Finished painting the repaired 2nd Hand Esci M3A1, and am happy to add to to my Soviet Forces.
The original decals came with the kit and are showing their age.
All in all, a great little kit, that will be a recon asset, it will go on the list for air dusting and weathering.
Out of the Horde pile comes a vintage kit from Fujimi, the Type 1 HO-NI Tank destroyer. Two crisp sprues and some rubber tracks. As always with Fujimi a couple of crewmen to add a bit of life.
I have always had it in the back of my mind to wargame the Pacific war, and with my Matchbox ANZAC's coming along I suppose an enemy is needed. Always wanted to buy the Airfix Chi-Ha type 97, but have never actually come across one...so this will make a good start. I have 2 complete sets of Matchbox Japanese and probably 500 or so Airfix as well so the figures are not an issue.
Simple instructions and construction make this kit almost hassle free...
Until it comes to the front gun mantle shield, with the gun mount in place it just will not fit as directed, even after shaving 2-3mm off the gun housing assembly it still would not place flush.
In the end after tearing the gun off twice I let it be, my reasoning is perhaps the shield elevated as well.
Finished kit minus the figures, base coat of paint applied, I have base coated 7 kits today. This week I will be on a major paint feast.
Chintz uses a selection of Lend-Lease Tanks for his Soviet Forces.
Sherman Mk I from Hat/Armourfast, pretty basic but it does the trick. I find the later Shermans produced by this company to be better detailed and generally more interesting.
Sherman MkI again this time from Airfix.
We all know this kit has issues, so don't buy it for display. But as a wargaming kit it still stands the test of time. Cheers Spanky and Chintz for the photo's.
I have other items to add of course but these are on the reasonable urgent list. Oh great now its raining...
Step one, the hull. I was informed that the Mk VI's used in Crete and Greece were B models, but looking at the photo's from the battles, they maybe A models. Following the instructions I choose the B, and I have since heard that the JB Models/Airfix kit is not that accurate anyway. Nice fit in assembly.
Step two, turret. Again the B model turret hatch used. Some seamlines on the smaller parts. Being quite a soft plastic the excess seams are difficult to trim.
Final step, running gears and hull attachments, again nice fits. I left off the aux fuel tank from the instructions as it wasn't clear where it was actually mounted and out of the 25 or so photos I have seen, none were mounted.
The finished kit, looks rather funky, and not dissimilar to the Scorpion AFV.
The track sag gives the model a realistic look in my opinion.
I will probably dress it up a bit with some extra kit prior to painting. I have to admit it was refreshing to make a 'also ran' kit.
Cracked open the box for the Vicker's Mk VI Light Tank that I intend to use for my early WW2 ANZAC's. Used in Greece and Crete along with Matilda's, they will make an interesting change to the British late war armour I have been building of as late.
Nice reference photo here, looks to be a sand scheme over a base green, or maybe the turrets been alight...after all those are jerries standing up there.
Two sprues, with reasonable detail, the plastic is rather soft but not as soft as some of the HAT kits. Good to see that the running gear and tracks are a one piece job. At 1/76th scale they would have been fiddly.
RNZAF A4K Skyhawk. Paul used to work on the 'scooter'. Dust is the enemy of the modeller...
Kubelwagon, I think Blondie said this was his first non aircraft kit. Nice work here.
F4F Wildcat, great airbrush detail. A $20 kit.
Me163 twin seater and Tractor.
Single seat Me163 Komet.
He 162
While I was in Christchurch I took the opportunatly took go to a few model store to see what took my fancy. I was not looking for anything in particular, especially since I have been picking up quite a haul of kits lately, but it doesnt hurt to have a look.
While away another second hand kit arrived at home, ESCI's M163 Vulcan armed M113. This one has taken three weeks to arrive. While the kit was in good construction order the painting scheme will be removed by a good soak in oven cleaner and repainted into 1980's MERDEC.
All in all not a bad weekend.
I went over to Burnham on Friday night and met up with Spanky in the sports bar, after a couple of bevies I gave him the spare Matchbox parts he had been after (see previous post). By Sat night he had painted them up and added them to his collection...the mans a machine. Above you can see the Brickwork added to the Sdkfz 251/1.
Matchbox diorama base and troops added to Puma kit.
Skull added to Matchbox Panzer III base.
Matchbox Diorama base and troops added to Panzer II kit.
Crew added to Wespe SP Gun, he is yet to add the correct 105mm gun to the kit...not a bad effort, for such a short time.
While at the conference I was attending I also caught up with Paul 'Blondie' Blondell, who was my previous RNZAF Advisor. Blondie has been doing some nice work on some 1/48 scale aircraft, some of which I will post later on.
Off to Christchurch this weekend to attend an Officers Conference, while I'm there I will drop off a few items for my 'orrible mates. Spanky Dave will get a small pile of Matchbox Diorama Bases and assorted figures for his Matchbox Collection. His goal at the moment is to collect and build all the kits in the range...which is a great idea. He will also get a replacement gun for his Wespe as his Wespe is a terrible mixture of pieces. Secretly I think he his quite happy about this, as I have had about 10 emails asking for details.
My other mate Chintz will get a selection of Undead Warriors, which came as part of a large auction win. I have no real interest in these metal monsters and since Phil (when he can be motivated enough) paints a mean figure, will get more enjoyment out of them. 
Two ROCO Cromwell Mk IV's were included in the big haul that arrived last week. Normally I am not too fussed by offering from ROCO, as they are tiny being 1/87 scale...but I was quite impressed with these two.
Most of the ROCO World War Two vehicles I have seen have had quite limited detail, but this kit is well detailed with multiple rivets and vents. I have a Revell Cromwell in the stash, and it would be fair to say that this would be as good as that. Whenever I think of the Cromwell, I aways remember the 'Band of Brothers' mini series where in Holland a couple are knocked out on a road after failing to spot a well hidden Tiger. The sound of the shell pinging the Cromwell stands out in my mind vividly.
I think that repainted these would make a fine addition to the display shelf, perhap on a Matchbox dio base.
ESCI 251/1's ready for painting. Rear AA MG from an old Fujimi kit.
ESCI M3 Scout Car, Missing pieces sourced. I could not find a front guard and roller for this kit, so a wrecked Hasegawa M3A1 Halftrack front was 'cut and pasted'. A little large scale wise, it will do for now aka Field Modification. As it is going to be attached to my Soviet Forces a HMG was attached from a Matchbox T34, and Fujimi Tank Commander.
Since I decided not to use the pontoons from the ESCI 251 Engineer's Halftrack, I mounted them on a Airfix Trailer. I theorise that I can pull these by either my Ailled or German vehicles, therefore creating a 'Force Multiplier'.
ESCI’s Panzer Mk III/M, I don’t know what it is about the Panzer III but to me it is the essence of the Blitzkrieg. Light and fast it served right though the war years. One it’s 3.7cm gun was replaced with the 5.0cm long it gave it a new lease in life (for a short time anyway).
I have one of these mixed in with some Matchbox Mk III’s, in my mid war German Tank Platoon. I will probably finish this one to a display standard and mount it on a Matchbox base.
This display tank in Russia has given me a possible scheme to follow, much more interesting than Panzer Grey.
Panzer II/F Light Tank from ESCI. My mid war Germans have the Matchbox version and placing these amongst them would create major scale issues, so again this one should be for display.
Maybe a DAK scheme to finish it off.