Links to sources of information
Links to modelers websites
Each entry is a link, just click on the text.
http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk - Lloydian Aspects website - Go to the miniatures page for details of his military models. There is a lot more on the site covering a range of topics and he has a YouTube channel called 'Lindybeige' which has some nice vids on wargames and prototype info.
https://www.matakishi.net/ Matakishis tea house - Some lovely models and some interesting techniques as well as so splendid ideas for wargames (Hillbillies vs aliens made me smile)
http://www.morvalearth.co.uk/Terrain/Terain_Intro.htm Morval Earth, a site for fantasy/what-if wargamers which has some notes on their terrain
https://www.mafva.org/ Miniature Armoured Fighting Vehicle Association website - If you like making model tanks this lot is worth joining (I still refer to my old copies of Tankette dating back to the 1980s)
Forums of possible interest
Forums are websites on which people share their ideas, often with pictures of the work in progress and the final result. They are a mine of useful information on matters such as camouflage colours as well as clever ideas for buildings and terrain. Unfortunately everyone used to use a picture hosting company called 'photobucket' (which at its peak was hosting 10 billion images) but in 2017 they decided to charge a few hundred dollars for users to allow their images to be seen on other websites and pulled the plug even on existing users so these days you may find a lot of the pictures missing and replaced with s black rectangle suggesting the subscriber pays up.
However not all pictures were hosted on photobucket and people are re-uploading them to alternative sites so keep digging!
http://www.terragenesis.com/mybb/ - Terragenesis - Been around for years and well worth investigating.
http://www.missing-lynx.com - Missing Lynx - As well as the forum for exchanging info there are reviews and galleries of models.
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/ - TMP (The Miniatures Page) contains forums for various scales and interests.
https://www.miniwargaming.com/forum/ - Mini Wargaming
http://www.thewargameswebsite.com/forums/ - The War Games Website
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/airfixtributeforum/index.php - Airfix Tribute Forum
http://uamf.org.uk/ - The Unofficial Airfix Model Forum
https://armourfast.com/forum/index.php - The forum set up by Armourfast, it was very busy but it went off line for a year or so and it is only now (early 2018) starting to pick up again.
Sadly Usenet has been pretty much crushed out of existence by Yahoo Goups, Facebook groups and the like. Some groups are still going strong but the old wargame and military modeling groups get very few postings these days. With the recent revelations about what the commercial groups have been doping with the information they collect there may be a move back to Usenet (which is entirely non-commercial). If you want to see if there re any active groups relating to your interests you can go to Google Groups and type in key-words but that only gives you access to text-only groups (the 'binary' groups are still busy, as people use them for exchanging illicit material such as pirated films and software, but access to those usually requires a small fee to the service provider).
You could of course start your own group (which is free, Usenet being part of the original internet is non commercial) but it will take a while before others start posting to it. I do know of people who have set up groups to provide a private forum to exchange ideas but most are restricted access (the creator can choose to do that) or have a 'moderator' who must vet and approve any postings. Unmoderated groups do tend to attract trolls but the solution is just to ignore their posts (you can set up a 'kill-file' so you never see their posts but that requires a little tinkering).
Links to model review websites
Each entry is a link, just click on the text.
http://henk.fox3000.com/index2.htm - Henk of Holland, a wonderful site cataloguing available models with links to detailed reviews of kits.
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Index.aspx - Plastic Soldier review - Covers all ranges of 20mm figures on the market and includes older sets no longer in production. Very useful site.
http://www.onthewaymodels.com/index.html On The Way - A website offering reviews and construction notes for fine detailing afv models.
http://miniafv.blogspot.co.uk/ - A site by Turkish 1:72nd modelers detailing their work and with nice reviews of available models
http://www.ww2germans.com - The URL says it all really, a site dedicated to the available models of German Ww2 forces, reviewing the various sets available and discussing possible conversion possibilities.
Links to websites relating to the prototype
Each entry is a link, just click on the text.
www.desertrats.org.uk Desert Rats - A site devoted to the equipment, organization and deployment of the 7th Armoured Division - An information rich site useful for anyone modeling the British and commonwealth forces in Ww2
https://forum.axishistory.com/index.php Axis History - A site devoted to the equipment, organization and deployment of the Axis forces in WW2 - Another information rich site.
http://www.achtungpanzer.com/ Achtung Panzer - A site devoted to the armour used by the Axis forces in WW2
warwheels.net/ As the name suggests warwheels is a site devoted to wheeled fighting vehicles
www.lonesentry.com/ Lone Sentry is a site packed with documents and photographs pertaining to World War Two
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Links to sources of materials
Links to sources of free downloadable paper buildings
Each entry is a link, just click on the text.
http://www.ss42.com/pt-buildings.html#9 - This was the best links page I found for access to free downloadable paper buildings
http://papermau.blogspot.co.uk Papermau - A blog with links to free downloadable paper models, the buildings section is pretty comprehensive
http://www.dp9.com/gearkrieg DreamPod 9 - This company lies behind a range of games, mostly I believe in 15mm/1:100 scale. Their GearKreig game has a selection of paper models downloadable as PDFs (scroll down, the link is on the lower right of the page). I made good use of the buildings set by up-scaling it to 1:72 scale (about 120 percent). This is a set of 15mm scale French style buildings intended for wargaming, They are shallow from front to back so internal detailing is problematic but they provide some useful textures and elements for re-combining on your own design of building. I actually used a couple of their 1:100 metal 'walker' robots for a 20mm sci-fi set and they blended in okay.
http://www.scenerybuilder.com/index.html Scenery Builder is a modellers website and at the time of writing there is a free downloadable row of terraced houses.
