Royal Australian Marines Vickers Medium Tank Mk.II*

[Old Wombat]

No styrene cut, yet. I've just pulled it out of the box to have a look at today (along with an Airfix M3 Grant tank, a Trumpeter LAV.III & a Trumpeter F9F-3 Panther).

The Mk.II* is a Hobby Boss offering & looks like a good, relatively simple build to re-start messing up the workspace after the Big Clean.

In the Real World; the Australian Army had 4 Mk.II* Specials, purchased in 1929.

 

This will NOT be a Mk.II* Special, but will be one of a greater number of RAM Mk.II* tanks (I'm thinking a "Paper Battalion").


Note: The following is the mental ramblings of a demented Wombat working out the structure of the inter-war Royal Australian Marines Armoured Corps, to be slotted into the over-arching story of the History of the RAMs.


My "Paper Armoured Battalion" will have an "on paper" structure roughly akin to;

5 Companies - Headquarters C^oy, A C^oy, B C^oy, C C^oy, D C^oy

Bn HQ C^oy = N^o 1 (Battle) Group [2 x tanks, 2 x light tanks, 4 x tracked carriers, 2 x armoured cars], N^o 2 (Support) Group [8 x Ordnance QF 18-pounder guns (including gun tractors, crews & ammunition tractors), 10 x cargo trucks & 4 x armoured cars] & N^o 3 (Administration) Group [4 x armoured cars, 2 x tracked carriers, 6 x 4x4 trucks]

A - D C^oy = HQ Sect'n, 1st Sect'n, 2nd Sect'n, 3rd Sect'n, 4th Sect'n

HQ Sect'n = 1 x tank, 1 x light tank, 2 x tracked carriers, 1 x armoured car

1st - 4th Sect'n = 4 x tanks


Actual strength ca. 1933;

Bn HQ = N^o 1 (Battle) Group [2 x tanks, 2 x light tanks, 4 x tracked carriers, 2 x armoured cars], N^o 2 (Support) Group [8 x Ordnance QF 18-pounder guns (including gun tractors, crews & ammunition tractors), 10 x cargo trucks & 4 x armoured cars] & N^o 3 (Administration) Group [4 x armoured cars, 2 x tracked carriers, 6 x 4x4 trucks]

A - B C^oy = HQ Sect'n, 1st Sect'n, 2nd Sect'n

HQ Sect'n = 1 x tank, 1 x light tank, 2 x tracked carriers/4x4 trucks (depending on availability), 1 x armoured car

1st - 2nd Sect'n = 4 x tanks/light tanks/tracked carriers/armoured cars (depending on availability)

This was acheived with 10 x Vickers Medium Mk.II*s (3 were generally kept off-line for major maintenance at any given time), 6 x Vickers Light tank Mk.IVs (replaced by Mk.VIs from 1937), 6 x modified 2nd-hand Vickers Medium Mk.I tanks cut down & used as cargo/troop carriers, 10 Rolls Royce 1920-Pattern armoured cars & a mix of Marmon-Herrington & Dodge 4x4 trucks (usually around 20 in number).

The PAB will be heavy in officers & NCOs, with a strong focus on command, initiative, coordination, innovation & determination. Thus setting itself up to carefully expand to full battalion strength in early 1937, & its ability to clone itself multiple times over in quick succession after war is declared in September 1939.

[scooter]

Note: The following is the mental ramblings of demented Wombat working out the structure of the inter-war Royal Australian Marines Armoured Corps, to be slotted into the over-arching story of the History of the RAMs.

As if we don't all have our own mental ramblings as we come up with our whifs

[Wardukw]

It's all our mental rambling that gets us into so much trouble..it's like slamming your head into a concrete wall and expecting not to get hurt ..so I just let mine ramble all it wants 
So glad we are the way we are  😁

[NARSES2]

That's interesting. I didn't realise that models of these inter-war subjects were out there. A period that's always fascinated me.

Thanks    and looking forward to the progress on it. I could be tempted ....

[Dizzyfugu]

1:35 scale, I assume? Woudl certainly look good with a slightly more modern turret, e .g. from a Valentine or Matilda II?

[buzzbomb]

Build away good sir 

[Old Wombat]

1:35 scale, I assume? Woudl certainly look good with a slightly more modern turret, e .g. from a Valentine or Matilda II?

