Hello everyone! My first attempt for 15 years! And my first post on Armorama!

Tamiyas Cromwell MkIV as 7th armoured Div taking part in Caen breakout. Going to be placing this in a diorama accompanied by infantry, which is underway, but wanted to get some feed back from you guys.

More pics of Dio to come but will transfer project to Diorama forum from now on.

Sorry about the quality of the pics, still getting used to my camera!

Be gentle with me, please.

Hi Matt




I dont know why you are worrying , your Cromwell looks great , nice job on the star on the turret ventilator cover , ive built this kit myself and it is a pain in the a*** to fit.
The stowage looks great and the tank commander is very very nicely painted

Looking forward to seeing more of your work

Ian

Are you taking the mickey? :-)
Welcome aboard, and if you are another Allied armour modeller then you're even more welcome
You look to have done a bang up job with this! The commander looks a treat, and the tank is suitably dusty... The stowage looks a little too uniform to me? Maybe jam something crooked... Do you have a cable from the side spotlight?
Good job mate
Cheers
Brad

Cheers guys

Makes me feel all warm inside. You're right about the spot light cable, should really have added before weathering but couldn't find any decent ref pics till now! Its not too late so I'll add it (soonish, working on all infantry figures and dio at the moment). Also got some nice bits to jam into stowage, but was worried about overdoing things.

Allied armour, especially British/Commonwealth is gonna be my 'thing' I think, there's plenty of German and U.S. stuff out there already! And let's not forget, we were involved too!

Hoping to get some time on this project this weekend so will keep you posted. Watch this blah, blah

Thanks again

Hi Matt,

Firstly welcome. I'm a newbe too, and I have only just started building Allied Armour.

Your kit looks good to me, nice finish and some nice added extras.

It's a nice kit to build, like all the Tamiya stuff fits together pretty well.

Here's a picture of a rather sad work in progress for the same vehicle. So take heart, I think you've done a great job.



I don't know if it's PC to post my picture in your thread but please don't think I'm trying to steel you thunder or anything else. Just though it might interest you.

Keep us posted on the dio it sounds interesting, we don't see that many British Commonwealth ones so I'll look forward to that.

What's next after the Cromwell? Some Sherman's or Churchill's or perhaps the Comet????? I've been attempting to get some Sherman's built but every time I think they are finished I discover something else I should or shouldn't have done - LOL, LOL

Thanks for posting your pictures and good luck with your dio.

Cheers

Al

Thanks for the reply, don't worry about putting your pic up (I'd already checked out your gallery). I like the heavy chain and added turret storage boxes. The rear stowage could do with some 'tie-downs' maybe, I was going to 'cop' out of this but realised that everything would fall off when going cross-country!

Next project (when?!). I'm torn between a Churchill, or my other passion which is British Airborne, discovered the 6th Airborne Armoured Recon Regt. the other day, very interesting as they used Cromwells as well as Tetrachs' in Normandy! I know there is a book available, but if anyone has any reference pics that would be great!

Hi Matt, Hi Alan,

I don't think either of you have anything to worry about. Both models look superb.

Hi Matt,

Yip 'tie-downs' and antenna, when I get around to them, same detail for all my kits that and adding some MGs for the Shermans and removing the cleaning rods for all but the Firefly which I've only just discovered.

Re Churchills, I'd like to attempt some of the AVRE stuff but until my skill level and bank account get bigger and better I'll have to leave them for now. There's a good builld on site at the moment of a knocked out Churchill in Dieppe. Cromwell Models and a couple of others do good conversion kits.

I have one of the Resicast conversions for the Tamiya Jeep but haven't had the courage to attempt it yet. A lot of the good British stuff is in resin which I'm not mad about working with.

Have you had a look on IWM on line, you might get some reference pictures there. I haven't done any research into 'Para Armour' although if they ever bring out a 1/35 Horsa in Plastic Injectiion a Pegasus Brridge or Arnheim Dio would be a must.

If you haven't read it yet Stephen Ambrose 'Pegasus Bridge' is a good read. and there's an interesting account of the 9th Battalions attack on the Merville Battery in his 'D Day' offering - Resicast have a good range of Paratroopers. One day, one day!!!!!!!!

If you put up a new post re 6th Airnrone Armd Recce Regt you might get a good response, otherwise it might get lost in this post. If I find anything useful I'll let you know.

Cheers and a nice build mate.

Al

Cheers Al

Yep read all Ambrose' stuff but need picture refrences, the IWM site is superb but nothing there re Airborn armour.

Check out www.greatnorthroads.co.uk for a 1.35 Horsa, its resin and huge, 30" wingspan! Unfortunately it costs £180.00!

Keep in touch mate, us newbies have to stick together!

Hi Matt,

Yip, £180.00 way out of my league, someone on sites building a dio of it at the moment but I haven't seen any updates recently.

There was a rumour of FM doing a Horsa but nothing further has been heard so it's probably that, just a rumour.

Hi Murdo,

Thanks for your vote of confidence. When I get some small details finished off I'll take the plunge and submit a few of my efforts for comments/destruction!!! LOL, LOL.

