Monday 19 December 2022

(1/72-1/76-20mm) Homage to the LRDP and SAS

These were my originals, salvaged from the loft, in a "North Africa Box" - I think they had been lying there for over a decade. The classic Revell-Matchbox LRDP Chevrolet and Jeep, plus a a bunch of Dixon 20mm metal SAS miniatures. They had been mostly base coated so I completed "the gaps" in the coverage (see below, their "potential" is evident): 


The same kit slightly different angle, there must have been a trigger happy cameraman on duty (see below, note the original paints were Tamiya, I toyed with using the  (partial) Tamiya collection I still have, but decided to move onto the Vallejo Game Colour range - partly because it is easier to squeeze out the paint after shaking):  



I decided to add a basic brown/sepia wash (from the dregs of a large Vallejo dipping pot - which I liberally dipped more water into, as not to spoil everything with a tarry residue instead of a light wash) spread over the base paint and then repainted the base colour back over (sparingly) after which I would then follow up with "spot highlighting" later (see below, my frequent chats with the "good" painters from various GW shops seemed to be paying a dividend, transferring 'fantasy techniques' back to historical WW2 and why ever not; a little close up of the detail):  
 

Panning out with the picture to see a wider scope and the "weather worn look" is what I was hoping to achieve (see below, a nice little "nuisance and mischief making" LRDP/SAS combination to harass the Italian and German DAK rear areas): 



Note: The exact painting sequence of these shots might be out of order. 

I plan to use the vehicles and figures as follows: a two man team in the Jeep and a three man team in Chevrolet, hence five SAS dismounts (see below, now I do know I have two more kits somewhere in the loft to pull out and make, so that will represent my SAS Squadron as thankfully I have sufficient Dixon metals to cover them too): 


I do like the animation of the original Matchbox figures (see below, slightly smaller 1/76 as opposed to 20mm metal [Dixon size] but their relaxed posture I think is just right, and of course a man with a classic pointing arm!): 


So there it is, thank you BBC "SAS Rogue Heroes", you certainly bought some life into some old toys I had stashed away :) 


4 comments:

rross said...

Nice recovery from the attic It must be your great paintwork, but the models don't even look like kits to me....if I had been asked to guess, I would have picked them as resin wargame models! Have a look at Fish Takes blog....he is obviously planning a similar game with SAS type raids, as a recent post had two ( of THIRTY!) 1/48 scale German aircraft that will be targeted in the forthcoming game!

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Thanks rross you are two kind. These were a joy to do, very therapeutic! I will do a search for "Fish Takes" - 30 1/48 scale planes sounds absolutely insane .. and brilliant!

Matt Crump said...

Nice figures and must be worth a game 🤔

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Cheers Matt, teh immediate plans is to use them as upgraded counters for Undaunted North Africa!