Desert Rats - Thetford Forest Park Memorial

Absent on the blogging front as I got a 4 day 'pass' from life in Kent & had an aviation filled trip to see my friends in Suffolk/Norfolk. This included flying in a DH Chipmunck, 2 Aviation Museums and a trip to a certain modest model retailer called Hannants!! More on this in a future update.



Where Chris & Nessie live is Thetford Forest with a rather fine 'gate guardian' in front of their house!! a Cromwell tank!! This commemorates the 7th Armoured Division the 'Desert Rats from El Alamain to Berlin'



The Division was stationed in Thetford Forest between January & May 1944 while they prepared for the D Day invasion of Normandy. This was the only time in it's entire existence that it was in the UK! They sailed from Felixstowe on the 5th June 1944 with the first tanks landing on Gold Beach on the evening of 6th June 1944.



A self guided trails takes you around where the camp site was



Nothing exists now apart from a few foundation of the nissen huts which would have looked like as below




The notice board at the car park is quite informative with copies of documents relating to the Divisons stay and commemorations since




The information boards are very informative and well done & bring the history to life in context to the landscape. It's an enjoyable walk good for bird spotting Siskins & Goldcrests in evidence when I was there.



More info at the Forestry Commission web site which also updates you on what countryside events are going on in the area.

Airfix Update

Just a short post relating to the Medway Model Show where I met for the first time 'Mr Airfix' Trevor Snowden. He looks a bit fed up in the above picture (how many times has he had to pose with the new 1/24 Mossie!)but he was an absolute gentleman, willing to spend loads of time answering 'kit bashers' questions. He's definitly enjoyed the move to Hornby which has not only saved this famous name but invested significantly in its future....and there is a lot of exciting stuff to come next year!!

The Mossie looked fantastic, not sure if I can afford one when released next year but the detail was impressive, engineand gun bays packed with detail and a fully fitted out cockpit. 1/24th is a great scale for aging eyes...not sure where one could be displayed afterwards tho!



Releases of old favourites and new toolings are gradually coming out, recently the new spitfires, 109's and Hawks hit the shelves and a reworking of the Matilda Tank to carry mortars an Aussie invention I believe called the Hedgehog. Soon to be released will be brand new toolings of the Sea Harrier in 1/72nd and the pre production test shots looked very nice indeed as did the new Mig 15.



Finally a couple of really interesting books have been published recently ...the Boys Book Of Airfix and the Vintage Yearsof Airfix Box Art. I highly recommend both for that nostalgia trip and the serious student of plastic kits....amazing it's not become a degree course yet as you seem to be able to take degrees in most subjects these days!!

The Wolfe 250 battle Of Quebec Commemoration Westerham, Kent 12/13th September

For once as a family we were organised to make the most of the free entry to historical sites weekend and this included the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Quebec being commemorated at General James Wolfe’s boyhood home Quebec House and Squerryes Court the home of his friends the Wardes (still in the family ownership/Nat Trust) Quebec House was open and ‘populated’ with reenactors including a guard from the New France & Old England re-enactment group. I had a chat with them and learnt about the shortening of Brown Bess muskets for use in wooded terrain guerrilla fighting in the forests, how you source uniforms and more about the politics involved with celebrating the event in Quebec, Canada. Amazingly the group had been contacted as late as Friday night 11th September by a powerful French Canadian group requesting that the event in Westerham should not be put on! It is amazing how long memories last or is it protecting national identity under attack from globalisation, which I can understand with my environmental hat on or yet again is history being politically corrected ! In the Coach House There is an excellent exhibition on the Battle of Quebec, the men involved which included a young Captain Cook, the details of the ordinary soldiers and militias involved, the lead up to the battle then the actual short lived engagement that resulted.



Wolfe by Gainsborough



Map of the battle



re-enactor checking up on the facts! These chaps had trouble getting around the exhibition what with carrying muskets and wearing tricornes in a narrow exhibition space!



Display cabinet of Figures ....very nice but due to lighting & display cabinet impossible to photograph close up.



