Bespoke artwork

FearNaught · #1 06-04-07, 22:15

Hi all and a happy Easter to you.

Please excuse me if I'm a little forward, not something we Brits are used to being really.
I've been reading your threads with interest having been 'put onto' it by another of your members.

I am an ex Royal Tank Regiment soldier having served mainly on Chieftain for 15 years up until 1990. My last 18 mths or so were Challenger 1 at the Gunnery Training school in Dorset.
I have a couple of chums over here that are into vehicle preservation and know the owner of an organisation which buys in and sells on armour - even saw a Chieftain en route for Texas, and, am glad to see that you guys (and gals) are every bit as much into armour!!!!

During my service and since I have always provided 'bespoke' artwork of AFVs and their crews for my chums. Not as a professional artist but more as a hobby artist with (it seems) a knack of capturing those 'day in the life' moments of AFV life. I've recently however, created a piece for my own enjoyment to commemorate this being the 90th Anniversary year of Cambrai in 1917. This battle would conclusively prove that the battlefield would never be the same again with AFVs ruling supreme. I put the picture up on a thread over here just to show it publicly! the response was immediate and pressure has made me run off a signed limited edition of 195 A1 sized prints, the original will go to show in the Tank Museum in Bovington. I have sold quite a few but, knowing you Canadians to be every bit as proud of your Armoured heritage as us I thought you may, at least, like a view of it? I've put up an image of this picture albeit the printer insisted in putting a protectorate across it. If anyone would like a print please email me at my mail address below. Also of course, if you like my 'style' you can ask for your cherished vehicle and yourself to be 'worked over' by myself. I've put two other pictures up to show you what I have done under commission. I am also currently working on a series of 'stock works' of WW1 and WW2 vehicles to include Canada and Australian vehicles.
I would like to say that hopefully, in some way I can be of some use to you guys and gals - if any of you own a chieftain - I was as with all Brit Tank crewman trained in all aspects of the vehicle - ferret scout cars aswell. Please feel free to contact me with queries and questions.
Long may your tracks turn and have a happy Easter!!

Anniversary picture -

1960s Centurion Tank plus Crew

I can be contacted at: malcycee@yahoo.co.uk

#2 06-04-07, 22:21

Hello FearNaught,

Welcome to MLU and thanks for your great and informative introduction ... but ... what do we call you? You didn't sign your name anywhere and I can't make it out on your artwork

I like your artwork. MLU does also have a buy, sell, and trade section of you would like to post there as well

Enjoy the place, its loaded with great people, information and photos!

Karmen

FearNaught · #3 06-04-07, 22:57

Quote:

Originally posted by Vets Dottir 2nd
Hello FearNaught,

Welcome to MLU and thanks for your great and informative introduction ... but ... what do we call you? You didn't sign your name anywhere and I can't make it out on your artwork

I like your artwork. MLU does also have a buy, sell, and trade section of you would like to post there as well

Enjoy the place, its loaded with great people, information and photos!

Karmen

Hi Karmen and many thanks for your response.
I have, I think, now got my signature sorted - opening glitch I think, mind you Chieftain's opening glitch went on through 20 odd years of modifications and upgrades!!!!! Anyway, having been to Canada some 8 times and fallen deeply in love with your land and culture, if I ever win the damned lottery and become a tax exile.......I'll be over with you!!!!! If not.....my name is MALCOLM but most people call me Malc.........when they're being polite!!! Glad to be here and I wouldn't expect the site to be full of more than the people you've mentioned.............as we in the RTR say about fellow armour folk.....'We are all members of the brotherhood'.

#4 06-04-07, 23:04

Quote:

Originally posted by FearNaught
Hi Karmen and many thanks for your response.
I have, I think, now got my signature sorted - opening glitch I think, mind you Chieftain's opening glitch went on through 20 odd years of modifications and upgrades!!!!! Anyway, having been to Canada some 8 times and fallen deeply in love with your land and culture, if I ever win the damned lottery and become a tax exile.......I'll be over with you!!!!! If not.....my name is MALCOLM but most people call me Malc.........when they're being polite!!! Glad to be here and I wouldn't expect the site to be full of more than the people you've mentioned.............as we in the RTR say about fellow armour folk.....'We are all members of the brotherhood'.

You're welcome Malcolm aka Malc

I've never been out of Canada but for a few rare times as far as San Fransisco, and there is much of Canada I'd STILL love to see. It is beautiful ... but then so are all other countries in their own ways. I hope you make it back here again one day. Keep buying those lotto tickets as I know for a fact that people really do win

Have fun in MLU making new friends to visit all over the world, not just Canada!

