1/6 ITEMS

[Axis Nightmare]

Almost finished. Lots of dry/test fit in these two pictures. Have some more stowage, lug caps on all the wheels and the antennae and a few more interior details. This is a preview.

[normandy]

Axis very nice looking 250. I like the added details to the interior as well as the exterior finish,
great job!
I've always liked 1:6 and I have 17 Dragon figures and 2 schwimmwagens but I've found I have
more room for 1:18, so thats what I've stayed with.

The pictures you posted of the Entertainment Junction show are great.

[Axis Nightmare]

Thanks,

I was going to spray on mustard camo but was afraid I'd mess it up. Too much time and effort is invested to take a chance. I like the way it looks in the Panzer gray. Still adding things today. From photos I've seen, the opportunities are nearly endless. Just hung some track links and a non-drive spare road wheel. I really haven't gotten into personal equipment of the crew. I got some really nice figures cheap off shopgoodwill.com and at the show two years ago that are above Dragon grade but I'm still not sure what company made them. Wanted to have a vehicle that merited such high end figures. At some point I hope I can declare it's finished. I've been able to place some accessories without permanently attaching them so I can change or rearrange if I want. I'll post more pictures with figures later on.

[Axis Nightmare]

I've always liked 1:6 and I have 17 Dragon figures and 2 schwimmwagens but I've found I have
more room for 1:18, so thats what I've stayed with.

Understand completely. For size comparison, that's a 1/18 Kubelwagen under the right front wheel. Antennae has been fashioned and is ready to install. Still have caps on front wheel hubs to install.

[Axis Nightmare]

Finally as finished as it's going to get....

[tmanthegreat]

Axis, that SDK 250 is stunning! Fantastic work on that

I have to ask, but where did you get the various accessories, like the tool clamps, rear MG mount, and the interior details like the seat and radio? I know custom parts have been made for the Armor Hobbies SDK 250 kit, but I’ve not seen any readily available for years... I did some custom work with my own 250 a couple years ago making some crude seats from balsa wood, etc. and tool clamps from bent wires, but your work is far, far superior

[Axis Nightmare]

Axis, that SDK 250 is stunning! Fantastic work on that

I have to ask, but where did you get the various accessories, like the tool clamps, rear MG mount, and the interior details like the seat and radio? I know custom parts have been made for the Armor Hobbies SDK 250 kit, but I’ve not seen any readily available for years... I did some custom work with my own 250 a couple years ago making some crude seats from balsa wood, etc. and tool clamps from bent wires, but your work is far, far superior

Thanks Tman. My effort is nowhere close to tpa05 or 1958zelda. I'm still a novice compared to those guys but I'm still pleased with the results. The rear gun mount is a resin aftermarket item I picked up last year at the Entertrainment show in March. Don't know the original source as it was in a plain ziplock baggy. The radio is a small plastic coin box with bits and pieces of hardware and scrap plastic. Same for parts of the tool clamps along with scrap costume jewelry. It's a great source for hinges, handles, and pull rings. used it on the boxes and engine covers. My Mother once made custom jewelry for square dancers and I salvaged her stash. Old earrings make great clamps and the post covers make good knobs. The valve stems on the tires are tiny machine screws fitted backwards. The seats are completely scratch built from wood, plastic sprue and bits and pieces in my scrap stash. Old Bic and Papermate disposable pens and markers come in handy for anything tube shaped. The pry bar is shaped from a wooden dowel stick and the crank from plastic sprue. Simple picture hanging hooks came in handy. The track links and spare road wheel are hanging from them as well as interior items. The first aid kit is from a tiny pocket metric tape measure that was broken. I used a piece of the tape measure as a dial in the radio though it doesn't show up in the photos. The fire extinguisher next to the first aid kit was built around a section of dried up fine point sharpy. The metal Notek light and antennae base are from Armortek. The jack was scratch built, again using a dried up marker and various other shaped scraps. The tapered bases of the fender markers are the tips of dried up Papermate disposable pens. That's a part of what went into it. Glad to answer any other specific questions.

[tmanthegreat]

Thanks Axis! Your work is really impressive, all the more being that the various parts are scratch-built! You’ve given me some ideas to try on mine eventually

[Axis Nightmare]

Assembling some support crew for the halftrack from my figure stash I've accumulated over the years. Some from boxes, many loose and incomplete from shopgoodwill.com auctions. Putting the accessories on these guys takes patience and practice. Snaps, buckles, buttons and straps have very welcomed realistic detail but it also means tiny and fragile. It's easy to break straps, pop buttons and loops. Then there's knowing what goes where and in what order they must be put on. Got to admit, dressing and accessorizing full scale mannequins has helped. But it doesn't account for dexterity with these small fragile and very uncooperative parts. And there's no instructions and the pictures don't always help. Need more practice for sure!

