Dastardly Decals!

Bit of a change in gears and knocking some more off the lead pile by working on 15mm WW2 armour.

Got these Plastic Soldier Company M5 half tracks assembled earlier in the fall. I added some extra stowage from my bits box. Mikey brought back another metal M5 from Historicon so I added it as well.

I've also had some Ram Kangaroos in the pile for about 4 or 5 years. I got them when I had the store. Battlefront are quite reasonable when you can get them at wholesale. I added some extra figures to fill the troop compartment and some stowage.

Now back when I started I intended "just a basic infantry company and a few supports." Now I have a full squadron of tanks and enough armoured carriers to lift the company,  the supports and the Padre with his cat!

I've been trying put air recognition allied stars on the hoods of the M5s and plain stars on the sides of all of them. But the hinges on the hoods keep the decals from sticking down and I have to try and cut the circles off because I have no plain stars. So damned decal frustration. I think I'll just dirty these models up with a dry brush of "Mississippi Mud" and call them done for now. I can always source other decals later.

Speaking of decals. I had a friend pick up some German and Russian decals from Old Glory at Fall In and have been trying to add them. They are Skytrex decals which use an old decal system which aren't water slide and don't like to stick to a matte surface.

You have to cut out a flimsy brittle paper. Wet the surface and stick the decal on paper side up. Then wet the paper and wait until you can peel the paper off. Don't wet it too much or things slide around. Don't wait too long or the paper dries stuck to your model. Either way you lose adhesive and the decal starts to lift at an edge.

Not recommended.

Also glammed up my early war Panzers with some air recognition panels. I just did a Google image search and printed them off.  The rare panel with the balkencruz can be seen in a picture from the Russian Front in the mid-war so I put it on one of my mid-war STuGs. The pop of red is very striking.

Finally I have added to the lead pile with some T26 tanks, SU76 SPGs and a PE2 bomber all from Old Glory to boost my early war Russians. But they will be quick to paint and are already moving off the lead pile.

Yes, that is a PSC commander added to the hatch of a Command Decision T26. The SUs come with crew too, which is super nice. I hate open topped AFVs without crew.

The Russians really only need some more infantry and field guns now.