Karmen

FearNaught · #5 06-04-07, 23:30

Quote:

Originally posted by Vets Dottir 2nd
You're welcome Malcolm aka Malc

I've never been out of Canada but for a few rare times as far as San Fransisco, and there is much of Canada I'd STILL love to see. It is beautiful ... but then so are all other countries in their own ways. I hope you make it back here again one day. Keep buying those lotto tickets as I know for a fact that people really do win

Have fun in MLU making new friends to visit all over the world, not just Canada!

Karmen

After 15 years of seeing the world - not just Canada - well mainly the Alberta prairie and Calgary - what a welcome! I've also seen cyprus and obviously just about all of Europe. But, until 2005 I'd never been on a 'proper' holiday, then i went to the Bahamas - hot, humid and oh......the beaches!!!
I look forward to making new friends on MLU and, if the welcome from everyone is as warm as yours - it'll be great and, of course, if any of my new chums are ever in my vicinity I expect a visit and share a beer.
If anyone wants to visit 'La France' - still can't believe we actually participated in building a tunnel to mainland Europe!!!!!!! Then give me a shout, I have chums in accomodation and of course the Battlefield walks and tours!!! And no, I don't operate on a commission basis for that!! Here's a photo of Chieftain that the post war guys may like!! Me commanding on Soltau training area!!Hope nobody gets 'upity' about photo posting as I've also got one here of my last command in BATUS Canada before I left the colours!!

No! Not the yellow brick road........the rickety rackety road!

Hammering across the Prairie - Callsign 42 - C Squadron the 3rd Royal Tank regiment, BATUS 1985.

Okay this is an extra - shows the difference in concept design - my crew with members of the SALH look at the difference between a European MBT and the 'American' LAV - Grizzly and Cougar! Big difference - Chieftain weighed in at 56tons and through direct line of sight, could engage targets upto about 3500 meters.

Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP) · #6 07-04-07, 00:46

Hallo Malcolm! A trifle damp on one of our good Canadian roads, were we?

Anyway, welcome to MLU. Quite a number of us have served in one capacity or another, from 1939 to now, so you are among friends. We look forward to interacting with you. Rest assured this is a family in the larger sense of the word, and that that sense of family sustains us. You are indeed now 'one of the family'.

FearNaught · #7 07-04-07, 01:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
Hallo Malcolm! A trifle damp on one of our good Canadian roads, were we?

Anyway, welcome to MLU. Quite a number of us have served in one capacity or another, from 1939 to now, so you are among friends. We look forward to interacting with you. Rest assured this is a family in the larger sense of the word, and that that sense of family sustains us. You are indeed now 'one of the family'.

Many thanks for your warm welcome Sunray. Unfortunately the damp 'road' was germany - during one visit to Canada I had a different climate to experience -

Minus 42 on the prairie - each morning we had a pallet of 'Easy start' aerosols delivered to each Tank to get those big diesels firing!!!!!

It's a strange thing how the smells of fresh cordite, Derv and, in the case of Chieftain - burning oil - remain in your blood!!
I hope that all ex servers go to regular reunions? They serve well to keep the blood, adrenalin and, most importantly, the humour coursing through the body and mind.
I'm proud to be accepted into a larger brotherhood, I used to be a minion helping to look after our small 'in house' Regimental museum - war diaries became really interesting reading.
I re-iterate, if I can be of help to any family members they need only to ask!!!

"Hullo Sunray 3alpha this is 31....................jesus smudger is that a tank?" crackle , pop, hiss........................silence!!!!!!

#8 07-04-07, 01:39

Quote:

Originally posted by FearNaught
"Hullo Sunray 3alpha this is 31....................jesus smudger is that a tank?" crackle , pop, hiss........................silence!!!!!!

Don't lie to us, you've been an MLU-ers forever, haven't you?

(ya sound just like 'em)

Karmen

Jon Skagfeld · #9 07-04-07, 03:48

Malc:

I echo others who have welcomed you to the MLU Forum.

Around here there is a fairly popular sitcom telly called "Everyone Loves Malcolm"...we, however, are not nearly as smarmy as that!!!

-42 in the prairies, you say. So that's why your call sign was 42, n'est-ce pas? Wainwright or Suffield?

Grizzlies...I was a student then an instructor for 4 back to back three week driver/crewman courses as well as a further 2 Local HQ courses. That was when the Canadian Army Reserves (Your TA) had a Mechanised Infantry role. Long gone now, our Grizzlies were all sent to some 3rd world wog country "on loan" about 2 years ago.

