6MMRPC: 15mm Camo Netting + progress update

Hi folks,

A few weeks ago I'd posted some pics of the first batch of painted Shermans V's which had been traded on to Scotsgreys in exchange for new Sherman I's. A few people had commented on the camo netting on some of the tanks - and having used the same netting on some of my Churchill Crocodiles I thought I'd do a quick post on what I'm using.

First up, a quick shot of how it looks unpainted:

So the netting seems to be this stuff, although I can't be 100% sure as I bought it years ago from a small modelling shop in Glasgow. It was labelled as (I think) 1/72 scale netting.

Some close ups of the netting:

I use my trusty nail scissors (a very useful modelling tool!) in order to snip small sections of the netting to roughly the size and shape I need for the surface I'm applying it to. I then put a coat of superglue on the tanks surface and apply the netting. Don't worry about the fit, you can always trim the netting to the shape you need afterwards. I think I should then have applied a thinned down coat of PVA, but I just went right on to priming and painting.

Some more pics of the Croc turret (with some Sherman track links as extra armour on the front turret):

This particular look was based roughly on this picture of a Churchill Crocodile in Normandy:

 

I've actually got a odd number of Churchill Crocodiles, due to 2 of the models I had bought having very rough and badly cast/pitted fuel trailers. I had emailed Battlefront Customer Services for replacement trailers, and I was sent two whole new tanks!

While prepping a couple of the Crocs for my next wave of painting, I hit upon the way of sorting the pitting on the fuel trailers... Hide it!

 

This involved putting a couple of bits of stowage on the trailer, then using the same technique as above to drape the netting over it. Obviously, this is just with the base colour on, and not the finished article!

Lastly, some pics of the primed Croc:

6MMRPC wise this week I have also:

 

- primed and base coated the vehicle crews I prepped last weekend. These now just need helmets, webbing and flesh (and a few other details) painting.

- detailed another Churchill Crocodile with Stowage and got this primed and base coated.

- added steel paper to the bases of my Universal Carriers. These are now stored away securely awaiting Army Painter varnishing.

 

Things to think about for the coming week:

 

- basing for the Churchill Crocs and trailers? How to have the trailers remove able? Magnets? Some sort of hole drilled and paper clip 'hook'?

- finish off the vehicle crews.

- get the other three Crocs started.

 

 

 

 

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6MMRPC - Universal Carriers and planning

Hi folks,

This week I made an attempt at what I thought was going to be a never ending chore - in the form of 12 Universal Carriers and 3 Wasp Carriers. A video blog of this weeks work can be found here:

These guys are another group of models that have been sitting looking at for a long time, but kept putting off as I felt they would take a lot of work. While they are not finished yet (I'll talk about that in a bit) I'm quite pleased to have gotten so far so fast.

So these models are Forged in Battle (for the Universal Carriers) and Battlefront (for the Wasps). Crew figures are a mix of Battlefront and Forged in Battle - with a few minor conversions. I think some of the PIAT gunners are (I think) Skytrex - provided by Dai over a year ago!

I've posted before about the crew poses - these were purchased well before the new Battlefront sculpts came out and I had to bodge a lot of it. The PIAT crews are one example of this, as is the .50 cals and crew.

Painting was the standard Russian Uniform (Vallejo Model Color 70.924) which I hand painted over a spray of the Plastic Soldier Company British Armour spray. I really mucked up with the spray paint on these guys, getting it too thick in places and missing other parts altogether and ending up with a rough finish. Spraying these outside also saw the models covered in lots of tiny bits of plant material that have been a real nuisance. I'm not sure I'm going to go down that path again... But the speed of applying a spray undercoat does still attract me. Perhaps I should give my airbrushing a shot again at some point.

Other colours used on these guys included Model Color Khaki (70.988) for crew webbing and canvas rolls, Green Grey for some canvas rolls (70.886), Mahogany Brown (70.846) for wood, crates, boxes, etc, Reflective Green (70.890) for jerry cans and barrels, Flat Earth (70.982) for bases, English Uniform (70.921) for crew uniforms, Russian Uniform for the helmets, German Grey (70.995) for tracks and guns.

Some close up shots:

So each group of Universal Carriers includes a PIAT, a .50 cal and an extra hull MG carrier, giving one of each in 4 squads of 3.

One big change for me was the painting of the crew figures in the vehicles. I would normally paint these separately and glue then in once the vehicle is done. However as a lot of these figures were conversions or cut down normal infantry, painting them separately just was not going to work.

I also took some time to fix these guys:

Which are Forged in Battle crews for the Universal Carriers and Loyd Carriers. These guys had been painted last year some time but had gone cloudy when the matt varnish had been applied. They had sat on the shelf waiting to be repainted for quite a while until this weekend when I decided to try the paint on gloss trick on them. This seemed to have worked! I just need to give them a quick re-highlight and they are good to be used. I realised when working on these guys that the Loyd Carriers and Universal Carriers for my 4.2" Mortar platoon are all uncrewed!

To crew the other models I have in my unpainted mountain, I have a stack of vehicle crews to paint (again!). I prepped them this weekend as well.

I mentioned earlier planning...

I'm moving (again) in October from bonny Scotland to North East England - Middlesbrough area to be more accurate. I've got a transfer from work which will save me a 15+ hour a week commute into and from work while at the same time putting us in the same area as all of Amy's family. I've not much tying me to this area other than friends, a few family and a vague hope that I can see my son (which has happened once in the last 17 months). It seems unfair to be keeping Amy from a family she is very close to just so I can live in my preferred country. So off we go!

The hobby impact on this is a bit of an unknown. What I do know is that in the short term we are going to be staying with Amy's parents while she looks for work. I'm a bit wary of varnishing anything while staying in someone else's house, so I am planning on getting a few things varnished prior to the move. This means I can just highlight and decal while there, which means I can still make progress towards the challenge. So other than a coat of Army Painter, these Universal Carriers are done for now.

6MMRPC Update: Moar Moar Shermans (Finished!)

Just following up on my update from last week, I managed to finish off these 4 Shermans yesterday and get a quick video update done.

But had no time to do the actual Blog entry before bed!

To be honest, it's much the same and much the same as the previous batch. These 2 x M4 (Sherman I's) and 2 x M4A4 Firefly's means that two troops of Shermans are finished and I've made some inroads into the others. I've 3 Sherman I's still to build along with a IC Firefly and 2 Sherman I's built but needing stowage and details.

I also need to go back over the 4 I had already done (a Sherman I and 3 converted Sherman I Hybrids) and sort the turret decals and upgrade the paint scheme a little.

These are some quick shots of the most recent batch, now with some slight weathering.

Turret numbers are all accurate for the positions within the squadron, hence these 4 jump around a bit. I'm much happier with these number decals, they are a decent size and nice and clear.

One thing I'm not sure about are the barrels for the Fireflys - I've left them just with the pattern underneath and not black on top. I had done the first one with the black:

And I'd appreciate feedback on what looks better! Historically I think I could get away with doing either. I also may need to trim the aerials on the current batch, as I cut them a bit long (easier to trim them down).