Post Gunuary!

Hi folks,

So with my artillery wrapped up for now, I have moved on to something that does not involve painting infantry figures! So I moved back to tanks (and technically, self-propelled guns).

First up some work in progress shots of the M10C's. They have been block painted and washed - awaiting highlights, foliage, varnish, decals, basing, etc, etc, etc.

Then we have a Churchill Crocodile - number 6 and the final addition.

And then two Sherman I's.

Still a bit to do on these vehicles, but nice progress aided by the Paint and Chat's I've been attending and hosting. Again, a lot of work still to do - but I'm getting there. Also working on two of the trucks I had which will go towards (surprise surprise) artillery unit transport.

That's all for now! Hopefully not too long before I get finished pics up. The M10C's and Churchill will finish off two units, with the Shermans being 50% of another.

6MMRPC: Finished! Churchill Crocodiles

Hi folks,

A busy weekend away, but I managed to get these models finished on Friday. Only crew figures to add to the 2 troop command vehicles, and that's them! There are still a few needing magnetised, but I'm not counting that as part of the painting process currently.

In the longer term, I am going to pick up one more Churchill Croc to finish off the 2 tank troop. I didn't aim to have 5, only obtaining the extra 2 as replacements for poor castings on 2 of the others (which I have more or less hidden under camo netting) - but since I ended up with almost 2 full troops, I may as well finish them.

More pics of these guys are planned, but above are pics of one of the troop command tanks and another of the troop tanks with it's fuel trailer.

The tanks are decalled up as Churchill Crocodiles from 141 RAC, 31st Tank Brigade. I've gone quite light on squadron markings due to lack of space on the turrets and being a little unclear as to what the markings should be. I could find very few pictures that clearly showed the tactical markings. As I understand it, as the junior regiment of 31st Tank Brigade these markings were in blue, which shows up poorly on period black and white pictures.

Although this regiment ended up working as part of 79th Armoured Division, administratively it remained as part of the 31st Tank Brigade until late 44/early 45, hence the lack of any 79th AD markings.

6MMRPC: Update

Hi Folks,

Just a quick update on my progress this week. I did manage to get a bit done, more than I thought I would mid week as my progress up till Thursday had been poor. However with Friday night and the weekend to play with, I got things back on track.

Apologies for the pics, I still need to work on lighting. 

I've still details to do - crew to add, aerials, decals to correct and alter, weathering to do and foliage to add - plus the bases to put static grass on and some painted on varnish where the spray hasn't quite gotten to. Plus some touching up where there's been some chipping or accidents with flat earth being applies.

I'm quite chuffed with the look of these guys just now, the M10C especially. I'm looking forward to getting the foliage on it as I think it could look really nice once it's all done. I've a couple of articles planned comparing decals and stowage again, now I have a wider range, plus the long thought about one on how I am detailing my tanks.

This week I am hoping to get these guys all done in preparation for a weekend away with Amy (a lovely hotel has been booked in Leeds - which just happens to coincide with the Leeds Wargames Show at the Royal Armories museum!).

6MMRPC: Crocs, trailers and Wasp's update

Hi folks,

So the end of the first week living with Amy's parents, and so far everyone is still alive...

But in all seriousness, everything has been fine, new job is going well and I have a little man cave set up with my PC and painting table. While we have been busy this week - and I have some sort of throat bug - I did manage to keep the momentum going painting wise and keep chipping away at the lead mountain.

I focused on a smaller number of vehicles, really because of time limitations but also due to a dip in motivation. As i said at the start of the week I wanted to keep going as to stop could be dangerous in the long term. But at the same time I do feel a bit of a slowdown is in order.

Still, this week I worked on highlighting 3 of my Churchill Crocs, 3 fuel trailers and 3 Wasp carriers.

I'm not sure that these pic's will do the figures any favours as they still have no matt coat on them so are a little shiny. Just to show varnished vs highlighted, here's a another couple of shots:

Varnished and unhighlighted tank is on the left.

And some individual shots of the 3 Crocs:

 The highlight consisted of 50/50 Russian Uniform WW2 and Khaki and is applied to all raised areas. Some panels that would catch the light also painted. I then dry brushed the whole vehicle Russian Uniform WW2 as well, which brings up the base colour and blends the highlights a little. The metal is highlighted with a lighter shade of grey than it was painted - I've almost entirely stopped using metallic paints. I dry brushed the camo netting Reflective Green then added small patches of Flat Earth, Khaki and English Uniform. I also dry brushed some black paint around the flame thrower nozzle and hull below it.

The Wasp's received much the same treatment:

As did the fuel trailers:

So these guys just all need some patches of gloss prior to decals. And then I hit a snag. No one makes decals for 141 RAC in 15mm. The only decals I could get close are Battlefronts own late war decals, which have markings for another regiment in 31st Tank Brigade. I (eventually) managed to track down a UK retailer that had these in stock, and ordered a pack. I'll just have to alter them slightly to change a number on the AoS from a 2 to a 3, but that should be no big deal. It appears in Normandy 141 RAC were the only Crocodile unit operating and they were not officially made part of 79th Armoured Division until September-October 1944. Up until that point they were still (at least theoretically) part of 31 Tank Brigade - so should still have these markings.

Also on order (or received this week) has been:

- packs of Stowage from Peter Pig, Skytrex and for the first time, Battlefront - just to add some variety.

- leaves and 'branches' from Antenocitis Workshop, which I will review when I try them out.

- I made use of a Hobbycraft voucher I got from my colleagues in Glasgow when I left in order to buy 2 more of the plastic tubs I have been using for army storage (I prefer these to the file storage boxes I have), 4 bags of woollen stuff (review to follow, it seems to be the same thing that Battlefront use for their destroyed vehicle markers) in Red, Orange and 2 Black. A magnifying glass with a daylight bulb - because it may make painting infantry easier... And a packet of drill bits for my dremel tool - although a lot of them are too small to fit it so will be used in my hand drill.

I've held off spending money on figures as I am also upgrading my PC a little. And I'm pretty sure I have no Jokers left for now!

So aims for next week will be to get the gloss on these models above for decals, decals on the Wasps and start highlights on the remaining 2 Croc's, M10C and 3 Universal Carriers.