Hi John,

It's possible their distribution chart is wrong but that's what is printed on page 14. There is a info box underneather the chart that shows the Brigades in 1945 as 7th, 8th and 9th!

There is no problem in changing the decal but that's what is printed. I just had a look on the reverse page and it shows the same data for 1st CIB and 2nd CIB so there may well be a mistake, I shall have to investigate further.

Thanks Al

Hey All,
B*GGER ME, don't you hate that !

Try the Canadian Soldiers website, it has an almost identical Order of Battle for the 3CID that I found in my books !!

http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/

Mind you, the way Regiments, Brigades and Battalions were moved around the ETO, it's a wonder anyone can keep the OOB's straight !!!
Good Luck

Cheers

John

Hi John,

Thanks for the link, I'll check t out. Murphy's Law again

Cheers

Al

Almost missed this one. Nice work Al.

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for the comments.

John,

I haven't yet found an alternative reference for the tac sign!

Al

Hi Al,
As far as I can figure out, the Tac sign for the HQ and Defence platoon should be the standard white diamond.
Hope that helps?

John

Hi John,

Thanks for that. I can't find any other organisational charts to compare the data so I have sent off an email to the juno beach association to see if they can help clarify this. As far as I can tell the 87 is correct for the Headquarters and Defence Platoon. Can't rely on the Wikopedia site so until I see it in B & W I'll go with the data in the Canadian Soldier.

Cheers

Al

Hey Al,
From what I've seen of your work and research, I figure if you can't find it or don't know it, nobody does !
British and Canadian markings have always been a pain in the arse to figure out !!
We Colonials supposedly followed the British style but there always seems to been exceptions to the rules !!!
The black and white photos taken at the time invariably don't help because the tones of the red, green and blue paint used seem to look about the same.
When Ultracast started producing their Canadian Sherman decals, on some of the sets they ended up giving you a choice of Arm of Service markings.
Either white numerals on a red square like an armoured regiment's AoS or white numerals on a 1/2 green 1/2 blue square, just like a armoured recce regiment or armoured car regiment's AoS.
The M4A2 Sherman and Ram II gate-guards at the local British Columbia Regiment's Armoury have a white 53 on a red square.
Ultracast's BCR markings give you a white 53 on a green/blue square.
Like I said before, it's a pain in the arse and can drive you nuts !!!
PM any info you get if you ever get it sorted out.
Thanks and Cheers

John

And here's what I mean !
http://www.jumpcut.com/view/?id=021EC36AE1E711DC9089000423CF385C
http://www.ramtank.ca/ramphotos2.htm

Cheers

John

Hi John,

I know what you mean. Sortingut ecals for British vehicles is the same, it's usualy mix and match.

I'll let you know if anything else turns up.

Cheers

Al

Greetings all,

Well having put the AOS issue to bed, some pics of the New Resicast Stowage 35.293 Universal carrier No 1 available for the carrier. This is set No 1, will there be another lol, lol. The set comes with enough stowage for 2 carriers and sufficient boggies to model two loaded up carriers.

The parts look well detailed and easy to remove and you get a set of stowage for the front of the carrier as well.











The set also comes with a basic layout guide and some useful pictures of actual carriers. The quality of the instruction/infomration sheet is much improved on the older style information sheets.


Graham has already given us some much needed British Ration Boxes and Biscuit tins so this stowage is av ery welcome addition.

Now the real gem that was in the post is a replacement New Wading Set Graham sent me for the 2nd Carrier. Set 35.299 Universal Carrier Deep Wading.

This is an completely new set of Wading gear. First impressions are very positive, a new 4 page coloured instruction sheet, with a scale drawing for the layout of the panels. This is a great improvement on the previous instruction sheets.

The panels are all well cast and the addition of brass retaining rods a very welcome addition. The fittings are also cast in pairs and not blocks as per the old set and this should make preparing them much much easier.










Lots of fun ahead.

Al

Hi Al
Your carrier is looking good. That stowage set looks really nice aswell, how easy do you think it would be to replace the suspension on a carrier that already has the wheels and suspension attached but no tracks? Thanks for your help. Looking forward to more pics of you carrier(s). Nick

Hi Nick,

Thanks glad you like the carrier so far.

