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Régiment Blindé de Fusiliers-Marins, French 2nd Armoured Division ....schwimmenwagen!


Troy Smith

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What! I hear you say.... what on earth are you on about....

 

"The Régiment Blindé de Fusiliers-Marins or (RBFM) was an armored naval infantry regiment of the French 2nd Armored Division. The regiment belonged to the units of the French Fusiliers Marins which are units of the French Navy whose ships were either immobilized or destroyed."

 

OK, when I was doing my 'under a tenner build'  I went hunting for images of French shops, as my Matchbox kit diorama base had a shop on it....

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235095700-matchbox-176-morris-c8-mk-ii-17pdr-gun-willys-jeep-set/#elControls_4132052_menu

 

I went hunting for the George Stevens footage, shot of 16mm colour film, between just before D-Day to the summer of 1945,  and found that unedited reels of it were up on youtube.

 

In this one,

 

I was looking at the armour rolling by,  and here https://youtu.be/k1oVABc12js?t=74

I spotted this ......

51356581227_cf05dedba5_b.jpgvlcsnap-00010 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

Oh, that's interesting, would make a neat project, I know I have a 1/48 Schwimmenwagen in the stash...turned out I have three!?!?!? I have no idea why, I suspect some came in job lots... I have  A LOT of 1/48th armour and related items I now realise.  

 

 

Now, what I didn't initially spot, but did notice as i examined the film,  shown in this shot as it is very clear, that hat.

 

51358067679_e5711cb982_b.jpgvlcsnap-00012 by losethekibble, on Flickr 

 

Yes... a sailors hat.... how curious I thought,    later research reveals this is a 'Bachi' 

http://beretandboina.blogspot.com/2016/05/bachi-or-flat-sailors-cap.html

 

How I found the explanation quite random, I was looking though a book on US Tank destroyers, when I noticed this profile...

 

51357553403_77746e7d42_b.jpgM10 French profile by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

which said how the RBFM retained their naval headwear....   which is why I am able to add all the info above. 

You can see the RBFM M-10's in the film, along with a load of other Free French armour,  I have even found out exactly what some of the Shermans are....   

 

OK, the background...    now I need to sort through photos of where this has led me......   which has been down several sessions of trying to make some Tamiya US Infantry figures fit into a Schwimmenwagen....

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3 hours ago, Alex Gordon said:

Remember ..never trust a profile without a photo.

Oi, cheeky... come up with your own catchphrase!  ;) 

 

As it goes, that profile of 'Simoun' is.... erm, not very good in detail,  here's the photo ! (one of several)

m%2010%20simoun%2001%20420157%20rbfm.jpg

 

The Bachi's are evident though.

from

https://www.chars-francais.net/2015/index.php/classement-individuel/m10-tank-destroyer?task=view&id=1179

 

the whole site is amazingly detailed, and has more info on individual WW2 French tanks than you can imagine,  though in a wonderfully gallic touch, the tanks are listed, alphabetically, by their names....  the fun I had trying to identify a couple of Shermans I saw whizzing by the the same linked film...

 

Tank numbers, no problem, names.... nah.   I had a vague idea, and had worked out they were from the 

 

Tank 37 -https://youtu.be/k1oVABc12js?t=63

https://www.chars-francais.net/2015/index.php/classement-individuel/m-4-sherman?task=view&id=749

"AUBUSSON"

aubusson%2001.jpg

 

tank 36 - https://youtu.be/k1oVABc12js

https://www.chars-francais.net/2015/index.php/16-classement-individuel/sherman/741-angouleme-12cuirs

"ANGOULÊME"

angouleme%2001.jpg

Note in the film, most of the vehicles visible are have these pink sheets tied on for quick air ID I presume.    

Also,  I think those are US helmet shells over the lights on this one?

 

yes.  I did see if there are any 1/48th decals, there are, but no these 2, and it seems, no M-10's.....  though the 1/72nd Heller M4A2

345425-13652-65-pristine.jpg

 

does have a 2DB , 12 Curassiers as an option...... right, enough of these distractions, I'd better post up some progress...

