PSC 15mm Cromwell

 

I got this PSC 15mm (1:100) Cromwell as a freebie some time ago, I think for renewing my Wargames Illustrated subscription. (I've since given them the flick, having become fed up with repeatedly not getting my monthly magazine, and also with seeing less and less in it that I was actually interested in).

It's a decent enough little kit, and it comes with an exhaust diversion duct and s Culin hedge-cutter, neither of which I've included. The sprue also includes fore and aft track guards, which I've also left off.

The trickiest bit of assembly is the turret, which has no definite location pins and needs to have its plates held in place while they're being cemented. Also, some of the locating lugs on the one-piece running gear components are much too long, and had to be trimmed off before the element was glued in place.

I was originally going to get some decals for it, but in the end the cost of postage put me off, and I just painted on the markings. As it turns out, hardly any Cromwells actually had the Allied star painted on the turret sides, so I might as well have saved myself the effort there.

American T-28 (not to be confused with the Soviet T-28)

 

TigerAce1945 (on Thingiverse) did an American T-28 super-heavy assault tank in 1:100 scale, and I thought I might as well print one or two (only two were ever completed). Just because it never actually made it to the real-life Siegfried Line doesn't mean it can't make it to mine.

It can keep my Tortoises company.

I did these Tortoises a couple of years ago, in 2018.

One of them had its layer-lines sanded smooth, the other didn't — I wanted to see if it was worth the trouble. It wasn't, really.

The unsanded one is on the left.

And here it is, finished.

I decided to print and attach the outrigger track modules as well, which the original vehicle needed to allow mobility anywhere off roads. These supplementary tracks actually supported about 75% of the total weight of the vehicle.

I've never really understood why the T-28 is always referred to as a super-heavy tank. Surely it's a self-propelled gun.

New Photo Backdrop

 

I threw together this generic ETO terrain backdrop for photographing things on. I used a manila card folder, which is why there's a visible crease right down the middle of it. That's an annoyance, but I don't care about it too much — it's not meant to be diorama terrain.

The flocking is, first, dirt out of the garden (put through a coffee grinder to break it up), then three colours of Woodland Scenics foam flock. It's a bit bland though; I think I might have to add something else. The trick will be to make it interesting enough, without becoming so interesting that it overpowers any models I put on it to photograph.

The 15mm Panzer III is from PSC, the 6-Rad is from Battlefront (with a greenstuff flag to disguise crappy casting), and the Kfz 14 is a 3d print with some Command Decision crewmen.

M3 Lee for 3d printing

 

I've added a new hull to my 1:100 scale (15mm) M3 Grant/Lee pack on wargaming3d at https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/m3-grant/

It has no sand-shields, and I've removed the canvas cover on the 75mm gun mount. This should make it more suitable for the Grant and Lee as used in Burma.

Kettenkrad (15mm)

 

That talented Mr. Bergman has released a set of STLs for the Kettenkrad (called the Rabbit by the Americans) in 1:100 scale for 3d printing.

The vehicle was a fine and ingenious piece of engineering, but its real usefulness didn't last long during the war — it had very limited load-hauling capability, though it could pull a small trailer, and having the passengers facing backwards proved not to be the best of ideas.

I'm fairly happy with this FDM print, though for things this tiny a resin printer would naturally be better. One day maybe I'll add a driver, but not today.

The figures are 15mm plastic early WWII Germans from PSC.