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John Tapsell

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  1. Wartime postings to Palestine could have included 'policing' duties but there were also large training camps in the area where British units trained for deployment to active battle zones (North Africa, Sicily, Italy etc) or were sent for rest. It depends on whether your grandfather was attached to a combat unit or whether he was part of a field hospital or other rear echolon medical unit. That might help determine why he was posted hither and thither. France: Depending which unit he was attached to he may not have left France via Dunkirk but possibly somewhere such as Cherbourg or St Nazaire - British forces continued to evacuate from other parts of France for some weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation had been completed. These were not not small-scale evacuations. My partner's dad for example retreated through Normandy and up to Cherbourg with 1st Armd Div. Another example to provide some scale to the evacuations was the RMS Lancastria. She was evacuating troops from St Nazaire on 17 June when she was sunk by German bombers just outside the harbour - losses of British troops from the sinking are estimated at anything from 4000-7000 (considered to be the second-highest loss of life from a British vessel) and news about it was suppressed for much of the war.
  2. Don't forget the Crabs were used by the Americans in small numbers too. One of the Mine Exploder Battalions had a Company (= British Squadron) of Sherman V Crabs loaned/gifted from the British - can't remember which battalion off the top of my head though.
  3. I looked at the Order of Battle for 7th Armd Div as they were the only major 'armoured' (tank-operating) unit in Egypt in mid-1940. Picking up on Kingsman's post, yes, I am also intrigued by those 'larger' vehicles in the middle background but can't decide whether they are light tanks that just look larger or might perhaps be Cruisers or Mediums.
  4. The photo is no earlier than about June 1940 - the presence of vehicles carrying Caunter camouflage in the photo dates it to between mid-'40 and late '41. However the presence of light tanks keeps it in the 1940 time bracket. If I read my references correctly that offers you four possibilities - all part of 7th Armoured Division: 7th Hussars, 8th Hussars, 1 RTR or 6 RTR, all of whom were fully (7th and 8th Hussars) or partially (1 and 6 RTR) equipped with light tanks.
  5. and getting singed by the pyro Seriously though, Rammstein's image belies a highly developed and perceptive, socially aware commentary on the world and German culture in particular. As others have said, 'Deutschland', especially the film-like video that they produced for it, is a despairing review on a 1000 years of German history. It's a dark and disturbing song (and video) but it's meant to shock and make a point about how hard it can be for a German to love their country, given past events.
  6. Migfan - you seem to think Montgomery was a good general. Tell us how Monty's performance compares to that of Slim or Alexander for example. Demonstrate how the challenges he faced differed from those the others faced and why that makes Montgomery a good commander compared to them. The fundamentals of 'command', not just during WWII but at any other time in history. don't change. Unless you understand how those many and varied elements (both positive and negative) work together, it's very difficult to determine who was 'good' and who was not. It's not all about what they achieved on the battlefield, it's also about their ability to operate in a wider environment involving politics, compromise and inspiring confidence. Don't rely on the opinions of others. Do your own independent research.
  7. The role of a general is not just about their previous combat experience or acumen (although that is important), it's about their ability to inspire and lead troops. It's also about their value as a public relations tool to sell to the general public during a war. Generals like Patton and Montgomery were loved or hated by their troops in equal measure, but both attracted strong loyalty and the troops had confidence in them. Troops will fight better for a general they have confidence in. Patton was a confident (sometimes over-confident) strategist and lacked tolerance for subordinates who didn't fight the way he did, but his troops achieved great successes. The real issue with Patton, Montgomery, McArthur, Mark Clark and a few others was that they fully understood the value of self-promotion and had highly organised public relations teams around them - there is nothing new about 'celebrities' manipulating public perception. It doesn't mean they were bad generals but it does tend to cloud the value of other equally good, or better commanders. For me, the likes of Omar Bradley, Bill Slim and Chester Nimitz were better strategic commanders, but they didn't actively court publicity in the way that many others did and that means they were never as well known. I include Nimitz because although he was an Admiral, he had command of all forces in the Western Pacific, including air force and army, on an equal footing with McArthur in the South West Pacific. Very few Generals are truly 'great' in all aspects of their careers but dismissing them on the basis of part of their performance rather than assessing their greater contribution to the war is simplistic.
