Wednesday 8 July 2020

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - Motorcycle sidecars for the BEF



The British GHQ ordered a strong reconnaissance patrol, consisting of a full Motorcycle Battalion and two squadrons of Mark VI light tanks, to check the German occupied twin villages of Marine-Le-Pen and Jean-Marie-Le-Pen which stargely fell into Nazi hands quiet easily. But please don´t get mistaken, the place that the British are passing by is the village of Fabien Barthez, still in British "hands"... if you enjoy football you will know what I mean.

I really tried to find information to make the 1QVR for the 1st Armoured Division. In the end, and mostly thanks to the Rapid Fire! FB groups, I arrived to the conclusion that the 1QVR didn't even carried ist Nortons to France and after arriving at Calais used, most probably, French trucks to move around. So these guys became - obviously- the 4th Northumberland Fusilier Motorcycle Battalion with Arras in the horizon. 

The Motorcycles with sidecar are SHQ and the solo are Fujimi conversions. The Mark VI are MiniGeral 3d prints. 


The SHQ Norton combos together with three solo motorcycles makes the three companies necessary for a full Motorcycle battalion. The SHQ models are pretty good and far better than their own French combos. 

One of the combos got a Boys AT rifle. Not sure if the Norton combos carried one but these guys need some anti armour protection.



Half of them got a Bren LMG...

                           

...and the leftovers had no Bren or Boys as issued to the motorcycle combo units. In all rear seated soldier I glued a plastic rifle for them not to look like they are on an excursion. 


The solo motorcycles are originally Harley Davidsons from Fujimi. The original motorcycle was deprived of a number of details and received a new headlamp. The figure had its head cut off, replaced by an Airfix one and got a new backpack and rifle. The motorcyclists also got their British ammunition pouches and gas mask bag made of GreenStuff. 


Finally the four Mark VI LT from MiniGeneral. The prints of MiniGeneral are getting better and better and Pedro Pato managed to clean much of the excess plastic mainly in the tracks of his models. Some annoying lines are still visible but you can erase them with 50% PVA glue +50% of your oldest and almost dried out acrylic paint aplied directly on those lines. 


Next: 12th SS Panzer Italian transport; a Ferdinand Battalion fort Kursk or a visit to my very old Home-Made card soldiers. 

8 comments:

  1. Very inspiring JP, keep up the good work.

    best wishes, Will

    ReplyDelete
  2. Muito bom. A 1 vez que vi os modelos apresentado de motocicletas inglesas. Pensava que só os alemães as usavam nas unidades de reconhecimento. Ab e Cumprimentos

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. E alguns deles tinham só uma pistola para se defenderem. É preciso ter confiança.

      Delete
  3. Very nice to see such a large force of motor cycle troops ready for action. Cheers Greg

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Greg. Some hese motorcycles were kept by farmers and other French civilian as they were small to hide. They are nowadays precious to see markings and the true G3 base colour.

    ReplyDelete