Bunkermeister

Dec18

Roco Tiger II

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

My friend Randy of Fidelis Models gave me a small box of old, worn out Roco. This Tiger II was in the box. It is actually two different Tiger II tanks. The first one had extensive heat damage to the turret and the second had heat damage to the hull.

I heated the turret and pulled the turret back into something close to the original shape. The hull was too far gone to do much good trying to fix it. So I decided to make this one into a derlict tank that has suffered a major hull hit, internal explosion and fire.

Tanks that have burned out don't get recovered, the heat will damage the armor and make it useless.

This Tiger II has been hit and left on the battlefield. It is mounted on a sheet of styrene that was flocked and has a few bits of debris tossed in.

Helmet, packs, and gear indicate the crew may have escaped. Three empty tank gun cases are on the ground at the rear of the tank.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec17

More Shermans

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

An HO scale, 1/87 Sherman tank turret from Paul Heiser Models. this is the mid-production 75mm gun version. It has the oblong loaders hatch opening.

This is the T-23 turret with loaders oblong hatch. The indent shows where the hatch goes, it lays flat on the roof to avoid a shot trap. Paul has made these masters using resin copies of his own models, bits of plastic from his own kits and masters he has carved.

Here are all three of the new Paul Heiser Sherman turrets. The one on the left is the early production T-23 turret. It had a large loader hatch that was round. They actually used the old split hatch commanders cupola and then replaced the commanders cupola with a new cupola with vision blocks all the way around. These two cupola were the same size and were interchangeable. I have been looking for a photo that would show a tank with two of the same kinds of cupola. It is mechanically possible, but as far as I know was not an "authorized" version of the Sherman.

Photos were taken by me at Paul Heisers World Headquarters and Factory in Lakewood, CA. Models should be available from Fidelis Models as soon as January, 2010.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec16

British WWII HaT

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

In the movie A Bridge Too Far the British troops use a flamethrower to attack a German bunker. Now thanks to HaT we finally have a British soldier with a proper British flamethrower.

Rather than the two big and one small cylinders familiar to American flamethrower fans, the British one is this round apparatus shown here.

This Bren gun is so well done you can see the space between the barrel and the bipod.

The machine gunner without his machine gun. Good figure, he even stands up without the gun and without a base. That is evidence of good design and good sculpting.

The HaT machine gun with water can. A great little model. This works from WWI to about 1970. A great model.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec15

HaT British

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

The HaT British heavy weapons WWII set in soft plastic, 1/72nd scale. The PIAT man.

This is a very creative prone figure. He has a stereoscopic rangefinder. His rangefinder fits very well into to holes in the front of the figure.

A Vickers machine gun team. This may be the best water cooled machine gun ever. I read once that one was fired for 10,000 consecutive rounds, only filling the water can to keep it going, and no jams. That's a good machine gun.

The range to the target is important in long range machine gun fire. This guy will work very well with the Vickers machine gun.

My rule system allows tripod mounted machine guns with a crew of at least three to fire indirect fire. This will work with that system.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec14

Boys

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

The British Machine Gun set from HaT in soft plastic in 1/72nd scale. Prone Bren gunner.

Prone Bren gunner behind an Imex log.

Boys anti-tank rifle. The Boys was a large .55 caliber rifle to poke holes in light armor. in the 1930's in was intended for use against tanks. By late war, it was still useful against armored cars, and halftracks.

This is a long overdue weapon. Despite all the British Infantry sets we have had over the last 50 years we never got this weapon in plastic. The US Army Rangers also had these on their TO&E but I doubt they were ever used in combat.

This is the second Bren gunner in the set. The British had one Bren gunner per squad, or section as the British would say. This is a great set and the perfect complement to their Mortar Set and would work well with the Italeri and Revell WWII British Infantry.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec13

More British Soldiers

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

As "S" and Jim were kind enough to point out, the HaT British Mortar set comes with a 3" mortar, not an 81mm mortar like I said.

As Jim also pointed out, this little group will work great for a forward observer team or a fire direction center, or any headquarters group.

I like the holster on the officer and the sharpness of the load bearing gear will make these easy to paint, for those of you who paint figures.

A prone British soldier with Bren Gun. Separate arm with gun. Very nicely done.

The Bren Gunner from HaT in 1/72nd scale soft plastic. A good position for this soldier.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec12

Shermans

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

The Paul Heiser Models M4A1 late production hull with early 76mm gun turret T-23.

Sherman tanks were made by many different companies in real life, that's why there are so many different versions.

Some companies could do large metal castings and so they made cast hull Shermans.

The larger turret was made for the longer recoil and projectile size of the 76mm gun.

