Over the weekend I managed to finish and photograph some tanks I completed as Task 2 of the 2012 Group Build on The Guild This consisted of a few Challengers and Chieftains. As I've already shown a Britannia Chieftain of mine previously - I thought I'd start out with the Challengers When the "Combat Tank Collection" magazine first started coming out - I guess a couple of years ago - I picked up 3 of their Challenger 1 tanks. They looked like this:
Reasonable models of the Challenger 1 - but UGLY! Deciding it was time to finally crack on with these I got myself a nifty special screwdriver from Spain that was supposed to fit the ridiculous triangular screws Altaya uses on its tanks - it of course didn't and I had to file it down. But once apart I was able to remove the tracks and spray the models black so I could start them afresh. I also added cam nets to all the storage bins on the models and changed the crappy commnader's MG with a Liberation Miniatures MG. I had in the meantime completed a Revell Challenger 1 (before they kindly reissued it) and was able to paint this at the same time.
So here they are: The 3 Tank Collection/Altaya models repainted A side on shot of the Revell kit
The revell Challenger is in front Thanks for looking
This week we are back into the Cold War with a couple of MMS BRDM-2 variants.
Firstly some good news on MMS. From what I understand a long time ago (in a galaxy far away) MMS used to make a pretty impresive array of Cold War vehicles. Some time ago they stopped. It seems they must have decided to concentrate on WW2 vehicles.
Luckily for me I have a friend who has a little stock of Cold War MMS vehicles that I am slowly buying off him. Some appear every now and again on ebay as well.
Now the good news: The Hobbyden has recently announced that they are taking over the MMS modern Range. It looks like , their main emphasis will be the Cold War and in particular their first releases will be focussed on the Soviets. Unlike the original MMS (at least what I have seen of it) all the stuff done by The Hobbyden will be produced in resin and metal - which means it will weigh a lot less for postage.
So that is really good news - The Hobbyden also has a range of stuff made by them that suits the Cold War - go check them out.
Okay - so onto my MMS BRDM-2 variants. Here's a wikipedia link with more information on the BRDM-2:
I can't really say too much here as i got both of these vehicles completely made up. Recently however, I did get a MMS BTRD in its original box - still in peices so I'll give a proper review of that one later. These are very heavy models and basically all I can say is that they look pretty damn good to me!
Painting
I simply painted these as I pretty much paint every Soviet bit of kit I have - so nothing new there.
So - on with the show. First up is a BRDM-2UM Command Vehicle
Its a pretty boring model - hence just the one photo - but it does the job I think.
Next up is a 9P148 Konkurs. I really like this one:
Again - pretty standard stuff but a lovely detailed little model.
Bottom line - keep an eye out for MMS releases from the Hobbyden and watch out on ebay - well worth it.
This is not exactly (well anything like) what I had intended on posting up this week....
Over the Easter long weekend The Guild hosted a speed build with the theme being "Prisoner". There were basically no limitations but it had to have at least 2 figures in it.
I looked through all my stuff, and the only "Prisoner" related stuff I could come up with came from this Revell soft plastic infantry box:
Three figures really suited what I had in mind - which was a prisoner (obviously) being lead by an armed soldier -
- to an officer like figure for questioning
(PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE EXCELLENT PLASTIC SOLDIER REVIEW WEBSITE)
Due to the nature of the German figures I decided to title my entry as "Person of Interest" - somewhere in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
So without further stalling - this is how it turned out:
That's all for now - hope you all had a great Easter break
Well it's been yonks and last night I finally got around to taking some pictures so now I can actually update the blog. I even took photos for next week too!
So - onto the Tracked Rapier. Since I was very young I was pretty fasinated with the Rapier. I guess I had seen loads of pics of them being deployed in the Falklands and thought the look pretty mean. Later when the British Army deployed a mobile version (the Tracked Rapier - obviously) I thought it had a real sci-fi look to it, and it took mean to a hole new level.
Anyway - if you want to find out more info on the Rapier Missile and the Tracked Rapier - you can look here
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be given a completed Cromwell Tracked Rapier. It was a little worn, and had some odd decals and so I cleaned those off and re-undercoated the vehicle. I then masked it up and sprayed it with Battlefront Warpaint British Armour Spray. A few dry-brushed coats and a little detail painting and here is the finished product.
Here's a couple of youtube clips about the Tracked Rapier:
Old school Rapier battery - like the first one I saw in real life...
The 3 Tank Collection/Altaya models repainted 
A side on shot of the Revell kit 
Thanks for looking 
