Tuesday 14 March 2017

LRDG Patrol

More 6mm goodies this week, this time moving away from Operation Compass and back to a project I have worked on before. I have painted LRDG vehicles before but last time I went all colourful, using a camouflage pattern of pale blue and salmon pink. It sounds garish (and it is) but its also a pretty effective disruption pattern for dawn and dusk raids. This time I have gone a little more traditional and chosen a simple desert sand colour for the trucks. This was probably the most common colour scheme with only occasional patrols being painted differently, and maybe only then for particular missions.



From early 1942 standard vehicle of choice for the LRDG was the Chevrolet 30 cwt truck. These were commercial vehicles stripped down and converted for use deep behind enemy lines. The Chevy was a tough vehicle but was also a relatively easy one to repair and maintain in the field. It was only two wheel drive but its extra low ratio gears and 6 cylinder engine (which used less fuel) made it ideal for use by LRDG. Amazingly one original Chevy was found largely intact in the Egyptian desert in 1980 and is now displayed at the Imperial War Museum in London.



Each vehicle would typically carry a crew of two or three including a driver, gunner and commander. These models, while highly detailed in every other respect, only include a driver so I converted several infantry figures and mounted them in the rear of the trucks to represent other crew.



While I was rummaging through my model box I also found a couple of Morris 15cwt Trucks and decided I could add these to this LRDG patrol as supply vehicles. It would have been a crime to leave such gorgeously detailed models in the box so I had to add them to this patrol. The LRDG used all sorts of vehicles, especially in the early days when most of their equipment was 'borrowed' from other commonwealth units.

9 comments:

  1. Very good additions to the project!

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  2. Great looking vehicles, no doubt!

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  3. These look fantastic, love the dust behind each vehicle.

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    1. Thanks. I've finally settled on a 'production line' type method for making these quickly and relatively easily. Now I have a batch ready to use for future projects because I do think they add to the finished bases.

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  4. Slow down! Don't they know that 'Dust Kills'...clearly another super job done in the usual highest quality.

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  5. They look the part. Adding the extra figures was worth it - makes them look much more legitimate.

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  6. I hope this reply to an old post gets attention. I was going over your site and this sees to be the only way to contact you. I am very interested in whose models you have used for various 6mm projects. Specifically the LRDG vehicles and the desert Italian infantry. Thank you.

    Stephen

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