I wanted to plan a medium sized diorama to start early in 2006, so I'm saving money for supplies now, anywho, I was wondering if there were any 1/35 modern cars out there, perhaps the ones you would see Iraq. If not 1/35 would 1/32 scale be acceptable? The car will be mangled up representing a car bomb so I thought that the difference in scale wouldnt matter too much, your thoughts?

thanks
-Shain

Shain
There is a 1:35 VW Beetle out there somewhere. Sabot did one for a campaign a while back.

Pete

If you want to use it in a dio as a carbomb, buy a (cheap) 1:32 scale die-cast. Whack it with a hammer and srewdriver (always under adult supervision.. :-) ) and torch it. Short of filling the boot ( or trunk for our overseas bretheren..) with semtex, that's going to give the best result.

Cheers
Henk

The only 1/35 civilian vehicle models I know of are the resin Toyota Land Cruisers by Mig Productions, and the WWII VW Bug by (I think) Dragon. I use 1/32 snap-tite cars and trucks with my 1/35 armor and figures all the time. It is not an issue. I have seen some nice 1/32, 1/34, and 1/36 scale diecast stuff as well, but haven't used any yet. The detail on them looks too soft and rounded to me. I have also taken the 1/32 Tamiya 4-wheel drive monster trucks and used their body shells, with scratch/converted 1/35 frames and interiors as well. It works quite well. Here is a look of some of the 1/32 vehicles I have used.

snap-tite 1/32 revell/Monogram Malibu police car, VW pickup, and tractor trailer with tanker for a ODS Highway of Death dio.


Arii 1/32 VW Bug in Israel.


Tamiya 1/32 4-wheel drive monster Land Cruiser body added to scratch/converted 1/35 Land Rover chasis with spares box wheels and detailed interior.

My favorite combo is the SnapTite Chevy Police Car in 1:32, by Monogram, with an engine, lower frame, and wheel wells from one of their stock car kits. The tires are one sided, but can be replaced easily enough. I happen to be doing one up right now.

Looking great. It is an excellent subject to start with. Same one I used in the Highway of Death dio above. I have to get a few more for some modern, Iraq dios.

Outstanding, just what I was looking for.

Henk-What is semtex? and is it explosive? :-) :-)

Thanks all for the help, and those are some nice looking dios you have there Gino.

-Shain

Oooops, I forgot the disclaimer....

Semtex is not a toy, if used incorrectly it can make a right mess of your modelroom. And you, your family and your neighbours. And your neighbours cat.

I'm too old for toys anyways.....so where can I get some :-) :-) :-) only kidding of course

On a more serious note, if I buy a cheap snap tite model, and caught it on fire after I built it and pumbled it some, do you think it would look realistic?

I wouldn't set it on fire. They don't burn very realistically. You will end up with a blob of molten plastic. Best bet is to thin the plastic and then use coats of different rust paints and powders to get a burned metal effect.

That's the method I always use. Note in the pic how the plastic is discolored around the bullet/fragmentation holes. It's from thinning the plastic from the inside with a steel cutter (a la Shep Paine) until it's paper thin.

By the way, these go on ebay for about five bucks a pop. The ones I used to do ten years ago were more than that even then, so it's a good deal.

Is that the 1/32 police car from the set that included the fire truck?

Also- there's a F-150 & Chevy Silverado in 1/32. They are sold as "monster" trucks and do not have interiors, useable tires, frames, p/u beds or a lot of other stuff...in other words they are a lot of work. A lot of the work would be minimized if they were destroyed.

I'd REALLY like to see some modern civilian vehicles. So much contemporary combat is "low-intensity" and involves civilians and their belongings. If you look through pics of OIF and OIF2 a very large percentage have civilian vehilces in them. Seems to me there would be a market. Maybe at least some of the small P/U trucks used as "Technicals" and small SUVs used in the mideast... I'm probably dreaming, but hey- you can always dream!

Jim

That's why METT-T is now METT-TC