Topics

16

Showcase & Gallery / Power to the Plastic ! ( 1/56 figure kit bashes )

« on: February 17, 2018, 01:48:59 am »

I'm going to borrow Tracks idea and create  a thread on 1/56 plastic figure conversions . We've all done them , weather its just replacing a arm or head so your tank commanders look a little different , to full on butchering of bodies , arm and legs to get that unique figure for your squad . Everyone feel free to jump in and post pictures of dudes you've created . Would even like to see Frostgrave type mashups , I've got an idea of the Soldiers chain mail type  bodies with BA German helmets and gas masks , armed with a variety of German and Russian weapons  . Sorry I get side tracked sometimes . If possible tell us what parts you used on your conversions , of course if your like me you have a large stash of left and right arms with no concern from whence they came ,you just pick through the bin till you find one that fits , sort of ... and then you make it fit . Hopefully we get to see lots of neat creations and will be inspired by them to make more of our own . I'll start . I've always like the iconic look of the German mg teams firing over the shoulder of one of the crew . So I decided to make my own using the 2 kneeing Para figures . A lot of trial and error went into this with one arm ending up being made from parts of 3 other arms . Of course no pictures were taken during the kit bash , I've tried to note my progress on builds but I find as I think about what I'm doing , I tend to stop doing it . Creativity for me is just going ahead and doing it . Anyway here's my Para mg crew , and yes that is the extra  machine gun arm from the BA 251 half track crewman , finally found a use for it

17

Showcase & Gallery / Various WIP

« on: May 03, 2017, 09:28:09 pm »

Picked up my third Rubicon SU-85/122 kit the other day and decided to build it as a German SPG based on this photo:

And since I'm actually pre thinking my build this time ( not rushing into it as usual ) , I am going to try and post my progress . I'm using the Tank Power SU-85/100/122 and Peko SU-85/100 books as my main reference as well as various pictures in assorted books from my collection



 I will try explain my reasons for any changes or additons to the kit and try to remember  to post reference pictures for clarification .  Hopefully some of you might find this of some  interest ,and hopefully I will remember to post stuff as I progress in the build and  not just post the finished kit in a weeks time ( as I usually do  )

18

General Discussions / Your Go To Tank Books

« on: March 27, 2017, 01:01:37 am »

What are your go to tank books ?  I've been lending a few of mine out to guys from the LHS as they really have no clue where to look for info on paint schemes , stowage and kit bashing options . The 2 general one I use are the old ( old ) standards - Encyclopedia of German Tanks , and British and US Tanks in WW2 . Both great for showing you the various versions of tanks , half tracks and SPGs . Lots of prototype , display and in action / combat photos . Great for ideas on stowage and battle damage . The smaller book , Weapons of WW2 covers the more popular Infantry , Artillery , Tanks , Planes and Ships of the major combatants of WW2 . Plus its got some nice color scheme drawings of most weapons covered .  Not a stand alone book but great as a secondary reference .

As well I 've  got various Squadron / Signal , Osprey / Vanguard , Ambersand , Tankograd , Tankpower ,Concord , Schiffer and a few other one offs  dealing with one   vehicle  type  or Unit in combat . Just picked up the latest Haynes - Panzer III , great addition to the others , word is they plan a Stug book in the near future

So what books do you use for your builds , conversions and paint schemes ?

19

Showcase & Gallery / German Troop Transports

« on: February 19, 2017, 11:47:03 pm »

1st  the Rubicon Opel Blitz truck . Great model , nothing done to it except use BA heads on the cabin  crew and add metal seated figures to the rear





 Next the Rubicon 251  D , anther great kit with loads of options , I built it as  the 251/7  Pionierpanzerwagon







I closed in the space between the bridge supports to add stowage  and added a driver and crew figures

20

Showcase & Gallery / Panthers & Pumas & Tigers , oh my

« on: February 11, 2017, 10:22:23 am »

Now for a couple of BA Panthers ,  1st one done as a Command tank, no co ax mg , extra radio antennas and antenna stowage tubes on the side . I decided to modify the exhaust pipes and jack stowage  to the early version





Next , this one got homemade tow cables , opened turret rear hatch , extra track armor on the turret as well as various bits and pieces ( turret lift rings and close defence weapon )





this is the BA  Puma , nice little kit with lift rings and various extra tools added , then covered in foliage  . I decided to try turning the wheels ( 8 wheel steering ) but am not happy with how it turned out . Still looking for a good picture

21

Showcase & Gallery / The Allies - Poles & Canucks

« on: February 04, 2017, 10:05:03 am »

For a change of pace I decided to model some Polish vehicles from the 10th Mounted Rifles , an Armored regiment that had Cromwells and the Crusader AA





The Rubicon Crusader AA , a great kit that needed very little added bits ( tow rings on turret , shovel and pry bar on side boxes , the exhaust outlet in the rear grill and tow rings front and rear . Gunner and ammo drums ( yes they are in beside the gunner ) added from parts box





BA Cromwell , added turret lift rings ( then covered them with cammo net  ) Spare track is badly cast  BA metal Pzr IV track cut to look the part . Tank commander from parts box ( Tankers helmet is an undersized piece from a 1/35 Masterbox set . You never know where you will find stuff that works in this scale

22

Showcase & Gallery / Panzer III variants

« on: January 28, 2017, 11:38:35 am »

!st up a Rubicon Stug III kit built as a late Strmhaubitze . No muzzle-break , extra skirt armor on the sides , as well as concrete over the driver and right side hull roof  . Still need a few tank riders to be  added to the rear deck





Next up , a BA III converted to a Panzerbeobachtungswagen  (artillery observation vehicle ) Easy conversion , dummy gun , mg moved to centre of turret , extra bolt on armor front and rear as well as an extra star  antenna

23

Showcase & Gallery / Panzer IV

« on: January 23, 2017, 10:54:59 pm »

Here's my Panzer IV collection .







