Revell 1:100 Bell AH-1G Cobra

 

A closer look at a kit which I got from the local toy store. I am trying to buy at least one modelkit from there each month and get most of the colors I use from there. I remember, almost 30 years ago when I made my very first modelling steps, this store had a very big assortment of so many model kits which impressed me much.

Now it is (literally) a small corner.

Their model railway department, my only local source for basing materials, closed two years ago. And my stocks are starting to run out. If they would discontinue their modelling sales, I would not get any Revell Aquacolors (which I prefer to use) locally, I would have to look for online sources or modelshops in other towns.

That is why I try to keep their modelling section "alive". Support your local modelstores.

I could not find pictures of this kit in its unbuilt stage on a quick Google search that's the reason for me making some pictures of it. First of all, this is no review but the pictures may help other modellers

These two sprues belong to Revell's AH-1G Cobra modelkit. As I an absolutely no expert in helicopters I can not say anything about its accuracy, but the sprues almost have no flash but some hidden but viewable ejector marks. On the body where you attach the skids are minor sinkhole effects, as on the weapon wings.

The clear part for the cockpit is at least one millimeter thick and distorts the view. Since there is no crew I decided to paint it from the inside with some kind of blue when I will build it.

The decals, printed in the usual high quality of Revell, offer only one option, the helicopter from the box top, a Cobra located in Bien Hoa, South Vietnam in 1967.

-

At the moment I am enjoying  the first day of my (home) vacation, and I just finished a miniature which I will show with it's companions later this evening

15 mm British Sherman Platoon For TANKS

Finally I finished my British Sherman platoon for future TANKS games. These models were included in the old Flames of War starter kit "Open Fire". After some struggles with the decals from Battlefield Miniatures, I found out how to work with them.

The tanks belong to the A squadron of the 2nd Armoured batallion Grenadier Guards of the Guards Armoured Division. The markings may not be 100% accurate, but at least they add a little more color.

MENG 1:48 King Tiger

Pictures of the Meng 1/48 King Tiger I finished today. This tank was modelled after the King Tiger from the playstation 4 game "World War Toons".

I instantly fell in love with this chunky design, and when the kit arrived, I was impressed by it's quality, even when it is a fastbuild kit designed to be build without glue, this kit is very detailed.

The build made a lot of fun and went pretty straight forward, yesterday I needed about 2 hours for constuction, the paintjob was done today via airbrush. Then I used a little drybrushing and added some wash on selected part of the model.

The numerical decals I used were included in the kit, the German crosses were taken from the sparebook.

The only annoying point are the rubbertracks which could be better. I had to remove the inner trackguding line for a better connection between track, glue and roadwheels.

A pair of hardplastic tracks would be perfect for this kit but it seems it is depicted more as a toy and not as as model kit.

I used a figure from the set "Ilsa and the She-Wolves" made by Pulp Figures as tank commander which fits very well with the scale of the tank.

The final picture shows the size comparison of a regular King Tiger and the toon version. Both kits are in 1:48 scale, but as you see, the Meng King Tiger may be smaller but appears very bulky.

In my opinion this tank could easily fit in 28mm weird world war 2 games, armies or scenarios. Use a bigger gun and let it travel to the 41st millenium.
My tank will cruise through the remnants of Rügen to find the origin of the so-called "Rügen Incident" and get valuable artifacts from this place.
 

28mm Mariya Oktyabrskaya By Stoessis Heroes

 

A closer look at the 28mm Mariya Oktyabrskaya miniature(s) produced by Stoessis Heroes. I bought this blister directly from him at the Hamburg Tactica this year. (If you read this, please make a Rodger Young miniature)

It contains 2 metal miniatures, one standing and one sitting pose. Also included is a small text on the back of the insert about the historical person on which the minis are based.

As you can see on the picture above one hand of the figure on the left side needs to be glued to the body, for the picture below I used whiteglue for a temporal connection.

The quality of the models and the casting are very good, like all other miniatures from Stoessi. If you want some nice additions for your 28mm ww2 armies, I recommend his shop.

The last pictures shows that the miniatures are true 28mm. At the moment I do not have any suitable miniatures for comparison, but in my opinion their measurements would make them fit in any Soviet Bolt Action army. And the left model seems to be ready to smash some heads.

I am waiting for a box of Warlord Games plastic Soviet figures, when they arrived I will make some comparison pictures with some other miniatures.

If you want to know more about Mariya Oktyabrskaya you can read the Wikipedia article about her. The English translated Russian entry contains not only more informations than the English one, it even has a picture of one of her "Боевая подруга" (Fighting Girlfriend) T34 tanks.

You can see Mariya Oktyabrskaya on the right side of the picture, looking into the camera. To build this tank it seems I need both Rubicon T34 kits to to get the matching hull and tower.

I always wanted to keep any advertising out of this blog but sometimes there are some shops worth to be mentioned. I do not receive any bonus for this.

3Dprinted 15mm U.S. WW2 Vehicles

This is the next batch of selfmade vehicles. All of them were printed with our Anet A8 3D printer. For gaming pieces the quality is pretty good, compared to my Battlefront and Plastic Soldier Company tanks and halftracks their quality is not so good anymore.

But to be honest, I like them very much, because this 3D printing stuff offers almost endless possibillities even with a very low cost printer like ours.
With some stuff from the bitsbox and some paint they look alright to be used on the battlefield.

Two M8 Greyhound wheeled recon tanks, take from this pack. As you can see, the wheels are not printed properly. But when they are on the table, they look nice. We use it for our custom TANKS scenarios which sometimes need some NPCs.

Not only the German forces used halftracked AA vehicles, this two are in U.S. service.

On the left side is a M15 halftrack (find it here), equipped with a 40mm bofors in the center flanked by a 0.5 cal browning on each side. The stl file was created for 28mm but I tried my best to rescale it to 15mm.

On the right side is a M17 halftrack, from this excellent collection. when I printed the quad Browning 0.5 cal. gun, I cut the machine guns apart from the tower and glued them back in a new angle.

For both vehicles the front bumper, the crew, some bits and the tracks (only the M15's) were taken from the PSC M3 kit, the front wheels are copies of the wheels from the same kit, made with instant mould and milliput.

The guns in detail. I did not much to them after printing, but I had to replace the barrels with plastic rods for a better look.

Thes two AA units will be used for some simple additional rules for TANKS, which we are writing at the moment. But this may take some time since the summer is coming.

This M7 Priest artillery tank came from the same source as the Greyhound tanks. The crew and some bits were taken from the PSC M3 kit. The (too) big barrel of the main gun was made from a tube of a Q-tip.

In the next few weeks I will have more time for posting, I finished a lot of stuff in the last time which I would like to show.