Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Conflicts that came in from the Cold => Topic started by: Belgian on April 09, 2023, 11:05:59 AM
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Working on a small project set in Equitorial Africa during the Cold War ranging from 1950-1990 offering plenty of possibilities to field local African regular and irregular forces, rebels and insurgents, freedom fighters and resistance groups along with western and soviet soldiers and of course mercenaries and UN peacekeeping forces. Note this isn't a historical project, so wrong uniforms, weapons and vehicles are no problem at all :D
First of all some rather poorly armed local forces defending their tribal homeland or looking to gain some more ground during the larger conflict. As you can see armed with a rather ecclectic collection of muskets, rifles, world war two weapons. Most miniatures are Wargames Foundry with some Forlorn Hope Somali RPG armed miniatures. Although pretty poorly armed they might be able to threaten unarmed civilians or overrun local police forces and army barracks if lucky.
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Awesome start!
I had a similar project a few years ago, and had great fun 'Mau Mau'ing up some Ruga ruga :D
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I have something similar. Our son decided to play games using the Spectre rules. Naturally he wanted to use my table and terrain. After a couple of games I was impressed by the rules as being fairly realistic and also playable. I did not want to start a new period so searching the plastic mountain I found Zulus both Warlord and Perry. These bodies were combined with Zombie apocalypse survivors and weapons from Warlord from a sprue sale years ago, weapons and heads from the Zulu, Russian and U.S. Army WW2 sets and other bits and bobs from the spares box.
Not very historical but great kitbashing potential.
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Thanks for the comments and interesting tips!
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A great looking force. Plenty of scope to include a couple of beat up old landrovers, or even a witch doctor :)
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Good looking indigenous force there. I'm curious to see how well that chap with the M1919 fares if he fires it like that... ;)
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An interesting project and some clever kitbashing. Inspirational in fact. Thanks for sharing.
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These look GREAT. May I ask where you got the pieces of the African masks? I can use something like that for a project I am working on.
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These are great. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do for this project.
Here (https://thebitsbox.blogspot.com/search/label/Simbas) are my Simbas so far. I intend to add some militia with more traditional weapons when I get back to this.
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Good looking indigenous force there. I'm curious to see how well that chap with the M1919 fares if he fires it like that... ;)
Not the best trained force, he will soon find out the result 😀
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An interesting project and some clever kitbashing. Inspirational in fact. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks much appreciated!
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These look GREAT. May I ask where you got the pieces of the African masks? I can use something like that for a project I am working on.
Thanks, sure they are Wargames Foundry Tribal Warriors in Hideous Masks from their Darkest Africa range.
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These are great. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do for this project.
Here (https://thebitsbox.blogspot.com/search/label/Simbas) are my Simbas so far. I intend to add some militia with more traditional weapons when I get back to this.
Thanks, had already bookmarked your website very inspirational!
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Have been painting some of the warriors, must finish these before starting some more regular forces. Most can also serve for regular Darkest Africa games so double win lol
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Some progress on the tribal forces, managed to finish 3 groups of eight rebels (still need some matt varnish and basing) with another 2 groups of eight rebels each in the works along with some witch doctors. Read somewhere in a Congo Crisis book that the Simba witch doctors were mostly female if I recall correctly so decided to paint a female witch doctor too. Think that will do for the rebels although I would like to add some vehicle mounted heavy weapons and maybe some dismounted heavy weapons but haven't managed to find some EU based sources for this kind of miniatures that are also affordable. Would like to add some heavy machineguns, mortars and maybe some recoiless guns or light artillery mounted on trucks. Also read about some tactics the Pierre Mulele rebels used to delay, stop or ambush vehicles during the Kwilu Rebellion, quite low tech by digging pits in the roads covered with branches, leaves and dirt but were succesful so interesting detail to add to the setting and suits my rather primitive tribal rebels.
