Monday, November 11, 2013

More is the new ... More!

Recently I was offered by a fellow Christchurch war gamer of note, Robin Sutton, a bunch of three ROCO Tigers to add to my felicitous cat-type collection.  Naturally I was very happy to accept, but, whilst I took several days working out how I was going to arrange to collect them, round came Brian and Brent not only with said Panthera Tigris times three ... but also a bunch of fascinating other intriguing goodies.  
Panthera Tigris: my new Heavy Tank Coy 656.
 Examining the rest we begin with this interesting trio.  The DUKW doubles my collection of this particular vehicle.  I don't have much in the way of amphibious or beach landing vehicles or craft, so this is a welcome addition.  The little fellow on the left looks very much like a Light Mark VI tank, probably a scratchbuild - not a bad scratchbuild if it is!  Not having much of an early war inventory, I have just about decided it will feature as a light tank left behind in Tchagai by the Brittannic Empire, withdrawing from the country post independence...  In whose possession, though?  The Tchagai government, or the rebellious Baluchistan hill tribes...?  I have a little bit of a scenario in mind for that...

Then there is the ROCO Sherman, minus mantlet and gun.  There are occasions when that kind of deficiency is very welcome.  This Sherman will get a cardboard or plasticard mantlet, and an offset 'wooden' gun, and serve as an armoured Forward Observer vehicle.  Just the ticket.  Had it been more compatible, it would have been too tempting to have incorporated it into the main corps of Sherman tanks.

 Three very useful trailers!  One is wanting its wheels, and another  its towing ring (and front wheel, but I won't bother with that).   Very handy additions to my WW2 Allied Armies.


Now we come to this interesting chappy. 'What is this delightful... thing?' asks Hexxus of the tree felling machine that released him (animated movie Fern Gully).  It took a bit of a while to figure out how the three elements fitted together...
 ... though what looked at first like a boarding ramp turned out to be a fold-out military bridge.





 A little bit of fiddling about seemed to indicate that the 'AA gun thing' was actually a hydraulic mechanism that fitted something like this.  Having taken this photo, I thought I'd post it and get a laugh...
...but in fact I was on the money.  Once I figured out how the bridge was supposed to fasten on, it looked just the deal: a M48 A1 bridge-laying vehicle.  My Tchagai Army Engineers will be chuffed, no end.

The hydraulic mechanism extended. It looked so right, it had to be true - but how did the bridge fit?


Aha!  There we go!  The vehicle can be unclipped to leave the bridge free standing (so to speak).






Finally, this APC thingy will just have to be a command vehicle of some sort.  Those wheels are characteristic of the ROCO toy models - intended for ease of pushing along a floor, and not as part of the depiction of the real thing.  Clearly this is meant to be tracked vehicle, so tracks it will get.  Most likely cardboard.




I like cardboard.  excellent modelling material...
Robin: I thank you.  Robin has his own blogspot, by the way, that can be seen here:


17 comments:

  1. Ion

    You are VERY welcome.. just knowing that someone has a use for them is extremely gratifying. HATE throwing anything out if AI can avoid it. :-)

    Look forward to seeing them 'in action'.

    R

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    1. It looks as though that little Light Mark VI might be the first to see action. I have a feeling that shortly after Tchagai achieved independence from the Britannic Empire the Baluchistan hill tribes are seeking independence from Tchagai. The Tchagai Government will be wanting to bring the Baluchistan hillmen to heel. It will take a bit of setting up, though - I'll need quite a lot of wild hill country...

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    2. Ion

      Meant to say that the MkVI was scratch built by a school friend of mine in 1973 .. ahh, such memories LOL

      R

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  2. Nice additions to the collection Ion!

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  3. Smashing haul once again Ion!

    I am sure that Sherman is a Roskopf rather than a Roco but no matter a tank is a tank! I only know this because I had some that I sent to the UK for Tim Gow and he pointed them out.

    The M48 Bridgelayer is a wee gem and you are lucky to get a full one. I have a 3/4 one and am itching to bring it into service.

    A man can never have enough trailers either!

