Ideas for accessories for 1/56 scale armour

[Pinky]

I always prefer my tanks to have plenty of stowage.  Even German tanks, which were normally far less heavily stowed than Allied vehicles, look better with some helmets, water bottles and jerricans hanging off them.  Until Rubicon put out some plastic accessories of their own, it's necessary to find other sources.  From what I've been able to find out, it seems to be a fairly limited choice. 

The only dedicated 1/56 scale accessories are produced by Warlord and Die Waffenkammer.  Warlord's are metal, and Die Waffenkammer's are resin.  I'm not keen on attaching lots of metal to my plastic tanks, so I'd rather go with the resin.  I'm not sure about the quality of Die Waffenkammer though - the photos of the accessories sets on their site aren't very clear, and the painted examples on the web look a bit misshapen.  Has anyone had any experience of these?   

Tamiya produces a reasonable range of plastic accessories in 1/48 scale, and I've found that many of these work quite well - my Rubicon M4A3's now have a lot of stowage courtesy of Tamiya.  It's slightly over scale, but it doesn't matter when it comes to bedrolls and generic boxes.  It doesn't work so well when it comes to jerricans, spare wheels, spare tracks and ammo boxes, because they are obviously too big (just compare the 1/56 scale jerricans in the Warlord SdKfz 251 kit with the 1/48 scale Tamiya version).  Helmets and packs are okay, because they tend to be over scale on 28mm minis anyway.

Black Dog, a Czech company, do a range of beautifully sculpted resin accessories which are designed to fit Tamiya kits.  Unfortunately, they're also therefore 1/48 scale, and probably difficult to adapt to 1/56 scale.

You can also use Tamiya 1/48 scale figures to crew your 1/56 scale tanks, although you need to be selective.  28mm minis tend to have 'heroic' proportions, with oversized heads and hands, and shortened legs; Tamiya figures more naturally proportioned (although they have always been rather too slender looking).  Tamiya figures look okay if you remove the legs, which is fine if they're sitting in hatches.  They will probably look better if you replace the heads and arms (assuming they're going to be fielded with Warlord minis).  Tamiya's British tank crew are especially nice - you get enough on one sprue to crew a few vehicles.

Have I missed anything?  Anyone got any other thoughts or preferences?

[ripley]

Coming from building 1/35 scale kits , I am really disappointed in  the lack of 1/56 scale add on detail parts . I've built all the BA plastic kits , and you get very few extra bits . While a large scale tank will give you half a dozen short lengths of spare track , the BA Panzer IV gives you one , and you still have to make the bar that holds it on to the front of the tank . Easy enough to do but an oversight by BA. The best fuel cans , so far are the ones in the plastic Puma kit , followed by the Panzer IV . The others , including Warlords 5 can metal lump  are way under scale , the single metal cans seem to be copies of 1/48 scale fuel cans , so much better .Other BA metal bits like the Sherman wheels and spare track are IMO perfect , the extra British kit ( helmets , packs ) , much to small . But the extra canteens look fine . The German extra kit is hit and miss as well , some pieces too small , some too big and some right on the money . The German metal track bits were very badly molded and needed lots to work to clean up . And the larger vehicle kit  set has , what looks to me some 1/35 scale bits included in the mold ( German grenade case ) , and most detail is very soft ( well worn mold ) . With a little extra work and extra bits they look OK , but don't think like I did that you can just paint and add to your vehicle . I've done all right for extra stowage by raiding my Spares box for smaller 1/35 scale tarps a boxes as well as digging out my model railroad bits for crates and extra tools , shovels , sledge hammers , etc . Even found some tank detail bits for my Sherman on an old ROCO Mini Tanks kit sprue . Hopefully , there will be enough interest in 28mm- 1/56  scale kits that some one will produce   some scale crew, stowage and detail parts . Until then its back to the closet to dig through dust train boxes 

[Rubicon Models]

We are aware of the need for some 1/56 stowage, spare tracks, crews, etc... In fact, we had a good portion of the material done.  Unfortunately, we just don't have the time to dig though the various drawings and turn them into a sprue. 

You need a lot of planning to make the sprue a good one - just give us some extra time!  Expect to see one this year!

[ripley]

That's great news , I'm running out of small bits in my Parts box .  Another thing that bugs me is molded on tools and tow cables .  Yes , these kits are for gamers ( some have a problem building kits - too many pieces ) and its easier to have molded on stuff for the piece count and design stage . But , might be better just to leave the tow cables off, just mold tow cable ends , and give us the option of making are own cables out of wire or string  .Most gamers wouldn't notice they were missing . Its a lot easier to add to a kit than to try and remove a lot of molded on detail around detail you wish to keep . Thank goodness for extra kit to cover up those parts of fenders I've made a mess of trying to remove molded on details   

[Pinky]

You need a lot of planning to make the sprue a good one - just give us some extra time!  Expect to see one this year!

