Quarter Master's Depot British
and Commonwealth Uniform Insignia: Sheet 35080, British 7th Armoured Division
Insigina. Sheet 35084, Canadian 5th Armoured Division Insignia
by Cookie Sewell
Quarter Master's Depot, 1071 Ambleside Drive, Suite 1111, Ottawa, Ontario
K2B 6V4, Canada (http://www.quatermastersdepot.com); price CDN $12.00
each (about US $10.00)
Advantages: Nice, clean and crisp shoulder flashes, stripes and "pips"
make finishing 1/35 figures a snap
Disadvantages: somewhat fuzzy on closeup examination, but most of us
are not equipped with microscopic vision!
Rating: Highly Recommended
Recommendation: For all modelers doing 1/35 scale WWII British or Canadian
figures
Alas, the Commonwealth. They tend to be the "Rodney Dangerfield"
of 1/35 scale armor as they rarely get any respect, either from the manufacturers
or the after-market sector. Several years ago companies like Pre-Size
and Archer Fine Transfers began to provide waterslide decals for shoulder
patches and other markings for both US and German figures, but the British
and Commonwealth troops were more or less ignored.
Quartermaster's Depot has been issuing a number of waterslide sheets
to fill this gap, and these are two of their latest efforts. Each sheet
provides the shoulder flashes and unit patches for the entire organic
structure of the division listed (by unit, not quantity!) as well as specific
officer insignia and stripes for enlisted soldiers. Insignia are provided
for private, corporal, sergeant and staff sergeant ranks (as well as two
specific branch sergeants, engineers and artillery), and commissioned
officers from Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel.
The 7th Armoured sheet provides patches and flashes for a total of 16
different regiments or branches, and includes helmet flashes. That for
the Canadian 5th Armoured provides a total of 17 different unit patches
and flashes. The "facings" listing below the picture presentation
is an accurate term, but what they mean here is the backing color for
the officers' rank "pips" by branch color. This will assist
the modeler in getting the right shoulder flash and "pips" together.
Alas, as a layman and US Army type I have little knowledge of where
these go and on what uniforms (especially the helmet flashes) so I do
wish QD had included a basic drawing and guideline to get them on the
right figure and right time frame.
Overall the quality is pretty good – under a jeweler's loupe there
is some pixilation of the insignia and they become hard to read (but at
still readable). On a model, most of us do not have the level of vision
that would make that annoying!
Thanks to Quartermaster's Depot for the review samples.
Cookie Sewell
|
