Second World War Canadians

With many of the Conscripts involved in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, there have not been many posts on our blog page lately, so here is another one of my ‘Armies in Review’ posts. When I started doing Bolt Action my first army of choice was a Canadian force, and as I had been a member of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada in my younger days, I wanted to paint up my infantry units marked for the 2^nd Canadian Division, and all the supporting units marked for those that actually supported the Camerons in Northwest Europe in 1944-45. At the moment I can currently field two 38 man infantry platoons, a company headquarters, a 6pdr anti-tank gun, 3 Vickers medium machine guns, 2 medium mortars, a carrier platoon of four Universal carriers, a few 25pdr field guns, a forward observation officer, a reconnaissance troop of scout and armoured cars, a troop of Sherman tanks, and a pair of Ram Kangaroo armoured personnel carriers.

The full force on parade.

Vickers machine gun teams, mortar teams, and 6pdr anti-tank gun

The machine gun teams are a mix of manufacturers being (from left to right) old school Bolt Action, Crusader Miniatures, and Westwind Miniatures. The team 'on the move' is also by Westwind. The 6pdr anti-tank gun and the mortar teams are by Battle Honors.

Carrier platoon to rapidly move the support weapons

The two carriers on the left are metal models by Battle Honors, with crews and extra stowage by Bolt Action. The two carriers on the right are resin casting by Bolt Action, as are the crews. The dimensions for the Battle Honors carriers are a bit off, primarily in that the part of the vehicle in front of the driver is too short. They end up being wider than the Bolt Action castings, but the same length.

Ram Kangaroo armoured personnel carriers

The Ram Kangaroos are conversions using the chassis from a 1/50 scale Solido Grant tank and a resin kit from Quarter Kit. I had purchased the Grants as something to use with my Soviets, but once I had enough T34/76 tanks, they got repurposed. The conversion kit went together very nicely, but I think they are no longer available.

Company headquarters, with supporting artillery in behind

All the figures are from the Westwind range, with the jeep being a repainted 1/50 scale Corgi diecast model with a crew from Bolt Action that was specifically marketed to go with the Corgi jeeps. At some point I have to do a conversion on the officer to replace his forage cap with a proper Highland Balmoral.

First platoon of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada

The platoon consists of a headquarters, a PIAT team, a light mortar team, and three 10 man sections, all wearing the blue divisional patch of the 2nd Canadian Division. The infantry sections are a mix of Westwind Miniatures and Crusader Miniatures. The Westwind figures are closer to true 25mm size, and I really love the animation in the sculpts. Each section consists of a section commander with a Sten gun, a Bren gun team and seven riflemen. The officer, NCO, and radio team of the platoon headquarters are Westwind castings, and the PIAT and Mortar teams are from Crusader.

Second platoon with the same composition as the first

A reconnaissance troop of two scout cars and two armoured cars

The reconnaissance regiment of the 2nd Canadian Division was the 8th Reconnaissance Regiment (14th Canadian Hussars). The Daimler 'Dingo' scout cars and the Daimler armoured cars are repainted Dinky Toy diecast models that I picked up cheaply from eBay. All had seen a lot of wear and tear, and much of the original paint had worn off, which was the main reason why I got them for the minimum bid. I didn't mind about the paint as I planned to repaint them anyway.

A troop of Sherman tanks 

The 2nd Canadiain Division regularly received armoured support from the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. Since this gave me another opportunity to represent a home town unit on the gaming table, these Shermans are marked as 'C' Squadron Fort Garry Horse. They are all Solido 1/50 diecast models. Two were originally the version of the Sherman with the 105mm howitzer. On one of these I replaced the howitzer barrel with an appropriate 76mm barrel, while the other was converted to a Sherman 'Firefly' with a 17pdr anti-tank gun using a resin kit from Quarter Kit. All have extra track sections welded to their hulls to beef up their armour, as well as plenty of gear stowed on the rear deck. The extra track and stowage are resin casting.

25pdr field gun, transport, and a forward observation officer

One of the artillery units that was part of the 2nd Canadian Division was the 4th Field Regiment Royal Canadian Artillery. All the vehicles sport the proper tactical signs for that unit. The field gun, limbers, and crew are Battle Honors casting, while the Quad Field Artillery Tractors are again Dinky Toy diecast models acquired off of eBay and repainted. 

Me (on the right) in a Universal carrier

The above photo was taken in front of the Manitoba Legislative Building during the 100th Anniversary parade of the formation of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada in 2010. The vehicle bears the correct tactical signs for the Camerons. Thanks for reading. I wish everyone all the best in 2022, and good luck to all the Conscripts who are involved in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

 

