Review - Books, Colours and Markings of British Army Vehicles 1903 - 2003, Warpaint Volumes 1- 4

The Warpaint volumes are some of the most comprehensive guides to the appearance of British armoured vehicles in the 20th Centuary.  Whilst they cover the whole of the period covered I have focused my comments on their utility for the Cold War period and included links to other reviews if you want to understand how they do the rest. For those interested in the Cold War it provides within its 4 slim volumes, a wall to wall guide of how vehicles were painted and marked.  This includes such gems as the 1980's Call Sign cards which are included for:

• Battle Group HQ, 

• Armoured Squadrons 

• Armoured Infantry Companies

• BG Support 1 Recce, Millan and Morters 

• BG Support 2, FOOs Aviation and Air Defence

• Armoured Recce

• Engineers

This volume also covers the post war geometric signs and colours.  This is really useful if you want to ensure you have the right call signs on the right wagons depending on how you represent your force i.e.: the number of vehicles represented by 1 model.

The various volumes in the series cover the following subjects:

• Volume One
• Chapter 1  - Colours and Sources
• Chapter 2 – Paint and Camouflage up to 1939
• Chapter 3 - Registrations, War Department numbers and Census marks

• Volume Two
• Chapter 1 – Paint and Camouflage in WW2
• Chapter 2 - Sub Unit markings and call sign systems

• Volume Three
• Chapter  1 – Paint and Camouflage post WW2
• Chapter 2 – Arm of Service markings
• Formation Signs

• Volume Four
• Ground and Air Recognition Systems
• Vehicle name
• Miscellaneous marking Systems

All the volumes are well illustrated with a range of colour photos, plates, and tables illustrating the various subjects.  The sections in volume three and four on air recognition and ground recognition markings largely focus on those used on operational deployments across the gamut of post war conflicts.  Whilst these were not necessarily used under peace time soldiering conditions on the central front it gives you a clue as to how the army might behave once it knows its going to war, when sometimes morale beats security. 

All other miscellaneous markings are included from national flags to load classification and an explanation of the vehicle registration system.  I particularly liked the section on fire extinguisher colours.  Whilst I am fairly sure you could find better coverage on aspects of these books I know of no other set of books that covers this range of information.  Dick Taylor served as an officer in the Royal Tank Regiment so his knowledge on the back end of the period is extensive and derived from personal experience and the extensive nature of the research required to put the volumes together can be garnered from the comprehensive bibliography supplied.

If you Wargame British in multiple 20th Centuary periods these are a bit of a must have, if you cover only the Cold War it is a bit of a split decision, the organisation of the information means it is difficult to drop a volume and with each volume costing around £10 new that was a bit of a price these days with the early volumes increasingly difficult to source the price for some of these is getting a little silly in the £40-£60 bracket, the answer as always is to shop around.

Other Reviews of these Books:

Missing Lynx Review Volume 1

Missing Lynx Review Volume 2

Scale Modeller Review Volume 3

WW2 Modeller Review Volume 4

The Books @ Amazon

Warpaint - Volume 1: Colours and Markings of British Army Vehicles 1903-2003
Warpaint - Volume 2: Colours and Markings of British Army Vehicles 1903-2003
Warpaint - Volume 3: Colours and Markings of British Army Vehicles 1903-2003
Warpaint - Volume 4: Colours and Markings of British Army Vehicles 1903-2003

Other Book Reviews:

Other Book Reviews:

Review-Book, Air Battle Central Europe, Alfred Price

Review- Book, Confrontation, The Strategic Geography of NATO and the Warsaw Pact

Review - Book, Mil Mi 8/Mi - 17 Rotary Wing Work Horse and War Horse

Review - Book, A History of Soviet Airborne Forces 

Review - Book, Soviet Tactical Aviation

A History of Soviet Airborne Forces

Soviet Tactical Aviation

Armies of NATO's Central Front

Red Thrust, Central Front

The Soviet Afghan War, How a Super Power Fought and Lost

Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army

Soviet Air Land Battle Tactics

The Military Balance

Encyclopaedia of the Modern British Army

The Soviet Conduct of Tactical Manoeuvre

First Clash

The Third World War

The British Army in Germany

The Cold War Bookstore contains links to over 60 Cold War titles covered in my book list