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OK, this is the Tamiya schimmenwagen.

 

51357678131_712c7810db_b.jpg50620981 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

the easy bit.

After some rooting about I turned up a set of Tamiya US Infantry at rest,  which come with a "US light vehicle" so they don't have to say jeep...

1040_rd.jpg

 

the chaps chosen are the one sitting in the box, and the jeep driver...

51357678096_828538b6f5_b.jpg50620982 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

OH this will be easy i thought.....

Here we are taped together, seats held in with blu-tack,   just a few saw cuts, some filler, and a new hats, note in the pic above there is a peaked hat as per the reference photo..

 

Bit of eye wincing surgery later

51357678066_b0990152b3_b.jpg50620983 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

smashing...

 

51358690930_9d058f2028_b.jpg50620984 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

the cap, bit of flat sprue, and leather punch, I did build up the head, but that wasn't needed, the top, larger hole of leather punch, and 10 thou card, 2 bits, bit in the middle smaller, and if you dent card on a soft surface it keep the dent,  I over dented it, and then though that i could just dent it up into the pom pom. 

I did try doing the hat from memory, and then remembered I had a set of ww" mags that had a several issues on uniforms,  by Andrew Mollo, they were a book in the 70's, and are pretty detailed, I was able to find the mags, find the issue, and there was a painting from a photo, and a photos of 8 or so of sailors in them, which really helped in getting it to look vaguely like it should.

 

but the devil is in the detail.....

51358720925_61b7a5a12c_b.jpg50620984 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

the steering wheel doesn't line up, and neither do the figures..... hmm, more surgery is needed... much much more as it turned out... 

 

51356932827_81cd258edb_h.jpg50621016 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

note these two photos are take 4 days apart, and maybe 3 sessions totalling several hours..... 

One thing I did finally realise, that try to do all this dry fitted with blu-tack was nnot going to work, so eventually the main bodies got glued to the seats. The legs didn't want to sit in the footwells naturally, the arms betwen them were going to clash...

the original left of the passeneger went 'ping' and did dissapear.... and very unusually has not reappeared,   another arm did the same.

I had to to extensive surgery to the legs, part cut and  bend, but these bits would not stay put and it was getting very very trying.....

 in the end I went for using a needle in a pin vice as a centre point, and then drilling into each limb, and adding flexible joiners of 15 amp fusewire,  the drivers legs can be seen to the left,   the drivers hand came off, and was pinned to hold the wheel, the passgers arm, was chopped about, and in the end, I lost the hand 

the pale grey arms are from an Airfix Hurricane pilot, and were not used in the end, 

I had to drill and rod the driver head.

The lost passengers arm was replaced by another from the set,  I had it modified so he was smoking,  now he will be holding a bottle of wine, which came from the Tamiya British Infantry set, which has a farmer greeting them with a bottle...

 

Basically it has been a right pain, and it has only been sheer bloody mindedness that I kept going,  while muttering, you could have has them just standing about and not had all this grief....

 

EVENTUALLY I got to here,  and I do mean eventually,  in getting them to sit naturally, not be too close for comfort, and be able to hold the steering wheel.......

51358690560_3d69b1d328_h.jpg50621017 by losethekibble, on Flickr

This is in place, and the first go with  CA and talc on the joins....  

 

I also had a go at the flag.  I read about using dressmakers tissue on a figure guide on the Historex site, as it is smoother and finer than standard tissue, so I ordered some (5 sheets of 50 x 30 inch infact via ebay) and it is smoother.   Not sure if it was worth the bother or not as yet...

 

painted some with Vallejo offwhite, and then some red and blue,  and,  as I don't have the comp next to the desk, did it from memory. It's too small.  

 

this I hope shows why I spent so much time fidding with the sit of the figures, or maybe not? 

Maybe not in the photos, but they do look like people leaning back and relaxed, I filed grooved into the underside of the arms so they would sit against the bodywork sills.    

