20mm Normandy Cromwell platoon

 I bought a pair of Airfix Cromwells on the Bring and buy at the last wargames show I attended, WMMS back in March 2020.  I assembled them over the Cristmas holidays and painted them up recently.  One was built with open hatches and a Matchbox figure used as a commander to provide the platoon command.  The Firefly is a diecast from Clive Dudley.

Command Cromwell.

Other Cromwell.

The pair.  Painted in Russian uniform green, washed in Agrax earthshade and dry brushed in Vallejo Iraqi sand.

The troop.  I shall pick up a Challenger at some point to extend the life of the troop beyond Normandy for Arnhem and the battles for Germany.

The Firefly - this chap has decals for 27th Armoured Brigade, so at some point I might change the decals on the Ready to roll version I completed last year and use this one for the brigade and the other to go with the Cromwells.

I still can't stress enough how great the Airfix Cromwell kit is to assemble.  Compared with lots of others on the market, it wins hands down, if nothing else for the really neat way the tracks are assembled.

As ever, thanks for looking.

First Christmas builds finished - 20mm Elephant and Humber armoured car

 Two completed vehicles for the Germans.

First up, a Readytoroll Humber armoured car in German service.  This beute vehicle will provide a command vehicle for 9th SS recce, representing Grabner's vehicle for Arnhem.

The original model comes with a cast resin British commander, which I had to grind off with a Dremmel, so I replaced him for a Raventhorpe tank commander figure with side cap and headphones.

Artwork in the Rapid-Fire Market Garden book shows no markings other than loads of iron crosses, presumably to prevent friendly fire.  These decals are from Skytrex.

Slightly fuzzy detail of Grabner in the turret.

Grabner in better focus.

Then, the first of the World Armour Elefant tank destroyers, this one in dunkelgelb with sandy Rotbraun spots, best suited to the Eastern front.

The command figure is again Raventhorpe, wearing an officers hat.

Decals came with the kit although there weren't enough Balkankreuz for the rear, which is from Skytrex.

Propaganda shot of the big gun.

The commander in close up.

I like the way both models have turned out and they should hopefully be appearing on a table somewhere as soon as Covid restrictions are relaxed.

As ever, thanks for looking.

More 20mm model building

Continuing the model kit assembly, I've finished these chaps, ready for stowage and painting. 

A First2fight Sdkfz 221.

Another First2fight kit, an Sdkfz 222.

A pair of First2fight Kruppe Protz 70 troop carriers.

A First2fight Kruppe Protze 69 artillery tow, with a Zvezda PAK 36.

A buttoned up Airfix Cromwell.

Finally for now, a set of Italeri DAK motorcycles.

Soon be time to reclaim my corner of the kitchen table, so I can resume painting.

As ever, thanks for looking.

On the workbench Jan 2021

Happy New Year!  So, with the Civil Powers taking control of the kitchen table (AKA my workbench), painting ground to a halt over Christmas and into the New Year.  So, with little to entertain on tv these days and lots of long dark days and nights, what better than to assemble some of the kits that reside in the stash, some of them for several years, others more recent.

First up, a real quick build from First2Fight, a PzIIC - very much like assembling one of the smaller Zvezda 15mm kits, but this one in 20mm.  Needs a bit of jazzing up with some stowage.

Then an Italeri Wirbelwind.  Not a bad model to assemble and nicely detailed, but the need to plastic weld some of the gun assembly was fiddly, but not significantly so.  However, the tracks were a bit of a sod as individual track links needed to be glued around the stong curvatures of the sprocket wheels and as connectors between straight sections.  What a palaver, especially as they don't attach to each other in any way other than glue.  Still, quite a nice model once it went together.

Another First2fight, this time an Sdkfz 247 recce/command car.  Axles a little spindly, but builds into a nice sturdy little kit.  Think it will need basing to minimise damage to those thin axles though.

