A cargo of cargo

This months hobby spends are having to be curtailed somewhat - what with the festive season at the back of my mind - so I've tried to concentrate on things I actually need to finish ongoing projects than adding to my 'stash'. What I needed for this month was cargo.

Some of my small fleet of trucks will require stowage for their cargo decks, things like crates and rolled tarps, etc. While I could make these bits and bobs myself - and things like this were fun to do when I first began - the time it takes to make these small ornaments could be better used elsewhere.

I discovered Lancer Miniatures recently and while looking through their online catalogue notice they had some stowage items that were quite cheap. I bought a packet of their 'stowage items' (40 items for £4.50) and a couple of their 'boxes/crates' (10 items for £2). This seemed quite good value for money for what I wanted.

Next, and not so cheap I suppose, was a cargo set by Value Gear. Their amusingly named 'truck blobs' are sets of two sculpted cargo truck loads. At €9 each plus international shipping these are accessories primarily aimed at the display modelling market, but they are very nicely sculpted.

And finally, I bought one of Plastic Soldier Company's new 1/72nd German stowage and tank commanders sets. For £12.95 you get three large sprues, each with a variety of commander and driver figures plus a good miscellany of German Army themed vehicle stowage, accessories and weapons.

This particular set was needed for the next model in my Bolt Action project - an Armourfast StuG III which I want to dress up a bit. But there is more than enough useful items in this set to keep me going for quite some time.

One word of warning though. As I suspected the PSC items are  like their figures - at the larger end of the 1/72 scale and may not be exactly compatible with other 1/72 German figures from manufacturers like Revell, Italeri, Caesar, etc.