CapnJim's Modern Stuff - Balczaki-Soviet Bridge Fight Full AAR - Pg 54-10 Aug 25

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Possibly anecdotally but the spec for the 2CV was to carry two peasants and a sack of fertiliser over a ploughed field.

[carlos marighela]

Possibly anecdotally but the spec for the 2CV was to carry two peasants and a sack of fertiliser over a ploughed field.

Arguably an ambitious benchmark to set. Twenty-five years later, the Austin Allegro was designed with the more modest goal of transporting a middle-aged couple and a packet of Rice Krispies across a Tesco's car park. Typically it failed to meet this objective.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Arguably an ambitious benchmark to set. Twenty-five years later, the Austin Allegro was designed with the more modest goal of transporting a middle-aged couple and a packet of Rice Krispies across a Tesco's car park. Typically it failed to meet this objective.

Possibly because the factory was on strike.

[Freddy]

Arguably an ambitious benchmark to set. Twenty-five years later, the Austin Allegro was designed with the more modest goal of transporting a middle-aged couple and a packet of Rice Krispies across a Tesco's car park. Typically it failed to meet this objective.

It is quite a dangerous place though, with all the kamikaze pedestrians, ,,we do not care about minimal parking space design building requirements"-style structure and the ,,If I come here enough times, I'll eventually learn to park my car properly" type of folks.
Cries for a wargame  Maybe a Gaslands expansion?

[has.been]

It is quite a dangerous place though, with all the kamikaze pedestrians, ,,we do not care about minimal parking space design building requirements"-style structure and the ,,If I come here enough times, I'll eventually learn to park my car properly" type of folks.
Cries for a wargame  Maybe a Gaslands expansion?

I always thought an alternative to the high octane car chase computer games would be a car parking one.
First level = parking a Mini on a mid-week shopping trip.
Top level = Trying to park a long estate car in the run up to Christmas, with things like what seems to be an
                  empty bay actually being filled with a short or low car. Other cars going the wrong way & stealing
                   parking spots just before you.

                 

[carlos marighela]

No. Reach the top level and Michael Caine throws you over the parapet.

[CapnJim]

Interesting discussion.  I have limited experience with Eastern European crappy cars, at east the real ones.  I will say that one thing my diecast have over their 1:1 counterparts are their steel bodies...

[Freddy]

Interesting discussion.  I have limited experience with Eastern European crappy cars, at east the real ones.  I will say that one thing my diecast have over their 1:1 counterparts are their steel bodies...

Collecting 1/43 diecast cars is (apparently) a very popular hobby in Russia, so basically the entire WarPac car catalogue is available in that scale, with much better coverage on the everyday vehciles than what is available from the western cars in general. (Car racing and super sports cars were not a common thing in WarPac though )

[BaronVonJ]

Great report as always.

[CapnJim]

Collecting 1/43 diecast cars is (apparently) a very popular hobby in Russia, so basically the entire WarPac car catalogue is available in that scale, with much better coverage on the everyday vehciles than what is available from the western cars in general. (Car racing and super sports cars were not a common thing in WarPac though )

So, apparently was (is?) collecting 1/72 diecast tanks and other military vehicles.  I have bunches of them.

Great report as always.

Thanks, Jaye.  Appreciate it.

[Freddy]

So, apparently was (is?) collecting 1/72 diecast tanks and other military vehicles.  I have bunches of them.

Arent those H0 (so 1/87)? It is also really popular, and not just in Russia.

[carlos marighela]

Multiple scales. Russia produces most of the 1/43 diecast military models I've seen as well as 1/43 multi-media vehicle kits. Although who knows, maybe it's really just 1/10th of an arshin or some such arcane thang.

[Freddy]

Multiple scales. Russia produces most of the 1/43 diecast military models I've seen as well as 1/43 multi-media vehicle kits. Although who knows, maybe it's really just 1/10th of an arshin or some such arcane thang.

If we have to give something to the Russians: they are not the ones using weird mesures
Jokes aside, 1/87 cars became popular due to their compatibility with H0 train tables, for today they kinda became a thing on their own.

[CapnJim]

A.  HO (1/87) cars fit pretty well with 15/18mm figures...

B.  The Russian diecasts I mentioned were definitely 1/72.  They were produced by EagleMoss, and marketed by D'Agostini.  I got a bunch of them a number of years ago, including t55s, T62s, T72s, T80s, T90s, BMP1s, BMP2s, BMDs, BMD2s, BRDMs, BTR40s, BTR152s, All the various BTRs (60 through 90), BM21s, UAZ trucks, and even an ASU85.  That was along with Dragon, Easy Model, HobbyMaster, and Altaya.  The EagleMoss Russian vehicles came with an info pamphlet, printed in, of course, Russian...

The guy at my local post Office got a kick out of me getting regular packages from Russian, Poland, and Ukraine...

   

[cuprum]

In Russia, several series of "magazine" (model + magazine with historical review) models of various military and civilian vehicles were published:
- "Autolegends of the USSR" (Deagostini), 1/43; passenger cars of the USSR
- "Tractors. History, People, Machines" (Hachette collections), 1/43; models of famous tractors of the world
- "Tanks of the World" (Collection), 1/72; models of famous tanks of the world
- "Automobile in Service" (DeAgostini), 1/43; Soviet special vehicles of various civilian and military services + "premium addition" - models of combat vehicles of the world in 1/72
- "Tanks. Legends of Domestic Armored Vehicles", 1/43; despite the name, the series included models of various tanks of the world
- "Autolegends of the USSR. Trucks", 1/43; trucks of the USSR
- "Autolegends of the USSR. Buses", 1/43; all buses of the USSR
- "Formula 1. Auto Collection", 1/43; Formula 1 cars
- "Supercars" (DeAgostini), 1/43; prestigious cars of the world
- "Ferrari Collection" (GiFabbri), 1/43; Ferrari cars
- "Locomotives of the World" (DeAgostini), 1/160; railway locomotives of the world
- "Legendary Soviet Cars" (Hachette), 1/24; Soviet passenger cars
- "Russian Tanks" (GiFabbri), 1/72; tanks and armored vehicles that were in service with Russia (including foreign ones)
- "Legendary Aircraft" (DeAgostini), various scales; famous aircraft of the world
- "Combat Jets" (Eaglemoss Collections), 1/144; models of famous combat aircraft
- "Police Cars of the World" (DeAgostini), 1/43
- "Tanks of the World" (RI), 1/72
- Auto Legends of the 20th Century (DeAgostini); 1/43
- "Combat Vehicles of the World" (Eaglemoss Collections), 1/72; various combat vehicles of the world
- "Tractors of the World" (Hachette Collections); 1/43
- "Our Tanks" (MODIMIO Collections), 1/43; Russian and Soviet tanks and combat vehicles
- "Legendary Trucks of the USSR", 1/43

There are a huge number of collectors of various models in Russia. The most popular scales: for cars - 1/43; for military equipment - 1/72.