    The APC looks to be a M4 Tractor based on the Sherman, so you could use the track set up from the Roskopf Sherman for a almost perfect replacement set.

    Very impressed mate.

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    Replies
    1. Funny you should mention that about the APC tracks. It so happens the tracks for that Sherman aren't properly attached. Of course they were placed against the trackless APC for the look of the thing. H'mmm... How about that...
      Should have taken a photo.

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  4. Interesting assortment of vehicles. The bridge layer is cool.

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  5. I thought 'more' was the new 'still not enough'..... Some good stuff there though. The 'APC' looks to be the Roco M5 Tractor which uses M3 Stuart-style running gear. I'm sure that if you rummage in the spares box you'll find something to fit.

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  6. Ah yes.. I used the running gear for my otherwise scratch built M5.. it's all coming back to me now :-)

    R

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  7. some really cool stuff there Ion. really would be cool to see it all in action. would also be nice to see the politcal relationships in the region...
    (time for a little imagination putting myself in the shoes of an Oronegrean "foreign affairs" minister)
    ...not that Oronegro is too interested in the business of others. are you kidding? we sell weapons lots and lots of them. HUGE tons of them to everyone, even terrorists... ur wait? no we don't! ignore what I just said. Oronegro will not be sending any weapons to the region as it may destabalise it more. please feel free to leave all your product requests with us. All weapons deals excluding weapons of mass destruction deals can be made in secret, please note that Oronegro makes no promises as to who it sells its weapons too. Please refer to the Oronegrean arms trade politcy booklet 1995 and artical 651 D of the Orogrean "foreign affairs" act of 1957 for further details. we have a 24hr call centre for further assistance though please understand you may be put on hold. We are very busy selling weapons to dictators (urr ignore that too) and terrorists (and that) and our mercenary supply system does mean that many calls will get priority (I may loose my job for saying all this.
    (back to normal)
    then again looking how many arms are flooding in right now I don't think the nation needs any assistance from Oronegro in getting weapons... looks like your neighbours though are more than happy to see Tchagai suffer war.

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    1. Hi Gowan - Broadly speaking, the Independent State of Tchagai lies on the fringes of the upheavals of the Harad Empire, which you will have read in Brian's blog: A Fist Full of Plastic. Like many another Head of State looking upon the travails of a neighbour, the Nabob of Tchagai is eyeing the situation very closely, hoping to pick up some choice bits of Harad territory cheaply, without getting his fingers burnt.

      But there may be some back history appearing shortly. I have a scenario in mind set about 1946-7, in which the neo-nascent Tchagai state has to deal within its own borders with some rather independent minded Baluchistan hillmen...

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    2. ah yes I do follow Brian's blog. great story. wish I knew of some local guys with their own imagi-nations would be great to join in the fun. (especially as Oronegreans can always be mercenaries and turn up anywhere within reason)

      Also got my BIG post today... just thought I'd let you know. I am looking forward to this story. Oh and I heard about Barry as well, its sad that he has gone leaving lindhurst the way it is. Also raises questions about how do we have our blogs sorted out once we're gone... I would like to think that mine would be closed by someone else (as in someone did a post stating the fact I had passed on) but perhaps that will be made available in the future.

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  8. Ion
    Seeing what you are planning with these, I have another couple of wee beauties that I'd (unforgivably) thrown out altogether. I've retrieved them for you... if you mail me off line with your address I can drop them around.
    Robin

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  9. I don't have your e,ail address Robin. Thought I did but... no.
    My email address is ionadowman@yahoo.com.
    While I'm here, I've been told you will be running a HoTT competition at Woolston at the beginning of December. I'd be interested in participating in that - just so I can admire the cool armies others will bring - especially if it is a 25mm scale comp.

    The army I have in mind for this is less a triumph of the imagination - more a tour-de-force of anti-imagination. Nothing special, in other words. But I dare say my opponents will have fun with it... :-)
    Cheers,
    Ion

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  10. Yep.. I'll put your name in.. we also have loan armies available. The tournament is indeed 20/25mm scale.

    R

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