These are: a GAZ oil pump truck, a British anti-aircraft tank, a Tatra convertible and an Olympia 2-door saloon. They're all (supposed to be!) 1:72 scale, and so pretty small. The only other thing they have in common is that they're intended for layout purposes. In a way, I don't know why I'm troubling you with these trifling models, except maybe I'm trying to pretend I've been busy during the various lockdowns of the last year of the Corona Virus.
A quick run through:
- The truck is a PSG/130B, a modification of the GAZ 51 truck which was manufactured in large numbers. This version housed a fuel lubricant pump inside the cabin and was used on Soviet airfields in the 60s.
- The tank is a Crusader Mk.III anti aircraft tank with 40mm Bofors gun. I've modelled it as if it went into service, but it was actually only a prototype. At the end of WW2 the Allies were certainly equipped with AA Artillery but it was only really the Germans who were mounting AA on heavy armour like this. The point is kind of interesting, because it underlines the fact that soon after D-Day the Germans progressively lost control of the air. You only really put AAA on tanks like this if you're fighting a defensive war without air cover.
- The convertible is a Czech Tatra 87 Cabrio originally from the 1940s. It's supposed to be a WW2 staff car but I've modelled it as a post war civilian vehicle; I figured with the rather pedestrian development of civilian transportation East of the Iron Curtain, a flashy looking car like this might still be seen running around some years later.
- The 2 door first appeared in 1937. It's an Olympia saloon - they later became Opel, and this was the predecessor of the Opel Kadett. Again, the kit options were for staff cars, or an ambulance. But when I Googled it I found plenty of civilian examples, and I liked the look of one in light blue.
The kits are all from various East European manufacturers - Military Wheels, IBG Models, Ace, and Attack Kits respectively - and are short run kits ie. produced in limited runs in soft plastic, and sometimes a relatively higher difficulty level (I feel I'm trying to control a degree of euphemism about that!). The AA tank was the most recent kit, it looked as if it was designed on computer and fitted well. In fact, I made it very quickly, in two days, and but for distractions could easily have made it in less than one. It helped that it only required three different paints.
By contrast the Olympia car was a very messy build, it didn't fit too well and there was no clear plastic for the windows - not so bad in itself, unless as here there were no templates for the windows provided. I confess I thought much of the gluey messiness would be obscured by a nice thick coat of enamel paint, but I found out too late that my tin of light blue was very old indeed and made as much globby mess as it covered up. Yet another kit not to examine too closely.
A small excuse, which you shouldn't respect too much - these kits really are small. Here's a laughable illustration of what we're talking about. See this pic of the Tatra kit: it's quite an extreme example of contrast between the size of the box, and the size of the actual model you end up building! See down below another pic of all the models along with a UK 10p piece, sightly smaller than a UK pound coin, or 1 euro.
Why build these kits when there are so many small scale die cast vehicles (eg. Corgi, Oxford diecast in the UK) available? I have bought some of those, there are a few claiming to be 1:72 scale, which is the basic standard for the layout scenarios I want. However, most are 1:76 or even 1:87, scales aimed at railway layouts. Furthermore, there would be an airfield at the heart of mine, and the kinds of vehicle you'd find there are only available as kits. Just as restrictive is that the emphasis is largely on military vehicles. Some of the scenes I have in mind are difficult to populate.
A final admitted truth is that I enjoy hunting down these kits. My targets are inherently elusive; the various subjects are never going to be big money spinners for small scale kit makers. If they're produced at all it's because they spotted an empty niche and figured somebody would buy it. And here I am. Focusing on the airfield part of it all, I've been surprisingly successful in tracking down for instance fire engines for each scenario; fuel trucks for most of them; and a variety of other support vehicles. Including anti aircraft vehicles where relevant.
A final note to self: better clear out all those old enamel paint tins.
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