Saturday 28 March 2015

Forged In Battle Universal Carriers

In the last few weeks I've not been terribly busy hobby wise, but I have tried to keep chipping away. My new mantra seems to be that 'even slow progress is progress'!

Having featured the Universal Carriers I am working on previously, I have ended up going back and doing a bit more work on them. Mainly as a result of the new models coming out and mainly being dissatisfied with how mine were looking.

I've still got a bit to do - Dai gave me some PIAT gunner last year which I am trying to incorporate into the UC's while at the same time being a bit envious of the under stated way the new models represent them. I seem to be a stickler for orthodoxy when it comes to released models!

A recent EBay purchase (I burned a deck load of jokers in the last month, it's not even funny) provided some Bren mounts and extra crew figures... I will mention the other reason for that purchase in a later post. Lets just say I now own half a RA field artillery regiment, and leave my insanity at that.

Here are the four .50 cal armed Universal Carriers:


Crew are not yet glued in place and are just sitting in possible configurations just now. There will probably be more crew figures and stowage on these guys when they are done. I decided to go with two of the .50 cals in the format of the newer BF models, and 2 in the same style as the Vickers MMG carriers.

And then 4 that have the extra vehicle MG's:




Again, crew positions are representative and more stowage will possibly be added where it makes sense. The FiB models already have some stowage modelled on. I'm currently unsure whether I will break with tradition (for me) and paint the figures in the vehicles. I will probably remove them first however. Just when I thought I was done with infantry figures...

These models mean I have 4 units of 3 carriers each. Each unit will have 1 each of MG, .50 cal and Piat. I think 2 of these units will be marked up as Infantry carrier's and 2 will be marked up as Recce carriers - I'm not sure yet what to do with the Wasps, but they will probably be Infantry.

I have another 2 UC's that have been block painted as part of the 4.2" Mortar platoon transport I will feature shortly. 

1 other UC will be for an artillery spotter, and the other is currently spare - I think.

I may be getting 3 more from YD at some point. At this point I am very glad of the PSC spray!

7 comments:

  1. Nice models and a good variety of crew - looking forward to seeing these painted up.
    Cheers
    Dan

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    1. Thanks Dan, just hoping your not waiting too long, these guys have been getting ready to be painted for about a year!

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  2. Nice looking models. I like the variety of crew figures, they add a lot to the vehicles.

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    1. Thanks Paul, I picked up a bunch or mixed artillery and vehicle crews on EBay recently (which included the Bren guns for the carriers). Crew and stowage variants for Universal Carriers would be really nice to see from someone. The FiB models do have some nice crew figures, but still not the range to make each vehicle look unique.

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  3. I really like the look of these Jamie, what does the burning of jokers mean?

    By the way I have the same mantra/philosophy a little progress is progress. I have a little free calendar of "the broons" that I pencil down any cleaning up, filing, base coating and finished figures. It's really helpful to track just exactly how much I've put in each month.

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    1. Part of the #6MMRPC was that you could only make 2 purchases (2 jokers) during the challenge. I've picked up quite a few bits and bobs in the last month that blew the 2 jokers rule out the water.

      I'm finding the painting chart I've been using is useful as it's helped me track my progress (or lack of it). But it's shown me that I am going forward so I'm going to keep working away.

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  4. Really like the look of all of these Jamie. Wish I had the selection of extra crew lying around to make my own UC's more individual looking.

    Think I might well get the new BF kit... AND.... the new PSC one too! (Of course after I get a tonne of those new SAS Jeeps and some Comets and.... the list will never end. ~_~)

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