Just a few mods on these 2 , mostly adding scratch schurzen rails and panels and a few bits on the hull rears



This  one I decided to open up and add a crew , so I left the kit skirts alone .



This is my D . Still haven't figured out the turret doors . And I really should modify the cupola and turret roof . Still have one unbuilt kit so when I figure it out I'll swap turrets

Comparing hull rears G - D





Company B resin Wirbelwind conversion . A nice kit , a little tricky to put together , I found the metal guns to be very soft and easily bent . I added zimmeret as most were converted from tanks that had it . Its actually a resin copy I made of some Dragon zim , stamped into plastercine . Not to scale of course , but it looks the part

24

Showcase & Gallery / More Soviets

« on: January 18, 2017, 11:32:20 am »

More Russian vehicles , guns and a few troops .  1st a Universal Carrier , Russian style







Next a Lend Lease half track full of automatic weapons





And of course I had to add the drive shaft for the winch , cause eveybody looks for it 

Now a 76mm Infantry gun and limber ( gun PSC  , limber - scratch built )



Next the PSC 45mm anti tank gun with PSC/BA  kit mingle crew



Finally a group of dismounted tank riders

25

Showcase & Gallery / My T-34 Horde

« on: January 18, 2017, 09:24:23 am »

Here's a few pictures of my T-34/76 tanks , all Warlord I'm afraid as I got most of these before Rubicon made their far better  versions .





This is a complete rebuild of the  supplied  turret to make a realistic  Uralmash stamped turret . The Warlord one is way out of proportion



This one is a OT-34 flame thrower , with the radio moved to the turret



This one is a 1942 pattern welded turret . Using a very narrow chisel blade I removed the ribs from the wheels to make the early style dish wheels .

26

Showcase & Gallery / HOW TO - Easy kit improvements

« on: January 17, 2017, 11:21:00 am »

I like my hatches open and for the most part filled with crew figures . Most of Rubicons and Warlords newer kits come with separate  hatches  , the earlier ones  didn't . So how do you open up a molded closed hatch ? Well I'll show you how I do it

You just drill very small holes around the inside edge of the hatch , cut along the dotted line with a new # 11 xacto blade  .Using a file ,square up the hatch and using a very narrow chisel blade , trim off the remainder molded hatch rim . Remember the hatch itself will be larger than the hole you make so go easy . Using plastic sheet , cut hatch cover , I just cut a square a couple of mm larger than the hole and sand it till it fits . Add what ever internal hatch locks you desire , on the IV I just added a cross bar and a bolt . Not correct but looks the part .

You can use the same method to open the turret side hatches , then cut the kit doors in half , sand a little thinner , and add details as you see fit

BA Panzer III wip  It looks hard, but if you take it slow, its actually quite easy

27

Showcase & Gallery / Various Tanks

« on: January 17, 2017, 10:53:59 am »

I've built quite a few 28mm kits in the past year or so . I'll post a few of the completed ones here , and I'll start a new thread with more under construction pictures when I start my next build .

BA T-34/85

Another one with turret crew

Russian Universal Carrier

A Canadian carrier

Rubicon SU-85 wip

28

Showcase & Gallery / Mud Bogged T-34

« on: January 17, 2017, 10:40:44 am »

Using a left over BA T-34 hull and various Rubicon parts ( turret , track , fuel cans etc ) I built this bogged down T-34 . I opened up the drivers hatch , adding a dead  crew man , as well I added seats and a gun breach to that open turret .  The base is just a combination of ground foam , spagnum moss and Vallejo Russia mud

1.  figuring out the build

2. Its coming together

3. Finished !
This was a test posting as I think I have figured out to hook my phone up to my  computer . Now to figure out how to take better pictures

29

General Discussions / Hetzer Idler Wheels

« on: September 28, 2016, 09:34:29 pm »

. Over on "missing-lynx" one of the guys has posted 10 different patterns of idler wheel for the Hetzer that he has found during his research on this vehicle . It seems some guys just spend hours a day pouring over WW II photos with magnifying glasses  , who knew ?He noted in his comments that most 1/35 scale model companies give you an option of 2 in their kits . Rubicon has included 4 in theirs .  I  would just like to say well done Rubicon for giving us more options in our kit builds 

30

Wish Lists / Whirbelwind Turret ?

« on: July 22, 2016, 08:21:34 pm »

As an add on kit for Panzer IVs , why not make a Whirbelwind  turret ? You seem to have a handle on designing the 20mm guns in your 250/8 kit  and the turret shouldn't be too much harder to make than the 250/8 turrets , just larger . Could be a nice one sprue kit , 2 piece turret , 4 guns , gun mount , seats , ammo rack , gun sight and three man seated crew . I've got the resin Company B one , and although it's not a bad kit , it does take a lot of work to straighten out the one piece resin turret and untangle  (  ) the white metal gun barrels .  Not to mention having to butcher figures to try and get a crew in that turret