Seems I got my lesson in learning about waiting a day or so to post, I actually received this little truck today, so I missed my chance to comment on the pics alone. I'll try to post faster in the future.
As I mentioned, I got the piece today. It figures that everyone here has already seen it, and of course, you all love it. This despite that fact that Cabe seemingly ignored any and all input I had to offer and went completely on his own. I must have told him a dozen times that my customizing skills were limited primarily to re-arranging the stowage items in the rear rack of an M1, sure, sometimes I'll go out on a limb and swap figures around from hatch to hatch, but I really like to stay with what I'm comfortable with. So now here he's gone and created this piece which stands head and shoulders above any of my re-arranged gear. Great. Now all my soldiers are going to be wanting custom rides...
Seriously, I'm very happy with Cabe's work. The truck looks great. I sent it off to him pretty much as a blank slate. I think I offered the idea of making it an Iraqi security force or UN vehicle, but I pretty much told him that I'd seen his work and trusted his judgement, and that he should do what he felt was best. I have no complaints.
The truck itself is a Britains short wheelbase Land Rover. It says on the bottom that it's 1:32 scale. It also indicates that it was made in 1975 or so. When I got it, it looked like this:
You can see what it looks like now. I, of course, can take it a step further and see it in place in a diorama I have been working on. The diorama is itself a bit problematic, as it keeps growing. At this point I've only been able to lay things out in a "mock-up", and it's already apparent that I'll need more space. The idea is that of an Iraqi street scene, with a roadway towards the viewer and at least two city blocks in the background. On one block resides a market place. I can see this vehicle outside the market place, in the intersection, holding up traffic to allow an armored column to pass. Perhaps a Bradley and a HMMWV about to provide security for the market...
The question now is should I purchase another FOV T-72 and have it shipped directly to Cabe so he can turn it into something like this:
I don't think that there are actually any UN tanks operating in Iraqi, but it would look so good next to the Land Rover...
In any case, to sum things up, I'm quite happy with Cabe's work on this item, and can certainly recommend him to anyone looking for something like this (with his approval of course). Thanks Cabe!
MV
) but mixing up "The Best 4x4xFar" with a glorified school bus is quite another! 