Nick's Model Tanks page WWII Allied

Nick's Model Tanks page - World War Two Allied vehicles

WWII Allied - Other vehicles

WWII Allied vehicles. Click on pictures to view.

AEC Matador from the Airfix model, given a fresh treatment by using desert sand as a paint scheme and adding nice details such as the rolled up canvas flaps and side windows. Little touches can go a long way to making your model unique. Approximate year of construction: 1999. The green Matador is the original model dating from about 1966!

Austin Ambulance. 1/76 Airfix from the RAF emergency set. This ambulance was also employed on the battlefield by the army. Approximate year of construction: 1969.

Austin K 6 fire truck. 1/76 Airfix from the RAF emergency set. Approximate year of construction: 1969.

Bishop Mk I - ESCI 1/72. The Bishop mounted a 25 pounder in a tall housing on a Valentine chassis. Nice little model. The crew members are from AB miniatures. Approximate year of construction: 1995.

25 pounder gun and crew, QUAD gun tractor and Humber scout car with an M3 Grant in a Western Desert diorama. All Tamiya. There are closer shots of just the Grant on the WWII Allied Tanks page: World War Two Allied tanks
Approximate year of construction: 1997.

British Bren carrier with 6 pounder anti-tank gun. Tamiya 1/35. Crew is from 8th Army Tamiya figures modified to inhabit the carrier. It is hard to get "non-action" pose figures so I often have to use a little imagination and modify stock figures. Approximate year of construction: 1998

1/35 Tamiya 6 pounder anti-tank gun with crew and Dragon British/Commonwealth troops 1944 Normandy. Some people disparage the old Tamiya crew but after painting they seem to fit right in with the modern Dragon. Certainly good enough for my level of figure painting anyway! Approximate year of construction: 1998 (gun) and 2007 (figures).

The Airfix Universal carrier. I was all set to include the 6-pounder until I found out the towing bar was only added in 1944! Since this was earlier, it had to go. This is yet another example where some nice figures, in this case from AB Figures in Wales, can really dress up even an old kit like this. But old or not, who else produces this in plastic? This was built in 2007

Churchill AMRCR mine clearer (1/72 ESCI) - I love it! A mine clearer! Maybe today you are not impressed, but when I was getting into armour there was not a mine clearer anywhere on the model kit horizon! I always wanted to build the Sherman flail mine clearer - you know, the one with the rotating chains. Maybe one day I will finally do so, perhaps the Airfix one eh? The Churchill was the basis for many of Hobart's funnies as it provided a stable platform. AMRCR stands for anti-mine reconnaissance castor roller. Approximate year of construction: 1995.

4 views of a Churchill engineer vehicle with bridgelayer (1/76 Matchbox). I just love engineer vehicles and this is a splendid example! That winch on the back really winds and the thread goes through the pulleys and raises and lowers the bridge just like the real thing! (Construction note: I replaced the winch with wire, and added weights inside the vehicle to counterbalance the weight of the bridge.) Approximate year of construction: 1996.

Daimler Mk II armoured car. Hasegawa 1/72. Approximate year of construction: 1996.

Dodge WC 63 1 1/2 ton truck. Old 1/35 model from Testors - a fun little build and I like how it came out - even if the 'wet mud look' is perhaps too shiny! Year of construction 2011.

DUKW. Amphibious vehicle used in D-Day and beyond. (Airfix 1/76) I have the Squadron/Signal DUKW book and there are some interesting camouflage schemes that can be used for this vehicle. Another way to add interest to a DUKW is to show some cargo and leave off the rear cover. This is basically the stock model though I did add a "canvas" cover for the cab. Approximate year of construction: 1971.

Hasegawa GMC truck. I added a chain, simulated canvas top with ties, windshield glass, wipers, rear-view mirror and a full load of boxes in the rear! Approximate year of construction: 2004.

Greyhound armored car. This a Roco minitanks model that was painted around 1968.

Humber staff car. This is the Airfix 1/32 Monty's Humber and makes a nice change from armour.