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Review - Models 1/72, S&S GSP Ferry

The GSP ferry was first introduced into service in 1959 and used extensively by both the Soviets and a range of client states throughout the cold war.  The equipment was a key component of the Soviet river crossing machine, and was part of the assault river crossing capability held by the divisional engineer regiments, but generally attached out to regiments and forward detachments to aid in the rapid crossing of the many rivers that sat between them and the French border.  Capable of carrying a load of 50 tons it was  assembled from a pair of ferry vehicles and  could be ready for use in 3-5 minutes.

The Kit is very simple and consists of a single piece casting of the GSP in the water and the eight metal parts that make up the ramps., The main casting is well formed with some minor surface bubbles which I have left.  Getting the ramps to stick in the raised position is fun but Shaun tells me this has been addressed for the production versions.

I have painted mine Green, which might come as a bit of a surprise.  If I were doing it again I would represent some ropes on the deck The Trim Vein and maybe add the odd crew figure or two.  

I have two of Shauns PTS-M tracked amphibians which I use to represent the Assault crossing capability when on the move.  I am currently working up a visually appealing river crossing approach based on a number of water line representations of swimming vehicles the ferry, The PTS-Ms and some floating bridging I have yet to buy.

I believe the GSP Ferries are now released and available from S&S.

References:

Prime Portal GSP ferry walk around

Wargames Unit - British BG 1980s Echelon

The supply echelon of the British Battle Group was broken down into components which sat with the Units ( Battle Groups ) Sub Units (Squadrons, Companies and Batteries) and with the Brigade resuply organisation. At the Brigade level there were RCT assets which reinforced the forward delivery elements and in the early 1980s every thing to the rear of the Brigade was Run by the RAOC and the RCT . The RLC was formed at the end of the Cold War as part of the general Revision of Combat Support (Engineers, Artillery and Aviation) and Combat Service Support (Logistic, Repair, Medical and Provost).

There was a wonderful system to ensure that fuel, rations, water and ammo flowed forward however in most wargames rules we don't worry too much about the detail of this activity. Rapid fire has optional rules associated with the representation of the CSS element so I include them in my units. For this battle group I wanted a supply echelon at least 2 trucks.

The first vehicle in the group is an S&S Stalwart converted with a scratch built Unit Bulk Refueling Equipment UBRE, the building of the model and a review of the S&S Stalwart is the subject of an earlier post. The vehicle is stowed painted and marked using my British painting scheme, covered in detail  in the Britannia FV432 review

The second vehicle in the Group is the Airfix 1 ton Landrover, this is a great model of this vehicle which served in many guises through to the end of the 80's where it started to be replaced by the Reynolds Boughton and later the Pinzgaur as the preferred steed of the support weapons elements of light role battalions, the other use I will be putting it to.  I have stowed it with a cam net and cam poles.

The Final vehicle in the group is a Bedford MK, 4 Tonne truck, again the Airfix model and very much the transport work horse of the british Army throughout the 1980s.  JB did a brilliant representation of this vehicle which paints up really well.  Take care over the orientation of the rear truck body, I got it wrong three times, how I am not quite sure. For this vehicle I just added the Cam nets, the other option I am considering is the use of a half height tilt, putting the top of the tilt in line with the top of the cab, this was quite a common tilt setup for Troop Transport Vehicles or TTVs as they were known.

For the late 80s/90s Battle Group I will go for a Bedford 8 Tonne UBRE and a land rover 110 and a Leyland DAF truck all of which are available in one form or another from BW models. 

