Finished: 15mm CMP Quads

Hi folks,

As I mentioned in my last post, I did a little re-jigging of some of my units. Part of that process was the building and painting of four PSC CMP Quads, taken from the 25-pdr PSC kit. 

These quads were marked up as vehicles from 61st Anti-Tank Regiment, 51st Highland Division, replacing the halftracks which had been used for this unit previously. The halftracks will feature in a future blog article. 

While I was happy with how these models looked, it took some serious messing to put them together. Yet another example of a PSC kit not fitting correctly together. The roof just would not go on, and needed to be carved and filed on the inside to sit even close to correctly. 

I added a selection of stowage, just to individualise the models a little. Decals were my usual selection, though I've now used all my Doms Decals 51st HD markings, so I'm using some from Skytrex. The markings are somewhat covered by the weathering anyway, although they are a bit easier to see with the eye than the camera. 

These should probably have had the mickey mouse camo pattern on them, but I went with my plain green as it fits in better (and I didn't want to spend a lot of time working on transport vehicles that will barely see the table!).

Kitted out with limbered guns and the ammo trailers:

So another little scheme completed - one I'd been planning for a long time, having picked up the PSC box years ago. I do have a partial plan to mount and paint the PSC 25-pdrs in a limbered style, to be tagged onto the back of some BF quads... and maybe some Bofors guns... 

Finished: 17-pdr Ram Towers

Hi folks,

My first little selected unit after the end of my Team Yankee painting involved a little re-jigging of some existing units, and the painting of two new ones. I'd become aware over time that the Battlefront v3 information regarding Halftracks being used as towing vehicles in British and Canadian Anti-Tank units wasn't correct for the Normandy period. 

It seems that most units would use Quad tractors, with some using Crusader tows or Rams.

And having done some reading of the 6th Canadian Anti-Tank Regiment, RCA (the Anti-Tank regiment of II Canadian Corps), I had realised that this unit had a mix of 3" armed M10s and turretless Ram tank towers for their regular 17-pdrs. I've already got some M10s for this unit, and wanted to add the Rams as a nice unusual unit. 

I'd set aside four of the old 15mm Battlefront resin vehicles from my stash, and set to work. I'm pretty sure these are the wrong version of the Ram hull, but they'll do for my purposes. I quickly realised I wanted to make this unit look a little closer to some of the images of Ram towers I'd seen (see below). Laden with ammo and stowage and crammed full of gun crew. That involved a large amount of digging through my spare figures and vehicle crew models, as well as some chopping and squeezing... 

The process of sorting out the various units I wanted to update saw me rebase and apply some light weathering to my Skytrex limbered 17-pdrs. The guns had been on larger bases, but I scaled them down to match the towing vehicles. I'd also found some old Battlefront ammo limbers in my stash, and having seen these used alongside the 17-pdrs I thought I'd get them built, painted and added in. 

Decals were the usual mix, with squinty stars to mark these as Canadian units. I'd picked up some II Canadian Corps markings from Doms Decals back in the day, and modified some Royal Artillery markings to have the Corps white bar and AoS number 2. This was a bit rough (I can't freehand) so it was covered with a liberal application of weathering. 

 Aerials are my usual fishing line and the crew figures are all various Battlefront models. 

This unit is unlikely to get a lot of table time - but I love the look of limbered guns moving forward on the table!

Some of the photos I used as references:

Not my picture - Image used without permission for educational purposes

Not my picture - Image used without permission for educational purposes

Finished: WW3 Team Yankee Dutch project

Hi folks,

As mentioned in my last blog entry, I've finished all the units I had in the paint queue for my Team Yankee Dutch. As I swapped my only other painted army (my 10mm ACW) for other figures, this now becomes my only completed force!

These are 15mm Battlefront models (for the most part, with a couple of resin 3d prints from Butlers Printed Models). 

Well, completed at the moment. Time will tell whether I add any of the extras from the newest NATO Forces book. 

The finished project leaves me with a full Mechanised Infantry company, a Leopard 1 company, a Leopard 2 company, all the various support assets and a Recce company (which needs tanks from one of the other companies in order to be fielded). I've also added some earlier Dutch wheeled APCs, and some anti-tank jeeps. West Germany is represented by some air support and Roland Marders. 

It was mentioned by the guys when I was taking the photos at the end of the club games day in October (I have limited space now at home for pics like this) that there is a lot more varied tone to these models when seen in person than the photos of the finished models show. A mix of the lighting and the way that the weathering product I've used shows up on camera I think. 

I've now moved onto other bits and bobs - avoiding large planned projects for now in favour of clearing some low hanging fruit collection wise, and painting some of the odds and sods I have had outstanding for a while. More on those bits soon!