bull-nut

Specifically: CRME/ 42497/ G(Cam) 19 Oct 42 Drawing No.A/142/1 This was a set of drawings laid out by the Camouflage Directorate, GHQ MEF that specified patterns and colours for vehicles and equipment then in use in theatre. It covered everything from towed field artillery and AT guns, staff cars, jeeps, trucks and lorries, right up to tanks of all sizes. each type had a specific pattern that was supposed to be adhered to, and the colours specified were Desert Pink base colour, with Disruptive patterns in, in order of preference, Dark Green, Black(SCC14), Very Dark Brown(SCC1A) & Dark Slate (B.S.34). Sharp undercuts (main gun undersides, transmission cases, sides of A15 Crusader turrets for example) were painted gloss white to minimise dark shadows. In the case of US supplied equipment, I think it is possible that the original US OD No9 was left as the disruptive pattern Mike Starmer, here on BM self publishes a series of booklets on British vehicle camouflage from the interwar years right through to post war, that include cleaned versions and transcripts of the original orders. The pertinent one I will be using here is Alamein and After 1942-43. Hope that wasn't too much of an info dump

First time using resin tracks for me too. Fortunately they come Link and Length rather than a full length strip, I'm not sure I'd fancy trying to bend them around the running gear. Quite possibly, I'll see how things go. The personnel in the picture look to be wearing regular temperate battle dress, rather than the tropical kit, so that makes things easier. I may even have a stab at that folding chair!

With my Op Husky Sherman getting to the point where I'm waiting for bits to arrive/cure, I thought I'd get started on that staple of British armour modelling subjects, a Sherman from the El Alamein battles in late 1942, specifically, Cricklade of the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, 9th Arm Bd, attached as support to the 2nd New Zealand Division. A fairly well known, I think, picture of the tank in question: Sprues: missing parts are being used in my Op Husky build. Also shown are the tracks that arrived in the post this morning from Gaso-line in Paris. I've had to chase Friendship models for the upper hull and bogies, as despite ordering them at the same time as the tracks, they still haven't shown up. Not shown is the AM decal sheet by Bison that came to me courtesy of the most generous @Bullbasket. Some people may ask why I'm using the kit turret for this build, rather than the Husky build. Well the Husky mantlet will be covered in waterproofing fabric, and I intend to use that to cover any flaws in my resin cast M34 mantlet which is still cureing, and since I have no resin turret either, its got to be this way around if I'm going to keep working on this GB in between detailing the Husky lower hull..

@Ozzy No problem, I'll go start another thread for the DV model, thanks. @PlaStix Thanks for the complement! Ask and you shall receive Well the sum total of last nights work was to pour the resin for the ancillary parts, and rough out the base of the wadding trunk, no pics of the resin yet, because in a fit of stupidity, I forgot to tint before I poured, so all I have is a cluster of transparent pieces at the moment. Once they are fully cured in a few days, I'll stick some primer on them so that they actually look like something in photos. In the mean time, look what showed up in the mail this morning: Top half is two sets of T51 Rubber block tracks with sprockets from Gaso-line The bottom half is the wading trunk base after drying overnight and trimming off the excess plasticard. Next up, detail/rivet the lower hull and start on the bogies

I'll join in this one if I may. I have a 2016 boxing of the venerable Spitfire Vb that needs building, along with this little beauty.

Sorry for the double post, but it seemed justified. Todays progress so far, Left - Right, Top - Bottom. Sponson gaps shimmed and filled with Milliput Ancillary parts tacked down to plasticard (C/wise from upper left: rear hull plate, radiator? cover, final drives, hull hatches, M34 gun mount, Turret hatch). Original parts surrounded with Mould box made from sons Lego bricks stuck down with PVA glue. "Composimold" poured and hardening. It's only a simple one sided mould, but that's all I need for this, and I cant use "Composimold" for two piece moulds anyway. So while all that sets up, I'm of to run some errands, further updates later. This evenings plan; demould and cast parts in resin, and start adding the surface details to the hull. I may even make a start on the turret.

