Jeepers (scale) Creepers

First off, apologies for the awful pun in the title of this post, I couldn't help myself.

Having just finished one jeep from the matchbox/revell 17 pounder kit, I couldn't resist trying another one.  This time the Hasegawa Jeep and 37mm gun (which I haven't built yet).  It's a fairly basic kit, not strong on detail, but it was very quick to assemble (one evening, not including spray painting the base coat on the sprues) and gives a nice result, ideal for wargaming, it feels pretty robust.

The kit also comes with the 37mm anti-tank gun that was used by US forces early in the war (but quickly replaced with a version of the British 6 pounder) and a trailer with lots of spare jerry cans etc.  Another nice feature of the kit is it comes with 8 'crew'.  There are only 3 poses (drivers, an officer/NCO with binoculars and someone either signaling or waving in a somewhat camp manner...) and they're pretty simple sculpts.  However they paint up OK (as the driver in the above photo attests) and will be useful for all those kits that don't include drivers, crew etc.  I added a passenger to this one from the HaT US Tank Riders set as well, just for completeness.

Which leads me on to questions of scale.  The trouble with using '20mm' kits for gaming is the weird split in standards between 1:72 and 1:76 (made even worse by certain companies that describe one as the other).  The two jeeps I've just completed are a great example of the issue, with the the Revell one clearly being 1:76 (and apparently driven by a midget, even if allowance is made for rationing in the UK!), and the Hasegawa 1:72.  Here are some comparison shots to show what I mean.

At least it won't be a problem with these two, as they're unlikely to be put on the table at the same time, but it means that units of the same vehicle need to be carefully planned out.  It will be interesting to see how the matchbox M16 I'll probably build next compares with its Italeri M3 cousins.

17 pounder (and chips)

The QF 17 pounder anti-tank gun that goes with the Morris Truck is now complete.

This was a (now out of production) Revell kit, but originally from Matchbox, so it goes back a few years.  That said, it's still an excellent kit, well cast, easy to assemble, but still surprisingly detailed.  In particular there's an impressive amount of detail around the breach, including aiming wheels and cocking handle (if that's the right term).

I only have two criticisms.  One is that the spades on the ends of the trail are designed in such a way that you can only assemble them in the 'travel' position, on top of the trail, although as the kit is intended to be built as towed, this is understandable.  The other is that the peg on the underside of the gun, which allows the gun to traverse on the carriage, is a bit weak (I've broken it twice since assembling it last night).  If you don't mind not being able to traverse the gun, I'd suggest gluing it firmly in place on the carriage, it'll look absolutely fine and should be solid as a rock.

When put next to something for scale, like the jeep that also came with the kit, you can see it was a bit of a beast of a gun!  I'd meant to take a photo of it next to the Airfix 6 pounder for comparison, maybe later...

Like many Matchbox kits of the era, this also came with a scenic base, in this case the front of a destroyed boulangerie.  With a bit of work I hope to turn it into a scenery piece.  A project for another day...

More Brits and Unlucky Stars

Just a quick update.  I've pretty much finished a Jeep and Morris Tractor for the Brits.  Both from a Revell (formerly matchbox) kit.  As the Morris Tractor was used to pull the QF 17lb AT Gun, I'll give you only one guess as to what I'm working on now...

These were a joy to build, light years better than the awful Airfix Bren Carrier and 6lb gun.  These two went together really well, parts fitted with minimal trimming, instructions were clear, and they're nicely detailed.  The Morris kit includes Lee Enfields and a Bren for the gun crew, stashed in the trailer.  The gun crew are a bit disappointing though, there aren't any...

The other major annoyance with these models has been the decals, and in particular the allied stars.  The rings around them mean they come with a lot of spare decal space, and generally they seem to be pretty big (I guess they'd be rather useless for air recognition otherwise).  The resulting problem is that they often want to sit right across bits of raised detail, particularly on tank roof and bonnets and never settle neatly around them, so you end up with shiny and unsightly bulges of decal instead of nice, crisp, highlighted details.  If anyone can suggest a way around this I'm listening, especially as I have an M16 half track to do soon, which features a socking great big star right across the bonnet.

Updates and Additions

First, some progress with some of those recent plastic kit acquisitions.

Here's the Airfix 6lb anti-tank gun and Universal Carrier, painted but awaiting decals and detailing.  I've added a couple of HaT tank riders for scale.  Not the most pleasurable kit to build, the AT gun is fiddly, lacks detail and feels very fragile.  The carrier is mostly OK, some parts needed trimming and shoving to fit but I think it looks acceptable.  I've not finished the crew yet, a couple need head swaps, one won't get used at all, and just wait until you see the shell that one of them thinks he's going to shove into that teeny tiny breach...

Also in the top photo is the Matchbox Daimler Dingo from the Monty's Caravan set.  This was a much better build, nicely detailed and all the parts fitted pretty well.  The only problem was the brittleness of the plastic which meant I broke a couple of the wheel suspension units cutting them from the sprue.  They still fitted and aren't obvious, so I can live with that.  Not started assembling the Leyland Truck yet, may leave that for a bit.

