Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Great War => Topic started by: Doc Twilight on 14 January 2010, 09:54:54 PM
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For those of you who are as keen on these obscure toys as I...
Today, Tobi's beautifully sculpted Austro-Hungarian Romfell armored car, a replica of Romfell No.1, will be going off to the caster. The Austro-Hungarians only completed two (or, depending upon sources, possibly three) of these beautiful vehicles between 1916 and 1918, but there were as many as thirty in various stages of completion when the war ended, most of them ordered toward the end of 1918 as Austro-Hungarian forces became more active on the Western Front. Tobi based his model on Romfell No.1. No.2 was apparently very slightly different (not really in any notable way), and nobody has any pictures of No.3 (if indeed it was completed). Like the Ehrhardt, these were all built by hand, which explains the reports of such variations.
This was a very interesting vehicle, which some have called the most modern armored car produced during the war. It seems to have had an excellent track record. It was also, incidentally, almost entirely a Hungarian project. The Austrian side of the government was in no way interested in funding the vehicle or producing it, so the Hungarians took it upon themselves to build the thing. The relatively small number built has to do with politics, conservatism in the War Department, and the inferior status of Hungarian officials in the AH government at the time, who could not apparently bring the leverage to bare to put more of these into service. (But we aren't bitter..;) )
The Romfell(s) saw a lot of service, along with the dozen or so other armored cars built by the Austro-Hungarians, and several dozen more captured Allied vehicles. They would also be excellent as interwar vehicles, in my opinion.
This is a 28mm scale (1/56 or thereabouts) vehicle. The caster hasn't decided yet to cast it in all resin or resin/metal. But the price, regardless, will be $30 US. Should consist of five parts: turret, machine gun, hull, and four wheels. No separate hatches, etc. with this one, so a fairly easy build. And a real beauty at that. Tobi's got the hull shape down perfectly.
Anyway, hope this intrigues some of you. When available, it will be on sale at blackarmyproductions.com
(http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc178/Mithras77/romfell11.jpg)
As a reminder, the Ehrhardt is also available (and a real beauty it is, too), while the Russian Filatov three wheeler, being sculpted by Mancha, will be available from us soon as well. (Mancha is finishing up the master now.) As always, new vehicle suggestions are always welcome.
-Doc
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I'm in!!!
;D
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Great news Alex. Well done to Tobi on this lovely looking car.
Helen
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Looks great! :-* Do you have the photograph of Romfell no. 1?
Darkoath
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well, this is certainly a fine sculpt and a fine vehicle too - I guess the turret would be better in metal with all these protruding thin bits....
the sloped design always reminds me of the pre WWII AC designs with their "coffin" hulls.
Either it is simply a good idea or there was some technology transfer involved
was there a special manufacturer/company involved in producing the vehicle? It certainly sounds like this if some kind of assembly line was involved after the prototypes performed so well
there was quite a chaos in Hungaria after WWI and it would hardly surprise me if some of the involved engineers would have relocated after the war or even had been in a different country suddenly
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Splendid. A dream come true! :-*
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Thank you all:)
Bad grammar and occasionally questionable comments on the site in question aside, there's a decent summary of the Romfell's history here, along with photos of No.1:
http://www.patriotfiles.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109680
I -strongly- suspect, based upon the somewhat more primitive wheels, that the Romfell shown in the very last image is actually No.2.
I think Tobi got it pretty damned close:)
-Doc
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would be interesting to know which private companies the two inventors were linked to.
anyway, nothing conclusive found
(http://www.patriotfiles.com/forum/imgcacheA/14350.png)
this seems to be the only service picture of the Romfell, and a scale creep too ;)
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Nice work again :). As for suggestions how about a Daimler FLAK/BAK lorry
(http://www.earlyaeroplanes.com/archive/image9/7.7cm.KFlak.Kp.Daimler.jm.jpg)
Bussing Tractor:
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2662/3723959291_aa8768063b.jpg)
Or my own personal top of the wish list, a Mariewagen II halftrack - used until the 20s so ideal for Pulpy stuff and late WW 1:
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1417/937519076_47b79d3f7a.jpg)
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looks great, I've been looking forward to this one for a while ;)
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If taking suggestions for the next A/C...
Garford! Garford! Garford!
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yep
garford
it is about time...
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garford would be nice.. :)
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Garford ;)
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Cracking stuff! Doesn't someone do Austro-Hungarian troops for the Italian campaign?
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renegade miniatures?
http://www.renegademiniatures.com/ww1aus.htm
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Cracking stuff! Doesn't someone do Austro-Hungarian troops for the Italian campaign?
Scarab do a more comprehensive range :D
http://scarabminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=5_1
Keith :?
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Those Scarab miniatures look v.nice
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Brigades Games also have a small selection of Austrian troops for WWI.
