Thursday 19 August 2021

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - 1st British AD almost complete



The 1st Rifles Motor Battalion and some armour takes control of the village of Just Fontaine, not far from Huppy, where the 1st AD will find glory but also defeat. In the next parcel from Pedro Pato the 1st AD will be complete as only 9 vehicles are still missing for the six tank battalions of the division. 


By having a more careful look at the stash I found the Atlantic 'Fusiliers' (the blue ones to the left) which in fact by not carrying the hoe shovel on the back become ideal 1940/BEF infantry. Only the gas mask was applied in all of them and made from Milliput. 


Also some Esci infantry saw the hoe shovel carved out. 


This battalion became a mixture of Atlantic, Esci, Airfix, Emhar and Hat. 


The command group had mostly figures from the two boxes that HAT made for British infantry (2' and 3' mortars stands), the Boys AT stand are converted Esci figures with a MiniGeneral 3d printed AT rifle, and the command stand has Emhar and Esci officers and a Hat radioman. 


A typical Motor company made from Atlantic, Esci and HAT figures. 


The Cruiser A13 Mark IIs are MiniGeneral 3d prints in PLA. They have different mantlets in this group, with the ones with the biggest becoming the Mark II A version. 


One last A10 MkIA CS missing joined the Division here in the colors of the 5th RTR. For some time by now I´m using 2/3 coats of clear varnish before priming in order to disguise the printing lines on the PLA models. 


A group of MiniGeneral Dingoes were also added, one for the division´s command and two other for the command of each of the Armoured Brigades. The figures seating on top of the hatch are HAT (they simply didn't fit inside) . 


A resin printed Austin Ruby by Mário Laranja joined the BEF. I could only find evidence of the cabriolet version in France 1940 (there is famous picture of one abandoned at Dunkirk) and not this one. In fact I´m not sure of the military use of the fully enclosed Ruby. Nevertheless this was an offer and it had to fit somewhere. How those three to the left will fit inside the Ruby that is a different matter, and the driver is already seating!

Next: whether Italians for the desert, HG Germans, Soviets for Dubno or 1940 French. 


6 comments:

  1. Fabuloso! Great to see the Atlantic Royal Fusileers. I actually have two boxes of the 1/32 version in my loft which are destined for eBay. My knees can’t take garden battles anymore ☹️. I had four boxes of 1/72 Atlantic Panzer Grenadiers and one of Afrika Korps which I foolishly gave away. One day I will get my hands on a time machine…

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  2. Thanks Jeffers. One of my main pleasures with this hobby is to chase a bit everywhere I go those places with old kits. A few years ago I found some 20km from my place in an old shop with retiring owners 70 boxes of Atlantic. They were in the attic and they just showed up because I asked if there were any old models around. 1 euro each, great! :) Its from that group that these came out.

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  3. As always great work JP and you've got to love those Daimler Dingos:) You certainly picked up a bargain with those boxes 1 Euro a piece!

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  4. Thanks Steve. Still have plenty of Atlantic boxes. Even if their modern range has some strange weapons its a great source of parts or simple nostalgia.

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  5. Great work as usual... Bregards

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    Replies
    1. Não posso fazer nada contra. Está-me no sangue! É como ser do Sportem!

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