Other than building, I seem to have been on a bit of a buying spree (only genuine bargains of course...).  Over the last couple of weeks I've picked up the following kits:

Revell (formerly matchbox) 17 pounder anti-tank gun with Morris tractor and jeep.  This looks a nice kit which I'm looking forward to building.  It also come with a nice diorama base of a bombed out building that will become scenery with a little work.

Hasegawa Jeep and 37mm anti-tank gun.  Along with the above Revell kit, helping to solve my lack of jeeps.  It's a basic looking kit, and i'm not sure I'll be using the gun much, but looks like it will go together well enough. Some handy crew for the gun, although with some 'interesting' poses...

Matchbox M16 Half-Track. I'm particularly pleased to have got hold of this kit.  The matchbox M16 was one of the first kits I assembled completely on my own as a kid.  If I remember it later got converted to be used in games of GW's Dark Future and who knows where it ended up after that!

And finally...

Trading off cash for time and effort, a nice little pre-painted diecast M8 armoured car.  It was only a couple of quid more expensive than most of the kits that are out there, and didn't need assembling, so there we go!  Shown with a GI from the Caesar US Infantry set 1.

Who needs some Russians?

I've recently acquired some russian infantry armed with Panzerfsusts, machine guns and pistols, thanks to the slightly bizarre mix of models in Italeri's Anti-Tank teams set.  As I have don't currently collect anything for the eastern front, and have no immediate plans to start, I have no use for them whatsoever.

Here's what they look like (apologies to Plastic Soldier Review)

So...  Who would like them?

As there are two sprues in the box, I'm going to say that up to next Friday (13th April), I'll split them between the first two people who express an interest by commenting on this post, otherwise it will be first come, first served.

Now come on. how often to you get an offer like that... :-)

It's alright lads, help's on the way!

It's been an odd few weeks, gaming and modelling-wise.  Family were coming up to visit this weekend, which has meant a concerted effort to make the spare room habitable.  We've left off decorating the room for some time, as it's had a bit of a damp problem from next door's leaky shower; however it looks like their landlord is finally sorting things out after some thinly veiled threats about involving Environmental Health.  Whilst it's nice to gain a spare room again, it has meant some serious thinking about all of my gaming stuff, which has been stored in there.  The agreement with 'er indoors (or, my lovely and very understanding wife, Melissa) was that I could keep out a handful of projects I was actively working on and the rest would have to go into 'deep' storage in the attic.  After some consideration I decided that I'd keep out the WWII Normandy stuff (which takes up little room anyway, being 1/72 scale), and a handful of models that I fancy painting for the sheer pleasure (my collection of 'C' series ogres by GW, the 'old school' Imperial Guard and a few other odds and ends.  This does mean my Warhammer and AI armies have gone into storage for now but, as my main opponent for these, Matt, has b*****ed off to Japan to teach English or a while (Hi Matt, hope all is going well!) they wouldn't be getting much use anyway.

So, on to current projects:

Thanks to a possibly ill-advised trip to a model shop in Derby while Mel was out with her old school friends, and a bit of ebaying, my Brits have some reinforcements on the way.  First up is some much needed anti-tank support in the form of an Airfix 6lb gun and carrier.

Although the 17lb gun (the same one used on the Sherman Firefly) was more effective, the 6lb was still widely used throughout the war, being lighter and more maneuverable (and was the main armament on most Cromwell and Churchill tanks).  It was also adopted by the US as the 57mm gun, so this model can do double duty with my US forces.  The kit is a little on the small side, being in Airfix's typical 1/76 scale, but not worryingly so.  It's a pretty basic kit, but nicely moulded generally; the crew are pretty awful though, so are likely to be replaced with some of the leftover models from the Hat Mortars and Heavy weapons sets I have.

Next up, arriving from ebay just yesterday, we have a Daimler Dingo scout car and Leyland Truck from the venerable matchbox 'Monty's Caravan' set (later re-issued by Revell, but out of production now I believe).

Dingo's seem to be really tricky to find in this scale, unless you want to go metal or resin (which for some illogical reason, I'm trying to avoid unless I have to, can't explain why!), and I need at least one for either command or scouting duties in KGN.  The Leyland, although configured as a command vehicle, will fill in nicely for all kinds of command/control/supply/objective duties as needed if I don't look too closely and squint while doing so (Airfix make a nice pair of bedfords that might get added some time).

Also arriving from the reserves is Italeri's Anti-tank teams set.

For some reason, none of my sets of German Infantry included any panzerfausts, which this set has four of.  It also gives me access to a US mortar and browning .30cal, albeit airborne, but with a decent paintjob this shouldn't be too noticeable.  The British Infantry in the set are also airborne, but I already have PIATs so don't need them immediately (but will hang on to them as I fancy doing a small force of paras at some point).  There's also four soviets per sprue that I have no practical use for , more on them anon...

More of the Old Guard

A few more vintage Imperial Army painted up.  Still awaiting basing.