Links to commercial sources of download and print paper buildings
Each entry is a link, just click on the text.
http://scalescenes.com - Scalescenes offer a range of very reasonably priced downloadable PDFs to produce a range of buildings, they are all British prototypes but buildings such as the farm and barn would serve for Europe perfectly well. One plus with this range is that Brassmasters have released a set of window and door etched brass replacements. One nice touch is a sheet of 'domestic clutter' although most of the sheet is distinctly post-war (front loading washing machines, TV sets and stereo music systems)
Links to commercial sources of card buildings
Each entry is a link, just click on the text.
http://www.paperterrain.com/ - Paper terrain, commercial buildings in stiff card, they come as a complete outer building that fits over a destroyed inner building. That means the windows are just printed on, which is fine for most wargamers, but if you make them up as separate buildings you could detail the outer shell. I haven't tried them myself but the prices are very reasonable and the range includes a set of bridges and also some landing craft.
http://www.freestonemodel.co.uk/ - Freestone Model Accessories are specialists in card buildings including the lovely old Builteeze range. They also sell wire suitable for down-pipes, clear printed glazing sheets and the like.
http://www.rogersmithmodelrailways.com/4mm_scale_oo_6.html Roger Smith Model Railways range includes a ministry of defence garage and an RAF hut, but I am not sure what era these belong to as there are no pictures on the site.
https://www.regionsetcompagnies.fr/ - If modeling a specific country it is worth looking at the local offerings, for example this French firm does a wide range of pre-printed laser-cut card typically French buildings in small sets, they are lovely kits (they even make some that are region-specific, such as Normandy/Brittany and most seem to come with detailed interiors) but they are to 1:87 scale (fine for 20mm, no good for 25mm). They are not cheap but for about £100 you can get a complete Breton 'old town' of 20 Tudor style buildings and the site is worth looking at if making your own buildings as it gives a good overview of the styles. One surprise was that many of the buildings do not have shutters on the windows.
Sources of vacuum formed buildings and scenic accessories
Each entry is a link, just click on the text.
There used to be a selection of vac-formed terrain manufacturers but they all seem to have folded by the early 2000s, then a new one (to me at least), Amera, appeared. One lives in hope, the vac-formed items were cheap and certainly good enough for wargaming or just playing with toy soldiers.
http://http://www.amera.co.uk This firm produces a range of vac-form terrain pieces, not as extensive as the old (1970s-1980s) Belona range but covering a wider range of scales. They also offer vac-formed bases for Airfix kits such as the 'Frorward Command Post' which no longer have these included.
There is a useful guide to assembling vac-form kits at http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/vacformbg_1.htm
Links to sources of laser-cut MDF buildings
Each entry is a link, just click on the text.
http://www.empiresatwar.co.uk/ Empires at War - These kits are pre-painted
https://www.sarissa-precision.com/ Sarissa Precision
https://www.4ground.co.uk// - 4Ground buildings and other scenic material
Sources of windows and doors
Each entry is a link, just click on the text.
Even damaged buildings look better with at least some of the window frames in place, these sources supply windows and doors that can be used.
http://www.brassmasters.co.uk Brassmasters offer a range of 4mm scale (20mm soldiers) windows and doors at decent prices.
http://www.gaugemaster.com - Gaugemaster stock a number of useful ranges including Dornaplas (for plastic buildings and windows/doors), Dapol (for the old Airfix range of buildings) etc. They are also specialists in glues and sell a wide range covering most applications.
https://www.auhagen-shop.de Auhagen is a long established model railway accessories company which provides a range of buildings and accessories in both HO (1:87, close enough to 20mm) and TT (1:100 good for 15mm) including some fairly generic sets that serve for either scale. Of particular note are their ranges of windows and doors which work out very attractively priced. I bought mine via Amazon. They also do clear glazed sheets with what I think is embossed and overprinted frames (Windows for industrial buildings Product No.: 48652) but I have not bought those yet
https://www.dapol.co.uk/shop/model-accessories/self-assembly-oo-kits Dapol sell for former Airfix lineside kits in OO scale, they are old now but cheaper than most of the alternatives and they seem to have been designed with 'kit bashing' in mind, you get a lot of windows and exterior doors on their house kits (although they have no internal detail, that you have to add yourself). As an example the 'detached house' comes with a selection of 15 windows of various designs and a couple of doors along with a set of wooden garage doors and costs about £5, so that is about 26p per item. One big advantage is that you can use the Dapol wall to mark out the windows for both consistency and accuracy. Incidentally the 'service station' went down well as it has a working up-and-over door.
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