From almost nothing to a Borgward 5 tonn LKW

I had a soft plastic moulded truck from the ‘70s whose closest reference was probably either a Buessing Nag or a Borgward. I decided to do some basic upgrade to get it closer to the latter one. These pics show the starting point:

                          

    

I added some cargo bed on both side, the manufacturer’s logo in front of the engine, two rear view mirrors of different shape based on the reference photos. I added the lights, rose the truck doors and put a driver and his steering wheel. I also added the two width signal sticks. I added some pumping tools (MARS).

                          

I painted everything with Molak 1187 and did some light weathering. I used some TL and Skytrex decals.

This truck is nicknamed Tiger as you may see on the right door. It belongs to 116^ PzDiv and its tact symbol tells us that it belongs to a transport unit:

I put some Attack drums, 88mm shell cases by 20mm Zone, bed rolls by Goffy Model, mixed cargo by TP Models. The soldier is from Preiser, if I remeber well.

    

 

A Sexton  appeared at a Milan Modelling Fair recently. Probably it used to belong to the Italian Army which took it on board after the end of WW2

Interestingly there was also this sidecar with full cover for the vehicle....

DECISION TIME

I have figured out some German officiers need to make up their mind and discuss about the next step. The SdKfz 250 neu (004 tells you it is operated by the command staff) is the transformation of a Milicast Sd Kfz 250 long with Pak. I have already one, which I will put on these pages as soon as finished so I preferred to convert one into a more logistic role. The Kubel is either Airfix or Fujimi, I do not remember.

Soldiers are a mixed bag: from the basic Aifirx to Fujimi, MMS, Milicast, Preiser, etc

TERRAIN BOARD - movable scenic parts

I usually utilize a 1m x 1m board when I like to test some scenic components or imagine an event or a particular scene with vehicles and figures. 

This time I wanted to see how well certain scenic elements fit with the basic landscape.

The starting point is the base for almost anything: I use some rigid transparent plastic sheets which I cut with an irregular pattern and I adapt it to the size of the item it supports, ie a soldier, a tree, a pile of cut trees, and so on. You may find the raw material very easily; it is usually the folder of a booklet. All the items pictured here can be moved easily in any part of the board and can not be detected immediately.

The key is that the plastic needs to be clean, without any shade of powder or dirty in order not to become evident and it can actually "disappear" melting itself with the surrounding terrain. It also needs to be a bit rigid otherwide the borders may bend up or detach itself from the item glued above whenever you pick it up and place it in a container to be stored or on the terrain.

From the pics shown here you may easily understand that there is a flaw in most of the scenic items but trees, bush, grass: the border of any item built up, such as a house, a fence, a stone wall, etc needs to give the impression to amalgamate with the land so better to glue some little stones, some grass of different colours.