The Eyes of the Army ****FINISHED***

[PeterB]

Before I even started this GB I warned that the relatively simple construction of these resin models from Milicast was likely to prove somewhat boring and I suspect that is indeed the case – I would probably have had more interest if I was building them on a different section of the Forum but this GB was perfect in that it gave me the incentive to get them built, whereas on the military modelling section my options would I think have been far more limited. Anyway, I am enjoying building and painting them (at least most of the time), and so I have decided to inflict one last batch on you! I will keep it brief.

 

For several centuries prior to the start of WWI it was the “Cavalry” who were responsible for reconnaissance, and even during that war it was always hoped that the time would come when a breakthrough would be achieved and they would finally be able to get behind enemy lines and once more do that, together of course with harrying the enemy rear. However the combination of static trench warfare and the increasing use of artillery and machine guns meant that after a few months of the start, any attempt to use horse cavalry became virtually suicidal. Nonetheless, the idea lingered on long into the inter-war period, but finally it was accepted, however reluctantly, that recce units. needed to be mechanised and if possible armoured.

 

This led to both armoured cars and also small light tanks, both of which had their relative merits. Armoured cars were fast on good going such as roads, and also quiet, which was important if you wanted to sneak up unobserved, but tracked vehicles coped better with soft ground, but were ruddy noisy! In the end all the combatants used a combination of both. This time I will again be building three vehicles in British use, two wheeled – the Daimler MkII armoured car and the US Staghound and one tracked – the US M5A1 improved version of the earlier M3 Stuart light tank and here they are.

 

I have not shown all the small parts as knowing me I would probably end up losing some!

 

During and after WWI a number of armoured cars were produced by firms such as Rolls Royce, Lanchester, Crossley and the like, often based on commercial car or lorry chassis -here are a couple of them in the Tank Museum.

Rolls Royce.

Crossley.

 

 

More anon.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[LorenSharp]

This looks like an interesting subject Mind if I tag along?

[Mjwomack]

Sitting ready for my continuing education.

[PeterB]

Hi Guys,

 

You won't get much out of this I fear - the builds will be quick and if the Tank Museum have any of them I have not taken pics - pretty sure they will have the Daimler but I suspect not the other two - I don't remember seeing any of the M3/M5 Stuarts there and I suspect the Staghound is pretty rare in preservation in the West - maybe in Canada as the Canadians used them? Having said that they were popular with many smaller armies in South America, Africa and Israel and even the Swiss used a few after the war so there may be quite a few around if you know where to look.

 

The colour scheme on the "Hound" might amuse you as the base colour is something called "Light Mud" which was apparently a locally brewed up mix used perhaps at the end in Tunisia and more commonly in Sicily and Italy, reputedly on the orders of General Dempsey! As I intend to do one in the markings of the Polish Carpathian Lancers in Italy, Mud with Dark green disruptive seems to be appropriate according to the Osprey Vanguard book on the subject.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited April 13, 2021 by PeterB

[PeterB]

In 1938 the War Office decided to start trials to find a suitable new “Tank, Light (Wheeled)” later known as Armoured Cars, and a short while later started looking for a suitable “Car, Scout”. There were a number of entries and it gets complicated so I will simply say that the Guy Armoured Car entered production, but only a few were produced before production switched to the larger Humber Company and it is by their name that they are commonly known,

This is a Humber, probably a MkII or maybe a Mk III though both were armed with a 15mm Besa with a coaxial 7.62 Besa like the old Matchbox kit.

Whether intentionally or not it seems to have been painted in the base light mud colour with probably blue-black as the disruptive. I cannot make much sense of the markings other than the unit badge which s the bull of 11 Armoured Division based on the coat of arms of Percy Hobart's family I believe.

 

As for the Scout cars, designs from both Alvis and BSA Cycles showed promise, and the latter was built by Daimler and is generally known as the Dingo though I believe that name strictly belongs to the Alvis version. Daimler were then asked to produce a beefed up version as an armoured car, which they did. Delays in production led to AEC also entering the fray with a big armoured car based on their Matador lorry chassis. All were 4x4, but once the Afrika Korps arrived on the scene in the desert, the Brits were impressed by their large 6 and 8 wheels machines and asked the US to produce some bigger cars for them. This led to the Chevrolet T17 6 wheeled Deerhound which never entered service, their “slimmed down” 4 wheel T17E1 Staghound which did, and the massive 8 wheeled General Motors T18 Boarhound of which only 30 were made as by then the war in the desert had ended and they were frankly just too big – here is a final pic from the Tank Museum.

