My third submission for the challenge was a selection of early World War 2 French tanks, transports, and troops of a Division Légère Mécanique (DLM),
or Light Mechanized Division. They are something that I have been
thinking about for a while, and they have finally come together in time
for last winter's painting challenge.
First
up are the armoured vehicles consisting of a mix of Char B1 bis, Somua
S35, and Renault R35 tanks. The Char B1 tanks are 3D prints by the same
friend who did my Polski FIAT trucks, while the latter two types are
Solido diecast tanks that were repainted to give them a unified
camouflage scheme. Historically the DLM tank battalions were equipped
with Hotchkiss H35/H39 and Somua tanks, but I already had the R35s, so I
went with that. The heavier Char B1 was not found in the DLM, but I
always liked the look of it and added two to my French force. All the
tanks were given a coat of USA Olive Drab surface primer using an
airbrush. (In the case of the Char B1s, they got a coat of black primer
first.) The brown and yellow were applied by brush, and then the whole
tank got a wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade. After the decals were
applied, all the vehicles got a wash of Vallejo Model Wash European Dust
around the tracks and road wheels.
The Char B1 served in the armoured divisions of the French army, the Division Cuirassée (DCr). It was armed with a 75mm howitzer in the hull,
and a 47mm gun in the turret. Although well armed and armoured, it
suffered from the design of a one-man turret, where the commander had to
act as both loader and gunner as well. My two models are 3D prints done
using an STL file I found online. There must be a flaw in the file
because the right track system printed with the tracks misaligned so
that they touched the fender at the back of the tank, and didn't sit
evenly on the table. To solve the problem, I used a fine blade saw to
cut off the right track, reposition it correctly, and glue it back into
place using super glue and baking soda (or sodium hydrogen carbonate for
the chemists in the crowd 😉). My friend used different resins in the
two prints, giving one model more flex than the other. That was the
first one where I sawed off the tracks, which worked fairly well. When I
went to do the second model, pressure from the blade caused the back
part of the fender to break off, along with part of the exhaust system. I
still don't know where the missing piece went, and it has probably been
sucked up by the vacuum cleaner by now. I was able to rebuild the
missing area from bits and bobs from my box of scratch-building
supplies. I also added radio aerials to both tanks, but I probably only
needed to do that on one model. Radio sets were not distributed below
command tanks in the French army.
The Somua S35 was considered a 'cavalry tank' in the French army, and was one of the main tanks in a DLM. It had good speed, adequate range, and a gun powerful enough to destroyed any enemy tank it was likely to encounter. Like the Char B1, it had to deal with the problems of a one-man turret, as well as poor mechanical reliability. Its suspension system was too weak, too complicated, and the cast armour made it difficult to repair in the field. The models are Solido 1/50 diecast that I purchased years ago, but as I acquired them individually off of eBay, they had two different paint schemes. One was sold green, while the other had a random green and dark brown camouflage pattern. As well, one of the tanks was missing the gun mantle off the main gun and the turret machine gun, so I scratch-built replacements. Now they look like they belong to the same unit.
The last pair of tanks are Renault R35s that saw service with the French Bataillon de Chars de Combat (BCC), as well as some that were sold to Poland and other countries. It was armed with a low velocity Puteaux cannon. Again, it suffered from a one-man turret, and rather slow speed. Some of the men from the Polish 10th Motorized Brigade, having escaped to France, saw service in these tanks in May 1940. These are also Solido 1/50 diecast models picked up from eBay when they were still fairly inexpensive. One was originally solid green, while the other had a green and tan camouflage pattern on it. I prefer the look of the three colour green, brown, and tan, although all the various colour combinations were used in 1940.
Now we come to the transport part of this submission starting with six Laffly S20 TL trucks designed to transport a squad of Dragons Portés, or
motorized dragoons of the DLM. These are again 3D prints done by my
friend from an STL file I found online. The file generated a very
detailed model, but one that may not stand up to the rigours of the
wargame table. My friend said he broke off the two side mirrors and the
windscreen while trying to get the first print he made free from the
supports. Afterwards he adjusted the files to remove the support
problem, and the rest printed successfully without any issues. I also
managed to snap off a side mirror, and a rear tire of two separate
models while prepping them for painting due to rather fragile axles on
the models. Once again I resorted to the super glue - baking soda
combination to get a strong repair. I also scratch-built replacement
mirrors using some florist wire and a small plastic disc made using my
leather hole punch. All the models were primed black, followed by a coat
of USA Olive Drab. The seats were painted using Vallejo Tan Earth, and
the whole truck got a wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade, followed by
Vallejo Model Wash European Dust around the wheels and fenders.
While I was working on the other vehicles. I remembered that I had a Tamiya 1/48 model kit of a Citroën
Traction 11 CV staff car sitting in a box in the basement. I originally
wasn't sure how I wanted to paint it up, but in the end I decided to
add it to my French force. It was an easy kit to assemble, and I painted
most of the exterior using an airbrush while the parts were still on
the sprue. From unopened kit to complete vehicle in less than a day.
At last we come to the troops, in this case Dragons Portés. All
of these figures are very recent acquisitions from Crusader Miniatures.
We will start with a platoon of three squads and a platoon
headquarters. Each squad consists of ten men, including a man carrying a
Fusil-mitrailleur
Modèle 1924 M29 light machine gun, and his No. 2 holding spare
magazines. All the squads have an extra figure armed with a
Viven-Bessières rifle grenade cup discharger, as this is one of the
options in the Bolt Action rules. One of the squad leaders is carrying a
MAS-38 submachine gun.
Finally we have have some support weapons consisting of two Hotchkiss machine guns, a Hotchkiss 25mm anti-tank gun, an 81mm medium mortar, and a 60mm light mortar. At some point I want to add some ammunition boxes and spent casings to the bases, but I didn't have anything appropriate in the bits box. That will have to wait until some point in the future, but for now I am calling it done.
For painting up the Dragons Portés, I followed the guide below from 'Flame of War' fairly closely since I had all the necessary colours in my inventory. Two exceptions are that I used USA Olive Drab instead of Gunship Green on the vehicles, and I used Army Painter Leather Brown instead of German Camouflage Orange Ochre on the soldiers' ammo pouches and Y-straps. After the figures were painted, they got a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone Quickshade. As mentioned in my previous submission, this leaves the figures with a glossy sheen, but I will eventually spray them with a matt coat.
2 comments:
Some great painting Frederick. Hopefully we'll see more things like these in a months time!
Love the Char B's- I remember them from challenge XIV.
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