Kit Build/Review: 1/72 PSC German Trucks

Although they're very basic, I do really like these PSC kits. Sure, they're not exhibition quality. But that's not the idea. They're simple, robust wargame models. And they do the job superbly, in my view. I already plundered this box to help me finish my Zebrano Einheitsdiesel, covered in the previous post. 

Now, with the remainder of the contents of the box sitting about getting in my way, I figured why not start building them? Well, one argument against would be the enormous backlog of unfinished models that's accumulating on my workbench. But, ah, the feck wi' it, as they might say on Craggy Island. 

Painting the interior of the cab, and the figures.

I've decided to make the first one up as a Mercedes, as I already have a few Opel Blitz models built. I'm really loving working on rear-echelon materiel. Today I've put most of the truck together, and painted the inside of the cab and the two figures, albeit the latter is a quite basic paint job.

Teresa watched a godawful sci-if movie as I beavered away. I then watched another, sort of, whilst working on my models. The one Teresa watched was called The Predator, or poss Predator II, but didn't seem all that related to the original Arnie movie. I didn't find out what my one was till the very end, Extinction. Although I didn't pay it close attention, it seemed alright to me. Certainly a lot better than the Predator one.

Tigger's not interested or impressed!

Tiggy remained unmoved by Sci-Fi horror, or my modelmaking efforts! Now I'm chilling with snooker on YouTube, and getting ready to climb the wooden hill to Bedfordshire. Tomorrow we visit Patrick on his boat. But I hope to get some modelling in as well.

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The next day...

I have three German trucks at present: Airfix, Zebrano and PSC.

Sunday evening we got back from visiting our pal Patrick, on his narrowboat. I assembled the painted interior and figures for the cab of the PSC Opel Blitz truck, at right in the above picture. At left is an Airfix Opel Blitz, from the set that also includes a Pak-40 gun and crew. And in the middle is my recent Einheitsdiesel with Flak-37.

I have two more unbuilt PSC trucks, and numerous others in the pending pile, including several ambulances, a fuel tanker, and a whole heap of various staff cars. I also harbour a strong desire to scratch-build a few trucks (some partially, using the PSC left-overs, etc, some completely), using resources like the Nuts And Bolts [1] title, issue 32, on German 6-ton lorries, and other reference materials.

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NOTES:

[1] You can find the complete inventory of Nuts & Bolts titles here.

1/72 Armourfast Shermans

Armourfast themselves sell these kits for £7.50 per box; I recently acquired four of their several different Sherman variants at Euro Miniature Expo, for £6.75 each. Considering you get two tanks per box I think that's pretty good value, in terms of cost per tank.

However, these are most definitely wargaming models; Dragon or Trumpeter they ain't. If you're buying tanks for a wargaming army, as indeed I am, the fact they're cheap, simple to build, and - due to their simplicity and lack of fine detail - robust enough to withstand frequent handling, are all potential pluses.

Simple kits = easy/quick build.

Assembly line in production!

'Finescale' modellers, looking for display-case suitable single vehicles should look elsewhere. For myself, I don't mind - in fact I quite enjoy - the detailing and/or conversion of my models. Fabricating my own detailing for these Armourfast Shermans has been a fun project. 

I started by adding all the 'eyelet' type rings; I think these are for lifting the tanks during transportation, but possibly also they're for mounting cables/stowage, etc. After that I made the 'wire-frame' style doodads that I suppose are for covering/protecting the headlamps. This was harder, and more time consuming. I'm currently pondering how I might add track-tread detail, to the visible fore and aft portions of the tracks.

Wire eyelets added.

At the rear of the turrets I opted to use styrene for the final eyelets.

The models not only lack detail, but come without decals. Armourfast sell some suitable stuff by Black Lion via their website. They also stock/sell numerous add-ons, such as stowage and the like, for detailing their tanks. The extra costs in these areas, plus the time you might choose to spend working on these very basic kits to enhance them, make them more costly in real terms than the box price might suggest. But they'll still come in cheaper per tank than the more high end models.

Headlamp protection, attempts #1 and #2: left, too big/thick; right, too fiddly to mass-produce.

Left, nigh on invisible, right, too big!

Attempt #3, using plastic-card. Much better.

I also recently purchased a box of Plastic Soldier Co. Shermans. These come three to the box (this said, my box - bought at local charity shop for £5 - only had two!), and are slightly more detailed, with more pieces to assemble: of particular note, the Armourfast running gear (wheels and tracks) are one piece castings, lacking tread detail (which can be a nice aspect of the various Sherman types), whereas PSC are three piece, with much better detailed track. But, in the end, the PSC kits end up costing the same per tank, roughly, as Armourfast models.

Tow-cable eyelets added to all six U.S. Shermans [1].

Scrtach-building a pair of sirens.

The sirens in situ.

Rear lamps were also added.

The M4A2 75mm variants got several tools added at rear.

The M4A3 105mm (centre) have less rear detail; M4A3 75mm (right) sport large stowage bins.

