Junior's 3x 1/72 PSC Cromwells

[adt70hk]

Good evening all

So our small modelling club started back last month and as some of you know, my son, aka 'Junior' for online purposes comes along as a treat.

We had nothing currently at the build stage for a joint project, so took these along to start. These will eventually be a second troop for his 11th Armoured Division Recce Regiment, along with a Challenger I have in the stash.

These are the usual Plastic Soldier Company standard - pretty simple quick build kits, with a reasonable level of detail and three kits per box. You also get two options - the usual 75mm and 95mm CS versions. I know they're not everyone's cup of tea but they're fun builds for me and junior - and I got them pretty cheap. RRP is £22 although you can get them for £20 - but I got them for £15.20 or £5 per kit.....

We managed to get two hulls finished that evening (the tracks are just dry fitted for ease of painting) and will hopefully finish them off at tomorrow night's meeting. As is usual I've got metal barrels, as much for durability as looks.

ATB.

Andrew

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The standard PSC box....




For some reason the 15mm instructions.....




One tank per sprue




The metal barrels...






Where we've got to so far.....

 

[Tim Marlow]

Great stuff. I like the PSC stuff as well. The Skdfz 250 alte models build up particularly well….

 

[Jim R]

Hi Andrew
Great to hear of young people enjoying the hobby. They look nice kits. Sharp detail and having the wheels and tracks as one piece is a relief for all haters of "track building"
Jim

 

[Isitme]

I like the detail, so much better than the 'soft' earlier examples that Airfix etc used to put out decades ago, but now way to small for my tired old eyes (come on you lot, sympathy time)....
Will watch with interest, and give 'Junior' a well done for entering a hobby that is not on a flat screen
Mike

 

[adt70hk]

Gents

Firstly, thanks for stopping by. Secondly, apologies for the late response but I wanted to reply properly and mid-week does not give me that time.....

Great stuff. I like the PSC stuff as well. The Skdfz 250 alte models build up particularly well….

Tim

I've only got one of the 250s, it was a freebie with their rule set. What started me off with PSC was their SdKfZ 251 D set - four kits and six or seven different options, with 37 figures, and from there it took off. In terms of there kits I think I have the following:

2x M4A4/Firefly sets + one additional reinforcement model.
3x Churchill sets. One of these has been given the AM treatment with a full bridge layer set up.
1x 6pdr and tow set
1x Sexton set
1x 25pdr & Quad set plus an additional Quad
1x Stug III/StuH 42 set
1x Pz IV H set
1x German trucks set
1x SdKfZ 251D set
1x SdKfz 250 kit
1x Cromwell set
1x German commanders and stowage set (really good value for money BTW)

So bearing in mind that you normally get three kits per box - Churchills is only two- and if you count the guns and their tows as one kit, I think I've got 40 of their kits........that's rather a lot.....far more than I realised......don't tell my wife!!....oh and whilst I have started on all of them except the German Trucks, I've finished less than half......don't ask.....

Hi Andrew
Great to hear of young people enjoying the hobby. They look nice kits. Sharp detail and having the wheels and tracks as one piece is a relief for all haters of "track building"
Jim

Thanks Jim.

He does enjoy it but interestingly whilst he enjoys the building phase, the paint phase doesn't hold the same interest yet. He's like that with a lot of things though in terms of understanding how things work and assembly. He got a VERY logical brain and is off the chart when it comes to the sciences and maths in particular but struggles with art. Whilst I wasn't anywhere near as good as he is with maths and like, we both think in a very logical way and I really was very bad at art but this hobby has brought out the creative side in me in later life, so hopefully it will be the same for him.

They're not bad are they?? And you're right about the tracks! They make it soooooooooooo much easier. Sometimes they do the tracks in two halves that you then fit around the running gear, which work out very nicely indeed and make the painting even easier still.

I like the detail, so much better than the 'soft' earlier examples that Airfix etc used to put out decades ago, but now way to small for my tired old eyes (come on you lot, sympathy time)....
Will watch with interest, and give 'Junior' a well done for entering a hobby that is not on a flat screen
Mike

Mike

Junior said thanks for the feedback.

They're pretty good aren't they, especially when you consider the price. And as David Lovell has shown with his SU-122, these quick build kits can turn out very well indeed for not a lot of angst ort worry.


Thanks again gents for stopping by

ATB.

Andrew

 

[adt70hk]

Hi all

So we had another club night just before we went away and have them at the point where the basic build is almost finished - apart from one obvious issue...

As I've said before, they're not going to set the modelling world alight but for a wargaming kits that cost £5 each, they're not bad at all! And as as Mike said, they get Junior out and off his screen!

ACW as usual....

ATB

Andrew

 

[scottie3158]

Andrew,
All looking mighty fine mate.

 

[Mark1]

A fiver sounds like good value for money there

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Andrew. Always think the Culin ploughs on the Cromwell look like anti zombie devices…..

 

[Mini Me]

Looking forward to the "wet" stuff..........nice progress so far. Rick H.

 

[adt70hk]

Andrew,
All looking mighty fine mate.

A fiver sounds like good value for money there

Looking good Andrew. Always think the Culin ploughs on the Cromwell look like anti zombie devices…..

Looking forward to the "wet" stuff..........nice progress so far. Rick H.

Gents, thank you very much for the support. I'll make sure Junior sees it.