 

One of the few Boarhounds produced and shipped to the UK on the left and the similarly 8 wheeled Marmon-Herrington Mk VI on the right - one of only 2 prototypes built.

 

More as and when I start building.

 

Pete

[PeterB]

Quick update as construction is nearly finished!

I will leave the radio aerials until the end, but other wise the Staghound Mk II is built and the Daimler just needs the wheels. I have glued on the various hatches, smoke mortars and guns. The Staghound is a fair bit bigger than the Daimler and yet is only armed with the US M6 37mm cannon and 2 Browning 30 cal - 3 if you include the AA mount on top of the turret which the Brits usually left off but not it seems the Poles. The Daimler has a 40mm 2pdr and a single besa coax mg.

 

As for the M5, a bit more work to do but not that much.

It needed a bit of filler as this type of mould rapidly loses some detail and you get the equivalent of a "Short Shot" sometimes as well - usually on the hatches. This particular model was originally issued with the option of an open top to the hull and no turrets when it was used as a "Scout Car", so the top of the hull is seperate and that needed some filler as well.

 

Behind it is the supposedly 1/72 Hasegawa "Stuart I" which is clearly a lot bigger, Now in fairness you would expect that due to the difference in scales but I have always thought it was a bit oversize, and I have built one or two Hasegawa tanks and trucks that seem the same - in fact another modeller mentioned that they were known to be a bit on the big size scalewise and I think he is right. It is difficult to be exact as there were numerous changes made during production of the M3, including lowering the turret profile and getting rid of the raised coaming on the hatch, and late models were over a foot longer that the early one that this is meant to be, but I make it 6mm too long for 1/72 and almost as big as the M3 and M4 Mediums! Still, it was all that was available at the time I bought it many years ago.

 

Bit more work to do then I can start slapping paint on.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[PeterB]

So, base coat of paint on - not really that much more to do,

The Staghound was a big and impressive looking machine with a 5 man crew, although initially armed only with a 2pdr in the turret. It saw quite a bit of service both in Italy and Europe. It was mainly used by the Canadians, New Zealanders and Poles who seem to have liked it – the British units generally preferred the Daimler which, being smaller, coped better with the cramped conditions on roads in Europe, particularly in shelled urban areas. There were versions with a 3” Howitzer for close support and another for AA work, and the Mark III had a complete turret from a Crusader III tank grafted on complete with the British version of the 75mm gun. Here it is painted in a base of Light Mud which was introduced in April 1943 for the Italian Campaign – it will probably look a little lighter once the dark disruptive pattern of SCC 14 Blue-Black goes on, the official alternative being a dark green “similar to SCC 7” which I said earlier I though was on this machine but I was apparently wrong.

 

Incidentally Light Mud is one of those slightly disputed colours. Mike Starmer calls it SCC 5 but Dick Taylor says that SCC 5 was a light grey which does not seem to have been used and that Mud was a local “homebrew|” made in Egypt and Tunisia which had no official number. However he mentions that a grey may have been used in some cases instead of Mud so that may explain it. Whatever, there were complaints that the mud camo was not very effective after a few months in Italy and it was decided an overall dark green would be better which is apparently why SCC 15 was developed.

 

The Daimler had a crew of 3 and went though 2 Marks, both equipped with a 2 pdr turret gun, and it was well liked if a little cramped. This one is painted in SCC15 – the British version of Olive Drab introduced early in 1944 in time for the invasion of France – it was meant to be a plain finish but some units ignored the instructions and applied a disruptive pattern – usually SCC14 Blue-Black.