That's true.  PSC just released an accessories sprue, and included way too many crew figures, for which they seem to have got quite a lot of flak. 

My thoughts on what would be included on the ideal German accessory sprue (assuming no crew are included) are:
jerricans - at least 8 (you can never have too many!)
helmets - at least 5
packs - at least 5, preferably not identical
ammo boxes - at least 6; arguably these could be fairly generic, rather than for specific ammo types, and a mixture of wood and metal types
rolled blankets/tents - at least 4 - these should be designed mostly to fit the engine deck of the Panzer III, StuG III and Panzer IV
spare tracks - 2 strips each for Panzer III/StuG III, Panzer IV and Panther
spare wheels - 2 each for the same vehicle types
machine guns - 2 each of the MG 39 and MG 42 (maybe in the 'chunky' 28mm style)
other stuff (if there's room left on the sprue) - small oil can, tool box, MG ammo cans, water bottles 

[Laffe]

Buckets!!! There seem to be a bucket hanging on the rear of every other german tank for some reason.

The British in North Africa had "escape packs" hanging on the outside of each vehicle. This would be a regular infantry backpack with first aid kits and water bottles which you could grab if you had to bail out. One per crewman, and the practice was continued in Europe and Italy by those units thad had fought in North Africa. So infantry backpacks and extra water bottles if you do one for brits.

[Pinky]

Buckets!!! There seem to be a bucket hanging on the rear of every other german tank for some reason.

Good point!  I forgot that one.

An Allied accessory sprue would be similar, but with a lot more soft stowage and boxes, since Allied vehicles tended to be much more heavily stowed than Panzers.  Right now I'd just settle for some spare M4 wheels; every British Sherman seems to have had at least one...

[ripley]

The only problem is Tank Ammo boxes are not generic . Certain rounds are stored / shipped in its own style box . British 6 pounder came in wood and metal boxes , either 2 rounds side by side or 4 in a double row of 2 . The 17 pounder came in 2 round wood or metal boxes . The ammo for the Pak 38 50mm on the  Puma came in a metal box of 4 ( 2x2 ) , while the Pak 40 (75mm ) came in tubes of 1 . The Russians had it figured out by having a box with slide in inserts for various size rounds . The box for the 76mm round could also hold 57mm and the 122mm box could also handle the 152mm round by changing inserts . And the Brits had a whole host of stuff that fit in the 25 pounder style boxes . True , most crew used empty ammo  boxes for kit stowage , as ammo on the back deck would be hazardous to the crew under fire . Although pictures do sometimes show loose shells and boxes on the rear - ie Churchills and Shermans in Italy being used as Artillery to shell German mountain positions.

[Pinky]

I know, Ripley, but I think that it would be possible to design a few fairly generic types of ammo box, in wood and metal.  Or just supply the types relevant to the more common vehicles - bearing in mind that these kits are primarily intended for wargamers, who aren't going to be too bothered if the ammo box on their StuG is for the specific version of the 75mm gun its armed with.

[ripley]

Your right , its hard sometimes to go from scale model builder mode to gamer mode  . Hopefully someone will come out with 25 pounder ammo boxes at least , everybody used them as they were  water tight . Even the Yanks had them issued , a version held the 2 inch mortar round for the smoke launcher in the Sherman turret roof . A lot of ammo boxes really aren't that great for kit stowage , too narrow in height , they're made to hold 2 or 4 rounds .. Others like the Pak 38 canister had metal spacers welded  in it for the rounds so there is no room for stuff . Generic style wood boxes or crates would be best ,something that the engineer types  could knock together from stuff at hand . But still would like ammo boxes for diorama purposes .

[Cat]

Hmm, buckets.  Also, shovels and picks with the brackets that hold them onto the sides of vehicles.

[Laffe]

Another one I thought of, there are a couple of pictures of Panzer IV's with T34 tracks welded to the hull as extra armour. Maybe they are multiple photos of the same vehicle.





Just in case you haven't filled the sprue yet 
Of course, if you do a sprue for soviet vehicles as well one could pinch a couple of tracks from that one.

[Rubicon Models]

We have already taken up the task of designing a useful stowage frame for each country... starting with Germany!  As we grow our range, we will include the American, British, and the Soviets too!  Stay tuned!

[airborne]

Could you tag these in with Trailers? ( See wish list post).
Cheers.