Finished: 15mm Polish Stuart VIs

Hi folks,

Alongside the Ram OP tank, I also recently completed another element of my Polish Cromwell project. 

These are a trio of Stuart VI (M5A1) tanks from the HQ Squadron of 10 Pulk Strzelcow Konnych (10th Polish Mounted Rifles), 1st Polish Armoured Division. While not part of A squadron, these HQ squadron vehicles were assigned out as required. All of my armoured squadrons have Stuarts attached for recce purposes, so I'm building quite a collection of variants of these little tanks. 

As such, these tanks have been marked up with the HQ squadron diamond on the front hull. Other decals are the 1st Polish Armoured Division markings and the regimental markings, as well as the bridge classification weights and allied recognition stars. I've still to figure out crew figures, but each vehicle will have one and the command vehicle will have two. Two aerials also mark out the command vehicle. 

Stowage was limited to a single bogey on the front hull, again based on these vehicles being so new to combat and the Poles having a reputation for being so neat. Later pictures from the NWE campaign show the Poles as having the same, if not more, levels of track links, tarps, boxes and jerry cans as everyone else. 

Each tank has a .30cal turret mounted MG. Something I didn't realises prior to working on these models was that the odd armoured shape on the side of the turret was actually in place to protect the MG, which could be dropped down into the compartment so as not to be damaged by shell fire, etc. 

These models being completed (bar the crew figures) adds yet more green to the painting progress chart. 

Finished: 15mm Canadian Ram OP tank

Hi folks,

Busy times of late, leaving little time for painting. I did, however, manage to finish off a couple of units which had been work in progress after Christmas. 

First up is a Ram OP tank for my planned future Sexton battery from 23rd Field Regiment (Self Propelled), Royal Canadian Artillery. Intrigued by a period photograph of one of these vehicles waiting on the start of Operation Totalize, a few years ago (2017!) I set in motion a plan to have a suitable turret made by Butlers Printed Models. You can find the earlier blog article about this here. 

Suffice to say, this project has gone untouched for a while, as I focussed on other units. 

With the AHPC challenge coming up in December, and knowing that I might be a bit stuck for time over the first few months of the year, I decided to bump this model up the painting queue and had it prepped to work on along with the Polish Cromwells. 

Just to show the reference picture I was using:

I do have a further image, taken at around the same time and showing the same vehicle from a different angle (it's the 3rd vehicle in the column). While I can't spot any unit marking on the Shermans, there is a geometric diamond shape on the side hull of the lead tank, which would make it part of an HQ squadron. The Stowage and attempts at added armour indicate that this is not a picture taken in the UK:

This model consists of the hull of a Battlefront Ram Kangeroo, which was modified via green stuff to change it from the early mk.1 hull with the mini turret, to the later solid mk.II hull. Onto this, the BPM turret was mounted. I also added stowage and some bits of plastic offcuts to build some shape under the camo netting on the rear deck. The camo netting is a 1/72 scale product that I think works well at 15mm. The print quality of the turret is not great, so I added some additional stowage to the hull, and the camo netting thankfully covered up some of the rougher bits (print lines). 

I tried to paint the camo netting to show the strips of brown/khaki and green cloth interwoven through it. Aerials were added using fishing line. Decals were also added, marking this tank out as an OP vehicle from the above mentioned unit. I have 4 Canadian Sextons to go with this at some point, but not any time soon. The turret and hull were also magnetised. 

This tank, along with some Stuart Vs and Sherman DDs painted a while back, are currently my only Canadian armour for Normandy, but I have plans/models for more... here is the painting plan for the list including the Ram tank. 

Finished: 15mm PSC Polish Cromwells (Command elements)

Hi folks,

As part of the AHPC this year, my goal is to make progress with my planned 15mm Cromwell tanks squadron as part of my Polish Armoured Division for Operation Totalize. Over the Christmas period I made some progress with the first five vehicles of this squadron, making up the HQ element, close support 95mm armed Cromwell section and an ARV Cromwell. 

These tanks are all decaled up to be part of C Squadron, 10 Pulk Strzelcow Konnych (10th Polish Mounted Rifle Regiment), 1st Polish Armoured Division. I'm representing this unit as of it's initial entry into combat in Normandy on 8 August 1944.

Thankfully from a modelling perspective, at the time of Operation Totalize this unit had only been in France for a short time. As such, period photos from 8 August 1944 show these tanks as being devoid of much stowage or any other paraphernalia. Photos from later in the campaign show a huge accumulation of additional track armour, stowage, etc. But to keep the painting simple, I only had to contend with a seemingly standard bundle of camo netting on the right rear deck. 

In keeping with my standard style, the command tanks have been given two aerials to help mark them out on the table. The Squadron commander will also be in the open hatch, once a suitable model is painted. These and the 95mm armed version are PSC models. 

The 95mm armed close support tanks have not been given a crew figure, but one of the two has been given twin aerials incase that becomes relevant during a game. In the v4 rules the CS tanks form part of the troop with the HQ tanks, rather than an individual unit. This may change in our home games. 

The ARV model was an old Battlefront resin and metal kit I had picked up years ago (the PSC tanks were assembled in 2016). No use for these rules wise now, but I will find a use for it on the table!