British Troops Landing




the French General Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm-Gozon

After taking in the harpsichord playing, the exhibition on the James Wolfe hero industry of the 18th century and a quick look around the house itself it was of to the reenactors camp and re fight of the famous engagement on the Plains of Abraham at Squerryes Court in front of the Duck lake. Total saving £14 a head on admissions at both properties…hurrah!! SO a good contribution went into the ‘help for heroes’ collection bucket and the Scouts tea stall!




Above living history in the drawing room Quebec House, below Squerryes Court house



The Camp was superb and I will let the photo’s do the talking, the reenactors were brilliant interacting with the visitors/spectators & children. The Model boat clubs remote controlled ‘men o war’ were superb and beautifully constructed, the trailer they brought them in was also yellow and black like a ‘ship o the lines sides’!














The actual shooting bit of the re-enactment was impressive in respects of the sound of a musket discharging and watching the loading procedure…the children shouting around us ‘go on general Wolfe die’! (they were only 6 or 7 years old!) It must be said the chap playing the general did slightly resemble James Wolfe and the re-enactment of the death of wolf painting scene a nice touch if done before I believe. The re-enactment probably lasted longer than the actual engagement in 1759!






















After the hardfought battle we retired in good order to the Generals very own pub for a pint of Greene King Abbott, sadly it wasn't Westerhams own Brewery which brews a good pint.



Absolutely Recommended reading is Ralph's other superb blog Flintlock & Tomahawk where video clips and more info on the battle can be read.

I am resisting launching myself into yet another period here but what figures are available depicting Wolf? Front Rank do a pistol toting general Wolfe, RAFM who’s figures I have always liked for this conflict do a better representation of him….can you get RAFM French/Indian Wars figures in the UK or is it silly postal charge time???, Redoubt do the units involved but no general Wolfe, are there any other makes???????

Medway Model Show - the Photo's of Some Superb Models

A small superb model show is held annually at the Royal Engineers Museum every year on the first weekend in September. It is organised by Medway Modelling Society and Kevin Nunn who used to own Beaney's Model Shop of Sittingbourne (sadly no more,next owner couldn't 'make a go of it') Kevin is a huge modelling enthusiast and has close connections with Airfix, runs his own model business Brigade Models (yup another one with that name! which specialises in 1/48th Spitfire Conversions)and Product Development & Advertising manager for Aviation Workshop Publications.Kevin always knows the latest 'new model release news' and above all he encourages young people into the hobby, at the Medway show children were being assisited in building free Airfix kits and I think this is a very important part of the Scale Modelling/Wargaming hobby that all of us should encourage.



I prefer shows situated at a Museum as you can also look at the exhibits and the Engineers Museum is a little known gem. This father and son team display their models in the shadow of a 1:1 scale GR3 harrier it doesn't get much better than that! I can also recommend anyone to visit the Model Shows at the Fleet Air Arm Museum the next is the Autumn Model show.


The display area in the museum where various model clubs and traders had their stands all the club members were friendly and willing to talk about their models and give tips. The pictures tell their own story so enjoy looking at the following models. Which diorama is a full scale 1:1 exhibit at the museum!!





















I will blog more on the museum when I have revisited and can spend time looking at the exhibits properly, your admission enables you to visit again as many times as you want to for a year! Also a picture of the new Airfix 1:24 scale Mossie to follow shortly as I met Trevor Snowdon 'Mr Airfix' at the show.

Medway Model Show - Royal Engineers Museum 5/6th Sept 2009

An annual favourite'Medway Modellers Showcase' For more information:Phone 01634 822839.The Medway Modellers Club hosts their annual show at the Royal Engineers Museum with trade stands, wargames and family activities plus as a bonus it is at The Royal Engineers Museum which is Kent's only designated museum of national and international importance. It provides a fascinating insight into the debt owed by Britain to its soldier engineers from the earliest times to the present day.



'Discover the bravery and heroism of our soldier engineers With 26 galleries and 6,000 exhibits, the museum tells a fascinating story. The First and Second World War galleries give visitors a feel for life during the more gruelling parts of the 20th century. They depict the grim reality of life in the First World War trenches, the glaring beams of Second World War searchlights and offer a glimpse of a Medway family home under the threat of invasion in 1940.Displays include 55-ton tanks, a Harrier ground attack aircraft, torpedoes, bridges, models, railway locomotives, weapons, uniforms, a variety of medals (including 25 Victoria Crosses) and the very map used by the Duke of Wellington during the battle of Waterloo.The museum also has an extensive library of military history'.

