Army Truck

I did a bit of touch up on the army truck.

I painted the wheel hubs to match the body.

The hubs are a bit large, but not unrealistic, I think.

 I then painted the tires.

Truck looks pretty good now that the tires are painted.  I still have some detail work to do, but this is the general idea.

Truck

A Tootsie Toy Army truck.  Nice truck, but no wheels.

Despite looking all over the spares box I could not find anything better for wheels than these buttons.

I used a bit of sprue to make axles and sheet styrene to make supports for the axles.  I attached them with epoxy.

Front wheels and supports and axles.

Rear wheels and supports and axles.

37mm AA Gun

This is a Tootsie Toy 37mm AA gun.  The barrel is bent.

I placed a tube over the bent barrel of the gun, and pulled the bent barrel back into alignment.

The tube is great for bending rods as it puts pressure on much of the surface of the barrel and lessons the chance of breaking the barrel.

Using Armory Primer I painted these two guns.

The work so for; a fine addition to my 1938 US Army.

Epoxy

I have been using some epoxy glue recently.  These items are all that is needed .

I use heavy duty aluminum foil for mixing the two parts of the glue.

Bamboo skewers to mix the paint with.  A hundred of them for a dollar at the dollar store.

Bob Smith Industries makes this two part epoxy.  Mix a bit of each of the two parts using the skewers.

Epoxy

Five minute epoxy hardens well in only five minutes.  In 24 hours it is hard as a rock and can be painted, cut, sawed like resin.

Two equal parts of epoxy.  Measurement needs only to be close, no perfect.

Mixing is most important.  It must be complete, I mix for about 30 seconds or more.

Then apply with the skewer.  Toss the foil and skewer once you are done.  I mix very small qualities and these two bottles will last for a very long time.

Embassy

Another small couple of windows to the attic.

The embassy without the roof.  I may add a part of the second floor so that troops can fire out the upper windows.

A great building once it's all put together.  By leaving the roof as a separate piece I can both remove it to wargame inside but also for storage in a shorter box.

Embassy

An HO building by Faller.

This is part of the tower.  Perfect for snipers and artillery observation.

I always try and make the roof a separate piece so I can remove it and move the troops around inside the building.

All these chimneys will provide good cover.

A little extra sneaky window.

Embassy

I have been working on my embassy building by Faller.

It's an expensive and complex building.

There are about a million pieces.  Well, it seems like it.

Just this little part alone is about 20 pieces.

Despite all that, there is no floor, so I made one.

1938 US Army

My 1938 US Army is getting some wheels painted.

Tamiya spray paint is the color I am using for the wheels.

Those same wheels from earlier are now painted a nice flat red.

The wheels will go on guns, similar to these.

Wagon Wheel Painting

I use Armory White Primer for many of my more delicate priming jobs.

I stripped the paint off these wheels and now need to prime them.

First side done.  These are part of my 1938 US Army collection.

Flip them over.

Paint them again.  The paint dries quickly in the sun..

1938 US Army

These are Tootsietoy 37mm US Army AA guns.  I am stripping the paint.  I clean them with a brush first.

I remove the rubber tires because they don't do well in the Simple Green and because I am going to use some other tires.  These guns are a bit out of scale, but I like them and intend to us them for my 1938 US Army.

Some spoked wheels from my 1938 US Army, I just finished stripping of  the paint.

I use this shaker glass to soak the models in, the top in perferated and keeps in the parts while I pour off the paint stripper.

I always refresh the Simple Green by adding a bit more.

Why 1938 US Army?