 

The Brits started using the US M3 Medium tank in the Western Desert in late 1941 and liked it for its reliability, though its armour was thin, it had a high profile and was only armed with the 35mm M6 gun. At times, it was used as a substitute for the Cruiser tanks and suffered accordingly! Officially named the General Stuart, starting the trend of using names of US Civil War Commanders, it seems it was nicknamed “Honey” reputedly after a Brit test drove one and was so impressed that on getting out he adopted a cinema American accent and pronounced it was a “real Honey to drive”. It went through various sub-types with improvements based on experience, but the air cooled aero engine was in increasingly short supply so in late 1941 Cadillac suggested fitting two of their V8 car engines together with their “Hydra-matic” transmission. Tests showed a marked improvement so this was adopted as the M5 – skipping the logical Light Tank M4 designation due to the potential clash with the M4 Medium Tank aka Sherman – strangely that did not seem to bother them when both the Light Tank M3 and Medium Tank M3 (Lee/Grant) were in parallel production.

 

It had thicker armour and the rear hull was raised significantly to accept the power plant but it still had the same 37mm M6 gun. Both the US and British armies used them for reconnaissance duties but it was frankly obsolete and after a while they were reduced to unarmed scouts with the turrets removed, giving them a lower profile like the Daimler Dingo, though they were nowhere near as quite. This one would have been delivered in the US Olive Drab No 9 and would normally have been left that way in British use as repaints were discouraged except under special circumstances. For example in the desert and Italy the OD was used as the disruptive colour and the lighter sand/mud base colour painted round it. Also, conversions such as fitting the 17pdr gun to the Sherman and the M10 were “patch painted” in SCC 15 where the work was carried out eg gun barrel, mantlet etc, but the rest was normally left in the US OD.

 

More anon.

 

Pete

Edited April 17, 2021 by PeterB

[PeterB]

Well, I did say it would be brief - they are now ready for the decs, followed by the aerials and in the case of the M5 I also have to add a couple of Browning 30cal barrels.

I may also add a bit of stowage when the stuff I have ordered finally arrives. I have included the Milicast Churchill Mk IV I have been building at the same time as both it and the M5 will be from the 3rd Scots Guards, 6th Guards Armoured Diviion. The Daimler will be  attached to the HQ of VIII Corps and the Staghound will be from the Polish Carpathian Lancers in Italy.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[AdrianMF]

Jeez, I blinked! Interesting collection, and a very interesting background read.

 

Thanks,

Adrian

[PeterB]

Thanks Adrian,

 

These are pretty easy with not many parts and a fairly simple colour scheme - in fact the hardest part has probably been trying to find out who was using them and what their markings were, some of which I had to design and print, which at this scale is a bit of a pain - reducing them to 3mm squares is pushing my software and I cannot always get a consistent size when I scale them down and copy. I am amazed that a bog standard cheapo inkjet printer can actually produce something that small that is still just about legible! For example this is the marking I will be using on my Polish Staghound.

The green background is so I can actually print on white dec paper and will have to be cut off or overpainted. It is a combination Arm of Service marking - white number 3517 over the normal green/blue background for a recce unit, to which they have added their badge which I believe is a mermaid with sword and shield, and a white bar at the top which indicated who they are taking orders from - I think that in this case it means  Corps  and a line below means Army (though some sources say Corps) - as on the Stuart and Churchill markings I am going to use - like the Daimler they were all part of VIII Corps which in turn was part of Second Army Group but it seems they may have been under Army HQ control not Corps HQ like the Daimler - it gets complicated!

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited April 17, 2021 by PeterB

[LorenSharp]

Excellent job on the armoured squad Peter. And Educational as well  

[Mjwomack]

20 hours ago, PeterB said:

The Staghound was a big and impressive looking machine with a 5 man crew,

Let's be honest, a crew of 5 is hardly a scout car, it's a small army!

 

On 4/13/2021 at 10:34 PM, PeterB said:

the War Office decided to start trials to find a suitable new “Tank, Light (Wheeled)”

As my son would put it, that's such a govermentish specification! How about calling it an armoured car?!!

[PeterB]

3 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

Let's be honest, a crew of 5 is hardly a scout car, it's a small army!

 

As my son would put it, that's such a govermentish specification! How about calling it an armoured car?!!

I don't know if they ever did officially change the nomenclature but Armoured Car was the commonly used name - perhaps because that is exactly what the first ones were in WWI, or maybe copying the French and Americans who were using the terms "Char" and "Combat Car" already. Not quite as bad as "Knickers, Navy Blue, Wrens for the use of" or whatever!

 

Pete

Edited April 18, 2021 by PeterB

[PeterB]

Here they are all with their decs on - I will post them in the display gallery shortly.

Cheers

 

Pete