Boy Scouts

A group of Prieser Luftwaffe pilots and ground crew.

These will end up as a specialized unit.

Maybe Africa Corps.

In WWII in the USA Boy Scouts, Sea Scouts helped patrol the waterways.

I had some very small WWII US Navy guys, and so decided to make them Sea Scouts.

Now they are teenagers.

Caesar Miniatures WWII German Panzer Crews

The new Caesar Miniatures 1/72nd scale soft plastic WWII German tank crew figures.

The back of the box.

Caesar with Prieser tank crew sets do well together.

Lounging around the munitions carrier.

Working on the tracks.

Another Wagon

Another of my HO 1/87th scale wagons. This one was added to the collection two weeks ago.

In late WWII tens of thousands, if not millions of people moved west to avoid the advance of the Soviet Red Army.

This blue farm wagon is typical of many used in Europe, some, even today.

This particular version has the rear panel removed and placed in the bed of the wagon. These Preiser wagons are ready to go right out of the box. I will take these wagons and add refugee items with them for my Battle of Berlin project.

More Wagons Again

My friend COL JIM and I visited our local train shop today and I added to the wagon collection with this great example.

Two massive sturdy looking horses pull this Preiser Rack Wagon #30436. It is a typical farm wagon good for use in Germany from Napoleonic times until next Tuesday. Perfect for WWII. At 31.99 this is not cheap, but a very nice wagon.

This is straight out of the box, fully assembled, painted and detailed. The two figures are great and well painted.

The back of the wagon has several farm tools, rakes and such. This wagon will be added to my collection of wagons for my Berlin project.

Another Wagon

My attempts to increase my WWII German civilian wagon collection continues with this nice little wagon from Preiser, in HO 1/87 scale.























Wagons were often improved by the addition of pneumatic tires. Rubber tires made for a more comfortable ride over cobblestone streets. This model is called the "Forwarding carrier" and is a wagon with various boxes and crates in the back.






















It is Preiser set #30434 and it cost me $33.99 at my local train shop, Arnies Trains in Westminster.






















The set is fully painted and only the horses need to be glued to the center pole.





















This wagon goes nicely with my previous weeks purchase, the cow drawn hay wagon. My intent is to try and get a wagon a week, and as that happens I will keep you updated.

German Wagon

In WWII the Germans used many trucks to move troops and supplies. But they used many more horse drawn vehicles.






















This is a Preiser cow drawn wagon. It is pre-painted and pre-assembled. I have seen Germans using cows to tow jet fighters.

























The wagon came with the painted girl figure. The accordian player is a Prieser figure. It is there to vex Jim.
























I added a styrene base to the figure but everything else is right out of the box. The set is about $25.























There are a large number of different versions of horse and cow drawn wagons from Preiser in HO 1/87th scale. I plan on picking up a few more.

Repair Broken Tanks

On a recent trip to Pegasus Hobbies in Montclair, CA, I picked up a set of the Pegasus German Tank Crew set in 1/72nd scale. This is an old set, from 1996, but still very nice. Plastic is styrene, like model kits, and flash free. Most of the figures are torso, and two arms, some with separate heads. There are no bases, so I made some out of Evergreen Plastics sheet styrene.























World War Two German heavy tanks were state of the art high technology weapons systems. They were extremely heavy and that puts tremendous wear and tear on the tracks, engines and transmissions. These vehicles required constant maintenance and repair. These figures are performing some of those functions.























Warfare is not all constant combat. Much of the time is spend waiting for an attack, waiting to move, waiting for chow, hurrying up and waiting. While waiting, troops often spend their time playing cards. A deck of cards takes up almost no space, there are many different card games, and so are very popular with troops. This set has two groups playing cards. The tables and chairs are highly detailed and very nice.






















Off to the left you can see a seated accordion player. Musical instruments are popular modes of entertainment with troops. Two of them come in this set.






















I added a few diorama elements to the Preiser figures and it makes an instant diorama. In this case a few Imex Alamo Accessories trees, JR Miniatures Ruin, a Roco Tiger I and an Roco Panzer III converted to an ammo resupply vehicle.

Refugees

One of the most common images in the Second World War in Europe is long streams of refugees fleeing the fighting. At the beginning of the war you see French people fleeing from the advancing German Blitzkrieg. Late war, you see long lines of Germans fleeing advancing Soviet troops.























Often these groups of refugees will be seen with a small wagon full of their world possessions. Sometimes they include livestock and even kids or old people are riding on them.























These are the JR Miniatures ruins and the Forces of Valor Germans with the new Preiser WWII Refugees, in 1/72nd scale hard plastic. They have several optional parts, and the wagon can have the supplies load of baggage, but they are separate parts and so you can load it with your own gear.





















This is a very good set but it runs about a dollar a figure so it will be rather expensive to build up long columns of fleeing civilians. I really like the small wagon and will probably get a couple more. There is another set with the wagon and a couple kids, if it is cheaper I may get a few of those too. Refugees in the wargame can serve several purposes. They can block roads, they can be the reason you have to defend the city until the civilians escape, they can hide infiltrators, very common in the Korean War; they can have a mix of civilians and soldiers fleeing the front lines.