Unit Reveal - M8 Scott

And another vehicle ready for action - the 75 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M8 Scott from Butlers' Printed Models:

The M8 was a pretty crowded work environment - during march, the commander and gunner would sit in the turret, and the loader would sit next to the driver in the hull. When going tinto action, the commander would switch onto the anti-aircraft machine gun position, and the loader moved up to the turret.

The 75mm howitzer could fire either high explosive or white phosphorus shells at a range of 8.8 km (5.5 miles). The rate of fire was around 6 shots per minute, and the vehicle carried 46 rounds of ammunition.

After the war, it stayed in service with the French army and some others, and was still used in the Algerian War in the early 1960s.

Our M8 is painted in the same scheme as the rest of the vehicles, and was nicknamed "The Bomb" by its crew.

Unit Reveal - Group Picture!

It's D-Day, and here is a picture of the full force in all its glory!

I thought it would be nice to get a picture of everything, including the WIP parts, to give you an impression of what's at stake!

We have the US Army on the bottom left, the finished Airborne on the bottom right, then the vehicles, including the unfinished Deuce and a half and armored cars, then a WIP platoon of Rangers on the top right and the unfinished Airborne on the top right.

So, with us being a bit behind the painting schedule, we thought it would only be fair to extend your deadline, too!

Raffle tickets are available until

Saturday, June 8^th, 8 PM CST (Beijing), 1 PM BST (London), 8 AM EDT (East Coast USA), 5 AM PDT (West Coast USA).

And just as a reminder: You can get raffle tickets by contributing through PayPal (there is a button on the top right of this website, if you can’t see it, switch from mobile to web view at the bottom of the page!). PayPal also allows you to use a credit card if you don’t have an account.

One ticket for the raffle is 2 NZ-$, which I about 1.35 US-$ or 1.20 Euros. Multiples of that give you multiple tickets, e.g. 20 NZ-$ give you 10 tickets.

So, when will we have the army finished? I can't guarantee anything, but I would say we will ship it to our lucky winner on the 17th of June, fully painted and ready to go.

What's next? I hope that we will have pictures of the finished M8 Scott, Deuce and a half and at least a squad of Rangers before the deadline for contributions on Saturday.
Everything else will get its unit reveal, too, but likely after the raffle is done.

Unit Reveal - Sherman Jumbo

Today we have a great new unit reveal - the JTFM/Die Waffenkammer M4A3E2 Assault Tank, or Jumbo Sherman!

This up-armored version of the Sherman had additional 1" armor plates attached, and a new turret design. It was armed with a 75mm gun, but frequently upgraded with 76mm guns when they were available.

Our Jumbo sports a large Allied star on its turret roof - better not tempt any over-eager Thunderbolt or Typhoon jockey to accidentally unload on it!

I modeled this tank with an open hatch - so you can add the excellent (and not yet painted) commander miniature to it.

If you like this new addition, and the rest of our army, make sure to contribute to the fundraiser by using the PayPal button on the right (and if you cannot see that button, you are likely on mobile view - scroll all the way down and switch to web view!).

Unit Reveal - M10 Wolverine

Here is the next finished unit for our "little" army - the 3-inch Gun Motor Carriage M10!

The M10 was the most important US tank destroyer in WW2 and over 6000 units were built. It sports the 3" (76mm ) M7 gun, which was developed from a Great War era AA gun. The weapon was installed in an open turret and out on a M4A2 Sherman chassis. The weapon was so heavy they had to install over 1100 kg of counterweights at the rear of the turret!

Although of limited use against heavier German tanks like Panthers and Tigers, the M10 combined reasonable, sloped armor with the reliable inner workings of the Sherman. It was outperformed by the newer M18 and M36 tank destroyers, but nevertheless the number of M10s used in combat was 1.5 times higher than that of the later models combined!

The 3" gun was very versatile. Beside the armor-piercing capped ballistic capped (APCBC) and high-velocity armor-piercing (HVAP) ammunition it could also fire high explosive and smoke shells for infantry support. It was even used for indirect fire, although the maximum gun elevation of 19° limited its ability to do so.

Fun fact: nobody knows where the name Wolverine comes from. It is disputed if it was ever used while the tank was in service, and US soldiers would just refer to it as the M10 or TD for tank destroyer.

Our Wolverine has markings loosely based on a vehicle used in Normandy by the 703rd tank destroyer battalion.

Next time we will have more Shermans, followed by some paratroopers - Stay tuned!

PS: If you are on mobile, you won't be able to see the PayPal button... Please scroll all the way down and change to web view!

Unit Reveal: M4 Sherman

Another tank today! The Medium Tank M4 Sherman is easily the most iconic tank of the Western Allies, and one of the most commonly known armored vehicle in the world. Almost 50.000 M4s and variants were built and production only ceased in 1957. After that, it remained in active service until 2018, when Paraguay retired its last 3 vehicles!

The M4 was used by all Allies, including the Soviet Union, who received about 4000 through the Lend-Lease program, and some were even provided to Brazil after it entered the war.

Our Sherman in painted in the same muddy style as the M5 Stuart we showed a couple of days ago. It's easy to imagine it repulsing the German attack in the Battle of the Bulge or advancing through French or German countryside.

Next time, we will have some more specimen of the Sherman family!

Unit Reveal: M5 Stuart

Today we presents to you the first vehicle of our army - the Light Tank M5, or Stuart.

