T-70 Light Tanks

15mm T-70s by PSC.

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Coldstream Guards Churchill Squadron

The remainder of my Churchill Squadron: 'C' Squadron, 4th Tank Battalion, Coldstream Guards, 6th (Guards) Tank Brigade. Well, with two Tank Troops, a half-Squadron really. I added extra track-links which the 6th GTB seems to have been rather fond of using, both the Sherman and Churchill variety.

Models by PSC with BF crews, magnetized turrets, etc. The HQ has the Churchill Mk. V with 95mm CS howitzer. The green appears more "luminous" in the pictures than it is in real life.

And another Tank Troop, two Churchill Mk VI with 75mm and a single Mk IV with 6-pounder.

They'll join the first Troop I did, below. I forgot to take a group shot though...

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Kursk Panthers

Panthers of the D model variety: the best Panther D model available in 15mm IMO, and vastly better than Battlefront's resin offering (which now also comes with inaccurate tracks!). Models by The Plastic Soldier Company, crews by Battlefront (plastics). I also magnetized the turrets and added a little weight to the hulls.

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German Half-tracked Weapons

PSC 251 Half-tracks and conversion bits with some scrounged Battlefront figures for crews. Nothing special, mostly a test-bed for the camo scheme before I applied it to something more important.

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PSC Churchill AVsRE

Mk. III AVsRE (Armoured Vehicles, Royal Engineers) Churchills. Models by the Plastic Soldier Company, from the new-ish Churchill box; the commander is a spare BF plastic from the Open Fire Sherman kit.

Lovely kits, great options to build different variants, etc. I don't think I will be buying any other Churchills again: save for the Mk VII/Crocodiles and the Mk I & I CS, PSC has the main variants covered exceedingly well in just a single box. Hopefully they do a Mk VIII & Crocodile box in the future, I'd buy 'em in a second.

The level of detail and crispness on these modles is superb, and without the massive weight that comes with metal and/or resin miniatures, and without the casting issues as well. I am a huge fan. Being plastic, a bit of cutting serves to remove unwanted sections of the mudguards and track guards, and there are several pieces of extra track available for use in the North-West European campaign.

Magnetised turrets FTW

I cut down the turret stubs and used a pair of rare earth magnets on each for the turrets; I just prefer magnetised turrets these days. One magnet was glued to the cut-down turret stub, the other was built into the hull with two pieces of plastic card. A bit of work, but a much better option than the normal build in my opinion. I'll detail the process later when I do the rest of the models.

The decals are markings for 9th RTR on the hull, not one of the Assault Brigades/79th Armoured Div. By using the Mk III turrets for the AVsRE, I can model a 6-pounder, 75mm or 95mm on the other turret supplied (the rounded cast-turret for the MK IV). Since the AVsRE won't be used too often, I can simply pop off the Petard turrets and replace them with another type, thus saving the need for another model.

A few quick comparison shots with a BF Churchill below.

I have eight more vehicles to do, probably in the famous "tiger stripe" camo on Mk III Churchills used by the 145th Royal Armoured Corp in Tunisia. A quite attractive scheme and one I've always wanted to paint. The more standard overall SCC2 Brown used by other units is also a contender.

Then there is also King Force at El Alamein; more Churchills with a unique scheme. And then there's the Canadians at Dieppe. And more Churchills in Italy. And Normandy/North-West Europe. So many options, I may need several more boxes...

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