[Axis Nightmare]

Putting Lipstick on the Pig...

In my continued quest to finish older started projects that I had pushed aside mostly out of frustration, I'm nearing completion of the makeover of a 21st Century TOYS,(emphasis on toys) 1/6 M5a1 Stuart. About the only thing it had going for it was a reasonably accurate outline. Very little else was accurate. The more I looked at actual photos the worse the toy looked. Short of starting from scratch and fabrication of all details, I decided to go the route of putting "lipstick on the pig". The goal here was to improve what was practical and within my ability without taking a ton of money and years of labor. Then apply an extreme enough finish that would hopefully distract from the tank's really bad unimproved details. Surrounding it with nice figures will also help. It's a trick I learned from others who can take 21st century toys and make them at least seem to be a scale model. Under all the makeup is still the original pig. This one will require more than a "3ft. rule". Probably a minimum of 6 feet.

This was an RC example I picked up cheap from Craigslist about 5 years ago. There were no practical opportunities for any interior work as all the bells, whistles and toy gimmicks blocked off the interior space so it is just the basic shell. Anyway, I've test fitted my home made replacement gun barrel now which will need to be permanently installed and weathered. I have a new antenna base and machine gun mount from Armortek. I replaced the terrible machine gun barrels from the spares box and reworked the tool stowage as best I could. Used simple nuts and bolts for the various hubs that were just deep holes to access screws. Will be adding logs and maybe some sandbags to the front over the blotted out star and more personal gear stowage. The more it doesn't look like the original toy, the better. Hope to have a finished example very soon.

[Axis Nightmare]

Making another major change. There are two distinct versions of the basic Stuart Tank by 21st Century. A regular and an RC version. The RC version is the one with the short fat cannon barrel to shoot a rubber tipped projectile. The inner guts are reworked to house all the toy features including electronics, motor, gun firing mechanism and even a speaker for sound effects. It also has totally different tracks with teeth incorrectly down the center while the other has the more accurate teeth on the outside of the wheels. It got to the point that I couldn't look at it without thinking "wrong tracks" as well as any time I looked at photos of real Stuarts. I had another junk unit that had the dust skirts partially broken off. I had already removed the remainder of the skirt area and I had plans on making it into a custom without the dust skirts, machine gun shield or Cullen Device as a contrast to this one. It had the correct tracks as it wasn't RC. I was hoping to save the good tracks for it since they were totally exposed and hoped to get away with the goofy RC tracks on the one with so much covered by the skirts. Just didn't work. The more time and effort I put into this the less I was content with the wrong style tracks. I could live with the grooves down the middle of the wheels but the tracks looked like something was missing and very wrong. I just changed them out and am in the process of rusting and muddying up the new installation. Will look so much better. The other unit will remain in limbo unless I can find spare non-RC tracks. More pics to come...

[Axis Nightmare]

Another seemingly never ending project is complete. Except for the tools and one bag, all the stowage is scratch made. The guys are too clean for such a dirty tank but that can be fixed. Based on photos the Cullen device extended out too far so I modified it to be more recessed.

[tmanthegreat]

Axis, that looks fantastic and I really like the “war weary” weathered look you gave the Stuart. It looks so much better than the winterized R/C Stuart 21st made. Again, great job

[normandy]

Axis, wonderful work on the 250 and figures, the Stuart looks amazing. You've done a great job
on the finish and details.
As with many 21st cent. Toys there are inaccurate details but for the price these are great platforms
to make great models and you have done that!

[Axis Nightmare]

Thanks guys for the encouragement. Couldn't ask for a better endorsement than from the talented people on this Forum. I'm drifting more and more toward 1/6 scale but the practicality of size and expense keeps 1/18 alive for me to at least a limited extent. No 1/6 scale Panthers or Tigers are in my future but one day maybe a Sherman.

[Axis Nightmare]

No, I haven't abandoned 1/18. In addition to about a dozen planes I still have plenty of ground pounders. Here's some of them....

[normandy]

Glad to see the 1:18 hasn't been left out in the cold.....
Thats a nice collection Axis!

