Singling Update

The town square of Singling is coming along well. There will be 13 buildings on the table for this setup in 15mm. Of the 13, five are completely done. Another five are in a partial state of at least 50% done. Of the remaining 3, I will need to buy 1 and can use existing files for the other two. I made a map previously showing what I have build overlayed on a map of the town. I updated this with the currrent state of the buildings.

The main need is a damaged rowhouse where troops can fire down upon the street below from a hole in the roof. As to the rest, I have some trees as mentioned before for orchards. Those should be done in the next few days. And the fences. I have some low stone walls that I can use for the garden near building 10. I need to print more walls for the ones near building 28. That should be easy. I gave 3d printed the dung pile that sits in the courtyard between buildings 8, 9 and 10. It needs to be primed and painted. I also have some windows to print for the School House as well.

I have ordered the last few LMG teams for the Germans. Both the Germans and Americans need basing. As to armor, this is where I have work to do. I have printed 2 German Jadgpanzer IVs. I would like to have at least 4 of these. I have some already painted Panther tanks. It would be good to have about 2 more. I have files to print them but I am hesitant given the issues I had with the US Tanks. For the American tanks, I need a couple different types. There are 75mm gunned, 76mm gunned and a single 105mm gunned Sherman. I printed two 76mm tanks. The problem here is the tab for the turret is too large for the hole in the hull. I have been sanding one down to attempt to get them to fit. I glued the treads to the hull as well. One of the treads has proven to be quite fragile. Of the 4 sets of treads that I printed, three have broken during cleanup. Disapointing but they do seem fragile.

I should be in position to start playtesting the scenarios fully in the next few weeks. I plan on making these available in both What a Tanker and Chain of Command versions. Honestly, WAT seems to make the most sense given the descriptions of how the battles went.

Reinforcements

I purchased a lot off of eBay of what I thought would be a full winter platoon of Germans. They were based for Flames of War. The painting was very nice and the miniatures looked great. I bought these because I needed to get three additional LMG teams for my Winter Panzer Grenadiers. What I ended up with was five stands of 4 riflemen and a single LMG team with two additional riflemen. Very disapointing. Unsure of what to do next, I reached back out to Gajo Miniatures who I bought my first painted platoon from. Gajo is fantastic. They said they will sell me just the LMG teams. Now I am just waiting on the invoice from Gajo. These I won't have to remove the base from and rebase individually. I should have gone with that to begin with. The miniatures I received are still really nice and I will find a use for them somewhere. Possibly for a mid war regular infantry platoon.

I also received a second eBay purchase that I am 100% happy with. This is a set of Plastruct tiles for the buildings. I can finish building 28 now. Once the roof tiles are complete, I still need to paint the roof and add some water stains/dirt to it. For a very simple 3d model I based off of the measurements on Google Earth, it is not too bad. I also need to make doors as well.

Based on the city description, I have, one of the dominant colors of the houses in Singling was pink. I chose this for the Warbases townhouse that I have built. The building is getting close at thsi point. The roof is fully built. I am currently trying to figure out the windows. I think I need a white technical pen to finish out the window frames. I used a gloss varnish on the windows to try to make the windows look better. I need to add some water stains on the building as well and paint the roof. But it is getting close.

I am still trying to work out a couple of more buildings for the scenario but I am getting close. I need somekind of apartment or rowhouse behind buildings 8 & 10 (Building 9). I have a really nice one from Sarissa that I have started to build. This will probably serve for this. And a ruined one for Building 12. The ruined one really just has roof damage that a bazooka team can use to engage the enemy armor from. I think I found a vendor from the UK that has what I want on eBay. I would have to make the damage sections myself. For Buildings 8 & 10, I have one 3d printed building that I have started work on. I have an old Impudent Mortal L shaped MDF building that I am looking at modifying to be the other building. The way the roof is shaped will take work to get it looking normal. I will need a chimney to add to it as well. I have not started on it yet.

Lastly, I have started to base my German Infantry. Basing is a chore that I don't like but has to be done. I have about 1/3rd of the German Infantry based. None of the Americans are based yet.

The trees that I worked on didn't work out too well. I used some PVA spray on the trees and sprinkled snow flock on them and it didn't look good. I am trying something else to see if that will work.