Review - Model 1/72, S&S Gaz 66 Model

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The Gaz 66 was extensivly used by a wide variety of protagonists in the cold war from the Soviet Union and Warsaw pact through to third world nations in Asia and Africa.  It was a key vehicle within the VDV where it provide a significant amount of the gun tow/light truck capability within battalion and regimental support weapons elements.  So given that most wargamers love paras and few cold war players can resist the alure of the VDV that probably represented the zenith of mans acheivements in the arena of verticle envelopment,  in terms of scale and range of equipment deployed, it should be of little supprise that this particular vehicle should be in high demand.  As with many of Shauns offerings it is also dramaticaly under represented in the 20 mm modelling world with only Balaton and AER offering an alternative to my knowledge.  The both the Balaton and AER offerings are aimed at the modelling community rather than the wargaming being more complex, a little more pricey and potentially less robust. Having said that they do make some lovely models that are unavailable else where and give an easier route to a Gaz 66 B.

The model is moulded in white resin in two parts cab and truck body, and includes metal parts for the chasis axels and wheels.  The mouldings on my 6 copies were clean and required little preparation befor assembly being largely free of flash and air holes. Assembly is quite straight forward with the difficult bits of which axel goes where being driven by slightly different attachments to the Chasis. Care. Needs to be taken around the seating of Cab and truck bed in order to get the alighnment right.

As well as the cargo truck body Shaun also makes a great little box body version of this truck which works for HQs and signals intercept type units.  the cargo body is modelled without the seats and rails associated with the passenger carrying versions, my intent is to model these as detachable inserts with a variety of different crews and loads allowing me to exploit the potential of this truck for use by Angolans, Cubans, UNITA, Afgans and my Soviet VDV.  The selection of the Cargo body also allows the vehicle to be used as a technical for heavy MGs, ZU 23-2s and recoiless rifles.

I have finished mine in a generic Russian green paint scheme whith no specific markings which should allow me to operate it across the range of armies listed above, for those interested TL Modelblau produce a set of decals for soviet airborne, which whilst intended for a parade finish are seen in photos of Soviet vehicles in tha field.  These tend to be more frequently associated with armoured rather than soft skin vehicles.

I have given the vehicles lower body and wheels a fairly heavy weathering using washes of kaki and Khaki drab And based it for Europe or Africa, it will work in the green zone, Lebanon or Syria but would probably look odd in the Sinai. 

There are a few conversion options for the adventurous, a soft top version for the Soviet airborne would be a challenge they also used the cabed version. an attempt at the airportable M 1975 122mm MRL version is a more interesting proposition and is on the list of things to do for a rainy day. Having said that the open topped version does look attractive.

In summary a great wargames model, needing little preparation time that can be deployed in a wide variety of armies from the late 60s up until the present day.

Review - Model 1/72, S&S FV620 Stalwart

S&S's Stalwart is a very welcome addition to their range and a model which is otherwise difficult to come by.  The Model out of the box represents an early version with the trim vein still in use.  In the latter part of the vehicles service the requirement to swim was dropped and the trim veins removed.  The Model comes as a single casting for the hull and six metal wheels which fit into resesses in the hull ensuring simple assembly.  The quality of the casting was excellent requiring no clean up or filling.

I used mine to provide an ammunition supply truck for my artillery battery and a platform for the Unit Based Refuelling Equipment (UBRE) for the Battle Group supply echelon.  I scratch built the UBRE from card stock but if you don't fancy that challenge BW models also produce one.

In addition to the UBRE, green suff hessian rolls were added and the commanders search light, which came out of the spares box, Decals came from the TS Modelblau's British set and from a set of hazard markers available from the Hobby den

The second vehicle I built as a more general supply wagon, and am using it as the resupply vehicle for an artillery battery.  It has a tarpaulin made out of Masking tape coated with Mr Surfacer, the rolled back edge being produced out of green stuff.

An excellent Wargames model with a wide variety of possibilities.  Shaun also produces a version for the Artillery ammunition carrier with Mechanical Handling Equipment (MHE) or a crane.

The vehicles are painted up in my standard British Camouflage scheme and marked using the Hobby Den and TL Modelblau decal sets.