Finished: 15mm Crusader AA, 2CAB

Hi folks,

Another pair of 15mm scale Battlefront anti-aircraft tanks. These are resin and metal 20mm autocannon armed Crusader tanks.The Shermans await their turn at the painting desk. 

This pair has been marked up as belonging to HQ squadron, 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment (The Fort Garry Horse), 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. 

As per the previous pairs of these vehicles, I used my standard weathering, decaling and radio aerial methods. These vehicles need more stowage, which I may add later. 

An impressive amount of accumulated AA for my allies - and I've yet to put a German aircraft on a table. 

Finished: 15mm Firefly troop

Hi folks,

Another catch up of recently finished models - this time a trio of 15mm metal and resin Battlefront Sherman M4A4 Fireflys. 

These models have been decalled up as Canadian 2nd Armoured Brigade, and specifically for the Fort Garry Horse. They represent a troop of Fireflys landed later on d-day to help provide support to the Sherman DD squadron. The Firefly couldn't be made into a DD tank due to the length of the gun barrel and as such were not attached to the DD equipped squadrons directly.  

Speaking of which, on these models the old metal gun barrel wasn't used, and instead I took plastic ones from some of the more modern BF sherman kits. I think the plastic barrels are a lot better scale wise. 

As usual, for the command vehicle I used a commander in the turret hatch as well as twin aerials, while the other tanks have a single aerial. I also, after a lot of back and forth, decided to base these the same as the Sherman DD tanks. 

Turrets have been magnetised and in keeping with the few images I've seen I kept these tanks clear of external stowage. This unit was the last one I had initialy planned for my Canadian DD squadron. 

Finished: 15mm Battlefront Sherman DDs

Hi folks,

As is now my tradition, I've taken part in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC) again this year. Unfortunately, after finishing off my Spitfires I've hit a patch of lack of mojo - not helped by the Rogue Trader CRPG coming out. This has resulted in not much actually being painted since December. 

In order to try and jump start my enthusiasm, I went back to basics. Prior to 2021 I had been putting together a Sherman DD squadron for our D-Day games. I had an order in for the remaining vehicles I needed with Battlefront, and had 2 tanks on backorder. Unfortunately, the dreaded Covid caused production issues, and my back order was eventually cancelled. Despite me asking several times about these kits (and others) being available again from Battlefront, they have not made a re-appearance - as of time of writing, at least.

After a long time checking Ebay, I finally picked up the last few tanks needed. I took some effort to match these in with my previously painted models. 

Previously painted tank is in the middle

These four tanks (the two I was waiting on, and another two that were in the painting pile) finish off my planned Fort Garry Horse Sherman DD compliment:

I'll try to get a group shot of these at some point, currently they are stored in different boxes that need digging out. 

I'm still planning to paint three Sherman Fireflies for this unit, as another option, so for not the whole force isn't quite done. But I was really happy to pick up all the models I wanted and finally start to put this one to bed. 

 

Finished?!: 15mm Battlefront Sherman DD tanks

Hi folks,

Still catching up on some of the finished models from last week. This time, I've some DD Shermans to show off - both landed and swimming:

So a couple of things with these chaps:

- I'd initially done the canvas screens Khaki, but having seen Dave's and looked again at my pictures from Bovington, I went with a Desert Yellow drybrush over the Khaki.
- I had planned to put some tufts on the bases, but they just did not look right. As a result, with these tanks I am very tempted to go to Dave's smaller bases (60mm by 40mm, I think) as there is a lot of empty space around the models.
- Bases are Desert yellow with a drybrush of Iraq Sand. I then painted the edges Desert Brown. I recognise that the shade is quite close to the screen colour though, so may have to review if I do switch to a smaller base.
- I've another two of these to do, but might just make them up to a full squadron - because why not. I think I'd need another 3, and 4 Fireflys.

These tanks will be representing Canadian Shermans for Juno beach - possibly the Fort Garry Horse. Lack of places to put decals makes these pretty vague however. I may consider going for 1st Hussars though, as I have plans to do a FGH squadron with Sherman III's later.

To represent these (briefly) on the table while they swim in, I also finished another three swimming DD's. These are cheap resin models from Ebay, and are nowhere near as nice as Dave's Battlefront models. However, they will do for now.

That's it for DD's, unless I revisit the basing. Now onto finishing off the HMG42's and blocking in the colours on my three Sherman Crab Flails!

Finished!: Stuart V's and Bofors SP guns

Hi folks,

Having finished the challenge, I've been progressing at a more modest pace. Slowed slightly by the fact I have had three units on the go at the same time.

This weekend I made a bit of an effort to get some stuff finished, which ended up with my Stuarts done alone with most of a unit of SP Bofors guns for my Poles.

The Stuart's turned out to be a little bit of a hassle, mainly as they had been intended as recce Stuarts to finish my 24th Polish Lancers list. However, when it came do doing the decals I realised these are the wrong type of Stuarts, being V's rather than the VI's the Polish had. Main difference being the slightly different shaped hull, and the Polish tanks appear to have the triangular machine gun protection shield on the side of the turrets. Some hasty research revealed that the Sherman units of 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade used Stuart V's. As such, these chaps are my first Canadian tanks, aside from the swimming Shermans I completed during the challenge. They represent Stuarts from the HQ Squadron, 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment (The Fort Garry Horse). I figured everyone normally does the Sherbrookes, so I would pick something different. Tanks from this regiment also formed the right hand flank column to the 144RAC column during Operation Totalize.

Decals include CT War Department numbers, Brigade and Regiment markings and a single HQ Squadron diamond on the turret - the busyness of the turret doesn't allow space for both sides.

As per usual with my recce forces, I've got a commander in each turret, with the unit commander having two turret crew and twin aerials.

Finishing touches post pictures was to add some basic weathering in the form of dust and soot, as well as magnetising the turrets, something I had forgotten about previously. A cool looking little unit. These are 15mm Battlefront models.

I did make some efforts to ensure I had the Stuart VI's for my Poles, however all the models I had as missing the turret attachment. I've now got a trade deal with Dave to swap some resin tanks for PSC Plastics, which come with the turret option I need.

The other unit I was working on, another add on for my Poles, took the shape of most of a battery of Morris SP Bofors AA guns. I need to build and paint two more in order to make up the whole unit for these, but the models didn't arrive via Battlefront until the end of the challenge. When done, I will have a battery of these each for my Poles and Canadian Armoured forces - a quirk of a gift from a friend and then picking more up second hand in a large Ebay lot.

I've stuck to my usual basing style for these, and I think they look a lot more substantial with the base and crew figures rather than the unbased truck alone. I've not added a driver model, as I figure he wouldn't be sitting there while the gun was in operation.

These models are for '1 Pulk Artylerii Przeciwlotniczej', the AA regiment of 1st Polish Armoured Division. This is definitely one of those units that seemed like they would be much more effort to build and paint than they were, and they look really cool once done (at least, I think so!). Models are 15mm and from Battlefront.

Last unit of the trio to finish are some Morris Quad tractors, again for a 25 Pounder battery. Although I am slightly tempted to mark these up as 2nd Canadian Infantry Division Quads, and re-visit one of my gun batteries to update the uniform colour slights. Only because I have artillery for every other allied unit other than that one! I'll have a wee think before I progress.

Next up, I have a load of MDF trays to make for Really Useful Box storage, and a my next batch of models sitting awaiting assemble. These will be Sherman DD's and some Crab Flail Tanks - so I may take a quick go at something else before I start painting more tanks!