Have been looking at some useful ranges such as The Assault Group (Africa, Vietnam), Empress Miniatures (Indo-China, Vietnam), Eureka Miniatures (Bush Wars), Mongrel Miniatures (Congo Crisis) but most look unavailable in the EU or are a bit too expensive for my frugal taste if available more or less locally. Might place a bulk order in the UK or USA but if somebody has useful miniatures (everything that could be useful in post WW2 Africa that would include WW2 equipment etc as plenty of that seems to have been used to) and don't need them anymore feel free to get in touch!
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Working on some crews for my vehicles, also waiting on the delivery of some 3D printed recoilless rifles and mortars. Also painted some livestock with handler.
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Working on the last batch of tribal warriors and based some civilians that I had laying around. Waiting on the arrival of the 3D printed recoilless rifles, mortars and some goats. Thinking about finding a cheap way to create 1960īs mercenaries and paratroopers but canīt find cheap FAL or SLR rifles and thatīs the only obstacle for now as the weapons are quite iconic.
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Finished all of the tribal insurgents or freedom fighters, just need to finish the bases and matt varnish them. Ecclectic mix of tribal spearmen, bowmen and more modern armed rebels. Managed to paint these 47 miniatures in a couple of months not too bad. Next might be the local military forces if plans work out.
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Looking good! That's a bunch of guerillas, though! Yer gonna need a bunch of their opponents... ;)
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Great work, they really look the part 8)
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Thanks for the nice comments, next will be some scenery and hopefully a small national army equipped with WWII and post-war allied weapons.
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Recently purchased a rather large pile of Bolt Action sprues and build some Indian Peacekeepers, made by matching US Infantry with British Eight Army parts. So mostly US uniforms and British weapons, backed up with an armoured car.
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Looking good mate!
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Great stuff, looking forward to the completed bits
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Love your conversions,fun theater to do.UNC Peacekeepers ,Congo 1960;s1)..2).. Irish and Swedish
M113's .... 3) Makasi (Cuban Exiles)..Swift boats. 4)..Swedish M-8 Greyhound..5)...Swedish Med MG 6)..Swedish M-8 7)..Irish 81mm mortar 8)..Swedish 120mm Mortar.
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..more Africa ...Congo Mercs..
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..more Congo.1)..Irish Thompsen AMC 2)..Swedish MK-42 APC..3)..Swedish Rail Security...4)..Swedes 5).5 Commando speed boats. 6)...Ghurkas 7)...Merc train 8)..
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Thanks for the pictures, pretty useful! Great ideas on the train!
So not the most exciting miniatures but painted some goats lol
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That photo of the bloke firing a .50 off the back of a jeep, whilst smoking a pipe, with another bloke in the front firing a GPMG, is one of the coolest allyest pictures I've ever seen :)
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Your welcome on the photos,love thee goats.I painted 50 penguins and sheep last year ,for a SYW Falklands game..s Goats are normal...LoL.
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I think you'll find that isn't a Swift Boat per se, they didn't come it service until after the Congo Crisis was over. The original Swifts were based on a commercial water taxis servicing oil rigs so it's probably a similar design, although the charthouse is of a different configuration to both the actual Swifts and their commercial predecessors.
Nice goats! Which one is Messi? lol
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Goats are great. Details like that help create the visual narrative that builds immersion. Looking good!
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Loving all the posts in this thread. Please keep it up. Very inspirational 😃
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The picture of the .30 dug into the trench is very interesting. Does anyone know what those things on the end of the barrel of the .30 are?
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Carlos,those are Swift boats.There were 2 operated by the ''MAKASI'' Cuban Exiles from their Nicaraugua posting.Equipped w/ Radar and would operate w/ 5 Commandos 5 Speed boats on Lake Tanganyka out of Albertville.Only 1 boat operated at time.James Hawes ex-Navy Seal commanded this C.I.A.op There is a book about it. Thanx to Manny Richardo and the 'MAKASI LEGACY GROUP'' for the photos.
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Very interesting! You are quite correct. Looks like the CIA beat the navy to the punch. They did indeed send a couple of 'Swifts' with latifundista pirate crews to the Congo in the mid '60s along with six 21 foot boats.
