Kebelwagen Repair

This pick is from the Roco Opel Blitz truck.

This Roco Kubelwagen has had a rough life.  I got is used and it was missing the windshield.  I did not have a spare windshield and the previous owner had used a bit of plastic to make the frame of the windshield, but now, sadly, some of it was missing.

So using the handle of the Roco pick, I replaced the missing vertical part of the windshield.

Now it is much better.

It still looks like it has been campaigning actively from Poland, to France, to Tunisia, to Sicily, to Russia and finally Berlin.

But it is a survivor and I wanted to fix the worst of it but keep it looking like a grizzled veteran.

So I am not even removing the rust from the axles.

Here is the old, but newly converted and painted 88mm AA gun and the old and repaired but still scarred Kubelwagen together.

 

Supply and HQ

Roco sound detector as a ground mount.

I keep every little bit of equipment that I get with models.  Second row, middle has a Lewis gun on it that is metal.  I have no idea where I got it.  The Germans used a lot of old and captured equipment and often issued it to artillery and other second line units.

The unit headquarters.  These would be a few meters apart so a random shell would not get both of them.

The sound detector is not normal gear for a unit like this but I like to add extra stuff now and again.

Four gun batter with ammo dump, and headquarters deployed.

Just a little bit of scrap plastic, flocked after adding a couple small boxes and instant HQ.

Sometimes models give you a few rounds for use in dioramas or for the troops to hold.  I like to save them up to make ammo dumps.  The quantity is only notional as the dump is usually considered to have a reasonable supply of ammo unrelated to the actual quantity on the plastic card.

It's projects like this one that are the reason that I save up every bit of sheet plastic.  Even a one inch square is enough.  I also keep boxes, oil drums, barrels, small arms, and other supplies sorted out into boxes so that I can find the quickly, in theory, when I need them for a project.
 

88 on the Ground

Naturally I can't have just one Grille ground mount.

So I made a battery of 12.

It is such an easy conversion that it did not take long at all to whip these up.

Three batteries of four guns each.  They use the usual 88mm style wheels / axle / jacks that the older 88mm guns used.  I have a few extra Airfix ones, and although they are in 1/76th scale they are close enough for me.  I have not inventoried them yet, but I have at least enough for one battery of four.

The remainder may get assigned to a fortress battalion that is not expected to move.

These kinds of guns are so large and heavy that they would have to be withdrawn soon after contact with the enemy or they would be lost; unless the Germans won the battle.

In any case the limbers would not be held too close to the guns anyway to avoid them being a target.

These are painted Rust-Oleum 2X primer gray which works well for Panzer Gray in my estimation.  It also is a perfect base paint in case I decide to paint them some other color later.
 

Panzer Selbstfahrlafette IV Ausf. C, or Pz. Sfl. IVc. also known as Grille 10, the 8.8cm Flak 37 auf Sonderfahrgestell

Roco Minitanks number 105 was the Grille, a self-propelled 88mm anti-aircraft gun.  In real life the Germans only made three of them and one was converted to use a different AA gun.  The converted one was used in Italy by the Germans, it's fate unknown.

The Flak 41, 88mm used on the Grille was also used as a ground mounted AA gun.

Hundreds of the ground mounted versions were made and used in North Africa and later in Europe until the end of the war.

Since the Roco Grille is rather common, and inexpensive, I decided to to use some of their guns as ground mounts.

I used the center of the Roco Grille with the gun mount as the basis for the ground mount.  I just cut it right out of the vehicle, by cutting across the upper hull near the front and the back making a plastic square with the actual circular mount in the center.  Then the original Roco mount, shield and gun fit perfectly.

I made the arms out of plastic McDonalds coffee stirrers. Then trimmed the corners of the base to fit the arms.  The pads on the end are just small squares of plastic and the pins are a bit of wire.  So apart from the cost of the original vehicle, and essentially free conversion.