Month: June 2024

Panzer IV’s from Unimodel and The Plastic Soldier Company in 1/72 Scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 7 Comments

I had a last two Panzer IV kits hanging around so finally got them finished! I had picked up a reinforcement from PSC which is a good way to buy single vehicles rather than buying a box of three. It helps with hoarders like me who do not need an excuse to buy way too many kits. I am sure we are all similar beasts when it comes to having overflowing, abundant supplies of unmade stuff. The PSC Panzer IV is, like all PSC kits, quick and easy to put together. Detail is pretty chunky and it builds into a very solid tank model, perfect for manhandling around the wargames table. The side skirts are a bit thick, and I did toy with the idea of making my own thinner replacements. Then I changed my mind. The hull and turret MGs are also a bit crappy, and I should have replaced them but laziness and fast reduction of abovementioned hoard was more the priority. I did add an aerial and switched out the supplied commander for an AB Figures commander as is my preference.

The Unimodel kit is much more involved. Lots of parts and heaps of fine detail. It takes quite a number of hours to complete compared to the PSC kit, but I do enjoy the challenge of Unimodel kits. They never disappoint. Trickiest bits include the link and length track and the photo etched side skirts, especially the armour on the turret. I made a super glue PE balls up with some of the supports on the turret and had to make new ones out of plastic card. Patience is a must. I did add some extra track on the front and an aerial.

Paint jobs on both tanks was a dark yellow base with hand painted camo in red brown and dark green. I respray over the top with a light covering of more dark yellow, which helps blend it all together. I used a dark brown wash and did some black and brown chipping with a sponge. Also went over all the metal bits with a soft pencil. Finito. No more Panzer IVs required. I took a picture of the whole lot which includes Armourfast, Dragon, Zvezda, Esci and now these two.

T

Revell /Matchbox Comet Mk 1 A34 in 1/76 Scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 5 Comments

After building the Revell Morris tractor and 17pdr kit with the cool diorama base thingy this kit caught my eye on eBay. Another bargain with no box, but who needs the box anyway. I found a picture of the actual box on the internet so there it is. This kit was just a nice, relaxed evening’s work I think. It did not take long to build straight out of the box, but very nice all the same. It comes with his own diorama base of a hillock, and some tank tracks over a puddle and a burnt-out tree stump. Not much to tell you apart from I enjoyed making it. The tracks are the rubber kind that you just glue and stretch around the wheels, I think my glue dissolved one of the joins so i had to do some improvising on where I managed to hide the join. All the bits go together nicely, but it does show it’s age when you compare to a newer version of the same vehicle from a company like Vespid. I took a photo of them together to show the difference. The Vespid kit was very nice and larger in scale at 1/72, compared to the Matchbox/Revell kit at 1/76. I added some aerials from plastic to match a photo I had seen somewhere, but apart from that did very little to change the model. I particularly liked the little base and spent some time decorating and making the puddle look puddly with some gloss varnish. Most enjoyable all round. I now have found a copy of Monty’s Caravan from the same range which is next in the queue. Fun times!