Being a Wargamer I wanted to add something military to the layout. Something interesting that would catch the eye rather than just a lorry or staff car. As Waddon is very near the old Croydon Airport and after the 30's rebuild of the station the running in boards actually said "Waddon for Croydon Airport", I thought the TA or army might have conducted defensive manoeuvres in and around the aerodrome as an exercise. Therefore I decided one of the little cameo scenes I was going to have was a broken down military vehicle.
Attending the Reading Wargames show I spoke to the owner and former club member of SHQ Miniatures and explained that I wanted a pre-war looking vehicle for my railway layout, such as an armoured car or Vickers light tank. Peter's first offering was a nice Lanchester or Rolls Royce armoured car, which was very reminiscent of WW1 and was still in service during the early part of the war. I then explained I wanted it broken down and cutting the solid bonnet to put in a raised engine cover was going to be difficult. Peter then showed me a very nice model of a Vickers Mk2 Medium Tank. These were in service from 1925 to 1939 and in 1941 still served as training tanks in Egypt, with some being dug in as pill boxes as a last line of defense. Therefore this fitted my background fluff as they old and outdated by the late 30's and just the sort of hand me down a TA unit might receive. It also had that post WW1 look to it. Yes it had a turret, but it also has big square high profile, riveted construction, machine guns sticking out the sides and a door in the back! "Ideal" I said, "all I need now is a crew having a smoke and a cuppa while waiting for the tank to be repaired." Unfortunately I knew this would be a case of scouring miniatures for suitable poses, trimming off guns and trying to add something that looked like a tin cup. "I've just the thing" says Peter and hands me a packet of crew sitting and standing with cigarettes and cups of tea! One I couldn't use as he had shorts and an Arabic headscarf but the othe two were spot on.
Googling images of the tank I found how the engine cowlings opened and cut these out by drilling, gouging and filing the very thick white metal hull. I then made up new covers from plastic card and fixed then in place with super glue. I also stuck inside the hull a small piece of scrap plastic sprue with lugs on to give the general impression of an engine and manifold. Next I filed off the closed outline of rear door and added a new one slightly open, also in plastic card.
Pleased with my efforts I painted the tank dark green based on the one still running at Bovington Tank Museum and added spare transfers and weathering powders. The large letters and numbers were tricky but I found some on a left over sheet from a landing craft. The 'A' was a stencilled letter though so the gaps were carefully painted in. Next I painted the crew, which were the two SHQ miniatures, a Dart Castings figure and a plastic Faller aircraft maintenance figure, which following a little limb bending sits nicely on the hull with his head in the engine compartment. The figures in the pictures have had some further highlights and details added but other than that it is ready to go on the layout.
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