Iraqi armor for my 1991 Desert Storm forces!
Stay tuned!
The whole force, five vehicles, an antitank gun, three mortars, three MGs, one ATG, three officers, radioman, medics, and infantry.
Officers trying to control the madness.
Force from the side.
RIfleman.
Project complete - on to the Iraqis! Next Stage of "Elimination" - Opel Blitz Trucks
The last vehicles for me to finish in my 28mm DAK Warlord force are the three Opel “Blitz” trucks that came with the pack. I decided not to go with any of the “halftrack” options as I believe these were used in the East, and not in the Desert. Just for fun I used two different side panel options and the canvas cover for the third truck, with medic decals just for a change of pace.
While I really struggled with that armored car and had to repair a lot of damage with it, I’m actually pretty happy with how these trucks came out.
Here are the three trucks.
The back. Washing between all those planks was a pain, but the final look was worth it.
Markings are for (left to right) 21st Panzer Division, generic motorized infantry for the medic truck, and 90th Light Division for the truck on the right.
Experimented with putting transfer decals on the wooden planks.
Went ahead and put a driver in one of the trucks. 
