1/72 Scale German Panzer Crews – Airfix Figure Conversions

Some photos below of an attempt made a few years back at to get a set of “fighting” bailed-out Panzer Crewmen.



Figures are a mixture of Airfix Luftwaffe Ground Crew, USAAF Personnel and Afrika Korps with new arms sliced off figures from other German 20mm sets.

The uniforms don’t stand up to close inspection, but on the table they look the part and hopefully make them identifiable as Panzer Crewmen.

Belgium Partisans - Figure Conversions

These are figures for the first scenario in our Ardennes campaign, "Retreat Through The Mons Pocket" from the Osprey Bolt Action Battle of the Bulge campaign book,

This scenario involves Belgium partisans and retreating Germans with a truckload of looted art.

The Belgium partisan figures are a mixture of Orion, Caesar, Esci, Italeri and Pegasus.

There are a couple of simple conversions, the guy with the Panzerschreck is a Caesar figure who's had his Sten-Gun replaced and the second and third figures from the right with greatcoats are Italeri Germans with new heads. 

Hope you like the pictures and any input or suggestions are always appreciated.

Zulus, thousands of 'em - New Spears and Shields

Not thousands, but well over a hundred and fifty of 'em.

Old Esci Zulus, from four separate sets that are at least 15 years old, maybe even older.

They were all given to me many years ago by my mate Carlos, and they've been lounging in different boxes full of mixed figures since then

Well with a game coming up organised by Carlos, I remembered I had these Zulus he gave me and promised to paint them up. When I dug them out of their box I aslo discovered that the majorty of the shields and spears have nearly all been lost over the years - victims of multiple transfers to and from different boxes, maybe lost in the bottom of another box, or perhaps even a landfil somewhere, victims of a past clearout of trash.

So with 150+ Zulus and only 20 odd shields and spears, what do you do when you've promised to have them ready for the game ? No choice but to improvise and make your own.



The shields were made from rugged card that were cut into oblong shapes. I made a shield shape similar in size to the original shield printed multiple copies onto the back of the rugged card.

A broom with some nice thick stiff plastic bristles was the spear donor.



Some flat-nosed pliers were used to squash the end of the plastic and a sharp knife to make the spear point.

And I'm quite pleased with the way the spears turned out.



So the next step, paint them all up.

Come back soon, more pics to follow.

Airfix 1/32 Scale Spanish Civil War Nationalists

1/32 scale Airfix plastic Japanese infantry.

The conversions by a friend of mine Alberto Beneítez.

Really clever and inspirational conversions Alberto, looking forward to seeing these painted up soon.

Oh, and finally an Airfix British commando who's been transformed into a Spanish Civil War Republican.

1/72 Fantasy Figures – Good Guys & Bad Guys

I spent a little time recently finishing off some 20mm fantasy figures.

First off a few good guys.

These three sword brandishing adventurers are Caesar figures. They bear an uncanny resemblance to characters from the Lord of the Rings films.

Nice robust figures made from a fairly stiff plastic that have plenty of detail and paint up well



The archers below are from the same Caesar set.

Same again here, well moulded and highly detailed from a fairly stiff plastic.



The ladies below I suppose are neither good nor bad guys.

Vampirella on the left is from the Caesar undead set and the vestral virgin on the right is an elf, minus her catwoman ears, from the same Caesar set as the LOTR characters.

Now onto the bad guys

We have some generic bad-guy ork bowmen here who are basically old Airfix Roman archers.

I had to replace their bows and arrows with new ones made from metal pins as the plastic ones were far too flimsy and the paint kept flaking off. The green guy with the spear and the thunderthighs is from the Hat Sea Peoples set.

Some more green-skinned generic baddies. A couple more of the Hat Sea People, the figure second from the left is from a board-game called The Fellowship of the Ring, and the skinny pigailed running bad-guy is from the Esci Barbarians set.

HaT WWI British Artillery Crew

A quick post of some HaT WW1 British artillery crewmen that have just been finished.

Also added a comparison picture with some Emhar figures and an old Airfix 13pdr Gun from the RHA set.

