20 MM AA

With American planes patrolling the skys every day, all day long, the Germans in WWII needed to field as many anti-aircraft guns as possible. I had a number of old Opel Blitz trucks that were slightly melted in the heat of the summer sun. I converted these four trucks into AA gun platforms.

This Roco Opel truck has an open cab with no windshield glass. Notice how the dark interior makes it look like a solid cap with the window painted black. Roco makes two versions of their single German anti-aircraft gun. I selected the smaller of the two as this one looks more like a 20mm gun than a 37mm gun. Eadai / Grip / Arii used to make a large SdKfz 7 halftrack in 1/72nd scale. They came in an artillery towing version and a AA gun version. The artillery towing version had the rear deck walls of the AA version in the kit. I used these as the rear sidewalls for my conversion of these trucks.

The cab roof of this truck looks like it rolled over and was put back in service. I planted the entire Roco gun and base from a old Roco SWS armored halftrack.

These trucks are good basis for conversions. The original rear truck bodies were totally destroyed by the sun and so I could then use the trucks for other purposes. I try and use every bit in my collection so that nothing goes to waste.

Windows You Can't See Into

Adding resin vehicles to your collection can really expand the number of different vehicles available for wargaming. This group of German heavy cars has been in my collection for about 20 years, since Roco / Herpa only released such a vehicle recently as a plastic kit, it has allowed me to get a 20 year head start on using them in a wargame.

Most resin vehicles come unpainted in a yellowish or gray colored resin. These were yellow resin. I painted them just as I would any plastic kit, a quick wash to remove any mold release, a primer spray paint and then paint with brush, airbrush or spray can with regular model paints. The only real difference is this kit came as a solid block of resin. Tires, canopy, body all one part. Very durable, those ham fisted wargamers can't easily damage this model. But then comes the question of how to paint the solid window glass. I have used several techniques and they are illustrated in this series of photos. Here the windows are painted chrome silver, and then painted over with a gloss coat for added depth. Not too bad, looks particularly good on darker vehicles like this panzer gray vehicle.

Here I used a gloss black finish, with an extra gloss coat of clear. When the lighting is just right you can see the shine off the gloss and it looks very effective. If you look at most cars from a distance of a hundred feet, the windows will look dark in the daytime because you are looking through the glass to a dark vehicle interior. Hard to see in the photos but I take just the tiniest bit of chrome silver as a dry brush over the black. All in the same direction, usually at about a 45 degree angle. This makes this medium tan vehicle look a bit darker.

Light blue windows, with a chrome silver dry brush and gloss coat over brush on the windows. This looks best on a light colored vehicle like this tan heavy car. On a very bright sunny day with no clouds, the windows on cars will sometimes reflect the blue of the sky. This works well for desert units. I try and do at least entire companies the same, if not entire battalions, it just seems they look more uniform that way.

These vehicles have windows that are not recessed in any way. Vehicles with more of a recessed window tend to look best with the gloss black with gloss clear coat. I think by the window having a set back from the edge of the door it makes us expect the dark due to the depth.

Another Bridge

The mighty Blitzkrieg was not just masses of tanks rolling across the plain, the infantry were still the backbone of the army. The infantry had to cross rivers too and not everyone wants to get their feet wet doing it. Engineers can toss a bridge like this one across a stream pretty quickly.

Once again I have used our friend the Roco pontoon bridge, but this time I have used the Roco rubber raft as the pontoons. These assault rafts were very common in the German army in WWII and the Roco one is a pretty good model.

I used the roadway edge and one set of handrails, turned four of the treadways sideways and made a skinny footbridge. Bridges like this allow troops on foot, even on a motorcycle to cross a river or stream and stay dry. It also does not slow down movement in my wargame rules, like crossing a stream would do; everyone hesitates before wading into a waterway. A bridge removes that hesitation. The rope handrail is thread, backed up with superglue to make it superstrong.

Roco Stug III

This old soldier is the Roco Strumgeschutz III. They have been around over 30 years and it is still a good, sturdy wargame model. The kit is only a few parts, upper and lower hull, two rear road wheels, cannon, machine gun shield, and hatch and two side skirts, not shown here. Only seven pieces so it goes together quickly.

A few extra bits on this model makes it look much better. I added some extra track links on the side of the superstructure and a few fuel cans on the back as well as a machine gun in the shield.

The fuel cans were places all over these vehicles in real life. I glued them in several different ways for a bit of variety.

This platoon is lined up in an ambush position. These vehicles were used up to the end of the war by the Germans. They were used as artillery, anti-tank guns and as substitute tanks.