Stuart Jalopies from QRF

New from QRF are these Stuart Jalopies (aka sawn off Stuarts) which were used in many British and Candian armoured regiments in 1944 and 1945. They were first used towards the end of the Desert War and came about when armoured commanders realised that the 37mm gun mounted in the Stuart's turret was all but useless in combat and that if the turret were removed the tank would have a lower profile and that the crew inside would have a better view. These were useful characteristics in what was used mainly as a recce vehicle - though the jalopies were apparently also used as general purpose runabouts, for carrying supplies around the battlefield or even as ambulances.


As far as I can make out 11th Armoured Division removed the turrets on their Stuarts after Operation Epsom and all the Stuarts that went into action in Operation Goodwood had been converted. To give the vehicle a bit more firepower they were usually equipped with .30 or .50 cal machine guns which were welded on to the hull. I've been waiting for models of these things for years.

The QRF models are nice enough, but they're not without their problems. The details on the models' running gear is not particularly well defined and the MGs supplied with the model are very thin and didn't look like they'd last more than five minutes on a wargames table. Also they don't come with any crew, though they do come with a canvas cover for the opening in the top of the vehicle (seen on the righthand tank in the picture above)


I've replaced all the HMGs supplied by QRF with some more substantial ones taken from some Peter Pig Shermans that are currently sitting in my pile of unpained lead. Quite appropriate really as this is where the troops got the machine guns used in real life (their Shermans came from the US rather than Peter Pig).

I cobbled together crews for two of the vehicles from Peter Pig tank commanders and troops with berets from their AK47 range. The markings come from Dom's Decals.

I find it really annoying that manufacturers making open topped vehicles like this don't supply crews as part of the model - the things just don't look right without them ! The only manufacturer 0f 1/100th WWII models that I've come across who do supply crews is Battlefront, whose Flames of War models usually (always?) come with crew when it is appropriate.

Hats off to Battlefront for that, though it is annoying that they seem to have finished with Normandy without making these handy little vehicles which were found throughout 21st Army Group.

Dom's Decals

I ordered up some of the new 15mm World War II decals from Dom's Decals last month but it's taken me until now to actually get round the using the things.

What is there to say? Well they're decals, there's a big range of them and they look about one hundred times better than anything I've ever managed to paint on a vehicle.

Being true 1/100th scale the decals are quite small and can be a bit of a fiddle to work into place on the model and, as the designs are all printed on a single sheet, you have to cut fairly closely round them before use .

Here's a picture of some of them in use on a Cromwell from the Northamptonshire Yeomanry of 11th Armoured Division fighting in the Normandy campaign of 1944. The model comes from Battlefront Miniatures and is one of the late war British range they withdrew from production a couple of years ago.

Dom's started his range with markings for the British forces fighting in Western Europe in 1944 and 45. So far he's done divisional markings for 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, Guards Armoured Division, 11th Armoured Division (the Black Bull on the Cromwell above) and 79th Armoured Division. He's also done tactical signs (the coloured circles, diamonds, squares and triangles seen on some British vehicles) as well as unit serial numbers (like the 45 on a blue and green background above) and bridging signs (numbers in a yellow circle)

Here's a Humber Scout Car belonging to the 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment, also in 11th Armoured Division. The model comes from Peter Pig.


2 Universal Carriers from the same battalion. The models are from the Skytrex Command Decision range.



At £1 for a sheet of over a hundred divisional badges or £2 a large selection of serial numbers and bridging signs I cannot recommend this range of decals highly enough.

Battle in the Snow

Fun night at the South East Scotland Wargames Club last night when Kevan Gunn brought along his new snow themed terrain. He's also painted and based a load of German troops to fit in with the snow while Angus Konstam has done the same thing with some of his Americans.

So it was off to the Bulge for a fun game of Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier with the Germans givings the Yanks a right hammering. From the pics below you can see just what a good job Kevan has done of building this terrain. I feel cold just looking at it.