@petbat That Horch flak thing really would make an excellent little model. I am saving all the pictures into a future project folder. Did a hard cab, flat bed or truck bed version of the Horch exist? Wasn’t the Horch the vehicle used as the basis of all the little German armored cars? Better read those articles again. I cannot keep all this tank stuff straight.
That last picture speaks to a question I have. It seems like there was a flak gun conversion for every German half track and tank, including lots of captured vehicles, and models exist for many of them. How come other nations did not field a bunch of anti-aircraft gun vehicles? Maybe they did but Scale Hobbyist does not carry them.
The Japanese were swarmed with American aircraft. Did they have any anti-aircraft gun trucks? I cannot recall seeing even one model of such a thing. During the Battle of Britain and Africa, did the British move anti-aircraft guns around using trucks? Again, I am not seeing any models of those machines. I do recall an anti-aircraft Staghound. The Americans stuck .50 cals on, well, everything, but did they have a larger caliber, truck mounted, anti-aircraft gun? I cannot recall seeing one. The Russians mounted Maxim guns on trucks. Did they have something like a T-34 with anti-aircraft guns? (Yes, I know about the German one.)
@brekinapez Ha! Thank you for the suggestion! I now remember seeing that one. I think I was looking for tank transporters. Come to think of it, I have never built an 88 flak in any form. Very probably too much model for me, though.
The issue is not complexity. The issue is that I do not like and really suck at painting. I seek out cheap and easy models, not because I prefer them, but because I it is easier to endure ruining them.
Doug, I think your models come out pretty damn great. I haven’t seen one yet that I would consider ruined. And your scratchbuilt starships are brilliant.
@SSGToms Thank you for being so kind, Matt. I see what other people are doing–in these forums, on the internet, on YouTube–and want to achieve similar results, especially with regards painting techniques. Getting there requires a lot of practice. Relatively early on, I made a decision to focus on easier models in order to maximize painting practice.
…
My apologies, Peter. It was not my intention to derail this campaign journal.
I do want to participate and have spent 5+ hours looking for a suitable truck model. My goal is to find something relatively easy to build, relatively easy to detail paint, but also good for practicing painting techniques.
Unless something else comes along at a great price, I have reduced my list to the Airfix Austin K2/Y (new kit; somewhat simplified, full interior, Africa option), Tamiya Horch (old kit; simplified; Africa option) , and Tamiya Protze (old kit; somewhat simplified).
If anyone has a better suggestion, I am open to it.
A very, very basic answer: Several were developed by USA with only a few designs actually fielded, like the M13 with twin .50 cals, the M15 with 37mm and .50 cals
Quite often the AA vehicles were all but useless, unable to hit low flying fast attack aircraft. The German ones were more effective when used to hit ground units than aircraft.
In the end it really came down to a need for allies to have one. The threat of German aircraft attacks were pretty diminished by D-Day, due to allied air superiority, and they realised a bunch of tanks and trucks throwing up .50 cal rounds from their turret pintle mounted guns was just as effective as one .50 cal armed dedicated aa vehicle.
Even Japanese air attacks were generally limited to established Allied ground facilities (or Navy) where ‘static’ anti-aircraft defences were adequate for the task.
As to an easy to build and paint, but with good technique options, have you considered the Tamiya Steyr 1500A1? It is a great kit OOB - it is basically the same as the Horch but a much better detailed and more accurate kit. Also, what about their LRDG Chevy truck?
Found the pics of my Steyr. One of my favourite builds - it is in Bulgarian markings and I added an engine and engine bay detailing, but the rest is pretty much out of the box:
That is a really nice model! I cannot recall painting anything with an engine on display.
It appears the Tamiya Steyr and long range desert group vehicle are out of production and selling at a premium on eBay.
Does an Austin K2/Y Ambulance qualify for this campaign? According to the Wikipedia, it is a development of the Austin K30 30-cwt truck. Kinda the opposite of “tough” though.
Awesome. Unless something better comes along, I will pick up a tough ambulance.
That second truck with the splinter scheme is also on my want list, mostly because the box art looks cool. I wonder if those colors would work for an IBG Chevrolet C15A.
Edit: Just stumbled upon a Tank Encyclopedia article about CMP trucks converted to carry flak guns. Germans and Italians up to their crazy vehicle hijinks again.
Edit: Went down a rabbit hole looking for up to date information on painting a Caunter scheme. Yikes.
Those are cool. The masking does not concern me. I have done way more crazy stuff. I found a recently updated web page enumerating all the colors and color changes used on British vehicles in World War II. It is insane. Then there is the issue of matching the colors. Then there is the issue of using the correct splinter scheme pattern for the vehicle in question at a specific point in time, maybe, unless that particular unit decided to do something else.
I have not yet found a Canadian Chevy 15-cwt in the Caunter scheme but it seems like they should exist. The Airfix Stuart includes a Royal Tank Regiment vehicle in a Caunter scheme which is good for that other campaign.
That’s what it was there for… As a lapsed builder all I can contribute (here and elsewhere) are comments (often fatuous), thread diversions, and ideas of varying levels of derangement. It’s encouraging to hear one of the latter may have borne fruit…
Cheers,
)
