Japanese anti-tank gun. Or is it?

My latest bit of bodging resulted in this Japanese AT gun. It’s a sort of combination of the 37mm Type 94 and the 47mm Type 1. The crew are again adapted from the Tamiya infantry set while the gun is actually a Hinchliffe metal 1/76 scale German FH le18 105mm. If you stand about 10 feet away from your screen I think you’ll find it looks pretty good. My own standards being very low, I am very pleased with the ghastly monstrosity!

another week but the same website

Last week's post generated quite a few interesting comments, one of which alerted me to the fact that I had completely forgotten to mention the splendid Matchbox range of figures!  Here then, is my effort to make amends.

Possibly the best of the MB 1/76 sets.  The Afrika Korps figures still stack up today.  I only recently shipped my '70s veterans off to Paul in NZ.

 Along with the DAK were their old enemies the 8th Army.  Miles better than the original Airfix set and including both a 'Monty' figure and a piper!

There was also a small 1/32 range.  Of these I only ever had the Brits.  Indeed I recently picked up a set in a more recent Revell box.

We've had 'planes, tanks and figures but there was also an interesting range of cars.  The only one I ever built was the Tyrrell P34.

This bizarre F1 car raced during the 1976 and 1977 seasons, claiming it's only first place at the '76 Swedish Grand Prix in the hands of Jody Scheckter.

And finally....I recently bought an old Strikemaster kit.  I have no idea why...

Website of the Week

It's been ages since I posted a WOTW feature but once in a while I stumble on a suitable site.

One such is Matchboxkits.org.  I have fond memories of discovering Matchbox kits - in the far off 1970s they made for an interesting contrast with the staple Airfix offerings.  Oddly enough Bertrand and I were reminiscing only a couple of weeks ago about some of the kits we had built.

Anyway, back to the website.  Here you will find loads of information about this surprisingly large and diverse range of kits.  All images are copyright Matchboxkits.org.

To whet your appetite, here are a few carefully chosen images together with my own awards.

Winner - Worst use of two colour plastic.  The Gnat was the first Matchbox kit I built.  It may have been a nicer kit than it's Airfix competitor (I wouldn't know) but here the two-colour plastic rather let it down.  Red and Orange Arrows anyone?

Winner - worst scenic base.  My first Matchbox AFV - and save for an appallingly built Airfix Lee some years earlier - my first tank kit.  The base was a bit of a let down. being just a bit of desert!

The only MB ship kit I ever built.  Well, sort of built.  Prepared for a game of the St. Nazaire raid, this poor thing was hacked about into a representation of HMS Campbeltown after the charges were detonated.

Winner - best scenic base.  Not least because if you and a friend each had one you could make a complete bridge!  And frankly a rather nicer kit than the older Airfix Sherman.

Winner - nicest AFV kit.  I know this debate could run and run, but for my money the Panther was head and shoulders (or should that be turret and hull?) above other tanks kits of the time.  It still builds into a nice model and remains my favourite Panther kit.

Winner - wierdest 'plane.  Another hard fought category as MB did produce some oddities (Siskin, He-115, Ju-188, Fury etc) but when I saw this in the late 80s - during an extended break from kit building - I just had to have it!  It will come as no surprise to regular readers that I opted to complete mine as the pug-ugly Hungarian version!  I wonder what became of it.

Prolonged preowned panzer perpetuation - part 3

Concluding my look at this recently (re?)formed division, here are the rest of the toys.Above is one of the Panzer Grenadier regiments in old resin halftracks of unknown origin.  I added a couple of figures to the nearest model.

The other PzG regt.  Airfix Opels with more figures from me.

The StuG Abt with a high-mileage Airfix survivor, and Pioneer Btl with more figures added.

The Flak and Pz-Jag Abts.  Clearly not all of these sub-units would necessarily be fielded together.

The transport column - a pair of Lledo diecast Macks.

The whole ensemble posing for the camera...

...and snug in their boxfile....

...which is of course, neatly labelled!

Prolonged preowned panzer perpetuation - part 2

After acquiring these toys a mere five years ago and sorting them out a year later (see my earlier post), I have finally managed to form them into 9 Panzer Division for Megablitz games.  Originally built by Chris Kemp who wishes to remain anonymous (and rightly so, since he forsook the one true scale in favour of 15mm...), they came to me by way of a shadowy figure who we'll simply call Chris Willey.  I clearly remember using some of these toys in NQM games 20+ years ago so they are definitely veterans!  Above is the Panzer Regiment with a standard Airfix Panzer IV and a heavily rebuilt PzIII.

The Div HQ and staff.  That's a very full Kubelwagen...

The Aufkl Abt (Recce Btl), with Sdkfz221 (resin hull with Airfix wheels), unknown plastic motorcycle combo, Airfix '222 and a rather pleasing Sdkfz 233 converted from the Airfix kit.

The art regt with Airfix Sdkfz 7 and scratchbuilt Wespe.

