Greetings all,

This is a follow on question to my earlier post about FAT Fords and relates to decal markings and the Regiment itself.

Does anyone have a link to the history of this Regiment. I've searched for hours and come up with very little on line in relation to actual actions they took part in.

I've got the service history and the divisions they served with and the locations and dates. I know they were issued with 25pdrs until Jun 44 when they were issued with M7 Priests mainly served with 50th Infantry Division both in N Africa and in NWE. However, I can't find a link related to actual combat engagements in N Africa.

The decal markings provided with the Tamiya kit relate to 74 (N) Fd Regt RA (TA) during a brief period in Sep 42 when they were with 7th Armd Div. Am I right in assuming (always dangerous) that the top part of the 74 Decal is wrong as the X relates to a Bty Cmdrs vehicle which wouldn't have been a FAT as was already mentioned in the last post..

Two other decals are provided showing A2 meaning the 2nd vehicle of A Bty and B1 meaning the 1st vehicle of B Bty. The divisional sign above each is different. Is this correct for 2 vehicles from the same Regt? This confused me, although I assume (there's that word again) that the difference in Divisional sign relates to a different bty?

Two bty numbers found so far are 296th (4th Durham) and 298th (1st Duram), but again I can find no further reference to these units.

I have some AA divisional signs for 50 Inf Div that I could use and might be more appropriate but it would mean the loss of the vehicle numbers A2, B1. I can cut off the X and just leave the RA 74 Tac Sign.

Sorry but the decals have me confused. Each bty had 2 Tps with 4 guns each plus support/spare vehicles - right? I want to show two vehicles from the same bty and same tp. I wanted to keep the cost down and use the decals provided with the kits but prhaps I might be better to go with my original throughts about 11RHA.

Does anyone know where I could find decals for RA/RHA unit markings!!!

Cheers

Al

Hiya Alan,
I hope all is well with you.
With regard to your question, There must be a local British Legion HQ in Northumbria, would it be worth contacting them to see if you can get in contact with somebody who will know the Unit history, or where to find the unit records as I am sure that there will be people who know up there. Maybe a local TA unit still or the Field Regiment to which they were affiliated.
The only other thought would be the RA Association or Museum, is at Woolwich?
Sadly our Local RA unit to which we were affiliated with the ACF has been disbanded and I have lost my contacts.

Hope these suggestion halp.

John

Hi John,

Thanks for that suggestion. It might mean a visit to Woolwich as unfortunately one can't make e-mail enquiries, however, I could just write to them - just takes a bit longer.

This must be one of those 'lost TA units', but their records must be somewhere, I'll maybe try a book search and see what that throws up.

The unit only spent a month or so as part of 7th Arnd Div in Sep 42, the rest of their time as as part of 50th Inf Div both in N Africa and NWE, a long combat time. However, it might just be easier to change the decals but once I got interested I wanted to know more about them.

The Tamiya decals are confusing becuase they show a different Divisional sign for A Bty and B Bty yet the idiots guide says both were part of 7 Armd Bde. Also on the 25pdr version it shows an A1 and A2 tac sign when in fact you get A1 and B1 the same as with the single truck.

Also the tac sign shows red/blue for RHQ/RA with a Bty sign above which has an X for Bty Cmdr instead of an A, B or C etc for the Bty Tp No.

Just thought I'd see what turned up on site here as google didn't produce much.

Thanks again, sure it's all a learning experience!!!

Cheers and Happy Easter

Al

Hi Derek,

Once again thanks for confirming that, I couldn't make sense of the Tamiya Decals but started to look for data on 74th Fd Regt and found very little.

The RA marking system's quite unique and takes a bit of getting used to especially for a foot slogger like me but I seems such a waste to build a kit and then put the wrong decals on it.

I'll track down Fingerprint Designs and have a look at their selection. Again thanks for that.

As to time frame probably after the Second Battle of Alamein, the advance after the initial battle. Depends on what 74 did I suppose but if I can get Decals for 11 RHA then I'll probably opt for them as there's a lot of data available for all the RHA units which I've been slowly reading through.

Once again many thanks for all your help. The only reference that I found for 74 was with 50th Inf Div in Normandy but which time they were equipted with M7 Priests. (Didn't read through it as I was searching for N Africa),

I'd like to add an M3 Scout car if I can get the radio equiptment and a water bowser or trailer for the spare FAT.

Cheers

Al

Later: Those are good value decals Derek, are they waterbased it didn't say? Great value for the money.

Thanks again

Al

Hi Derek,

Great I can check the battles and track the events. FPD excellent value - see above, we must have posted at the same time.

Cheers

Al

Hi Derek,

Will do.

Cheers

Al

Morning all,

On another issue, if I use an M3 Scout Car as an FO vehicle have you ever seen any pictures of them with the sharp blue/grey/sand camo scheme.

I imagine I could get away with that as it would be a front line vehicle and it might add a nice bit of variety to the future dio.

Cheers

Al