Maple Leaf Up

After a flurry of posts on my 2nd Canadian Division in January and February, things got rather sparse in March. Painting slowed down a bit, but I got some additional figures completed: a 25 pounder howitzer with crew and limber, a 6 pounder anti-tank gun with crew and limber, two 3 inch mortars with crew and a group of eight Foundry French partisans. Battle Honors 25 Pounder with crew and limber. I have been looking for a vehicle to tow this but nobody seems to make a Quad Gun Tractor in any scales other than 1/72 or 1/35 Battle Honors 6 pounder anti-tank gun and crew. It came with an ammunition limber but my research seems to indicate that these were not used. One of my Universal Carriers will be the vehicle used to haul this around the battlefield. Battle Honors 3 inch mortars with crew. While I find that the sculpting of the Battle Honors range is not up to the same standard as the Bolt Action or Crusader range of miniatures, I like the fact that the crew are in shirt-sleeve order. Having fired an 81 mm mortar, I know that hauling that around and humping ammo can be sweaty work. Foundry French maquis. I picked these up years ago just because I loved the sculpting on these figures. They are equipped with a mixture of British and captured German rifles, pistols and sub-machine guns. I always find painting motley attire more difficult that uniforms, often because I can't decide what colours would look right. I ended up with a range of blues, browns, grays and black that seemed appropriate for 1944 French civilians.

More vehicles for the 2nd Canadian Division Motor Pool

I have added four jeeps and crews to my 2nd Canadian Division. The vehicles are Corgi 1/50 scale and the crews are Bolt Action Miniatures from several years ago that were sculpted to specifically fit into the Corgi Jeeps. Two of the jeeps originally had red crosses on the hood while the other two had the white star, which I did not paint over. All the vehicles were re-painted in British/Canadian colours and appropriate divisional and unit markings added. One of the drivers that I had was wearing a field service cap rather than a helmet, so I put Artillery markings on it for the 4th Regiment RCA. The rest were done up with the markings of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada. Now my company commanders don't have to walk to the battlefield any longer.

Carrier Platoon moves to the Front

With the completion of my second rifle platoon, it was now time to work on the Carrier Platoon. For the painting and marking of the vehicles, I had photos of the "real deal', a restored Universal carrier, complete with markings of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada, 6th Brigade, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. When I bought my West Wind Canadians, I also picked up two Universal carriers by Battle Honors. Those were later supplemented by two Bolt Action Miniatures Universal carriers along with enough crew for all four. The BAM carriers came with drivers, but not those from Battle Honors, so I converted two Jeep drivers to carrier drivers by cutting them off at the waist and repositioning the steering wheel. (On a Universal carrier, the steering wheel is vertical.) Here is a photo of the vehicle with the owner, Derk Derrin, and me in front of the Legislature during the Camerons' 100th Anniversary celebration. I managed to get a ride in the vehicle but because it was on the road surface, we didn't really get up to speed. Metal tracks and asphalt/concrete don't mix well. Here is a pic of my cluttered work area. In addition to the photos of Derk's carrier, I was also able to find some pdf files of Canadian vehicle markings on the internet. This proved very useful for producing the tactical symbols for marking the vehicle. In order to paint the crew men, I glued them to Popsicle sticks which makes it easier to handle the figures. The driver and Bren gunner castings are only from the waist up, while the crew that sit in the back are cast from the shins up. It took me a while to get the colour somewhere close to correct. Canadian vehicles were painted a bronze olive colour and I haven't been able to find anything close that is pre-mixed. I do most of my painting with water-based acrylics from the craft store. A 50/50 mixture of FolkArt 449 Olive Green and 945 Maple Syrup seems to come very close. The vehicles with the crooked stars are the original Battle Honors universal carriers, which are inferior to the BAM resin castings. They are about 10% too wide and 5% too short (most of the missing length being forward of the driver's compartment). Here is the completed carrier platoon with all the crew inside and vehicle markings in place. To make the markings, I scanned an image of the symbols and shrunk it to size. I then printed enough off on my laser printer, cut them out with scissors, and glued them on with Weldbond glue. I put a black '5' on a yellow circle on the front right fender (bridge weight rating) and white '68' on maroon square, as well as the a yellow maple leaf on a blue rectangle on both front and back of the vehicle. Not as perfect as decals, but it was a cheap way of doing the markings for the Camerons of Canada. Here is another view from a different angle showing the unit and divisional markings. I am counting these as 20 points towards my personal painting objective for 2011.

Reinforcements for the 2nd Canadian Division

The painting competition is quickly becoming a distant memory [This happens a lot when you get to my age, regardless of how recent the event] and I ended up so far behind the pack that the leaders were but specks on the horizon, rapidly increasing the distance between me and them. I am hoping to achieve a personal goal of increasing my painting output for the year 2011 and by December 31st have at least one miniature painted for every day of the year. 28 down, 337 to go. Several years ago I picked up some West Wind WW2 Brits/Canadians [part of their "Berlin or Bust" range - http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=3_67] which I painted up to represent the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada. Since then I have acquired some Bolt Action and Crusader miniatures to add a second rifle platoon as well as some heavy weapons. Only the heavy weapons (PIAT's, mortars and heavy machine guns) got completed in time for the Fall Painting competition, but the rest of rifle sections have now moved off the assembly line and are marching to the front. Next up is the 6-pounder anti-tank gun and a carrier platoon of 4 Universal carriers. The heavy weapons teams are mostly by Crusader with the exception of the Vickers HMG on the front left, which is by Bolt Action. The second rifle platoon is now complete with Bren gun teams [front right] A close-up of some the section commanders, armed with Sten guns.