1/144 Military vehicles

[vizenz]

Thank you very much for the kind words, gentlemen.

Unfortunately, I hardly had any time to paint last week. But I recently bought an old Revell set with Bundeswehr vehicles in 1/144, which I glued together.



Each of the three vehicles (M47, HS-30 and MAN 630) is included twice.
I thought I would quickly get a large number of Bundeswehr vehicles with these sets that keep cropping up on eBay. However, I have to say that I am not really satisfied. The models are undetailed, the HS-30 is too small for the scale (more like 1/160 instead of 1/144) and all in all the vehicles look pretty unloving. I know that there are photo-etched sets for these minis, but that makes the vehicles really expensive - and you can't really touch them afterwards without destroying something.
So I printed a few comparison vehicles here too. Some of the details are shown very large, but that makes it much easier to make them look interesting. (I took a lot of comparison photos, but unfortunately they are all blurry).


There is another Revell set with US vehicles, but these are similarly detailed. So I'm going to abandon the idea of these sets and continue to rely on Victrix, Dragon Panzer Korps and especially 3D printing to continue to grow my collection.

 

[A_J_Rimmer]

Those are really cool!

 

[Deleted member 6598]

That’s a difference of day and night, there … if you can 3D-print them anyway, I wouldn’t bother with the Revell ones, no. You say they’re more like 1:160 — maybe they were originally intended for N-scale railways, but got re-released as “1:144” because that scale is gaining in popularity?

 

[Jim R]

I've considered this scale as I wondered if it would allow me to make dios which included "a lot of stuff" and still be a manageable size. Having seen your models I'm certainly impressed. You've shown what's possible with this scale.

 

[vizenz]

Those are really cool!

Thank you Arnold.

That’s a difference of day and night, there … if you can 3D-print them anyway, I wouldn’t bother with the Revell ones, no. You say they’re more like 1:160 — maybe they were originally intended for N-scale railways, but got re-released as “1:144” because that scale is gaining in popularity?

Only the HS 30 is that small, the other two are about 1/144. But I only came up with that because of the poor details and because my self-printed models were significantly larger. Otherwise I probably would never have measured them and wouldn't have noticed.
I've now had fun and measured a few other models. I shouldn't have done that!
The Leopard I have from you, for example, is over 2mm too short, but 2mm too high, but the Challenger is a bit larger than 1/144 in all dimensions. And it's no different with my printed models. Some dimensions are clearly out of line there too. The problem with such small scales is that one or two millimeters is a significant deviation and changes the scale considerably. The Leopard 2A5, for example, is 1:149 in length, 1:142 in width and 1:132 in height.
But I won't pursue this any further as long as the vehicles somehow match each other in size. I just want to avoid having the same vehicle types but in different sizes in the same unit.

I've considered this scale as I wondered if it would allow me to make dios which included "a lot of stuff" and still be a manageable size. Having seen your models I'm certainly impressed. You've shown what's possible with this scale.

Thank you very much Jim, but that's too much of an honor.
If you use the Google image search you will find fantastic models. At first glance they often look like 1/35! There are some really great artists out there. This mini scale seems to be particularly popular in Japan.

I really do these things with the idea of producing "toys". The vehicles have to be reasonably stable, which is why I prefer the coarser details. And when it comes to painting and weathering you have the same options as with the really large models. But I keep it to a minimum. My main concern here is to have a certain standard but still be able to paint fairly quickly.

 

[Deleted member 6598]

The Leopard I have from you, for example, is over 2mm too short, but 2mm too high

I always thought it looked too tall, but I never bothered to measure it up. Good to read that my impression was correct, though

But yeah, you’re right, as long as they look good enough, they’ll do. It’s not like you can easily correct them anyway in this scale.

 

[vizenz]

Hello,
two more Swedes are ready. Stridsvagn 122 (Strv 122), in Swedish service since 1997, 120mm Canon, Crew of 4.
Best regards,
Andreas

 

[Tim Marlow]

That’s a difference of day and night, there … if you can 3D-print them anyway, I wouldn’t bother with the Revell ones, no. You say they’re more like 1:160 — maybe they were originally intended for N-scale railways, but got re-released as “1:144” because that scale is gaining in popularity?