Cheers

Al

Cheers Murdo

And thanks to everyone who's commenting, at least now I can talk to like minded folk! I work with a lot of women in a design studio! You can imagine how my hobby goes down...

Matt

Hi Matt,

Tanks are not really a woman thing, althoug having said that there are a few 'tank ladies' around and the Russians crewed a lot of their tanks with women.

Going 'off topic' for a moment - have you seen my submission on LCs? If not have a look and add a comment, I'd be interested to know what you think. The posts had quite a few hits but not many comments - Hmmmmm!!

Back on topic, The Osprey book - Cromwell Cruiser Tank 1942 to 50 - is worth the money. Vinnie sent me a copy to preview and it's a really useful reference. I've seen a few ARVs and that's one I'm going to attempt sometime in the future.

It's almost time to start building but I'll have a look for some reference stuff when I get a moment - as I said earlier put up a new post it keeps things 'fresh'.

Cheers

Al

Hi Matt,

A quick google search under "6th Airborne Div Cromwell Recce Tanks" produced quite a lot of web sites you could check out:

Here's a few:

http://www.airbornerecce.com/6AARR/dday.htm

There's reference to 2 troops of A sqn being issued with them and also a photo of Mr C on top an Airbiorne Cromwell on he above site. So lots to go on there.

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=59587

Try the same but click on images and you might get lucky.

Cheers

Al

Here's one claiming to be 6th Airborne Div -

a Centaur Mk IV ???

http://images.google.co.uk/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=6th+Airborne+Div+Cromwell+Tanks&btnG=Search

Cheers

Al

Hi Matt,
It's a fantastic Cromwell you've got there! Very well painted and weathered! My only comment is about the load: it is very well arranged to be in a battle situation! It would be better if you would put it in a more disorganised way! It would look more real in my opinion! As far as the rest is concerned, it looks like a superb kit! Congatulations!
Cheers and happy modelling!
Prato

Hi Matt
Great 1st post mate,great job on the Cromwell,I think you got the colour just right
as for the stowage,if it's not nice and tight,it's gonna fall off
when you pack the boot of your car (shopping or holiday etc) you just don't chuck it any where, do you??
Must find the Centure in my stash
Thanks for sharing
Andy

Hi Al

I'd already checked out your landing craft gallery and they really are superb, congrats on a massive undertaking (I can't seem to find enough time to work on my stuff!) Have you ever thought of attempting a super huge beach landing dio? You've got the armour and the landing craft, all you need now is a couple of thousand troops and a sports hall!

Cheers

Matt

Hi Matt,

Cheers mate. Yip, that's part of the 5/7 year plan - the troops, some bunkers and other stuff are already under construction and the landing site has been choosen and photos and maps studied LOL, LOL. Space is the issue, I'm working on about a 4ft x 3ft area (small table size), but bigger if I can get the space!!!

The setting will be roughly based on the 2nd wave landings of 48 RM Cmdo on Nan Red in support of the Canadians.

Anyway back to topic, Hope the links proved useful and I noticed in one of them they were advertising a book about Airborne Armour, which might be useful if you haven't already got it.

Cheers

Al

Hi Al,

That Centaur is T185102 VIDETTE from 5th RM ASG. It is on display at th Pegasus Bridge Museum. Acording to my sources it ws knocked out at Hermanville-sur-
Mere while on the way to Pegasus Bridge and was rebuilt during the70's

HTH (but I doubt it)

Cheers

Craig

Hi Craig,

Didn't think it was an Airborne one but came up as such on the Google search.

The tank number and name will be useful thanks for that.

Cheers

Al

Hi Al,

Glad to help, Those markings are an option in the Tamiya kit although the rebuild at the bridge is wrong for a D-day, D+1. Obviously Tamiya researchers went and took some 'photo's of VIDETTE at the museum, The kit is correct as far as I can tell, It's still in the stash, but the Cromwell's are okay (I'm on my 4th now!!!)

Cheers

Craig

Hi Craig,

Thanks for that. The Cromwell is a nice build, I'd like to add a few more and do an AVR sometime.

I have the RM Centaur but I had a lot of touble getting the paint scheme to look anyway haft decent. It's a nice build too, like all the Tamiya stuff it fits well.

Cheers

Al

Al,

Check your inbox, I've PM'd you.

Cheers

Craig

Great looking cromwell. The figure looks great. is it the kit one?

What figures are you using for the dio? the tam ones on patrol? I found these from resicast you might be intrested in. http://worlwar-ii.redirectme.net:1150/resicast-fig.htm
scroll down to see more, and the second page to see even more.

Frank

Hi Frank

The figure is resin and part of a 4 man British tank crew from Royal Models supplied by my local model shop in Halifax. I can't find anything else on the 'net regarding the manufacturer so next time I'm in the shop I'll have to ask him if they are still in production!

The other figures are Dragon British infantry with Resicast heads and kit from the spares box, there's 2 or 3 German SS also, 2 from Verlinden and one modified.

Watch the Diorama forum for more.

Al

I to, had seen the book on Airborne Armour and I suppose I'll have to cough up the cash and buy it, its probably gonna be worth it in the long run! That or the Mig FAQ's book on AFV's, have you seen that bugger advertised? I think its about £40... thats a couple of kits worth!

Cheers

Matt