Better than walking

Here are a few softskin vehicles recently off the painting table.

First up, a Ford/Gaz AA utility truck for my partisans. This was a kit I bought a while back from Force of Arms. (I believe Warlord games have since bought the range). The kit was supplied with a double axle and a office/radio truck body, but I decided I wanted to rather depict a vehicle that could plausibly be a civilian truck in military service - requisitioned or commandeered - that is now in partisan hands. I used a bit of textured plasticard for the loadbed, and some Evergreen I-beams for the structure.

I have recently seen some discussion about the scale of the ex-Force of Arms kits - some suggest that they are way too small to use alongside 28mm figures. While they might tend to 1/60th rather than 1/56th, I dont think the kit looks out of place with other 1/56th kits of contemporary vehicles. I think the narrow cab contributes to the impression of it being out of scale, when if fact it has a longer wheelbase and wider track than the Company B Morris 15cwt kit, for example. I am happy enough with the scale.

Next, a tricky little kit of a Schwimmwagen from Company B. Lots of tiny parts here, and some questionable casting of the main resin component. Needed a fair amount of surface preparation to sort out the numerous air bubbles, and some of the surface detail was sanded off in the process. There was lots to like about the kit as well - it is much more detailed than other offerings (I particularly liked the authentic VW-style wheel rim detail). I think the weathering layers probably obscured a bit too much of the camo pattern, but I was too far into the project to backtrack, so heavily weathered or not, I called it complete. My Heer force is not representative of any particular unit - it remains a force I collect purely as an OPFOR used for demo games and providing miniatures for scenarios.

And finally, another transport element for the South African 6th Armoured Division. Its a Warlord kit, representing a Natal Mounted Rifles with an NMC driver. This particular kit was not the best example of Warlord Games' rising casting. I had initially rejected it as unbuildable, but with some grinding of huge split lines and plenty of filling it (just about) passed muster.

I really like the result when building this kit with the canopy up - in my mind it is really evocative of Springbok jeeps in Italy. As is the roundel on the bonnet. Quite a few of the South African vehicles didn't ever carry the white allied star, but rather kept their RAF-style air recognition roundel from their training days in Egypt.