WW2 British Gallery
Introduction
This page contains some photos of my WW2 land forces. I'm not sure the direction this section will take as although WW2 is one of my favourite periods to game in, I don't know how much information I can add that isn't already available on the web.
The first army I have started on is a WW2 Normandy British army, based on the Guards Armoured Division. This is an interesting formation and it happened to match my figure collection pretty well. The majority of the figures are GHQ with some CNC and a few Heroics and Ros vehicles. I went with Mainforce (Hallmark) for the infantry as I like the prone look and they are durable and easy to paint. Unfortunately they dont make artillery and vehicle crew so I went with GHQ for those, but they are very puny in comparsion and wouldn't mix well on the same base. For air support please refer to the Air Gaming section of this site.
I'm still deciding on a set of rules so the bases are different sizes and are there so I can store them in boxes with magnetic sheet. The decals are all from GHQ and are nice. I went for the Guards Armoured Division and went a bit crazy painting adding Guards Div markings, yellow weight indicators and Arms of Service.
The vehicles were all painted using the following steps:-
Undercoat using grey or white (I use a brushed on Tamiya grey undercoat).
Airbrush the base colour a mix of 50/50 of Tamiya Dark Earth and XF26 Green which I added some Tamiya Buff to, to allow for the smaller scale (using a formula from a well known modeller Mike Starmer).
Then I gave the whole model a VERY light Vallejo Stone drybrush. I don't drybrush a lot anymore for 6mm models, but it works well with these colour combinations and picks out the details very well.
Then paint the black bits, I used Vallejo German Grey as Black is too strong in this scale in my opinion.
Next the tires are painted with XF50 Field blue which gives the tires a nice blueish-grey tinge.
Pick out any other details such as Gun barrels, tools stowage etc, again with colours brighter than normal.
Next apply any decals and paint on any markings by hand.
Next I spray a light coat of gloss varnish on the model with a spraycan (Tamiya or Testors depending on local supplies).
Next I pick out the details with a thin black pin wash of oil paint. (I created a wash of oil paint and turps for all my pin washes).
Pick out extra bits where you want it to look slightly dirty with a burnt umber brown wash. I don't wash this everywhere on the model and mostly add it to the wheels, around the engine and exhausts. It come down to how weathered and rusty you want the vehicle to look.
Finally I also used a light earthy coloured wash (mixed from oil paints and halfway in between Tamiya Dark earth and Buff in colour) and brushed that over the lower parts and wiped off any excess with a cloth. I used to give the models a light Tamiya buff spray with the airbrush over the lower parts and wiped off the excess with a cloth before it dried, but I found that it is very hard to control where it sprays. Now I use a oil wash in a very simlar colour to Buff and go over the vehicle with that.
Finally spray with Matt varnish on the model in a few light coats.
Click on the thumbnails to see the full sized image
GHQ Challenger Tank
Another nice model from GHQ and quite a big tank! The barrel was replaced with brass rod (with a blog of PVA on the end) as it was a second hand model and the barrels weren't in great shape. As a general rule, when the barrel extends past the hull I like to replace the barrels where I can.
CNC Crusader AA MkI tank
A good model from CNC with their usual fine quality casting and details. This is the earlier version with the 40mm Bofors.
GHQ Humber Scout car
Another fine release from GHQ and a great little model. I might add a crew member from GHQs artillery crew set to this model, as I have a few which have broken off their bases.
GHQ Daimler Armoured Car
Another great GHQ model with some amazingly fine details. One of the best GHQ models in my opinion.
GHQ Cromwell CS Tank
Close Support version of the Cromwell tank with the 95mm gun (hard to tell the difference as the barrel is slightly shorter and fatter).
GHQ 30cwt Truck
A great model painted in the "mickey mouse" scheme used on a lot of British softskins. I would like to see the canopies moulded separately on their trucks, so I could chose to have an open backed version as well.
GHQ 30cwt Command Truck
The command version of the 30cwt Truck. I think you get 1 of these in each pack of 5 30cwt trucks but I got these second hand so I can't be sure. Great model with very fine details on the command body.
GHQ 15cwt Truck
A widely used light truck and suitable throughout the war. Nice sculpt with the crew just visible inside the cab. Again the canopy is fixed, which is a pity.
H&R 15cwt Radio Truck
One of the new generation models from Heroics and Ros sculpted by Ian Armstrong. Lovely model and it comes with a removeable canopy on the back!
GHQ Dingo Scout car
A small model and great sculpting. You can see the helmets of the driver and passenger in the compartment. I might add a MG to this.
GHQ Universal Carrier
A good model from GHQ. I believe this is an older sculpt and it has been updated but it is still a very good model.
GHQ M3 Halftrack
Another very good model from GHQ. I left to HMG ring off and I beleive the British halftrack didnt use the 0.5 HMG.
CNC M3 White Scout car
A very good model from CNC with very clean crisp sculpting. I'll be using this for my HQ units mostly.
H&R Truck with Bofors
A superb model from H&R and the integrated crew help bring it to life.Certaintly one of H&R better sculpts.
GHQ Crusader Tractor
A great vehicle which only comes as a tow for the 17pdr. Its not a vehicle that saw wide use, but its still great to use it as a wargames model. A very well detailed model.
H&R 25pdr Gun
A lovely model from H&R. It comes with gun, limber, platform and some crew (which I replaced with GHQ). Also the newer H&R crew would be ideal but they weren't available at the time. Good sculpting and I see no reason to replace it with the GHQ version.
H&R 5.5" Gun
Another good model from H&R of this heavy artillery piece. The model is a little plain but it is easily recognisable. The crew have been replaced with GHQ. I plan to add some small strips of plasticard to the base for ammo boxes etc.
GHQ 17pdr AT Gun
A wonderful model of this large gun but the crew are a bit of a let down. They come moulded as a single blob all joined together in the style of GHQs older infantry. I managed to separate one crew from the blob and used some GHQ artillery crew for additional figures and for some variety, but I will replace these with H&R crew. Like most GHQ gun packs, they come with 2 deployed and 2 towed guns so you generally need to buy quite a few packs to get enough deployed models, and this can get expensive.
Hallmark Infantry
I like the style of these infantry and they are much more durable and easier to paint compared to other brands. The lying down pose is great with a reasonable variety, but I do wish there was a few more crouching and kneeling figures. Although the figures come in strips (which is handy) you can quite easily chop up the bases (between the figures) to suit. One downside of the sculpting style is that the the faces and other undercut bits tends to suffer casting issues. Also you have to be carefully how much flock is used on the bases as it is easy to cover the figures with flock by mistake.
Hallmark Infantry
Also available is command and light mortar pieces. The command pieces come with 4 figures and one of the bases I have cut away the 4th figure and used it elsewhere, as it is a very useful pose. The light mortar is a nice piece and easy to identify.
Hallmark Infantry Support weapons
The infantry support weapons are typical of what would be available for an Infantry Company/Battalion - HMGs, PIAT and 81mm Mortars. In these photos are the PIAT team and a Boys AT rifle. The Boys AT rifle was a conversion from the Bren gun, where I trimmed the magazine a little and replaced the barrel with some thin wire and a blob of PVA on the end of the barrel.