Over the weekend, I pushed through and finished off two buildings. Building 28 and the pink building that I haven't figured out where it will go.

German Armor For Singling

I managed to 3d print two JadgPanzer IVs. These are Bergman models downloaded from Wargaming3d. They printed really well. Very happy with the results.

The US 76mm Gunned Shermans that I printed are another story altogether. The parts printed really well. However, the tab on the turret that fits into the hole in the hull is way too big. I am not sure how to fix that. I may need to attempt to reduce it. I may cut that tab off with a band saw and see if I can find the right size wooden dowel to replace it with. If that works, I will be really happy.

I do have some other Shermans and some Panther tanks for the remaining American forces. These are painted and ready to go. I could use a couple more Panthers. I have not yet based any of the infantry. I just made an eBay purchase for some additional Germans to complete out the platoon with additional light machine gun teams.

I did begin to winterize some trees. I based about fifty of them and gave them a light spray of Gray paint. I will try to give them a brown wash next and lastly glue some snow flock on them. I think these will look great.

I did get to spackle the Warbases Townhouse and get some paint on Building 28. I also managed to order some additional roofing tiles. I am not sure if I have the right size but the price was OK and it should be close. For building 28, I only need the ridge tiles to complete the building.

With this done, my next concern will be how to simulate the hillside that the town is built on. The school was built on the side of the hill with the basement exposed on the back side of the building and completely underground on the front. I will need to figure out how to have the hill and the building together. I had originally 3d printed a lower to the building but it is a different size than the one I am scratch building. I will need to sort that out.

The hardest part of this is waiting in between steps.

Singling - The Orchard

In the first scenario of the campaign, there is an armored attack uphill through an orchard. All of my current trees that I have are summertime trees or late spring. I have a handful of fall trees. So I need a large orchard of winter trees.Looking through the bits box, I came up with fifty-eight Woodland Scenics armatures. These range from small trees barely bigger than the 15mm miniatures I have to about four inches tall. This should be a nice variety of sizes.

Now that they are bent into shape, I will need to decide on the basing. At this point, I am guessing that individually will probably be for the best. I will give them a light spray of gray paint and then a brown wash. This should make them look less plastic. Once this dries, I will use a spray adhesive and then sprinke them with some snow flock. We will see how that looks.

I also have to make two winter gardens. I have not figured out how I will do that yet. Anyway, it is progress.

Singling Progress - 4/6/2025

I did manage some hobby time over the weekend. I completed the roof on the Warbases Townhouse. I still have to plaster the building. I am not sure what else I will be doing to it yet. Nor what color to paint it.

Next, I was able to get some work done on the Building 28. I got the roof tiles on and have them taped down. I also put lintels above the doors and a shelf below each window. I have the ridge tiles cut for the roof but may not quite have enough. Will have to check. I also 3d printed some chimneys for the building. I didn't plan for the chimneys when I did the roof. This may cause me issues.

So where am I with this? Actually, I think I am more than half way done. Here is the setup with the buildings i have so far:

I am really onely missing one building. I plan on buying a rowhouse that will sit behind the L shaped buildings. There are some stone walls that I have that need to be added and I need to print some more fences for around building 28. These will be 3d printed. I am happy with the progress so far.

Singling Revisited 4/3/2025

I have run out of some needed items. First is some caulk and super glue. I ran out of both. I also ran out of gloves for the 3d printer.

Building 10 needs to have a crack repaired in the building. The caulk is needed for that. Building 28 needs roofing tiles and some work done on the windows and doors. It is largely spackled. I also need to add some chimneys. I made some basic ones in Tinkercad. I will add some brick paper once they are printed.

Hopefully, I can get more work done this weekend.

Sidetracked - Cold War Miniatures.

I have been going through my Cold War miniatures again. This was one of the last projects I was working on and talking to Brian English about before he passed away. It is hard to believe that it has been 18 months already. I visited his widow over the weekend and was trying to help her with Brian's hobby stuff. She graciously gave me a bin of his Cold War miniatures and some of his Dark Ages stuff. Both things we had either gamed together or talked extensively about. I am very greatful for the gift.

One thing that surprised me was how much stuff that he had that was painted. He must have sent them out to be painted and got them back without ever unwrapping them from the painter. What I unwrapped was a big surprise.

