Thursday 20 December 2018

Boston Bomb Fall - new book


I don't post for ages, then three come along at once, almost like London busses. But I just thought I'd let you know about this new book, published on the 16th and launched at the WW2  Home Front Museum in Boston, Lincolnshire.

This book is quite locally specialised, covering, as it does, the various air raids on the town and area through two world wars. Boston was, at the time, a medium sized market town and small port on the east coast. Its only claim to fame being the large parish church of St.Botolph, known as "The Stump" and a connection to the original Pilgrim Fathers. The book came about through the author hearing that a schoolteacher had told a pupil that Boston had not been bombed in the war.

Using newspaper reports..... "a small East Coast town last week..." etc., with county and national archives, the author has produced a detailed account and analysis of the sixty or so raids, along with the types of assorted bombs that fell. He also covers the casualties and damage to the town. (I always wondered why there was a single bungalow in the middle of a terrace of houses in the next street to us). The town actually got of very lightly. Out of a population of about 30,000 there were 21 civilians killed in the area.

Probably not a title of general interest, it gives an overall picture of time and place, worth a read if you are interested in the air war or civil defense.

There's also a picture of my mum in her AFS (Auxilliary Fire Service) get up, so it's personal.

Wednesday 19 December 2018

A Range Re-appears

 


 
 
 
 
 
Way back in May of this year I mentioned the passing of one Pat Campbell, one time supplier of solid recast Britains (and others) 54mm toy soldiers. It came to my attention yesterday, via the Funny Little Wars Yahoo forum, that the range has been taken on and reintroduced under the name of Replica Model Soldiers.
 
 
There is a website www.replicametalsoldiers.co.uk which is relatively new and (I found) a little awkward to travel round, with many photos still to appear. Andrew, the new proprietor, intends to get the whole range on the go, along with a spares section. Both unpainted castings and painted sets will be available.
 
 Worth investigation by those of us who have units for 54mm gaming, and to encourage the new owner to persevere. Up top the picture is a page of the pdf catalogue that can be uplifted from the website.

Monday 17 December 2018

Compliments of the Season

I seem to have become very lax in my postings of late. I put it down to having been volunteered by various of my children to baby sit assorted granddaughters throughout the week. It appears that I only have the weekends completely free of constraints, though MrsJ takes full advantage of my availability during that period for various domestic duties. Don't get me wrong, I love having the girls, but too much of a good thing wears me out. They are at the age where they need constant supervision, so nothing else gets done. Next year will see a renegotiation of terms!


I'm taking the opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas, with lots of goodies to keep you going over the next twelve months, and a happy and prosperous New Year.

I have already received my obligatory present of slippers and hankies, no doubt the socks and ties will arrive in time. This in spite of my presenting anyone who asked what I wanted for Christmas with a detailed list of hobby related items. Right down to code numbers or ISBNs where appropriate.

I'm currently working on my resolutions for 2019, which will include making time to get back to my painting table. I also have a couple of model railways started, for which I hope to start a separate blog, and there are a number of model ships on the to do list. All I need is the time!

Anyway, I look forward to reading how you are all doing over the next year, please keep the stories coming. I do keep up, even if I can't seem to get all my comments published I am taking notice.

Ian

Friday 21 September 2018

For The Shipbuilders

A number of bloggers I follow have recently been writing about naval wargame rules and the building of ships to take part. Naval history and the making of model boats is another of my interests, and I'd like to share a couple of sources with you.

Just arrived in the post yesterday is a copy of the new Osprey in their naval titles. This one is New Vanguard number 262 entitled "British Ironclads 1860 -75, HMS Warrior and the Royal Navy's 'Black Battlefleet'".
As the title explains, the booklet covers the development of the Royal Navy's battlefleet from the building of the 'Warrior' to the first mastless turret ship the 'Devastation'. It covers design and development, tactics, armour, ordnance and life on board.

Each class has a brief description with a small table of important essential information, such as size, speed, armament etc. ; and many have a small coloured profile illustration. I've given examples of both in the following pictures.
 
