WW2 in 28mm (1/56th scale) British Armoured Platoon 1944-1945

The Sherman mk.Vc 'Firefly' circa.1944

The 23rd Hussars Tank Regiment.

Continuing with my British armoured platoon of 1944 -1945 European Theater of War, I decided my infantry needed some armour for the 1944 Normandy to the battle of the Bulge scenarios. So I picked up a Sherman firefly complete with 17 pounder gun for some firepower.

Die Waffenkammer make a really nice Sherman mkVc firefly so I thought I give it a go.

 The tracks are separate but come fitted to the hull by the manufacterer so that a perfect effect is ensured, I wish all manufacturers could be this diligent! This does save a lot of frustration...I mean it really does.

A superb clean model, I actually followed the manufacturer's instructions and did wash it with detergent to remove any release agent that might be left on the model from the manufacturing process.

Then I primed it with a medium grey matt enamel paint., followed by a dark green paint.

I got a bit carried away and forgot to take pictures for each stage of the painting process, but it was a surprisingly quick job. Then just add the waterslide transfer decals, let them dry out and add a weathering effect over the whole vehicle.

The '51' decals show the red senior tank regiment of the Brigade, in this case the 23rd Hussars was the senior regiment above the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment and the 2nd Fife & Forfar regiments of the Brigade 

The Red triangle denotes 'A' squadron

Die waffenkamer provides a lot of extras with their model, stowage, seperate tracks and a tank commander, here I have a die waffenkamer tankie with a Warlord games tank commander. The aerial was added from some garden wire.

 The Yellow decal with a black bull denotes it is a tank of the 11th Armoured Division

The gun barrel has a wavy line down it to make it look like the shorter 75mm barrel used on the Mark V Sherman tanks used by the British in 1944. Disguising the fact that it is a 17 pounder tank buster gun instead.

Next post I might feature some stuff I'm flogging on ebay.

Cheerio.

WW2 in 28mm (1/56th scale) British Armoured Platoon 1944-1945

British Armoured Platoon  - (29th Armoured Brigade, 11th Armoured Division.)

Introduction.
I've been collecting 28mm figures for a World War 2 bash sometime in the future, starting with a British armoured platoon based on units of the 11th Armoured Division 1944 & 1945.

After selecting 'Rules of Engagement' (RoE) as my chosen ruleset I set about looking for miniatures which I'd like to paint settling on Artizan Designs WW2 range of 28mm figures representing the 8th Battalion Rifles the 'infantry' part of 29th Armoured Brigade

The Army list I have used is the new free to download 'British Motor Platoon 1944' available from: http://www.greatescapegames.co.uk/rules-of-engagement/downloads/orders-of-battle/late-war

The Platoon will consist of:
1 Infantry Platoon HQ section
the section is mounted in a M3A1 armoured car
3 Infantry sections (squads) (maximum of 2 PIAT and added as additional equipment)
each section is mounted in a M5 halftrack

Support Options:
1 Company support section sustained fire Heavy Machine Gun (2nd (Independent) Machine Gun Company of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers)
the section is mounted in a universal carrier

1 Company support section with 3 inch mortar
 the section is mounted in a universal carrier

1 Divisional support 1x tank (Sherman Vc for a 1944 game or Comet A34 for a 1945 game).

using RoE rules this gives me a Combat Effectiveness (CE) of 24

RoE Divisional support: 1x Comet(A34) Tank, as I can only use this tank from 1945 I'll try to buy a Sherman markV or  Sherman Vc 'firefly' for a mid to late 1944 game.

 The chosen model was the A-34 'Comet' from the Die Waffenkammer range available through  JTFM. I found that the manufacturer had fitted the tracks to the hull perfectly, also little details such as the headlights and headlight guards were part of the resin casting on the hull which I found to be a big bonus. This has been the best produced 1/56th scale model I have bought to date 10/10 for quality.

A-34 Comet 2nd Fife & Forfar Regiment 11th Armoured Division 1945.

Apparently the naming convention for this regiment when equipped with the comet tank were the names of saints for the Regimental Headquaters Squadron, alas I acquired a limited transfer sheet of names and chose venus for this model.

The only other names I can find for this regiment are:

BROWN JACK squadron & serial unknown.
WHY WORRY?   squadron unknown, serial  T335346

The regiment code is 53 white lettering on red square, divisional badge black bull on yellow rectangle.

markings front view

markings rear view

The squadron markings are in blue, diamond for HQ squadron, triangle for the A squadron, square for B squadron and circle for C squadron. I've added a bridging disc denoting 40 ton load, the comet is actual weight is somewhat closer to approx 33 tons.

The tank commander is from Warlord Games Bolt action range.

Extra details were added such as the coiled searchlight cable, aerial and padding on the inside of the open hatch.

The Comet tank had a 77mmL50 gun capable of firing APCBC, HE and APDS, the projectile was identical to the 17pdr on the Sherman Firefly but the cartridge was different with lower muzzle velocity and thus less penetration.

The Armoured infantry representing the 8th Battalion Rifle Brigade will be next.
to be continued....