Finished: 15mm RAF Liaison and Lt. Col. Jolly

Hi folks,

Progress slightly delayed due to a weeks holiday in a very sunny North Wales, however I have managed to finish more vehicles on my painting plan. 

On show today are two models from Battlefront - these came from a out of production pack 'Colonel Vandeleur & Forward Observer' (BR885) which were included in the old V3 Market Garden book for Guards Armoured Division. These have been more usefully repurposed to units which actually achieved something in NWE (yes, really - name one successful operation they took part in).

I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the figure in the Humber Scout, until I remembered recently seeing some footage of some 144th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps tanks being followed by a liaison vehicle. 

As such, I added a pintle mounted Bren and a bit of a tarp cover over the stowage on the rear. I had previously added extra stowage. I decided the officer figure could represent my Grandfather's regimental commander, Lt. Col. Alan Jolly. I marked up the appropriate decals - including using some of those I had made specifically and that I plan to use when updating all the original 144RAC Shermans I have. 

Post painting, aerials and decals were applied. The whole model was then weathered (perhaps looking a little too dusty looking) but the weathering powder shows up more in the light from the pictures. 

The other vehicle is an M3 White Scout Car. The model comes with an RAF officer and a radio operator. 

I struggled a little with the blue of the RAF uniform colour. It should be more grey blue, but I went with what I had. I also added the numerous aerials and a few bits of stowage. I struggled for what markings this vehicle should have, before spotting that the infantry brigade HQ units included an RAF Liaison vehicle which was mounted in a truck or M3 White Scout Car. As such, this one has been marked with the HQ AoS of 154 Brigade (a white 94 on a browny green background), along with the Highland Division markings. 

Interestingly, it seems like the RAF officers with army units would tend to wear standard battledress due to the risk of friendly fire as the RAF uniforms were too similar to the German field grey. However, this model was clearly in RAF blues, so I went with that. 

I am, sadly, starting to run down my stock of decals. Doms Decals doesn't appear to be fulfilling orders. As such, there is a still a little to do with regards the WD numbers and I'm having to be a lot more careful with what I use and where. 

I also finished five M5 Halftracks for my 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry squadron. These are done with the exception of the crew and passengers, so I'll display them when these are finished. 

Oh, and bases - these are from Warbases. Flames of War medium base sized MDF with a pre-cut hole for a 2mm by 5mm magnet. This means I don't need to do anything else to magnetise these bases for my storage. My plan is to move the few other half-tracks I have painted to medium bases as well (mainly to reduce the space these models take in storage as well).