Plastic Soldier Company Sexton SP 25pdr Review

by Tom Burgess

Models provided by the

I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to build and review a box of the Plastic Soldier Company’s 15mm Sextons.  I have an all plastic Irish Guards Tank Battalion but had no fire support to go with this force. So this project would be a perfect fit.

This would be the third set of 15mm armoured vehicle models made by the that I have built.

Before these, I had built Soviet T-70s and German PzKw-IVHs. Both sets were very good and I was very excited to get started on these.

The box came with five sprues each capable of building a single Sexton SP 25pdr gun. You’ll note that there at two full sets of tracks and front lower hulls. These allow you to build the kit as either an early or a late Sexton.

Each model also comes with four crewmen and ample stowage.

The first model took me about 20 minutes to assemble. The detail on these models is awesome. There is no way you could get those properly detailed side walls and thin storage area rails in a resin and/or metal kit.

I built the next four models all in about an hour and a half.

One thing that really worried me was how I was going to paint the interior of the vehicle that was going to be quite cramped with the gun/mounting and the crew.

Fortunately, I realized that I could build the gun mount assembly separately and then drop it and the crew into place after the model was fully painted.

I also decided to paint the crew on the sprues. I find this a quick and easy way to work with the 15mm figures.

One interesting aspect of the PSC Sexton box set is that with five Sextons, one will be extra if you are building a typical four-gun battery. I decided to build my fifth extra Sexton as a Sexton Gun Position Officer (GPO) vehicle for later use on an objective base.

The Sexton GPO was a field modification with a simple steel plate welded over the gun mount opening. A second radio was added as well as a map table.  To make this conversion I simply added a thin sheet of plastic over the gun mounting opening.  I’ll add a map table and some staff officers at a later date when I finish my objective diorama using this model.

All five vehicles were a joy to build. You can see that in addition to the GPO Sexton modification, I also added some extra spare stowage from other kits to add a bit more variety. The only thing that disappointed me about these is that they did not come with anti-aircraft machine-guns. I have seen plenty of pictures of Sexton with a .50 cal Machine-gin mounted over the right front armour plate. I have plenty of spare .50 cal machine-guns so I will add them later. But for this review, I left them off as I did not want readers to become confused and think that these came with the kit.

I painted the Sexton with spray. This is a perfect match for Vallejo 924 Russian Uniform bush on paint which is my favourite for Late War British Armour. I gave them a simple link “magic wash” and then applied decals. Afterwards, I sprayed the models with Testor’s Dullcoate to take the shine off the “magic wah.”

Since I wanted these Sextons to support my Irish Guards force, I painted these as the 153rd Regiment  “Leicestershire  Yeomanry” Royal Field Artillery. Researching this unit was a much fun as painting building and painting the models. I found a fantastic history page for the unit can be found .  This was the Sexton Regiment that was part of the Guards Armored Division fire support.

Here is the Sexton GPO with its gun removed and an extra radio and antenna added. A very simple conversion that is totally serviceable now, but I’ll add some more details later.

Here’s the battery ready to support the advance of my Irish Guards Armoured Battalion. I really love the look of the PSC Russian Uniform spray.

This has been a fantastic and enjoyable modelling project. I can’t wait to get these Sextons on the table.  I believe these are the best 15mm Sextons available on the market today. The plastic is crisp and the parts fit together well. The detail is amazingly good. There is no way you could get those thin guard rails on the vehicle with any other material. The only negatives I have for these kits are the inclusion of a fifth Sexton when only four are needed and not having an Anti-Aircraft machine-gun option. However, these issues are minor and easily worked around. I would highly recommend the Sexton models to anyone wanting to add armoured 25 pdr support to their collection.