Hong Kong Plastic Trucks.

A box of plastic trucks.

Once upon a time in NZ, it was possible to purchase cheap sets of  20mm plastic soldiers. These sets were often clones of Airfix figures, and were generally manufactured in Hong Kong. Some of these sets came with accessories, and one of the more common accessories was a plastic truck. These were crudely made, lacking a great deal of detail, but they were available cheaply, and in quantity.

Basic model truck. This one has been painted Olive Drab, and had card put in the cab.

Naturally, such a resource would not go ignored by truck hungry Command Decision players. Each truck could be treated as a light truck, and thus carry a ton of supplies (usually ammunition), or a stand of personnel. Suddenly these trucks were valuable, even desirable, and fleets of them were acquired by the players I knew. A quick paint job - grey for Germans, and Olive Drab for the Allies - and some card placed in the cab so the floor could no longer be seen, and these trucks did their duty in numerous games.

Some trucks had more detail. Here is one painted dark grey in axis service.

Eventually these trucks were replaced in service by better models, or larger vehicles, and were consigned to storage boxes. Some time ago I acquired the truck holdings of two CD players, and have embarked on a refurbishment project with them. While not the best example of a WW2 light truck, they are a much better example of trucks made in the postwar period, and they are available in quantity. I am starting with the better detailed vehicles, and will work my way through to the less detailed ones.

A soon to be light flak truck.

The more detailed ones often have etching on their decks to represent planking, and will generally have the outline of a turntable mount on the deck too. With this in mind, I have started the creation of a light flak truck for use in Harad. The gun is a hodgepodge of  parts from the bits back - a broken Hasegawa 37mm flak gun, and the barrel from an Airfix Pak 40 from the "German armoured car that wasn't" kit.

Close up of the AA gun.

Looking at that gun makes me think fondly of CD2, where autocannons got +1 versus personnel stands, rather than CD3's vast range of penalties - which render autocannons ineffective at attacking personnel - but that's a rant for another day.

The first step in the process is to base the vehicle. Then check to see if it needs the cab 'floor' replaced, and then paint. With the better detailed trucks, I won't have to build up out of plastic card the rear chassis for the deck to sit on and for the axles to be connected to. One of the most glaring flaws of the less detailed trucks is the simplistic way they deal with the rear wheel assemblies.

Two of the better trucks. The sand coloured one used to be grey.

I used the dark grey as an undercoat, and painted sand over iot, and then gave it a brown wash.

The finished vehicle.

So while these trucks won't be the best ones on any table, the plan is to bring them up to a suitable standard where I can use them as vehicles for games in Harad. My plan is to also paint some of them up in civilian paint schemes, for use as impressed vehicles, or  even as actual civilian vehicles. Despite their adoption into many CD WW2 armies, I have always felt these trucks had more of  a late 1950s -1960s feel to them. That being said, they are generic enough to pass muster for a wide range of periods, with WW2 being the lower end of the time scale.

ANZAC DAY.

Unknown Kiwi Soldiers sightseeing in Egypt during WW1.

The photograph was found during restoration work on photographs in the University of Canterbury Students' Association (UCSA) archive during the late 1990s. It had been used as a backing board for another, much later, photograph. This was evidently quite a common practice during the early 1930s. Regardless of the reasons, this photograph was lost from view, and was absent any information when it was rediscovered.  I have always imagined them to have had a connection to the UCSA, an organisation I had spent much time involved with, and thus feel a connection to these unknown soldiers, unknown but not forgotten.

My thoughts often turn to this photo on ANZAC day, for so many reasons, reasons that I have tried so many times to put into words, but none seem to be satisfactory. Today is is day we remember those who serve, those who have served, and those who have fallen, in order to defend our country and our way of life. to them all I say thank you, and that we will remember them.

WIP: Sherman MRL.

Since I finished the Airfix Sherman Crab, I figured I should build the other 'new' Airfix Sherman kit, the Airfix Sherman 'Calliope". Essentially, it is the old Airfix Sherman, with a sprue of new parts containing banks of rocket tubes, and attachment widgets.

Behold, the war comic box art. MRL and bow mg are in use.

