Finished: 15mm M10C, Sherman I's and Churchill Croc

Hi Folks,

Over the last couple of weeks I have been spending my paint and chat time (as it seems most nights I am painting I am also on a hangout...) working on finishing off my Anti-tank M10C battery along with my last Churchill Crocodile - and a couple of Sherman I's.

I managed to more or less finish these guys all off, bar a couple little fixes, over the weekend.

Things still to do include a little bit of soot here and there, a base for the Croc's fuel trailer and the magnetic sheeting for under the bases.

So, first up, my Self-Propelled 17 Pounder 'Achilles' M10C's. These guys are representing the 6th Canadian Anti Tank Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery. Specifically vehicles of "B" Troop, 33 Battery, who advanced during the night attack along with 7 Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders during their attack towards Crasmesnil. The troop took no casualties during the night advance, although one of the vehicle commanders apparently shot up some German infantry with a Sten! During the 8th August the Regiment lost 1 Officer Killed, 1 Wounded, 6 'Other Ranks' killed, 12 wounded and 3 Missing.

This regiment was a Corps asset of 2nd Canadian Corps, 1st Canadian Army in Normandy.  This was one of three possible M10 units I could have added - the others being those of the 1st Polish Armoured and 4th Canadian Armoured Divisions. However as they were in action during phase 2 of the Totalise operation, I went with the unit present during the night attack. For those interested, the Canadian Government has made digital copies of a huge number of their countries war diaries free online.

The diary relating to the operation I am covering for this unit is located here. I have to say that it just shows how such records should be treated and makes the UK Governments efforts seem rather miserly and money grubbing.

Interestingly, prior to finding this dairy I had no idea that this unit was involved in the Highland Division part of the attack. Neither, it seems, were many modern authors. The main reference book I have for Totalise (written by a Canadian) makes no mention of these vehicles being present in the assault columns. Another interesting fact from the war diary was the line:-

"7 Aug 1944 - Attack to go in tonight at 2330 hrs. The C.O. moved Tac HQ to CCRA's report centre at MR063678 for period of "push". Welding of turret tops on M10s as protection against mortars and shrapnel completed today." (Emphasis mine!)

I don't have turret tops on these chaps, but I can see it being an option in the future. If anyone has any they are not using (they can be found in the American 4 vehicle box set) I would be interested in hearing from you. Failing that, I may buy some more to build as 3" armed M10's and do some weapon swaps on these guys. Time will tell! Also corrected after these pics were taken were the crew members beret's. For Artillery units these should be Khaki rather than black, and so have been re-painted!!!

I've also discovered that my source giving these units M10C's at this point was incorrect, and that it looks like the unit did not receive these vehicles until late August - so it looks like the 3" armed  armoured roof versions might be on the cards!

I also finished two more Sherman I's for my Squadron of 144RAC, tanks '83' and '84' of #3 Troop. my 14th and 15th Sherman (that I currently own, anyway!).

And finally the last (number 6!) of my Churchill Crocodiles. I still have the trailer to base and I forgot to update some of the decals, but I may just weather them a bit more heavily and forget about that! This Churchill has some of the great stowage from the Battlefront Churchill pack (as do many of these vehicles) but I love the use of the Churchill track links instead of the Sherman ones I had used previously.

And that, more or less, is that!

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.

15mm Churchill Croc prep and Sherman Firefly Barrel Camoflage

Hi folks,

I've not managed to do any painting for the last few weeks, not having gotten a chance to spray or varnish anything due to the weather or not being home when the weather is nice.

I've started trying to clean up and prep some of the other vehicles on the painting chart, spending hours last night working on the two Churchill Crocs and about 10 minutes this morning cleaning up the two Crusader AA tanks. Yes, the Crocs really are that bad. I'm considering a email to BF customer services due to the pitting on the fuel trailer's:

Trailer 1

Trailer 1

Trailer2

I'm not sure how these are going to look painted, and if there is anything I can do to fix it. It's possible the spray will even the surface out. Otherwise I may have to try and get replacements as these really are not ok - especially Trailer 1.

The other small thing I managed to work on was the barrel camo for my Firefly's. I had used some camo netting on my first Firefly model, but for these ones I went for the more common 'painted' option.

Instead of using white and black I just went for khaki with some ivory mixed in to lighten it. I left the top of the barrel the Russian Uniform Green that they had been, but I am tempted to paint it black as some pictures seem to show that.