Western Desert Force: Morris C9 Armoured Car (Part 1)

Envisaged as the replacement or next generation armoured car after the old WWI vintage Lanchester and Rolls-Royce armoured cars was the development by Morris of the C9.

Rolling out in 1939, thirty were issued to the 11th Hussars and served in the first half of the war in the Western Desert. My Crusader Models version is the third vehicle of my three car reconnaissance squadron and will fight alongside my two Rolls-Royce 1920 pattern armoured cars.

Built on a 15 inch commercial vehicle chassis, the new design was topped by a traversing open ring or basket type turret armed with a smoke discharger, Boyes ATG and a Bren gun.

Tempted as I was to make a beach umbrella out of green-stuff and have it stowed across the back I resisted the temptation. I adorned this model with home made campaign equipment - the usual box and tarpaulins. The brackets and planks are poor substitutes for sand bogging recovery. The base texturing is pre-mixed putty with mouse litter and sand pressed into it before setting. I then coated the base with diluted PVA and spry undercoat the entire assembly with matte black.