 The Sherman goes together well, and if you get on of the more recent kits, you should get the new rubber tracks for your Sherman. Mine had plastic tracks, which were still more flexible than the rigid plastic sets contained in the re-releases of the late 1990s. the Sherman assembles the same way it always has, but the MRL assembly is a little fiddly. The instructions say to drill holes in the turret sides to act as an attachment point for the MRL, but are fairly vague as to exactly where, and the casting of the turret is not the best for this. So I superglued it into place instead using the looks about right method.Naturally, this will mean that the whole assembly is either too far forward, or too far back!

Spray painted with Olive Drab after construction.

 I used the FOW US Army Olive drab spray to paint it, and will paint the tracks, add decals, and give a wash of  Devlan Mud, at a later date. Presumably when I am procrastinating from another project. I am currently trying to organise my Sherman holdings between my WW2 and Modern interests, and within WW2 between, US Army, USMC, and British and Commonwealth forces. Repainting has been easy for the US stuff, just spray olive drab!, but the various in theater paint schemes for the British and Commonwealth forces are a little more complicated, and thus require more research.

The Haradi Guns go Boom, Boom, Boom.....

Right, another posting with a completed project. This time it is the Corgi Diecast guns that I posted about here. I have finished them off and and am quite looking forward to using them against Frank's Noddist horde, or his Khandist rebels.

A useful number of Guns. Perfect for a wide range of fire missions.

Showing the size of the gun to the 1/72 scale figue. I guess the gun is a 1/64 scale model of the Otto Melara Mod 56 105mm Howitizer.

Still a nice looking model.

So that's another couple of additions to Harad finished. I just need to paint some more gun crew, and several battalions of infantry.

Harad Heavy Mortar Carrier.

In 1976, due to the Regent's desire to create an indigenous Defense industry, Harad started work on creating a Haradian designed and built mortar carrier.It was hoped that success with this vehicle could lead to a range of locally produced and designed equipment. In addition to this effort, licenses to locally produce foreign designs were sought, as was foreign involvement in developing Harad's heavy industry.

Or, to put it more simply, I have an Airfix Attack Force "Troop Carrier" that is closer to 1/60 scale than 1/76-1/72 scale as it seems to be some member of the British FV430 series of armoured vehicles - or at least a design inspired by them. I had acquired this vehicle from Glenn many years ago, in order to make use of the tracks, but had no idea of how big it was until i received it. It was slated to become an early model of Nod flame vehicle, but when I remembered that it had a set of nice circular hatches at the back, similar to what I have seen on a number of pictures of  mortar carriers, I decided Harad needed a native armoured vehicle.

Commanders hatches and vision block added with plastic card. Hole in front panel covered over with plastic card.

M-30 107mm Mortar from the Esci M-113 mortar carrier - a much smaller vehicle.

The large gun from the commanders hatch. I look at it and think of the Kafer Thud Gun from 2300AD. Probably because it is huge and chunky.

Once the plastic card additions were made, the vehicle was sprayed grey, and then given a coat of sand. The mortar was then painted and based as well. The vehicle is now ready for action, after I paint up a gun crew for it, and give it some CD stats (which will probably be very similar to that of the M-113, in terms of armour, but with worst mobility)

Locals in awe of the imperial Army's newest acquisition.

Front on. Not a small vehicle.

Rear view. I think it needs some stowage and other stuff on it.

So all that remains is to name Harad's contribution to the world of armoured vehicles. Suggestions are welcomed!

Finished Flakpanzer.

 So here a few pictures to show off the finished Wirbelwind. It was given the usual paint job for my Late War Germans, and seems to blend in quite well.

The rebuild Wibelwind next to a Mobelwagen, and a T-34/76.

Looks ok here, even better at three plus feet....

Just the thing to deal to Jabos! Oh wait... shouldn't that be Fat Herman's job?

Esci T-34/76 kit repainted as a German vehicle. Still have to put on the large national markings to show new ownership.

 And as I go through another box, I discover another Eidai Mk IV hull needing work....

The paint seems thicker on this one, and more of the tools have been hacked off.

Yay! the muffler/exhaust thingy is there - but it's upside down...

I'm hoping to find a suitable subject to rebuild this kit into, as I suspect that it was also a bad conversion of a Brumbar. I'm tempted to make another Mobelwagen if I can find a suitable 37mm gun, but the sides will be interesting to make well. In the mean time a soak in Simple Green will do it some good, or I could use it as a testbed for other methods.