  8. Bear in mind that only one company of RAF RRACs were converted to Fordsons, which equates to less than 20 vehicles. My understanding is that the short wheelbase Fordson was the first conversion(?) and that the 'production' conversions used the longer wheelbase but I'm happy to be corrected on that.
  9. Impossible question to answer. With more than 45 years of modelling under my belt I can't actually remember the first time I looked at a finished model and thought 'that's the best one so far'. I'm sure I did at some point but if I looked at the same model now I suspect that my reaction would be 'what planet were you on?' 😀 You never stop learning and never stop improving. However, whilst at first your rate of improvement can be quite rapid, it slows down over time so you often don't notice the changes from model to model.
  10. I believe that the British Army used Jeeps as late as the mid-50s in decreasing numbers. The Paras were still using them in 1956 for the Operation Musketeer drops. It's not exactly the timeframe you are looking for though.
  11. I've seen photos of the units in Alsthom livery and it would make sense - ALE acquired the Alsthom fleet (mostly Fauns).
  12. Slighty off-topic - The two(?) Unipower M Series prototype tractor units ended up in civilian heavy haulage use with Abnormal Load Engineering (ALE), since bought out by Mammoet. Living where I do, it was quite common to have to dodge them as they came in and out of the local ALE depot. ALE eventually manufactured a small number of 8x8 tractors in-house, with a passing resemblance to the Unipower wagons.
  13. I think one of the boxings of the Italeri Series III also included the yellow stripe. Correction - I think it was the Revell reboxing that contained the RAF markings.
  14. Thanks Stuart - much appreciated. The Flail hamper is all scratchbuilt using some scaled-up plans from an old MAFVA Tankette magazine - Vol. 23 Issue 4 (1988) - 1/76 scale plans for the Scorpion Mk II.
  15. No - that's what you are doing. You are judging the quality of an entire range (100+ models) on the basis of a photo of one model in the range and one of Tamiya's earliest releases in 1/48 scale at that. I build 1/48 kits almost exclusively these days. About 10 years ago I dropped down from 1/35 scale to 1/48 scale and I have never regretted that decision. Here's a challenge - pick up one of Tamiya's more recent AFV kits and give it a go. I'd consider their M4A3E8, T-55, Abrams, Type 10, T34-85, Panzer IV Ausf H and Matilda to name a few, to be excellent kits, having built all of them (amongst many of the rest of the range). They can be built out of the box or detailed or converted as extensively as you might wish. Are they perfect? No they are not, but they are great fun to build.
  16. This is what the Charioteer looked like with Panzer tracks (not my model but the display example on Mike Belcher's stand at Telford a few years ago).
  17. Have you actually built any or are you basing you opinions on photos of models?
  18. I believe that Fat Frog are part of Hobby Easy. I can definitely recommend their resin wheels for the Tamiya K2 Ambulance. I did a Charioteer a few years ago, (a Belcher Bits conversion for the 1/48 Tamiya Cromwell) and used Tamiya Pz III tracks for that, plus some spare lengths of the short runs of stowed track that Tamiya include, to make up the difference in track length. It's not a perfect solution but it will survive a casual inspection.
  19. Never really had a problem getting to sleep and often sleep through the night, but I go through phases where I dream very clearly and it wakes me up - usually dreams where I'm struggling to explain myself or to sort out a problem. The subject/circumstances I dream about are generally irrelevant to the actual issue, but I've learnt over the years to take it as a warning that something is unsettling me more than I want it to (even if I haven't yet identified what it is) and that I need to find and address that 'something' before it becomes a larger matter.
