Reply To: Where to put decals on British Starter Force, should I bother?

[oriskany 60771xp 7]

Okay, @lloyd, I’ve looked at what force you have.  It says “Desert Rats” but the tanks are for late war 1944-45 in Northwest Europe.  This is because the famous 7th Armoured Division called themselves the Desert Rats even when not fighting in the desert.

Okay, I’m not 100% sure what transfers you have or what’s in the Colors of War book, but here are some general tips I hope will help.

Looks like you have a late war force (Cromwells, M5 Stuarts, Crocodiles, Fireflies, etc).

First up is the divisional marking.  I’m not sure what choices the set you have offers, but this is the first choice (as @redvers says).  If you want to keep them Desert Rats (7th Armored) this will be a small red and white mouse or rat-looking character.  This goes on the FRONT LEFT FENDER, or front-left part of the lower hull, wherever it will fit.  The same with the back.

Other choices might be a blue eye or a yellow and black bull for different divisions.  All are valid, I would just make sure they’re all the same for your force (your force is probably 10-15 tanks, a division is 250+ tanks, so all your force would belong to the same division).

Divisions are then broken into Brigades.  This will be a large two-digit number.  This goes on the front right fender or front-left part of the lower hull, the same with the back.  Red will be for tanks.  I think green was for attached infantry units (Universal Carriers, trucks, etc).  Blue MIGHT be for those Churculls with the trailers on the back if you’re making them up as flamethrower tanks?  (Armored Vehicle Royal Engineers)   I defer to others on that one.

Squadron numbers are the red, yellow, blue, or white diamonds, squares, circles, or triangles.  These go on the sides, usually the turret, sometimes the hull.

The color of the marking shows what regiment the tank belongs to.  Red is the “senior” regiment, yellow is second regiment, blue is junior regiment, white is “unbrigaded” regiment (temporarily attached to division).  SUPER-GROGNARDS will care about matching the color of these markings to the two-digit numbers discussed earlier (51 = the senior brigade, red = senior regiment) but that is a tiny detail and I can’t be specific if I don’t know what decals you have.

Triangle = A Squadron, Square = B Squadron, Circle = C Squadron

All that really matters is this:  The Diamond is the COMMANDER.  So I would only put diamonds on one vehicle in your force, or one per vehicle TYPE.  For the rest I would use triangles, squares, or circles, whichever you prefer.

A squadron is roughly a company, 10-15 tanks or vehicles.  So you could have your whole force be part of the same company (all triangles, circles, or squares of a certain color, with one vehicle designated commander with the diamond).

More realistically, use different squadron markings for different TYPES of vehicles in your unit – especially Stuarts, Churchills, tank destroyers, Cromwells, etc.  This is because these kinds of tanks were never in the same company-sized squadron (also you might not have enough squadron markings of a particular type to put the same kind of ALL vehicles).  The one exception would be Shermans and Sherman fireflies.  A typical troop (platoon) would be three Shermans and one firefly.  These would have the same squadron markings.

Whatever SHAPE(s) you pick, I would just probably make sure they’re all the same COLOR as the color determines what larger-scale regiment / brigade your force belongs to.

Not sure what else you may have.  Serial numbers are on the side of the turret beneath the squadron marking, or the side of the hull near the back.  Also the very bottom of the front hull.   You may have “bridge weight” markings – yellow or white circles with a two-digit number, somewhere between 25-35 … this is the tonnage of the vehicle, somewhere on the lower part of the front or back hull.  There might also be “troop rank” designators on the back of the turret (example: 2c), not sure what you have.

Anyway, I hope that’s a START, and of course others can weigh in to add more detail or keep me honest.  😀  Let us know if you have more questions or decals I might not have covered.