51358691140_d3279353b0_h.jpg50621018 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

the red of the flag is OK, the blue looks too light

51358779810_d4a09d0f2e_b.jpgvlcsnap-00011 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

Oh, finally.... the schwimmenwagen.... now, it's not super clear,  but from looking at the other vehicles, it's been repainted in Olive Drab...  I'll discuss that in the next post as I've had enough for now.  

 

Comments and glaring mistakes pointed out appreciated.....

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As I mentioned at the end of my last post,   the colour of the Schwimenwagen. 

From a hunt about, specifically walkrounds,  as I wanted to see what the inside looked like.... 

I presume early vehicles were Dunkelgrau/dark grey, and mid war these switches to Dunkelgelb/dark yellow.   

Now, I did wonder in the RBFM SW was dunkelgrau, but I can see no trace of any German markings, or overpainting of.

 

There is this famous image of a US captured SW, helpfully witgh a P-38 in the background

800px-Cricqueville_en_Bessin_Airfield_-_

 

Given the white star, this has been repainted into US OD.   Inside as well.  

Now, here I am wondering about 'my' SW...  anyway, on another frame by frame run through,  

THis

51359041081_de7afb9976_h.jpgvlcsnap-00019 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

note the dashboard is light than the bodywork, and appears a similar colour to the hood tarpaulin and the passengers jacket,  as Freen French mostly had US supplied uniforms. 

 

If you look closely at this, the passengers  jacket looks light/yellower than the drivers, which looks green, 

I suspect our passenger has this type of jacket, which memory tells me is theM1941 pattern

9c6f349292ce74734eab531dc213db65.jpg

the M1943  is this

be653aae45fa40eddd695af2d831f502.jpg

 

I'm about to pull out my uniforms magazines,  those of a certain age will recognise this

 

https://www.ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/us-uniformen-1944-45.jpg

 

2nd Lieutenant on D-Day; Private in Normandy in June 1944 with two-piece camouflage suit (soon withdrawn because of confusion with the camouflage suits of the Waffen-SS); typical late-war GI in 1945, who uses the BAR as assault rifle.

 

The American troops that landed in Normandy in June 1944 wore the M1 steel helmet with lining, the M1941 field jacket, olive draped (OD) trousers, canvas gaiters and rust-red leather bootees. This equipment was the standard American uniform equipment at that time.

 

However, previous experience in North Africa and Italy had shown that there were serious shortcomings in the practical use of much of the US Army’s clothing. Therefore, some new equipment was designed during 1943, especially for winter clothing.
Despite the Americans’ reputation for offering their soldiers every luxury, the average GI suffered as much as its allies and enemies from the cold and wet.

Just in time for the last winter of the war, the American troops received the M1943 combat uniform, which consisted of a single-row tunic with four patch pockets and matching trousers made of olive-green, water-repellent and windproof cotton. It was provided with a removable pile fabric lining. The canvas gaiters and ankle boots were gradually replaced by high brown leather boots with lacing.

 

I'm going to do some checking in the uniform, as I'm wondering about the collars...

 

 

Here's one that I may have to do with one of the others ;) 

2163735.jpg

 

11th Armoured Division. 

 

I may even have to do some modelling later :rofl2:

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Hi Troy,

 

your posts are fascinating and have been researched in depth.

They make me realize as well how little I know about armor in French service during WW2. This would imply that I know a lot more about more recent French armor, which would be a terrible lie.

Lies notwithstanding, I shall follow your builds with great attention, even if I cannot really contribute anything useful! I am nonetheless very good at recognizing our national flag's colors!!!!!

 

Great show

 

JR

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Troy,

 

A great and unusual choice of subject and I, like many others I suspect, really appreciate the background information you're providing.

 

Good luck with this.

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Still fiddling with the figures, though I've been filling the gaps with CA and talc,  and stuck a bit of dark yellow on the inside, nothing really photo worthy, though i did pull out the other magazine with the uniforms, as the officer driver,  what was visible of the jacket was bugging me, 

51358779810_d4a09d0f2e_b.jpg

 

in the magazine there was a illustration of an officer wearing an M1942 Mackinaw,

 a google turns up images, this is described as 'jeep coat'

O1CN011TkOwrtM2CU5yPj_!!1795832420.jpg

 

 

https://olive-drab.com/od_soldiers_clothing_combat_ww2_mackinaw.php

 

soldier_mackinaw_m1938_hrpe.jpg

 

I'll go though the still again, OK

51366775762_2438b98def_h.jpgvlcsnap-00013 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

Looking again, it's possible they both have these on......

