Small Scale Military Headquarters

Ok, a while back I had an idea. I've actually had several, but this one is relevant to this board, and has stuck around longer than some others... But the thing is, my idea...

I wanted to take two available models, and combine them into something I'll likely never see. Firstly because it will be an item of my own creation, and secondly because it would be a model of little interest. I wanted to take a FOV Stug III(G, Italy 1944) and a 21st Sherman with dozer blade (kit version) and combine them into a Stug chassis armored engineering vehicle. Then the remaining Sherman could be either built as a plain Sherman, made into a burned out tank, turned into a custom upgraded Sherman for use as an insurgent piece to fit in with my mostly modern theme.

The idea was partly spurred on by my local TRU's inability to correctly manage their shelving and pricing. After long internal debate, I finally decided to quit trying to help them, as they never cared/learned, and instead just buy the stuff they had mis-priced/shelved. This garnered me a Stug for less than $10.

I then watched Walmart's model section for a kit Sherman, but after my deal on the Stug, I was deadset against paying more than $10 for the Sherman. It became a battle of the wills. Myself wanting to pay very little, Walmart wanting to get $15 or so. I waited. They sold a few. I waited some more. They sold no more. I watched. They came down to $13 even. I waited. They sold a few more. I came around looking. One left. Packaging tearing. Still $13 even. I picked it up. Walked around the store with it. Tried hard to reason with the price. To decide if I wanted to give in and pay $13 for the last one...

I caved. I had to. I'd never again see one for $13. Walmart was clearancing out all the models. Online they go for more than $13 and I have to pay shipping. Besides, I'd gotten a good deal on the Stug (and some other stuff too...), so it would be OK.


So now I have both pieces before me, and my idea could certainly be put into motion. Initially I had no love for the Stug. I have little to no love for any of the assault guns or tank destroyers. No turret = no love. I had figured that I'd turn it into either a engineer vehicle or wreck from the beginning. Thing is, that bugger has grown on me, and I haven't even taken it out of it's box.

Now I'm starting to doubt my idea. I've never tried a custom of this sort before, and it's been a long time since I was kit-bashing plastic model kits to make custom cars (Chevy Caprice based El Camino... man do I wish I still had that...). My skills may not be up to it, and I might well just mess everything up.

But, on the other hand, if I can make it work, it sure would be cool.

So, what say you all? Should I try it? Let me know...

MV

I'd say go for it!

I recently did a first large-scale custom job on a 1:18 Panzer IV without having done any serious modeling for a few years. It took a bit of will power to decided to tear the thing apart and repaint it, however all skills came back and my finished product turned out fine.

There's always a first try



...and what's with the Visalia TRU having cheaply priced FOV vehicles? Wish that would happen in Fresno! That and the timely arrival of new releases

I'd say go for it!

Ditto what Tman said. If you've got the time, the necessary parts/vehicles for your project, and most importantly the desire to do it, then go for it. If you decide to give it a go, please do share your work with us, I for one am always curious and interested to see what other folks are doing. Good luck.

Do it ! Of course this is from the king of procrastanation (?)

Thanks for the votes of confidence... And of course for the one silent voter, are the same guy who voted in my last poll (seemingly twice)?

So I should go for it. I'm leaning that way, but now I'm trying to figure out who "owns" this vehicle. Are insurgents using it? Does it belong with my official Iraqi T-72? Is it American?

So far all my insurgents have is a Newray Jeep. Repainted and a little modified, but when I did it, it was just for fun. It's a little off from a FOV Jeep as far as size and detail, but I just explain it away as being a 1950's knock off made in some third world country, and not an actual Jeep product. The insurgents are scheduled to take delivery of a Newray Ford pick-up, once paint and armament work is done (I think it will get a spare quad .50 mount I have laying around). If they get a modified Sherman as well, they'll be well off for insurgents, but still easily overpowered by an M1, never mind a whole platoon of them!

I'll try to get around to taking pictures, but the camera is always at my girlfriends work, so even when I feel like taking pictures, I never manage. I tried to hook up an old webcam that was lieing around just for quick snapshots, but since it was meant for Win98 I had to go in search of drivers and instructions for XP. All that netted me from my search was a site that sells you is a " ticket to ride" in a MIG or drive a T-80, and who can stay focused on a webcam after seeing that?

