Allied Forces in Northwest Europe, 1944–45: British and Commonwealth, US and Free French

By Andy Singleton

This book is aimed at assisting those new or unfamiliar with historical figure modelling and wargaming by providing them with a range of simple tips and techniques to assist them in putting together good looking collections using methods that won’t take an age. Covered in this book are an introduction to the majority of tools and materials commonly found in modelling, before moving on to cover clear, concise guides for painting British, American and Canadian forces, along with notes on the uniforms of the Free forces from occupied nations. The guides cover all the common variations of uniform used during the period, including British and Canadian Battledress, Airborne forces uniforms, and the American M43 uniform, as well as when these uniforms were worn and introduced. Camouflage uniforms are also covered, and are broken down into how to apply the various patterns simply and with easy-to-repeat methods. Illustrated with hundreds of photos, each stage of the guides has a combination of text description, photograph and list of both paint and brush size used to make the steps as easy to follow as possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: May 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781399005630

Andy Singleton

Andy Singleton has been modelling and painting since childhood, having built subjects across a broad range of subjects, scales and genres. In 2014, Andy decided to stop having a proper job and picked up his brushes full time to become professional figure painter, with his business Volley Fire Painting Service. In addition to painting legions of figures, he has worked with many manufacturers across the industry and examples of his work can be found in many rule books, magazines and websites. Andy is also a co-host on the podcast ‘A Few Brits and the Hobby’.

Book preview

Introduction

The fighting in North-Western Europe following the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944 has probably inspired more media, model kits and war gaming than any other period, with the possible exception of the Classical World. TV shows such as Band of Brothers, along with hundreds of movies and books, have led to this period also being a hugely popular way to enter into the world of historical war gaming.

Although covering a comparatively short period of time, a staggering array of personnel, equipment and even terrain was committed to the fight, resulting in huge casualties and destruction across the theatre. Allied troops were drawn from not just Britain and the United States, but also the Commonwealth and occupied Europe, Africa and the rest of the world.

Uniforms were largely supplied to these forces in British and American designs, with the Free World troops largely organized along British or American lines, depending on the specific formation. However, all the forces feature a bewildering array of insignia that can be a fascinating rabbit hole of research and modelling to pursue.

The popularity of this period has resulted in a huge range of figures and games available. Regardless of the size of figures you are working with, I’ve attempted to cover techniques that can be used on all sizes of miniatures.

Hopefully, I have also covered enough painting techniques to cover most forms of uniform and equipment used and I thoroughly encourage you to experiment and expand your skills beyond what is presented here. Finally, good luck with all your hobbying and may your dice treat you kindly!

1

Tips and Tools

GETTING STARTED

Operation OVERLORD was one of the greatest logistical feats of all time. The sheer mass of equipment, supplies and manpower being transported over truly staggering distances was an absolutely incredible achievement.

While the huge range of hobby products, paints and tools on the market is truly vast and expanding rapidly all the time, this book will attempt to provide some guidance and knowledge on the most commonly required tools and techniques. I’ll also attempt to cut through some of the technical terminology, giving a bite-size description of what is required for a few of the most commonly used techniques.

As a solid rule of thumb, when it comes to buying tools you’re better off buying better quality. This may prove more expensive, but will work out cheaper in the long run and the results will be more than worth it. That said, it’s probably also worth scouting out the internet and club mates or friends for reviews to see if it sounds like something you would find useful and fulfils your specific tastes and needs.

Readers of the other books in this series will be familiar with the following chapter; however, for completeness I’ve repeated it here for those new to the hobby, as well as updating some of the information in line with changes in the hobby.

PLASTIC, METAL OR RESIN?

The Second World War is probably the most widely supported period for models in any and all scales, with thousands of different products available. Generally speaking, for gaming purposes these are provided in either white metal, resin or hard and soft plastics. Recently thermoplastic has started to appear as a material from several manufacturers; this combines the features of both metal and plastic models, although it requires assembly with superglue.

Plastic figures are typically provided on a frame called a sprue, from which they need to be removed. Since about the 1960s, many extremely popular and classic sets of figures from the likes of Airfix, Esci and Revell have been produced, predominantly 20mm-size figures produced in a soft, polythene type of plastic that required a vigorous scrubbing with warm water and washing-up liquid before painting.

Thankfully this is becoming less prevalent and modern miniatures are typically being produced in hard plastic which is far less prone to warping and bending, has better adhesion for paint and is also far easier to glue. Most commonly 28mm-size figures are a hard plastic, though there are also several hard plastic 15mm and 20mm ranges. The majority of 28mm figure manufacturers provide each figure in several pieces to allow you some variety in their posing, and I’ll go into more detail in assembling these a little later. Plastic figures are best assembled with special-purpose plastic glues, again something I’ll discuss later.

Probably the most common material for the production of war games figures, however, is lead-free metal and this dominates all the various gaming scales. Most historical ranges are produced in this material, the figures are usually supplied as single-piece castings and typically come with a small stand attached to the figures’ feet to aid in placing them on their bases. Both plastic and metal figures can have moulding lines along their sides, and occasionally excess areas of metal or plastic, called flash, as a by-product of the production process that will need to be removed. This is a simple task and requires scraping along the line with the blunt side of a blade or quick sanding down with some files; again, I’ll cover that a little later too.

Metal models require assembling with superglue or an equivalent, and larger models such as artillery and cavalry will require a degree of patience as they can quickly become somewhat frustrating if you try to rush putting them together. When assembling any figure though, patience and test-fitting will always pay off here.

Relatively rare, although some ranges are starting to introduce it as a material, is resin. This is at first glance much like plastic, though it is a little more brittle and is often supplied with casting blocks that need trimming away. Resin is light with crisp detail and is best treated as if working with metal, using superglue for assembly.

Thermoplastic appears very much like a soft plastic at first glance, although it is far harder and more resilient and not prone to bending or flaking paint; it is incredibly durable. Unfortunately, this also makes the material very hard to clean up. If you attempt to remove moulding lines with a file, you will end up simply tearing the figure rather than sanding the lines away. Instead, use a very sharp knife blade and carefully clean up the part. You can also use very fine wet and dry paper, at least 1000 grit, to polish the part to a smoother finish. Thermoplastic figures are a type of resin, so will not bond with normal plastic glues and you will need to use superglue.

KNIVES, CUTTERS AND FILES

The first thing you’ll need to do, unsurprisingly, is to get the component parts of your figure ready for assembly and clean away any residue from the manufacturing process. This can take several forms, but the most common are flash and mould lines, which form when the model is being cast in its mould. These appear as either prominent lines around a figure, as chunks or ‘worms’ of excess material most especially on edges and undercuts of the figure. These casting imperfections can appear in any material and removing them will massively improve the appearance of the finished model, especially when you are using the dry brush techniques.

Hobby knife

These broadly fall into two types: those with replaceable blades such as the ubiquitous X-Acto hobby knife, and the Stanley knife. Either one of these will probably be your most frequently used tool in preparing your figures, as the sharp side of the blade can be used for cutting things, while the blunt edge can be used to remove mould lines by