The M5 was an evolution of the Light Tank M3. Because of a shortage of the radial engines used in the earlier model due to demands from the aircraft production, the M5 had twin V8 car engines instead. It also features a redesigned hull with a raised rear deck over the engine compartment, sloped glacis plate and driver's hatches moved to the top.

Our M5 is quite dirty - but remember that the US Army mostly fought in autumn, winter and spring time in Europe.

Next time, we will have a look at our US Army HQ miniatures!

Pimp My Rides

I needed a break from painting miniatures (so many faces!) and decided to pack up the Butler's Printed Models vehicles with some leftover JTFM accessories. I hope you like it!

 I also cut out the windscreens of the Jeeps, which was quite a mission. Anyway, they look much better this way!

The HMC M8 Scott got a bunch of sand bags and other baggage, as well as a new .50 cal.

I have one more review to do, and after that we will start to reveal finished units. Exciting!

So, just to give you a new count on army composition:

70 Airborne
41 Army
25 Rangers
1 57mm ATG
1 75mm pack howitzer
2 M3 Halftracks
2 Jeeps

1 Truck
1 M5 Stuart

1 M8 Scott
3 M4A4 Sherman
1 M4A3E2 Jumbo Sherman
1 M10 Wolverine
2 M8/M20 Armored Cars
1 Bolt Action 2nd Edition book

Or in short: 136 infantry, 7 tanks, 2 armored cars, 2 guns, 5 transports and a rulebook!

Review - Butlers' Printed Models M8 Scott

Great Scott! Today we have a closer look at Butlers' Printed Models 75 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M8.

The M8 Scott was a self-propelled howitzer based on the M5 Stuart light tank. It was used by Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons for close support against fortified positions and saw action in Italy, North-West Europe and the Pacific.
Although based on the Stuart it differs from it in many aspects. It uses a new, larger turret and the hull had no hatches for the driver and loader. Instead, all crew had to get in and out of the vehicle through the open-topped turret. It also lacked a hull-mounted machine gun, but had a .50 cal mounted on the back of the turret.

Butlers' Printed Models offers a M8 Scott in different scales, including 28mm and 1/48th. Here, we look at the 28mm version:

While the hull correctly shows the large vision flaps on the glacis and the additional periscopes on the top, it also has a hull MG modeled. I guess I will just remove it.

Overall, the print is okay. Yes, there are visible steps, but this is straight "out of box" and it will be easy to sand the larger areas down. Otherwise, proportions and details look fine.

In comparison to the Rubicon Models the M8 Scott is larger, but the dimensions are almost perfectly 1/56th scale. In reality, the M8 was slightly longer and taller than the M5 Stuart. So if at all, the Rubicon Models M5 is too high.

Overall, a nice model that doesn't require any assembly, but offers a good degree of details. The addition of the hull MG is a weird oversight, but that is easily corrected.

Review - Trenchworx M4A4 Sherman

Today we have a slightly different kind of review.

Trenchworx generously donated not one, but two of their wonderful M4A4 Shermans to our project.

Trenchworx manufactured excellent resin/metal hybrid kits. As you can see, the details are all you could hope for, and as far as I can tell the fit between metal and resin is very good.

And even better, I don't have to paint them! Mr. Justin from Secret Weapon Miniatures agreed to work his magic on them for us, and he also recorded most of it on youtube. Enjoy!

With these two new additions we are now at:

64 Airborne
33 Army
25 Rangers
1 57mm ATG
1 75mm pack howitzer
2 M3 Halftracks
2 Jeeps
1 M5 Stuart
3 M4A4 Sherman
1 M4A3E2 Jumbo Sherman
1 M10 Wolverine
2 M8/M20 Armored Cars
1 Bolt Action 2nd Edition book

And don't forget, today is your last chance to be in the draw for the Minairons Miniatures Henschel truck give-away! Support us before midnight and you'll be automatically entered into the draw.

Review - JTFM/Die Waffenkammer Jumbo Sherman

Today we are going to have a look at the first donation from JTFM/Die Waffenkammer: A Jumbo Sherman, or officially, the M4A3E2 Assault Tank. This is a late war variant with additional armor and the powerful 76mm main gun.
Although only 254 of these tanks were built, they became quite iconic for the late war armored forces in Europe. For example, "Cobra King" of First in Bastogne-fame was a Jumbo.

All JTFM/Die Waffenkammer models come in stable cardboard boxes and the parts are wrapped in foam. I own several of their vehicles for my British 8th Army and I never had any issues with damaged parts. The Jumbo has four main components, two tracks, hull and turret:

In addition to all the small bits like hatches the kit contains a vast amount of extras: two crew members, baggage, sand bags, track links and bogey wheels:

All of these pieces are of outstanding quality - in my humble opinion JTFM/Die Waffenkammer is a strong contestant for the best resin models on the market!

Assembly is easy - the hardest part is to decide which of the optional bits you want to on your model. I use two-component glue for resin models, and as far as i can tell it will never come apart again.

Here are some pictures of the finished model:

That brings our army up to:

64 Airborne
33 Army
25 Rangers
1 57mm ATG
1 75mm pack howitzer
2 M3 Halftracks
1 M5 Stuart
1 M4A4 Sherman
1 M4A3E2 Jumbo Sherman
1 M10 Wolverine
2 M8/M20 Armored Cars
1 Bolt Action 2nd Edition book

If you are really paying attention to our project you'll have noticed a new sponsor on the list - we will have a look at their contribution next.

And keep in mind that there is still time to enter our bonus give-away of the Henschel truck - see below for all details!