Rapid Fire! NW Europe 44/45 - 101st US Airborne - 3rd battalion done and 501st PIR finished

These ones were black primed for some months and were quickly finished upon the arrival of the latest RFR The Road to Carentan booklet from Masters Colin and Richard. In this batch I added some cute resin prints offered by Pedro Pato of MiniGeneral 3d. The rank and file are the usual Revell and Esci figures as I´m out of SHQ minis. 

Three resin printed Cushman scooters are a beauty with all being different. One will go to each battalion for liaison purposes or, if not necessary, to look good on the table. 

The 3d resin Pack 75mm gun comes with three beautiful figures. 

The 3d resin 57mm AT gun comes with three other lovely  crew, again all different. Only one gun is missing to complete the Para AT battalion as this one is the fifth 57mm of this group. 

The Bazookas are Hasegawa and Revell (the closest one). The No2 are Revell with repositioned M1 carbines and Hasegawa Bazooka rounds. 

Again the Revell tripods of the 30. cals. were turned into bipods with added plastic stocks. 

Together with the OP stand the radio was added to the back of the Thompson armed figure. 

The 81mm mortar and main operator comes from Esci US infantry. With some extra GreenStuff on the uniform and equipment he could join the airborne. The 60mm mortar is made of pieces of plastic. 

Next: more aircraft for the US airborne. 

Rapid Fire! NW Europe 1944-45 in 20mm - US Airborne and ground reinforcements.

The command group of Combat Command X of an US Armored Division meets in the middle of the Norman bocage. Fearful of a German incursion, the commander request all possible protection from the vicinity and so some Airborne 57mm AT guns and M8 HMCs shows up and make an impregnable ring of steel around him... What a bull###t story! Sorry, but nothing else came to my mind as an introduction.  

This time some additions to the US Armored Division and the Airborne Division. With the Dodge WC53 Carryall and the M8s HMC the Armored division is now complete and the Screaming Eagles finally got some AT protection and tows for the 105mm guns. 

The Carryall is a Matchbox die-cast model I found last month in a second hand toy fair. It looks to be in a smaller scale than the usual 1/64 of many die-cast cars and probably suits our 20mm size pretty well. New plastic wheels from Atlantic, antenna and covered engine (white paste) was added and it looks OK. 

And here it is together with some old metal US command figures, presumably SHQ, given by my friend Jorge Faria.  

The M8s are RTR and will be sent to the three mechanized infantry battalions and their assault gun platoons. The figures are Irregular Miniatures cut by the waist. I chose helmeted figures as for open topped vehicles.

The tiny M8 HMC become very colorful with plenty of markings. 

Half of the  US 57mm AT guns are PSC conversions (muzzle break erased, right side of front protection cut and shortened legs). The artillery men are converted Revell and SHQ figures ( these last ones with EverGreen first aid pads and pockets in the trousers). 

To the left you can see two SHQ 57mm guns and the two PSC to the left. 

Finally the Jeep tandem tows for the 105mm M1 guns were painted, as I had them built for years. The Jeeps are Frontline Wargaming attached to each other with the typical  'A' structure made of plastic card. The drivers are the usual plastic torsos with Milliput arms. To driver to the left is an old Airfix figure driving with his left hand and holding the Thompson with the right hand in a typical Cowboy style. 

Next: French 1940 or Brandywine 1777. 

Rapid Fire! 20mm - 17th Pz Grenadier Division 'Götz Von Berlichingen'; Stug IV Pz Jäger Battalion

The last Militaria Hors-Serie No 95 is dedicated to the US 101st  Airborne in Normandy. Among other nice information and colour plates it shows the camouflage of the Stug IV of the 17th PzGrDiv. that fought against the Screaming Eagles around Carentan. The 17th PzGrDiv. had 42 of these relatively rare Stugs, when comparing with the Stug III.

As far as the images on the article shows try to cover Dunken Gelb with the other two camouflage tones up to 80/90% in big blotches in which the Red Brown always touches the Green.

The models are all Revell exceptuating the one to the far right which is Altaya. They are organised in three companies with a command Stug with two crew visible which is my way of marking the CO in an AFV unit.

The Revell model is quite accurate but with little detail. The most important details missing are the tool box (behind the left side cuppola); the left side extra tank tracks....

 ... and the extra wheels on the left. These last ones were provided by Tim Caspers of Germany, a fellow modeller who produces in resin many of his own pieces and that gently send me a box filled with many nice parts, including stowage,  some you can see in last posts about Tunisia.

 I also replaced the plastic MG with a metal one and placed a (plastic) ammo drum as used in german AFVs.

The foliage is made of Iceland lichen picked nearby, turned into a paste with green acrylic and wood glue.

 The only non-metal MG is this one converted from the Esci MG firer with a new Feldmutze. This Esci guy already carries the ammo drum on his MG and no bipod so he is perfect for German tanks.

This one is already training to enter the Panzer corps ... were he will loose his legs and head most likely as you can see in the previous picture...