July new items from Battleground - Long post

[grunt1]

It was a productive time at Battleground over the past few months. We received some great suggestions and were also able to finish some long standing projects.

All are available now in the store:
https://www.battlegroundmodels.com/shop-1

A summary:

Three KDF conversion kits for the Maisto 1:18 Volkswagen Beetle; Standard, 4WD, or Balloon



British Weapons
Enfield No.1 Mark III Rifle


Enfield No.4 Mark I Rifle and No.4 Mark I Sniper


Enfield No.4 Mark VI Jungle Carbine


Bren Mark IV Machine Gun with two bipods poses


Boys Anti-Tank Rifle with folding bipod


Russian Weapons
SG-43 Tokarev Machine Gun



M1910 Maxom Machine Gun with fluted water jacket and tractor cap





SVT-40 and SVT-40 Sniper


RGD-33 Hand Grenades


German Weapons and supplies
Kar 98k, Kar98k ZF39 Sniper and Kar98k ZF41 Scout




Volksturm VG1-5


And finally improved and colorized US Engineering Demolitions kit:




Now I'm off to the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa to do some more research!

Cheers!

[[CAT]CplSlade]

You have to get rid of the fresh air vents on the front quarter panels behind the front wheels. Those were introduced on the 1950 VW sedans. The fact they weren't built on Type 1 floor pans is a whole other issue that is harder to fix.

[grunt1]

Great catch, thank you!

[[CAT]CplSlade]

There's actually a few other differences, but it would completely wreck the sets you have on offer.

Most visible is the bumper; it is a post-war design. I'm talking post-1949.

Here is a video of a Type 82e:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nLPfJVSH6E

And using the hand crank:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGZsS2dNgRo

This vehicle is from the Bulge Relics Museum in Belgium.

[Eddy10440]

All of your items looks great Grunt1

I Just have a question on your 1/18 Kar 98K rifle.

The tip of the barrel, to me it looks kind of long after the front sight and so does the cleaning rod below.

Is it just me or is just a variation of the rifle?

[grunt1]

Thank you for the feedback guys. For the VW, the air vents pop out with a push so I can putty the holes. The bumper I could make a new version of, the stock on pops off. I can't quite see the differences though. Is it the two larger moon shaped fins?

Eddy, as for the Kar 98k, this is what i used as a reference:




I had to make the rod thicker and secure it to the bottom of the sight clamp so it wouldn't break off but otherwise the lenght looks right to me. Maybe I'm just not seeing it or would it work to move the sight forward a mm or so?

[Eddy10440]

Hello Grunt

Using your same image to compare both, this is what I meant


Probably it's just the picture and the poor resolution of my monitor but this is what I see: The part of the barrel that extends beyond the sight looks larger in your K98 than it is on your picture.

Also the rod tip should not extend past the sight, it should be about just the middle of it, but please don't take me wrong, I am not in any way criticizing your job, your K98 looks great and a lot better detailed than Dragon's and 21st C Toys, you are doing an outstanding job adding all these new items to the 1/18 existing collection and we all appreciate that

[[CAT]CplSlade]

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[[CAT]CplSlade]

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[[CAT]CplSlade]

The overriders on the bumpers should be narrow crescent shapes; the nickname for them was 'banana bumpers' if that helps. The ones on the Maisto are the later style from the early 1950s.

Would it be easier to leave in the vents and just putty the crack surrounding it?

[grunt1]

The overriders on the bumpers should be narrow crescent shapes; the nickname for them was 'banana bumpers' if that helps. The ones on the Maisto are the later style from the early 1950s.

Gotcha, I will see if I can't add a bumper to the next version of the kit.

Would it be easier to leave in the vents and just putty the crack surrounding it?

If they were intruded like real vents I would fill them. However, they are plastic parts made to look like vents so they protrude a bit. If it was me, I would just pop them out and fill the hole. It's really up to the modeler when they use the kit.

Hello Grunt
The part of the barrel that extends beyond the sight looks larger in your K98 than it is on your picture.

Yes, it's really clear now that i see your photo comparison. This is an easy fix. Note the rod has to be a bit larger than scale to survive handling.

I am not in any way criticizing your job, your K98 looks great and a lot better detailed than Dragon's and 21st C Toys, you are doing an outstanding job adding all these new items to the 1/18 existing collection and we all appreciate that

Thank you and no worries! While I would love to simply "nail it" the first time around, the kind of feedback that you and Slade are offering is exactly what I hope for when I post here. I make these one or two at a time so it's pretty easy to incorporate changes and make the next ones better.

[[CAT]CplSlade]

That's weird. My Maisto is different in that those vents were just engraved in the side and aren't separate pieces.

[[CAT]CplSlade]

Here are some banana bumper pics, although you'll find plenty just by googling VW BANANA BUMPER

This is the front bumper arrangement as seen from different angles to help show the basic shape of the over-rider.





The orange set are reproductions from a VW Resto shop.



And as you can see on this VW Beetle variant with the Hebmüller factory-built cabriolet conversion built in 1949 (this prototype is from 1948), that the bananas were still in style on the bumpers. The bumpers in the 50's got larger over-riders in response to demands by export markets like the U.S., since we had lots more heavy vehicles to bump into than post-war Europe did.



I know for a fact that a number of museums have had to utilize post-war Type 1's as conversion fodder or to create hybrid 1/82e's for displays. What else can you do sometimes? It's not like there are a lot of OEM spares lying around. If you see those larger bumpers, then the Type 82e is a repro like they do with the OT-810's that act as SdKfz 251's. Or an attempt to patch a partial wreck into a decent facsimile of itself. Worst thing is it's someone trying to fleece people who don't know any better; best is it's just some dude trying to keep even the smallest piece of an original vehicle still operating. Although at some point it stops being updated repair parts on an antique and turns into vintage pieces on a modern replica.

[Eddy10440]

Hello Grunt
The part of the barrel that extends beyond the sight looks larger in your K98 than it is on your picture.

Yes, it's really clear now that i see your photo comparison. This is an easy fix. Note the rod has to be a bit larger than scale to survive handling.

I am not in any way criticizing your job, your K98 looks great and a lot better detailed than Dragon's and 21st C Toys, you are doing an outstanding job adding all these new items to the 1/18 existing collection and we all appreciate that

That looks great Grunt!

Now it looks exactly like a real Kar 98K

Thanks a lot!

[grunt1]

Thanks Eddy!


And new for some Sten madness!


Sten Mark II - Variants


Sten Mark III - Variants


Sten Mark V - Variants


German MP3008 - Sten clone for the Volksturm

[AJWW2]

These are all fantastic, great work grunt.

[Eddy10440]

Thanks Eddy!


And new for some Sten madness!

Those Sten look great too, good job Grunt!

Please don't forget to update your website with pictures of 1/18 K98 modified rifle when available.

[grunt1]

Please don't forget to update your website with pictures of 1/18 K98 modified rifle when available.

Thanks guys and will do Eddy!

Oh and I forgot one:

Sten Mark 5 with No. 7 Bayonet