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Brigades Games also have a small selection of Austrian troops for WWI.
http://www.brigadegames.com/go.mvc?ID=BGHMW (http://www.brigadegames.com/go.mvc?ID=BGHMW)
The BG-WIWH packs - we currently have 11 packs of Austro-Hungarians in our range.
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Quick update..
Romfell has been cast and first production run is on its way to me. I expect to receive it on or around Tuesday, after which point it will be available for purchase:)
-Doc
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Excellent news. By the way, the Scarab miniature figures, though quite nice, are enormous. 30mm at least, and look very odd next to Copplestone figures.
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I purchased a sample pack of the Scarab Miniatures Austro-Hungarians when I also purchased my Great War Miniatures LW Germans from them. I really like these. The sculpts have great personality and I actually like the fact that alot of them have fixed bayonets which are a bit lacking in the other ranges. I own Renegade and Great War Miniatures LW Germans and they fit in very nicely with those size wise. I plan to get more and also purchase their LW French. Also I should mention the great service I have had from ordering from Scarab. Two orders so far and they arrived well packed and fairly quickly considering they had to cross the pond! :D
Darkoath
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Oh and so as not to steal Doc's post...
Great news about the Romfell! I can't wait to be able to order a couple! :-*
Darkoath
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This is the year of the armored cars!
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Is there any store in the UK or Europe to sell the Romfell car ?
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No distributors. I sell direct only at the moment.
-Doc
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My two Romfell's arrived this morning - superb work Doc! Very nice clean castings and and easy to make! other manufactureres take note! Bit of a sting in the tail was £15 customs duty I had to pay - never had that from the US before!! Cracking work. Now to figure out how/what to paint them!!!
Does anyone know what colours AH armoured vehicles were painted???
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Oooh, thats a very nice car. Any plans on making anything italian in the (near) future?
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Does anyone know what colours AH armoured vehicles were painted???
Landships only has b&w photos:
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/romfell_info.htm
but they look pretty dark, maybe even black. Make sure you get that cool looking cross on it, though!
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Hello Doc,shall order a Romfell next week,had a bit of a splurge this week ($200).Always keen on Austro-Hungarian stuff.......it's in my blood,not sure if that's a ???good thing. The A.C. will go very well with Mancha's Lady Hussars (in A-H colours).
Greywolf
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No distributors. I sell direct only at the moment.
-Doc
Please consider doing a Minerva for those of us with a Belgian inclination - along with the RN ones I think the Belgians were the first to use a/cs in WW1
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Landships only has b&w photos:
http://www.landships.freeservers.com/romfell_info.htm
but they look pretty dark, maybe even black. Make sure you get that cool looking cross on it, though!
Thanks. Will do!
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My two Romfell's arrived this morning - superb work Doc! Very nice clean castings and and easy to make! other manufactureres take note! Bit of a sting in the tail was £15 customs duty I had to pay - never had that from the US before!! Cracking work. Now to figure out how/what to paint them!!!
Does anyone know what colours AH armoured vehicles were painted???
Hi there
I asked a similar question the forum a while back http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=13358.0 there were no real firm conclusions I ended up going for a dark green on my Junowicz and Lancia http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=13994.0 which is pretty speculative, but I think light grey/dark grey, dark green, Light Brown are all reasonable. With 2 Romfells you've maxed out on the full complement of ROMFELLs the Austrians had ;). I'm hoping to get one myself but I think my mum visiting her brother in america in a month or 2s time so I think I'll get her to bring it back and save on the duty ;)
cheers
Andy
ps look forward to seeing a painted version soon ;)
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My two Romfell's arrived this morning - superb work Doc! Very nice clean castings and and easy to make! other manufactureres take note! Bit of a sting in the tail was £15 customs duty I had to pay - never had that from the US before!! Cracking work. Now to figure out how/what to paint them!!!
Does anyone know what colours AH armoured vehicles were painted???
I'm sorry about that one, mate. It seems to be happening more, lately. And I'm listing them as toys, which normally helps. If anyone has any suggestions, so long as they are legal, I'm open to them.
The primary color of Austro-Hungarian vehicles was, in fact, Dark Green (sorry to disagree with you Andy). This was the same shade of color used by the Navy, and is often described as a "Pine Green." It was also the base color of many (but not all) of the Austro-Hungarian trains. Thus the "dark, even black" shade mentioned by Will. That said, Mina has painted hers black for ACW2, and the color quite suits the design, I must say.
Glad you like them and can't wait to see them:)
Incidentally, evidence has now surfaced that the Austrians may have built as many as twelve! Woo hoo!;)
Greywolf -
There most certainly is NOT anything wrong with it being in your blood. My company isn't called "Black Army" for nothing.
Hywel -
It's certainly on the list. The next vehicle in production from Tobi is the Ford 3 Ton Tankette. The Minerva is something we get requests for constantly, so I doubt it'll be that much further along the track.