 
 

For those interested in this period on warship developemet it is a handy little reference.
 
 
The second source is one I've only just discovered, having been pointed to it by a friend while I was digging out details of HMS Glatton. It is probably unknown to a lot of people and likely to remain a mystery to most, unless you have a good reading knowledge of Polish, as it is a model boat magazine in that language.
 
It is called MODELARSWO OKRETOWE and comes out at intervals. The issue I obtained direct (www.modelarstwookretowe.pl) was issue 69, with 45 pages of text and drawings. As I was only after the Glatton drawings the language barrier is no problem, though I could probably find someone to do a translation for bits I needed.
 
 
 
This particular issue covered, among other things, five pages of close print with illustrations, of new release kits, both plastic and card; a to page colour spread on the great Jim Bauman's 1:700 HMS Magnificent of 1899, a fold out plan of a patrol vessel 'Tur' at 1:100, a drawing of the Danish coast defence monitor of 1909-39 'Peder Skram', six pages mainly of drawings, of the British 4.7 QF mkIX mounting, two pages of drawings for HMS Glatton at 1:400, and a seven page monograph on the Deutchland class of WW11, including details of many books on the subject and a catalogue of kits issued over the years.
 
 
one page of the Glatton drawings

 

 
one page of the Deutschland article. Nice to see the old Eaglewall kits in the listing.
 

Evidently many back issues are still available, so I may look into what else may be useful. The web site shows them with an index of contents.

I hope this has been of some interest to some of you. I will get round to normal posts eventually.



Sunday 12 August 2018

War of the Worlds update

Following my last piece about the new War of the Worlds sequel, I have found out, through the Radio Times TV listing magazine, that the BBC is making a new version of the original H.G.Wells book for showing 'later this year'.

According to the article this version will be firmly set in and around Edwardian London, will be a three part drama, and faithful to the tone and spirit of the book while also feeling contemporary, surprising and full of shocks. A collision of Sci-fi, period drama and horror.
Eleanor Thomlinson (Poldark's Demelza and Rafe Spall play the leads while Rupert Graves and Robert Carlyle have major parts.

I look forward to the CGI tripods and HMS Thundercloud.

Tuesday 17 July 2018

The Massacre of Mankind - Book Review




I've just finished this book, which seems to have s lipped onto the local library shelves fairly quietly. From the pen of Stephen Baxter, an author I know as collaborator with Terry Pratchett on his 'Long Earth' series, but I see from the list of his works is a prolific Science fiction writer; the book is, as it states on the cover, a sequel to H.G.Wells' original 'War of the worlds', and is starts in 1920 (the original set in 1907) in a world where history is not quite the same as reality.

For example, the authorities have been working on the leftover Martian technology and have developed new metals, one of which enabled the great liner Titanic to survive collision with an iceberg on her maiden voyage. The military have been trying to get the Martian heat ray guns to work without much success (we find out the reason during the story), and Britain is still suffering from the destructive affects of the earlier invasion.

Other little changes are often throwaway comments. Lord Baden-Powell runs a quasi-military group called the Junior Pioneers. The suffragette movement is now illegal and women do not have the vote.

One of the main, understated changes, is that WW1 has not happened as it did. Germany certainly started a war, with a lightning strike through Belgium putting France out of action before turning her full might onto Russia (an Eastern Front which is still fighting). The United Kingdom had previously made a non-aggression pact with Germany and abandoned her ostensible allies at the crucial time. This 'Schlieffen War' uses tactics and technology developed from alien artifacts.

The story starts with a new invasion of England by more cylinders than the 1907 landings, with sightings of more to follow. It turns out that the Martians learned from their earlier failure, as their methods have changed and mankind is still unprepared and helpless against the machines.  A number of characters from the original book appear again, and it is refreshing to find that the central character is not the gung-ho hero as usual, but a fairly normal though resourceful lady journalist.

I won't go into detail of the plot, but the book does end on a sort of will they, won't they come again question, and a plan by Winston Churchill to take the action to Mars.

