VBCW Green Plastic Jeep "Technical" - Hereford 1938 Modelling Challenge

[Bearwoodman]

I am not a VBCW player but I do enjoy keeping abreast of the tumultuous goings on in 1938 in Hereford via Leadboy's remarkable blog. Recently the latest pre game Modelling Challenge caught my eye (see here for details:https://hereford1938avbcwtng.blogspot.com/2023/01/modelling-challenge-2023-technicals.html) and it crossed my mind that, although I would not be attending the upcoming Big Game, it would be fun to have a stab at creating a VBCW technical of my own and post pictures here. Unfortunately I did not have in my collection a suitable cheap green plastic jeep of indeterminate scale to use as a base for the conversion. Buying myself a brand new example would seem to rather go against the spirit of the challenge (the objective being to find a use for otherwise unwanted plastic products, not to stimulate demand for more) and in any event they do not appear to be sold individually.

Fortunately I am blessed with a teenage daughter who (as a result of being cursed with a miserly father) has become adept at scouring charity shops for bargains. She has found that her meagre pocket money allowance goes further if the clothes she buys are "pre-loved" and I thought I might put this skill to good use. I asked her to keep a look out for a second hand cheap plastic model jeep while she trawled and promised to reimburse her if she found one and brought it back to me.

Weeks went by, and every time she returned from an expedition I would ask her if she had secured a cheap plastic jeep. Inevitably the answer was "no" and it because a sort of running joke. She started pre-empting my question with a roll of her eyes and a "Hi Dad, no I didn't buy you a plastic toy jeep thing, but look at these hardly worn Converse High Tops/distressed denim shorts/etc..."

That is, until one day she returned with a triumphant look in her eye: "I got one Dad! You owe me £1.50."  And she presented me with this:

She looked so pleased with herself that I did not want to hurt her feelings so I graciously muttered my thanks and grudgingly handed over the money, but clearly the vehicle I had acquired was not a 1940s (ahem, 1938) Jeep but a 1980s Land Rover. What is more, rather than being of indeterminate scale it clearly is a diecast scale reproduction, and that scale is too big! It towers over the only VBCW figure in my collection (a certain Oswald Mosley which I received as a present after contributing a vehicle to a previous Hereford VBCW clash).

The vehicle does not even have a flat bed behind the cab on which to mount a weapon as required to qualify as a bona fide "Technical".

Having said that, now I have the vehicle I might as well try and do something with it and as I cannot exactly use it for Frostgrave it might as well be VBCW.  I thought to myself that although the base vehicle for my proposed entry into the cheap green plastic jeep "Technical" challenge was not plastic, was not a jeep, would not produce a "Technical" (and at £1.50 for a single item was arguably not even that cheap compared to what the correct vehicle type would probably cost), it was at least green, and that was a start.

I will update once progress has  been made.

[Moriarty]

You might want to include a ‘mounting block’ for that one :-)

[Roo]

Now that reminds me…have to finish this one for the Big Game in Oct!

[Doug ex-em4]

Good luck….

Look forward to seeing what you do with it.

Doug

[Bearwoodman]

Thanks for the comments, guys!

Given that I am largely ignorant of this game and period, rather than simply dive in and start sticking bits of plastic and cardboard to my new Jeep I thought I had better first do a bit of research.  Now I can tell a Baneblade from a Basilisk, and even a Cromwell from a Churchill, but I have very little idea about 1930s wheeled vehicles.  I knew this would need to change if was to be able to somehow make my boxy late 20th Century Land Rover look like something produced before World War Two. 

I spent a few minutes googling and found some relevant images:

1. A 1930s Car

Notes:  Sweeping wheel arches/shiny round headlights on top of bodywork/swooping bumper.

2. A 1930s Armoured Car

Notes: Lots of rivets/lots of turrets.

Having thoroughly investigated motorised vehicles of the period, I thought I had better find some references for the Mosley figure I had.  I am not sure what faction I would choose if I played VBCW (who gets Morris Dancer units?) but certainly the British Union of Fascists would be last on my list.  The BUF leader was all I had, however, so I thought I had better find out how to paint him.  While flicking through the photos of him presented by my internet search engine one in particular caught my eye:

This photo apparently shows the aftermath of an attempt by Mosley to give a speech in Liverpool in 1937 (A Communist stronghold in the VBCW, as I understand it).  As he gave the fascist salute while standing on the roof of a vehicle he was struck by a stone thrown by an onlooker.   I was particularly interested in the trumpet-shaped apparatus on top of the vehicle presumably intended to amplify the Mosley's speeches.   

It occurred to me that the high roof of my outsized "Jeep" would provide a commanding platform from which to deliver an extreme right-wing rant.  With an appropriate loudspeaker system installed in conjunction with some additional (riveted) armour, and perhaps a gun turret or two to dissuade hecklers, speeches could be safely delivered when in hostile areas.

I felt like I arrived at a suitable concept for my Jeep "Technical".  It would mount some traditional firepower but its main armament would be the ability to project the powerful oratory of a messianic leader.

It also struck me that what I was proposing, with armour, four-wheel drive, turret and extremely tall profile, was something like a 1930s specialised propaganda variant of a modern Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle.

Except that, to my mind, in 1938 mines and IED were not then the threat that they would be by the early 21st Century.  My vehicle would probably be more aptly described as Communist-Resistant Ambush Protected.