 

51356581227_cf05dedba5_b.jpg

 

Hmmm.... have to have a look at the next session,  I think it shouldn't be too hard to add collars, the figures don't have webbing,  and I'll live with a minor glitch over a lot of work on small detail, I'll be happy if the figures look comfortably seated in reasonably natural way....

 

As I'm finally learning,  a finished model with the odd glitch is better than an unfinished masterpiece in a box....  

 

thanks for all the interest and comments.  

cheers

T

 

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After pondering on the M1942 mackinaw, I had a play today with some thin metal foil, which was originally the seal on a Tuaca bottle.  cut roughly to shape, and the tacked with CA and bossed down into place.

 

to get this, 

51370518480_f83f646747_o.jpg50621019 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

 

I added the collar, a small strip for the double breasted part, and the jacket skirt, plus a belt of Historex webbing as it was on the desk.

 

Not sure how visible it is on the photo, better if you enlarge,  taken over the reference image.   This will get a coat of Mr Surfacer to blend in.  Also added a disc of 10 thou to the officers hat, as it looked too thin.  

 

The passenger got some elasticated cuffs, but looking at the screen grab, he is not wearing a tankers jacket....  hence no pic, as I'll ponder on this.

 

I'm wondering if he has a Mackinaw on as well.

 

Last night I was looking at the film again, and doing some more digging in the RBFM,  

found a great blog post of them, and their M10's

https://mikesresearch.com/2019/04/28/regiment-blinde-de-fusiliers-marins/

 

I thought this a fascinating detail

"The US issued sighting devices in the M10 were not suitable for the experience French naval gunners so a French Naval Artillery Engineer Silvère Sevrat provided the regiment 40 naval riflescopes.   They were quickly installed in the M10s and they were able to target a panzer up to 3000 meters (3280 yards). "

 

 

Also has detail of the RBFM unit markings, so I went through the film again, trying to ID the the M10's,  i got a screen grab of the front,  looked to be 3rd squadron, and there was a partly readable number, so looking at the table on the blog, and the list here 

https://www.chars-francais.net/2015/index.php/classement-individuel/m10-tank-destroyer

 

I was trying to cross reference, my daughter wandered in, as a fresh pair of eyes, i asked her if she could make out the number, and then I proceeded to explain what I was trying to do, and, surprisingly, she sat next to me as we flipped between the pages and screen grab trying to pin down the M10.

 Surprisingly she wasn't bored, as this went on for 15 or 20 minutes, looking up the serial numbers that might match, then looking up the named tanks, and seeing what was visible in the images there,  and I think this gave her some insight into why I spend so much time doing this kind of thing, and what an mazing amount of information is available, even if you still need to cross reference. 
we didn't get an positive ID either, as I explained, sometimes there just is not enough data.

Led to an interesting conversation when she asked how did I get interested in this, as in the general point of reading up and researching, as I pointed out, she'll spend hours locked into playing The Sims,(it's quite creative for a video game)  and she is very like me, in that if it's of interest,  learning and remembering and the cross referencing all this is easy, but that kind of memory is is not something everyone has, so that was an unexpected bonus to my info quest.

 

thanks for reading, comments and error spotting always appreciated.

 

cheers

T

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not the best photo,

51392639736_016064d0b9_o.jpg50621021 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

redid the belt on the driver,  added the integral belt, and then the webbing belt, along with fuse wire buckles..... 

The passenger get his new collar, and a bottle of wine.... 

maybe seen better here

51393372904_14e2f5a83a_o.jpg50621024 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

the pale grey is Mr Surfacer.  The clothes pegs are some mini ones from a pound shop that had little butterflies stuck on for notes or something or other,  but are neat little tiny pegs,  for grip I superglued on strips of the elastic bands that post men use, but any wide band would do, which gets handy little clamps that then don't slip.


