Sunday 8 July 2012

Toy army - buying diecast models

I got into modelling to model, build kits in other words. But having began to dip my toe into the murky waters of building a war game army I am having to be a little more pragmatic. Building a war game army out of kits alone could get rather expensive and time consuming so I was pleased when the opportunity came along to buy a couple of diecasts which will help me fill some gaps in my Finnish inventory and save me some time and money in the process.

The first was a surprise find in my local ModelZone hobby shop - they had an Altaya T-34/76 Model 1942 on their sale rack for just £4.99. This fitted my plan exactly as I just needed one of these to complete one of my tank battalions.



Next up was a nice little find on eBay. Again it's an Altaya model, this time of a Steyr RSO/01 + Pak 40 Anti-Tank Gun 2.Pz.Div. Normandie (France) 1944.



I needed a RSO/01 for my heavy artillery company (the Finns bought about 30 of these from Germany) but plastic kits of this vehicle - if you can find them - are quite expensive display quality ones. So the Altaya looked a reasonable solution, but what made it a bargain was that it comes with a towed Pak40.

I just happen to need one more Pak40 to complete my Finnish AT company, and so at £9.99 for both - the RSO/01 and the Pak40 - it was a no brainer!

One word of caution if you decide this is a good idea is that the Pak40 is in the fixed towing position - you will have to do some knife work to convert it into the firing mode. Additionally, I am not sure how easy it is to repaint these sort of diecast models. Will the printed on decals cause problems and show through?

But anyway, for about £15 (the price of an AMC RSO/01 kit alone) I have two vehicles and a gun to add to my army!

This will save me time, money and allow me to concentrate my modelling time on other vehicles that have really captured my imagination.

No comments:

Post a Comment