So, if you're looking to build quick/cheap larger forces, Armourfast are, economically, a wise choice. If you find the fun of kit building resides in off-the-shelf hyper detail, buy a different brand. If you like detailing stuff yourself, as I do, then the limitations of these models present an interesting challenge. All told, balancing the lack of detail against value per model, I'd rate these at four stars/balkankreuz.

Halfords matt grey undercoat.

Viewed from the rear.

Humbrol acrylic olive Drab aerosol sprayed on.

And from behind...

So, that's how they look at present. The losing of my Images of War reference - I bought a book dedicated to pictures of Shermans in WWII at the recent Expo, specifically to help me detail these kits - is very galling. I'll return to these at some point soon, to add more stowage, populate them with some figures, add decals, and then, finally, weather them, etc.

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NOTES:

[1] I've built the Armourfast Sherman Firefly variant, a British type, but they're not covered in this post.

Kit Review: 1/72 Pak 38 - Plastic Soldier Company

This small box from Palstic Soldier Company has eight sprues. Four each of two sets. One dedicated to the guns, and one to the crews. The guns can be built either as Pak 38 50mm, or Pak 38/95 75mm weapons. Rather strangely, perhaps, the cover of the box shows a gun with the wheel of a 75mm gun, but the muzzle of a 50mm gun.

I wouldn't have known this offhand. And indeed, the only reason I do is because, whilst the box I bought from my local model shop came with no instructions, I was able to find them, as PDF files on PSC's website. It's thanks to the online instructions that I can deduce the above, re gun types. Maybe it doesn't matter anyway? Perhaps both types of gun could sport either type - spoked or solid - of wheel?

I must confess that I was surprised there were no instructions in the box. What would someone without the internet do? And even the online PDFs aren't as informative as they could be. I had to deduce a few things about construction by using a bit of common sense, whilst dry-assembling various parts.

Quality of moulding and casting are superb. There's almost no trace of mould-lines, and pretty much no flash at all. Nor are any parts marred by ejector pin marks or other oddities. So snipping the parts off the sprues and cleaning them up for assembly is straightforward. Design and fit of the parts is also excellent, especially in regard to the guns.

These build into simple, robust models, ideal for wargamers. I chose to hollow out muzzles, which is tricky and requires a delicate touch. I didn't go as far as drilling all the tiny holes in the 75mm muzzle though! (I was sorely tempted!) I also left the trailing arms unglued, for adjustability purposes. The guns aren't designed to move either laterally or transversely, as they are fixed. 

At £12.95, they work out at roughly £4.25 per gun and crew. There are enough figures to make four six-man crews. I'll probably stick with four-man crews though, as it's easier then to achieve more variety in poses, etc. The crew figures are pretty cool, being all kneeling, and in mid/late war garb. I did some minor bits of fiddling, in order to get the crews individualised a little

There are ten shells, and the same no. of spent shell-cases, plus two ammo boxes, per gun, in each of the two calibres. Add this to the eight spare crew figures, and the unused parts for the alternate gun types, and you have a healthy amount of stuff, either to use to add detail when basing, or to go in the spares box.

I think these are excellent little guns, with decent crews. The spare stuff is great as well. Mould quality and overall production design, esp. re. the guns and how they assemble, is also superb. The way some of the figures are designed to go together is a little limiting or awkward. But they're still good, and can be modified wth relative ease.

The lack of instructions in the box is the main reason this doesn't get the full five stars, along with the rather basic nature of them, and the slight fiddliness involved in constructing some of the figures. But all things considered, these are a great product, and reasonable value for money.

1/76 WWII - Milicast RSO/01

I went to Vapnartak, in early Feb (the 7th?), 2015, managing to combine a visit to meet a hero of mine - figure sculptor extroardinaire Antony Barton - with going to a show I'd never been to before. Tony Barton's figures are of course legendary. I have a pitifully small amount of his Napoleonics, in 15/18mm, and I've been getting into the idea of collecting his 20mm WWII miniatures as the core element, figure-wise, for my burgeoning WWII 20mm force.

I noticed that Tony sculpts his vehicle related crews to fit actual models (with the vehicles to hand). I mention this because it appears not all makers of figures do so, a point that becomes pertinent in the building of this model. Milicast vehicles come in card boxes, as pictured at the top of this post. The picture of the models is a plus point. Though I have to say I'm wondering, having built the kit, if this is actually a picture of a prototype or master, as opposed to an assembled kit. The track detail looks a lot better and cleaner on the pic than it does on the kit itself.

Pictured above are all the component resin parts, as supplied. And below, the instruction sheet. I have to say that the instruction sheet is, in my view, woefully inadequate. I'll have to check this, but as I recall, the sheet doesn't actually list all the parts, and is quite poorly printed, making reading and following the instructions tricky in places.

The back of the cab has tools moulded in place, and yet two more spades are supplied (see above kit contents pic). This seems a bit odd. But its welcome enough, as the two separate spades could prove to be useful elsewhere.