This is a Matchbox Humber armoured car that was mis-represented previously on this site as a Hasegawa model, and has now been enhanced! I examined this model and found out that A) it was Matchbox, not Hasegawa, and that B) it had never been completed! By which I mean that the on-board tools had never been painted! So I dug out out my references, including David Fletcher, and got to work adding stowage, and more stowage... ... ... and yet more stowage! Now it looks like a model of mine! What is more, it is the first model to have the privilege of being photographed with my new Canon Digital Rebel XTi, so enjoy the results - I hope! These are RAW images that have been compressed to JPEG Using Adobe. Approximate year of construction: 1997 with added details 2007.

Special Air Service Jeep used for deep desert reconaisance and to harass the enemy. Essential supplies had to be carried: gas and water of course, also plenty of ammunition, spare wheels, sand channels, camouflage net, food and a sun compass. SAS personnel in the desert wore beards and adopted arab headresses. This is the fun little Tamiya kit of course with a little TLC in the detailing, I finally figured out a great (i.e. neat) way to add the extra handle missing from these early Tamiya jerry cans. I also found it easier to file off the cap and add my own cut using a 1/16 punch. I put this together in 2009.

I had a Fujimi 1/76 Jeep lying around after makng another M4A1, so I decide to turn it into a European style SAS Jeep with extra fuel tanks and funky little windshields. This is a tiny little model, so these pictures are really huge - heck it looks as big as my 1/6 scale Jeeps like this! (Which reminds me I must take new pics of them too!) Built around 2007.

Another "accidental" Jeep model. What I mean is that I bought the Academy 1/72 set with Jeep, Kubelwagen and Kettenrad - but I REALLY bought it for the jerry cans! Well there's this Italian-made movie on TV about the western desert battles in WWII and this cute little sand-colored Jeep drives across the screen. I say to myself, the Jeep looks cool in sand and I don't have one! This is the result, with a a relaxing GI from AB. I decided to go very beat-up look on this one:-) Constructed in 2007.

D-Day 65th anniversary June 6 2009

Along with the DD Shermans my other 65th D-Day anniversary project was for a Higgins boat with an entire 36-man squad unloading onto a contested Normandy beach! All this was to be in small scale using the Airfix/Heller LCVP. Having decided that, I realized that my existing stash of GIs would not cut it, so I got my hands on the new Italeri set. I added a sprinkling of ESCI and some Revell paratroops for good measure! That way I could avoid too much duplication of figures. Typically these squads included 2 bazookas and 2 mortars, so a couple of figures I modified to carry a bazooka or mortar again for variety. For reasons of fitting on a shelf I elected to make a very compact diorama, so if you look at this thinking my these guys are all bunched up, you are right! I compacted the whole scene for dramatic effect.

LCM III. Landing craft mechanized. One of the many landing vehicles used on D-day and also employed after the war. I could find very few photo references for this, some being early Vietnam era with a big machine gun. What I had suggested that the cabin had no roof, so I left it off this Airfix model. You can view close-ups of the M4 Sherman in the Allied tanks section. Approximate year of construction: 2001.

Long Range Desert Patrol Chevrolet truck. This seems to be a popular subject and I like it too! Quite fiddly to make with lots of details - believe me a tank is much easier!! The results are quite rewarding though. I was scouring the "jewelry" section at the $1.25 store trying to find suitable size chains! Here's a tip - use cord made for window blinds for tow ropes and steel cables. It is very tightly braided and has no "hairy bits" sticking out to blow the scale! If you have ever tried searching for the right size of nylon string to use you know how frustrating it can be! For example, see how big the "cable" looks on my Horch car. That was nylon string. Here you see it wrapped aroung the the front bumper (attached to chain at each ends). Approximate year of construction: 2004.

LVT(A)-2 (Landing Vehicle Tracked). This is the Airfix LVT4 Water Buffalo converted to an earlier model with rear-mounted engine and no rear ramp. The 'A' in the LVT(A)-2 designation means "armored". The glass windows in the front were replaced with armor plate and periscopes were added, the driver had an armored hatch and armor plate was added, increasing the weight of the vehicle and decreasing capacity. Approximate year of construction: 1970.

