1/72 Maquettes Militaires en Carton

This Bren carrier belongs to unité britannique serving en Afrique du Nord. Le conducteur d’Airfix wears a hat, the Matchbox observer wears a side cap, et the gunner is in the regulation steel helmet. Immediately behind le conducteur is a Bren light machine gun for air defence. The weapon is mounted on a 25 mm length of 0.6 mm pianowire superglued into the angle between the firewall et the engine cover. The gunner also has une mitrailleuse 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 two 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, et there are two jerrycans in a make-shift rack immediately next to it. The carrier is equipped avec 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 véhicule, they capture the viewers attention, et they may tell an interesting story of a dangerous journey through the desert. Most of these items 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 paper over plastic.

A Bren Carrier de la 4e Brigade Indienne au course de la campagne en Afrique du Nord. The card model is equipped avec un conducteur et mitrailleur de la Brigade Indienne de chez Atlantic au 1/72. Just visible in the cargo bay are two wooden boxes scrounged from HO scale model railroad supplies. The véhicule should be detailed further, adding some camouflage netting, a radio antenna, jerrycans, et a machine gun for air defence. Detail parts like that are available from ROCO et Hasegawa, et 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 le couleur de camouflage britannique de 1940. Very little painting is required, only the tracks need to be touched up avec rust, dirt ou metal colours. A multi-colour pattern could be applied by painting disruptive stripes on the carrier.

M3 Scout Car serving avec the Légion Étrangère Française en 1944-45. The véhicule carries camouflage netting made from painted gauze bandage, et a radio antenna has been added. The netting hides the fact that le compartiment du conducteur is empty. It would have been easy to add seats, a stearing wheel, et other interior detail, but it was not needed in this particular case.

The detailed jerrycans are spare parts taken from another M3 Scout Car, et the wheels are d’un camion ROCO. Small items like these are difficult to scratchbuild in cardboard. Spare parts cast in pewter ou plastic are more pleasing to the eye, et they add a lot of value to a card model. L’officier in the rear of the scout car est un soldat français de chez ESCI. In wargames, the figurine may dismount to scout on foot.

Nice et Cheap

Cardboard models are an interesting alternative to plastic, resin ou pewter models, and they cover a variety of véhicule types not otherwise available in this scale. Cardboard models take very little time to build et paint. Many surface details are printed on, they need not be cut off a sprue, cleaned, et glued on. Complex schémas de camouflage et marquages tactiques 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

• Cardboard models of open-topped véhicules blindés show the correct scale thickness of armour plating. Plastic injection moulded et pewter parts are generally much too thick, et resin parts will be very fragile if cast in scale thickness.
• Cardboard models may be pre-printed in historically accurate schémas de camouflage et marquages, et they would be an ideal painting guide for other véhicule models which do not include detailed instructions.
• Cardboard may be glued avec non-toxic PVA glues which wash out of clothing easily, and which do not dissolve plastic table surfaces.
• Cardboard models a l’échelle 1/72 are compatible avec véhicules et infantry made by Revell, Italeri, ESCI, Airfix, et Hasegawa. Many of these kist contain spare parts which may be used to detail a cardboard véhicule. ROCO, Preiser, et Hasegawa offer accessory sets avec mitrailleuses, jerrycans, spare tires, ammunition boxes, blanket rolls, radios et other small parts.
• Cardboard models are cheap compared to plastic injection moulded kits, an important consideration pour joueurs de guerre who need to raise entire companies et bataillons of véhicules.

Disadvantages

• Mitrailleuses et other small parts made from card do not look very convincing, they are difficult to cut out, et they bend out of shape easily. Painting small paper parts avec 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 paper, they will look better in plastic ou pewter.
• Surface detail is printed on, but it is flat. One option would be to cut out small parts, mount them on thin card et glue them back on the véhicule. Handrails, steps, tow hooks, et antennas may be made from 0.3 et 0.6 mm pianowire. Superglue should be used to attach them securely.
• Gun barrels made from paper are not strong enough to be handled in wargames, they should be replaced by aluminium ou brass tubing available at hobby shops.

Rare et Unavailable Types

Many historic véhicules are not available a l’échelle 1/72, some popular types have been out of production for a long time. Unusual cardboard véhicules of particular interest to the wargamer have been marked avec an * below.

1. Jeep
2. Kübelwagen
3. Bren Carrier* (Airfix makes a 1/76 version which looks too small)
4. Char Léger Vickers*
5. M3 White Scout Car (ESCI 1/72, not available at this time)
6. Semi-chenillé M3
7. Char Léger M5 Stuart
8. Char Leger T 13* (Belgium)
9. Char B1* (France)
10. Semovente M40* assault gun (Italie)
11. Carro Commando* command véhicule (Italie)
12. Krupp Camion Radio*
13. Camion Henschel 33 D1* cargo
14. Sd.Kfz. 251/1 NEU* Schützenpanzerwagen
15. Char Léger T 70*
16. KV-1* heavy tank
17. KV-2* heavy tank
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 char d’assaut
27. Churchill bridgelayer
28. Camion amphibie DUKW
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. Véhicule de transport de troupes M113 (US/Bundeswehr/Nato)
35. Véhicule de reconnaissance M114*
36. Véhicule de transport de troupes Hotchkiss* (Bundeswehr)

Cardboard véhicules are cheap et robust, perfect for wargames. Conversions et repairs require only a little PVA glue et a sheet of thin cardboard. Véhicules may be painted avec superglue to stiffen them, after which the surface can be drilled, sanded et engraved avec regular modelling tools. Many important véhicules are not available in plastic ou metal, et cardboard is an interesting alternative.

Questions Fréquents

Pour plus d’informations, veuillez contacter les éditeurs de la revue Military Miniatures Magazine au Miniatures Forum.

Modélisme et Figurines

– Publié: 1997 – Actualisé: 15.08.2008
© 1997-2011 by IDL Software GmbH, Darmstadt, Allemagne. Tous droits réservés.