20mm Rhodesians

[Ash]

These are the first 20mm I've done, I was initially on the hunt for 28mm Rhodesians, but these were just too nice not to have a go.
I much prefer the 'later war' look to these blokes, jump overalls and fireforce vests etc; plus the added bonus that when I went looking for Alouette IIIs, the 1/72 scale kits were a lot easier to find and considerably cheaper than their 1/48 scale counterparts.

All the Soldiers are from Under Fire Miniatures, the helos are Heller, the pilots are Elhiem Figures, I also found a couple of nice door gunners but cannot remember where they came from.

I picked up the Selous Scouts packs and a couple of packs each of the RLI minis. After a little reorg and a few head swaps on some that I had doubles of, I made up a load of four man sticks. For the RLI each has a stick leader with FN and a radio, an MAG gunner plus two with FN (one stick has a gunner with an RPK).

















These are one pack of Selous Scouts, before I pinched a couple of blokes to make up the RLI sticks.



I had a few spare RLI and the other Scouts, which I decided to paint up in Rhodesian camo to use as RhSAS,
they look the part with Soviet weapons and one group has all the back packs.







3 G-cars with twin .30cal brownings and 1 K-car with 20mm cannon, I've also got a Cessna 337 to convert to a Lynx and a Dakota sitting in a box, somewhere . . .

K-Car



G-Car

[von Lucky]

Very nice - still a lot of character on those infantry and I suspect it's easier to keep those birds aloft.

[redzed]

that's some really impressive painting

[Ash]

Cheers, I really like this range, if they made them all in 28mm as well I'd buy them all again!

I have the RAR stick waiting for paint and the ZANLA guerillas, first
 packs have been finished:

[Captain Blood]

Great figures and I like the painting.

[S_P]

Very nice- a consistently high standard throughout all the figs. 

[Kingscarbine]

Very nice. Where did you get the 20mm gun and gunner?

[Ash]

The gunner is a pilot figure, came from the same set as the techs on the G-cars. I can't remember where I got them from, so if anyone recognises them I would like to know myself!
The 20mm was scratch built from Evergreen plastic rod, plasticard, a bit of brass tube and a paperclip - dont look too close.
Here's one of the WIP pics, gives a better view:

[gamer Mac]

The gunner looks like SHQ Vietnam helo crew, I have some.
Lovely thread

[Kingscarbine]

The 20mm was scratch built from Evergreen plastic rod, plasticard, a bit of brass tube and a paperclip - dont look too close.

Looks good to me. I have four Heller Alouettes to assemble and will use them for Portuguese Air Force. One will be a "Bad Wolf" 20mm heli-cannon for aerial support. I'll use Elhiem crews but have been looking for a 20mm for some time.

[Ash]

I think the Elhiem pilots are great for a project like this, as they are fairly uncluttered with life jackets, OTT helmets etc.

[Londoncopper]

Outstanding work! I was all set to order some Liberation figures until I saw this thread, now you force me to take the more expensive option!

[Ash]

Thanks a lot.
Personally, I think these guys are excellent. I wish Under Fire did helo crews for the Alouette III, as for the most part, detail wise just about everything else didn't really compare.
I've just ordered some more little blokes for another couple of ongoing projects; 1) a little Executive outcomes force [on the hunt for a good BMP-2] and 2) a Daniel Carney'esque 'Wild Geese' force.
That should keep me out of trouble for a bit . . .

[Westfalia Chris]

Thanks a lot.
Personally, I think these guys are excellent. I wish Under Fire did helo crews for the Alouette III, as for the most part, detail wise just about everything else didn't really compare.

Hear hear! For the time being, I'd settle for a pack of Grey's Scouts and maybe some Paratroopers, but vehicle crews would be great.

Regarding your topic, I wish I had seen them earlier - when I assembled my Alouettes, I considered the construction too flimsy to work with a reduced canopy, so fit them enclosed and painted in the glass. The extra detail of the crew and guns really sets them apart.

[Kingscarbine]

Here are some photos of Portuguese armed helis in Africa and more recent photos of a 20mm.