The rest of the division will follow shortly.....

French LOG

I have mentioned before (and provided plenty of photographic evidence) that many of the softskins vehicles in my 20mm WW2 forces are rather dodgy diecasts.  The French do not escape this and one of the Corps logistic trains includes this useful offering from Lledo.  This manufacturer obligingly provided 'load' which clipped on (and indeed off...) thus facilitating the spray painting of the lorry while the load remained - aside from some weathering - as Lledo intended.  Hence this culturally appropriate Perrier* wagon.  Well the general needs something to dilute his Absinthe...

*although their last outing indicated more of a taste for Vichy water.....

Ukraine 1944*

* Huddersfield 2014 actually, but who's counting?

A couple of weeks ago I accepted an invitation from Pete (see his blog) to explain some of the mysteries on Megablitz to him and Evan.  Based on the toys I knew Pete had to hand I dusted off the Ukraine 1944 scenario I had used to demo the game at shows in back in 2002.  See the WD/Megablitz site for more chat about the scenario which was basically a means of gently running players through a few game turns.  I brought a few extra toys - including the 1/144 B-25 which finally turned up for it's 'dawn raid' at noon...

We only played a few turns - let in with a great deal of chatting, tea, biccies and other such essentials.  The few photos make no attempt to tell the full story but I thought you might like to seen them.

A division of my Romanians bravely trying to defend a 30km frontage - the 'Thin Brown Streak' perhaps?

One of the two Soviet Rifle Corps.

More Sovs, including the front end of 8th Guards Tank Corps on the road.

The Romanian artillery regiment, engineers (centre) and Div HQ (right).  Mostly Raventhorpe figures.  100 points if you can identify the gun model.

Finally:  The B-25 should have been accompanied by my Il-4.  But it was broken again.  Here it is under repair.  See also it's inglorious appearance at Kharkov in 2012: link

A history of Airfix HO/OO AFV kits - part 17 - 1977

1977 saw only a single new kit - but what a useful one!  I still think of this as a fairly new kit.  A rather more involved build than most Airfix kits, the Bofors - and more particularly the Morris tractor - rewards a degree of care and patience.

This pair serve as the LAA Regiment of 5 Indian Division.

A history of Airfix HO/OO AFV kits - part 16 - 1974

This was another epic year for new kits with three releases. I present them here in ascending order of usefulness.  But that's just my opinion!
Scorpion.  Not strictly a tank but (at least in British service) a Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked).  I did build one of these several decades ago but don't have one to hand at the present time, so I am indebted to Paul at Plastic Warriors and Richard at Wargames & Walking for the photos.  A neat if rather fiddly kit builds as either a Scorpion (76mm gun) or Scimitar (30mm cannon) and if your skill stretches far enough can serve as the basis of other CVR(T) variants..

Photo by Paul Foster

Photo by Richard Holden

Photo by Richard Holden

Photo by Richard Holden

Chi-Ha tank. More accurately the Type 97 Medium Tank.  Japanese vehicles in this scale are still rather scarce so back in the day this was something of a bolt from the blue!  I recently built a couple of these which featured in earlier blog posts.  It's a nice kit and well worth looking out for.

German Reconnaissance Set

What a gem this set is!  Both the Kubelwagen and the Sdkfz 222 are extremely useful for our wargame armies.  The '222 is an easy conversion into the MG-armed '221 and other such variants.

 A pair of standard models, these serve with my incarnation of 7 Panzer Division.

Sticking with the Rommel theme, this equally standard '222 is part of 21PD.

A history of Airfix HO/OO AFV kits - part 15 - 1973

Another three-kit year!  And what a trio.  First up is the RAF Recovery Set.  This contains two vehicles - a lengthy 'Queen Mary' trailer hauled by a (rather underscale) Bedford tractor....

...and a Coles crane mounted on a Thornycroft chassis.  Both are candidates for many conversions and bodges.

Speaking of bodges, here are some Soviet Komintern artillery tractors.  These use the Thornycroft cab (except the one on the left which is from a Roco Faun lorry) and Roco Panzer IV running gear

It may not be 100% accurate but these comrades seem happy enough!

Next - the Matilda infantry tank.  Really rather a nice kit - though the (largely unseen) wheels are a bit fiddly.

This pair were completed a couple of years ago.  Bendy gun barrels aside they are very solid little models.

And finally - the SA-2 'Guideline' missile kit.  One of many kits I made a real mess of back when it was (as the box claims) 'new' (well around 1978...).  The kit contained a ZIL tractor unit the missile and a semi trailer for the latter, as well as a launcher unit.

I don't have this kit built as god and Airfix intended, but a pair of modified ZILs lurk in my boxfiles.

This one has been adapted to mount the Katyusha rails from another (truly horrid) kit.  Behind can just be glimpsed it's ammo-carrying comrade.  And yes, I know the ZIL is a postwar vehicle but it was based on and bears a striking resemblance to the lend-lease Studebaker.  And that's good enough for me.