The fruits of the first lockdown

Hi folks,

Whilst sorting the figures out for my infantry battalion pictures on Saturday, I also decided to get out the various elements of the 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry squadron I've been painting more or less since the start of the first lockdown (actually, around May). 

It's always nice to see everything out together, as I normally clear everything off into storage as soon as it's done. 

Again, lighting in the room is rubbish. At this time of year in these parts of North East England it barely gets properly light on a rainy day, and this whole week has been rainy. Apologies for the picture quality!

I tried to lay everything out roughly as per my painting plan:

Battlefront resin Humber Armoured Cars, M5 Halftracks and metal infantry (a motor platoon, which would be Bren/Pioneer teams), along with some resin Humber LRCs. Squadron command is a single Humber LRC. 

PSC 6-pdrs and Lloyd Carriers as well as the Mortar Carriers. Battlefront 3" Mortars, resin Universal Carriers, resin White Scout Car and resin Humber Scout Car. infantry are mainly BF metals. 

Not a huge number of models all in, but something I'd planned for a long time now done and off the to-do list. 

As mentioned in my earlier post, this was a project where I made the decision to ignore the v3 platoon command teams and command transport vehicles for the 3" Mortars and 6-pdrs. I don't feel that this detracts much from the whole, and while it only saved me from painting a few more infantry figures, it did free up 2 Universal Carriers that can be used elsewhere. On the table, one of the mortar squads and one of the guns becomes the HQ for the platoon. 

It should be noted that the historical OOB would have required double the number of transport carriers for moving the guns, crew and ammo - so the v3 force wasn't particular accurate anyway. 

Outside of the standard FoW rules, I also added dismounted options for the carrier patrols (Bren/Piat and Bren/2" Mortar teams), a vehicle mounted forward air observer, a foot version of the same and a foot Forward Bombardment Officer. I also decided to make the Humber Scout Car as a 144RAC vehicle transporting Lt. Col. Jolly. 

Here is this lot back in May - published as part of an article into having done too much prep and sickened myself off before I'd started! Just shows what breaking a project into more bitesize chunks can achieve. 

Hopefully I can make similar progress with the Polish Cromwells in the next few months!

Finished: 15mm British armoured car crew figures

Hi folks,

Another quick little side project done - crew figures for all the recently completed British armoured cars. 

The crew figures as a mix of Skytrex along with some very old and very new Battlefront figures. In line with my other recce models, each vehicle has a single crewman, while command vehicles have two (along with two aerials). This helps mark the command teams during play. Some of the crew are just peeping over the lip of the hatch, while others are sitting higher using radios, etc. 

I also added magnetic basing, so these are ready for storage... which I don't have. Primarily because I've filled up what I have either with my 15mm stuff or the 10mm Joshua project. Also because I recently purchased 5 platoons of rather nicely painted British infantry from a friend. Which leaves me one single platoon short of having a full battalion (4 rifle companies of 3 platoons + a support company). The only slight cheat being that some squads are 4 men strong rather than 5. I'll try to get some pictures soon!

Finished!: British Recce Troop 3

Hi folks,

The last week or so has been spend finishing off my last troop of armoured cars for my 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry squadron. 

As per the others, this troop consists of 3 x Humber IV Armoured Cars and 2 x Humber Light Recon Cars. Models are all 15mm scale from Battlefront. 

Crew are still WiP but shouldn't take too long to get finished. I've also got to magnetise the bases for storage, but that won't take long either. 

Updated painting plan now looks like this:

Just to prove that I've not just shown pictures of the same 5 vehicles three times...

There is actually one more Humber LRC than is required, as I had 2 previously painted from my first attempt at this unit. 

Having a whole squadron gives me scope on the bigger scenario games we play as a group to give scouts out to multiple players, or play some recce based scenarios using our hidden deployment/movement homebrew rules. Certainly the idea of having a relatively dense Normandy terrain board with the players trying to probe out the weakness in the German positions appeals. 

On to the 6-pdr platoon next, after I finish the crew figures for these and perhaps do some 10mm fantasy painting. 

Finished!: British Recce Troop 2

Hey folks,

Don't worry, it's not a bad case of deja vu - just more green vehicles. My 2nd troop of the planned 3 has left the paint desk. 

Nothing much more to report really, these are still 15mm Flames of War miniatures. Still painted to reflect a troop of vehicles from 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry in around August 1944 and I've still more to do!

As per the last batch, this troop consists of three Humber IV Armoured Cars (although I believe these are more like III's) and two Humber LRCs. Stowage and aerials have been added, and the Armoured Cars still need crew (which are in the painting pile). 