[Axis Nightmare]

There's more scattered about in multiple rooms. Note how the 1/6 Kubelswagens dwarf the 1/18 Shermans and halftracks. which in turn are mega dwarfed by the full size mannequin. Most of the planes are in the basement.

[Axis Nightmare]

The crown jewel of my auction score ( see BST forum) is the Pak 40. I was only aware it existed from 21st century when I saw one advertised as "ultra rare" and asking $399 for it. It must have been a short run and not very successful.
The box is dated 2002. It's really quite nicely detailed for a 21st Century "Toy". It is BIG!







For size comparison, that's the 1/18 version below it....

[tmanthegreat]

That is pretty cool
Oddly enough, I remember seeing those at my local TRU way back when, but I didn’t have any 1/6 German figures at the time and it may have been out of my price range... As for other 1/6 artillery, Dragon made a German Pak-37 and Pak-38 AT gun in 1/6 scale, but not a PAK-40 (at least that I’m familiar with). They also made a US 37mm gun as well.

[Axis Nightmare]

I have the Dragon Pak 38. It's mostly metal and quite heavy. Also have the U.S. 37mm. Dragon had a DX06 special Pak 40 with a gunner that retailed at the time for $319.00. Found an old ad for one in a search from back a ways. Good luck finding one now at any price. The 21st version is fine for me. It came with some 75mm shells and a container for them as well as two sets of camo pants and helmet covers. Thought maybe it came with two figures since the picture on the back shows it with a two man crew but the box says "figures not included". So who was the clothing for? And yes, I'm running out of space!!

[Axis Nightmare]

DID Nebelwerfer 41 from the auction. Was a good deal on this without the DAK Kubelwagen that went with it.

Not too big so it doesn't take much space. You can get an accessories pak from DID that includes rockets and other items but it costs more than the lot went for!




Impressive detail you'd expect from DID.

[Axis Nightmare]

Another older project nears completion. The 21st century Scout Car at a glance looked pretty good but after closer looks and comparisons to actual photos it was obvious there were several glaring issues that needed improving to both make it look more like a scale model and less like a toy and to separate mine as unique from others. I bought this loose from someone who had painted it to represent a Russian Scout car. I decided to make it into a hand me down from the army, USMC vehicle that may have been used at some point later in the struggle for Guadalcanal. The wire guards for the headlights were molded plastic about the thickness of storm sewer grates. I cut them out and replaced them with screen wire to give a more true screen look. Then I cutout the individual engine grill louvers and glued them in the open position. Photos showed a screen guard behind them so I added that. I also added screening and wire mesh to the front of the radiator in case it shows through the grill screen. I used some leftover yellow letters and numbers to make the USMC serial number on the hood. I hate decals. Decals and canopy frames are my arch enemies with models. A total of 18 individual numbers and letters were needed for the two sides. I luckily had multiples of each letter and number and probably went through closer to thirty with splitting, folding, sometime simply disintegrating and any other way to be uncooperative until finally, after a full half of football on the radio, I got it done. Did I mention I hate decals? The other really bad look was the thing was covered with D-ring tie downs that were represented as solid stubs. I cut them off and rather than use expensive white metal aftermarket pieces, I fashioned my own from electrical wire staples. I'll post more pictures soon...


Here's a front view of one stock out of the box. Note the molded closed louvers and thick light guards.




Cutting out the thick guards




Comparison. Not perfect but not that noticeable once installed.







The opened grill with screen backing.





Just a few hours away from completion!

[pickelhaube]

Very nice mod.

[Axis Nightmare]

Completed Project!

Guadalcanal

Here we have a wounded Marine being returned to the rear. They've stopped to get their bearings. The wounded Marine is pointing to the way to get to the aid station. The driver has risen off his seat to take a look while the Tommy gun toting sergeant looks on.

The skid rail for additional machine guns sat up above the frame on the original toy and had to be lowered about an inch to match the real thing. There are over 3 dozen d-ring tie downs all around the exterior which were represented by solid stubs. I cut off each one and replaced it with a home made form of the d-ring fashioned from wire staples. I opted for a single post mounted M2. The only other interior mods were cloth backs added to the hollow back driver and passenger seats and the padded wraps around the skid rail to keep the crew from banging their heads on the hard steel edges of the rail. The yellow letters and numbers are water slide decals. The stars are super thin stickers. The former Russian paint job was mostly preserved. I may add a bit here or there but for the most part it's complete.