 

Started on the interior, looking carefully at photos, seems unlike the captured US example above,  this retained the original German paint,  which looks to be Dunkelgelb,  the other option was Dunkelgrau

51359041081_95f61f9ee4_b.jpgvlcsnap-00019 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

From a couple of walkrounds, see here https://www.scalenews.de/vw-typ-166-schwimmwagen-walkaround/

 

the 'floor' is timber, either painted or natural wood, I know, these are museum examples.  

 

as seen here

schwimmwagen_11_of_19.jpg

 

I went for varnished wood, streaking burnt umber oil over the base desert yellow.

 

51392900618_be289e09fb_b.jpg50621023 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

The Dunkelgelb is the mix in the centre, as I realised that Tamiya XF-60 is Desert Yellow, not Dunkelgelb,  so I mixed some using the AK Real Colors book as a guide, though there seemed to be a lot of variations. Which is good, as I don't really trust the AK book. 

Mix is Vallejo German Yellow plus some Vallejo Khaki.    Various other tested mixes can be seen inside the body shell...

 

If anyone knows where I can buy more of this kind of paint pot strip, let me know, this was from a child's set no idea what, something my daughter had, and I've not been able to find another , and it is amazingly useful, the pots are maybe 1ml, but the clip down lids make it ideal for small amount of paint for figure work, where tiny amounts for touch up are often wanted,  even more so,  in this case, for small custom mixes,  where you don't need much,  but again, invaluable for little  for  they can dry out after a few days,  but  one 'tool'  that I find really useful.  Some of the otehr colours visible are from my last build.

 

I'm a bit further on now,  the figures got a coat of Tamiya Buff,  a good figure base coat as its pale grey brown, and it seems, good for the passengers jacket.

The driver needs head and cap attaching.    

The passenger also got some test bits for other colours.  And had arms snap, so more micro drill, 15 amp fuse wire and SG...

Hopefully the next update will be sooner,  this build has been the one of dropping tiny bit far far too often, and sometimes not finding them... the gear stick disappeared into the void, and a new one was made from stretch sprue and PVA for the knobs. 

No pics of this as yet....   And see how my 1/48th face painting  comes out...   Oh, and a new larger flag to be done.

 

Thanks for reading,  comments and corrections welcomed.

 

cheers

T

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  • 4 weeks later...
30 minutes ago, JOCKNEY said:

This was coming along a treat when we last heard from you Troy, any further progress  ?

 

Cheers Pat 

Tiny steps.  Passenger is part painted, the main colour blocks, , driver less so, but did have a little do last night. I only noticed later on the driver left arm was going to foul the central cross bar. So that was some more surgery.   More involved builds get more procrastination as they progress as you get more worried about messing up,  little things like uniform colours, so thanks for asking.  

Also done more of the interior in the dunkel gelb mix, and added the gear stick.  

I'll do update pic later,  as posting up a bit of progress and bit of feedback can help with perspective, as in, actually that looks ok and press on.

Cheers 

T

 

 

 

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12 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

any further progress  ?

51478371883_760455378b_o.jpg50621061 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

As described above, some inside painting, I was pleased with the rear grill,  and some figure work, look like sandpaper in macro, some face work on passenger,  cap is just balanced on driver, and he lost some flesh when I Mr Surfacered the neck joint. The green came out glossy as I'd just stuck on as a base coat and not given it a proper shake.   The lead foil collars show up well in this. the drivers double belts don't show up, see the reference image above. 

The seating is off, as the base pan is not glued down as yet. Their arms do rest on the sills.   It's been trying getting the seated figures even close to being right,  if I'd had any idea of the bother, they have been minimal modifications and standing figures,  I have a large chunk of resin cobbled road to display this on.  

I have some 1/50 ish civilian railway figures,  if you see the reference film, there are some civilian's watching in the background.    I'll see how this pans out as I go on display. 

 

Please point out glaring errors .

 

Thanks for reading

T

 

 

 

 

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