One of the readers of this blog very kindly gave me a number of Roco Minitank vehicles which included three Schwere Wehrmachtsschlepper (SWS) hailf tracks. They had clearly seen some action in the past, with worn paintwork and some battle damage.
I really need some vehicles as gun tractors and prime movers for my new Nebelwerfer unit. So, I set about seeing if I could bring them back to life.
This is what they looked like on arrival at my workshop (kitchen table):
Not a pretty sight, but I thought with a good clean up, some scratch built bits to replace the missing bits and, in the case of one, some new wheels and axle.
All three were missing the armour plate from the nose and one was missing the side panels. With some plastic card I knocked up the missing items:
The new wheels came from the Airfix 88mm gun bogies. I fitted a 20mm quad AA gun from my spares box to one:
Then gave them all a coat of dark yellow:
And finaly a quick paint job and added some loads to the open back vehicle. The fourth vehicle (the one with the single fuel drum), is new and straight from the packet:
Now they can join my German forces.
I remember the Minitanks from my youth , you have made a good job renovating them .
ReplyDeleteI guess we all had a few Minitanks in our youth. I had a big collection of Allied and German vehicles that somehow disappeared. I have searched high and low for them to no avail. I wonder if they were left in an attic during one of our many house moves?
DeleteMe too - I had a few of these SWS half tracks - I remember paining one with the remnants of paint from a painting by numbers woodland scene, my first attempt at camouflage colouring.
ReplyDeleteThe ones that I have just restored look as though they too were the subject of some junior artwork!
DeleteGood idea to use the 88mm bogie wheels as replacements. I've got a few of those SWS halftracks, including the armoured nebelwerfer version.
ReplyDeleteI tend not to use the bogies as most of my 88s are mouted on bases in the firing position so the spares box has some useful bits.
DeleteAnd a fine job too! Hijacking the thread a bit, I won some Airfix WW1 German Infantry in a mixed bag eBay lot. They are older figures with very little flash and in good nick. I remember you were having ‘issues’ with flash on the newer figures, so if you want them, let me know. I’m just keeping one of the greatcoated officers to represent Von Bismarck in my Afrika Korps collection.
ReplyDeleteI can always find a good home for Airfix figures, if you really do wish to part with them.
DeleteI’ve no use for them so at least I know they will go to a good home!
DeleteEmail sent!
DeleteThat's a really neat piece of work!
ReplyDeleteThanks Brian, it was a fun project too - I wasn't too sure how they would turn out.
DeleteSome good ideas here! A few months ago I received three of these ROCO vehicles as part requital of some stuff I had sent him. One I'm thinking of converting to a 'Uhu' night-light carrier, but wasn't sure about the other two. A Quad 20mm AA carrier looks fine, and I like the 'logistics' element as well. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI am sure Roco produced an SWS with an infra red light/searchlight mounted on the top. Should be easy to find images to use as a guide to your conversion.
DeleteSeveral of the Minitank AA vehicles have an option of a 20mm or 37mm gun, which gives you a spair gun for conversion projects.