The Mechanic is in

Spotted this on eBay the other day from Mango Terrain, what looked like a decent shell of a garage, that would make a suitable base model.

This was the online picture...

The princely sum of £7 plus  1.50 postage later..  I had a shell which was quickly assembled.All going together easily though for my taste the roof was too snug a fit, and I filed it down slightly where it abutted the front and back of the building.

Mindful of the uses for a building in wargames, I also made sure the windows were positioned to the outside wall. I found the side walls were interchangeable and the lean-to could be attached anywhere, so the model itself was quite flexible.

So here's the shell, after a quick attack with my Dremel to reduce the 'pristine smoothness' of MDF walls, and a coat of sample pot 'Pistchio' & 'Coffee Bean' colours.

As you can see, Mango added end trusses for the roof, a nice touch I thought. They also added in a back for the lean-to, so it could be stand alone. And two nice ladders...  which I will find a use for somewhere I'm sure.

A quick Google of vintage French posters 1938, and I had my art for the building, some pigments and a spare piece of 'rusted corrugated iron' that was given to me as a free sample, et voila...

Simple modifications were sandpaper for the tarpaper roof, handles for the garages doors from MDF offcuts. That was pretty much it.

I still intend to add a stack of spare tyres, and some oil drums on the side, plus I really feel this needs some grotty guttering and drain pipes, so those are yet to be added  - tyres and oil drums courtesy of eBay and Anyscale Models, while the drain pipes are waiting for me to find a source of straws.

[Edit] - just looking at the last pic I realise I also need to fix up the left hand corner where the original shell joins are visible, and that the roof needs seams on the 'tarpaper'. Ok, for later.

Very happy with this one, and a shout out to Mango for a nice base piece.

German Armour for 1940

While I wait (with little hope) for the balance of the BTD order to arrive (and accordingly, a backup plan involving eBay and a seller of BTD figures is in place), I quickly hurled together a Warlord Games plastic Pz IV that I found on eBay at a decent price.

Resisting the temptation to fully remodel the driver and machine gunner positions to make an accurate 'D' version, I just removed the moulding for the 'Rommelkist', draped a flag to disguise the incorrect engine deck, and turned a blind eye to the other minor inaccuracies.

So a quick pic later..

Weathering is a few smears and plenty of dust. It's hot in France in May and June 1940. There's also one of the very nice 1/48 ICM Sdkfz 222 kits assembled in Panzer Grey.