The original Sherman turret had only one hatch for the commander. Later this round hatch for the loader was installed. It allowed the crew to escape faster in the event the tank caught fire. These Paul Heiser Models are going to be great. They will be sold by Fidelis Models.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec11

HaT BR Mortars

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

Hat has released their long awaited, much anticipated British Heavy Weapons, WWII set, courtesy of my good friend, COL Jim.

1/72nd scale plastic, you get four of these great 81mm mortars, with crews.

The bipod fits onto the tube, very well. The base of the mortar is part of the tube.

The crew is very nice. I like the mortar bomb man particularly.

The ammo carrier man can carry ammo or PIAT bombs. This is a great set, and well worth waiting for, almost makes me wish I was collecting British!

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec10

M4A3 Late

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

M4A3 47 degree front, late hull, with late 76mm T-23 turret from Paul Heiser Models in HO scale.

This vehicle is almost complete, but the engine deck needs some work.

The turret will work for several different versions of the Sherman.

Top view of the M4A3 late production. These kits will be sold by Fidelis Models as soon as they are out, perhaps as soon as January, 2010.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec09

19 Shermans

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

Paul showed me his new masters for Sherman tanks he is working on now.

This is an M4A2 Early to Mid production hull with engine insert.

This engine insert is designed to allow drop in engine decks so different engine versions can be made and to ease the production of the resin models. Details like engine decks wear out faster than smooth parts.

This is the engine insert in place.

The entire kit will be resin. When this master is done, master molds will be made to make production masters. Those resin production masters will make the production molds.

More information on new Paul Heiser Models soon.

On Saturday I visited the world headquarters of Paul Heiser Models with Randy of Fidelis Models.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec08

CDF Fire Crew

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

While shopping for Roco, I found a few Boley vehicles on sale at my local train shop.

The California Department of Forestry has fire crews that fight brush fires all summer long.

Trucks like this carry fire crews to the closest road to the fire. Brush crews have few vehicles when actually fighting the fire.

This is a great truck and only $3.00, by Boley.

This HO truck is very large and all done right out of the box.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec07

Wire

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

In WWII the canals of Western Europe and particularly German were very important. With American and British fighting roving the skies, it because difficult for trains and truck convoys to move around due to destroyed rails and bridges. One way to avoid that was to use barges. Transportflotte Speer wore generally naval uniforms and ran barge transports.

I took the parade rest pose of the Revell KM figures, grafted on the arms of the Airfix WWI British flag signaller pose and the head with watch cap from an Airfix and Matchbox British Commando figure to make this Trnasportflotte Speer figure.

This pair just has the new arms, no new head. The mixture of uniform headwear reflects the more casual nature of these small crews.

Two sets of these figures to allow a few boats to signal each other.

All figures new parts are pinned using this type of guitar string. I put a paperclip into the end of the wire to make the wire easier to control. The extra weight prevents the wire from falling off the worktable or flipping around when I am cutting it to length.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec06

Sing Me A Song

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

When not in combat, this Preiser WWII German soldier likes to play the accordion for his friends in his unit.

This hard plastic Dapol figure always looked like a banker to me.

Sometimes a banker like to play accordion to his Volksstrum unit members.

Musical instruments were common with soldiers in WWII. They did not have the computers and miniature recorders that we have now. I give troops higher morale when they have entertainment.

The white head is from the Prieser Airfield People 1925 set and the base is Evergreen Plastics.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec05

Big LW KM Trucks

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

This Wiking HO 1/87th scale truck has had the cargo bed removed and replaced with a fuel tank. It will probably support my WWII German Luftwaffe or Kriegsmarine.

This was a tractor truck. I don't really have a use for that for the WWII Germans, but I did have the old truck bed in the spares box.

I cut down the undercarriage of the ultra long modern trailer and glued the truck body onto it. The truck is shown here with the well loved Opel Blitz truck from Roco for a bit of a size comparison.

This is a massive truck. It will probably go to my KM unit. They had a few very large trucks. While this is a post war truck, the only real external difference is the gills on the side of the engine cover.

I think the completed truck turned out pretty well.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

Dec04

Italeri Anti-Tank British Para

Categories // Bunkermeister, Syndicated Blogs, Figures & Toy Soldiers

These are the four British Paratroopers from the 1/72nd scale Italeri Anti-tank Teams.

In keeping with the limited anti-tank nature of these sets, they only give one A-T guy in the British Paratroopers.

This very nice figure is the standing Sten gunner pose. Really a good figure. I like the leaning forward into the shooting.

Light grenade launcher. As you can see from this angle a well sculpted figure that was not designed for mold making. Mrs. Bunkermeister thought this was a woman in a dress. The undercuts are pretty bad. This probably should have been a multi-part figure.

This is the British John Wayne. Only a very manly man can fire a PIAT while standing.

A veteran of the US Army Reserve Bunkermeister writes about Historical Minature Wargaming, Military History, Plastic Army Men and Model Making

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