Tim - I was having a looking at the fitting of the hedge cutters to Cromwells and other than plenty of model pics, their only appears to be one showing it and that's not in field service and according to one thread I found is actually a Centaur.....I'm not saying they were never fitted but I've not found one yet of it in the field..........but Junior wanted them on so what the hell!

Thanks again.

Andrew

 

[Tim Marlow]

To be honest, I’m not sure they were used in the field either…..I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Cromwell tank used to trial them basically fell to bits when it hit a solid bank….might have dreamt that mind

 

[adt70hk]

To be honest, I’m not sure they were used in the field either…..I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Cromwell tank used to trial them basically fell to bits when it hit a solid bank….might have dreamt that mind

The classic British engineering.....

 

[Jakko]

according to one thread I found is actually a Centaur.....

Have you got a link for that? (Though it’s pretty much impossible to tell a Centaur from a Cromwell unless you open the engine deck, it’ll be interesting to at least try to work out which of the two it’s more likely to be.)

To be honest, I’m not sure they were used in the field either…..

I don’t think there was much need for them in the British sector of Normandy. The Americans were stuck in the bocage and had a real need for ways to break through, while the British were in more open country, IIRC.

 

[adt70hk]

Have you got a link for that? (Though it’s pretty much impossible to tell a Centaur from a Cromwell unless you open the engine deck, it’ll be interesting to at least try to work out which of the two it’s more likely to be.)

I don’t think there was much need for them in the British sector of Normandy. The Americans were stuck in the bocage and had a real need for ways to break through, while the British were in more open country, IIRC.

Hi Jakko

I'll try and dig the links and image out this evening......it's a case of taking the only image of it I can find - it's the same image every time - and then taking on board the comments from the thread I found......and combining the two.......so I might be adding 2+2 and getting four but I might also be getting 5!

In terms of there not being much need in the British sector that what I have read too and given my limited knowledge of the area we were operating in would make sense.

Thanks for stopping by!

Andrew

 

[adt70hk]

Have you got a link for that? (Though it’s pretty much impossible to tell a Centaur from a Cromwell unless you open the engine deck, it’ll be interesting to at least try to work out which of the two it’s more likely to be.)


I don’t think there was much need for them in the British sector of Normandy. The Americans were stuck in the bocage and had a real need for ways to break through, while the British were in more open country, IIRC.

Hi Jakko

As promised.

The thread I found was on the 'The Miniatures Page" forum, here: http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=64819.

It said:

"Vehicles fitted with Cullin Hedgerow Cutter were M5, M4 75/76mm variants, Firefly, M10, M18, mate HMC and Cromwell IV-VIII (very debatable!).

The problem with the Cromwell is that there is only one "famous" photograph [p45, Chamberlain & Ellis, British and American Tanks of World War Two]. This example, actually a Centaur, is a prototype but as far as I know photographic evidence from the field is non-existent.

A small film clip of the same vehicle was also taken. There are no known photos of it being used on a tank in the field but a reference is made in a book about 4th CLY to some tanks being fitted with 'prongs' for the fighting around Caen and Falaise. That is the sum of all the knowledge of this combination!."


Below is only picture I can find anywhere of a 'Cromwell' one fitted.

It's repeated numerous times on all kinds of platforms across the web but this is the best version. It is very obviously in front of some sort of industrial building - is this the trial Tim recalls reading about? I don't know if it's the photo referred to in the book as I don't have that book.....but given it's the only one I can find it might well be....but of course I could be wrong.

ATB

Andrew

 

[Tim Marlow]

I have an odd notion that the reference I quoted was actually in the Airfix 1/76 kit background blurb, but I may well be wrong.

 

[adt70hk]

I'll have a look. I've made that kit so well dig out the instructions if it's not on scalemates

 

[rtfoe]

Apologies for being late into this but kudos for the young one on taking up the hobby with zest.
These little offerings are quite detailed. I have a Tiger compliments from an MD who runs a sub-factory that manufactures some of these kits for war gaming. I don't know how they get so much detail in the one piece track and wheels. I've yet to visit the factory just 10 minutes from where I live.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Jakko]

The problem with the Cromwell is that there is only one "famous" photograph [p45, Chamberlain & Ellis, British and American Tanks of World War Two]. This example, actually a Centaur, is a prototype but as far as I know photographic evidence from the field is non-existent.

It would help a lot if I could find my copy of that book … A few months ago I re-arranged my library, including building new shelves to help keep things together, and now that book is not where I would expect it to be

Oh, hang on, it was in another section … page 45, it says? Yep, that has the photo you also included in your post above. The caption for it says it’s a Centaur III, but we’ll have to take their word for it, I think, because to the best of my knowledge there is no way you can tell from that whether it’s a Cromwell or a Centaur. If the gun had been cropped from the photo, it could even be a Cavalier and you would never know.

(Like I said, the only conclusive way to tell them apart is to look inside: Centaur had a Liberty engine, Cromwell had a Meteor. Many people will point to the engine deck and say that flat is Centaur, with a raised air intake is Cromwell — but early Cromwells had a flat engine deck too. Or that holes in the tyres is Centaur, no holes is Cromwell — but early Cromwells … etc. Or even that a short, thick, 95 mm gun barrel means it’s a Centaur — which tells you that they really don’t know what they’re talking about Not that I claim to be an expert on these tanks, mind.)

Below is only picture I can find anywhere of a 'Cromwell' one fitted.

That’s the one that’s also in the book, yes.