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Greetings!

'A gaping silken dragon,/Puffed by the wind, suffices us for God./We, not the City, are the Empire's soul:/A rotten tree lives only in its rind.'

Sunday, 23 December 2012

Under other flags...

... One of the themes that has emerged here over the last few months has been kit in unusual finishes, or adopted and adapted by enemy forces. I think it started with my nearly 40 years in the making conversion of a Stug III into a SU76i, then there were the T34s in German finishes, the Stug III in Bulgarian colours, as well as the tiny Traction Avant in Luftwaffe colours, and the Somua under the German flag. I've rather enjoyed this as a theme, so I was attracted to this article in the current issue of Military Modelling (7th December 2012):


A very nicely done conversion, in 1:35 scale. The standard of builds and finishes in the military modelling press is quite amazing. There are some very talented fellows out there, especially in the 'making plastic look like armour' field. Anyway, it occurred to me that it would be fun to make a one true scale (i.e. 1/76, or 1/72 - so, 'two true scales') version of this US vehicle in German colours. I know I have an Airfix 57mm/6pdr knocking around somewhere, but what M3 should I use? What companies make them, and which looks the business? Answers on a 'comment' please.

Things still progress on the Bay of Pigs front, with more Castro militia finished, including this chap trying out the Robert Capa photo from the Spanish Civil War (posed, or not...):


As you can see, I even stretched myself by giving this poor Fidelista a Castro beard.

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8 comments:

  1. Giano23 December 2012 at 16:15

    Poor fellow - but nice figure!

    As for the M3, Italeri makes a fast-assembly self-propelled 75mm on the M3 chassis, of course there are still some differences but having already a gun mount could make the conversion easier. As a plus, you get two vehicles per box.

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    1. AlFront24 December 2012 at 12:05

      Thanks, Giano. That sounds as if it will be the choice, especially given DaveM's nots in the comment below. Hope you have a great Christmas, and a Happy 2013!

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    2. Giano24 December 2012 at 12:23

      Thanks, Merry Christmas and Happy 2013 to you too!

      Delete
  2. DaveM23 December 2012 at 17:57

    I think Giano has it in one, though with that option you won't get a winch. The Italeri standard M3 would be quite hard work as the crew compartment is moulded as a single piece with all the seats etc. The other choices are not great. I'd probably rule out Airfix (too much work to make anything remotely accurate). Academy you'd be butchering a fairly expensive 'display' quality model. Hasegawa variants could work but their US HTs are all massively overscale for the advertised 1/72. The other one that could work is the diminutive Matchbox/Revell M16, though unfortunately this kit is underscale even for 1/76.

    Cheers, Dave

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    1. AlFront24 December 2012 at 12:07

      Cheers, Dave. That is just the sort of info I needed, as I had wondered about the Italeri standard. So, it will be the Italeri fastbuild. Pity about the winch though.

      Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2013!

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  3. tradgardmastare23 December 2012 at 22:51

    Being season should it not be bay of Pigs in blankets?

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  4. tradgardmastare24 December 2012 at 09:57

    Merry Christmas to you and your household from all at Tradgardland!

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    Replies
    1. AlFront24 December 2012 at 12:07

      Thanks Alan! Merry Christmas to you and yours! Hope you have a fine Midnight Mass tonight.

      Delete

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