Churchill

Doh!

Sound pretty conclusive to me. Sticking your undercrackers on your head and pencils up your nose then going "wibble" would be a better use of one's time. I'll put you on the list, Mr Botan.

Ooh, mini-subs. Do tell us some more: what made you think of these?

The Wikipedia entry is fairly damning, this is the worst of it; "The Botha proved to be severely underpowered and unstable; there were a number of fatal crashes in 1940." There seem to have been quite a few Blackburn aircraft suggested for this build. It won't be lonely.

Thanks for the bump. Real life has slightly pushed modelling to the side for a few months but I will be getting back to it soon I hope, and my panzer IV from the STGB won first prize in a local model show, which was a boost.

Progress is slow, but is happening. The running gear is on, and I've made a start on the link and length tracks. KBO, Churchill.

Still planning to join you, just making slow progress in The Specialists GB.

I might be misremembering, but I think both those aircraft have cropped up in the thread already. The Defiant, a fighter with no forward firing guns, and the underpowered Lavochkin of which Wikipedia has this to say: "The LaGG-3 proved immensely unpopular with pilots. It was somewhat hard to control as it reacted sluggishly to stick forces. In particular, it was difficult to pull out of a dive, and if the stick was pulled too hard, it tended to fall into a spin. As a consequence, sharp turns were difficult to perform. Moreover, pilots reported a number of imperfections: badly made

I have to say the idea of riding that thing in the combat zone doesn't appeal. Were you proposing to join the GB with it?

Excellent choices both. Thank you for joining us.

Now let's be quite clear: No-one is making a scale model of a mobile phone for this GB, is that understood? Funnily enough, that's exactly what I thought when I saw it.

We've ruled out fictional vehicles. But civilian vehicles that were pressed into service would fit the brief.

I shall put your name down for a midget submarine, a bomber, a cavalry unit or something in-between.

Odd that Messrs @Stevejj and @Gorby have been looking at some of the rather desperate products of Home Guard ingenuity, because that's where Exhibit 3 from Bovington tank museum comrs from, and I think it tops the Beaverette for sheer daftness. I give you the Thornycroft Bison: a concrete armoured lorry with less power than a Nissan Micra: From a modelling perspective, both the Beaverette and the Bison could be fairly simple scratchbuilds for supporting roles in a diorama. The gun on top of the Beaverette was sometimes a glazed gun turret from a

Wikipedia sets out several flaws: "The vehicle was considered a very imperfect design, because of a poor layout, insufficient fire-power, a cramped interior and inferior mobility due to an overhanging nose section, which had been designed to crush through the belts of barbed wire but in practice caused the tank to get stuck." However, I think the best one was making the fuel tanks unarmoured and outside the hull. Genius. Pleased to add you to the list, and I look forward to seeing the model.

Oh wow, we've not had much maritime interest so far. I'm not familiar with this sub, but a quick search confirms that it's still in service and that the radiation shielding is poor, being based on 1950's technology. Scary stuff. I'll add you to the list, and welcome.

Ok, Exhibit 2 - I give you the NSU Springer Sd. Kfz 304: This is a shot from the rear of the vehicle, showing the area where the solitary occupant sits. The wire grille is I believe a museum addition, to prevent visitors poking around inside. The Springer is a tracked vehicle based on the Kettenrad half-track motorcycle affair. The motorcycle front fork and wheel have been removed, and a third of a ton of high explosive put in its place. The idea is that you drive the Springer up to an enemy's fortified position, then jump out and go and hide behin

A bit of pre-shading (never done this before) and a coat of Mig Russian Green. The flash exaggerates the pre-shading, which is a little more subtle in normal light. KBO, Churchill.

Masked a few spots where the running gear will be glued, then shot a coat of primer.

I had the pleasure of a trip to the tank museum at Bovington this week, if you've never been it is absolutely worth a visit, there are hundreds of AFV's from the very first tank prototype (Little Willie, surprisingly more like a modern tank than the Mark I was) through to Abrams and Challenger 2. Of course, it's also a rich seam of material to be mined for this thread. Apart from the obvious candidates, Covenanters and the like, three items in particular caught my eye. First, I give you the Carro Veloce L3/33. Based on the Carden Lloyd carrier (a predecessor of the Bre

Ok, we're overdue for an update. I haven't done quite as much as I'd hoped this week, but there is progress. I've fitted the rear axle and differential, the exhausts, and the two panels that pretty much hide all that. I've also fitted the external stowage. There's plenty of internal stowage boxes, but I thought I'd leave them till the rest is painted. The steering wheel had a scale thickness of almost three inches, rather than try to make a new one I carefully sanded it down. The gear lever was just as bad, I replaced it with bit of brass wire with a blob of superglue

This turned up in the post today, and I mean to build it in this GB: I was at Bovington tank museum yesterday, mining a rich seam of material for the SYWWTGTWI GB chat, and their gift shop is well supplied with model kits from a variety of manufacturers, also etch and resin detailing kits, armour specific paint sets from Mig, and plenty of reference books too. My friend very kindly offered me my choice of kit as a late birthday present. So, while we're waiting for the GB to start, hands up everyone who wants to see me build this Sturmtiger?

Oh yes, might make an interesting conversion. Here it is in the Osprey book:

On the subject of WWII protagonists copying each other's successful designs, I just came across this in Anthony Tucker-Jones' Tiger I and Tiger II: "The T-34’s superiority was such that German officers on the Eastern Front were of the view that it should be copied, but the Germans were in no position to do so. Guderian pointed out that Hitler’s panzer designers could never agree to such a move, not because of national pride, though that was clearly a factor, but because it was simply not possible to mass-produce the T-34. Germany was suffering a shortage of raw materials, and even

Delighted to. Welcome Mr Muddyf.