LVT4. This is the Airfix kit suitably accurized and with a crew mostly from AB Figures. (The head in the hatch is from a Matchbox tank crew figure I think.) I decided to stick with a LVT4 in British service since I already had the Marine LVT(A)-2. The Polsten cannon was rather inaccurate as were the kit MGs, but the vehicle I modeled had these mostly covered in canvas, so that hid a lot of sins! I replaced the Airfix kit Jeep with a much nicer one from the Fujimi M4A1 kit. I studied many pictures from the Squadron/Signal Amtracs book and there were many detail differences even in the same vehicle type, so the final finish of the model is a best guess, especially in the cargo bay. I modeled the vehicle on page 45 (bottom left) of the Squadron/Signal book. I am trying to base all my models on an actual photograph now so that I can make them as accurate as possible. Note that the Jeep shown in the last picture is about 1 1/2 inches long. UPDATE: Spetember 2006 A trip to Bovington has shown this vehicle had a 3-tone camouflage job! I will have to re-paint! Approximate year of construction: 2003.

I bought some Armourfast kits and surprise! They are made in England! This the first I have completed, an early M10 used in North Africa. The M10 is another Sherman variant I have wanted to model for a long time. The Armourfast kit is very basic as I'm sure you know but that gives you, the modeler a chance to add all the details! In the overhead view you may be able to see the interior I drilled out and detailed! I wanted to see how the one-piece tracks would look once I photographed the vehicle since I was debating replacing them. I wanted to give this $5 model a chance, since replacement tracks would come from a $10-$14 model! Actually they look OK, at least as long as you want rubber block tracks. The chevron tracks are rather distinctive on Shermans. Figures are from AB. Approximate year of construction: 2006.

M12 self propelled gun. (ESCI 1/72) I like to make models of Shermans and their variants. Got to balance all that German armour that gets modeled! Approximate year of construction: 1996.

M3 halftrack (Airfix 1/76) with a scratch built Morris truck. This is rather early model so don't look too closely! Actually it is OK, but is a stock kit with no embelishments. Interestingly the Airfix kit no longer come with the canvas top. Approximate year of construction: 1966 and 1969.

M36 tank destroyer. This 1/76 Fujimi kit gave me a few problems, but the end result looks good. First off is the machine gun in the bow - it shouldn't be there! Since I wanted to capture the clean front look of the M36 I covered the bow with plastic sheet. Then I had to add another piece of card and blend it into the nose. The bolts were added and the light guards were overscale so I replaced them too. The wheels were really small so I replaced them with wheels resin-cast from a Matchbox M7. The vehicle I was modeling had these spoke wheels anyway. The gun was all wrong! I replaced it with a plain plastic tube. Although the M36 could be fitted with a muzzle brake this is rarely seen in photos. The mantlet needed reshaping too. I made good use of British and American tanks of World War Two (Chamberlain and Ellis) and the Squadron/Signal US Tank Destroyers in Action book. I based this vehicle on the one shown in the Sqaudron/Signal book, page 39, top left, which shows an M36 of the 607th TD Battalion in the French town of Metz in November 1944. Note the bucket on the right side of the mantlet! I notice a lot of tanks have buckets in photos - this is the first time I've tried adding one to a model. One experiment on this model was to paint on the straps on all those tarps/bedrolls in an attempt to get in-scale straps, but I'm not sure I like the result. I think I prefer the definition of adding thin card or paper straps even if strictly speaking this is often over-scale in 1/76. Approximate year of construction: 2003.

M4A1 Sherman with T34 Rocket Launcher. Also known as Calliope. Another exciting Sherman variant from ESCI. I love the massive firepower on display here and would not want to be on the receiving end! Approximate year of construction: 1996.

Hasegawa 1/72 M5 artillery tractor and towed 155mm gun. The M5 was based on an M3 light tank chassis. Figures were added from various soft plastic sources. Approximate year of construction: 1997.

M7 Priest 105 HMC (Howitzer Motor Carriage), early model. This is the Matchbox 1/76 model finished as a British vehicle in Tunisia. The inspiration for the mixed headgear of the crew came from a painting on the back cover of "US Self-propelled Guns in action", Squadron Signal armor publication number 38. The capped members are from the Airfix RAF personnel figure set, while the helmeted members are ESCI/ERTL 1/72 British WWII soldiers trimmed of their guns. One of these days I should add side handles - I have some really thin "music wire" now... Approximate year of construction: 1998.