I've 12 more Cromwells to paint, along with 3 Stuarts to round out this force. I have picked up some Crusader AA tanks as well, which I am waiting on, and may add a Cromwell OP tank as I have a spare PSC kit. Not sure how much progress will be made before March - that will depend on the baby I suspect!

Painting plan wise, progress looks like this:

New addition to the family

Hi folks,

While I do have some boring hobby news to post about sometime soon, I was aware my 500th blog post was coming up soon and wanted to save that post for something special! 

Earlier this week my wife gave birth to a healthy little boy. Mum and baby are both doing well and hopefully they will be home from hospital soon. I'm so proud of them both.

We had decided not to know the gender of the child until it was born, and I had convinced myself baby was a girl, so was very pleasantly surprised when it was not! 

We are, obviously, extremely happy and relieved. After the loss of Joshua 16 months ago, this pregnancy has been extremely difficult for us both, and myself in particular. As the husband it's my job to worry, and Covid also meant I was unable to attend any appointments and had to sit in the car waiting on news for long periods of time. Thankfully, I was able to be present for the birth. 

Yet again, my hobby and my friends helped keep me going and moving forward (and sane), over a very stressful period. 

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this ongoing 'mental health project' over the last few months, whether is was commenting on my blog posts, participating in a paint and chat with me or liking a hobby related picture I had posted on Facebook. 

Cheers guys!

Happy Ne'erday - 2020 roundup

Hi folks,

Hope everyone had a good Hogmanay and is having a good Ne'erday (New Years Day). I've a very busy January ahead, so have prepped this post in advance. Hopefully I don't have to come back and change anything!

As is the tradition, I decided to do a roundup of the various finished models this year, which always serves as a bit of a reminder of how much I've achieved and the various collections have grown. 

Starting back in January - my main focus was on 10mm fantasy mini's for the 'For Joshua' project, with a smattering of 15mm Sci-fi. I also completed a couple of 15mm WW2 items as part of the AHPC - some Fireflies for Martin and a US command diorama for Dave:

January also saw our only in person FoW game of the year!

February, which focused on 15mm and 3mm sci-fi, and on basing 10mm fantasy figures others had contributed for Joshua:

February also saw is getting a test game of 'To the Strongest' using the initial 'For Joshua' donations at the club, followed up by a smaller test game at mine:

March was lockdown, and back to painting 10mm fantasy with some more 3mm sci-fi:

April - nothing finished in April. I spent most of my time basing 10mm figures others had sent me for Joshua. I did finish a number of items in November that I had started in April, but that had been lurking in a semi completed state. I was also prepping 15mm ww2 models for my Recce Squadron project during this month, which took a lot of time:

'Joshua's Army' basing, a good chunk of which was completed in the first few months of the year, and in April - note, I have only included pictures of the models I based, I received some armies where the basing had been done. You can check out For Joshua's Army on Facebook for more pics. I'm listing this all here as it shows the time spent basing the fantastic work sent from all over the world. At time of posting, I have more troops from CurtC and Pete awaiting basing:

Models from StiG

Models from JohnT

Models from Lee

Models from Lee

Models from AdamC

Models from Big Lee and the Posties Rejects

Models from StiG (the three unfinished bases are shown above)

Models from StuartS

Models from BobF

All the models from NoelW

Models from ChrisE

Models from Dai

Models from Domesticated Bill

Models from Domesticated Bill

Models from Gary

Models from Domesticated Bill

May saw me finishing some 10mm camel riders (Mahdists) for Joshua. I also completed my first two troops of 15mm armoured cars:

June was spent continuing on with the Recce project, completing my 3rd unit of armoured cars. I also spent some time building some of Pendraken/Red Vectors 15mm MDF landing craft (still to be painted!):

June also saw DaveD put on a D-day game via Zoom:

July saw me complete the PSC 6-pdr guns and carriers for my Recce squadron, 15mm crew for my armoured cars, 10mm fantasy spearmen for Joshua and some 15mm sci-fi:

August was spent working up 15mm infantry figures and carriers, with a week spent on a much needed holiday in Wales between lockdowns. I did manage to finish my FOO White M3 scout car and my Humber scout car. Much time was also spent basing 10mm fantasy figures I'd been sent for Joshua:

September was one of those months when a lot of WiP came to fruition at the same time. 15mm mortar carriers and M5 halftracks, dismounted FOO and FBO teams, dismounted carrier patrol, motor platoon and 3" mortar platoon! Most of this I had been working on in August as well. 

October saw the universal carrier patrols completed, and work started on prepping the next project. I was also starting to work on more infantry. It was a tough month, with the one year anniversary of Joshua's death. Work on the charity project has continued, although C-19 has brought everything to a stop plans wise:

October also saw DaveD host another FoW Zoom game, this time a US airborne attack to capture a bridge:

November saw more 15mm infantry completed - my final dismounted carrier patrol and the end of the Recce squadron project, as well as a 15mm British infantry platoon that brought my total infantry collection to a battalion sized force. 

December saw the completion of the first unit of my Polish Cromwell project, with some M10Cs done. Paint shelf lurkers were also focused in on, with 15mm sci-fi infantry, power armour and a drop ship completed. I also finished my first couple of Cruel Seas 1/300 boats:

Finally in December, for the current AHPC, I finished a unit of 10mm mounted sergeants as part of my For Joshua knight army: