Bring Home the Bacon

In WWII the Germans had butchers to prepare livestock for the troops to eat.  Livestock did not require refrigeration, and could be purchased or taken from the local population.

These figures are "junk" troops from the spares box.  I did some head swaps to make them into soft caps.

The tree and stump is from the Alamo Accessories set by Imex.  The base is flocked sheet styrene.

The cow is a cow model with the head cut off and the middle carved out.

Troops have to eat, even in a wargame, so this is just another way to obtain supplies.

Stock Up

Sometimes bad things happen to me.  I have lost my job.  I have had various disasters happen.  Sometimes bad things happen to other people.  They have a fire, or there is an earthquake.  I think we should prepare for disasters, including with our hobby.

I maintain a two year supply of glue, paint, knife blades, razor saws, paintbrushes and all the other expendable items that get used when doing hobby stuff.  Imagine you had lots of time on your hands, certainly you would want to work on your hobby.  So it's a good idea to keep a reserve of hobby essentials to allow you to work on the models or the collection.

In times of plenty, stock up on hobby stuff.  In times of scarcity, you can use things up a bit.  Building models is a fairly cheap hobby, and if you have all your supplies lined up for a year or more of work, you can keep going even when things are going well.  It really keeps up morale and provides safe, and inexpensive entertainment to keep your mind engaged.

German Paratrooper Supplies

Paratroopers in WWII, the US Army jumped with a large load of gear, and weapons, on their body. 

The Germans jumped clean.  The heavy gear sometimes caused jump injuries.  The Germans loaded weapons and ammo and other gear in boxes and parachuted them.

A Ju-52 could carry 12 paratroopers and four cargo boxes.  One box for every three troops.

The boxes were color coded with stripes to tell the Germans what was inside each box.

The boxes had little wheels inside that could be mounted to allow the heavy boxes to be towed around by manpower.

The boxes were used to supply units that were cut off and could hold panzerfausts, grenades, mortars and mortar shells.  If you have WWII German paratroopers, you need these boxes.  Units that worked with or around German paratroopers often liberated a few of these boxes for themselves.

Airfield

An airfield full of boxes.

Spare engine parts.

Extra machine gun barrels for when they burn out.

Food, uniforms, oxygen hoses, extra canopy glass.

Spare tires, oxygen bottles, boots, jackets, shoes, socks, belts, tee shirts, underwear.

Spam and bullets, beans and barbed wire, it all has to be shipped from home in a box.

Supplies

When I get crates, I try and paint them up in a variety of colors.  These are all different kinds of wood.

Cherry, oak, pine, maple, driftwood, ash all different kinds of wood tones.

Civilian crates are almost never painted, and even military ones are seldom painted.

Military bases, and camps often have old drums of oil, fuel, or grease sitting around.

Even cooking oils are kept in drums, in war and in peace.

Stack a few crates or barrels around the runway and you go from a simple field to a forward airbase.

Savings Plan

Just as we save up money or food for an emergency or crisis, I also save up hobby items. When I go to the hobby shop, I buy an extra bottle of Model Master styrene model glue and sheet plastic. When I go to the model train shop I buy an extra tube of Goo, contact rubber cement. When I visit the art supply store I buy more Olfa snap off knife blades and razor saws blades.

When I go to the kit collector show, I often pick up an extra model that I know I am unlikely to build for a while. At Target, Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us I pick up extra office supplies; paper, pens, markers and tape. When my wife takes me to JoAnns or Michaels, I get fancy paper from the scrapbook section.

Having all these extra items allows me to keep building models even if I get laid off of work. We all face various financial bumps over time. I have been laid off, had car expenses crop up expectantly, and hobby spending has to take a back seat. One way to get through those problems is to stock up on hobby tools and supplies in the good times. I write the date on consumables, like glue, that can go bad over time to insure I open the oldest ones first. Super glues, CA types have a shelf life that is pretty short, so don’t stockpile those, but other glues will usually last for many years. A little planning can keep you building models even in the bad times.

Supplies

Photos look a bit blue due to the fact that everything is painted grey and the lighting is late in the day. These are pallets of supplies that I set up to carry on the decks of the side wheel steamer.

They are also ready to be loaded into trucks. The pallets are the same size are German trucks.

Some Paul Heiser Models trucks and halftracks and other bits.

Halftracks and other PHM models in HO 1/87th scale.

All the supplies that cut off military units might need. Fuel and lubricants, spare tires, ammo, and commo wire. A pile of backpacks and loads of Gerry cans. All kinds of good stuff.

Box Cars

Many of the supplies that kept the US Army going in Europe were taken from the American heartland by rail to ports of embarkation. New York City was a major port then as it is now.

A single Liberty Ship could hold as many as 300 box cars full of supplies. Naturally, I determined that means I need to have 300 box cars in my collection. I don't have that many yet, but I am working on it. Recently I posted some photos of a few of my refrigerated box cars, here are some for dry goods.

A US Army division in WWII used thirty box cars worth of supplies every day. So one Liberty Ship could supply one division for ten days. Since I am building about one division, one Liberty Ship worth of supplies seems about right.

Supplies

All military units require supplies and these are some of the supplies I recently purchases on a trip to Pegasus Hobbies, in Montclair. Larry gives me a bit of a discount on purchases because I am a good customer.

With all the new Caesar Miniatures figures that have been released recently, I was falling behind. My first priority was to build up my WWII German Paratroopers. Despite there being plastic 1/72nd scale paratroopers from Airfix, Esci/Italeri, Revell and Orion, I don't think there was ever a really good set until the new Caesar Miniatures set.

The new Caesar Miniatures Panzergrenadiers II set was also high on my want list. They fit perfectly with the Panzergrenadiers I set and so I had to get several boxes.

I got the Odemars / Ykreol Bosnians but I am using some of the new Caesar Miniatures Mountain troops to fill up the TO&E for them. I am also filling up the Airfix Mountain Troops with a few of the figures from this set too.

I also have gradually been getting the Maya and Inca from Caesar Miniatures. So I got a couple sets of them.

My late war WWI German sets have been upgraded by the addition of a few Emhar German Infantry, German Artillery, and Caesar WWI Germans. Altogether I purchased about 40 boxes of troops at one time. Something to keep me busy in the rains.

D-Day

June 6, 1944 is when the Western Allies invaded German occupied France along the Normandy coast. Once the Germans were forcibly removed from France, they got their country back. The US and UK only took enough soil to bury some of their dead. How interesting that a nation would be conquered and the conquered leaves and returns the entire nation to the people who live there, without conditions or occupation or reparation. Just as the US and UK are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Americans had been planning the invasion for over two years and troops had been training in some cases for the whole time. The army that landed was well equipped with modern weapons and support equipment. They used many secret weapons that while not as flashy as a Tiger II or as Me 262 were very important. For the Allies everything was subordinated to logistics. It was a long way from a tank factory in Detroit to the shores of France, and no direct ports to off load supplies. The Allies invented undersea pipelines to transport fuel, and artificial harbors to allow ships to offload where harbors had not been before. Some of these things did not work as well as designed, but they were only a small part of the whole. In war you often try several different plans at once and hope one of them works. Often only in hindsight do you know what the best plan was going to be.

Try a wargame using logistics. Your tanks can't move until the trucks arrive with fuel. Your tanks can't shoot until your trucks arrive with cannon shells. Your artillery can only fire three turns in the game because of ammo shortages. Your infantry can't attack until they get fed, or get some sleep, or they fire at a reduced chance to hit because they are so tired after attacking for several days without sleep. Makes that whole logistics thing seem much more important.