Thanks John, though I'm not sure its better than the kit part except for the sponson bottoms. It will do the trick though, make mounting the bogies easier, and by the time the running gear is on, not much will be visible anyway. Anything I don't like the look of can be covered in wet sand/mud or hidden behind a convenient bush On a related note, I've started building up the kit rear hull plate, I was going to scratch build it, but there are so many layers to the part, that I think it'll be easier to cast. Also, would anyone object to me including my M4A1DV build in this tread? The intention is to build Cricklade of the RWY, 9 Arm Bd, but this is causing me some confusion. I've seen period images of two tanks bearing the name Cricklade, one an M4A1DV, while the other appears to be either an M4 or M4A2 (currently edging towards the later). Both images have been presented as Syria and El Alamein in different places, and since the base colour for the two regions may have been different, Light Stone or Desert Pink? I suspect that the M4A2 is a later replacement. and would therefore have the later Desert Pink colour with USOD disrupter, while the 'A1DV could be in either with SCC14 Black over.

Nice looking Sherman you have there @Badder. Just a thought, as you have the plasticard already, could you cut the kit glassis from the upper hull and layer a piece of plasticard behind it? That would give you the extra thickness you need without going to the trouble of moulding/casting, and you could do all of the assembly with Poly. The removal cut wouldn't even need to be that neat

Looking good there Dennis, and a very happy new year too you as well.

A little birdie tells me that the correct term is Field Expedient Solution. I guess it sounds more professional!

@fatfingers Thanks! @Sgt.Squarehead I think so too, though not so improvised, the trunking was developed at 5AITC. Steve Zaloga builds a similar model in the book I showed, but in 1/35, and I was very taken by the OD/Yellow Earth scheme. Minor update, while dry fitting the rear hull plate from the kit, I realised that I'd shaped and fitted the sponson plate backwards, cue some very delicate knife work to remove the plastic from behind the engine bay.

Sorry @Ozzy, no big dio plans for this one, not that include water at any rate. Possibly a section of beach, but that will be about it I think. I said I'd have something more interesting to show this afternoon, and here it is. I took a whole bunch of measurements from the kit hull tub, and cut the relevant shapes from some 3/4mm plasticard. Glued together and added some internal stiffeners, along with front and back plates and once set, added the front transmission housing. The result is shown here with the kit part for comparison. Then the complicated part. The Tamiya 1/48 Sherman range all have open sponson bottoms, so I raided my reference collection. Specifically: A few modifications to the pattern provided by Mr Zaloga gave me this: And because I couldn't resist, I combined the two sections together, which means that right now I have this looking at me from the table: Need to fill the gaps next, and make up the final drives, then its on to the detailing/riveting.

Welcome all, after much puzzling over my choice of subject for this GB, I'll be attempting a representation of this: For which I have acquired this: And as I have a bunch of resin en-route from Friendship Models for an Alamein Sherman, I'll be fabricating the lower hull from scratch, using the kit hull as a guide. More this afternoon, when I have something more interesting to show off. I hope ;).

You could try splitting the Tilly up into 4 for a start, Austin, Hillman, Morris & Standard. Of course that's only if you want to get into rivet counting. The Tamiya offerings are, I believe, Austin models, Airfix for a small Standard and I think Accurate Armour do a larger scale Standard in resin. German: Horch 1A, Steyer 1500A, Citroen Traction11CV, Japanese: Toyota Phaeton, Type 94 Kurogane. Modern: HMMVW You could maybe fit the US Model 1942 staff car and, as you already have the Dingo, Universal Carrier in there as well. also pretty much any motorcycle or civilian car would be commandeered and used if needed. Edit: How could I forget the VW Type 83 "Beetle"?

I think you may be onto a lost cause there I'm afraid. Given that they are both current issue, I would imagine that the MoD will be keeping a very close eye on what information gets out into the public domain. If you have access to the Airfix Warrior instruction sheet, it may be worth looking at that for ideas, since I wold imagine that a lot of the ancillary equipment will be the same. If not, drop me a PM and I'll dig mine out of the stash to check. I did see one interesting photo of Jackals on the way to Estonia a few months ago, painted green, but oddly they had been fitted with Desert Tan seat covers. Go figure.

