Captain Blood's Western Desert: P.125 - SdKfz10 half-track with 2cm Flak 30

[Captain Blood]

Merci beaucoup Lou - some lovely ideas there.
If Michael Perry gets round to some Tcherkess cavalry (what are they, some kind of bashi-bazouks?) and Druze, I would certainly be in for them 

Meanwhile...

Basic French tricoleur camo scheme, stage one. (It will look a great deal different after detailing, pin-washes, weathering, dust and decals... )

Bit of tidying up to do, but close enough?

(I've looked at about 100 different WW2 French patterns and colour schemes, and this is a kind of rudimentary synthesis of some of the most common ones - which I can best describe as bobbly brown and green worms on an ochre background... )

[Arlequín]

Nice work as always

The Tchekess are what we call Circassians, sort of Caucasian Muslim cossacks if you like, but not actually cossacks, if that makes sense?

[Captain Blood]

Nice work as always

The Tchekess are what we call Circassians, sort of Caucasian Muslim cossacks if you like, but not actually cossacks, if that makes sense?

Makes sense. Wikipedia have them as near neighbours of the Chechens...
Although I’m struggling to work out how the hell they ended up fighting for the French in Syria and the Levant. It’s got to be the best part of a thousand miles from Grozny to Beirut? They were a long way from home to be in the service of a foreign power... sounds like an interesting story there... much more Back of Beyond than WWII...

[Hammers]

Makes sense. Wikipedia have them as near neighbours of the Chechens...
Although I’m struggling to work out how the hell they ended up fighting for the French in Syria and the Levant. It’s got to be the best part of a thousand miles from Grozny to Beirut? They were a long way from home to be in the service of a foreign power... sounds like an interesting story there... much more Back of Beyond than WWII...

I read up on them several years ago. From what I can remember they are in some kind of tragic diaspora in Jordan and Syria from their original homelands somewhere in the Caucasus. I think they were dislodged from there during the Russian expansion in the mid-18-hundreds. And yes their guard and sabers are similar to those of cossacks.

[tomrommel1]

very nice update!

[Utgaard]

That already looks great!

[lou passejaire]

in the late XIXth century, the Ottomans used the Tcherkess in settlement in the rebellious areas of the Levant ...
the French recruited them from 1922 . They were used as a mobile police force of great value .



if Michael produce some cavalry for levant, my main interest is in Moroccan Spahis ...
but for the moment, i'm waiting for the 75mm moutain gun with senegales crew ... John Hart finished the master of the gun some month ago ...
( next, i'll dream of the 37mm TR infantry gun, still with senegales crew ? )

[Arlequín]

I would imagine Vichy to face 'Operation Torch' are most likely if they plan more, so Spahis et al, possibly?

[lou passejaire]

not so sure, the uniforms in North Africa were the same than in Europe , except for the "Front Sud Saharien" ...

[Helen]

Lovely work Richard.

[Arlequín]

not so sure, the uniforms in North Africa were the same than in Europe , except for the "Front Sud Saharien" ...

What I meant is more that the direction has changed towards 'Torch', given the next plastic set will be U.S., so any new Vichy would conform to that.

I would be happy to be proved wrong of course. 

[Captain Blood]

Here's the first Vichy wagon off the vehicle park

[OSHIROmodels]

Needs more dust 

[Keith]

That has come out beautifully - I reckon this could be the nicest vehicle you've done so far for this project. Crew are super too.

[Jeff965]

Just lovely Richard