Not so Lone Stars

 

More Lone Star Bren Carrier fettling now.  These really are charming little diecasts and tatty examples can still be found for under a Fiver.  Tatty is of course good, as even the smartest will need some paint.  All of these had a going over with a dark olive green, but first came the issue of crew figures.  These chaps are a combination of cut-about Airfix, Deetail and Lone Star figures - the latter from a peculiar tinplate amphibian.  I didn't want the toy (since passed on to one of the Little Cold Wars faithful) but the six hard plastic seated figures were a great find.  Two of the carriers are indeed sporting Bren Guns, while the others have bodged up Vickers Guns.  The figures were cut to fit and glued into place.  Then came painting.  Finally a coat of varnish finished them off.

A tale of some toys.

 As I’ve had a few questions about the vehicles used in my recent WW2 game (see here Link), I decided that a separate post was in order.  Here then, is the eclectic selection.  

All three T34s are 1/56 scale plastic kits by Rubicon. 

The Lone Star Carriers were covered in this recent post ( Link) They scale out at 1/40. 

BA-64 is a Tamiya 1/48 scale plastic kit. It’s a lovely little thing. 

Kubel is plastic & diecast by Victoria in 1/43. 

More 1/48 Tamiya kits - above the Horch kzf70, below the Steyr 1500A.  Very nice kits. 

Here they are in company with (centre) a Solido Citroen C4 van. 

The Panzer IV is on the face of it a fairly nasty toy, but after ripping out the friction motor and repainting it looks fine. Slightly smaller then the early war Solido Panzer IV which is 1/50 scale. 

The Corgi range of 1/50 scale military vehicles is usually very expensive but they occasionally crop up at palatable prices.  They are lovely -  none more so than this Panther.  A better model than the still very nice  Solido version which is a bit too wide. 

The diecast and plastic 1/43 GAZ-67 is from one of the partwork ranges.  

Finally, this Sdkfz-10 with 20mm Flak gun came in a batch of other stuff some years back. It is both nasty plastic tat and a rather nice model. I think it would benefit from a repaint.  

Dodgy diecast delivery

 

A good crop of post today!  A box of diecasts included these splendid Corgi toys. I’m particularly pleased to have the steam lorry (about 1/50 scale) and no doubt a lucky senior officer will be glad of the fine Mercedes motor car. 

Carrying on

I’m a big fan of the old diecast Lone Star Bren Carriers.  Some time ago I picked up a few with an assortment of crew figures and recently I decided to sort a couple out as a present (lucky them!) for my 54mm WW2 Sovs.  I gave them a rough coat of green paint - just enough to cover all the bare metal areas. The running gear can be much improved by painting it all black and then picking out the wheels and suspension units in the same green.  A bit of gunmetal on the tracks completed the painting.  The crew figures are hard plastic and look more USA than USSR, but as usual a bit of paint makes all the difference.  DP machine guns were added, along with Soviet markings - a combination of decals and paint.  A coat of gloss varnish finished them off.  

Sdkfz 233 bodge

This was a lockdown project completed sometime last year. My starting point was a Solido Sdkfz 231 which had a broken gun barrel. As I have a couple more intact ‘231s I decided that a bodge was called for and remembering the possibilities of the old Airfix kit I opted for a short-barrelled 75mm. The gun and shield were cobbled together from plastic card and bits from the spares box. It’s intended to be representational and robust rather than accurate so I think those limited objectives have been met. 

The sweet Shmel of success? 2P26

This 2P26 Shmel - that’s a GAZ-69 with Sagger AT missiles - began life as a 1/43 scale fire tender, as seen in this earlier post. Feeling that my Warpact anti-tank forces needed some (but clearly not much) help, I set to work.

Having ‘cut and shut’ the plastic tilt, I built up the missile mount from scrap plastic. The rails were adapted from the rocket rails left over from a Matchbox Swordfish kit. The missiles are cut-down Sparrow missiles.

 A couple of bits of sprue were used to make the folded down frame which on the real one supports a canvas cover.

Festive French follies

 Bertrand and I have plans for a game based on part of the 1916 Verdun campaign. To keep the French supplied we have picked up a few of these rather fine Corgi 1/43 scale diecast Renault lorries.  Originally bearing various commercial logos, mine have all been sprayed a similar shade of grey to that on the Berliet in the Verdun museum. I’m sure the barrels on the one at the back are essential military supplies....

Berliet Comms Truck

This Solido models of a Berliet fire tender was part of a small batch of dodgy die-casts I picked up at Triples in March.  Having need for only a limited number of fire engines I mulled over other roles for some of the toys.  The Berliet will now serve on as a radio truck in a Brigade-level HQ - a purpose for which it looks the part.

The original paintwork.

Red is always a bugger to paint over, but from 3 feet away on a dull day and without my glasses I can hardly see all the bits I missed...

Hummers good and bad?

Following on from the dodgy plastic HMMWVs posted recently, we now both raise and lower the tone with more such vehicles.  The rather respectable looking sand coloured HMMWV was found on eBay for about £5 and is a diecast by a company called Victoria.  Aside from taking it out of te box it is untouched.
The other - well you may recell me buying it at the Birmingham Toy Soldier Show last year .  It was rather cheaper at a defence-budget friendly £0.10...  It was treated to the same olive over black paintwork as the other Hummers.

Worryingly I actually prefer the crappy plastic version - what do you think?

Mercedes G-Wagen

I picked up this G on eBay recently as it looked a classier ride for my senior West German officers than the Solido Auto-Union Munga* which had previously been their only alternative to walking.

Finished in a fetching but most un-military shade of reddish-orangey-pink I soon had it dismantled for painting.

Reassembled but with the blingy alloys and side steps left in the original silver.

*The name 'Munga' derives from the German 'Mehrzweck UNiversal Geländewagen mit Allradantrieb' or 'multi-purpose universal cross-country car with all-wheel drive'.  I can't think why they felt the need to abbreviate that.  Auto Union is now better known as Audi.  I wonder if they fiddled the fuel consumption figures for the Munga....

Solido model of a Munga

Fire extinguished. Unimog flatbed truck

You might recall that I picked up some diecast fire engines at Triples last month.  I've now made a start on altering their appearance.  First up we have this Unimog.  The fire engine guff was a plastic clip-on part which was soon unclipped leaving this useful looking flatbed.  One of the many nice things about Solido models is they are held together by screws....

...so are easily dismantled for painting.

Once reassembled the unsympathetic camera flash once again reveals that red is a tricky colour to paint over.  That said, the overall effect is OK.

Personally I think that flatbed is crying out for a 20mm flak gun....

Poorly Panhard patching

Remember the broken Panhard AML-90 in yesterday's post?  I fashioned a new axle from a piece of aluminium tube, crimped at both end to better hold the wheels.  Of the latter one was the spare from the Panhard.....

...and the other was 'borrowed' from a Unimog fire tender.  I know I should repaint it.....

Where's the fire?

My purchases at Triples last weekend included a box of cheap 1/43 scale diecasts.  Mostly Solido fire engines, these will no doubt show up on airfields or be bodged into other things.

The box also contained this rather challenged Panhard AML.  Aside from a wheel shortage it is very saveable.

I can see this little Berliet being bodged into a radio van for a brigade HQ.

The rear structure of this Unimog unclips, so I may decide it's of more use as a flatbed.