Monday 9 October 2017

WW1 Austin armoured car.....sort of?

I have always been drawn to car boot sales, charity, junk and aquarium shops, in fact anywhere that might offer something which can be used to enhance my toy soldiers. Over the years I've accumulated a whole pile of what might loosely be called crap which "might be useful one day".  I suspect I'm not alone in this, at least I do hope I'm not.  This is the sort of stuff I mean:

A wooden car, some sort of tourist tat but the right size for 54mm figures turned up in a charity (thrift) shop for £2 (yes I know I was robbed but it is for charity!).  The transparent spheres are lids from toothpaste dispensers and the block of wood is, well........a block of wood.

The champhered front planes of these toothpaste tube lids just screamed out to be used as turrets for an armoured car, the MGs are made from bits of chopstick from the Chinese takeaway and the pointy ends from a cocktail stick.  Sometimes an idea just comes together from out of the blue, as I become increasingly aware of getting older I've started to make a list of these projects and I'm working my way through them. A major stumbling block is my own lack of confidence that an idea will work.

The almost finished item, posed with a DeAgostini figure of a Russian Company Commander 1919, it maybe needs a lighter green paint scheme, some Cyrillic graffiti and a big red flag.  It's only a bit of fun and it's very robust so perfect for wargaming in the garden.



23 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. It's surprising what you can bodge from a bit of junk.

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  2. Replies
    1. thank you, now I just have to paint up the figures to go with it.

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  3. Well Done Sir! Great example of thinking outside the modelling box!
    Cheers
    Col

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    1. I'm okay with the thinking, it's the doing I have the problem with!

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  4. An excellent eye for possibility and an excellent end product!

    I envy you your toothpaste caps, they look like they would make excellent gun turrets for a 40mm gunboat.

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    1. Hi Ross, I have a couple of the toothpaste caps spare, if you can use them email me your address and I'll send them over.

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  5. Brilliant project Brian! And so useful for wargaming! Much better than paying $200+ for what's available commercially! Well done!

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  6. $200! Yikes, I'd want the real thing for that.

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  7. I like this type of model more than the plastic kits. it has a nice appearance.

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  8. When I first saw the caps I thought they'd make good turrets for a British Rolls Royce type armoured car but then I thought I'd go for something a bit more ambitious. I like the plastic kits but they are a bit too delicate to stand up to all the handling for wargaming, most of mine are missing bits.

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  9. Brian, you are not alone..................

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  10. Very nice armoured car. I wish I had that level of skill

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  11. Great work! Look like we have the same way of doing things! I love your idea for the turret. When I have those type of bright idea, it is always a good day :-)

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