Rubicon Models Studebaker U3 (without the Katyusha BM-13 MRL) undercoated

So this has been sitting on the shelf for rather a long time. I added the chassis, cab and cargo bed to a recent batch of undercoating.

The Katyusha load will get painted separately.

Plastic Soldier Company Soviet Mortar

So after some discussion over the quality of the mortar man's head, I decided that it was going to be swapped for one of the heads from the Warlord Russian infantry sprues.

The first part is to remove the head with a razor saw.

After cleaning up the cut, I drilled a socket for the head. First a 1mm pilot hole was drilled.  Next it was opened up with a 1.5mm drill and a final shallow hole drilled with a 3mm drill.

The head was then glued in place with liquid poly.

Probably should have added an ammunition box to the base.

Evil Bear Foxhound Protected Mobility Vehicle

This is Evil Bear's resin and metal kit of the British Army Foxhound Protected Mobility Vehicle.

The Foxhound provides a protected patrol capability in an environment where the threat is high. Various protection and mitigation techniques have been built in to protect the occupants, such as the V-shaped hull and separation of chassis and crew compartment.

The kit comes in a small box, with the parts wrapped in bubble wrap.

 The kit comes with a two part hull, basically the chassis and the crew compartment. The parts are cleanly cast with only minor gates to be trimmed/filed from the resin parts. The only minor problem identified during construction was the axle to wheel contact surfaces. Unlike on the Evil Bear Panther, the axle and wheel only have a very small contact surface. The Panther wheel and axle plugged together. The joints on the Foxhound were drilled and pinned.

As you can see, it is a very large vehicle, especially at 1/50 scale. The wheels and axles have been pinned and glued together, but the axles are still separate to the hull. This will allow the hull to be spray painted British Tank Green.

There is a tow bar at the front, together with two countermeasure pods on the bonnet. The two top crew hatches would need modifications to be put in the open position. There are steps under the front doors and a mud guard over the rear wheels. Two viewing devices are on either side of the roof together with a roof pod with a rear view camera.

The Foxhound is designed as a patrol vehicle rather than a long range recce vehicle so it does not have additional gear added. It should probably have a NATO 20 litre jerry can to the right of the rear door, but that would have required additional carving of the body.

Empress Miniatures GAZ Tigr

Assembled the front suspension and balanced on the tyres.

The front feed gate on the body is very close to the delicate lower grill. I managed to read it removing the gate. It is barely visible behind the bull bars and winch.

Empress Miniatures GAZ Tigr

So, these are the component parts of the Empress Miniatures modern Russian GAZ Tigr lightly armoured personnel carrier.

Composite Resin and White Metal kit.

It has been cleaned and is now drying before assembly.

East Wind Warriors - PLA infantry

Two squads of People's Liberation Army motorised infantry, awaiting their clone HMMWVs.

 Grenadier, rifleman, NCO, LMG and rifleman.

Grenadier, rifleman, rifleman, LSW and NCO.

Based on lipped Warlord Games bases.

Plastic Soldier Company Soviet Mortar

A PSC Soviet Mortar crew.

The loader might need his head replaced with a Warlord Games head.