British Army

British Army Vehicles and Troops

IBG Models 1/72 Chevrolet C15A No.11 Cab Personnel Lorry

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IBG Models are a Polish model company that make a smallish range of 1/72 scale vehicles mainly for the Allies. Some British and American trucks and carriers. You can buy them direct from the company in Poland, which is probably the cheapest option, or if you are like me you can get them at around AUD $20 per kit from good Australian stores like BNA Model World.

What can i say, you pay a bit more for these kits, but they are worth it. This Chevy truck was a pleasure to build. There isn’t much more for me to say! IBG make three or four versions of the same truck, plus some British Bedfords and Universal carriers. They have some good looking American trucks too which i am definitely going to try. For your Allied army transport needs do not look any further than this!

In the back of mine i put some crates and stuff and a few British Tank Riders from HaT. Same with the driver who is a cut down HaT figure. When i get some more of these i will try putting some relaxed Tommies from AB Figures who have just the right poses lounging around in the back….

The paint job was a simple olive drab and some dirt. Good decals are supplied. No arguments here this was a great model to build and i would recommend it to everyone!

 

Unimodel Sherman Dozer

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Unimodel make a large range of World War 2 plastic kits in 1/72 scale covering many nations and many different vehicles. Getting through Normandy bocage can be tricky and this Sherman Bulldozer is just the right tank for helping cut handy holes through the dense brush.

The kit is more complicated than other Sherman models, coming in over 150 parts including some tiny photo etched guards and lights. The tracks come in individual links around the sprocket wheels which take a little patience too. So its a challenging little tank but I think well worth the effort. Once the tank is built the dozer blade is constructed and just attaches to the bogey wheels. I did have to fiddle around with this bit and clamp it to get it in the right spot.

The hatch can be modelled open, which I did, and put in an AB commander from their British range. Although its an American tank, and all the decals confirm this, I didn’t think it would matter. The Brits may borrow him anyway. The kit comes with a 50 cal machine gun, but I used a 30 cal from a different kit that fitted better with my commander.

It was painted the usual olive drab, the fun bit was adding steel scratches to the front blade. Check him out in action below!

 

Airfix Bedford Trucks QLD & QLT in 1/72 scale

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The real shame for me these days about building Airfix kits is that they are mostly 1/76 scale and do not fit with all the other great new stuff out there. For old times sake i really want to buy some and relive those early days…… its a sign of getting old all this nostalgia. Fortunately Airfix do make a 1/72 scale kit of Bedford Trucks, the QLT and QLD, and i was very happy to build a couple of these a while back.

My British Army in Normandy definitely needed some transport to get them around the country side, and a few Bedfords are just the ticket. These are fantastic models from Airfix and fill a big hole in the 1/72 scale plastic choice for British trucks. The only other option i could find were from the Polish company IBG Models, which were more expensive for only one truck in a box. Airfix give you two trucks in one kit. Bonus.

Building these little fellas is a breeze, clear instructions, all round a great little model. I only struggled a little with the drive shafts in the chassis. I made sure i had them all fitting on a dry run before gluing. No drivers included, so i chopped down some HaT British Tank Riders who do a good job. Just make sure you paint the seats and inside of the cab and put in your painted driver before constructing the cab….. I also used more HaT British Tank Riders in the back of the troop carrying QLT. These HaT figures are great value and you get 44 men in a box, but if i do more i cant help wanting to buy more AB Figures instead.

I followed the suggested paint scheme with an olive drab and black camo scheme plus khaki drab and black for the tarpaulins. I actually used a permanent black marker to mark out the black camo scheme and then filled it in with black paint after that. Supplied decals are excellent and give you plenty of choice! There is no debate about these kits if you need British trucks go out and buy some! Some pictures below!!!

 

 

Hasegawa Humber Armoured Car 1/72 scale

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While i was on the Hasegawa modelling wagon i dragged out these two Humber armoured cars i made a while back, and thought i should add them to my blog. Great value when you buy from Japan or China these guys were no more than USD 10 each delivered to Australia. Better than buying from the UK at close to the same in pounds…..

As usual with Hasegawa models they were easily put together and not too complicated to build. I didn’t like the metal axle rods and lack of suspension. You need to fix the metal rods so the wheels do not slide from side to side or rotate. I should have fixed these two to an MDF base to prevent any slippage and also as they are quite delicate. They come with some stowage items like a box or two and some rolled blankets/tarpaulins. The crew figure, which typical for Hasegawa, is awful. So i replaced him with a crew man from Battlefield Miniatures. I also added aerials so the forward recce team can radio into headquarters when they spot the enemy.