SALH: Do you recall their Regimental and their motto? (We, in MLU, love to throw out trivia stuff and see what happens.)

Chesire, eh? An NCO, now a personal friend, immigrated to Canada from UK. He was a crewman in the Chesire Yeomanry. One of his expressions was "Clank, clank, I'm a tank."He is now the RSM of a local Reserve infantry battalion.

TTFN, and hope to trade some experiences/stories/queries/answers/etc in the future in here.

FearNaught · #10 07-04-07, 11:29

Quote:

Originally posted by Jon Skagfeld
Malc:

I echo others who have welcomed you to the MLU Forum.

Around here there is a fairly popular sitcom telly called "Everyone Loves Malcolm"...we, however, are not nearly as smarmy as that!!!

-42 in the prairies, you say. So that's why your call sign was 42, n'est-ce pas? Wainwright or Suffield?

Grizzlies...I was a student then an instructor for 4 back to back three week driver/crewman courses as well as a further 2 Local HQ courses. That was when the Canadian Army Reserves (Your TA) had a Mechanised Infantry role. Long gone now, our Grizzlies were all sent to some 3rd world wog country "on loan" about 2 years ago.

SALH: Do you recall their Regimental and their motto? (We, in MLU, love to throw out trivia stuff and see what happens.)

Chesire, eh? An NCO, now a personal friend, immigrated to Canada from UK. He was a crewman in the Chesire Yeomanry. One of his expressions was "Clank, clank, I'm a tank."He is now the RSM of a local Reserve infantry battalion.

TTFN, and hope to trade some experiences/stories/queries/answers/etc in the future in here.

Hi Jon thanks for the welcome

my experience was BATUS - Suffield - only place they probably felt safe enough to let us rampage about. So names like Jadex Junction and Rattlesnake road are well known to me.
Now I've had to scrape bottom here on knowledge - SALH Motto is Ever ready - famous brand of batteries that over here! But, I believe they are reffered to as 'Sally's Horse'?

Cheshire Yeomanry? When I left the colours my top trades were a Schools graded Signals Instructor and MBT Commander - 2 years later at 33 I thought about the TA - went along to the Yeomanry and, having seen the way they were treated in a drill hall - shouted at like kids - it reminded me of when I was 16 at Junior Leaders RAC - didn't bother and walked away!!
The TA over here has gone through major changes since the Regs went through 'options for change' in 92. Most TA units operate in the UK at less than 50% because most of them are in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Clank Clank I'm a Tank - Very good...........and old tell him.
3 RTR were a regiment recruited from the South West and Westcountry of England - a reputation for being farmers sons as it's a big agricultural area. Therefore we were known as 'Armoured Farmers' (I've got a book due out in June named after this) or The 3rd Rusty Tractor Regiment.

Incidently Karmen
It's probably my Signals Instructor heritage that's confusing you. I can assue you I'm not like anyone else I know?!?!? And, I wish I had been an MLU..er for longer, I've just cruised in the background for a while reading with interest.

Cheers all
Malc

Jon Skagfeld · #11 07-04-07, 17:40

Ref Jadex Junction in Suffield...were you aware that this was named after a former Canadian Chief of Defense, J.A. Dextraze, in the '60s?

SALH usually referred to here as the Sally H. Regimental: "A Southerly Wind and a Cloudy Sky" (Not quite as stirring as Panzer Lied!), Motto: "Semper Alacer" . By any wild stretch of coincidence, did you run across a Sally H NCO named John Hammill?

It further looks like we share common ground. I, too, was a Signals Instructor. Started out my military career in the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. Check out the items that I have on display in my home museum, listed below.

I'll PM you a humorous anecdote about Clansman.

Latest is Bowman, isn't it?

Cheers

FearNaught · #12 08-04-07, 12:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Jon Skagfeld
Ref Jadex Junction in Suffield...were you aware that this was named after a former Canadian Chief of Defense, J.A. Dextraze, in the '60s?

SALH usually referred to here as the Sally H. Regimental: "A Southerly Wind and a Cloudy Sky" (Not quite as stirring as Panzer Lied!), Motto: "Semper Alacer" . By any wild stretch of coincidence, did you run across a Sally H NCO named John Hammill?

It further looks like we share common ground. I, too, was a Signals Instructor. Started out my military career in the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. Check out the items that I have on display in my home museum, listed below.

I'll PM you a humorous anecdote about Clansman.

Latest is Bowman, isn't it?

Cheers

All I knew about Jadex was it was some sort of DZ for DRES and a very hot nuke which never happened!! And, on a Chieftain it could take ages to get there from BATUS!!!