  20. 1960s and 70s US serial numbers and markings were applied directly onto the base paint colour (OD in this case). There are some instances where a vehicle was repainted in a different colour, the marking might be masked off to avoid re-applying it. That would leave a rectangle of the old colour visible but would be very rare on a Vietnam era vehicle in OD. If you are building Vietnam-era US armour, the Olive Drab shade was much darker than the wartime shade. Tamiya's XF-74 JGSDF Olive Drab is considered a good match for this later colour, rather than their standard XF-62 Olive Drab..
  21. There is stuff available on Shapeways that may be of interest. Small selection of links below https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/miniatures/vehicles?tag=m-atv&sort=&facet[pdcId][]=91&facet[price][min]=1&facet[price][max]=2500&facet[price][from]=1&facet[price][to]=2500 (1/16) https://www.shapeways.com/marketplace/miniatures/vehicles?tag=1%2F16&sort=&facet[pdcId][]=91&facet[pdcId][]=462&facet[price][min]=1&facet[price][max]=2500&facet[price][from]=1&facet[price][to]=2500 (all this is generic post-2000 stowage and components) https://www.shapeways.com/shops/mikesmodelshop?section=Military+1%2F35+and+1%2F16&s=0 (1/35 and 1/16) One tip for searching Shapeways - search on Google instead for what you are looking for (eg 1/16 fuel cans) but always include 'Shapeways' as part of the search string - eg 'shapeways 1/16 fuel cans' - as that gives better search results than using Shapeways' own search function
  22. Just finished 'War and Coffee' by Joshua Havill. It's a personal memoir of his time in Afghanistan as a UH-60 Blackhawk pilot. Not much for the adrenalin junkies in the book but a fascinating (to me) account of the day to day activities of an aviation company in a war zone and the various personalities within. It's given me a yen to re-read Chickenhawk by Robert Mason, a Huey pilot in Vietnam. The book charts his year 'in-country' and is packed with random technical detail about flying Hueys.
  23. Quarter-scale has never had the necessary traction amongst armour modellers to reach the threshold to tip over into a mainstream armour scale. As Troy says, it's been around for a long time but never as a headline grabbing scale. The Airfix vehicle kits (Op Herrick and Battle of Britain ranges) were never intended to be a stand-alone range. They were released to support ranges of new 1/48 aircraft (Lynx and Merlin helos plus the Hurricane and Spitfire kits). I'd be somewhat surprised if we ever see them re-released, All of the above might sound like I'm being disparaging about the scale. I'm not. I am a dedicated 1/48 scale armour modeller and have been for the past 10 years after down-sizing from 1/35. There are a lot of kits out there - mostly Tamiya - but several other manufacturers too. RFM have recently released a stunning M-ATV. Kittyhawk (now defunct) released a pair of Ural trucks t go with their aircraft. Hobbyboss have started releasing new kits again (Pz IV and Panther so far) and promised more in their catalogue (no guarantee they will ever be released though!). There are quite a few resin kits available and the 3d printed market is ballooned in the past 2-3 years with a lot of small manufacturers designing and producing a huge variety of vehicles in 1/48.
  24. Try Gaspatch - one of their .50 cals should be close enough for what you need? https://www.gaspatchmodels.com/machine-guns-148/?page=2 Outstanding casting and quality.
  25. Advocating early entry and seeing it happen in reality are two different things. Tony and I have compared notes over the years and we had different approaches, but neither of us was able to shift the balance towards earlier registration for the bulk of the entries. I also see no reason to close registration earlier because surely we are trying to encourage more entries rather than less? Yes, it's an assumption that numbers will drop but are you prepared to take that risk (and should IPMS)? Ultimately, it's the Competition Secretary's call so if you want to suggest it, contact Andy Brown directly. Nearly half our traders re-book at the previous SMW and pay the necessary deposit (or in some cases, the full booking fee). Therefore parts of the floorplan start to solidify even before the previous show is over. We already have large trader bookings in place for 2024 that may impact on where we can locate the competition area in November, but we don't know for certain as yet. That's how far ahead we have to operate.
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