Allied "Funnies"

As a follow up to the "Ersatz" Opel Blitz pictures published on the blog last month,  my miniature allied arsenal also has some "funnies" that were pressed into service many moons ago.

Sherman Jumbo

A repainted Matchbox Battle Kings die-cast toy that a mate of mine Iván gave me when we first met and started gaming together on a regular basis some 20 years ago. 

The Matchbox tracks were missing and were replaced with tracks off a Hasegawa 1/72nd scale M4A3E8 Sherman. 

The tank commander is an Airfix British Paratrooper.

Even though it's oversized and clunky, it's seen some action as a Sherman Jumbo in a couple of games over the years. 

When you compare it with a lovely detailed kit, like the Trumpeter Sherman below, it's toylike appearance is even more evident. Anyhow, even if it raises a few eyebrows when I next get it on the gaming table again I don't mind too much.

Roco M40 155mm / Sherman suspension hybrid

About the same time back in the early 2000's, my tiny, but growing US forces were in urgent need of some mobile artillery. Getting your hands an Esci M12 was difficult, but I had a Roco Minitanks 1/87 155mm M40, but without the HVSS suspension. 

A broken 1/76 scale Sherman came to the rescue and donated its suspension and tracks to the allied cause, giving birth to this strange hybrid.

It's small next to a Matchbox M40 kit, but on the other hand, it's only a little smaller in size to a real Esci M12 - which I now have thankfully through Ebay, (and also now some excellent Altaya M12 diecasts).

Sherman Dozer

The British Shermans below were all made back in the early 2000's.

We were going to game a scenario that needed a Sherman dozer. A few days before the game I managed to get a hot-wheels bulldozer from a toyshop, fixed the blade onto the front of one of the Shermans and hey-presto ! Not very pretty but you can see what its function is.  

I did recently get a real dozer blade for my US forces. The blade came courtesy of a kit from UM Models.  Not sure if my version is comical or just sad in comparison.

Thanks for visiting, hope you enjoyed the pictures. Will be back with some new stuff later in the month.

Cheers, John

Matchbox M-16 Half-Tracks

I've had these two Matchbox M-16 quad A/A kits sitting in a box for a good few years. Back when I built them the tracks broke and had planned to fix them but never got around to it.

(http://www.1-72-scale.com/2009/05/work-in-progress-matchbox-m16-half-track.html)





That was back in 2009 ...

and they've finally been finished today.



The tracks were replaced with some one-piece fixed track assemblies I got from two old wrecked Airfix Half-Tracks that came in a bag of "pre-owned" kits off ebay.



The original decals have long been lost - or used on some other kit - but I had plenty of stars in the decal spares box.

So , gven the time it's taken to finish these, it's clear I'm a very slow modeler - in spite of that, I'm pleased the way the old Airfix tracks work on these kits.

Airfix British Commandos

Those over a certain age will recognise these figures – they’re from the Airfix 1st version 1-76 scale British Commandos set. In the picture above the two guys below have been given new heads with helmets. The radio operator has been given a beret made from epoxy.





Beautifully sculpted 2nd version 1:76 scale Airix British Commandos. The sculptor, Ron Cameron, was an artist who was able to capture the human form perfectly, decades before before computer assisted design ever existed.



The Bren gunner on the far right wearing a helmet is from the Airfix 2nd version 1:76 scale British infantry set.



I replaced the flimsy and bendy Bren that the figure was carrying for more sturdy one in a harder plastic taken from the Imex Korean War US Army set (yes, the set really does have Brens)



Below, from left to right, an Airfix 2nd version British infantry stretcher-bearer, 2nd from the left one of the new Airfix British infantry figures with a commando head, and the two figures in berets are old smallscale Hong Kong copies (quite bad copies I should add) of the Airfix 1/32 scale British paras, with their smocks painted to try and represent leather jerkins.

Matchbox Falklands British Paratroopers

These figures were part of a stash of modernish smallscale stuff recently given to me by a friend, Iván.

A plastic food container bearing the words "UK Falklnds" (missing an "a" there) held a treasure trove of painted and based 1-76 scale Matchbox Falklands British Paratroopers.

  

First produced in the UK back in the early 80s, they were originally boxed as "Matchbox Nato Paratroopers". There's a nice review of the set on www.plasticsoldierreview.com.