Monty's caravan and Humber scout car. (Matchbox 1/76) Monty actually took over an Italian general's caravan and had it mounted on a British truck chassis. (Cheeky b*gger!) Approximate year of construction: 1998.

Scratch-built Morris truck. This uses Airfix QUAD wheels and engine hood with a body from plastic card. This scratch project was featured in an issue of Airfix magazine. (Don't know which one, this was in the 1960's...) Approximate year of construction: 1969.

Here we have a nice Matchbox (1/76) Morris C8 Mk II truck towing a 17 pounder gun. A Willys jeep is rounding the corner. Approximate year of construction: 1997.

QUAD tractor and 25 pounder. The original Airfix with additional detailing. Note the upward opening windscreen. The top of the gun shield was folded down when in transit. Approximate year of construction: 1999.

Diamond T tractor with Rodgers tank transporter trailer and Matilda tank. This uses some - I think they were Revell 8th army figures to add some life to this transporter. Dang man! The driver looks like he's giving the finger! I'm telling you, I ALWAYS notice something on these pictures that I hve never seen before. The tank engine is curtesy of Fujimi. I think the oil drum was from an ESCI Opel truck. Oh, I tried to use 'Crystal Clear' on the windows, but it's hard to make it dry flat. Approximate year of construction: 1998.

Scammel tank transporter (Airfix 1/76) also shown with a Matchbox Comet. This model was made when I was a kid and was one of the first "serious" painting jobs with carefully applied camouflage. The painting job is good and overall the model does not look out of place today with my other models. Airfix have re-released this kit and a desert sand would make a nice contrast to this European version. Approximate year of construction: 1964.

Sherman BARV - beach armored recovery vehicle. One of Hobart's "funnies", the BARV was designed to be able to wade in the surf and push flondering vehicles onto the shore. I made this model years ago so you may see some join lines or filler in evidence! All-in-all not a bad representation however. This conversion was detailed in a copy of Airfix magazine. Approximate year of construction: 1969.

Tamiya 1/35 T16 halftrack with AAA gun being serviced by an M32 recovery tank (Italeri 1/35). One of the crew is checking out an abandoned BMW motorcycle. Crew was modifed from Tamiya US troops. This diorama came from my imagination, rather than a reference photo. I had the M32 and M16 models and thought - why not? It was also a chance to do a scene in a maintenance yard type of setting as opposed to a combat diorama. I had already done a desert scene and a woodland scene, so I used some Tamiya bricks (brick wall set I believe) to make the corner of the building. I read that this particular model of Sherman, with the later style angled front hatches was not converted to a recovery vehicle, at least during WWII. This is a shame if true because otherwise I was very impressed with this kit. I hadn't thought to check on that, but I suppose it makes sense as it is usually the earlier versions of AFVs that are converted into recovery vehicles. So if that is true you would need to find an earlier model M4A1 hull to combine with the Italeri kit to make an accurate WWII model. The pictures I could find do show the earlier hatches, but that doesn't altogether preclude this version. Also, I believe both these vehicles served in Korea. Approximate year of construction: 1999.

M3 75mm GMC (Gun Motor Carriage). Initially known as the T12, the M3 GMC mounted a M1897A 75mm field gun. This early conversion shows a vehicle supplied to the British. The conversion details came from Airfix magazine - I have no idea which issue. I no longer have the mags. I believe this also features Almarks decals. Approximate year of construction: 1968.

Airfix halftrack finished as an M9 in British service. The M9 was basically the same as the M3 but made by International and had the flat fenders so noticeable on the Airfix kit. I rounded the rear corners to better represent the M9. The kit has the cab all closed up so I had to rebuild the front to show the armour open which is way more common (at least in photographs!). As I was modeling a road-travelling vehicle and not a battling one, the open cab was the way to go. Seated Tommies were from AB figures and as usual go a long way to spice up this old kit! I risk showing them in close up - my figure painting is pretty basic in this scale but I wanted to show how each figure is unique, not a bunch of seated dummies. Just don't forget these guys are little! You are probably seeing them here about 15 times larger than life!!

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