workbench Archives - Page 75 of 153

Flames of War Rolls Royce Armoured Cars

The Rolls-Royce armoured car was a British armoured car developed in 1914 and used in World War I and in the early part of World War II.

At the outbreak of World War II, 76 vehicles were in service. They were used in operations in the Western Desert, in Iraq, and in Syria. By the end of 1941, they were withdrawn from the frontline service as modern armoured car designs became available.

So there I was flicking through issue 286 of Wargames Illustrated when I noticed in the Hellfire and Back battle report a wonderful looking Rolls Royce Armoured Car.

I’ve always liked the Rolls Royce Armoured Car and though this is a desert version, wondering if it wouldn’t take much to convert it for Home Guard use. I would need to convert the turrets back from the open ones used in the desert to the older closed ones. Of course it would be nice if a non-desert version of the Rolls Royce Armoured Car was sold as part of Blitzkreig, but I am guessing it won’t be.

It was in 1940, that 34 vehicles which served in Egypt with the 11th Hussars regiment had the “old” turret replaced with an open-topped unit carrying a Boys anti-tank rifle, .303 inch Bren machine gun and smoke grenade launchers.

However I have decided to use them as part of my Early War Brits and not convert the turrets. As I am intending to explain away the open turret by assuming that the reasons the “old” turret was replaced in the desert would be applicable in to an invaded England, the need to replace the standard machine gun with an anti-tank weapon and a Bren gun. Well that;s my story and I am sticking to it. I might convert them at a later date anyhow.

There are two models in the blister.

The model comprises (as with most Flames of War models) a resin body and metal components for the wheels. The turret is metal though.

Lots of nice detail on the model.

See the workbench feature on the Rolls Royce Armoured Car.

Blue Dog and Emmet Gates

I am in the process of painting the models using a variety of colours.

Taking them one stage at a time…

See more of Blue Dog and Emmet Gates.

Flames of War Street Barricades

I did eventually get a set of the Street Barricades that were released last February.

Couldn’t get one from my usual shops, so in the end I had to send off for a box. Even then it took a while to get here.

Within the box you get two identical street sections, one overturned Opel Blitz and one pile of barricade, both designed to fill the gaps in the street sections. All are made from resin.

These are very nice castings and lots of detail.

Before I started painting them I looked over these excellent painting guides from Battlefront.

I like how in the tutorial they have painted the truck as a civillian truck.

See the workbench feature on the Street Barricades.

Flames of War French Heavy Artillery Battery

This is a boxed set with parts to make four four 105/155mm C mle 1917 S guns with crew, Observer Rifle team, a Staff team and a Command Rifle team.

Having constructed the guns and put the crew on wooden sticks, the next stage was a white undercoat for the figures and the guns.

I also gave the guns a white undercoat.

I also sprayed the underneath of the guns with a Humbrol Dark Brown spray to add shadow.

French Heavy Artillery Battery

This is a boxed set with parts to make four four 105/155mm C mle 1917 S guns with crew, Observer Rifle team, a Staff team and a Command Rifle team.

I initially decided that I would make two of the guns as 105mm L mle 1913 S guns.

Here are the two 105mm L mle 1913 S guns, I am using road wheels rather than spoked on these.

Here are the two 155mm mle 1917 Howitzers.

The completed 105mm L mle 1913 S gun.

I was going to make the 155mm mle 1917 Howitzers with the provided spoked wheels, however after thinking and reflecting about it, I decided that I would make up all four as 105mm L mle 1913 S guns.

French Heavy Artillery Battery

This is a boxed set with parts to make four four 105/155mm C mle 1917 S guns with crew, Observer Rifle team, a Staff team and a Command Rifle team.

I glued the crew and other sections to wooden sticks to make them easier to paint.

There are five crew for each gun.

Here is the Staff team.

Here is the Here is the Command Rifle team.

You also get a couple of prone infantry to use as the Observer Rifle team. These I based directly on the FoW plastic base.

See the full workbench feature on the French Heavy Artillery Battery.

Basecoating the Flames of War Dingo

The Daimler Scout Car, known in service as the “Dingo” (after the Australian wild dog), was a British light fast 4WD reconnaissance vehicle also used in the liaison role during the Second World War.

The Flames of War blister comes with three of them. I gave the vehicles and the crew a white undercoat, I then gave them a basecoat of Warpaint British Armour.

The crew were given a basecoat of English Uniform (921).

See the full workbench feature on the British Daimler Dingo.

Hovels Ruins

I bought these ruins quite a few years ago. These ruins are in fact 1/200th scale ruins, though they seem to work well with 15mm Flames of War. I had painted these with a black undercoat and then drybrushed them. I also glued some name signs onto them, though I have partly removed them, not very well mind you. As a result I have decided to paint them again. I sprayed them with a Humbrol Dark Grey.

Flames of War Renault FT-17

The Renault FT or Automitrailleuse à chenilles Renault FT modèle 1917, inexactly known as the FT-17 or FT17, was a French light tank; it is among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history.

The FT was the first operational tank with an armament in a fully rotating turret, and its configuration with the turret on top, engine in the back and the driver in front became the conventional one, repeated in most tanks until today; at the time it was a revolutionary innovation.

France still had several thousand First World War Renault FT tanks in 1940. Over 500 of them were still in service in independent bataillons de chars de combat (BCC) tank battalions in the front lines. Although adequate for infantry support, they were totally outclassed by German tanks in a mobile battle.

It is one of my favourite tanks, I have always had a fondness for this little tank, probably as a result of making that Matchbox plastic kit of the Renault and the Char B1 when I was young.

As I am creating an Early War French army I got some of these little tanks for Flames of War.

The tanks were small in real life and were quite small in the 1:76th scale kit, so I am expecting quite a small tank for 15mm. Actually I was surprised by how small the Char B1 is compared to Late War tanks, I don’t know for some reason I thought the Char B1 was a “big” tank, well it might be “big” for Early War, but otherwise it is quite a thin small tank compared to the Cromwells and Panthers you find in 1944. It’s quite incredible the pace of technological change in tank design during the war in just a few years.

I was pleased with the amount of detail in the model.