Right i have started working on a small vignette inspired by operation market garden and its portrail in band of brothers.

I am using Tamiya's cromwell kit to create a 11th armoured division reconnaissance tank which linked up with elements of the 101st airborne at Nuenen i am using the new dragon gen2 u.s tank riders set which i am converting the uniforms to the airborne issue m43 one. the kit is pretty spot on anyway i just need to added the rigger made leg pockets.

i will put some photos on soon.

simon

good luck Simon!!!
have fun and enjouy your project, i ma looking forward to pics!

cheers

does anyone have any pictures of american infantry riding on tanks?

Hi Simon

This any good ?



It's not around Market Garden though.

Alan

thanks thats great doesn't matter thats its not market garden as i was looking for the kind of numbers they managed to get on top so thats brill thanks

although as its a cromwell tank i will be using i don't think i will overcrowd it to much the dragon set ive got is 4 figures and there's a verlinden figure on a handie talkie that i have lurking might convert to an officer

ok well i've started work on the first figure the figure kneeling smoking the cigerette, i've built the pockets on both legs out of a combination of miliput, paper and foil, photo to follow.

I've started working on the boots which were awful, they are pictured as buckle boots so are ideal for late war us figures or as in my case paratroopers at market garden who were issued these boots (although some still retained their Corcoran) so both types can be found in use.

Back to the kit the basic boot is same as the standard issue infantry boot of that time with a buckle attachment to look like the photo shown . However the recreation of this on the kit looks more like the gaiters worn by the british army and later war german infantry (has anyone else noticed this) . So i have had to file this detail off and i have made a new buckle piece out of foil which looks a 100% better.

will post again soon

i will post some work in progress photo's soon.

Yes you're right about the buckles the detail is very soft, something I missed in my review here on Armorama. Something else to note is that you only get enough rifle ammo pouches for two riflemen. I emailed Dragon to ask about this but heard nothing back

Here's a pic posted some time ago over on ML. the Timeframe is later- sometime in early 45.

thanks for the picture pat, i hadn't noticed the lack of rifle pouches luckly i've got so many spares

right after close examination of the straps i have decided to remove them and use photoetched ones instead as they just look to thin

im not sure whether to get a set of replacement heads what do people think?

Yeah I 'm going to replace them anyway the cleanup is too much hassle. Hornet's sets HUH01 and HUH04 are very good
http://www.greenwichgateway.com/hornetandwolf/Hornet/headsets/images/HUH01.jpg
http://www.greenwichgateway.com/hornetandwolf/Hornet/headsets/images/HUH04.jpg

what are the hornet heads made from?

They're made from resin, why?

i just wondered because ive never used them before and the only hornet kit ive bought was metal

Doh! I should've thought of that. They are great- very easy to work with and the detail is superb.
There's some good info on fitting them in this thread:

http://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/124581&page=1

Warriors and Ultracast also make sets but I prefer Hornet