Figure Conversions

More bits from the spares box.  These two ACW figures have been modified into Naval Officers by the addition of new heads!

This previously wounded Esci Africa Corps figure is now a radio operator.

New arms and new head for this guy.

Three Germans and a fourth former Brit.

Prone guy from an Indiana Jones truck model being dragged behind the truck, now has a panzerfaust.  The guy on the other end has a British paratrooper lower.

I got a number of the Indiana Jones trucks and so a number of the figures.  Pistol guy has a new head with helmet.

Troops Restored to Health

This pirate figure is now an honored wounded German veteran.  Man with hammer originally had a pickax.

Afrika Korps man has a new head!

Another panzerfaust soldier.

Group photo.

All of these troops were from the spares box and have now become useful members of the collection.

Hungarian

Cowboy with a Thompson.  The Thompson was sold freely to civilians for years.

One guy gets new head, new base, and two new arms!

My WWII Hungarian troops needed some heavy weapons.  These Esci Africa Corps guys had donated boots and heads to German units.

I replaced some of their parts and added bases for the machine guns.

Had to add a stable boy!

Italeri 1/72nd Scale Soviet ATGs

Italeri 1/72nd scale Soviet 76.2 anti-tank guns.

This is an excellent kit.

It fits together well and has zero flash.

The crew and accessories are good too.

Today they got primer painted.

Italeri Winter Germans

Even in bitter cold the troops have to defend against the enemy.

Having proper clothing is as important as having bullets, fuel and food.

New weapons can help to make up for manpower shortages.

Still, it does take men to operate those weapons.

It's a long war.

Winter Germans

Standing with rifle.

Advancing with rifle.

Sprue back.

Sprue front, you get three sprues.

Troops and command vehicle.

Winter Germans

SMG, standing, firing.

Kneeling rifleman.

Walking rifleman.

Rifle grenade.

Throwing grenade.

Winter Germans

These late war Germans are nicely equipped.  

There is no flash on any of them.

They are big and thick because the clothing is fluffy.

Even the bottom is detailed.

Kneeling soldier.

Gigant Problems

My Gigant project continues, but it is one crisis after another with this monster aircraft.

Take a model aircraft made for display and try and make it into a wargame piece and all sorts of problems will crop up. The glider is tail heavy. Really tail heavy. Four ounces tail heavy!

The kit is designed to be displayed with a little clear plastic dingus that holds up the tail. Not suitable for wargaming handling, so I had to fix it.

I got a lot of lead weights from my local train shop and put them in the cargo nose. It looked terrible, so I enclosed them inside a styrene "wooden" box. This way it will look like a big crated cargo, a lost Arc perhaps? Just built the plastic sheets around the weights and then added these little strips. It's the strips that "sell" it as a wooden cargo crate.

Looks like good progress on the Gigant. Hinges: done. Nose heavy: problem solved.

Now the nose does not close. I gotta make a latch to keep the nose shut. One thing after another with this model. Stay tuned for further updates as they happen.

Italeri 1/72 Scale

Gigant size hinges on the front of the Giant Glider.

I drilled the nose halves and inserted pins in them too. I trimmed the front half of the hinges down so that there are only four holes in the front half of the hinges.

The pins are as big as the machine guns.

As you can see from the inside, I glued the pins flush with the inside walls.

Making a functional model out of a non-functional one can be difficult and in this case will make it a bit less prototypical, but I am happy with the trade off.