The 2019 Great Russian Truck Off

I have finally completed the long-heralded review of 15mm Russian trucks.

Of course, mid-war onwards, the most common Red Army truck might well have been the Studebaker (over 70,000 of these) … but I still enjoy that wargamer conceit of liking Russian trucks, Gaz, Zis, Yag and so forth for the Soviets, German for the Wehrmacht (although they used thousands of captured vehicles) and Italian for Italians etc.

(Studebaker … fully loaded, Soviet style)

That said, some 200,000 Gaz trucks were produced, and the Zis factory alone added over 80,000 of the Zis-5 model (which was also built in other locations).  You can also argue that neither of these is really a Russian truck (the Gaz being a Ford copy, the Zis an Autocar design) .  I digress.

(wartime Gaz truck … designated MM – note the wooden cab and simple bent metal mudguards)

So what is available and which is the best?    See the top of the page article on the Reviews page.

 

 

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New Accessions

What’s been going on on the P.B.Eye-Candy workbench?  Well quite a bit of in-filling and a few new things too.

Above we see a couple of Zvezda fighters … not new, but ones I’ve not made before … from the same manufacturer, a couple of SU76s (absolutely new to everyone – I had these on notification order waiting for their promised release, so my guess is not many people have seen them) … and a couple of useful Skytrex models to round out some Eastern Front units.

But first …

Some French Foot Figures

I did these for the Alamein game to go with the Free French/FFL armour but they needed a bit more tidying up … anyway, here’s some pictures …

(here’s my commander … maybe Horrocks or Lumsden … based on the Peter Pig Andy Gittins figure)

He got some staff too … nice overloaded sedan, again from Piggie-land …

I made up a couple of double based width units (so CK’s NQM size) for the Marine Infantry and the Greeks …

The mine clearance markers are normal size, however … how important (albeit slow) these would be in the game …

(the minesweepers are from the 8th Army set – with head swaps as appropriate … the diggers are conversions)

(Yesthatphil’s Peter Pig 8th Army adapted to represent French Marines)

Zvezda new and old

I’ve stuck to my policy of making and painting what I buy so this is what I bought as a result of the end of the show season (I find it hard to spend at shows these days as there’s almost nothing I want available unless I get online … which eventually I did after Recon)

The two little planes went together very quickly and I had some fun photographing the 109 against the trees through the window …

I made a ground base with a short mounting stub for the Polikarpov (which I assembled ‘wheels up’ for primary use on a flight stand).

I have replaced the fragile propellers with plastic disks … cutting them out hasn’t been a complete success – so expect a modelling entry when I figure out a cheap and neat way to do this (meanwhile just don’t look too closely!)

Armour

21st Panzer have been short of a self-propelled anti-tank unit and this lovely model comes from Skytrex.  All metal but you will need to find some crew figures.

(model by Skytrex, added crew from Forged in Battle and PSC)

(crew figures are a mix of Peter Pig and Battlefront)

I am very pleased with them.

I got the PzJ and the Scout Car as part of a small order that arrived within 3 days of a weekend browse. Well impressed.  Nice models, good price, exemplary service.

Models2U were slower delivering my SU76s … never mind, perhaps – they were worth the wait.  They are a bit fiddly … more like proper kits, these days, and I will add a review shortly – but here are some pictures …

These are such an important part of the Red Army it is nice to have an accurate and inexpensive model available.  Like the Skytrex models, however, you do have to find some crew figures.

More notifications as soon as I get the modelling tips and reviews written up.

Happy New Year!

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New 15mm accessions … October …

(Skytrex AB-41 Armoured Car)

Following the AA gun, there has been a little spurt of output … the Sahariana patrol has been awaiting completion.  The wait has been for Battlefront to stock and send goods – but after 7 weeks I gave up on them and bought the items from Skytrex who delivered with 3 working days (what a contrast!!)

The AB-41 is a nice little model and looks good in all respects.  It cost the same but is all metal, of course (so you might think it better value) …

I was also waiting for tow (Sdkfz-7) for 22nd PD’s artillery support.  I have tried 3 times over the course of 2 years to get one from Battlefront but to no avail (it seems another of their perpetually out-of-stock items) but again Skytrex have a metal one (in this case cheaper) – see the full review …

(Skytrex 15mm Sdkfz-7 model)

… and I have provided something new to tow that Red Army AA gun …

(Ya-12 fast artillery tractor)

OK – nobody makes that so we’ll have to go through the building process on the modelling page … it is made from a PSC T-70 of course – and was a fairly simple project.

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