Dutch 103rd Reconnaissance Battalion

Hello 2024 - a year I've decided that I will attempt to have a focus, and that focus will be Americans!  I have 3 US WW2 armies that need to be completed (and started!) and various USAEUR forces and a USMC force for the Cold War that need to be completed.

At the same time, I'm also trying to complete some Cold War Recce units for my (completely in my head at the moment) new Cold War game.

So what better way to start 2024, than with a Dutch force!  It all makes perfect sense to me!

So this is both a new project and more importantly, a completed project.  It's a full strength a platoon from the Dutch 103rd Reconnaissance Battalion based at Seedorf in West Germany circa 1985.  I think it has a great mix of vehicles - including a couple (the standard M113 and the M106) that you don't really find much in the Royal Dutch Army.

Here's all the vehicles that make up the unit:

The unit consists of the Platoon Commander in his M113 C&V command and reconnaissance vehicle, armed with a 25mm autocannon (centre front), a reconnaissance group (centre back), a tank group (obvious), a rifle group (in the M113) and a mortar group (in the M106).

Here's a close-up of the Commander in his M113 C&V:

The reconnaissance group is made up of 4 x M113 C&V split into 2 teams, each with 2 M113 C&V.

Here's some close-ups of the various M113 C&V's that make up the two reconnaissance teams. Team leaders are shown in the the turret hatch.

All the M113 C&Vs are 3D prints. The Platoon Commanders vehicle has been further modified by drilling out the drivers hatch and making a new open hatch. The commanders are all AB figures and the driver of the Platoon Commander's vehicle is an Airfix figure from their Dakota Skytrain kit, with a green-stuff dodgy headset added.

The tank group is made up of 2 Leopard 2NL

Both Leopards are old Matchbox models, and I've added 3D printed Dutch style smoke launchers and wire reel, plus Elhiem FN MAGs which they used rather than the German MG-3s. The Tank Commander is an Elhiem figure.

The rifle group is mounted in a standard M113

Again the M113 is a 3D print, the M113 commander is an Elhiem NATO driving figure, while all the infantry are also Elhiem NATO figures

The mortar group is mounted in a standard M106

The M106 is a 3D print and the mortar crew are again Elhiem figures

So that's my first completed non-American project for 2024.

Thanks for looking and have a great New Year!

Richard

Matchbox M24 Chaffee & Matador Models NM116 Conversion Set Review

Jumping to the next random topic - today I want to take a look at the Matchbox M24 Chaffee and the Matador Models NM116 Conversion Set.

I managed to get a hold of 2 of the Matador Models NM116 conversion sets 3 or 4 years ago, but only snagged a couple of Matchbox M24 Chaffee a couple of years back - so of course it wasn't until this year that I was able to have a crack at these.  Then once I started I was so put off by the whole thing that it probably took me all year to finish the two kits.

First off I love the NM116.  It's the epitome of a teeny weeny tank trying to take on the Soviet war machine - my kind of against all odds weapon system.  Here's a few pics of what it's meant to look like:

Here's a lovely side shot.  Some great stowage ideas as well that I will be stealing!

This is a more widely seen photo of the NM116.  A good view of the muzzle brake.

Not really an "in action" - more of a static display shot - but it does show in some detail the interesting Norwegian hard-edge cam pattern used on their vehicles.  Something I'm looking forward (ha!) to replicating. 

Now onto the models.  These are obviously not painted, and not even a "finished" build.  However I thought this was a good point to stop to show the original Matchbox Chaffee, the Matador Models conversion bits, and my dodgy add-ons.  Here's a couple of photos:

So looking at the 2 photos above, obviously the grey and green tanks are all Matchbox.  The 90mm new main gun barrel, raised engine decks, smoke dischargers and spades (which you can't see) are Matador Models. The white plastic card on the track guards cover the hole created when I cut of the large boxes that come with the Chaffee kit.  I also had to remove the sand guards (?) from these as I've not seen an NM116 photo showing a tank with these.  I added a couple of boxes from my PSC bits box on each side of the track guard - as also seen in lots of photos.

Significantly I also had to add, from plastic card, rod etc, the Simrad LV3 laser rangefinder and what I believe is the passive night vision sight for the gunner.  Before I can call it finished - in terms of converting - I also need to add a small rod in front of the commander's hatch which was an additional attachment for the turret roof mounted .50 cal.

This shot shows the Matador Models engine deck a little better:

You need to clean off any detail on the models engine deck before you can fit these.  I also need to severely trim one of them to get the turret to fit correctly.

This next photo was an attempt to get a closer shot of detail on the turret & main gun:

So I'm happy with the smoke dischargers - which are really pretty basic, but the main gun barrel is a little disappointing and I think the muzzle brake is completely wrong.  They were also very annoying to try and bend the resin barrel back into straight lines and I feel I was only partly successful.  Also I felt a bit let down that I had to make the laser range finder - something I consider to be fairly fundamental in changing the tank from the Chaffee to the NM116.

You do get a bunch of other bits and pieces - mainly WW2 stowage - from Matador Models, but these are really just to spice up the M24 Chaffee - they're not really for the NM116 - and I didn't use them at all.  I did use a big bit of stowage I made on the grey tanks glacis plate.

Final thing to say.  Even though I am a little disappointed overall with the conversion set, I am pretty happy with the overall look of the NM116.  Needless to say, I'll be liberally coving both tanks in cam netting and foliage so they'll end up more like the next photo anyway - so you won't be able to see much of the tank at all!

What tank?

So - that's it for now

Richard

Matchbox Phantom FG1/FGR2 - Revisited & Completed (Again!)

Well - as I posted last time I've revisited my Matchbox Phantom FG1/FGR2 kit that I "finished" back in December last year.  Back then, Paul Foster commented that the model might pop a bit more if I did the panel lines.  I completely agreed with him, and when the right product came along I decided to have a crack at it.

So here's the original:

And here's the new version

Original

New

Original

New

Original

New

So there we go - all done.  Interested in what you think of the panel lines - particularly on the top of the aircraft.  Too dark?  I'm not sure.  Typing this I just realised that I still need to hit it with a flat coat.  I wonder whether this will tone down the darker panel lines somewhat.

Oh well - I guess it's not finished after all.....  Will any of these projects ever end!!!!!

Richard

Matchbox Phantom FG1/FGR2

Carrying on with my attempts at aircraft, it was time to knock off another old favourite and complete this old Matchbox Phantom I started over 2 years ago.  As always with me and planes, it comes down to the painting - starting with trying to get the right colours.  I think this Phantom has about 4 different spray coats as I attempted to find the right colour.

Anyway - here she is in the livery of 23 Squadron whilst based out on the Falkland Islands:

All-in-all I'm quite pleased with out she came out.  For whatever reason I'm a bit disappointed with the way the canopies look.  I guess the light blue on the light grey doesn't look the same against some of the darker colours, but I can live with it.

Anyway - thanks for looking and welcome to the blog for 2017.

Richard