So, in theory I'm supposed to be working on Konflikt '47 troops, but I got distracted and instead there's another small piece completed for my NZ 2nd Division North Africa force: a Marmon-Herrington Mk III armoured car from Perry Miniatures in Caunter camouflage. (I think the Kiwis had Mk IIs, but the MkIII has the same turret as the late IIs and is just a bit shorter.)
The resin kit was very cleanly cast and the the metal guns easy enough to attach. The wheels (which come in pairs with integral axles) have cast marks at one point on each tire, but it's easy enough to clean these off leaving a slightly flattened area and then use this as the bottom of the tire once attached. The top hatch covers weren't the easiest to attach though, as there are just thin flat edges to glue to the turret - enough to get a bond, but they're a little fragile, and I've had one detach twice now.
The driver is quite a nicely animated figure in FS cap and KD shirt and shorts, but the face is a bit disappointing for a Perry sculpt. He seems to have very heavy eyelids and a slightly oddly formed nose - it may just be this casting, though it looks fully formed. I tried painting in eyes, but it just looked weird, so in the end I left the face very plain.
The Marmon-Herrington was painted in a similar fashion to the M3 Stuart, with the same VMA Portland Stone and VMC Pale Green Blue (for the Caunter "silver grey"), but with VMA Khaki Green No. 3 instead of "slate". The amount of time I spent fussing around with masking tape has left me wondering whether I want to ever paint Caunter again.
I'm still trying to get the right balance of too little effect and overdoing it. I have confidence I'll get it right sometime.
Again, gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI've one of these at the top of my wishlist, but the plan is to run it with my nascent RAF Regiment force, rather than with my Perry Desert Sikhs.
Grateful for your thoughts on the kit, and yours looks lovely!
Thank you again. The Caunter was pretty fiddly as both this model and the plastic M3 Honey are quite small models. The resin kit was well made, fitted and went together very well and required very little surface work - it certainly compared well with other resin kits I've built.
ReplyDeleteWhile it's sold as a Mk III when comparing the main gun (not much more than a bit of wire) with the M3's 37mm gun it really doesn't look like a 40mm 2pdr, and is probably meant to be a Boys ATR, which were on the Mk IIs -- OK for me as the Kiwis had Mk IIs, though the pintle gun should probably then be a Vickers (hopefully only of concern to hardened rivet counters.) :)
Brilliant, and thanks!
DeleteYup. It's very very much ''n the list' (and I'm no rivet-counter!).