I'm afraid I have no claim to fame for meeting John Hammill. the photo of my crew and the guys - they were all really very friendly guys - it has to be said one of them came originally from Montreal and he was a little 'stand offish' to us, all I could get from him was 'the girls in Montreal are the most beautiful girls in the world!!'

If you want a lame Regimental March - try 'My Boy Willie' for the Royal Tank regiment!!! The slow march for the 3rd RTR was 'On the Quarterdeck' harking back to the RTR's naval heritage - not bad either. But my boy willie? Some oblique reference to male appendages? perhaps long ago someone knew that the more powerful the machine......the more men would buy it......like Porsches? or BMW!!!

Bowman is supposed to be 'to die for' but I have a mate who's a Squadron Leader and the feedback is not perhaps quite as positive!!!

Les Freathy · #13 09-04-07, 21:57

As Malc would seem to be our Chieftain man i thought i would unload these items in his file to save opening a nother on the vehicle, that OK Malc. You all know me by now i never let anything pass by and items like this are filed in various misscel, files thats a bloody word to spell that is
cheers
Les

Les Freathy · #14 09-04-07, 21:58

2nd

Les Freathy · #15 09-04-07, 21:59

3rd

Les Freathy · #16 09-04-07, 22:00

4th

Les Freathy · #17 09-04-07, 22:00

5th

FearNaught · #18 11-04-07, 11:11

Hi Les

Love the pics - ah..... the dulcet roar of the leyland L60 followed by the clank as it broke!!!!!! It all comes rushing back. Some old stock there, the bottom one by the rear wings looks like a Mk 1!!! The rest look to be pre IFCS 2xy's or even 2's.

I loved the way over 15 years I saw a bewildering array of chieftain marks - talk about development problems!!!! Although the real problem was the automotive power and yet, there was only one significant engine upgrade on BHP and it still wasn't enough!!!!!!!

FearNaught · #19 22-04-07, 20:08

Hi all out there
Sorry I've been away awhile - been doing a lot of job hunting, a spot of stock artwork, a couple of commissions and generally sorting myself out. Got into an argument between RHQ RTR and the Tank museum who both want the original to the Cambrai print. The museum want to archive and not display and RHQ want to display. When I drew it, it was for me not, for sale and now there's prints and an argument over the original!! The museum, I've decided, are not having it as, I drew it for display not, to be put in a drawer....they can have a print.
Either way, to show you all that I take Canada and her contribution to world good.........very seriously, this is a skit I've done of your very own RAM tonka toy. I've researched as much as I could and well........see what you think? Sorry about my poor standard of photography, it looks better in real life. Feedback/criticism appreciated. Cheers.

FearNaught · #20 02-05-07, 17:23

Hi all,
I've been busy seeing as this year is such an important Armour Anniversary. Anyway, here is a picture of a WW2 stalwart the Grant - my Regiment served on these in N.Africa so it seemed kinda apt.

I've also done another MKIV Male from 1917 - named 'Fritz Phlattener'.

FearNaught · #21 20-07-07, 17:47

Sorry for my absence guys and gals, started a new job which has been a bit of a chore.
I have also been busy producing prints!! These are A3 sized priced at 43CAD incl P&P want one? email me friends. These are all quite low res images so won't print in good quality....just in case you try guys!!!! not that I think you would.

This is the Stuart 'Honey'.

This is more up to date - Challenger 1

And Challenger 2

Probably before time of interest to you but nevertheless important.
Whippet

Now this is A2 at 63CAD incl P&P.
Tank Tips - written by Ernest Swinton - the 'father of Tanking' in WW1 - As good today as then - except for the calibre of the armament!!

FearNaught · #22 05-08-07, 10:50

All
I've now been told that a book I've written, is published and for sale, it's a humourous look at 15 years on a tank during the cold war and, the adventures we got upto. The language is raw and the humour very much a soldiers but, 'it tells it like it is'. Also photos, cartoons and illustrations.
This is a picture of the front cover.

IF anyone's interested please go to the publisher's website at www.woodfieldpublishing.com. Many thanks in advance for anyone who buys it and supports me.

FearNaught · #23 10-08-07, 19:01

I've just completed a commission for a REME guy, it's a presentation piece for him to give the RDG Sgts mess when he leaves on posting. It shows a REME fitter and CVR(T) Scimitar crew preparing for an engine lift. It now only needs his choice of text on the picture. Just thought you may like a look? Apologies for the poor photo quality.

Here's another one I did just doodling of a Chieftain undergoing a 'Rolling Replen' from an HMLC 'Stalwart' derv POD.