Strelets Colonial British Infantry

Strelets 1-72 20mm Colonial British Infantry

The figures  had practically no flash and are quite easy to paint up and are made from a sturdy semi-hard plastic.

I can’t say I’m 100% keen on this type of sculpting, but after painting them they do have a kind of charm and they fit in well as opponents to  the Strelets Boers.

Italian Infantry Support Group In Progress

A box full of Italians on the go right now and they need a few 47mm guns - which I don't have.

What I do have though are two very old Hasegawa US 37mm guns, plus an unmade one which should (I'm hoping) make some fairly good substitutes for a "Cannone da 47/32"



Inspiration came from a photo from an old Airfix article by Gerald Scarborough.



Two of the ex-Hasegawa US 37mm guns now based and the third unmade kit has now been put together to represent a towed weapon.

The guns, minus their breech blocks, now need painting up. I also need to put together a suitable crew.



I have no Italians with mortars or heavy machine guns but this was solved with some head swaps - a mortar figure from the Esci WW2 French Infantry set, a crouching Esci WW2 US infantry figure and two figures from the Waterloo 1815 Japanese Infantry set.



The Japanse HMG is "supposed" to represent a Breda M37. It's not perfect but it's not too bad either once painted up and when I've got the bases flocked it shouldn't be to obvious.



And some of the Italian figures that are currently WIP.

Smallscale (1/72, 1/76, 20mm) Polythene figure conversions

Smallscale (1/72, 1/76, 20mm) Polythene figure conversions

Polythene figure conversions ; simple replacements of helmets, heads, limbs, torsos & other body parts

There's a huge selection of small-scale plastic figure sets of all types on the market with wide and varied poses but in spite of that the need for some additional pose will always arise, and besides, we are modellers and can’t live without making some kind of modification to everything we lay our hands on.

Well need the following items :
Superglue
Dressmakers pins
Straight edged craft knife
Pin Drill
Strong Cutters / Pliers
Mouse pad (or some other similar cushioned base)
A handkerchief or similar

Before we embark on full-scale amputation, study the figures a little first to see where the cut can be made and how you might be able best join up with the new torso.

The beauty of using plastic figures is that if you make a mistake, they are cheap enough to replace.

Once youve decided where youll need to make the cuts, place the figure onto a cushioned surface which will absorb the cut of the knife and stop the figure from slipping I use the cushioned reverse side of an old mouse pad or thick cloth.

A very sharp flat blade hobby knife or scalpel is needed to make a clean cut in the plastic and I usually use the thin disposable types with little sections that can be broken off at intervals.



It’s handy to have a little dish or saucer around to put the heads, helmets, arms, etc., into so that they don’t end up on the floor as Ive spent a good deal of time crawling around looking for bits that have dropped and have disappeared forever.

Once you have the heads, helmets, limbs, etc., you will need to insert strengthening pins into them which serve as pegs to hold the these pieces onto the new body.

First start by sticking the pointed end of the pin into the head / helmet / limb, where it will be attached to the new body (taking care not to stick the pin into your finger)

Once this is done, take some strong pliers and cut the pin so as to leave a “peg” of about 2-3mm sticking out.

While you have the pliers gripping the pin, before you cut, put a handkerchief over the part of the pin that will be cut off and so youll catch the piece youve cut and it wont go whizzing over to the other side of the room.

This way youll avoid finding the other half of the pin it hard way later when you might suddenly find it stuck in your foot or somewhere worse.




We need to make a hole in the torso where it will be receiving the new body part. Do this with a pin drill, and make a generously sized hole so as to give us some room to play around with when we attach the new piece.

Now try the fit to see how it looks and make adjustments to the hole if necessary.



When you’re satisfied apply some superglue liberally to both surfaces. If you made a hole with quite a lot of room and the peg is able to move around a lot, that’s not really too much of a problem because the glue will seep into the extra space and give a firm hold.

If there happens to be a gaping space at the join, fill it with white glue on a small paintbrush, and keep adding more white glue if necessary until the join line is no longer visible.

Figures modified in this way can safely be used for wargaming as the joint is quite robust and under normal handling conditions they will be perfectly fine and the parts shouldnt separate.

Australian Infantry

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