Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - Numbers for the 6th and 7th Panzer Divisions

Piercing the French-German border at the river Meuse close to the village of Je-ne-sais-pas-le-Nom, the Pz 35t's and 38t's of both  6th and 7th PD quickly rush to their objectives.

The Pz35t's are Minigeneral and have early Blitzkrieg marking for one of the battalions of the 6thPD.

Two battalions also finished for the 7thPD with these Minigeneral Pz35t's. I used different markings according to the different battalions they will belong to, one closer to the Polish campaign and the other with the big numbers for the French campaign.

The Sdkfz 221 and 222 are BPM and have the usual extras of crew, stowage, antennae and Nazi SOB flag.

Next: finishing the tanks for the DAK.

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - The dismounted cavalrymen of the 5e DLC

The 11e Cuirassiers and the 12e Chasseurs dismounts and take positions on high ground very close to the village of Le-Boche-Arrive.

All figures are conversions from the Caesar figures. Two of the eight squadrons have a few bycicles to identify the the fourth squadron of each regiment that weren't provided with horses.

The conversion process had a ammunition bandolier made of GreenStuff stuck to the chest and back of most of the figures. The puttees were painted with black acrylic mixed with PVA glue for its lines to disappear and look like cavalry gaiters.

      


The other conversion was on the capote. For them to look like horsemen with unfasted buttons I filled the gap in the legs with GreenStuff and carved out the folded part on the back.


Next: Germans! Beaucoup d'eux!!!!

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - The 51e BCC and its fabulous FCM 2C

The 51e BCC approaches the train station of On-va-être-Sabordés for its last journey...

The Char 2C number 91 was "Provence" and here represents the three tanks of the 2nd company. The Model is Retrokit. This camouflage is the last to be known to be applied on the tanks of the 51e BCC.

The other one is number 92, "Picardie", from MiniGeneral, and represents the 1st company.  I used a number of extra details to bring it close to the level of the Retrokit model. For the build up of this unit I used the Minitracks number 2 magazine and its invaluable information by Pascal D'Anjou.

The Minigeneral 3D model captures very well the looks of the Char 2C but needs a few simple extras. In this picture you can see the missing door on the right side, a few bolts and supports, antenna  and the crewman (yes, this was how the turret opened).  

Also another rear  door for the main turret was added. 

The crossing tail is not mandatory but adds some historicity to the model as at least one of the last  six serviceable Char 2C had this device when its remains were found by the Germans, 50km from Neufchâteau.

I also added some wood and chains typical of the French tanks still in 1940. 

I also replaced the side Hotchkiss MG's as the ones that came on the original model broke on my clumsy hands. 

                                                        

The ShellHole Scenics Renault 35R is a small beauty. I onlly added the typical French square for the vehicles with trailer and a big licence plate as I´m always afraid Saramago´s Blindness arrives at any moment. 

 The rest of the details are a driver, another passenger and a few stowage. 

The Minigeneral Laffly 15  TCC was not part of the unit but it was  built and painted with this lot. Like this I have two of these Tank Destroyers (the other one is Ace) which probably will be enough for any scenario.

The  Laffly 15 TCC only had three crewman added, two of them are conversions from the Esci box of WWII French infantry and a scratch built FM 29 LMG.

Next: French 1940 dismounted cavalry. 

Rapid Fire! Poland 1939 in 20mm - An all FtF and WaW encounter.

Somewhere in western Poland, in a clearly stormy (Daniel's) day, an advanced German HQ is surprised by a Polish motorised force. Well in fact these are just my latest models from First to Fight and World at War due to a recent visit to Lisbon. I was mostly after the new Polish cavalry but there weren't any so these had to do.

These two Krupp Protze will force me to start the 10th Polish Motorised Brigade with their 1916 German helmets.

These 4CP's will tow the Polish medium artillery, specially the 100mm and 105mm guns.

One more 7TP was added this time with a Skytrex metal figure.

Taking advantage of the primer cloud one more Heller PZL 23 was built and painted. As usual it has hand painted markings.

This was how it looked the German HQ a little time before the Poles arrived. Damn! We can't even invade a neighbouring country without being interrupted!!

All these vehicles carry the 1940 markings and are thus better for the French campaign. I also din't use any brown camouflage to take these models up to the Russian campaign. Besides the Brown camouflage was standard but there were numerous exceptions.  This Sdkfz 251/6 suits the vehicle used by Guderian in France. The figure inside is Zvezda and originally was shooting against airplanes, but here... is just checking the radio structure.

Another Befehls Pz 38t added with a PSC figure.

This Sdkfz 231 will fit nicely the Recce units for Blitzkrieg again with a PSC figure. I replaced the 20mm gun with a sturdier from Minairons Spanish Pz I.

