M47, T54 and M48 Tanks

I am doing a big sweep through my Cold War Soviet Union collection.  As you can see from the Roco T54 hatches I have been replacing hatches.  I have been painting stuff a lot.

These are die cast trucks and vehicle made in Eastern Europe and a few from  China.  I use them as part of my Cold War Soviet Union support vehicles.  I have been masking the plastic glass, and spray painting them.  After it's dry, I remove the masking tape and paint the area around the windows.

Some of my command vehicles have Roco tank commanders.

I am painting over the markings and touching up some places that did not get painted by the original owner.

Here are some Roco M-47 tanks.  Can you tell me what is different about them, from the standard M-47 tank?

A few years ago this M48 and three other tanks came on a bit of cardboard with a plastic dome over them.  They all had M48 type suspensions and upper hulls and turrets of a sort of Panzer IV, and a Leopard, that were not very good.  The M48 was the best of them but it was really too small for HO scale, just by a little.  The cupola is pretty good and I may use it to update a few Roco M48s. 
 

Roco M38A1 Jeeps

I have a lot of these vehicles.  

Like this one, many needed a lot of work.  This vehicle was in production by Roco for a long time and eventually the mold got tired.  The rear chassis got flash on it, the rear frame had flash on it, and the front fenders often had flash on them too.

Used models often are missing the spare tire, gas can, steering wheel, and have a broken windshield.

So I combed my spares boxes and came up with a bunch of parts to restore this Jeep and a few others.
 

Trailer

Roco 1 1/2 ton trailer.

I got this one used and the forks were bowed a bit, and it was missing the front wheel.  So I ignored the bow but I took a trailer hitch, filled in the hole, and painted it as a tire.

It was unpainted except the tarp.

So I painted the trailer and the tires but left the tarp in this color.

One of my 2 1/2 ton trucks will get this trailer.
 

Roco Van Trailer

Roco van trailer.

Two doors, these are often missing from used models, but are easy to scratch build.

Logistics are important for warfare and big vans like this are good for carrying many kinds of supplies particularly those that are easily damaged by rain or wind.

The landing gear work but it is not a great design.

This is a simple model and very durable.

Front end.

Bottom with retracted landing gear, and spare tire.

The top is a big rectangle.
 

Artillery, Truck, Trailers

Some of my artillery is in the queue.  It's due to have the wheels painted and the ground cover installed. 

The 37mm mountain gun was deployed in units of three guns, here they are!

Painting Eko 2 1/2 ton truck passengers that will be redeployed as Jeep drivers.

Roco 5 ton tracker, ready for wheels to be painted.

Van ready for wheels to be painted, and the landing gear adjusted.

Metal model road grader, after about 30 years it's time to paint it and paint the tires.

Roco trailer, note the front landing gear is a trailer hitch!  Put a drop of gap filling super glue in the center and paint the rim black to make it into a decent replacement for the missing piece!
 

Anti-Tank Strong Point

Two different ways to have the Roco 37mm anti-tank gun.  Some of mine are in good enough shape that the trails can be opened and others are glued together for strength.

Jeep tows the next gun into position.

Troops man the gun.  Airfix WWII USMC old version.

Watching.  

The trees are from Marx Toys, probably 60 years old.  The road is asphalt roofing shingle.

Roco 2 1/2 ton truck.  I got about two dozen Roco vehicles painted in this camouflage, but without the wheels painted and with bare plastic patches.  I covered the bare spots, added a driver, and painted the tires.

Everyone together for an anti-tank strong point.
 

105mm Howitzer Upgrades and Backgrades

For the last several years I have been working on a long term project to repair, upgrade, convert much of my collection.  My Roco 105mm howitzers were greatly in need of attention.  Many were missing parts, many were broken, some had no wheels, few were painted, and some were just piles of parts.

This one had trails that were broken, the little taps the clip into the shied have a tendency to break off, some of them had no tabs at all.  I solved this problem by using clay to hold the shield in position while the trails were glued both to the shield and the other end to a bit of sheet plastic.

I am also back dating some of these to an older style tire.  This is the same type often found on the Interwar French 75s and several other medium guns.

I am removing the small front shield and cutting down the main shield.

Here is the small shield removed.  I try to retain these pieces in case I need them for the next gun!

The shield is cut down.

Here is what it looks like after trimming.  Starting in 1938 the US Army began a massive mechanization project to replace all the wagon wheels on their artillery with pneumatic tires.  They wanted to do it about a decade earlier but the Congress would not spend the money.  Even starting in 1938 by the end of 1941 only about half of the inventory was upgraded.
 

Parts, Pallets

In World War Two especially but even in the Cold War the US Army used just about every type of vehicle you ever heard of and a lot you never saw before.  This is a plain old city bus, typical from the 1940s until the 1960s.  They would be seen around Army bases providing bus service just like in a city.  Buses also took soldiers around in administrative and training movements.  If a group were headed for the range, or going to the train station to move to a new location for a while, they might go by bus.  Often they were painted like other military vehicles and sometimes they were left in their original civilian colors as they came from the factory. 

Note the large electrical engine, it is mounted on a bit of sheet plastic.  It will fit in the back of a Roco 2 1/2 ton truck.  I use items like that for engineers or just general cargo.  Such an electric motor could be used in a factory or on board a ship.  The Army has often run factories and major repair facilities so a massive electric motor would not be that unusual.

Some of the other supplies include old drums, and various boxes of supplies.  By mounting them on sheets of plastic that fit into my truck fleet I can create a supply depot, have trucks move the supplies to the front, and then have them dropped at a forward resupply point. 

 In the top right of this photo you can see a Roco 2 1/2 ton truck with a cement truck body.  I have never seen such a truck in real life, nor even a photo of one.  However, the 2 1/2 ton truck was used in the hundreds of thousands and who is to say there was never one of them that had a cement mixer on the back?  US Army built bases all over the world and so having a cement truck would have been handy.  I took the body off of a junk vehicle from the dollar store and put it on a junk Roco 2 1/2 ton truck to make a unique and useful vehicle.  I don't think I would want ten of them, but certainly one is okay.

Also along the right side note the supplies.  First are oil drums, armies use lots of fuel.  Then there is an ammunition collection point.  Look carefully and see ammo boxes, belts of ammo, gathered up after the battle for re-issue or disposal.  The next pallet is Sherman tank maintenance items.  A Sherman commanders cupola, engine, and some other parts and tools.  The next pallet is boat propellers.  The Army used landing craft to cross the Rhine and also other rivers and lakes in WWII.  So having a supply of propellers was likely handy.  Next is plumbing fixtures.  Once a nation is conquered they are able to enjoy the benefits of American indoor plumbing. 

At the upper left is a partial view of one of those Hobby Lobby Christmas pick up trucks.  Original paint stripped and painted olive drab.  They are very inexpensive and not many other HO scale pick up choices out there.

The Roco 37mm US anti-tank gun is a nice little model and it functions well.  The trails open and close, the wheels turn, and the cannon moves up and down.  Sadly this also makes it fragile and I have a large number of them that have sustained damage over the decades.  So I have mounted many of them on little squares of sheet plastic.  Typically I flock them so they look nice. 

Roco And Other Conversions

Filament Fighters M18 Hellcat.

Earth vs the Flying Saucers anti-UFO ray truck.

WWII US Army 4.5 inch howitzers.  Roco 155mm conversion with extended barrel.

105mm Self-Propelled US Army halftrack, WWII.  Roco conversion that I upgraded from my original version when I got more information.

Conversion of the Roco Dodge weapons carrier and Heiser M3 halftrack to make the M5 halftrack.  Also Roco and metal 75mm mountain guns.