Lets start with the Warsaw Pact forces. There was a large number of painted infantry. I am not sure which nation they belong to. There were a few miniature with fur hats. But there were light machine gunners with a top loading magazine fed weapon that to me looked like a Bren gun. based on this, I think they are Czechoslovakian troops as they carried the ZB vz 26/52/57 that look like they would be a good match for this weapon. However, the images on the Team Yankee website show the uniforms as much lighter than what I have. They could be Cuban as they also used the Czech weapon in their military. For now, they will be treated as a generic Eastern Bloc force.

There are 8x RPG-7 wielding guys, a general officer with a host of medals, a dismounted tanker, three pistol wielding junior officers, 24x AK47 wielding troops (some may have RPKs but I didn't look closely), 1x fur hatted AK wielding fellows, 1x fur hatted Bren gunner (easier to write than the Czech weapon) 2x fur hatted NCO/Offier types, 8x dead troops (with greusome paint jobs), 3x prone light machine gunners, three steel helmeted bren gunners.

These troops are really nice. I am looking forward to gaming with them. There are some minor touch ups needed on some helmets but look great. There was some kind of support vehicle that had some equipment/rails on top that had broken. I need to determine what that was supposed to look like to fix it. I just haven't been able to identify it.

In addition to these, there were a number of tanks. This really stretched my recognition skills. I have determined that they are T-62 tanksand a ZSU-23-4 anti-aircraft vehicle. I have wanted one of these for a long time. I wanted them for my Syrians for Lebanon 82, but this is a very welcome addition. The tanks had bent barrels from travel and most of the paint chipped off those bends. The ZSU required some straightening as well but was not as bad as I had feared. I have more than enough T-62s at this point. What is nice is I have a mix of hatch open and closed vehicles.

Then there were three BTR-60 (I think) vehicles and a pair of UAZ-469 (I think). In addition, there were some support teams in the box: Three mortars, three anti-tank missile teams and three DSHK teams. These are welcome additions to my estisting troops. My existing troops and vehicles are in the tray minus the T-55 tanks.

I also have five T-55 tanks of which only one is painted. The rest are at least undercoated and assembled. These I had purchased previously and are not pictured.

In addition, the lot came with some US forces. There were three M1 tanks! I have a box of unassembled M1 Abrams tanks that I haven't done anything with. I may have one painted but without the MERDEC paint job. There is what I think is an M2 Bradley, eight infantry and what I think may be an LAV-25. The LAV-25 mostly served with the 82nd Airborne Division within the US Army. I am not sure how much that will see action on the table but I have happy to have it.

This will provide me with more than enough for a Chain of Command sized game. I will try to spend some time doing touch up on the paint that has chipped before getting back to the Singling Campaign. For Chain of Command, I think I have enough men now for two to three platoons of Soviets. I now have both Mechanized Division and Armor Division forces. I have some T-72s in a box waiting to be assembled. I have one completed T-72 and another that is partially assembled. I will try to have three T-72s for my Soviets and build the rest for my Syrian troops.

Singling Progress 3/26/2025

I worked some more on the buildings for the Singling project. The progress has been exceedingly slow.

The first up is building 10/8. I will try to print the opposite image of this building to make the other half. It is coming along. I have fixed the roof and will glue the roof to the main building just to simplify it.

I finished the plastering of building 28. It still looks horrible. I will paint it before putting on the roof and chimneys.

The school is stalled while I was waiting to finish a print job. I am uncertain what I did with the print stick. So it is unchanged in a while.

I have finished bricking one chimney of the warbases townhouse.

The L Shaped Barn has the most progress. It is coming together. While gluing the building I ran out of super glue. So it is still in some pieces.

I purchases some snow flock for the infantry. I promply ran out of spackle for basing. I did get two successful prints of 76mm gunned Sherman tanks. At the most, I will need four of them. This is very achievavble. I also bought a US Army paint set from Vallejo. I should be able to cure and base these in the next few days.

Building 10 and more

When you work on a 3d model, you never know how it will turn out until it is printed. I had a friend print out the model that I cobbled together for Building 10 in Singling. The results were interesting. The building itself came out well. The side portion also printed well and looks good. The main building, I didn't piece together well enough and it left a cut in the building that is currently held together by the window frame. The main roof is the problem. The join between them failed. The roof was too thin and looks bad. It will need to be reprinted. I may try to print from my resin printer to see if there is a difference.

