The 2nd e-mail contribution
31/7/2006
This is an in-process model, but the finished (and no pics of that yet) model came out well.
251/1C by Bandai converted to a 251/16. You are looking from the font at the added fuel tanks, one per side, and the pressure tank in the middle. The holes are for the three flamethrower fuel lines - the two large projectors with line can be seen to the right. The HMG in the upper right is a 14.5mm Soviet AA gun going on another conversion (WWII AA HMG GAZ truck). The circular object is a roll of barbed wire that goes on the front of the half-track. Four of the five crew figures can be seen - the driver and radio operator (sitting), the LMG gunner (with helmet - he is from the TAMIYA PzGr box), and one of the flame gunners which is a figure from the kit. This is a color shot but I have just brought it in after undercoating the vehicle and figures in gray.
I didn't realize I had this pic, but it shows the same 251/16 conversion that is above after being air-brushed panzer yellow and having some of the detail done. The items behind the driver's seat are ammo cans for the machine gun and a rifle rack (with 3 98k rifles now on it) for the crew. You can see all five crewmen and the camouflaged flame projectors to the left, as well as a partly done French (Crusader or BAM I think) 25mm anti-tank gun crew.
M5A1 and a M8 Scott HMC from AFAD undergoing some necessary modifications. The final vehicles came out well.
From above. Added to this model are: 1: AA LMG, redone ammo box on turret, redone turret hatches, new gun barrel for the 37mm and both coax and hull LMG, spare track on hull front and turret side, rear deck raised and grill added to the deck under the turret. The angled armor on the hull sides and on the turret sides (frontal armor) was made that way from the original rounded plate.
Side views showing the flattened armor and raised rear deck. This hasn't been sanded yet, and I took a straight edge and dental pick and extended the line of the skirt the length of the vehicle. His track isn't too bad - I make the 'junk' either mud or dirt.
A bad picture showing where I added parts of brass, aluminum, plastic, plastic card and the reliable Elmer's Wood Putty (in dark dog s… color). The other vehicle to the left is almost done and is a Qtr-Kit 1/48 221 German armored car.
Found some more pictures.
All of the figures showing (flash) reddened flesh are Soviet crewmen (to left of the 'stick') and US crewmen (to the right). On the larger cardboard tray with the 3 tombstones is a British 17 pdr Para gun crew and the British crews. You are looking at two panzer yellow and two panzer gray (total 4) 251/1 from Solido, all painted solid panzer yellow. I obviously didn't do two under carriages, but will cover most of that in mud/dirt anyway, including the aluminum tracks.
These pics show the three parts nicely that make up the half-track. Right now they have the decals I picked to go on and four drivers sitting on them. The Pak gun in the lower right is also finished and just needs to be mounted on the base it is sitting on. That is a 1/48 GASO-LINE Pak 38 50mm L60 German anti-tank gun.
Good. I just put the Tamiya assembled and undercoated universal carrier on my paint table. I also have some AFAD M5A1 STUWART/M8 SCOTT tanks I finished. These required some major rework. I also assembled and painted a GASO-LINE resin Pak 38 kit. One of the ATG not out to my knowledge in any other scale over 20mm. I also converted a BANDAI 1/48 251/1C to a 251/16C Flamethrower engineer vehicle. They all get dull coated today. I have two BMP-2 by AFAD ready for finishing. They required an ATGM be added and the hull and guns to be reworked. I may have a GASO-LINE Jumbo kit soon as well, for the upgunned 76mm version. I can compare that to the AFAD 75mm version I have done. The BMD were airbrushed along with MONGREL Soviet Airborne (and some Mech infantry who just joined the Airborne because they are carrying RPG-16).
I am putting together the models and terrain I need for the ORIGINS Convention games I am running over the weekend. I hope to shoot ALL of the models I have individually, starting with the AFAD ones.
That will take some time. These are part of my collection I took at least a year ago or more since they were done with my old camera.
