6MMRPC: Flames of War British 4.2" Heavy Mortars Finished!

Phew!

A rather busy week for me this week, as it was my first week working away. Unfortunately the public transport and having to carry a weeks worth of work clothes stopped me taking any painting with me, so my efforts have been focused on getting something done this week on my two days home.

I have spent jokers and need to make some back! More details on this later.

My efforts this weekend were focused on getting decals on the vehicles and getting the gun bases finished. I consider that the unit is now done*, so I'll be marking it off my painting chart.

Some pics of the vehicles - the Loyd Carriers are from Forged in Battle and the Universal Carriers are from Battlefront (these are actually two of the three I got from Cameron and that were re-purposed). Two aerials mark out the OP Carrier and one the Command squads carrier. These guys carry the markings of 1/7 Middlesex Regiment, who provided the Vickers and 4.2" support for the 51st Highland Division.

I just realised I still need to do some weathering on the decals. I was also short a small allied star, so one of the Loyd Carriers is missing one. As usual these vehicles have the WD numbers on the side as well (not very visible from the pics).

For the guns, I got the bases finished and the crew mounted on them last weekend. Now, I have real issues with the crew figures in these. I used some green stuff to make the mortar bombs the loaders are carrying a bit beefier, as Battlefront have used the same crew from the 3" Mortar for the much bigger 4.2". I also hate (and I mean hate) the pointing guy. I mean, really. If these mortars are close enough that one of the crew has to point out the target, things are going badly. This has really been on my mind this last week. A few months ago I was looking at a out of production pack of these guys on Ebay that had much nicer older sculpts. I decided not to get them and stuck with the models I had. I now regret it.

This has been on my mind and in my normal 'worm in my brain' fashion I ended up burning a joker to buy a pack of the Italian 4.2" platoon. Purely because there are crew figures in it I like. I have no need for 2 platoons of these guys, so this really is a waste of time and paint, but I decided I just would not be happy unless I fixed the problems I have with the crew on these guns. I'm not sure if I will paint up the other platoon or just take the figures out I want and swap them with the guys in this platoon I don't like.

Yes, I have issues. I can't explain how these things annoy me, I find myself thinking about them all the time until the only way I can resolve it is to do the thing I already know is just silly! I try to make my units as varied as possible given the figures and the idea of these mortar crews looking exactly the same as my 3" platoon just annoyed me.

I also tried something new with these models, for the first time adding aerials to the command and FOO team. I quite like how they look and may go back and retrofit my existing squads. Both radio men on these bases are from Peter Pig (I think!). Detail on the infantry has been something I have been thinking about, and I'm wondering whether to actually try and find a way of including the arm sleeve markings - nothing detailed, just a vague idea of the HD patch. I may need a magnifying glass!

*the other purchase was some ships from GZG. I decided to take advantage of their 30th Birthday sale to pick up a few bits... because I obviously don't have enough ships!

Also, 209 posts! Go me!