6MMRPC: Crocs, trailers and Wasp's update

Hi folks,

So the end of the first week living with Amy's parents, and so far everyone is still alive...

But in all seriousness, everything has been fine, new job is going well and I have a little man cave set up with my PC and painting table. While we have been busy this week - and I have some sort of throat bug - I did manage to keep the momentum going painting wise and keep chipping away at the lead mountain.

I focused on a smaller number of vehicles, really because of time limitations but also due to a dip in motivation. As i said at the start of the week I wanted to keep going as to stop could be dangerous in the long term. But at the same time I do feel a bit of a slowdown is in order.

Still, this week I worked on highlighting 3 of my Churchill Crocs, 3 fuel trailers and 3 Wasp carriers.

I'm not sure that these pic's will do the figures any favours as they still have no matt coat on them so are a little shiny. Just to show varnished vs highlighted, here's a another couple of shots:

Varnished and unhighlighted tank is on the left.

And some individual shots of the 3 Crocs:

 The highlight consisted of 50/50 Russian Uniform WW2 and Khaki and is applied to all raised areas. Some panels that would catch the light also painted. I then dry brushed the whole vehicle Russian Uniform WW2 as well, which brings up the base colour and blends the highlights a little. The metal is highlighted with a lighter shade of grey than it was painted - I've almost entirely stopped using metallic paints. I dry brushed the camo netting Reflective Green then added small patches of Flat Earth, Khaki and English Uniform. I also dry brushed some black paint around the flame thrower nozzle and hull below it.

The Wasp's received much the same treatment:

As did the fuel trailers:

So these guys just all need some patches of gloss prior to decals. And then I hit a snag. No one makes decals for 141 RAC in 15mm. The only decals I could get close are Battlefronts own late war decals, which have markings for another regiment in 31st Tank Brigade. I (eventually) managed to track down a UK retailer that had these in stock, and ordered a pack. I'll just have to alter them slightly to change a number on the AoS from a 2 to a 3, but that should be no big deal. It appears in Normandy 141 RAC were the only Crocodile unit operating and they were not officially made part of 79th Armoured Division until September-October 1944. Up until that point they were still (at least theoretically) part of 31 Tank Brigade - so should still have these markings.

Also on order (or received this week) has been:

- packs of Stowage from Peter Pig, Skytrex and for the first time, Battlefront - just to add some variety.

- leaves and 'branches' from Antenocitis Workshop, which I will review when I try them out.

- I made use of a Hobbycraft voucher I got from my colleagues in Glasgow when I left in order to buy 2 more of the plastic tubs I have been using for army storage (I prefer these to the file storage boxes I have), 4 bags of woollen stuff (review to follow, it seems to be the same thing that Battlefront use for their destroyed vehicle markers) in Red, Orange and 2 Black. A magnifying glass with a daylight bulb - because it may make painting infantry easier... And a packet of drill bits for my dremel tool - although a lot of them are too small to fit it so will be used in my hand drill.

I've held off spending money on figures as I am also upgrading my PC a little. And I'm pretty sure I have no Jokers left for now!

So aims for next week will be to get the gloss on these models above for decals, decals on the Wasps and start highlights on the remaining 2 Croc's, M10C and 3 Universal Carriers.