The advert is a bit poor taken from the local newspaper 'whats on' and frankly the museum web site is a bit 'pants' but it is a great collection and a museum which has lots of events throughout the year with re enactors in attendance , the Zulu War being a favourite. Highly recommended to visit I intend to soon!!

Battle of Dorking - 1871

I first came across this book in Dorking library in the early 1990's when I was researching local history/natural history on Ranmore Common in Surrey for a university project. The common is above Dorking and great for reptiles especially Adders....naturally I got sidetracked immediatly I came across this book and an old copy it was too, in the 'not to be lent section.'



Looking at my Blog list I see that Historical Wargaming blog 'hub'mentions a game 1871: The Battle of Dorking, which can be downloaded, all the details are on the blog site. Basically it follows the book which was about the fictional invasion of Britain by Germany in 1871.

The book was Written by Sir George Tomkyns Chesney (1830-1895) 'who was a British Army general and brother of Colonel Charles Cornwallis Chesney. Educated at Blundell's School, Tiverton, and at Addiscombe, he entered the Bengal Engineers as second lieutenant in 1848. He was employed for some years in the public works department and, on the outbreak of the Indian rebellion of 1857, joined the Ambala column, was field engineer at the battle of Badli-ke-serai, brigade-major of engineers throughout the siege of Delhi, and was severely wounded in the assault (he received a medal and clasp and a brevet majority). In 1860, he was appointed head of a new department in connection with the public works accounts. His book Indian Polity (1868), dealing with the administration of the several departments of the Indian government, attracted wide attention and remains a permanent textbook. In 1871, he contributed to Blackwoods Magazine a highly influential short story called The Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer, a vivid account of a supposed invasion of England by the Germans after their victory over France' (Amazon Biog description)



Another tangent using all those early Perry Franco Prussian war figs in a box in the loft? Helion figures?? What British figures to use in home garb not the usual colonial figs? Any suggestions ????....don't think with all my current projects I could take on another one but interesting all the same and something to think about at work! Also look at Matt's Blog Waterloo to Mons which this subject fits well and truly into and his links give a good list of potential figure suppliers!

Figures in the above pictures include some of my fathers original toy soldiers, an 'Astra' fort gun and some Unfinished (what a surprise!)Wargames Foundry Perry Prussians which had escaped the loft.

I have just ordered a copy of the battle of Dorking on Amazon plus the superb book on the Artwork by Roy Cross the artist behind the best of the original Airfix box tops for the nostalgia trip!!

If you ever visit Dorking it has a gem of a traditional model shop called logically 'Dorking Models'

Invasion of Poland 1939 - 70 years ago today

Sorry for another aircraft post but today being the 70th anniversary of the start of WW2 with the invasion of Poland, see BBC coverage including interview with Ignacy Skowron who literally saw WW2 start. I thought I would contribute with a clasic kit of the past and WW2 Polish tanks etc are a specialist area I have not ventured into...amazingly!!

The PZL P-11c was obsolete by 1939 but heroically flown by their well trained pilots, many of whom were to prove themselves with the RAF flying Spitfire and Hurricanes very succesfully in the Battle of Britain and throughout the war.

Amazingly one survives in the aviation museum in Krackow The link will also give you the history of this iconic aircraft...well its the one I think of to do with the Invasion of Poland.

Back in the early 70's we used to stay as a family on our summer holidays with friends in Somerset and Dad and I used to spend some of his hard earnt 'Green Shield Stamps' (awarded from petrol stations etc put them in a book and exchange for goods at the green shield stamp shop)on kits. Revell did a set of four planes etc and one of these was the PZL P-11c, dad made this on one wet summers day as I was in my formative years as a modeller/wargamer & it still exists somewhere!This is an unmade kit from my 'nostalgia collection' comprising of 23 pieces!!



Note also Ospreys new battles of World War II series of books obtainable in Smiths etc the cheap welcome to the series offer is Poland 1939 Germany's 'lightning strike' a hardback book on the invasion of Poland for £1.99. I usually get the first few offers with this kind of deal and never join! bargain!!