All nicely painted by Iván, and also two bonus vehicles, an Airfix Scorpion / Scimitar and a JB Models / Airfix Land Rover





Good stuff Iván.

Matchbox 7.5cm Pak 40

This Matchbox German Pak-40 75mm anti-tank gun is one of the oldest surviving bits of kit in my collection. I’ve had it for around 30 years, could maybe even be older.



It was painted back in it’s day with Humbrol paint, desert yellow I seem to remember, but since then it’s been drybrushed and given a wash and a little weathering to bring it up to date.



The gun in the picture is crewed by more modern mix of Preiser, Revell and Pegasus figures.

Repaints - grey early war 1/72 & 1/76

These are for an early war campaign that our wargame group has been planning for some time.

All are repaints....

There's a good mix of manufacturers here, vehicles spanning over a decade. 

The Panzer 38(t) at the front is a recent model, a repainted and weathered Altaya 1/72, as is the Panzer II on the left just behind it (Altaya), both donated to the cause by my mate Carlos

The Pz 38(t) on the right is an old 1/72 UM model and the one at the back is a heavy 1/76 scale lead SHQ model, that were given to me by a friend, Iván about 12 years ago and have been lying in "storage" ever since. 

The Pz II on the left at the back is a Matchbox 1/76 kit, given to me by Iván back about the same time, which I gave to Carlos about 5 years ago.... and he gave it back to me a few months ago. And I should also add it's been repainted about 4 times now  

All very interesting stuff, right ? :-)

Happy modelling.

John

Elevator shoes

I'm finishing off a bunch of HaT / Waterloo 1815 Italian Infantry at
El Alamein but I'm not too keen on the officer figure that comes in
the set so I've decided to replace him with the stylish officer figure
from the Airfix WW2 Italian Infantry set.

One problem though, at 1/76 scale he's too small and his 1/72 scale
subordinates tower over him so he's been made to look taller by
sticking some padding under his feet.

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Sent from my mobile

WW2 British / Commonwealth Infantry Conversions

The old Matchbox British Infantry and 8th Army sets have a good all-round mix of figures, and greatly inspired by the pictures of converted Matchbox figures posted by Paul on his 20th Century Wargames Blog, and Al on the Plastic Warriors Blog, I decided to try my hand at adding more variety to the poses offered in these sets.

So, armed with a scalpel and geared up into a Dr. Frankenstein mode, I chopped and swapped various plastic body parts and came up with the following results.





These are really bad pictures by the way. I took these snaps in the evening with my mobile, and the yellow light from an "energy efficient" fluorescent bulb is nowhere near as bright or defining as a good old 100W tungsten filament bulb.



The different coloured figures come from sets spanning around 35 years.

The radio operator with the beret conversion above is the oldest and was very brittle - his original head didn't even need slicing off, it just snapped off.

The dark green officer figure in the middle above and the olive-green figure below are about 20-25 years old but no brittleness to be found, and the beige figures are new Airfix/Hornby re-releases.



The head on Jack the Knife on the right there is a copy I made from a 2nd version Airfix commando. The arms are off a Matchbox crawling British Commando.



Quite pleased with the way this one turned out. The hand-gun that the original figure was holding looked more like a water-pistol, so I replaced it with a revolver from a pistol brandishing Esci British Infantry officer.

The final batch of WWII British / Commonwealth figures, a mixture of Airfix, Caesar, Matchbox and a couple of old Hong-Kong rip-offs (in dark green).









And what a difference a nice bit of sunshine can make- it makes the first lot of photos look abysmal.

WW2 British Staff Car

It's not exactly Monty's Humber but I like the look of it to ferry some Brtish top brass around the wargame table.

The car's a 1/76 Oxford die-cast ready-painted model of some British car from the 30s or 40s, but the make and name of the particular car that its supposed to be escape me right now (I threw the box out after I bought it) so if someone in the know could please tell me what car it is I'd appreciate it.

Australian Infantry

The figures are a mix of old 1/76 scale "Matchbox Anzac Infantry" and "Airfix Australian Infantry".

Pegasus Germans in Cammo Smocks - by Juan Reyes

These Pegasus figures with Oakleaf cammo smocks were painted by Juan Reyes who just passed them on to me to finish off the bases.