Interesting assembly challenge posed by this Fujimi Ferdinand.  The big issue was making the tracks link up as they are old style rubbery plastic needing to be hot welded, but one track was a good centimeter short, while the other was more like an inch short.  Even draping over a radiator to warm up and then stretching didn't significantly close the gap.  In the end, I used bits of the sprue the tracks came on to melt and add length on the underside of the tracks - as I'm going to base them,  it shouldn't be too visible.

Compared to Fujimi, this Airfix Cromwell was a delight to assemble and the tracks were so straightforward it was untrue.  Any model manufacturers would do well to try and emulate this technique for track assembly.  I need to dig through my spare tank commanders to pop a figure in the hatch.

A universal carrier section from Plastic Soldier Company.  These were from the standard set, with the addition of 2" mortar crewmen from the carrier variants set.  This is where, again, I have been somewhat disappointed by PSC, as they appear to have used a slightly different scaling for the variants box compared to the basic carrier sprue.  This makes crew figures from the variants box appear to be giants, compared with the basic crew (I estimate more like 23 or 24mm high, rather than 20mm), which is really noticeable when comparing the driver and gunner figures with variant crew figures.  Natural variation in height might explain this, but for the fact that the helmets of the variant crews look gigantic compared with the basic vehicle crews.  Unfortunately, the scaling difference also means that parts such as the armoured front of the artillery observation carrier are slightly too large to fit the rest of the standard model and need cutting back to fit.

A second carrier section, one to carry a bren team, the middle a 2" mortar from the variant kit, but with standard kit crew, and the third to carry a PIAT team.

A Vickers MMG carrier - again, compare helmet sizes between front seat crew and rear passengers.

Artillery observation variant.

3" mortar carrier.

Wasp flamethrower.

So, not a bad group of vehicles assembled over the holidays, I'm quite pleased with that little lot.  Should keep me out of trouble for a few weeks.

Thanks for looking.

20mm WW2 German infantry in winter smocks

Another bring and buy bargain, a mixed bag of Caesar WW2 German winter infantry in camo smocks.  The only figures missing were LMG teams, which I made up with some MG34 armed Panzergrenadiers from Raventhorpe.

The platoon with a recce infantry section at the front.  The recce section is painted in all white camo, while the rest wear a mix of white and more regular camo gear, some with white smocks, others white overtrousers.  I notice for the picture that I have managed to put one figure of the recce section in with the HQ section.

The recce section in all white camo - I figured they would get the most suitable clothing to fulfil their role on the battlefield.

HQ section.

Rifleman in mixed camo clothing.

CO, rifle armed so he blends in with his troops.

Similar figure pose in mixed camo clothing.

MG34 and assistant.

Advancing SMG and rifle-armed figures, both in mixed camo clothing.

I still need to add some snow to the bases, I will probably use my favourite recipe of baking powder, white paint and PVA glue.

So, last post for the year.  What a year 2020 has been!  Here is to 2021, new and effective vaccines and the end of Covid-19.  Happy New Year and thanks for looking!

20mm British Pioneers and Home Guard

I recently ordered a mixed lot of figures from Raventhorpe, which included a couple of packs of WW2 British pioneers (three figures per pack).  The figures are armed with a flamethrower, Bangalore torpedo and pole charge, making them really useful for lots of battlefield engineering tasks.

I also ordered a "special" Raventhorpe pack of familiar Home Guard infantry.  A pack of 9 figures, including an ARP warden, officer, medic and youthful Tommy gunner wearing a scarf, plus rifle armed volunteers with fixed bayonets and a Lewis gunner.

The officer.

Young Tommy gunner.

ARP warden.  Put those lights out.

Guard.

Medic.

Assorted troopers with rifles, Lewis gun and Molotov cocktail.  Just realised the guy with the Molotov appears to be smoking a fag, which makes him look like bit like a spiv.

All nice figures with good raised detail and easy to paint.  I shall need to source quite a few more Home Guard types to make up a platoon, so will scan the manufacturers to see what is on offer.

Thanks for looking.