I had been reading the USN's official histories recently and those said that the Swift's came about in response to the needs of Market Time and were only ordered in 1965.
The CIA Congo versions are different to the Navy versions, different deckhouse set up and armament.
Very interesting though and good to learn something new. Cheers!
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Cattle herders and Simbas. Carlos you are most welcome,I love this theater.. and history.
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I wonder if our man second from the bottom has heard the old joke about why a Claymore mine has four legs? ;)
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So instead of finishing other stuff, I quickly made some sugar cane plants. Not the most realistic look but quick and easy with materials already available. Looking to build a sugar cane plantation to defend or loot in the future.
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Oh, I think those'll definitely work!
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Yep! Those definitely work. En masse those will look great.
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I agree with the others, they should work a treat. 👍
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They will work perfectly.. Some of my terrain.
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Thanks, everybody sugar cane plant mass-production has already started. ;)
@Juergen, that looks great! May I ask which type of cash crop the small and thick palm trees represent?
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Loving that sugar cane idea
Cheers
Matt
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The picture of the .30 dug into the trench is very interesting. Does anyone know what those things on the end of the barrel of the .30 are?
(https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=140877.0;attach=203143;image)
Its for the arc of fire blocks either side for firing along firing lanes, so you do not fire into your own defensive positions.
Cheers
Matt
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More easily achieved by banging two star pickets or wooden stakes into the ground on each side of the barrel. Firing on fixed lines. That looks like a seriously over engineered answer to a simple problem if that's what those things are.
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Never seen those before. They look like they are fixed to the barrel though, so hardly of use when staking out firing lanes? (I've only ever used the aforementioned sticks in the ground myself).
My best guess might be some sort of bipod? Second option is they might be handles for barrel changes perhaps? Third one is some sort of ballistic shield or vehicle mount? I'm really grasping now... lol
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Looks like it's actually a weird bipod. Ksp m42B
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Another view.
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They aree ''Bottle Palms '' decorative only.Maybe Palm oil.
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Never seen those before. They look like they are fixed to the barrel though, so hardly of use when staking out firing lanes? (I've only ever used the aforementioned sticks in the ground myself).
My best guess might be some sort of bipod? Second option is they might be handles for barrel changes perhaps? Third one is some sort of ballistic shield or vehicle mount? I'm really grasping now... lol
My thoughts echo those of Daeothar. The photos seem to support the bipod theory. I have never seen anything like them before. That is an interesting wire buttstock in the one photo as well. Different from the usual M1919a6 buttstock.
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That's one VERY STRANGE bipod.
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Some great photos - good work on the sugar cane :)
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That's one VERY STRANGE bipod.
Swedish engineering at its finest. Probably a safety measure to avoid having any sharp edges. ;)
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They aree ''Bottle Palms '' decorative only.Maybe Palm oil.
Good enough for me 😀
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So small update on the sugar cane plantation. I went for a modular approach for ease of gameplay, storage and usability. By doing the plants modular I can swap these for other crops such as coconut, rubber or palm oil for other settings. Still need some more sugar cane plants, thinking of also adding some smaller plants. Also printed a bridge for this project today so expect some pictures of this piece too.
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Looking good mate!
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I'm looking forward to the marijuana crop. lol
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Swedish engineering at its finest. Probably a safety measure to avoid having any sharp edges. ;)
It came from Ikea, they just failed to assemble it properly :) My other guess is that it doubles as a handle to carry the gun by 2 people.
Anyways, I like the plantation terrain!
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Great job
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That bloke on the right looks like Joe Strummer. Right down to the expression on his face. lol
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That bloke on the right looks like Joe Strummer. Right down to the expression on his face. lol
I thought the same thing lol
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So the sugar cane plants are finished, pictures to follow. Have in the meanwhile been printing a bridge, quite early work but it will be planked on the bridge surface. Quite fun print and will then be glued together supported by two oak beams for support. Bridge was made from several free Thingiverse files.
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Several files? So you basically scratchbuilt this bridge virtually before doing it in real life?
