Close Combat

 Troops in the defense.

 Machine guns at the front and mortars to the rear.

 The robots close.

 The firing intensifies.

The Lewis gun fires away.

Heavy Metal

Robots work in conjunction with conventional forces.

Sniper on the roof.

Sniper on the berm.

Machine gun firing at the robot.

Red Skull Robots

Red Skull designed robots show up at the village.

They fan out and search for enemies of the state.

These robots are heavily armed.

They also have internal machine guns.

The robots are slower than a Tiger tank, but faster than a man.

Red Skull and Tanks

The tanks have started to arrive.

First a Tiger II.

Even larger than the Red Skulls large car.

Then a captured Sherman tank.

Modified with side skirts and German markings.

Red Skull

Red Skull arrives early

His big car is faster than the army trucks.

So he waits.

But just for a little while.

Things will happen soon.

Red Skull Car

Red Skull is a WWII German Super Villain.

Hot Wheels makes a new car for him.

It's very large and has a Hydra symbol on it.

I am not that keen on the Hydra stuff as a spin off from the German or the Nazis and rather use it as a loyal group within Nazi Germany.  

The vehicle is asymmetrical which is a bit odd.

Road Roller

 Road roller.

Construction equipment is very important for modern armies.

Infrastructure gets damaged and has to be repaired so operations can continue.

High speed military vehicles are much more "high speed" on a smooth roadway.

High Tech Wheeled Military Vehicles

High tech troops.

Hi mobility off road vehicle.

Wheels are still an excellent way to achieve mobility.

They are easy to maintain and inexpensive.

New technologies don't even require air inflation to create a good wheel.

Roof mounted automatic weapons give good rates of fire.

Dune Buggy

This Matchbox vehicle says Spark Arrester.

It claims to be a fire truck.

Not in my world.

It will be repainted as a high speed recon vehicle.

I am considering using a paint scheme similar to this, with various steel and gray colors for use with my Starship Troops figures.

Captured Sherman

This tank was built by Master Modeller Wayne Wanner.  He was selling off some of his collection through Fidelis Models and my friend Randy at Fidelis was able to make sure this fine specimen when to me.

It shows a lot about what can be done with an otherwise tired old model.  This is the Roco Minitanks Z202 Sherman tank, a kit that was probably first issued 50 years ago.  Wayne first converted it to German by painting it in a typical late WWII German camouflage scheme.  He also added the flag on the rear deck as an air recognition panel.

Next there is the side skirts.  While the Germans captured a lot of Shermans, I have never seen one with side skirts, but I have seen many captured T34 tanks with added side skirts, so I don't think this is at all unreasonable.  It really makes the tank look much more "German."

The tank has a German MG34 as the commanders machine gun.  While the Germans generally liked the .50 caliber, ammunition supplies might be difficult to obtain, so again this is very reasonable.  He put extra road wheels and track links on the front, something both Americans and Germans did with their tanks.  The rear deck has a stack of Jerry cans, typical for the Germans, and a road wheel and canvas roll.  He gave it a German style trailer hitch too.

A couple more subtle items, the gun and mantlet are from a Paul Heiser Models Sherman.  The Roco gun and mantlet are very early production.  The pistol port on the side of the turret is also an add on piece.  My thanks to Randy from Fidelis Models and my congratulations to Wayne Wanner.

Batmobile

This is a Hot Wheels 1966 Batmobile that I have converted into a WWII era military vehicle.

I disassembled it, stripped the paint, primered  it and repainted it OD. 

I added decals circa 1943 or so.  Since Batman was a duly sworn officer of the law (at least in the 1966 TV series) I figured he would be a Military Police Officer and so the vehicle is marked as MP.

I painted many of the details not painted on the Hot Wheels, including the red dome light.  I used Tamiya Clear Red for that.

The rocket engine and the parachute packs, as well as head and tail lights got painted too.

I think it makes a pretty good military vehicle.

The angled pipes in the back are actually a mortar, so that's a nice military touch.