Rapid Fire! Market Garden in 20mm - Oddities and such (part 4)

First of all, just because I placed a post yesterday, don´t think that I woke up during the night, and without eating or peeing the whole day made these six models, took pictures that I'm now posting. Its true the day was spent at home, just a small coffee nearby with family around 11.00, but the two white trams are done for years and the Umbaus were made in the last few days along other material like the British trucks. The modelling day's work was in fact the painting of the figures on the Umbaus, its basing  and the painting of the green tram. Of course the secret is avoiding the kitchen and other similar busy parts of the house and always eat in the dining room, varanda or outside. In the end you can help with the dishes and this is the moment you deserve a kiss.  

On the afternoon of 17th September another group of SS Germans using "requisitioned" Umbaus pass abandoned trams and enter Utrechtweg looking for British paratroopers. What they don't know is that nothing less than the commander of 1st Airborne, General Urquhart is hiding in the number 14 (the second house left of the St Elisabeth Hospital in the picture). 

This group of Umbau vehicles is my second after a few Matchbox conversions. Once again the "hard foliage" made of two component paste helps hiding the holes in the original fantasy models after taking out the strange stuff on them. 

The crew is this time from Caesar and very good they are. The set H099 has 12 different poses of perfect SS soldiers armed for late war and that includes Pzfausts and STG44s.

These are the original die-cast models bought in the supermaket from the Metal Machines range.  Wheels were replaced, windshield enlarged, engine, cargo holders and exhaust pipes carved out...

This is the looks of the Umbaus before priming. 

For the figures to seat correctly a few planks of Evergreen were added to the cargo area.

The trams are Ho scale from Atlas or Altaya. I bought and primed them years ago and lost track of its origin. I remember them being that first cheap sale of the collection so I bought three. 

They are vaguely similar to the longer trams of Arnhem. While the 71 and the 76 (this one is famous as it served Oosterbeek) were white there were others in more lively colours. I used green as in a cover of a Dragon 1/35th scale kit but I´ve seen also blue in a very nice diorama. As all original trams were destroyed by the bombardments I´m really not sure. 

This is a nice reconstitution of tram 76 in the Arnhem Open Air museum. 

 

Well,  it looks that Urquhart wasn't found and here goes the SS ready to nag someone else. Speaking of SS, I saw last night Operation Finale, a good movie about the capture of Adolf Eichmann in Argentina. Try to see it and remember that even if the SS have nice camouflaged uniforms and the best weapons of the Reich they were a criminal organization responsible for some of the worst things that happened to mankind. 

If you want to see my Arnhem houses, most of them scratchbuilt, you can go here:

http://jpwargamingplace.blogspot.com/2012/07/rapid-fire-battle-of-arnhem-buildings.html

Next: Maybe three Sdkfz 263 from PSC.