From SylvainR: Tray 9 - French 1939-1940 - Carriers and Prime Movers (90 points)

 

 

This week, I offer you a tray of delicious, chocolate colored, French trucks.

First of all, there are 20 Renault AHS trucks, from GHQ. Above is a picture showing a complement of transport good for a company of "Voltigeurs Portés".

Here is a close-up on two of the Renault trucks. You will immediately note the sloppy paint job on the windshields. I did not notice that flaw until I saw the picture and I decided to show it anyway. It is not noticeable when looking at the trucks from a distance of 12 inches (30cm) or greater, but it really does look bad in a close-up. To my defense, the lower part of the front windshield is only 0.6mm wide, and I tried to paint only the back surface of it, without staining the sides, but obviously I did not succeed. Since that picture was taken, I bought a new fine brush and I thought of a new technique to reach only the surface I want. Hopefully my painting skill for windshields will improve. There is supposed to be a two-tone (olive green + brown) camouflage pattern on the truck, but the hue of both colors is too close for these to be easily distinguished.

A group of 10x Somua MCG-5 half tracks, as an alternate transport option. The models are from GHQ and they were painted already, probably by AndréD, of whom I will talk more next week. I tried to sculpt a narrow forest road for this batch, but visually it looks exactly the same as the cross-country pattern I used for the Lorraine 38L. I'll try again later and will put less flock in the middle of the road to see if it makes a difference.

A close-up on the French half-track. I like the look of these vehicles designed in the 30s. There is something cartoony about them.

A fleet of 10x Lorraine 38L troop transport. I just love this crazy concept of carrying troops in an armored trailer. There were supposed to be 4 soldiers in the cabin and 6 in the trailer. It is not hard to visualize the poor WW2 "poilus" getting seasick in their trailer as they are tossed left and right while their ride travels across uneven fields, then disembarking, trying to catch their balance while barfing, figuring out where they are, where the enemies are before charging the latter.

Here is a close up of the Lorraine 38L. The models are from GHQ. The camo pattern is okay, but I should have toned down the drybrush, although it visually works very well at 12 inches or more.

These 4 trucks are supposed to represent Renault AGR trucks. The models are actually Matador British lorries from Heroics & Ros, but both trucks look quite similar and these miniatures will do.

Here is a close-up on the trucks. It's quite obvious, by their massive presence on the base, that these are much bigger than the Renault AHS trucks.

4x Lorraine 38L to be used as prime movers for big guns. 2 models are from GHQ and the 2 others are from Heroics and Ros, I believe. All the fuel trailers are from GHQ, that offers a fuel trailer and a troop trailer option for each Lorraine in their blister. The Lorraine should not have a trailer when towing a gun, but I had them and thought "why not?".

Here is a close-up with the GHQ model on the left and the Heroics and Ros (?) model on the right. Note that the latter comes with the cabin as a separate part.

A platoon of 4x 47mm anti-tank guns mounted on Laffly W15 TCC trucks. The guns are "portés", which means "carried on" as opposed to towed. This gave the word "portee" in English.

Here is a close up on 2 of the Lafflys. The wheels look a little too clean in this picture, I should probably have dry brushed some dust on them.

Now for the points tally:

42 vehicles painted by me (10 vehicles were already painted) => 84 points

Thank you for reading!

Lovely collection of esoteric French vintage vehicles mon vieux. The Some half tracks look like something out of Tintin and the idea of the troops transport trailers has me laughing.  It reminds me of my childhood in the 60s where up to a dozen kids would be bouncing around in the back of the land yacht station wagon on the way to the beach.

The problematic windshields look fine to me and will be not be noticed on table I can't tell you how many times I pick out flaws in my own painting when looking at photos taken for the Challenge.  

Your basing is as always excellent and I am giving out a few bonus points to reflect that.