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.

6MMRPC: Moar green tanks! Huzzah!

Hi folks,

With packing activity progressing I've been hurrying to get up to date with my modelling so I can get things varnished and then all my modelling stuff packed away. Don't get me wrong - packing takes precedence. But there is only so much you can do in a day! I think Amy understands that what I'm working on just now is my way of transitioning through the move - I feel like being able to pick up right where I've left off will help make things a lot easier for me.

This weekend I have been working on getting the three M3A1's, two Crusader AA and single M10C up to a point that they can be varnished. I'd have loved to get all 4 M10C's painted, but without enough stowage they are going to have to wait. These are all Battlefront models.

I also touched up paint on the three Wasp's I had worked on previously. I hadn't put any stowage on them and there were a few other bits I wanted to fix.

As part of the painting process I sorted out the bases, getting the acrylic resin on them, trimming them down and then magnetising them.

Here's the whole lots with the bases on:

I have to say, the Crocs look bloody good with the bases on them (although I know they won't be everyone's cup of tea). For the fuel trailers I just glued them onto the bases at the correct angle for them to line up with the tanks. They are not attached, so can be freely removed.

Some closer shots of the other tanks - as per usual these are WiP and just have the main colours blocked in before they get a coat of Army Painter Dark Tone varnish applied. So there are no highlights or anything on these models.

The M3A1 was a development of the M3 Light Tank. Normally referred to the Stuart in British service (after the standard British naming convention - most Lend Lease American tanks were given the names of American Civil War generals (Grant, Lee, Stuart, Sherman)) the standard M3 was also known as 'Honey'. Apparently as crews described them as 'running like a real honey'.

The M3A1's official name in the British Army was the Stuart III. It varied from the Stuart I (Honey) by having a new turret with turret basket and no cupola. Gun vertical stabiliser were installed and the sponson machine guns were removed. The turret is more rounded and less angular than the one used in the M3 and the removal of the commanders cupola on the turret roof means that there is a different hatch layout than the earlier version.

M3A1 of 144RAC somewhere in Normandy

A rather nice 1:72 Diorama of the picture above. From here - diorama by orionv

In British service, the Stuart V's tended to be given to the Armoured Divisions, while the Stuart III's were still in use by the Independent Armoured Brigades.

Armed with a 37mm gun and three .30cal machine guns, it was pretty lightly armed and armoured for 1944. In fact, I think the Americans considered them to be obsolete.

Next up, the Crusader AA tanks.

These tanks are Crusader III, AA Mk II's. Armed with twin 20mm Oerlikon cannons. Prior to D-Day there was real concern about the Luftwaffe's response to the invasion and integral AA defence for units was seen as critical. The AA tanks came about from obsolete Crusader tanks being re-armed with the 20mm cannons. These were normally issued at a rate of 6 per Armoured regiment (normally to the HQ squadron). They saw little to no use in their intended role and there are various stories about how they were used in action - mainly being used as 'escort' tanks for unarmoured elements or as backup for the Regiments Light tanks. In June 1944 33 Armoured Brigade had 20 of these tanks on strength (6 per Regiment with 2 at Brigade HQ). By December 1944 there were none of these vehicles listed as being on strength of 33 Armoured Brigade, as they were removed from service and the crews used as replacements for losses in the Regiments.

There should be a tubular framework around the top of the turrets, but it's too fiddly for me even to try at this scale. 

Lastly, my single M10C.

Not much stowage on this, as I was running out. The netting looks pretty good, but the plan is to try and add to this with some foliage. If I can get some that looks realistic!

This is an American M10 Tank Destroyer armed with the British 17 Pounder Anti Tank gun. Normally called an Achilles, during WW2 it was called a 17pdr M10 or 17pdr SP M10. Lightly armoured but with one of the best anti tank guns the western allies used, these vehicles are not truly tanks - although they look like them! These are strictly speaking self propelled anti tank guns and were used by Royal Artillery (and Royal Canadian Artillery) anti tank units. Mines will be from 6th Canadian Anti-Tank Regiment, RCA. These were the corps A/T regiment of 2nd Canadian Corps.

So with these guys based, I'm hoping to get them varnished tomorrow. This will give them a day or so to dry then everything can be packed away!

Thanks for reading!

6MMRPC: Tanks and Trades

Hi folks,

A quick update before the weekend (and lots of packing) starts. Today was my final day of work in Glasgow, so I am looking forward to starting in Middlesbrough in a weeks time and not having to spend 3+ hours a day commuting! Tonight I celebrated by getting primer on my three Stuart M3A1's and Crusader AA tanks.

These pics are post black primer, so don't show much. I managed to do a little work through the week on stowage - running out of canvas rolls and jerry cans - and also managed to add a hull MG barrel to the Stuarts.

I had enough stowage to have a bash at one of the M10C's, adding a .50cal MG and patches of camo netting. I'm thinking on these guys to try a new thing, and have been looking at options for foliage branches in 15mm. There are a few options out there, I just need to pick one then have it delivered to my new address (I have the same issue with ordering more stowage).

My thinking with the foliage is that these Self propelled guns were normally used from defensive or ambush positions. Also, with them being a Canadian addition to my army, I wanted them to be visually a little different. The inclusion of foliage on the models will really depend on whether I can make it subtle enough. I've seen lots of models with clumps of horrible rubberised hair and the likes on them - or clumps of clump foliage - and I don't want to go down that route. The key will be getting decent looking 'branches' and leafs. 

I also picked up a Dremel like tool from EBuyer. Called the Xenta 163 Piece Rotary Tool it costs a whole £14.99. I'm waiting on it being delivered but the reviews sound OK and at that price if it only lasts a few months I won't complain. What it will let me look at doing it magnetising my turrets.

Also this week I managed to trade my 3 Stuart Honey tanks I asked for in error at Christmas time. I managed to arrange a trade of the 3 tanks and a small sum of money for 3 plastic  PSC Churchills and 4 plastic BF M5 Halftracks. I'm not too sure what to do with the Churchills, but the M5's will be for my Recce company infantry. The Churchills might end up as an extra support option or as base kits if the conversion kits for PSC Churchills ever materialize. I'll think about it but they can stay on the sprues for a while yet. I should probably count this as a Joker for the challenge, but it was a small amount of cash and that was only because we needed to even out the trade value.

And... I managed to move the vehicle crews onto the shelf as they are now ready to be varnished.

I've not posted the pics of the Stuarts or the Crusader AA as the black primer makes them just large black blobs in the pictures. More to follow when I get the base coat on them.

6MMRPC: Crocs Update

Hi folks,

Blog post #225 and just over 50,000 visits! Not a bad run for my wee hobby blog (we'll ignore the fact 75% of the visits will have been spam!).

So, busy week this week, and busy weekend coming up. I thought I would do a quick update post now just to show I am still trying to work on my metal mountain!

This week I got the Churchill Croc's all detailed and base coated. I've not come up with a solution for the trailers yet. I also managed to get the webbing done on my vehicle crews. Beyond that, I am hoping for better progress next week!

I've done 3 with the netting and 2 with Sherman track's mounted on the turrets.

Some closer shots:

And also the trailers:

So, steady progress but no major breakthrough. I still need to consider basing and how to connect the trailers to the tanks, so that they can be removed easily.

Thats all for now!