Camo Campervan -More Hotwheel Horror!

Not content with turning a perfectly good hotwheel truck into a Signal Van, I thought that it ought to be possible to make an office body truck that was closer to a Dovunque Carro Segnali.

 More Campervan than Signals Van at this stage.

The main drawback to the hotwheel front is that it looks more like a Fiat 626 or Alfa Romeo 800, so I overcame the problem by ignoring it! Liberal use of wood, plasticard and miliput gave an approximation of the body. A couple of leftover Pz III idler wheels suggested the two spare wheels behind the cab and paint did the rest. All I can claim for this conversion is that it looks "vaguely Italian". Buried in amongst the rest of Ariete armoured division, it should pass muster.

I'm sure Tim Gow would be happy to call this a "Dodgy Dovunque"!

More shading and weathering to follow (Who am I kidding? It will sit like this for the next 5 years!)

Italian Divisional HQ Company or Segnali Sospetti

These hotwheels trucks have been sitting around in the "to do" pile until the muse strikes. The original truck is at the top right, with a cut down 4 wheel below it. The cab looks pretty modern at the moment.

The only decent references for Italian HQ signals vehicles that I could find were for General Bergonzoli's big Lancia caravan, as ably executed by Tradgardemastre, or the 6-wheel Dovunque office-bodied signals van seen below. 

http://www.network54.com/Forum/47207/thread/1362879261/LF+Fiat+SPA+Dovunque+35+pictures

I thought that perhaps a captured British signals body might be quick, easy and suitably generic. It was, but the model still looks modern. Adding a grille to the front helped, but surprisingly, getting rid of the blue finish made more of a difference, as did removing the little dropped front to the froward side windows. Painted detail will do the rest. the final result is a  vaguely convincing hybrid remeniscent of an Alfa Romeo 800 cum Fiat 626.

I did however, find a very convincing Dovunque spa 35 conversion from, of all things, an American RoCo GMC 2.5 ton truck. Full marks to "Grumble"  for seeing the possibilities inherent there.

Ground Crew Markers Work in Progress

Prior to the GAZALA game all my ground crew markers were on irregular sizes of bases, and not very many of them at that. Recycling some existing 30mm bases, and adding a few "Brits Drinking Tea" from Peter Pig with spare Old Glory Italians, gave me 24 ground crew markers. This should be enough to get a dozen squadrons into the air on each side of the battle.

Markers like these give plenty of scope for using up odd figures that can't find a home anywhere else. they also give plenty of scope for vignettes. Tim Gow has some nice examples of the art in his ground crew.

Guarding stuff to stop it walking off. Brits above, Italians below.
 

Tapping stuff to see if it really is disarmed!

Fire crew on standby. The chaps on the left are from Peter Pig's old Sci-Fi range.