Piggy backs anyone?

[monkeynut]

To collect all them damaged/ broken down tanks;

Scammell tank transporter
( maybe also a Scammell R100 Artillery tractor for BEF.  Cheeky😳)

M20 980 Diamond "T" tank transporter with M9 Trailer
( maybe also a 969 Diamond. "T" recovery Wrecker truck. Cheeky😳)


🐵

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

And again ! 

[fred.]

I got a scammell tank transporter from a resin manufacturer, it's a very nice model, but not sure when it might get on the table.  The purchase was at least in part inspired by nostalgia for the airfix one.

The tractors might be more useful. But once you have the tractor why not make the trailer too...

[John Cook]

Magister Militum do a Scammel gun tractor.   It goes with their 7.2" howitzer.

[Raider4]

Whilst nice, can't see them being financially viable.

[monkeynut]

I agree Fred, I also had an few Airfix Scammell kits  ( very good they were to ) which were of limited use in a regular wargame scenario but I just had to have them as they looked so good, if we " gamers " only bought the "practical" models required to facilitate a game then why do we all request/ desire a wider choice / variety of models?
Show me a wargamer / collector who hasn't a lead pile of impulse buys waiting to be painted! For me that's the beauty of the hobby there's always some new models ,figures or new period to buy,not needed , but wanted!
Did Airfix think the Scammell would be financially more viable when it was released than for example say a Pz38t ?  Personally IMHO no it wasn't,it's because it looked good ,was interesting ,unusual and not available elsewhere.People interested in this period would have to have one ,even if you couldn't use it in every game you played.
As I've stated before people collect "pretty things" that attracts  or is interesting to them.One mans muck is another mans gold.As my wife says  all the time "do you really need that?"
" yes dear I do really need a 1:1 Dodge ambulance!"
As usual these are just a personal wish list hopefully to be considered/added at some stage to Leon's already extensive work load of requests.



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[fred.]

Yep, its certainly good to consider the wider base of models.

When I look at what Airfix produced, I'm really not quite sure what their target audience was. I wonder if some of it was the Mum/Aunty buying for the child, so stuff like Scamell transporter or the Airfield set etc would be seen as a bit less warlike than a tank so would be bought. Or it was just they were looking at it from a modelling perspective so trucks were just as interesting as tanks!

I do find with 10mm, my armies are very wargames focused, so tend to have far less of the interesting bits, as these take more time to do than the core stuff, but don't do anything on the table. And as I have too many projects on the go, it always feels more useful to get a gaming unit on the table, than a support one.

[OldenBUA]

I would think that with the model kits, the tank transporter and airfield kits are interesting because they can be combined with other kits (airplanes, tanks) to make a diorama. Just have a look at all those that Carloz Briz did with trains! Use in wargames was never in the forefront with those kits.

But this also means these items might have an appeal to the modelers, train enthusiasts etc. Not everyone uses them for games. But if it will be enough to pay for the cost of producing them?

[fred.]

Good points. And I suppose this is where Airfix is in a very different place to Pendraken. As Airfix was on the toy / model making perspective from marketing. I think Pendraken is very much on the wargames positioning. But with the widening one the ranges, more things become possible, but it may not be worth the marketing effort to try to reach some of those audiences.

[monkeynut]

Thanks John, looked at the Magister Militum site after your suggestion exactly what I would like to buy.
Kind regards


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[Sunray]

The key point, well made on this thread, is the dichotomy between model making and war gaming.

And yes, the edges do blur.

We are baby boomer demographic,  for the most part, retired with disposable income.  We suffer from nostalgia for those Airfix  days, and longing for kit like tank transporters etc that don't feature on a 6ft x 4ft  table.  But they are nice to "collect" and paint.

Its the Lilliput syndrome of creating our only little world/diorama  My model harbour project is a classic - I enjoy scratch building scenery. When the family next gets around the wargame table, it will be a bit of eye candy - a centrepiece for the game. And yes, I have considered a devastated  tile of blackened ruins to substitute "after the battle".       

The joy for me is that the eye candy scenery engages the non wargaming family members into the now Boxing Day ritual of "Dad's war game".
If with was just a green carpet and a few hills, I doubt they would be tempted, but the scenery draws them in.   I saw the same appeal at the Wargame shows of the 1980s when clubs like Deal and Grimsby (Colin Rumford et al) wentto a lot of trouble to present a show stopping demo game.    I am convinced their selfless efforts drew people into gaming.

I recall as a boy mesmerised by the model railway layout in Hamleys.  My immediate thought was that I would love to run a squadron of Airfix Tigers through it.   Did anyone entertain similar thoughts when confronted by such layouts or the Carlos Bitz magic?

[fsn]

I remember reading a Commando comic about an RAF recovery unit trying to find a downed aircraft. It was in the desert, and they swanned around with a transporter and some supporting vehicles, and they obviously ran into some DAK ("Achtung! Tommies!") That little story would make a great skirmish game. However, I don't think it would be something I'd use a lot, and I can't see transporters being great sellers - but I'm prepared to be wrong.   

I recall as a boy mesmerised by the model railway layout in Hamleys.  My immediate thought was that I would love to run a squadron of Airfix Tigers through it.   Did anyone entertain similar thoughts when confronted by such layouts or the Carlos Bitz magic?

Oh yes. very time I see a model railway layout, I'm looking for avenues of advance and where I'd site an ambush. Pity they have to muck up these tables with the choo-choos. 

[sultanbev]

I started with a model railway layout then started driving my Airfix tanks over it. Then Matchbox came out with their kits which were a nuclear moment - models that Airfix don't do, and in two colours of plastic, with a scenic base! Horror of horrors. And then the model rail layout got taken down but I still had the tanks. And now, over 500 later.....
But yes, I collect 1/72 AFVs to display rather than to game with as such.

I've started getting 1/72 and 10mm tanks and vehicles from 3D printing companies that otherwise wouldn't be available. A seller on Ebay called Tragic-daze can do most of his models in 1/160, so now I have 10mm Churchill 3" Gun Carriers, FCM F1 supertanks and M2A1 Mediums.

I remember my first attempt at building the Airfix Scammell TT was a disaster, put me off for life!

Mark

[Sunray]

I started with a model railway layout then started driving my Airfix tanks over it. Then Matchbox came out with their kits which were a nuclear moment - models that Airfix don't do, and in two colours of plastic, with a scenic base! Horror of horrors. And then the model rail layout got taken down but I still had the tanks. And now, over 500 later.....
But yes, I collect 1/72 AFVs to display rather than to game with as such.

I've started getting 1/72 and 10mm tanks and vehicles from 3D printing companies that otherwise wouldn't be available. A seller on Ebay called Tragic-daze can do most of his models in 1/160, so now I have 10mm Churchill 3" Gun Carriers, FCM F1 supertanks and M2A1 Mediums.


Mark

Thanks Mark.  yes, Matchbox - I remember buying two Sherman Fireflys -  for the bridge - and constructed a plastic card centre piece .

But you are right - railway scenery was all there was- apart from the Hong Kong made Bluebell farm set.   A cottage and barn that every gamer seemed to have.   I remember Angel Delight (?) had a village set inside their packs, and one could send for a cardboard layout base.

The base had a mill pond that always attracted some fool US Marines in a dingy or daft commandos in a canoe !   I termed them the decoy ducks- they drew fire whilst the real attack went in behind the railway line!

[Raider4]

Not sure Airfix models can be described as "scale" models:



HO/OO? So, either 1/87 or 1/76. Which is it, eh?



And now it's 1/72?



No, we've decided it's OO scale after all . . .