I think it would be reasonably easy to replace the boggies, especially as the tracks are not on. I have two previous builds I'm upgrading and I have replaced the drive wheel on one so far, I will try out a set of the boggies next on one of them as I plan to use one set in the new build. I separated the old drive wheels with white spirit, just be patient and don't force it and the plastic should separate will litttle damage. If you use white spirit give things a good wash afterwards as it can make the plastic brittle.

Have you got replacement track? Graham's new track is excellent. He has a new method of casting it to keep it straight and the detail is excellent.

Cheers

Al

Hi Al
Thanks for that help, yeh I will have to get my self some of their replacement tracks aswell! Nick

Hi Nick,

With the new update sets for the Carrier there is a lot of life left in this old kit yet. Have fun, let me know how you get on.

Al

Hi Folks,

Well afer a fun morning working on some stowage for one of the Bedfords on with the 2nd carrier build. This one will be using the New Resicast Set and I am indebted to Graham for upgrading this for me.

The first noticable thing is the need to remove the top protection rails from the Tamiya kit. This should make a much sounder bed for the panels to sit on. I have assembled 8 lengths of track in 2 sections and started on the lower hull work. I won't bore you with pics as the initial stages will follow my previous build. I did fit the tool box early this time though lol, lol.

Cheers

Al

Greeting onlookers,

Some progress shots on the 2nd carrier. I have installed the radio and plumbing and added a No 4 rifle and tried out some supporting brackets for it which have worked quite will. I have also started on the base colours for the stowage. This is one of the 2 main pieces in the new Resicast stowage set and very neat it is too. I added some rope with lead wire and if you plan to use the stowage you will probably need to cut off and sand down the ribs that support the rear stowage box, which for obvious reasons is not required.

Had I extended the plumbing a bit more then I could probably have gotten a very flexible ariel from it - maybe next time. I want to add a Thompson to the other side of the inside for a bity of variation and maybe a Sten too.





I also thinned the front and rear fenders and added a small pouch from Accurate Armour in the gunners compartment as in the preevious kit.

Cheers

Al

Hi Al
Thats looking great. Im deffinetly going to have to get some of those stowage sets. Nick

Hi Nick,

Thanks, I may switch the wire rope for some thread to tighten it up a bit.

There are some really useful pieces of stowage in the set.

Cheers

Al

Excellent build, Alan. The carrier looks great and the deep wading kit really sets it apart from the "standard" look of the carrier.
The next one looks good as well. It will be be interesting to follow the build and see them next to each other.

Thanks for sharing

Hi Jasper,

Thanks for dropping in. Learning as we go here. Both have been fun builds. If I'm lucky I may get abit more done this evening.

Cheers

Al

Hi Guys,

A little more work on the 2nd carrier. I've given it the 'low slung bum' look with Graham's new bogggies. I've also made one side slightly lower than the other bearing in mind this one will be on sand and the LHS will have more kit in it than the RHS. I hope this will work correctly as I want to give the impression of it dragging its self up the sand. I may also have it towing a 6pdr.



Cheers

Al

Hi folks,

Some updates on the carriers. Firstly the 2nd version:







Next some stowage thoughts for the 1st carrier and a comparison of the two and the nose up effect:









Al

Alan.
Like you I love most British items and have a couple of Grahams older conversions including the Vickers heavy MG. sitting around. I most definately have to get the stowage items.

Now reading through your comments I feel that your two 'wee beasties' will be on or just having come off the beach?
This being the case, the tracks most definately will/would NOT be RUSTY?

Don't spoil what is obviously a supurb build with great care and attention being paid to detail, only to be spoilt by a set of tracks that would only be seen on a machine left either broken down or unused for an an extended period of time...Running vehicles do NOT have rusty tracks....

Keith

Hi Keith,

It's good point. However, the builds not over yet lol. One will be coming of an LCM and the other driving up the beach. The vehicles would have been on ship for probably at least 48 hours if not 72.

I'm not expert on this but I'd say there was a fair chance that the tracks would have started to dull and rust a little if not a lot. It's my intention to shine up the ribs and edges a a little but leave the basic dulled effecton on the interior.

I'd be iterested to know what folks think, I've looked at quite a few pics and saw a running carrier one time. The outer ribs were shinny but the inner were dulled with the exception of the spikes.

If you look closely there is bear metal although at the moment it is only on the top edges of the teeth.

Thanks for the feedack, much appreciated.

Al