I finished the assembly of the parts of the Warbases Townhouse building. I am using brick paper for the chimneys. I have about half of one of the two chimneys done. The building will be plastered and I may add shutters. still debating.

The order from Tabletop Terrain order came in. The models are very nice. They are detailed and come in multiple parts. Far more parts than I had anticipated. It will take some fitting to get them to work. The L Shaped Barn arrived in ten separate pieces. I am trying to figure out how to assemble it without messing up the models.The Cafe Gonderee model is very nice as well. It comes with a removable roof and separate floors. It is a little more straight forward on how to assemble. These will be nice additions to the table.

I brought home a 3d printed version of the Singling School. I was disapointed. The windows on the back are barely visible. The details on the front door are almost invisible. Also the building came out smaller than the scratch built version. The slanted base that I had made for it is also too small. I will have to scratch build a base for it. Hopefully that won't be too bad. For the scratch built one, the back and side windows still need to be reprinted as well as the center second story window. I have a file ready to print, just not the time to print it. I did get the front center window printed over the weekend with a partial print of some Sherman Tanks for the scenario. The print failed to print part of the hulls. The treads had some issue being removed from the supports and one broke.

The image above you can see the original broken window from the first print and the other windows of the second print. I may need to rethink that thickness for other projects.

I started work on the L Shaped Barn. I had to sand the parts where the buildings joined as they were a bit rough. The Join on the corner had a piece that extended I cut with a band saw so the pieces fit together. In doing this, the model broke but not too badly so it could be glued. I am doing a few pieces at a time. I will end up with a solid building piece in the end and a solid roof in the end.

I also started work on the Cafe Gondoree over the weekend. I glued it together and will deal with it as a single piece instead of removable floors.

Sorry for the rambling nature of this post. I put it together over the course of a week.

Singling School House

I spend a little bit of time on the Singling School house over the weekend. The house is artist mounting board with a tile roof on it. I have spackled the front and one side of the building. I need to print the missing window frames. The front upper center window failed when I printed it. I need to try and get those redone. The side and back windows need to be done as well. Since this building is on a slope, I have a 3d model of the full building as well. My debate is on do I 3d print the sloped base or scratch build it to match the rest of the building or dump what I have and 3d print the whole thing. The building is currently held together with a considerable amount of hot glue. I am not happy with the roof as it looks like it is sagging. I still plan on keeping it and finishing it out. But I am also going to have it printed. Then I will choose which one I like.

I am waiting for pictures until I have at least all of the windows in place and have the building spackled. At this point, it is less than impressive.

Besides the school, I purchased a 3D building off of Wargaming 3d from Hartolia Miniatures. Actually it is the set "Set of three traditional European stone buildings with farm and stable (7)." Within the set, there is an L shaped house. This was a reasonable approximation of Building 10 in Singling. It did have some features that I wasn't interested in. It had an L shaped wall stuck to the building. It also had a set of stairs that led to the back door. The main part of the building was too narrow. I put these in Tinkercad and cut the stairs off. Lowered the door. Changed the windows and sliced off the L shaped wall. Then I stretched the main part of the building to a size closer matching the historic building. This made the building much closer to Building 10 of Singling. The roof is still not right as in Singling, both halves of the building were the same height. I had to work on the main house roof and rebuild it so it would fit with the resized building. This made the modeled roof tiles looking wrong. So I reuilt it but did so with a smooth roof with the intent of putting on separate roof tiles sheets on it. I will see how it comes out. The building will need to be plastered to cover up the changes that I made to the building. It definitely left it scarred.

I did do some work on Building 28. That consisted of measuring for the roof tiles and glueing the two halves of the building together. I also started work on the Warbases townhouse in 15mm. It is a nice building. I have the pieces assembled. Other than that the weekend was spent on things other than hobbying.

Here is an update on the town square table. The first image is pictures of the actual buildings from just after the battle and in the present.

The second is the buildings I have worked on for this.

One item I did do is work on the dirt road section for the town square. It was still drying and didn't get any pictures of it.