I
had a hard time focusing during the last week of January, ricocheting around from project to
project without seeming to get closer to completion. Eventually things
started falling into place, and I ended up with 9 completed vehicles.
Some of these have been sitting in my 'IN' box for over a decade, so it
felt good to finally get them ready for the gaming table.
First
up is a DUKW with a British RASC driver. This was a toy dating from the
1960s that originally belonged to my younger brother. It suffered some
'battle damage' at some point, and my brother was no longer interested
in it. I thought I might be able to fix it, and it seemed like the right
scale for 28mm gaming. In fact, measuring its length and comparing it
to the length of an actual DUKW, it works out to be 1/56. The only
'flaw' is that it only has a single axle in the rear instead of two. I
have no idea who manufactured it, but it reads 'NOVELTY' and 'Made in
Hong Kong' on the bottom.
The broken pieces near the back and the front
right wheel well were filled in using epoxy putty, while the front
windshield was fashioned from pieces of clear plastic cut from a CD
case. The crates and fuel drums came from a Bandai Maultier kit, and the driver is an
old Bolt Action jeep driver that I had in my 'bits box' along with the rolled up tarp. It is now ready
to ferry supplies or a squad of commandos across a river or from ship
to shore.
Next up is a Kübelwagen
Type 82/3. This was a mock-up scout car/armoured vehicle with a machine
gun-turret atop the cabin. It was apparently built for decoy and
training purposes. I bought this from Wargames Foundry decades ago. It
came with the Feldgendarm, but I only painted up the 'Kettenhund' as I
couldn't decide the colour scheme that would be most appropriate.
Eventually I thought Panzer Dunkelgrau would do just as well as any
other colour, and now it's finally done.
Third on our list is a Bandai 1/48 SdKfz
3 Maultier that I picked up off Ebay. This was another project where I
couldn't decide what colour to paint it, but I finally decided to go
with Panzer Dunkelgrau with an Olive Green striped camouflage suitable
for the Russian Front. The tarp was painted Tan Earth and given a wash
of GW Agrax Earthshade. I then liberally applied Vallejo European Dust
wash everywhere. The kit came with a cargo of four petrol drums and two
large crates, but since nobody would see them with the tarp in place, I
used them for the DUKW.
Next is a 3D printed French Panhard 178 armoured car that was from the same run as the two painted by Fellow Conscript DallasE. I used a different paint scheme that is based on a surviving example in the Musée
des Blindés in Saumur, France. I used Vallejo Gunship Green and
Chocolate Brown with a sharp black line in between. I left off the fifth
wheel, but added a muffler on the right side made from a piece of
plastic sucker stick. Sometimes it helps a recce unit to not be heard,
as well as not be seen. The decals were all ones that were kicking
around in my files, so I didn't have to free hand any roundels.
The fifth item is a group of four M5 Half-tracks to provide some additional armoured lift capability to my 2nd Canadian Division.
I am not sure if these were used in any of the infantry divisions, so I
may have to mark them up for the 4th Canadian Armoured Division. The
models are either Corgi or Solido 1/50 vehicles that all came in
different colours and configurations. One was an ambulance version that
had a tarp on it, and the back door was cut out. The tarp was tossed in
the 'bits box' while the missing door was replaced using thin plastic
card. Everything was painted a uniform colour and then 'muddied up'. The
verdict is still out on what stars should be added and where, but the
vehicles are now ready to take to the field and move a platoon of
infantry in relative safety on the battle field.
The
last vehicle of this post is a Warlord Games 1/56 resin and metal M10
Achilles mounting a 17 pounder. While this is a newer acquisition
compared to some of the other vehicles, it sat on the shelf for a while
before being assembled. When it arrived, the tracks were warped and
didn't form a clean fit with the chassis. A bath in some boiling water
and some careful pressure in the right places straightened things out to
an acceptable degree and things proceeded readily from there. Two of
the crew in the turret are part of the resin casting while the third
crewman is in metal. All came with separate heads which can provide some
variety if you want to field more than one. The tarps were added from
my 'bits box'.
The only two Canadian units that used 17pdr M-10s were the 4th
Anti-Tank Regiment RCA of the 5th Canadian Armoured Division; and the
7th Anti-Tank Regiment RCA of the 1st Canadian Corps Artillery. Both Regiments would
have had two batteries of towed 17pdrs and two SP batteries with 17pdr M-10s
As I said in the title, it is definitely a mixed bag of vehicles, but they are now all done.Thanks for reading.