An interesting read, probably worth rereading the original first, for background, and could give those of you who have gamed the Tripods some new ideas and themes.





Tuesday 15 May 2018

Another one bites the dust.

I've just received the BMSS interim newsletter via my computer and see that another old supplier has gone.

Pat Campbell, owner and producer of Replica Models has passed away. A name that may not be familiar to some of you, Pat had a large range of recasts from the early days of Britains and Johilco, all priced very cheaply. I had a lot of his figures for round about £1.50 each in an unpainted state, and once painted up they were practically indistinguishable from the originals, apart from the weight that is.

 Pat had a photocopied catalogue illustrated with line drawings, and was very helpful if you wanted something special. I enquired at one time about Victorian rifle regiment figures with plumes rather than ball on the shakos, and he sent me a sample he'd rigged up from a standard running soldier at the trail and a head from (I think) a Belgian figure.

Sad to hear of his passing.

Wednesday 28 February 2018

There But Not There - The Ten-inch Tommy

Another month gone with little happening, a general apathy seems to have struck me, probably because of the weather and time of year. Still, I can write about something that may not have come to your attention.

There is a new charity on the block. It is called "Remembered" and is a forces charity taking advantage of the centenary of the 1918 Armistice and end of the First World War, a date now used to commemorate the fallen of all subsequent wars as well. The aims are to help keep the memory of those lost to duty in the minds of new generations, who may not have the immediate family connection to those who served in WW1 and WW2 that some of us have. My grandfathers and father served in these conflicts, and I know the names of various relatives who died in them, but my grandchildren do not have this link. The charity also helps current sufferers of forces related disabilities.


One way they are commemorating 1918 is by using 'ghost' soldiers. One such installation is at Penshurst, (photo above, taken from the Rochester Arts Mission website). Here they have taken each name from the village war memorial and placed a Perspex silhouette on a church seat. It is a reminder that that person is not just a name on a plaque, but lived in the village, worked there, went to church there, etc. , and makes the viewer think more deeply of the 51 people (in Penshurst) who went off to war and never came back. Further installations are in planning.

Another way of bringing the anniversary to the attention is similar to the 'poppy' field at the Tower of London in 1914. This time there will be life-size silhouettes of a Tommy situated at strategic places throughout the country.
 

 
Similar to the poppies, it will be possible to buy your own Tommy. Not the full size figure but a small 10 inch version. It is also possible to get a plaque with it bearing a name that you may wish the figure to represent. These cost £29.99 plus postage, and can be found on the website at- Remembered. There but not there, under the heading of Buy Your Tommy.
 



 
A project worth supporting.
 
 

Thursday 1 February 2018

Charley's War


Having nothing interesting to report, I thought I'd keep the entries going by bringing this to your attention. Because I once purchased a few Dr Who miniatures from them Forbidden Planet send me regular weekly updates on new merchandise. Among this weeks collection of Marvel Superhero comic books and others I noticed this book.

For those of less mature years, and possibly non UK viewers, I should tell you that this is a comic strip that originally appeared in the weekly comic 'Battle'' starting in 1979 with young Charley Bourne lying about his age to enlist in the army, and works it way fairly chronologically to the British intervention in Russia after the armistice.

I have the original book versions, all ten volumes, and re-read them fairly regularly, even though they are not necessarily easy reading. The strips are sometimes heavy going, as the stories do not glorify the war in any way. They seem to show the mud, blood and ferocity of the Western Front in all its horror. They also show the stupidity and arrogance of officers, the pressures of war, with soldiers suffering mentally and physically. There are even nods to real figures. In one strip there is a recognisable figure in the foreground while in the background are a couple of officers saying "...private Adolf Hitler is the best runner in the unit...". During one of the stories we digress to following one of Charley's brothers in a naval battle.

The series ends in 1933, when Charley is unemployed, like many others at the time. He is walking down the street having just met his old sergeant ruminating on the futility of the War and that politicians must have learned their lesson, while on the corner a newsvendor is shouting that Hitler has just been elected German Chancellor.

Ah well, now back to the model railway track laying.