I like it; it looks like a million utalitarian bridges all over the globe and it should be useable for a whole host of settings 8)
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Several files? So you basically scratchbuilt this bridge virtually before doing it in real life?
I like it; it looks like a million utalitarian bridges all over the globe and it should be useable for a whole host of settings 8)
Thanks more or less but first printed the standing sides, then used those to size the bridge surface. To be honest not that difficult as all files were just printed flat without supports but quite effective for such a low effort building method.
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Really useful looking bridge :)
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Really useful looking bridge :)
Thanks much appreciated
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Great job.Ferret w/ recoiless rifle for South African Airborne (Parabats),during Angola war.
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Thanks but prefer this Unimog with added recoilless rifle. They even managed to include a mannequin lol
But like the look of the Ferret too, looks worth kitbashing.
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So the promised pictures of the finished sugar cane plantation. Fully modular to allow more crop diversity and ease of movement. Shown in the picture some SciFi UN Forces in search of rebels. Could use more of these plants but might go for a coconut plantation should time allow it. What do you think of the end result?
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Well done. You finished that quick.
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Both the sugar cane and the vehicles look great mate!
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Loving the sugar cane, do you sell the bridge file?
Cheers
Matt
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Plantation looks great!
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Thanks, quite like the end result too!
Regarding the files, they can be found here for free
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2439753
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2043081
Note that I have resized the parts and also needed to do some manual cutting and glueing but the result is decent.
You can also find other bridges on Thingiverse for free along with all other cool stuff.
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Have been scratchbuilding a small African village from mostly cartonboard, filler and other household items. Looking to be as frugal as possible working with easily available materials and tools. Has a bit of an oriental look so might also be used for other settings, quite happy but dreading the painting phase. What do you think of these?
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Just painted up some African huts if it helps ?
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=142247.msg1814092#msg1814092
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Those crops have turned out nicely, great idea .
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Just painted up some African huts if it helps ?
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=142247.msg1814092#msg1814092
Useful thanks
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You are welcome.
Hope it helps.
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So thanks to Steve, I have been able to source SLR rifles and managed to start work on some Belgian paratroopers. Bodies from Warlord Games British Paratroopers and some other parts from different plastic sets. Quite happy with the result.
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So thanks to Steve, I have been able to source SLR rifles and managed to start work on some Belgian paratroopers. Bodies from Warlord Games British Paratroopers and some other parts from different plastic sets. Quite happy with the result.
They look excellent, I had a similar plan to make some Simbas (the ones from the Wild Geese film) using the same bits. Thanks, now I know it'll work.
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Great stuff, dead easy innit!?
I've already done a few Simbas, British Para bodies, Dak field caps, and Colonel Bill's SLRs.
:)
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They look great. Where did you get the SLRs?
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This is a great project :-* :-* :-*
Where did I put my converted Swedish UN troops...
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Looking good mate!
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I wonder if our man second from the bottom has heard the old joke about why a Claymore mine has four legs? ;)
FWIW, that's photoshopped. Here's the original: https://www.wired.com/2007/04/mursi-tribeswom/
(https://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/images_blogs/cult_of_mac/_gallery_mideastafrica_mursI-pod.jpg)
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Very nice Belgian paras. I was in the Brussels Military Museum last week where they have a display on the "Para Commandos". Good luck painting the camouflage. Quite a distinct palette of colours.
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Red Leather, Gunship Green and Yellow Ochre n'est ce pas?
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Carlos. Yes. However quite different colours when faded. Google has some good examples in various shades of "fade".
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OK. Red Leather, Gunship Green and Yellow Ochre.... lightly dry brushed with Stone Grey. Reckon that should do the job. :)
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They look great. Where did you get the SLRs?
Thanks everybody, the rifles are from Colonel Bill.
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Nice conversions, looking forward to the camo treatment
Cheers
Matt
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Thanks everybody, the rifles are from Colonel Bill.
Thanks
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So update on the bridge! Not sure why I printed the bridge supports though as none are visible ...