So with a concept, design cues and possibly even a name, the next step is to actually build something.

 

[leadboy]

Bearwoodman !

A pleasure to welcome you back to the modelling (well, bodging and fudging) world of Hereford1938 !

At the risk of derailing your thoughts, you previously and so successfully translated our "Shoddy Tank"
idea into the world of 40K - as a complement to our 1930s efforts - is there a prospect that you would
do the same with your Land Rover Green Vehicle ? Perhaps a Command Vehicle for your "Shoddy
Tank" column ?

The judges of the Hereford1938 "Modelling Challenge" are notoriously lax about the rules, and as you'll
have seen from previous Modelling Challenges, every entry gets some kind of (virtual) prize...

[Bearwoodman]

Thanks for the welcome leadboy! And thank you for setting the challenge.

1938 Hereford and the grim dark future 38,000 years later compliment each other very nicely, but I think this particular vehicle will be a conventional VBCW project. If only because I have already started applying paint to Sir Oswald.  Having said that, the figure emanates an air of severe and angry conviction that would allow him to very easily double as some kind of functionary of the Imperium of man, perhaps an Inquisitor or a Commissar, someone certain that he knows the best path for humanity and ruthless in his approach to heretics or xenos.

I actually think a 40k version of a cheap plastic jeep of the type specified in the challenge (i.e. not a large metal Land Rover) would be fun. It would certainly be cosy for a couple of Primaries Marines!

Anyway, back to Hereford. I need to make some rivets...

[Moriarty]

Worse than an Inquisitor - someone from Head Office, here to help . . .

[leadboy]

Got your thinking Bearwoodman and good luck with rivet making - very much looking forward to the results !
PS. The Big Game is on the 7th October, and then we allow two weeks or so after that for final submissions of
Modelling Challenge Entries (most of them obviously take part in the Big Game itself) before the
Big Judging Event and Distribution of Digital Prizes.....

[Bearwoodman]

Thanks leadboy, all noted in respect of the rules and deadlines.

To be honest, despite what you say about the judges and their lax application of the rules, I could not complain if they disqualified my entry on sight give how far out side the specified requirements my entry sits (although it is at least in the correct Millennium this time).

Anyway, the process of creating my 1938 vintage "Technical" has begun.  My starting "Jeep" was very square and angular and I wanted to try and introduce some curves.

I also tried to add some wheel arches that sat outside the main body of the vehicle to make it look vaguely more period appropriate as well as adding bits of armour plate. I did not want to just cover the whole model in cardboard armour plate - that would be a waste as the model featured a few nice details. Instead I wanted to give the impression that its owner has taken a (large) civilian vehicle and added (with a certain degree of professionalism) armour plate to protect the most vulnerable aspects. 

I made a pair of cylindrical turrets that would be attached to the top of the "Technical" by magnets.  I did not have much in the way of appropriate weaponry in my bits box so I went with a pair of 1:35 scale .303 SMLEs.  They are obviously a bit big for 28mm - perhaps they are experimental VBCW .50 cal armour piercing Lee-Enfields?

I also bodged some loudspeakers out of milliput to ensure that the fiery words of the Great Leader carry across the Herefordshire battlefields. 

More milliput was used to make external headlights to try and give the vehicle a bit more of a 1930s feel. 


Now it needs some paint!

By the way, any tips on painting windscreens/headlights on vehicles this scale would be gratefully received. Blue can look a bit odd/sci-fi to my eyes, and black might look a bit underwhelming when the rest of the vehicle (being BUF) is also black.   

[Doug ex-em4]

That looks terrific - really impressive. As regards the glass bits, how about a very dark blue instead of black with a silver edging?

Doug

[Bearwoodman]

Thank you, Doug ex-em4, I am glad you like it!  I cannot help feeling it is rather too chunky for 1938, but I have had a go at giving it a few curves. I also am hoping that at least some of the vehicle's slab-sided angularity can be explained away as being the inevitable result of the application of sheets of armour plate.   

As for the glass I decided to leave the windows black but added some dark blue and a silver grey on the headlights.  I did not spend too long on these and they are perhaps not very convincing but I hope it is clear what they are intended to be.

Anyway, the painting is now done and my entry is ready. First up is the vehicle's black-shirted microphone operator:   




The "technical" itself was painted in the traditional BUF black (therefore forgoing the challenge points available for a "snazzy" 1938 three colour camouflage).



Note that since the last update I have added a roof-top microphone, creating a space just forward of the gun turrets from which fiery speeches can be delivered with plenty of room for vigorous and aggressive gesticulating.



Sadly my "technical" will not be making an appearance at the upcoming Big Game, but rest assured that it will be stiffening resolve in the rear areas by enabling its occupant to explain at considerable volume (and length) the many and varied benefits of Fascism to an undoubtedly grateful populace.

[Doug ex-em4]

Extraordinary 

It looks like a 1930s version of a well-known Caped Crusader’s car. Bearing in mind whose vehicle it is, maybe it could be called the Twat Mobile?

Quite wonderful and beautifully crazy.

Doug

[leadboy]

Wonderful Bearwoodman ! I've nicked all the photos already and will put them up on the Hereford1938 Blog if I may ! Fantastic stuff !

[Bearwoodman]

Thanks Leadboy, although seeing on the blog the furore caused by Moriarty's far more authentically period entry (and his has a snazzy camouflage too!) I await the judges verdict with trepidation.