Keep on truckin' with an Opel Humbug!

Sometimes I think that I just bumble along in my new hobby coming up with one crazy idea after another. My current craziness is the idea of creating a fleet of trucks for my Finnish artillery battalion by  converting readily available kits into makes and models that were actually used by the Finns.

Problem is, I was doubting that this was a credible idea and although I have already started buying some of the donor kits I was thinking that maybe this was too rediculous or convoluted an option. That was until I read the a recent post on the Plastic Warriors blog where Paul (the author) does exactly the sort of conversion I was considering...

The above photo shows his converstion part completed - he calls this his 'Opel Humbug' as it is the mating of an Airfix Opel Blitz's bonnet and the cab of another Airfix truck, the Thornycroft recovery truck. It's a lovely job which shows just what can be done as the Blitz now looks more like one of the heavier trucks that the Germans used. Of course it's completely made up but it certainly has an air of authenticity.

So, my idea of converting the Airfix Opel Blitz into 1937 model Fords isn't such a unfeasible idea after all. If anything my conversion will be a lot less complex than Pauls.

See his full conversion WIP here - Plastic Warriors: Airfix Opel Blitz Humbug

Well done Paul!

Note - Why would you create a 'made up' truck?
Well, not all types of vehicles used in WW2 are available as kits, or if they are they are usually niche resin models which are sometimes quite hard to get hold of or prohibitively expensive, particularly for the war gamer.

The important thing for the war gamer is to have something that has the look of authenticity. I don't believe the average war gamer is as keen to source a rare model from an obscure foreign retailer at an absorbitant price just to have exactly the right vehicle on the table. Better to have a quick and cheap 'looky-likey'!

So chimera models like Pauls are excellent way of representing the exotic without having to break the bank or spend a lot of time scratch building.