Miniature Ordnance Review looks at the world of historical and fantasy miniatures wargaming and model building. From 15mm Flames of War, to Warhammer 40K, to 1/35th scale tanks, with some potential surprises on the horizon - you'll find them here!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

761st Tank Battalion - Part 1 - Stuart Conversions

So one Flames of War army I've been dying to do for ages is the 761st Tank Battalion, and while there is no perfect list for them at this point, the Tank Company list from Blood, Guts, & Glory (FW220) is a reasonable approximation - as long as you don't take a bunch of mechanized support.  At this point I'm working to assemble enough 76mm M4A3 tanks to form the core of the force.  However, as an aside I wanted to have a few of Dog Company's "Mosquito Fleet" of M5A1 Stuart tanks as well.  Part 1 of my 761st Tank Battalion coverage will detail the Light Tank Platoon.

Unfortunately the 761st didn't get the photographic coverage many other units received, so any picture has to be poured over for as many details as one can glean out of it.  It's clear that the unit had both mid and late production M5A1 Stuarts.  The Battlefront US005 Stuart tank is an excellent representation of a mid-production M5A1, but lacks the characteristic turret machine gun shield seen in the late production models.  So, as seems to be normal with my armies, "some conversion" would be required to accurately represent the unit.

Since at this point I'm only planning one platoon of M5A1s, I decided to go with two "mid" and three "late" versions.  Photographs show a fair amount of stowage on several of the vehicles, so I'm adding some to many of the vehicles.  The first Stuart (shown below) is pretty much "out of the box" with only some extra stowage added. The shovel was slightly mis-cast, but as I wanted at least one vehicle with some extra bags, this one became it.

 
As the 761st was the first African-American armored unit to see combat in the US Army, I want to have more hatches open than I'd typically have to show off the crew.  The next Stuart is another "mid" variant, but this one will have a crewman in the open hatch.  I've substantially thinned the hatch and added detail for the other side of the periscope and hinges to it.

 
The next Stuart is the first of the "late" variants with the gun shield added.  The complex curvature of the shield was a pain in the butt to get right the first time, but the end effect is fairly solid.  The conversion also required sanding off the details on the right side of the turret.  I'm waiting until after priming to add the machine gun to ensure the front puttied area doesn't require additional fill or sanding (which would be complicated by the machine gun).  I'll likely add some stowage to this vehicle, but that's on the "to do" list.

 


Next is another late variant - this one has one turret hatch open - I had trouble getting the hatch to thin properly, so I simply replaced it with styrene and added hinge detail.

 
Last, but not least, is my command vehicle.  I've already started to add some stowage to this vehicle.  As with the vehicle above, the commander's hatch is detailed with hinges and periscope detail. 

 
So what started out as a quick set of conversions, quickly absorbed several hours.  Overall I'm pleased with how well the construction went on the miniatures.  For an older cast, the quality is good, though I did need to sand some of the rough texture off of some of the flat areas.

Next - Shermans!

5 comments:

  1. Hi there Mike,

    My name is Ken Coble. I've been contemplating a similar project for my next FoW army, to represent the 761st, and I (like you) had sort of eventually setteled on using the "Blood, Guts and Glory" list as well. I'm going to start gathering minis for it this month, and I'll be keeping an eye out to see how you proceed.

    Take it easy,
    Ken Coble

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  2. Good to hear from you Ken! I'm really looking forward to getting this one together. So far I have about ten M4A3 76mm put together. I'm going to add at least on E8 because I have one photo with an E8 in it toward the end of the war. I'm going to post the Shermans in a bit. I also need to pick up the 105mm Shermans and put together some infantry for support.

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  3. You still actively doing, Flames of War mate? I run a 761st list, whole army is themed with segregated units in honor of my grand father who served in italy with the Buffalo soldiers. Would love to pick your brain and get another good set of eyes on my force. Wanna get it as accurate as possible.

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  4. You still actively doing, Flames of War mate? I run a 761st list, whole army is themed with segregated units in honor of my grand father who served in italy with the Buffalo soldiers. Would love to pick your brain and get another good set of eyes on my force. Wanna get it as accurate as possible.

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    Replies
    1. Oh yeah, still playing and painting. Haven't had a lot of time to paint lately because I've been on other projects. I actually wrote most of the 761st list and history that's soon to be released in the new compilation, and I did an article over on WWPD covering the vehicle mix the unit had available. You can email me at fingolfen (at) yahoo (com)

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