Jagdpanzer IV conversion

We haven't seen any of my 20mm toys for a bit, so here is another one. This old veteran was converted from an Airfix Panzer IV some time in the mid 1970s. I used to have two but only one seems to have survived. I've always had a soft spot for the Jagdpanzer IV, and I've still got the Bellona print on it, but I think the conversion was based on one of Gerald Scarboroughs never ending series of articles on how to cut up your Airfix kits.

The hull is all made up from plasticard, the gun mounting was carved from balsa and filled with milliput, while the gun is re-used from the original model to make up the L48 version of the Jadgpanzer IV. When I retrieved it a few years ago for a repaint before assigning it to one of my Megablitz divisions, I noticed one of the road wheels was missing. Battle damage no doubt. I'd not done a massively good job converting the ball mount for the MG, but hey, I was only 13 and no doubt in a hurry.

The Airfix Panzer IV always suffered from overlong tracks, these have been cut down and stapled together. They are still fractionally too long, but fit much better than the originals. I was always very pleased with these conversions, and from the side they sit quite like their real life counterparts. A slight gap in the hull is evident here, again no doubt youthful haste (and cutting all those angle shapes was really had), or maybe poor quality welding.

Rear view, nothing very exciting here. The original paint job was just green and brown disruptive over dunkelgelb, but the Bellona had some pictures of them in ambush, so when I repainted this model I had a go at the ambush scheme. Again, just green and brown over dunkelgelb, but with contrasting dots of green, brown and dunkelgelb. I went heavy on the green as one of the colour plates was an interesting scheme from the Reichswald battles with almost entirely green and dunkelgelb (but still ambush pattern).

I went with very plain markings (just three balkan crosses) as by 1944/45 the massive production and consumption of German AFVs meant much of the early war heraldry had gone .

I'm glad to have resurrected this model, but I do wonder what happened to its partner. Oh well, lost along the way somewhere I guess.

Airfix conversions: Opel radio truck

Time for another Airfix conversion, this one is an Opel Radio Truck, based on the Airfix chassis. A pretty simple conversion as it goes, but I needed a command staff truck for my Megablitz Germans corps assets. I already have the Roco version which served as a useful sanity check, but the plans came from one of my numerous and rather elderly Bellona prints. Some of the features are a little exaggerated but it came out OK I think. In the main it was constructed from 30 thou plasticard with 10 thou used for the doors etc. and odd bits of sprue for the door handles, roof vents etc.

The finished article. I was pleased with the curvature of the roof, as well as the ridge and vents.

The window recesses were a pig to cut through the plasticard. Door handles made from sprue.

Another window recess at the back. I was glad of the right hand side flaps.

I left it fairly plain with just the number plates marked and a generic mid/late war sand/brown/green camo scheme with a light bit of weathering. The filled in windows are painted using my more recent approach of blue with a white highlight.

Airfix conversions: AA Crusader

We've not had a conversion for a while, so here is another old clunker from the 1970s. This a Crusader 20mm AA built on the Airfix Crusader chassis. The main item being the scratchbuilt turret as well as the hacked around mudguards etc.

Here it is in its Crusadery splendour. The turret was quite hard to do, hence the rather wobbly bits. I imagine someone makes a conversion kit these days.

The gun barrels aren't even level. Oh dear.

I do like the sleek lines of the Airfix Crusader, even if the hull is too long and narrow. Some imaginative stowage on the engine deck, I'm not sure how that shovel stays there nor how it avoids catching fire as it is a bit close to the exhaust!

This particular example is serving as the AA Regiment in 6th Armoured Div.

So there we have it another blast from the past. Again, this was repainted a decade or so ago, this time in a mid-war SCC2 and mid green disruptive scheme and added to my rather ramshackle 6th Armoured Div for use in Tunisia and Italy.

Airfix Conversions, Sdkfz 7 37mm AA

This was another conversion on the Airfix Sdkfz 7 chassis. A bit more ambitious this time as I did the 37mm version with armoured cab.

The finished article.

It all looks a bit wobbly from the front and cutting out the vision ports in the front plate was a real pain.

