For Christmas I was kindly given not only the Team Yankee Iron Maiden book I also got a box of the newly released 15mm British Scorpion or Scimitar Troop.
The British Army Of the Rhine had three tracked reconnaissance regiments. The recce troops of the first two were equipped entirely with Scimitar reconnaissance vehicles, while the recce troops of the third mixed Scimitars and Scorpions together.
The FV101 Scorpion is a British armoured reconnaissance vehicle. It was the lead vehicle and the fire support type in the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked), CVR(T), family of seven armoured vehicles. Manufactured by Alvis, it was introduced into service with the British Army in 1973 and served until 1994.
The FV107 Scimitar is a similar armoured reconnaissance vehicle (sometimes classed as a light tank) also used by the British Army. It was manufactured by Alvis in Coventry. It is very similar to the FV101 Scorpion, but mounts a high velocity 30 mm L21 RARDEN cannon instead of a 76 mm gun. It was issued to Royal Armoured Corps armoured regiments in the reconnaissance role.
This is the box art which shows two Scorpions and two Scimitars patrolling (probably) a West German town.
The box contains four sprues and unit cards for use with Team Yankee. Each sprue allows you to build either a Scorpion or a Scimitar.
Starting to build them they go together really nicely.
One of the things I dislike about the new plastic 15mm kits from Battlefront is the lack of weight the models have compared to older metal kits and even the resin ones have.
With my recent addition of Team Yankee British Scorpion and Scimitar tanks I started to think about I could make them heavier.
My initial choice was some lead (or lead-free) weights of some kind, there isn’t much space in the models so any extra weight would need to be quite dense (so heavy weight but not very big). The obvious choice was fishing weights, but I couldn’t find any that were small enough for the models.
Another idea was some lead sheet, again small, but heavy.
In the end I compromised and went with Weldtite 5/32-inch British Made Case Hardened Bearings – 750 Pieces which I ordered from Amazon.
These are very small and just under 4mm in diameter.
I glued them into the hulls of the light tanks with some super glue before checking there were no loose bearings. I then glued the hull together.
They are not really heavy, but certainly better than they were and I fell less likely to be blown over by a strong breath in a game of Team Yankee.
Here are the two Scorpions.
Starting to build them they go together really nicely. Unlike “proper” plastic kits, these have a smaller number of parts. The tracks for example are in one piece, whereas the Airfix 1/72nd Scorpion had separate wheels and tracks.
For one of the Scimitars I added a commander figure and some extra stowage.
Here are the two Scimitars.
I gave the models a white undercoat and the next stage will be a basecoat of Team Yankee Chieftain Green.
I have been thinking about the paint scheme for my Scorpions and Scimitars.
One choice would be to paint them as part of the BAOR tracked reconnaissance regiment. The kind of scheme they would have in 1985 just as war broke out.
Another choice was to paint them, if they had been fighting World War III for a while, possibly even after a limited nuclear exchange. The inspiration for this scheme is of course GDW’s Twilight 2000 background. These could be BAOR vehicles struggling to find their way home or another perspective could be the remnants of the British Army attempting to maintain control in a Britain broken apart by the nuclear exchange.
Another possibility was to use my own British Civil War background and paint them as Royalist forces, or as their Republican opposition.
In the end though I started them off, with a base coat of a spray of Chieftain Green paint.
Due to poor light I didn’t quite get the coverage I was expecting.
However I do think once I have added the black camouflage and given the model a dark wash, then this won’t matter so much.
I also painted the Scimitars. I started them off, with a base coat of a spray of Chieftain Green paint.
Like the Scorpions, I didn’t quite get the coverage I was expecting.
