Friday, 16 May 2014

Wargames Unit - British 1980's Tracked Rapier Battery



The concept for this years game pitched the British in defence and knowing the amount of Soviet air power that could be deployed against them I knew they needed to up their air defence game. The Rappier battery should be an HQ and 3 Troops but that seemed a little excessive given that I would only deploy two battle groups.


Rapier was an area air defence weapon and was deployed as part of the overall air defence plan rather than being attached to particular units. having said that units would end up under their umbrella so it seemed sensible to have some level of representation. The tracked Rapier battery is implemented at a vehicle scale of 1:3 which creates problems when representing troops that contained 4 launchers, I have gone for the following organisation:
  • Battery HQ of 1 Saxon
  • 2 Troops each of 1 Tracked Rapier and 1 M548



The M548s towed or carried the blind fire Radars along with immediate missile reloads for the launch vehicles. Given the cramped conditions on the launch vehicles I suspect the M548s carried a lot of other stuff.






The launch vehicles are from Cromwells range and the M548s are from S&S. All the stowage is locally produced using green stuff and bandage with white glue. Painting is in line with the model review posts on the vehicle and the crew commander is a Britania FV 432 commander.

 


Altogether I think the unit makes a nice little addition to my Brit forces and hope to get them into action latter in the year together with the Javalin detachments I am also engaged in building at the moment.



Related Posts of Interest:

Review - Model 1/76, Cromwell Tracked Rapier
Review - Model 1/72, S&S M548
ORBAT - 1980s British Air Defence




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10 comments:

  1. MarkG16 May 2014 at 17:38

    Cracking job on those Rapier's. I did read your earlier posts but seeing then here with the support vehicles, the launch systems really stand out. From the photos I'm not really noticing a great difference between the 1/72 and 1/76 resin vehicles i.e. scale wise.

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    1. Andy16 May 2014 at 18:45

      I think they work together quite well, I now have quite a few Cromwell models not sure I'd mix vehicles of the same type but you can certainly get away with different types even when they are closely related as in this case. Thanks for the comments

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  2. Disgruntled Fusilier23 May 2014 at 02:00

    Outstanding work, Andy. As we've all come to expect. With that said, here is your Liebster award!

    http://soundofficerscall.blogspot.com/2014/05/liebsters-are-back.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. bikewrench26 May 2014 at 04:10

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. bikewrench26 May 2014 at 04:12

      I was trying to give you a Liebster as well. Keep up the great work.
      Cheers

      Delete
  4. ArmybitsUK29 May 2014 at 08:12

    pssst...given the enjoyment I get from this blog, Ive nominated you for the.....drum roll.....

    Liebster award......(yes Id never heard of it either....:))

    http://armiesarmy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/liebster-award-nomination.html

    Beware the fame, offers from ladies and fortune....

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  5. Conrad Kinch6 June 2014 at 14:33

    Dear Sir,

    I've nominated you for a Liebster Blog award. This award is a way of highlighting blogs that we think are worth reading and that we'd like to share with others. The nominee is asked to answer some questions about themselves and others and nominate five other blogs that they think are worth reading. The idea is that it's a fun way of discovering new blogs and introducing them to readers who haven't come across them before.

    You'll find the questions and what I wrote about your blog here http://joyandforgetfulness.blogspot.ie/.

    Thanks again for all your work and keep blogging!

    Regards,

    Conrad Kinch.

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  6. Unknown25 August 2014 at 07:37

    I am an ex squaddie who served in 22nd Air Defence and 16th Air Defence R.A and I am very impressed with your work. You have recreated the launcher and the support vehicle to a very high standard. I am looking to buy a kit for myself to build so I hope you can point me in the right direction as to where I can get one.

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    Replies
    1. Andy25 August 2014 at 08:09

      Thanks for the comments, the M548s are by S&S models links in the right hand Panel. The tracked Rapier is by Cromwell Models who also do a towed Rapier I believe. The easiest way to deal with cromwell is by emailing Charles McClaren, (charlesmclaren1@hotmail.co.uk) who provides a hassle free sourcing service for there kits. Under , Blog Resources (top of the right hand block) is a link to reviews under which are reviews of both models. Hope that helps.

      Delete
    2. Unknown29 August 2014 at 02:25

      Many thanks for that, I am sorry for the delay in replying to you I have had a hectic week. Anyway thanks again.

      Delete