15mm Cromwell from PSC part three

At Colours I bought a set of 15mm transfers for the British Guards Division.

The Cromwell has received Guards Division and Welsh Guards decals.

15mm Cromwell from PSC part two

A long while ago, I started work on a Plastic Soldier Company Cromwell tank.

It was a nice and easy kit to build, I just did not get round to painting it. The crates are from the PSC German accessory set, though I am not sure where the toolbox on the left rear mudguard was sourced from.

It got undercoated along with some other British vehicle I was working on, and the tracks and camouflage nets got painted black when I had some black paint to spare.

The tank received the traditional Citadel Chaos Black spray undercoat followed by PSC British Tank green.

The camouflage nets were painted with Vallejo Black and dry brushed with Citadel Nurgle Green (as was the hull and turret).

The tyres are Vallejo Black Grey. The tarpaulins are Citadel Steel Legion Drab. The crates were painted with Vallejo Old Wood. The straps are Citadel Zandri Dust.

The hull and turret were washed with Citadel Athonian Camoshade and the tracks and wheels with Citadel Agrax Earthshade.

The Tank Comander is very shy.

It is short of decals. Something to remember at Colours.

15mm Cromwell from PSC

As a slight diversion from other projects, I assembled a Plastic Soldier Company 15mm scale Cromwell tank.

 It is mainly out of the box, except I removed and reposed the rear commander's hatch because of the adjacent aerial, added using brass rod. Items from the German stowage and commanders set have been added.

the commander has a map laid out in front of him. Camouflage nets have been hung around the turret.

Cromwell Tanks - Bovington and Duxford

Cromwell Tank at the Tank Museum.

A Cromwell Tank at Duxford.

Warlord Plastic Cromwell Tank - as finished as it will get.

So, the Cromwell has now moved to the "finished as it will get".

 I did manage to reduce the "shininess" a bit by using more Citadel Athonian Camoshade and brushing it until it dried.

The tank is marked up as a vehicle of C Squadron, 2nd Armoured Recce Battalion, Welsh Guards which is part of the Guards Armoured Division.

The cowl at the back was a post D-Day fitting.

Overall it is a nice kit.

I have the Italeri version of the kit to build (same kit, far better instructions) as well as two more resin ones.

I do need to put together a scenic base for photography.

Warlord plastic Cromwell - decals.

The main item missing from the decal sheets is a suitably sized Squadron marking to fit on the tool box. Luckily, the Rubicon M5A1 has a very small US Invasion star, which just about fits. One of them had the star cut out, the other had the star left in but painted over afterwards.

This is the painted over one (the tow wire needs some tidying).

 And this is the one with the star cut out.

 The division insignia and tactical sign are from the Warlord British Guards Armoured Division decal sheet.

Now for some tidying up then shading and weathering.

Warlord Games plastic Cromwell (bit of a memory test...).

So after sitting on the shelf gathering dust for longer than I care to remember, I have made some advances towards completing it.

 It does not have as much stowage added to it (and the base model was completed before Rubicon brought out their German Stowage set). An HO scale oil drum with added straps and filler cap has been added to the right hand track guard. A box from the Warlord plastic Universal Carrier has been added to the left hand track guard together with a jerry can probably from the Warlord SDKFZ 251C kit.

One feature of illustration of the Cromwell is the presence of the squadron identifier on the boxes either side of the turret.

None of the decal sets have one of suitable size, so I decided to try and use the very small invasion stars from the original Rubicon M5A1 kit. I cut out the star in the ring and then cut the star out of the ring.

Warlord Games Plastic Cromwell

Well this has been sitting on the shelf awaiting its turn in the paint queue for a while (that is not a snow effect).

Still a lot of painting and weathering required.

Shermwell 1 and Shermwell 2 - pictures for a discussion on turret rings

One of the limiting factors on the size and power of the gun you can fit to a tank is the turret ring.

Model manufacturers do not always use the turret ring size of the actual tank when designing their models.

The Sherman could be up gunned with the British 17 pound anti tank gun because its turret ring was larger than the Cromwell.

In model form, the sizes are reversed slightly.

As you can see, the Cromwell turret sits on the hull.

The Sherman turret sits flush in the turret ring.