T-man, our TRU doesn't really have any different prices than any other. They just lack the ability to properly label the product or the shelf. Mostly they stock items in the wrong spot, above the wrong price. I used to tell them about it and explain what was wrong,. but they never cared. And they never made efforts to change anything. They have been doing this for years now, just throwing all the military stuff out there wherever. So now, I call them on it. If I find soemthing I'm remotely interested in stocked over the wrong price, I pick it up. I go the register, they say "That will be $40" and I reply "Are you sure, the tag on the shelf says $10 each". They have a guy go and check, he comes back and agrees with me, and I leave having paid the lower price, and saving $20. I feel a little dirty afterwards, but I tried to do the right thing for so long and it never worked. Maybe once the start losing money they'll pay attention and fix it, and then my actions will have done good, even though they were bad themselves.

Right now, it's 21st towed artillery at $8.99. I've kept my eyes out for your Marder and 38t, but to no avail. I figured if I could get those for $8.99, I'd send them your way. I know I'm still to "young" to officially B/S/T on this board, but since you're only in Fresno, I could just drive up. If you felt I was trying to screw you in any way, you could just punch me, and I'd be on my way. It seemed pretty "risk-free". I'll keep looking, but don't expect much...

MV

Ruger wrote: T-man, our TRU doesn't really have any different prices than any other. They just lack the ability to properly label the product or the shelf. Mostly they stock items in the wrong spot, above the wrong price. I used to tell them about it and explain what was wrong,. but they never cared. And they never made efforts to change anything. They have been doing this for years now, just throwing all the military stuff out there wherever. So now, I call them on it. If I find soemthing I'm remotely interested in stocked over the wrong price, I pick it up. I go the register, they say "That will be $40" and I reply "Are you sure, the tag on the shelf says $10 each". They have a guy go and check, he comes back and agrees with me, and I leave having paid the lower price, and saving $20. I feel a little dirty afterwards, but I tried to do the right thing for so long and it never worked. Maybe once the start losing money they'll pay attention and fix it, and then my actions will have done good, even though they were bad themselves.

Right now, it's 21st towed artillery at $8.99. I've kept my eyes out for your Marder and 38t, but to no avail. I figured if I could get those for $8.99, I'd send them your way. I know I'm still to "young" to officially B/S/T on this board, but since you're only in Fresno, I could just drive up. If you felt I was trying to screw you in any way, you could just punch me, and I'd be on my way. It seemed pretty "risk-free". I'll keep looking, but don't expect much...

MV

Ah, I recall the funny Visalia TRU pricing now. This past summer I drove down there in a frantic search for the then-new Pak-40 Hanomag in 1:18. Sure enough they had them, but the vehicles weren't entered in the system and had to be checked. They also had the 32x P-51B "Bullfrog" which they first charged me $40 for, as they used the tag for the 1:18 BBI P-51. I had to expalin it all to the clerk, but she was very nice. Quite a change from Wal Mart! I also held up the line up for nearly 15 minutes

Also, no worries on the Marder and Panzer 38T. I found exactly one of each (with the finds seperated by about 3 weeks) at the Clovis TRU. There should have been more there, but I have a feeling that hoarder from ebay that had 10 each of those tanks might have made a pass through...

Good luck with your project and please post pictures

Go for it. Nothing ventured. Nothing gained!

Mark

I voted for the last catagory. I am still laughing.

Sounds like 1/32 stuff.
If you got them cheap, then why not go and do the slice -n-dice. It's the only way to learn and gain knowledge for the project(s) Make the time, that's the one I'm still trying to do But I think it's fun and a great way to create something that worth more than $$$ Pride in one's self to build the one of a kind vehicle(s) Da General

Ok, I did decide to start this project, progress has been slow, but it does happen. So far I have very little:





And I just noticed that the upper hull of the Stug wasn't even properly postioned when I took that pic... Like I said, slow...

MV

Pretty cool so far!