modellini di carta in Scala 1:72

This Bren carrier belongs to a unit britannico serving nel Nordafrica. The Airfix guidatore wears a hat, the Matchbox observer wears a side cap, e the gunner is in the regulation elmetto d’acciaio. Immediately behind the guidatore is a mitragliatrice leggera Bren for air defence. The weapon is mounted on a 25 mm length of 0.6 mm pianowire superglued into the angle between the firewall e the engine cover. The gunner also has una mitragliatrice leggera Bren which he can fire through a port in the frontal armour plating. The observer sits on a large wooden box taken from HO scale railroad supplies. There are due smaller boxes in the left-hand crew compartment, as well as a rolled-up camouflage net made from a piece of gauze bandage. The stowage bin at the rear holds another camouflage net, e there are due jerrycans in a make-shift rack immediately next to it. The carrier is equipped con a radio, the attenna mounting point can be seen at the right rear of the crew compartment. The small parts add a lot of interest to the vehicle, they capture the viewers attention, e they may tell an interesting story of a dangerous journey through the desert. Most of these oggetti were taken from commercially available model kits, like Reviresco’s Lancia Aprilia staff car which contributed the spare jerrycans. Notice the perfect scale thickness of the cardboard compartment walls, one advantage of carta over plastic.

A Bren Carrier of 4th Indian Brigade during the North African campaign. Il modello di carta is equipped con un guidatore e gunner from Atlantic’s Indian Brigade series of soldatini in scala 1:72. Just visible in the cargo bay are due wooden boxes scrounged from HO scale model railroad supplies. The vehicle should be detailed further, adding some camouflage netting, a radio antenna, jerrycans, ed una mitragliatrice for air defence. Detail parts like that are available from ROCO e Hasegawa, e they make be taken from the spare parts sometimes found in plastic model kits. The carrier model is also available in a dark green card which resembles the 1940 vehicle camouflage britannico. Very little painting is required, only the tracks need to be touched up con rust, dirt o metal colours. A multi-colour pattern could be applied by painting disruptive stripes on the carrier.

The detailed jerrycans are spare parts taken from another M3 Scout Car, e the wheels are from a ROCO truck. Small oggetti like these are difficult to scratchbuild in carta. Spare parts cast in pewter o plastic are more pleasing to the eye, e they add a lot of value to a card model. The officer in the rear of the scout car is a soldatini francese made by ESCI. In wargames, the figure may dismount to scout on foot.

Nice e Cheap

modellini di carta are an interesting alternative to plastic, resin o pewter models, e they cover a variety of vehicle types not otherwise available in this scale. modellini di carta take very little time to build e paint. Many surface details are printed on, they need not be cut off a sprue, cleaned, e glued on. Complex camouflage patterns e tactical markings can be printed on as well, only the cut edges need to be retouched later. For more information about 1:72 scale card models, please contact Cliff Button of PaperTigerArmaments in the Miniatures Forum.

Advantages

• modellini di carta of open-topped veicoli corazzati show the correct scale thickness of armour plating. Plastic injection moulded e pewter parts are generally much too thick, e resin parts will be very fragile if cast in scale thickness.
• modellini di carta may be pre-printed in historically accurate camouflage patterns and markings, e they would be an ideal painting guide for other vehicle models which do not include detailed instructions.
• Carta may be glued con non-toxic PVA glues which wash out of clothing easily, and which do not dissolve plastic table surfaces.
• modellini di carta in scala 1:72 are compatibile con veicoli e fanteria made by Revell, Italeri, ESCI, Airfix, e Hasegawa. Many of these kist contain spare parts which may be used to detail un veicolo di carta. ROCO, Preiser, e Hasegawa offer accessory sets con mitragliatrici, jerrycans, spare tires, scatole di munizione, blanket rolls, radios ed other small parts.
• modellini di carta are cheap compared to plastic injection moulded kits, an important consideration for giocatori wargame who need to raise entire compagnie e battaglioni dei veicoli.

Disadvantages

• Mitragliatrici ed other small parts made from carta do not look very convincing, they are difficult to cut out, e they bend out of shape easily. Painting small paper parts con superglue is one technique which needs to be explored further, but it is generally much easier to use commercially available parts made from plastic or pewter.
• Automobile tires are difficult to make from carta, they will look better in plastic o pewter.
• Surface detail is printed on, but it is flat. One option would be to cut out small parts, mount them on thin card e glue them back on the vehicle. Handrails, steps, tow hooks, ed antennas may be made from 0.3 e 0.6 mm pianowire. Superglue should be used to attach them securely.
• Gun barrels made from carta are not strong enough to be handled in wargames, they should be replaced by aluminium o brass tubing available at hobby shops.

Rare e Unavailable Types

Many historic veicoli are not available in scala 1:72, some popular types have been out of production for a long time. Unusual veicoli di carta of particular interest to the wargamer have been marked con an * below.

1. Jeep
2. Kübelwagen
3. Bren Carrier* (Airfix makes a 1:76 version which looks too small)
4. Carro Armato Leggero Vickers*
5. M3 White Scout Car (ESCI 1:72, not available at this time)
6. Semicingolato M3
7. Carro Armato Leggero M5 Stuart
8. Char Leger T 13* (Belgio)
9. Char B1* (Francia)
10. Semovente M40* assault gun (Italia)
11. Carro Commando* command vehicle Italiay)
12. Krupp Radio Truck*
13. Henschel 33 D1* cargo Truck
14. Sd.Kfz. 251/1 NEU* Schützenpanzerwagen
15. Carro armato leggero T 70*
16. Carro pesante KV-1*
17. Carro pesante KV-2*
18. SU-100 assault gun
19. Jagdpanther
20. Tiger I
21. Sturmgeschütz III
22. Jagdpanzer IV
23. A.27 Cromwell cruiser tank
24. F.V. 4034 Challenger cruiser tank*
25. Sherman tank
26. Churchill fanteria tank
27. Churchill bridgelayer
28. DUKW amphibious truck
29. M10 Tank Destroyer*
30. Panzerjäger Hetzer* (ESCI 1:72, not available at this time)
31. Jagdtiger*
32. Sturmtiger*
33. Land Rover Lightweight* (airborne)
34. M113 APC (US/Bundeswehr/Nato)
35. M114 Recon* APC
36. Hotchkiss* APC (Bundeswehr)

Veicoli di carta are cheap e robust, perfect for wargames. Conversions e repairs require only a little PVA glue ed a sheet of thin carta. Vehicles may be painted con superglue to stiffen them, after which the surface can be drilled, sanded ed engraved con regular modelling tools. Many important veicoli are not available in plastic o metal, carta is an interesting alternative.

Domande più frequenti

Per ulteriori informazioni, per favore contatta la redazione di Rivista Military Miniatures nel Miniatures Forum.

Ritorna alla Homepage

– Pubblicato: 1997 – Aggiornato: 15.08.2008
© 1997-2012 by IDL Software GmbH, Darmstadt, Germania. Tutti diritti reservati.