Lastly something of a mistake. WaW (IBG in fact) covers so well the beginning of the war that they even do models that were used solely for training like this Stug III 0-serie model. PSC figures again.

Next: the 51e BCC with the mighty Char 2c ready to crrrrrush ze invader! Oh la la.

Rapid Fire! Belgium 1940 in 20mm - We may not be Tigers... but we are veeeeery cute.

Belgian armour takes its positions in the Ardennes crossroads of Route Murée. That's all this time, I couldnt remember anything better!

            

                                  

The Berliet VUDB is a French A/C  used by the Belgian Gendarmerie. The model is Minigeneral as are all in this article.

                 

I transformed it as a command and radio model. This radio variant existed in the French Foreign Legion but I don't know  anything about this variant in the Belgian Gendarmerie. In any case I needed something for Command and Control of my Belgians and here it is.

                  

The other VUDB was made simpler with no additions, just the standard APC version.

                                     

Only a figure with a map made of paper (aren't they all?) was placed for some colour.

                 

The T-13 B3 was the most successful of the Belgian tank designs. The Minigeneral model is another beauty with all detail carved into just four parts.

                 

Here one of the T-13 B3 has the company of its older brother the B1 model.

                   

This time I placed helmets in all crew and not bonnets as in the last one that belonged to the Chasseurs Ardennais. In fact the helmet was used in all branches of the army, including the Chasseurs Ardennais, so its probably the best solution.

The figures are French Hat WWII artillery and torsos from the Esci WWII French. Most of the arms are two component paste that was also carefully aplied to the front of some helmets to make them closer to the Belgian tanker's helmet.

Next: If the next batch of Minigeneral and Shell Hole Scenics arrives today or tomorrow, Minigeneral and Shell Hole it will be, if they don't, I will start WWII French dismounted cavalry.

Rapid Fire! France 1940 - Allied reinforcements from MiniGeneral, the fish market and the flea market

In a carrefour of Northern France, in the beautiful place of Jolie Place, a Belgian and a French General watch from the inside of their staff cars two British armoured columns. Without knowing,  the left column will break its teeth at Arras as part of the Frank Force and the one from the right will suffer a similar faith at Abbeville along its companions of the 1st AD.

The A12's are 3d prints from MiniGeneral. They are nice renderings of the Matilda II of the BEF.

The BEF model had a raised suspension and Vickers Mg ...

... and an unditching tail and only one exaust pipe.

                            

MiniGeneral models in the form seven new Mark VIc light tanks.

In the local flea market I found one more Altaya model, this time a Panhard 178. I changed this model's camouflage with some thin lines of sand between the green and brown original comouflage. I toyed with the figure that started its life as a Spanish tank commander of a Minairons T-26. I made a French tank helmet and goggles out of two component paste and an original figure came out.

Being forced to go with the wife to the local fish market has its positive side as I found in a small toy shop inside these two die-cast cars. They are more cars from the 20' than from the 30'/40' but they were around 20mm size and reasonably detailed. I repainted them and made one the transport of a French general and the other the transport of a Belgian General.

Next: more France 1940 models or the start of my Bir Hakeim French units

Rapid Fire! Desert War in 20mm - Italian reinforcements for the Armoured Division

 

In the Egyptian-Lybian border an Italian Task Force prepares to block the British close to Ras-Al-Brexit, in an atempt to stop them leaving Europe.

 

The Italian L6/40 are Minigeneral 3d prints. With a total of five parts each they are nice little tanks and I finally had the chance to build  the Lancieri di Novara that our boss Richard tells us to have for El Alamein.

 

 

The two commander figures are in fact the German tank crew of the Esci PzIII. If you have them you must have noticed how ugly their cap was moulded: round and with a thick strip all around the head. I used a bit of paste around the neck and the Italian tank helmet shows up easily.   

 

 

 

 

Also some usual stowage, sand bags and antennae were added and they  are done. The colour I use for the Italian vehicles is the GW Vomit Brown with a slight wash in some parts only with GW Mournfang Brown.

 

 

 

The Italian 3RO with the 90/53 gun is Italeri. Its one of the nicest plastic models of the last few years both in detail and cleverness of construction. After using some 5 crewmen you still have another 4 that will be very useful in future projects.

The base was cut from a CD and I only made some boxes in plywood for the 90mm shells.

 

 

The towed 90mm gun is another nice model. The crew and gun are the same as in the SP version only the base being different.

 

 

The same wood boxes were added as in the previous model. This time a full CD base was used for the model and crew to stand.

 

 

 

The 149/40 artillery gun is another simple but efective model with an even more beautiful crew in colonial hats.

 

 

Next: Most probably more British armour for the BEF.