Leach Trench Mortar

I have finished my Leach Trench Mortar from Great War Miniatures. I have to say these are the first I have had from them and they are very nice and well sculpted miniatures and I think I will be getting more of this range in the future. The  only thing is that there are on the rather large size of 28mm but in a unit with few GWM in it that would not make that much different. So here are the photos.

The trench catapult.

Improvised catapults were up-graded versions of the schoolboy 'Y' format catapult made in the trenches and intended to give further range to the standard, or improvised, hand grenade. They were thought to be particularly hazardous to the user and were not officially approved.

A more sophisticated 6 foot high version of the 'Y' catapult was designed by C.P. Leach. The machine was made and despatched to the Western Front by the sports department of the London department store Gamages from mid -1917. It was supplied at the rate of 20 per BEF Division. The frame was made out of 2-inch thick (ash) wood. Each arm was tapered outward at the end to provide strong anchor-points for the twelve bands of natural rubber and was cross braced for added strength. A double cranking device was incorporated to tension the multiple rubber bands. The machine propelled a two pound hand grenade for up to160 yards when the elastic bands were new; far in excess of the best 'overarm bowled' hand grenade which only had a range of around 30 yards.

The fast rate of deterioration of the elasticity of the rubber bands meant that the catapult was usually reserved for more important operations rather than put to daily use.

I'm So Happy

Yes I am so happy as I have finished and sent off my application after doing a horrid online test, but that's over with. I have more importantly, lol, almost finished both the trench mortar and the Vickers HMG. I am rather pleased with the result so far and really only have the base to colour and then flock and that's them finished. The scarf of the mortar crew member is from the local team, Leicester Tigers,and was some what fitting.

Today's Effects

I have been busy with other things today and have managed to find a little time to do a spot of painting. Its come to webbing time for the HMG team, the part I sort of hate as is can make or break a figure. For the mortar team its a similar story after finishing the sheep skins. The catapult is starting to take shape too. So here there are. Once I have finished these I am going to take a photo of the whole bloody force just to see what it looks like.

The Trench Mortar is Coming Along Well

Yes I have nearly finished the application and frankly I cant face another word so I have taken the time to paint a little more and here are the results. Quite good I think. Yes in the background is a part of my ever growing lead mountain.

Slowly Coming Along

I am now on my last competence on this job applicant and then I will be nearly finished. I hate competence based applications even though I deal with competences every day being a civil servant, no that's incompetences, lol. Mind you I have also just seen another job/role that I thinking about to and its also my dream job, working within the army as a regimental researcher and archivist. Any way as a break I have finished the uniform colour and highlighted it for both the Trench Catapult and the Vickers.

Time to Add Some Support

Between focusing on feeding my Father in Laws cats and writing a job application, I have also decided to add some much needed support to my forces for VBCW. So for my regulars of the Tigers I have added a Vickers HMG from Warlord Games. Its a very nice little group of figures and fits together rather well. I have only painted the flesh completely and just started the uniforms, just based and washed at this moment. Hopefully I should get to do a little more today.

I have also decided to add, more for my militias a Trench Catapult from Great War Miniatures. I think the very idea of a catapult being used is so VBCW and I had to have it and they are lovely sculpts if a little larger than my usual Musketeer, Warlords and Gripping Beast. Again this is at the same stage as the above.