Tomsche -
There are a couple Italian items I'm interested in from the period, at the very least, and I'd also like to cover some of the WW2 Italian vehicles as well. We shall see what the sculptor(s) think of them. In the meanwhile, I would be remiss if I did not mention the Lancia IZ produced by Force of Arms. It is an absolutely superb piece of equipment. You can see photos in my gallery. If you have any suggestions, then by all means, let fly.
We have plans for several more vehicles, but Tobi can only do so much at a time, between having a new baby and (how dare he) running his OWN business. I would like to find an additional vehicle sculptor, particularly to do the pieces that Tobi has (politely) passed on, but haven't had much luck finding one.
-Alex
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The primary color of Austro-Hungarian vehicles was, in fact, Dark Green (sorry to disagree with you Andy). This was the same shade of color used by the Navy, and is often described as a "Pine Green." It was also the base color of many (but not all) of the Austro-Hungarian trains. Thus the "dark, even black" shade mentioned by Will. That said, Mina has painted hers black for ACW2, and the color quite suits the design, I must say.
Your not disagreeing with me that was the colour I adopted based on your advice in my original question ;) At that time your suggestion of dark green came over more as a strong suspicion than a fact, I'm glad to here that I chose correctly based on your advice ;)
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Not to hijack this thread with infinitely more vehicle requests, but a 1/56 Lanchester would do nicely. (Old Glory's is 1/48.)
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Hey Doc when is the Russian three wheeled AC coming out?
Love the Romfell btw... got mine about a week ago! :-*
Darkoath
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Darkoath -- It's available now (Filatov).
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Darkoath -- It's available now (Filatov).
OHHH! :o
Darkoath
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Available now, and ready to ship out zee door.:) $20 US, and sealed with a kiss from Grand Duke Nicholas himself... ok, perhaps not the last bit.
Chuck, yours will be in the mail tomorrow. My apologies for the delay.
-Alex
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Available now, and ready to ship out zee door.:) $20 US, and sealed with a kiss from Grand Duke Nicholas himself... ok, perhaps not the last bit.
Chuck, yours will be in the mail tomorrow. My apologies for the delay.
-Alex
Thanks Alex. It was my fault for confusing the invoice as a receipt.
I wondered why it was taking so long to get here. lol
Chuck
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Am on with painting my first Romfell. As I said before, a superb model. However, what about tyre colours? The picture shows what looks like light grey tyres (or are they made of something other than rubber?). The superb model has a set of multi-ridged tyres. Any ideas what bits are the model are tyres, which parts are rims and what colour the tyres should be????
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Ignatieff -
As far as I have been able to figure out, the wheels were basically solid rubber, so my thought would be to paint them black, with metal (or pine green, perhaps) hubcaps/wheel covers, and iron bands. I obviously haven't seen a color photo of a Romfell wheel, but I've seen similar wheels on other vehicles. It's really just a guess, to be honest, but on a few early armored vehicles, particularly the ones with the solid rubber wheels, there was a reinforcing iron/steel band (or series of iron bands) on the exterior of the wheel surface, so maybe that's what they should be?
Glad you like the model:)
-Doc
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Ignatieff -
As far as I have been able to figure out, the wheels were basically solid rubber, so my thought would be to paint them black, with metal (or pine green, perhaps) hubcaps/wheel covers, and iron bands. I obviously haven't seen a color photo of a Romfell wheel, but I've seen similar wheels on other vehicles. It's really just a guess, to be honest, but on a few early armored vehicles, particularly the ones with the solid rubber wheels, there was a reinforcing iron/steel band (or series of iron bands) on the exterior of the wheel surface, so maybe that's what they should be?
Glad you like the model:)
-Doc
Thanks Doc, I see what you mean. I'll give it a go and hopefully do it justice
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About shipping and customs
parcels are filtered out for commercial purchases and value.
In Germany, it helps to put a private address on it.
If one doesn't want to lie about the value, it is a good idea to send it in batches under 100 Euro, which is customs free.
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About shipping and customs
parcels are filtered out for commercial purchases and value.
In Germany, it helps to put a private address on it.
If one doesn't want to lie about the value, it is a good idea to send it in batches under 100 Euro, which is customs free.
Are you sure about that? The last time I checked, the Freigrenze (limit value) was 45€ for private packages, and 22€ for purchases (both including the value of P&P).
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I am a bit puzzled now...
this here seems to be official
http://www.zolltarifnummern.de/zollgebuehren.php?lang=de
the thin with the 100€ was a rule of thumb I heard about, nothing official
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Well, that looks about right, so they changed it (I think I remember hearing something about that, but didn't really bother at the time since I only very rarely order stuff in the US).
So, to sum up the link - 22 Euros or less (including P&P), no VAT or duties. 22-150, VAT but no duties. 150+, VAT AND duties.