Finished: 15mm RMASG Centaurs and Sherman

Hi folks,

A rush purchase and paint job on these models, to get them on the table for my first of five planned D-Day beach assaults this year. However, as it was a gap in my collection I picked up a box of Battlefront models during the AHPC and painted them immediately after it finished. 

The Royal Marine Armoured Support Groups (RMASG) were formed to provide British and Commonwealth forces fire support during the landing phase. During D-day they were equipped with Centaur IV tanks armed with 95mm howitzers. They provided fire support on the way to the beach, as well as armoured support while on the beach and during the initial advance inland. The unit was disbanded a few weeks after D-day. The vehicles fought on in Normandy for a bit, mainly in support of airborne troops manned by those units and by Canadians. 

These Centaurs were the only ones of this variant known to have seen combat. They were outwardly very similar to the Cromwell tanks, but with a different engine and some other smaller internal details. 

I decalled (roughly, as I did not have the correct markings and had to freehand bits) these tanks as part of 2nd Royal Marine Armoured Support Regiment - the unit which supported the Canadian landings at Juno beach. I did take a bit of time to at least try and give the impression of the 'compass' markings seen on the turrets of these vehicles - including on the OP sherman. My painting skills don't go as far as painting the numbers at 15mm, but hopefully there is enough to suggest these markings are present. 

Another element of these models was the colour. I'd initially painted these my usual green, however there is some debate as to what colour these vehicles were. Despite the only known colour photos showing a poorly painted SCC15 (green) over a SCC2 (brown) base, most people seem to think these tanks were painted SCC2. 

Having gone for green, I then made a glaze of Vallejo Xpress Battledress brown, which I applied. I also added some random hits of English Uniform via a light stipple. This has resulted in a much more brown shade than my usual models, but not significantly different that they seem odd.

As usual, Battlefront plastic kits are a dream to build. Not 100% the Centaur models, but close enough to work.