Armourfast 1:72 Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Part 4

Here are some detailed pictures of the Hanomag Sd.Kfz 251/1 made Armourfast(HÄT). This kit was announced some years ago, I remember that there was almost every second week a post in the HÄT forum which asked for the release date of this kit.

Let's take a look at this kit:

Front look at the sprue.

All parts are casted well without any mould lines or sinkholes except for the passenger seats. But why they didn't use the tan color of their other kits.

Back of the sprue.
I think it is the C version of this vehicle.

Some close look at the details: the rivetted hull, the front wheels
the machine guns (without handles, strange) and the tracks

The construction manual at the back of the box.
Note that some parts are not mentioned.

A first look at the kit shows that it is simple but has a lot of hidden potential. With some simple modifications this could be a fine wargaming model.

Airfix/Matchbox 1:76 German Pak 40

Pictures of the Pak 40 antitank guns made by Airfix and Matchbox. The gun on the left side is made by Airfix, it came with the Opel Blitz. The gun on the right side is made by Matchbox and came with the Sd.Kfz. 11.

I used the same colors as on the vehicles on below. No more text today because...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjhlhwW9d4A

Matchbox 1:76 Panzer III L

Decal Storage

This is a good idea for decal storage and originally I wanted to write about this in the next days, but the guys at Modellversium were faster.
Check out their small article about storing decals in albums for stamps.

Matchbox 1:76 Sd.Kfz 11

The Matchbox Sd.Kfz. 11 kit was build out of the box, no great changes were made to it, the only thing I added was a windschield. One of the tracks broke and I had to use cyanacrylat glue to fix attach it. This had some negative effects to the paint of the wheels.

I painted it in the same style that I used on the Opel Blitz. It was first painted with Revell Aquacolor Africabrown (#36117), then it got a mild wash with Citadel Badab Black, after that it was heavily drybrushed with Revell Aquacolor Beige (#36314). The tracks were painted with Revell Aquacolor rust and the cover was painted with Revell Aquacolor Beige (#36314) then i drybrushed it white.

Airfix 1:76 Opel Blitz with Nitto 1:76 Flak 38

The Airfix/Heller kit of the Opel Blitz in 1:76 supplied with the 2cm Flak 38 made by Nitto/Fujimi based on a simple diorama base which is made of an old cdrom, PVA glue and birdsand.

Some little changes were made to the Truck, I had to replace the frontlights because the old were used somewhere else. In addition I changed the loading area.
It was first painted with Revell Aquacolor Afrikabraun (#36117), then it got a mild wash with Citadel Badab Black, after that it was heavily drybrushed with Revell Aquacolor Beige (#36314).

The Flak 38 was built out the box, the only parts that I did not use were the supports for the shield, I could not figure out where to use them because I had no real construction plan for it. It was painted with some selfmixed grey, after that I drybrushed it with Revell Aquacolor Afrikabraun (#36117) and Revell Aquacolor Beige (#36314).

Giant 1:72 American Infantry

Some months ago I wrote about the German infantry figures made by Giant. Last month I got some more Giant figures from the bay and the lot included not only German figs but also American infantry figs. According to Mr. Eric Yin, check out his two blogs, these figures are downsized copies of old Monogram figures.

This set contains some usual poses, a handgranade thrower, a guy with his rifle, a binocularist and a soldier with a flame thrower.

A mortar, a kneeling gunner and a soldier with a mine detector.

Some more standard poses, a lying rifle man and a lying heavy gunner.

My favorite pose of this set, a guy with a bazooka with the loader.
Why do the major companies not add a bazooka loader to their sets ?

The Giant figures compared with other US WW2 soldiers. The second figure from the left comes from the ESCI US paratroopers set (#209), the second from the right side comes from the ESCI US soldiers set (#202), all others are Giant figures.

All figure bases are marked with "Giant (R) Made in Hong Kong".

As little bonus I added a bigger picture of the great artwork of the label.