Choices for your British in plastic 1/72 scale Humber Armoured Cars is extremely limited, and in fact i think only RPM make an alternative version. I haven’t seen that model but can recommend these Hasegawa kits as an excellent addition to any British force.

Looking at these pictures i may go back and add some more mud/weathering/dirt to my vehicles as they look a bit clean!

ACE Dingo Armoured Car Part 2

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I built the second ACE Dingo i had in my kit box. This time i learned from my previous attempt and so the construction process was much smoother. It took plenty of extra plastic removal to make sure all the parts fitted without gaps. I was also able to get my wheel alignment much better by getting the suspension on early in the piece. Still i had to cover some dodgy bits with stowage items. A definite improvement on the first attempt at this kit, but i would still try the S-Model Dingos rather than this ACE kit.

I added my AB Figures Dingo crew, one driver and one officer with binoculars. They were a tight fit but really make all the difference!

Here they are scouting out a very fancy French country house!

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Pont De La Croix

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Like many other wargamers out there I grew up with Gavin Lyalls “Operation Warboard” and endlessly reading his excellent battle of Pont De La Croix. I have seen a few posts on various blogs and in magazines about recreating this battle again. So 30 years on from when I first fought it on our ping pong table, my brother and I are going to refight an old favourite.

Below is the original map from the book followed by my interpretation on my 6′ x 4′ foot board at home. All the terrain and scenery is scratch built. Except for the trees that come from Hong Kong somewhere at less than 50cents each. This made me realise that I need a bigger table, my church is a little big for such a village, and I need to get something better than my bleached and sprayed felt ground sheet. The ground does not look quite right for me, needs to look more textured and natural. Let battle commence!

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Dingo Armoured Car by ACE Models

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 2 Comments

I picked up a couple of British Dingo Armoured cars from ACE Models via a good model web site in the Ukraine http://www.hobby.dn.ua

Only around USD 6 per kit i thought these were pretty good value, and choice for the Dingo Armoured car is pretty limited. Its a great web site if you want to buy any particular ACE or Unimodel Kit considering i think they are all made in the Ukraine. Worth checking for a bargain.

Once i got the box open though my bargain didn’t look so flash. It took a lot of cleaning up of extra plastic on many of the parts. Also some of the moulding on the surface of the upper hull was pock marked and not formed smoothly.

The parts did not fit together very well and there were gaps showing everywhere. Maybe my lack of skill but it was certainly frustrating to build. The kit also includes some tiny etched drivers pedals and other stuff way too fiddly for me, which end up invisible in the interior once you have finished. So a pointless waste of effort anyway.

I made the best job of a poor and annoying kit that i could. I had to add buckets of stowage on the car to cover up all my botched construction and crappy moulds.

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I did buy some very cool Dingo crew men from AB Figures, so my second attempt at this will include them. Overall i think i would probably go and buy the S-Model kit of the Dingo rather than this one if i had my time over again.

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Armourfast Cromwell Tanks

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 1 Comment

My first post is of four Cromwell tanks i have completed for my British Army troops in Normandy. These are great value (6.25 pounds from Hannants for a pack of two – I think i get a VAT discount being in Australia, normal retail seems to be 7.50), and so easy to put together. You can have them assembled in 10 minutes max really nicely with no issues. The hatches can be open or closed to accommodate any commanders you want. 20151004_144044To make them a bit more interesting i added plenty of stowage from Value Gear, SHQ, and Sgts Mess, plus some hedge cutters too. I added some aerials by melting and stretching sprue using a cigarette lighter. The models come with appropriate holes you can glue the aerials straight into. I picked up some decals from the The Plastic Soldier Company which do the job nicely. I don’t really care if they are not accurate for a particular unit – its purely for aesthetics.

Crewmen come from the fantastic AB Figures range, which are now produced in Melbourne, so lucky for me very easy to get hold of. 20151004_144534If you want nice simple models, that are good value, i would highly recommend these Armourfast kits. They give you plenty of room to customize them as much as you want, or perfectly good as they come. Considering i used to be happy with unpainted Airfix kits (i dont think i even bothered using a knife back then), these are a massive improvement. 20151004_14425920151004_144824

Colonel Mustard