C is for Combat Transporter

Possibly released by HTI (Halsall) as early as 2001, but more likely 2012/13 (it's not clear), this is still available around the place, I shelfied it about 2½ years ago, published the shot in August of this year, and finally weakened and bought this last week.

A bit of a weakness, it was, but it wasn't all that bad at £6.99, and a bit of a weakness for tank transporters was involved too! However and actually it was the 4x4 VAB-alike that swung it!

Better pictures than we saw last time, scale is all over the place but it is with all these new production, smaller scaled, Die-cast metal Chinatanks. Contents include the Transporter at a good OO/25mm, the VAB'ish APC at around HO/20mm and a Merkava and Gazelle/Aluette which are better suited to 15mm war-gaming, but may be a tad big for them? In addition abroad sign seen in many of these sets over the last 15-odd years, so probably bought-in.

The contents in mid-play, you've gotta have a play, easier to justify if you're taking photographs for a Blog article, but it's still playing! You would find two wheeled AFV's on one transporter, but with a longer trailer than this one's scaled-to, the reason this one fits is becasie the trailer is a bigger scale hence the spare width either side of the carrier.

Big rigs are big, but they're not too big to be pushed off the road by a boat-nosed AFV, this one is. But as a standalone model, is exactly the kind of thing operated by all these outsourced logistics companies used by modern militaries. The 5th-wheel works, although I think the fit would get loose with lots of play as it’s a styrene female working against a metal male part, and the latter would pare-down the former.

God Knows? Is it a late Gazelle, a newer Alouette; it's a small toy helicopter and will go in the tub with the other 'odd' die-cast helicopters!

As stated a bit big for the currently faddish 1:120th war-gaming, probably about 1:100? I'm not going to start measuring it and working-out ratios or percentages, I just don't care enough! Barrel seems to have slightly more elevation than the real thing, at that angle the breech is on the floor!

Historical footnote - it's exactly one hundred years ago today that these rumbled clanked over the mud at Cambrai, giving my Bavarian cousins a bit of a shock!

This is the kiddy I was after! I've got several with tons of Asian style parade markings daubed all over them; indeed we've seen a couple here, but there are more in storage, the models been around for at least 12 years, probably longer, but this is the first in a camouflage - I may have a plain, green one somewhere?

I'm sure the thing on the passenger cupola (I'm assuming left-hand drive!) is a water-cannon for riot control-work and versions do exist in fire (the red lights still on the roof!) and police/SWAT colours . . . nice!