It looks OK from the side though. The wood finish rear deck surround is just scored plasticard.

The 37mm was converted from the gun in the Airfix Sdkfz 2341/234 armoured car. A bit of a waste perhaps!

This model is currently serving as the Flak battalion in 26th Panzer Division.

I recall at the time when I made this being quite pleased with it as it involved some fairly extensive hacking around. I am not sure what happened to the rest of the German armoured car, although one of the crew is currently serving as the commander of a Panzer IV and the other two seem to be manning a scratch built Ostwind turret.

It was repainted several years ago when I was assembling the components of 26th Panzer Div for Megablitz. Usual dunkelgelb and camo over a black base, and in this case a dark brown inkwash and a light tan overall drybrush.

Airfix conversions: artillery Sdkfz 7

This is another ancient Airfix conversion gleaned from the pages of Airfix magazine. A simple conversion of the Sdkfz 7 into one adapted for artillery command. Basically it just has a big box on the back for all the various bits including the battery commanders Schnapps. My 'Battle' Germans used to ride around in a trio of Airfix Sdkfz 7s, and this was the fate of one of them.

A fairly simple conversion, but I added a couple of step rails from plastic rod.

It is just a big box on the back, replacing the existing halftrack rear.

This vehicle is currently serving in the artillery regiment of 26th Panzer Div.

Airfix Conversions: Mobelwagen

Once I 'graduated' to micro armour in the 1970s, my old Charles Grants 'Battle' armies were slowly chopped up. The Germans used to have three Panzers IVs, and one of them was used for this conversion. I think the plans were in Military Modelling, and I can't for the life of me remember where I got the quad 20mm guns from.

Mobelwagen based  on the Airfix Panzer IV. New superstructure built from plasticard, and the common fault of the tracks being too long corrected by judicious clipping so they are nice and tight.

I acquired a pair of these Quads 20s from somewhere or other, possibly ex Roco? One of them ended up here.

This model was repainted a few years ago and based up for Megablitz. It is currently serving as the Flak battalion for 29th Panzer Grenadier Division.

A bit of stowage on the back, not quite sure how the crew have fixed the spare wheels in those locations, they are obviously creative types. I seem to have had a fairly steady hand for painting markings at some point, not sure I could do that now.

Churchill Mark 1

I started off  as a plastic modeller in the late 1960s before discovering wargaming and kept modelling up through the 1970s, both Airfix (what else!) 1/76th scale but also various 1/35th scale projects. As my wargaming moved more into 6mm I ended up chopping up a lot of my 20mm wargaming toys into various conversions. I can't claim any great originality with them, most were based on Airfix guides, articles in Airfix magazine or Military Modelling and occasionally on Bellona prints.

One model I was quite pleased with was a Churchill Mark 1, converted from the Airfix hybrid Churchill Mark IV/VII.

The finished model in mid war SCC2. Scratch built turret and various modifications to the hull. This is actually a Mark II(?) as it is missing the hull 3" gun. I am pretty sure it used to have the hull gun and I suspect it has fallen off at some point in the past.

The turret is a central frame made from plasticard filled out with milliput. Hatches and stowage boxes made up from card and the 2pdr gun is from the Airfix Crusader.

Main modification to the sides (apart from cutting off the track guards) are square hull hatches and rounding off the air louvres. The underside of the turret doesn't look very straight.Oh well.

Minor engine deck modifications with extra piping and an external fuel tank added, again from a Crusader.

This particular model is based for Megablitz and marked up as a battalion from 25th Tank Brigade where it can join my other Tunisia marked Churchills (a few Mark Is and IIs made it to Tunisia). It was repainted about ten years ago over the original scheme using black undercoat with a heavy drybrush of SCC2 (I used Humbrol khaki as a close enough match) and in this case, a rather heavy handed application of pale tan 'dust'.

As I recall I did this model around 1975 and it finally saw action in a wargame a few years ago when I ran Steamroller Farm using Lionel Tarrs WW2 rules from Don Featherstones book. A thirty year wait isn't bad!