T-55 Platoon

Next up is a T-55 Platoon.

Obviously this is made up of 3 T-55s.  As the Britannia ones were so yucky, and I had previously built a Trumpeter kit and found it to be very straight forward and you end up with a lovely tank - I decided to go down the Trumpeter route.  I also decided to find some Easy Model T-55s which are basically diecast versions of the Trumpeter kits.  The plan was to get a couple of pre-builts and one kit which would be used as the Platoon Commander's vehicle.

I ended up picking up these two Easy Model kits quite cheaply on ebay:

These would obviously need to be repainted...

So then I built the kit - which I then realised that I had already known that the Trumpeter kits don't come with any open hatches...  Bugger!  That ruined that plan...

So my remaining option was to only repaint one of the T-55s and leave the other as the "different" looking tank - to mark it out as the Platoon leader's vehicle.  As the prime reason for doing this was for use as Soviet Naval Infantry, attacking Norway, I decided to leave the "snowy" tank as is and repaint the one with the big cross on the turret.

I did of course jazz up the "snowy" tank to try and help make it look more like the others:

Comparing the tanks of the left and right hand sides I can't tell (from simply looking at them) which is the diecast and which is the kit.  You can when you pick them up though...

While I was doing the weathering I decided to re-weather my T-55 with mine-roller tank so it looks similar:

So that, along with the PT-76's, is the start of my armour for my Soviet Naval Infantry.  Next up will be their troop transports.

Thanks

Richard

More massed M113 mob madness

Just a few quick pics updating where this little project has progressed to in the last few days:

These "specialist" vehicles have all had cam nets added.  I had some spare bits from an old ESCI M113, so have added spare track links to all the AFVs and additional wheels to a couple.

All these have had additional stowage added and cam nets.

I plan on using this one as either a standard APC, or if I need a "special" M113 - like an engineers vehicle or something like that.  I like the ladder and can imagine it being "borrowed" as someone thought it might come in handy.

This will be my command track, with a full interior.  It's an ESCI kit with a few bits and peices added on the inside.

This is my not-so-quick, but still dirty (and not 100% complete) conversion of a S&S Models M577 that I got a couple of years back from a mate.  I wasn't happy with the amount of detail on the back or front, part of the generator (and tracks) had been broken, and I wanted to see if I could make it crewed.

So I've added a number of ESCI parts - the rear ramp, the trim vane, headlights, track guards (cut-down) and driver's hatch.  To fit the 1/72 track guard to a 1/76 model, it needed to be cut down - and is still not perfect as you can see in the middle photo at the rear.  I also had to add so plastic card mud guards at the front as this was missing.

It took a while, but I drilled and dug out the drivers position, and have the hatch open, so it can now be crewed.  I need to add back the drivers periscopes.

I filed down the side of the generator and added a thin peice of plastic card, which I drilled a few holes though to represent what it really looks like.

I also added a large cam net to the roof and tent poles to the upper rear, as that's where they were stowed.

The tracks also need to be fixed, and I should add at least 1 jerry can to the rear and maybe some more stowage on the roof.

So whilst it's no where near perfect - it's good enough for me.

That's it

Richard

Massed M113 Mob

I was about to post another entry of Cold war photos, but I thought It was about time I actually posted a real work-in-progress post, to show what I'm actually doing rather than some far distant project.

For a while now I've been collecting things for my USAREUR force.  I've shown a few infantry in the past and some MERDC ideas, but never actually psuhed on and finished some vehicles for the project.  So today I decided to get all my M113's together and start to stow them, and then stick on some cam nets.

Happily I think I've probably got enough M113's now so it's time to actually do something about them - so here they are

So based on the last photo front row - left to right:
Airfix M113 ACAV, ESCI M113 (with interior details and rear ramp down), S&S Models M577, Altaya M163

2nd row - left to right
Easy Model M113 Ambulance, 4 S-Model M113, ESCI M901 converted to be a M981 FIST-V

3rd row - left to right
ECSI M901, S-Model M113, ESCI M113, Easy Model M113, S-Model M113, S&S Models M106

Rear Row - left to right
ESCI M901, ESCI M113, S-Model M113, Easy Model M113, S-Model M113, S&S Models M106

Obviously some have had the stowage started while others have none.

Now to get cracking on the cam nets and other stowage items to these can go on the painting list.

Thanks

Richard