Also, I received this notice:-
Fwd: Finally - 'HOBBY BOSS' kits to be available in summer
Posted by: "Burkhard Schulze [ www.dhc-wargames.de ]"
Tue Jun20,2006 1:47pm (PST)
Got this off another list... these will be 1:48th scale, too (scaled down versions of the Academy 1:35th scale models).
Cheers,
Burkhard
I just got the definite word from the US distributor 'IMEX', that the first of the 'HOBBY BOSS' kits will be ON SALE late July/August 2006 with a recommended retail price of ~ 20,- USD:
HBS84801 - US M4A1 76mm (W) (August)
HBS84802 - US M4 mid-prod. (August)
HBS84803 - US M4A3 75mm (August)
HBS84804 - US M4A3E8 (August)
HBS84805 - US M4A3 76mm (W) (August)
HBS84806 - T-34/76 Mod.42 (August)
HBS84807 - T-34/85 Mod.44 Flattened Turret (August)
HBS84808 - T-34/76 Mod.43 Angle-Pointed Turret (August)
HBS84809 - T-34/85 Mod.44 (August)
HBS84810 - KV-1 Mod. 1941 Small Turret (October)
HBS84811 - KV-1 Ehkranami (October)
HBS84812 - KV-1 Mod. 1942 Simplified Turret (October)
HBS84813 - KV-1 Mod. 1942 Heavy Cast Turret (December)
HBS84814 - KV-1 Mod. 1942 Lightweight Cast Turret (December)
HBS84816 - KV-2 Big Turret (December)
HBS84816 - KV-2 Prod. Turret (December)
HBS84817 - USN LCM 3 Landing Craft M. (August)
Check the HobbyBoss site in the future.
Again many thanks to IMEX!
I also shot these. Figure on the left is BTD 28mm. Cavalryman is a FOUNDRY 28mm. The figure on the right is a 1/48mm BANDAI (36mm). The grey KW is a TAMIYA 1/48 kit with a WW driver. The camo partly done KW is a West Wind 1/60 KW. The TAMIYA KW is the same size as the BANDAI Schwimmenwagon and the BTD KW. Please note the two 28mm figures are mounted on plastic GW bases while the 36mm BANDAI officer is mounted on a washer.
30/8/2006
AFV NEWS edited by George Bradford Sept-Dec 2006 Vol 41 #3 just came out. George did an article on 1/48 scale armor kits (no die cast) which is very good. The listed 1/48 manufacturers are: (all credit for this list goes to AFV NEWS George Bradford):
1/48 Tamiya: 40 kits including infantry, sand bags, signs (accessories is the word I am looking for). Price $15 to $28 full retail.
1/48 Hobby Boss: 17 models including a lot of Sherman variants (5), T34 variants (4), KV variants (7) and a USN LCM 3 landing craft.
1/48 AFV Club SkyBow: 5 models.
1/48 FROG/Fuman (old Bandai): 7 models (eBay).
1/48 SOL Model (Korean resin): 9 models including 1 modern one, a Swedish S-Tank. Quality unknown.
1/48 GASO-LINE: 24 listed, but there are more. Plus 52 conversion kits are listed. Expensive.
1/48 WSW-Modellbau (German resin kits): 10 kits.
1/48 Bandai: Bandai may be releasing 1/48 AFV again. Last time it was 16 models.
1/48 Accurate Armor (Scotland resin): Makes airfield support vehicles for use with 1/48 aircraft dioramas, but may go into AFV.
1/48 Academy: 5 modern and 1 WWII vehicle available. Good for gaming but not, strictly, accurate models.
1/48 Kitech: Again, good for gaming. 15 kits all using the same chassis. Not accurate. The MARDER MICV kit for example is missing part of the turret and the USMC M-60A3 with RA armor comes w/o the RA armor (but Quarter-kit at www.quarter-kit.com has an add-on RA set!).
About 7 ADD ON kit companies making brass parts, etc. for example.