Finished: 15mm Polish 17-pdr M10 battery

Hi folks,

A busy hobby weekend was had, and I managed to finish off the first part of next painting plan - some Polish M10 Tank Destroyers from 1 Pułk Artylerii Przeciwpancernej, the anti-tank regiment which formed part of the 1st Polish Armoured Division. 

The old v3 Flames of War booklet for this unit lists them as having 24 of these vehicles, along with 24 towed 17-pdrs. A little bit of research shows that this unit actually consisted of twelve 17-pdr armed M10s, twelve 3" gun armed M10s and twenty four towed 17-pdrs. Post Totalize loss reports for the division shows that they lost a mix of 17-pdr and 3" armed vehicles, and photos in both 'Armoured Hussars' books show both versions of the M10 in use up until the battles in the Netherlands. 

These are older Battlefront 15mm Resin hulls, with the newer plastic tracks. Crew are the older metal Battlefront ones. 

Collection wise, this unit fills a gap as my only unit of painted M10s so far are Canadian 3" armed versions. 

I tried to go a little lighter on the weathering with these models - the Poles hadn't been in Normandy long prior to Operation Totalize. Period photos from around that operation show a lack of stowage or extra kit on the Polish vehicles - while later images shown lots of added track armour and stowage on the rear deck. 

These are Battlefront 15mm models, with the older metal British crew figures. 

Now, I know what you are thinking "but James, the crews of these vehicles were from the Royal Artillery" I hear you exclaim, "and as such, they should have khaki coloured berets, not Royal Armoured Corps black ones!". And normally, you would be correct. However, the Poles used black berets as a standard item of uniform, and so their M10 crews had them. Rest easy - I checked!

I am really chuffed with how these models came out, I went with my 'faster' method of applying the edge highlights, and I think they look very neat. The .50cals are plastic Battlefront ones, which I painted separately and have tried to glue on so they are a little protected by the turret. Crew were also painted separately, back when I painted the infantry platoon. Turrets are magnetised and turnable. 

Aerials are using my usual fishing line. One slight issue is that there is no obvious HQ unit, which I will have a think about. I may replicate something I've seen in the Armoured Hussar books where the Polish added extra machine guns to their M10s. Or I might just leave them alone!

Up next, I have some 10mm Fantasy stuff to base as part of the 'For Joshua' project, some 15mm sci-fi stuff to finish highlights on and some Cruel Seas ships to finish as well. I'm planning to leave the prepped Cromwells till I start the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge in December.  

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!

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.

15mm Foliage

Hi folks,

I thought I should take the time to do a little post detailing my attempts at 15mm scale 'realistic' looking foliage. It's a pretty simple process and only involves seafoam sprigs, 'leaf' shaped flock and superglue.

The main components came from http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com - here.

The Seafoam sprigs arrived in a decent sized box - certainly enough to keep me going for quite a while.

While there was also a decent sized bag of the flock like stuff.

So, grabbing a set of clippers I snipped off a couple of smaller sprigs of the seafoam. I then applied dabs of superglue to the sprigs and dipped them in a tub filled with the flock.

I left this to dry for a while (I did two of these at once) before clipping up one of the sprigs into much smaller 'branches'. As I was going to something the had to look in scale and that would have been applicable by the crew - especially a crew used to sitting in ambush or defensive positions - I mainly used the smaller clippings to decorate the turret and break up the hull a little. I had previously applied some of the camo netting that I had been using to the tank, so the foliage just went on over that.

Once I had the quantity and shape I was happy with, I did use some Vallejo beige brown paint to touch up the colour of the sprigs. I didn't paint any of the leaves, but may come back to that in the future depending on how the other

Turret only

Turret and Hull done

Final version

So all in all quite easy to do. Oddly enough, I picked up a book on Operation Totalise at the Leeds wargames show. One of the pictures in the book is this:

Picture used without permission

Which features Wasps, a Churchill Crocodile and a M10 covered in foliage - although the M10 has a lot more foliage on it that mine does!

6MMRPC: M10C, Wasps and Universal Carriers - Finished! (Tanktober Offering)

Following up from last nights post, I grabbed some shots of the various other vehicles I have been working on and managed to finish.

Again, crew figures have still to be done and added, but the rest of these models are done.

First up, my lonely M10 Self Propelled 17 Pounder gun (M10C). Bearing the markings of 6th Anti Tank Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery - this unit was the Corps level anti-tank regiment of 2nd Canadian Corps during Totalize. I managed to pick up the corps decal from Doms Decals, and the Arm of Service marking was a over painted field regiment decal.

Then we have 3 Wasps - flame throwing Universal Carriers. These guys have the markings of the Middlesex Regiment, 51st Highland Division. This unit also provided the 4.2" Mortars and Vickers MMG support to the Highland Division, and I was surprised to find that they operated the Wasps as well.

A very small and quick model to paint, these guys just need crew figures and they should be done.

Then we have 3 Universal Carriers. These guys are marked up and 7th Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders, 51st Highland Division. They form one of the 'squads' of Universal Carriers for my infantry list. There are 1 with a .50 HMG and Bren, and 2 with two Brens.

And lastly, some more pictures of the Crocodiles:

So just crew to do and some turrets to be magnetised and that will be all these guys totally done. Next up I'm going to do some more Universal Carriers and my 3 M3A1 Stuarts. Hopefully I will make a start on them this week.