The back end of 2021 has been a bit busy for me, a new job and a DIY list that would make Santa’s Naughty list look positively short have kept me from making the level of progress that I would really like. However, one bonus of being in Construction and Engineering is a full 2 weeks off over the festive season and with the fitting out of the man cave in the garden (well one 1/3 is mine, she who must be obeyeds’ dress making takes up the rest) pretty much complete, I’ve made a reasonable amount of progress.
A little while back I purchased several conversion kits from S&S Models https://sandsmodels.com/. S&S, if you haven’t come across them at all, supply a range of models and conversions across several scales 15mm to 28mm and periods WW2 to Modern in white metal and Resin. Their 28mm range focus primarily on providing conversion kits for Warlord/Italeri plastic armour. My particular interest was in the Armoured Recovery Vehicle kits for Cromwell and Sherman. I also picked up a 95mm Howitzer conversion kit for Cromwell and used it across two separate vehicles.
These are great little conversions and since I have in mind a couple of Tank War army lists (more on that later) I had to have them. I could have built them straight from the Box/bag, but of course Google intervened when I did a swift search for images for inspiration. Most images showed open hatches and crews on display. The conversion kits have closed hatches. I would need to take things a little further. The Sherman was probably the easiest to deal with. A swift bit of Dremel and filing and some plasticard and the addition of a tank commander and driver and the vehicle comes to life. The conversion kit is designed to work with the Warlord/Italeri Sherman. I had available the Warlord produced ‘British’ Sherman V kit (I believe this is manufactured by Plastic Soldier Company for Warlord) this is a very simple but nonetheless well detailed model, certainly for wargaming purposes and the conversion kit works perfectly well with it. I daresay that it would likely also work on a Rubicon Sherman also.
Some additional Rubicon Stowage was added along with Antenna taken from a brush
Painting was quite straightforward. An undercoat using Plastic Soldier Company Russian Armour spray, a wash which is a mix of Citadel Aggrax earthshade, Nuln oil and Lahmian medium. And then, several drybrush layers starting with Mig 112 British olive drab (44/45) and then lighter shades (mixes) and then using Vallejo 70988 khaki, 70884 stone grey.
Markings are for the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, and as mentioned I have a Tank War list planned for them as a result of listening to the We have ways of making you talk podcast Home – We Have Ways of Making You Talk Podcast (wehavewayspod.com) and reading James Hollands' Brothers in Arms book.
The Cromwell took a little more and I decided that due to the size of the hatches I would need to replace the turret ring cover with a new one made of plastic and add a minimum of detail (in effect the suggestion of a winch) within the hull- this was achieved with a 1.35 scale cable drum from an old Italeri modern battlefield accessories kit that I had lying around. I used the Metal turret ring cover as a template to create the plastic one and the hatches. The crew were made up of a USMC body for the commander a spare British torso from another conversion, with the addition of new heads from the Warlord North African commonwealth troops and the British airborne.
As can be seen I had a bit of a Cromwell frenzy. I split the Howitzer kit between 2 tanks. one to create a Royal Marines Centaur and the other for a 1st Polish Armour having seen a reference image where the extra stowage boxes were added to the turret.
Painting was as per the Sherman and the Markings are for 1st Polish Armoured , which will be subject of a potential second Tank War list.
So in conclusion, 2 really nice conversion kits that do not require great modelling skills. As mentioned these are perfectly good straight from the box/bag. For the more adventurous? I hope the images here will provide a bit of inspiration and guidance on how to create a couple of eye candy armoured vehicles in an armour based army.
I have mentioned this before but I am more than happy to answer questions/provide a bit more detail if anyone is interested.
Cheers
Andy
6,5 out.
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