If cost is an issue, and you don't mind scratchbuilding, then you can get a 1/50 paper model of the Vickers Mk1 for free from the World of Tanks Russian site that you should be able to scale up on a photocopier/your printer driver. Link

The World of Tanks Russian site has a bunch of paper models available for free download in 1/48-1/50 scale. including a Mk1 Male. I can't vouch as to the accuracy of them, but I would bet that they are pretty close, Wargaming do a fair bit of research, measuring, etc down at Bovington. Link

I'll jump on this one please. Not sure what version it'll be, but it'll be 1/48.

I think the rounded embrasure looks better. One thought on the sand bags, I've never been a fan of injection sandbags, they look to rigid for my tastes. I would suggest you check out TheTerrainTutor on YouTube. He has a great video that shows how to make just this kind of setup out of miliput or air drying clay.

@Rumblestripe @Bullbasket looking at my kit, I can confirm that the turret is indeed the low bustle type.

@Rumblestripe I've always thought that an Alamein Sherman was one of those things that every British armour builder does at some point in his modelling career, and by coincidence, I have just picked up the same kit, for that very purpose. I have come to the conclusion that the cheapest way of doing it, is to get bogies and tracks from Mr Modellbau, upper hull and low bustle turret from Friendship models, and use the Tamiya final drives, wheels and lower hull. As an option, if you are up to scratchbuilding the lower hull and back plate, along with a few ancillary details (hatches, etc)using the kit parts as a template, then you will still have the Tamiya kit, sans one final drive/set of wheels, to allow you to build a late production M4A1 75mm, as used, for example, in operation Husky (US invasion of Sicily). It's something I intend to try once I have finished some of my current projects. Incidently, the kit tracks can be converted to resemble the early type, simply by shaving off the chevrons and adding a thin layer of plasticard to represent the rubber blocks, it doesn't even need to be especially neat, since I would imagine the blocks would get worn fairly quickly. I would also recommend, if you haven't already, that you get Mike Starmers book on camouflage during the Alamein period, as it contains copies of the actual MoS camouflage instructions. It's a great book, as indeed they all are, review and contact link here. Edit: Mike's paint colour mixes can be found Here.

I've been toying for a while about the possibility of converting the Crusader1 kit into A13 Covenantor, David fletchers book says that the turrets were the same at least. And the running gear, hull front and other bits and pieces should be usable. Need to check the A15 kit more closely at some point.

Fabulous collection you have there @Bullbasket. Just curious, do you have any plans to add the A13 or A9/A10 cruisers to the collection?

@BIG X: Caunter was not one single scheme, but a short lived camo technique used in the early years of the desert war based on the WW1 naval "Dazzle" schemes. It used three colours, from a choice of five, (though the mid tone was always meant to be the same) in patterns specific to each type of vehicle. So, for example, all 15cwt trucks were supposed to be painted identically, all tanks identically to each other, but different to the trucks. Mike Starmer has a book on the subject that gives the history, colours and patterns of the scheme, drop him a line on here and he should be able to help you. @SimonL: Love how the Tilly looks in Caunter. Good job.

What a great image. Aside from the Shermans, of at least two variants (Looks like 'B' sqn M4 and 'C' sqn M4A1?), I can make out Valentine, Crusader, Stuart, Grant and PzKpfW IIIs. Ebrington, and the fourth vehicle back, a welded hull M4 by the looks of things, appear to be both early Direct vision hulls, and they all appear to be carrying Crusader style stowage bins on the turret rear. Most of the shell strikes on Ebrington seem to be ricochets, it looks to me as if the hull was penetrated twice, close together, into the engine bay, but the penetration that worries me is the one on the front hull side, just above the O in Ebrington. That strike looks awfully close to the hull ammo rack