Late War German Motorcycles.

Some of you may, much like myself, have first hand experience with the ability of earthquakes to damage wargaming armies. While on the grand scale of things, a damaged toy army is not the most pressing of problems, it does limit the amount of gaming that you can use it for. One of the most heavily hit units of my wargaming horde was my WW2 German Motorcycle units. Pre-earthquake they were a mix of paint schemes, largely unbased, and not the best. But what they lacked in quality, they had in quantity. For these toys, the earthquake presented an opportunity to rebuild, and possibly expand the size of the units.

Late War German Motorcycle Stands based for CD3.

The expansion came about as, due to a number of factors, I had lost a number of riders for the motorcycles. The solution, and more motorcycles, came in the form of the Italeri German Motorcycles set. ( PSR review here) The set contained some spare riders and gunners, so the extra bits could be used to fill the missing bits on my existing motorcycles. I purchased two packets, and started the rebuild. Broken fiddly bits like handlebars were not replaced, as these are gaming pieces and any replacement would most likely not last through the handling received in a normal game.

Where there are Recon stands, Patrol stands may appear.

 One of the first things I wanted to make were Patrol stands. in Command Decision stands designated as Recon have the ability to split into two smaller Patrol stands. In addition these stands could also serve as markers, akin to horse holder stands, should someone wish to dismount their troops from their motorcycles.

Unknown Metal figure and M/C. Possibly SHQ?

Unknown Metal figure. Micro Machines BMW. Totally legit....

 It also gave me a way of using some single bikes, and some of the metal standing bike riders that I had acquired in the distant past. The inclusion of the Micro Machines BMW is a joke to see if anyone notices a modern German bike in the mix. Previously I had used this model with a different paint job, and a British Para rider, without comment in a British armoured force during the late 1990s.

Unknown Plastic. They came with horrible sidecars. Bikes look great, Riders are naft.

 I have no idea of the maker of  these two plastic figures. They are cast as one piece with the motorcycle, and were a dark grey plastic. I acquired them second hand years ago when at least one of them had a crude combination car attached. I liked the bike so painted them up as patrol stands.

Front on they look worse. But the actual motorcycle is great.

The painting and rebuilding of this unit was halted for quite some time, as I was reluctant to paint any camouflage on the motorcycles as I didn't want to ruin my efforts with a bad job.  So for about a year the whole unit sat with nice dark yellow ( actually Vallejo German Camouflage Orange Ochre 70824) motorcycles. Then I saw the recent postings from Paul at Plastic Warriors, showing how good his guys looked with camouflaged motorcycles, and I took inspiration from his efforts. A chat with the Archduke also helped to make up my mind about posting my efforts, so I added on my standard camo colurs, and then gave them all a wash of GW Devlan Mud to help hide my sins....

Hasegawa M/C and rider with metal figure. I use this as a joint Command stand in CD.

Motorcycle MMG or Weapon stands. All bikes are Hasegawa. Riders LtR are: Italeri, Hasegawa, Hasegawa, Italeri. Passengers LtR: Standing unknown metal, converted Hasegawa, Italeri, converted Hasegawa.

 The Hasegawa motorcycle comes as part of a kit with a Kubelwagen, and is quite a pleasant kit to put together. It does suffer from the omission of  a passenger for the sidecar, although one can be converted from those provided for the Kubelwagen. It has also been one of the more numerous plastic German WW2 motorcycle kits I have seen on gaming tables over the last ten years, most likely due to the fact that it was readily available when the Fujimi and Matchbox ones were not.

F

German Motorcycle SMG stands. Bikes LtR: Hasegawa, Hasegawa Fujimi, Hasegawa. Riders LtR: Hasegawa, Italeri, Italeri, Hasegawa. Passengers including standing figure are all Italeri.

German Motorcycle SMG stands. Figures and motorcycles are all from Italeri.

Motorcycle stand painted by my friend Andy. Motorcycle and rider are Hasegawa, but passenger is from the Revell German Artillery set.

Readers will note that I have not presented these stands as being part of any particular  unit organisation. This is because that I will use these stands to represent motorcycle elements of various German
 formations from 1943 onwards and as such tried to keep them as generic as possible. The early war, and Afrika Korps motorcycle stands I am also working on are going to be more closely tied to an appropriate  table of organisation.