UK n gauge is 1/148 and continental n gauge is 1/160 so you could well be right Jakko.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Lovely looking Swedes, by the way Andreas

 

[scottie3158]

Andreas, they look superb mate, beautifully finished.

 

[vizenz]

Hello,
Thanks for the nice comments guys! Somehow caught up in this "tabletop wargaming" world. I find it hard to motivate myself to actually build models, so instead I prefer to use my limited time to paint something.

Here are a few early German Bundeswehr vehicles.

Mittlerer Kampfpanzer M 47 G, in German service since 1958, 90mm Canon, Crew of 4.



Schützenpanzer lang, HS30 Typ 12-3, in German service since 1959, 20mm Canon, Crew of 3+5 Infantry.


I think I will print a few more of them in the future. However, the vehicle was always used tactically with the hatches open. So I'll have to modify the vehicles file at some point to be able to have a few Panzergrenadiers fight over the side.

Best regards,
Andreas

 

[Deleted member 6598]

Those SPW lang always look pretty cool, even if they were crap vehicles in practice I mean, buying a vehicle by a company with zero experience in armoured vehicle design and then having the majority built by another company in a country known for producing mechanical things that leak and need a lot of tweaking to keep working … What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Steven000]

Nice paintwork Andreas

 

[vizenz]

Thank you guys!

Those SPW lang always look pretty cool, even if they were crap vehicles in practice I mean, buying a vehicle by a company with zero experience in armoured vehicle design and then having the majority built by another company in a country known for producing mechanical things that leak and need a lot of tweaking to keep working … What could possibly go wrong?

Yes, the HS30 procurement is a real thriller.

It is also interesting that FJ Strauß (the responsible minister - and also responsible for the Starfighter affair etc.) had more money in his accounts when he died than he had ever paid taxes for it in total... Anyone who thinks evil of this is a scoundrel!


I returned to Swedes vehicles and painted a couple of Stridsvagn 103Cs. Stridsvagn 103C (Strv 103C) in Swedish service since 1986, 105mm gun, 3 man crew.

 

[Richard48]

Amazing work on these little gems.You are a master of this scale.
Excellent.
Richard

 

[Deleted member 6598]

It is also interesting that FJ Strauß (the responsible minister - and also responsible for the Starfighter affair etc.) had more money in his accounts when he died than he had ever paid taxes for it in total...

Ah, yes, the Starfighter … the procurement of that is not for nothing known as the Lockheed-affaire in the Netherlands. The main fallout here was that Prince Bernhard was forced to give up several of his functions, including all military ones, as a compromise to avoid the Queen abdicating over his prosecution …

I returned to Swedes vehicles and painted a couple of Stridsvagn 103Cs.

Very nice, they look better than my 1:35 scale one

 

[Andy the Sheep]

In Italy the so called Lockheed affair was about the C130 Hercules. It seems bribing was a constant in Lockheed marketing and sales division .

 

[Deleted member 6598]

It seems bribing was a constant in Lockheed marketing and sales division .

How do you mean? They only bribed people in five countries to the tune of something like US$150 million — in 1960s–70s dollars, so call it, oh, approaching a billion dollars in today’s money …?

 

[vizenz]

Amazing work on these little gems.You are a master of this scale.
Excellent.
Richard

Thank you Richard, i'm just trying to have some fun.

Very nice, they look better than my 1:35 scale one

I doubt it!

I read the article about Lockheed and learned a lot. Until now, I only knew about the German Starfighter affair.

 

[Deleted member 6598]

I doubt it!

Better painted, certainly

I read the article about Lockheed and learned a lot. Until now, I only knew about the German Starfighter affair.

I get the impression it’s fairly well-known in most of the countries affected, but only as far as it affected them, not any of the others. So it was far bigger than most people think.