Yep, but I'm sticking with a standard Mk.II* in an unusual environment ... possibly camouflaged in a Solomon scheme variant;

Mother was the first tank to be painted, on June 16. Solomon had a detachment of six men to assist him, but preferred to personally paint the machines. In his 1937 memoir, Basil Henriques, an officer of C Company, recalls him painting "..as if he were covering a canvas for the Royal Academy." A rather indistinct photo of Mother, probably taken in the winter of 1916-17, shows her in this camouflage scheme.


Mother in camouflage (Coventry Transport Museum)

Solomon's diary does not describe his camouflage scheme, but Henriques recalls that "The effect was a kind of rather jolly landscape in green against a pink sunset sky." Camouflage covers for the tanks were also painted. The tank crews were instructed to copy his design, which they did "..with great care but little skill." Trevor Pidgeon has noted that a well-known photograph of a Mk.I, usually captioned as going into action at Flers- Courcellette, must have been actually taken at Elveden. If this is the case, it may be the only known photograph of camouflaged Mk.I taken before the tanks were sent to France, and shows a camouflage pattern similar to Solomon's scheme as seen on Mother..


A Mk.I at Elveden (IWM)

The Tanks in France

Henriques recalls with chagrin that "..no sooner had we disembarked in France than we were immediately ordered to paint over our landscape with a bold pattern of brown, broken by broad black lines." A camouflage expert with the B.E.F. had judged Solomon's scheme to be unsuitable. In fairness to Solomon, he had made his observations of largely intact landscapes in springtime. No one could have foreseen the appearance of the Somme's shattered wasteland in late summer. Lt. Head, of D Company, also comments that the tanks were camouflaged at Yvrench. Perry Robinson, a war correspondent for the Times, closely observed the tanks after they had been repainted, on the eve of their first engagement. Writing in 1917, he states that "The brutes were all painted in blotched reptilian colours, hues of rattlesnake and iguana, yellow and dull grey and black and mottled brown, and in the failing light, against the brown-green earth, they were strangely invisible." When comparing the photographs taken in France to that of the Elveden tank, it is evident that Solomon's irregular, blotched pattern had been largely retained, despite the change of colour scheme. A close examination, however, reveals subtle differences in pattern from this vehicle, and between the tanks of A, C and D Company. This may be the result of each company's arrival in France at a different time. It must be conceded, however, that a considerable overlap in camouflage style exists within the companies which fought on the Somme, and only a minority of their 85 machines seem to have been photographed. The predominant C Company pattern bears the most resemblance to the Elveden vehicle. The colour blotches are interspersed with broad bands of black , of varying thickness and irregular border. Some of the blotches appear to contain small daubs of a lighter colour, perhaps as a result of hasty over-painting, although this can also be seen on the Elveden tank.


C.19 (Tank Museum)

D Company seems to have favoured using more uniform black stripes to outline the patches of colour.


D.17 (AWM)

The Mk.II tank at Bovington, which would not have received an original Solomon paint scheme, was modified and painted to resemble a Mk.I, and was on display in Chertsey the 1940s. This vehicle seems to have been the model for the Airfix kit, and its artwork.


The Hatfield Park Mk.I, now at Bovington (Tank Museum)

From: http://www.landships.info/landships/tank_articles/Solomon_Camouflage.html

[zenrat]

I thought you meant Solomon Islands - Sand and palm trees and coconunts*.

Anyone built a WW1 tank in the Caunter scheme?


*yes, I know.  But i like the word I invented...

[NARSES2]

I thought you meant Solomon Islands - Sand and palm trees and coconunts*.

As did I initially   

[jcf]

I thought you meant Solomon Islands - Sand and palm trees and coconunts*

Is that because they're habit forming?
 

[jcf]

The bureaucratic bunfights between the RAMAC and
the ATC* were legendary. Joint training exercises and
war games often led to brawls.


*Australian Tank Corps, predecessor of the RAAC.

[Rheged]

Have you considered  W W 1  Norman Wilkinson-style dazzle painting for tank operations in urban areas?

[jcf]

Have you considered  W W 1  Norman Wilkinson-style dazzle painting for tank operations in urban areas?

Here's an example of a vehicle in dazzle, there were others but it was mostly done for recruiting
and war bond events.
You cannot view this attachment.

[jcf]

Speaking of dazzle, graphic designer Steve Morris has done a series of very clear
drawings of dazzle patterns based directly off of the original drawing sheets.

Steve Morris Dazzle

You cannot view this attachment.

[Old Wombat]

The bureaucratic bunfights between the RAMAC and
the ATC* were legendary. Joint training exercises and
war games often led to brawls.


*Australian Tank Corps, predecessor of the RAAC.

Well, that goes without saying.