From: Think Tank Subject: Think Tank Vol. 0049 19/08/2000 Think.tank@tesco.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS' INDEX 1: Russian 203mm howitzer 2: Stars on their bonnets 3: Sexton -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRADERS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICEBOARD INDEX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From: john.baumann@talk21.com Subject: Russian 203mm howitzer I recently gained a beautiful set of plans for this weapon via a Russian source. These could be yours for the price of a subscription (Duxford used to be a 'member'?) to Tankette via Gary Williams, and an SAE to myself. JB: MAFVA Info Officer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From: Daniel Taylor [d-taylor@dircon.co.uk] Subject: Stars on their bonnets Hi All Imagine you are a squaddie preparing vehicles for the Normandy Invasion. You are given a bunch of stencils for putting stars on said vehicles (mixed MT, doesn't matter what) and you set to work. Not being Canadian, you place stars on flanks pointing upwards, then you get to the roof/hood - the air recognition one with the circle round it. Do you place it with star pointing fwd or aft? Would you have been told which way to point it? Is there any advice on whether you fill in the gaps in the circle? Could you just do your own thing? Thanks for your thoughts Dan Taylor According to Wise's book WW2 Military Vehicle Markings (PSL 1981 - with illustrations, interestingly, by one John Major (surely not ;-..?)), the February 1945 regulations specified that the single point should point towards the rear of the vehicle. It is probable, as with many such regulations, that this simply codified existing practice, but unless there was some previous order from on high, maybe it was down to local units to decide. Not all stars on horizontal surfaces had the circles, so it probably depended on which stencils were provided. Incidentally, there were specific sizes specified (and listed in Wise's book) for all sorts of vehicles, so you should not just use whichever size comes to hand. Hodges and Taylor (in the reprinted text from Hodges's original tome, which I dare not open last it fall apart completely these days, just refers to the star being in a white circle on British vehicles in 21AG. However, on p.43 of the new book is a photo of a CMP truck with it facing point rearwards, so I suspect the same policy was followed. Robert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) From: Daniel Taylor [d-taylor@dircon.co.uk] Subject: Sexton Hi Could anyone out there point me in the direction of interior details of the Sexton SPG? I think I have seen an article detailing the beast in Mil Mod or some such but have not come across it so far. I believe there may be one at Woolwich (not too far from me) but don't know what sort of access is possible, or if it is a fair representation of the type one may have found in Normandy c1944. Thanks in advance for any pointers. Dan Taylor I have an idea that FSM published a piece on Sexton, with plans, some time ago, but I cannot find it in my collection or in my indices and the FSM site (www.finescale.com) appears to be down. Robert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert Lockie (Think Tank Listmaster) Visit the Miniature AFV Association website at http://homepages.go.com/~mafva/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume