Rapid Fire! Blitzkrieg in 20mm - Some German fresh units for 3rd Leichte division

Recently on a visit to ModelScala in Montijo I grabbed a nice group of Polish vehicles from First To Fight and a few more boxes of Polish Hat infantry.

Blitzkrieg showed again on my head. But, as in history, Germans raced ahead.

I had some of these models built years ago while others were gifts from friends with some painted and others not. In order to come back to Blitzkrieg it was easier to start with the Germans as they were half done than start with the Poles who are still in the boxes.

This is the old Esci Sdkfz 251 command version with some added side antennae and  PSC and Preiser figures.

Fujimi's 38t with a Esci commander and added Evergreen sturdy, extra thick and thus unbreakable aerials. I'm not pleased to show you the Nazi flag but it's just for historical accuracy.

The Atlantic BMW side-car is an old and big gem. A few years ago I offered a few to some motorbike lovers but I started to regret it immediately (and now more than ever!).

The Matchbox Sdkfz 261 6-Rad has the Polish campaign white crosses. If you noticed the 38t's have the 1940 crosses while the 251's have the open white crosses also in use during the last weeks of the Polish campaigns as the Polish 37mm Bofors were having a nice way not to miss the target. Not so much for accuracy of a specific campaign, I know.

The artillerymen of the Pak 36 came from Esci, Airfix and Fujimi while the Pak's themselves came from Matchbox and Fujimi.

Matchbox again this time with the Krupp Kfz. 69. For the camouflage of this group I used Vallejo German Grey with blotches of Citadel Mourfang Brown. Recent publications insist on the Brown camouflage and I'm happy for that as the Germans get some extra colour.

Rapid Fire! Gulf wars in 1/72nd scale - Iraqi rocket brigade

With this post starts the presentation of my Gulf Wars ground armies. I have the full Iraqi 3rd Armoured Saladin division, the 5th Mechanized division and  many Qatari, Saudi, US and British  battalion sized units to show you. I'm in the process of basing the tanks for Rapid Fire! but basing is all they need so I hope to speed up the posts to keep your nails and hart safe...

A Frog-7 battalion is parked while the even more famous Scud-B passes guided by a communications Zil-157.

The Zil is an ICM plastic model. The Scud-B is a resin ARMO model. The Frog-7 are conversions from the Uragans of the last post.

The ARMO model is a beauty. The amount of parts and detail forces you to use a careful painting. The figures standing by are ordinary command sections I'll show you when posting the Iraqi infantry.

And here it is the Frog-7 with the famous red triangle of the Republican guard. All vehicles were painted Vallejo Iraqi sand. The missiles on the Frog-7 were painted buff as they appear to be in a different color I saw in photos of captured vehicles. 

Rapid Fire! Gulf Wars in 1/72nd scale - Converted Frog-7 for Iraq

The Frog-7 (Luna M), ground to ground missile system, was one of the last vehicles I still needed for my Gulf Wars Iraqi army.

This vehicle exist in resin but its expensive and I wanted at least three.

Somehow I remembered not to place the missiles from the 4D Puzzle Model S-300 AA missile system inside their tubes. Without knowing I had the beginning of the Frog-7 as the S-300 missiles are similar in shape to the Luna M.

When the Fabbri/Amercom (not sure about the origin) showed up in Portugal with the name Veículos Militares the number 2 was the BM-27 Uragan which uses the same Zil-135 truck as the Frog-7.

After looking carefully at the plans the main changes are relatively easy to be done:

Take out the 16 missile pod and its support from the Uragan and use Plasticard tubing, rod and plate for most of necessary parts.

The launching ramp for the missile is in a triangular shape. Be careful with this part. I made mine 2 or 3 mm thicker and it shows.

The end of the missile (from the S-300 AA missile) had to be increased in 1 cm for proper length.

The missile elevator was the trickiest part. I burned and twisted a number of plastic parts until I got this ugly thing.

The elevator ended a bit shorter and it should be almost as tall as the launching ramp (but as the launching ramp is also too tall, maybe the elevator is not that bad... who knows...).

Three Frog-7 represent a Battalion for Rapid Fire! rules. 

With all this scratch building no Frog-7 is exactly similar to the other but the final result is Ok for me.

One of the most difficult parts in these diecast vehicles is to open them and extract parts as it is needed here. Find a screwdriver that fits ONLY and tightly in one of the three sides of the triangle and apply some strenght in order to unscrew it.  

Most of the faults are hardly seen after priming. 

Rapid Fire! Russian Contemporary Wars in 1/72nd scale - Painted 3D printed T-72B's

Last post 3D printed T-72B's painted roaming somewhere in Arnhem 1944... ehhhhr... South Ossetia 2008, I mean.

These models paints easily as the detail Mario Laranja placed is fitted nicely and the most compex parts like the frontal lights are simplified but still making their part. 

After assembling, priming and painting I used a piece of acetate to make the full commander's turret shield. This part had to stay to the end as I wanted the small rectangular visor to show its glass. Green and brown (to simulate the cloth around the bottom part of the shield) was painted around the small rectangular visor.

The turret Mg's are metal Skytrex.

Some seams from the 3D printer can be seen but in some places they even add to the detail!

Rapid Fire! Russian Contemporary Wars in 1/72nd scale - 3D T-72 BV from Mario Laranja's ...3D printer.

Last toys to arrive are these 3D prints by my friend Mario Laranja. In order to see his awesome work you should pay a visit to his blog

  http://orange-scenics.blogspot.pt/

and drool at paper tank models, houses and such.

If you are close enough to Algarve you just yell his name anywhere and someone will lead you to him.

As soon as Brigada Tripeira spy network informed me that Mario had bought a 3D printer I asked him for 10 T-72 BV. I had the pleasure to pick from his house this first group of 4  and look at his fantastic latest material like other 3D tanks in 15mm and card houses.

The only parts I asked him not to print were the MG's and the open turret hatches as I have some left overs from other models. 

The white plastic doesn't let see the level of detail of these 3D prints but you will see after painting that these are really good.

The usual few extras like antennae, MG and torsos with GreenStuff arms.

The final result is great and with only two parts - turret and hull - you can't have an easier model.