The detailing of the cab is okay, if perhaps rather coarse. The two main front windows need cutting out and cleaning up; there are also two little holes just below the windows which might just be air bubbles. These ought to be filled in, I guess. I think I just ignored them!

I hadn't acquired a 'razor saw' as yet, but having large chunks of resin to remove, my Milicast acquisitions prompted me to do so. I can't recall where I got this one, or what I paid! But it does the job admirably, and that's all I need to know for now!

Pictured below, the vehicle has now got a few parts in situ: the binary steering arms (the RSO had independent track control), the rails or racks on the left and right side of the rear box, the jack, and the exhaust. The tow bar fixture was rubbish, with the male part being way bigger than the female part, and consequently the two need fiddling with until they can be joined.

In the picture below the cab is being undercoated, and panes of glass are being simulated by cutting up some transparent plastic sheet I have a reasonably abundant stock of. In some instances I might try and fit the 'glass' as tight and snug inside the profile of the opening as possible, i.e. not simply slapping an oversized part behind the opening. 

But the shapes and texture of the surfaces of this model are so irregular that I decided to try and flatten them a little with files and sandpaper, before going the simpler 'slap it on the back' route. The only exception to this was the smaller rear window, which I took some trouble to fit in the more laborious manner. I was sort of forced into this, a there wasn't sufficient clearance between the seats and the back of the cab to use the simple 'slap it on' method for this window!

As already alluded to, albeit indirectly, near the top of this post, a driver was always going to figure in this build. I tried several figures that are intended for use as drivers, some from the Plastic Soldier Company (too big, but then they are 1/72), and some by milicast. As the pictures below demonstrate, the Milicast figure - and I have about 10 Milicast driver figures - was way too big. The one I took the pic of below was the nearest to a fit, but - although he was the only one whose legs/feet would fit - he was both too wide and too tall.

I suspect the Milicast drivers have been sculpted without reference to any actual model vehicles. So far they haven't fitted in anything I've built, excepting very open spaces, such as the PSC Sd. Kfz. 139, Marder III Ausf with Pak 36(r), and that's a 1/72 kit, whereas these are supposedly 1/76 figures! It's interesting to note that the two driver figures for the Kubelwagen that comes as part of the Airfix Reconnaissance Set, which, whilst rather oddly posed do at least fit the space they are intended for, are both truncated (lacking complete legs/feet) and noticeably smaller than ordinary 1/76 figures.

This headless and handless 1/72 PSC driver

is clearly way too big!

One of a set of Milicast drivers I purchased at Vapnartak

when I bought the vehicles. This was the closest to a fit,

but he's still both too wide and too tall!

The figure I eventually found and used is a flamethrower from a pack of Airfix 1/72 German WWII infantry. It's odd, isnt it? that they make their vehicles in 1/76, and their figures in 1/72! I had to amputate the poor blighter's right arm, and both legs, and carve away the flamethrower. But in the end I was pretty pleased, as I was able to open up his left hand (by removing the firing tube of the flamethrower), and, with some judicious sculpting of the lower hip area and a fair bit of wiggling about whilst gluing, I managed to get him to appear like he's handling the controls whilst looking off to his left, perhaps about to make a turn?

Another new departure for me, based upon yet another new acquisition of modelling materials - this time liquid masking fluid - saw me creating masks for the window panes, complete will 'pull to remove' tabs, fashioned from Tamiya masking strip. The idea is that you can then paint the body work, and, when done, pull the tabs, and, presto! remove the masking. Hopefully to reveal a nice clean divide between paint and clean/clear 'glass'!

In the last few pics you can see the RSO primed in a Matt black undercoat, both without and also with the rear canopy. Some very nice example of this vehicle are out there on't web, some of which have the rear area partially covered. I'm not sure what I want to do about the stowage area yet! I'll decide when I come to the final painting stage.

Conclusion

Well, I'm not exactly blown away by Milicast vehicles - I also bought a Bergepanzer IV kit, and I haven't felt that inclined to make a start on it, after this model - despite Antony Barton's endorsement of them at Vapnartak. At the time of the build I have to confess I really didn't like this particualr model very much at all. But looking back at it now, I reckon it's okay. But I certainly don't think it's very good value for money. For the level of coarseness of detail, and the ill-fit, or misshapen parts, etc, it really ought to be, in my view, a lot cheaper.

And then there's the fact that the driver figures I bought, also from Milicast (with an express mention of the desire to use one of them as a driver for the RSO), don't appear to have been sculpted with any specific vehicle models in mind. As mentioned above, so far they've not fitted in any model I've made. Whilst the Ace RSO I built had issues of its own, it was nevertheless a far superior kit, all things considered; much crisper and cleaner - despite its own ill-fitting part problems - it is far more detailed, and just generally more satisfying. What a pity that their RSO/01 is discontinued!

The Milicast is at left, and the Ace is at right. Not a fair

comparison pic, I grant, with the Milicast still only

undercoated in black!