I am sticking with the historical setup for this squadron, having diverged slightly from the FoW v4 setup. However, I can always mix and match to fit the current lists if required. Thankfully, the guys are happy enough to go with historical setups so it's not really an issue. This does mean the infantry platoon has one more half track than the rules currently require. I've also dropped one of the carrier patrols from the plan as the info on the unit's organisation shows only two patrols of three vehicles per squadron. 

'Finishing' this troop adds some nice colour to my painting chart. I spent some time recently prepping the Loyd Carriers and Forward Air Controller vehicles and got them sprayed today, so a little change in shade there as well. 6-pdrs and crew have also been primed.

Work is now starting on the 3rd troop of armoured cars, before I move on to the 6-pdrs. No particular order to the progression, other than they seem like they should be quick to paint. Not too keen on the PSC plastic crews, but I'll give them a try. 

Finished!: British Recce Troop 1

Hi folks,

As posted elsewhere, I have maintained the motivation I was seeking while painting camels, and have 'finished' the first troop of Recce vehicles for my British collection.

These are 15mm Battlefront miniatures. Specifically 3 Humber IV's and 2 Humber Light Recon Cars (LRCs) for my August 1944 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry Squadron.

I've used the older (now OOP) Battlefront Humber models, although I did review these compared to the newer (much larger) once here. I did this mainly as I already had most of the force and only required three vehicles to finish the list. The newer models were sold on to club members and I managed to find three more of the older models.

Technically, these are I think more Humber III's than IV's. But they will do for my purposes.

As mentioned elsewhere, I've changed my painting method for this force in order to try and speed up painting. In this case, I lost time due to a varnish issue (as a result I am giving up on Vallejo gloss varnish). The new technique is to assemble and add stowage, spray with Russian Uniform, give a quick base coat of bottled 70.924 Russian Uniform, wash with my home made black wash, drybrush with a mix of 70% Russian Uniform and 30% Iraqi Sand, then a lighter drybrush with the quantities reversed. Tidy up the panels, paint the stowage and wheels, quick brown wash on those then highlight.

I then did the usual varnishes and decals, before adding Tamiya Weathering Master for dust effects (this shows really poorly on camera). I'm now switching to using a floor polish for my gloss coat.

I've found that not spending time edge highlighting really speeds up the process (obviously). Also, using cheap makeup brushes for drybrushing works really well. I still need some more practice - I'm thinking my drybrush technique is a bit rough.

You can really see the difference in how the weathering looks depending on the lighting between this last image and the first one.

Decals, which are hidden by the weathering, include the bridging weight, Recce AoS, Highland Division sign, WD numbers, recognition stars and allied stars.

As usual, two aerials for command vehicle. It will also have two crew members which I've still to paint. The other Humber A/C's will have one crew member each. Turrets have all been magnetised as well (other than on the LRC's which are glued down).

With the new painting style, I've managed to make some progress on the other two troops. I'm hoping to have one more finished in the next few days. Other vehicles still need more prep in the form of stowage and base spray, so that will slow down the rest.

Hope everyone is doing well and keeping safe.

Battlefront Humber Armoured Car Troop (BBX34) review

Hi folks,

Apologies for lack of regular content currently. A bit of time away from home and prep for a game tomorrow has meant I've not spent a lot of time painting.

I wanted to get a quick review of one of the newer Battlefront products I'd picked up recently. I 'needed' a further three Humber armoured cars to get my planned 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry force to the point that the vehicles are correct for the Totalise period. Seeing that Battlefront have released these vehicles in packs of 3, I grabbed a pack on Ebay for £18 including postage.

As described, the pack contains 3 Humber Armoured Cars. These would be the Humber III version. They come with a unit card and a commanders sprue, and have options for the commanders hatch to be open or closed (the open option is actually a separate part).

The resin is crisp and clean and there was barely any flash on the metal parts. As usual, I ran over mould lines with a knife, just to get rid.

Now, three nice new armoured cars, suitable for me to use for my Normandy force - the old resin and metal blister was sold as a Humber III/IV and had the option for the 2pdr with littlejohn adaptor - which I hadn't used.

However, nowhere had I seen any mention that these models were re-sculpts of the older ones rather than re-packed models. And they are fairly large re-sculpts at that. Here is the newer model (in the darker grey resin on the left) against one of the older blister pack kits.

These shots show the increased quality of the newer kit versus the old - but also the increased size. Unfortunately, I can't cope with having the different sized vehicles in the same force, so the new ones have to go (it would be too costly to replace all the older ones I have). Thankfully some of the chaps from the club, having gotten into Battlegroup, have use for single armoured cars. This lets me recoup some of the money spent. I've still got one to get rid of, so it looks like I will be out of pocket slightly.

All in all then, a great kit - very nicely detailed and I'm very impressed. Just not so impressed with the sudden change in size, which make my earlier models look tiny in comparison. No decals in the pack either, which is a shame. But a quality product and decent value for money.