Finished: 15mm Dutch M109s, M106 Vehicle Crews, YPR HMG turrets and YPR-765 OP vehicle

Hi folks,

With this years Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge in full swing, I've been focusing on getting entries painted and have fallen behind a bit on my own blog updates. These models did feature in my 2022 roundup post, as I completed them in December, but for the sake of keeping my 'finished' blog tag up to date, they deserve their own blog entry. 

These models are plastic Battlefront offerings - from the generic NATO M109 box I think. As such, they came with a variety of  build options and unit cards. However, mine being for the Dutch army, they were a nice simple paint job, though I did struggle a bit to find what option fitted a mid 1980's Dutch force. 

One thing I can't get over is the size of these vehicles, especially when compared to my normal WW2 collection. The M109 is easily bigger than a Tiger tank, and the barrel length has meant I've had to get a special box lid for my storage solution. 

The turrets for these guys are magnetised, and I've got a commander in one of the turret hatches. No radio aerials as I struggled to see where these would fit on the model compared to images online. Decals have been applied from the Dutch decal set that came with the box - thankfully I've a collection of these now, as you only get a limited number for the M109 on each sheet. I guess BF figured people would have lots of sheets through collecting an army. 

Alongside these three monsters, a Butlers Printed Models YPR-765 PRCO-C-4 model. This will serve as the OP vehicle for my army. It's missing (as far as I can tell) the correct cupola and fifty-cal, but I wasn't too worried about that. 

This is a nice model that looks ok detail wise once painted. Track detail is lacking, but that seems to be common for 3d printed offerings. Once on a base and weathered, it's not an issue. 

Clearing the decks a bit, I also completed the mortars and crew for my previously finished M106 SP mortars. 

These look cool with the crews in them, pretty happy with these now they are done. The M113 is one of those vehicles that's just nice to paint. 

And in keeping with my intention to clear my work in progress queue a bit, I also completed the alternative HMG turrets for my YPR-765s. These will allow me to field at least one platoon and a command vehicle as some of the '2nd line' versions without the 25mm turret. 

These were assembled from spare bits on the M113 sprues, and some spare M113 hatches acquired from Dave. 

That's all the Dutch stuff for now - I do have a platoon of YPD-408s on the paint shelf, along with 2 more PRAT YPR-765s and a platoon of M113s for a recce unit. As well as an M577 command vehicle base. So those will probably be my next Cold War painting targets. I also have a load of MUTT jeeps with TOW and RR options (again, 2nd line support, for use in Battlegroup or 7DTTR). However, for now, I'm painting Necromunda figures (up next).