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Thursday 21 June 2012

Some holiday souvenirs

When I am on holiday I am always on the lookout for bits and pieces that I can use for wargaming ... and my recent cruise has provided me with some useful holiday 'souvenirs'.

In Stavanger, Norway, I found a model shop that had two ROCO Jagdpanzer IVs on sale ...


... whilst the museum in Alesund, Norway, had some very useful hut or shed-like buildings available. (The 15mm-scale Essex Miniatures figure is included in the following photographs to give some idea of the size of the various model buildings and vehicles.)


A toy shop in Blankenberge, Belgium, had lots of interesting vehicles produced by SIKU on sale, including four modern tanks (priced at €1.99), ...


... two diesel locomotives with an open-topped goods wagon apiece, ...


... and two steam locomotives, each of which had a passenger carriage. (Each set of a locomotive and piece of rolling stock cost €5.99.)


The ROCO Jadgpanzers will join the large amount of stuff that I have been acquiring for my Eastern Front/Great Patriotic War project. Because the shed/huts are pretty generic, I am sure I will find plenty of uses for them, and although the railway locomotives and rolling stock are designed to run on TT-gauge track, they will also be very useful. Buying the tanks was a pure self-indulgence, but they may well appear in a wargame at sometime in the future.

10 comments:

  1. I especially like the trains! I have seen Siku toy cars in the UK, so I'll keep a look out for these.

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  2. This is a better haul than the traditional holiday souvenir tat! Nice stuff.

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  3. Tim Gow,

    The trains do look very useful, and the steam locomotives and rolling stock will do very nicely for most wars from 1870 onwards.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  4. Lee Hadley,

    Thanks! I am very pleased with how much useful stuff I managed to find ... and that it was not too difficult to get hold of and was not too expensive either.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  5. I've seen a few Siku things around too. I'll have to keep a better eye on the toyshops I think.

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  6. TT is very close to 15mm, doesn't Peter Pig use this for his train models?

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  7. Arquinsiel,

    In the UK most of the SIKU stuff I have seen on sale is their range of tractors and agricultural machinery. I have yet to find a shop that stocks anything like the full range of other vehicles that are in their catalogue.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  8. Nigel Drury,

    As fas as I know, you are correct.

    TT-gauge is far more popular on the Continent than it is in the UK, and if I had had my wits about me I should have looked in the model railway shop next to Blankenberge railway station!

    All the best,

    Bob

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  9. I've mostly been looking for the "pickup truck" style stuff to use as technicals for Force on Force. I've managed to find a few nice ones around, but no SIKU. I was in Belfast yesterday and they oddly had a civvie Hummer that was in true 1/72 scale and waaaaay bigger than most of the rest of their stuff.

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  10. Arquinsiel,

    Having looked through the SIKU catalogue, I can find a VW Amarok pick-up that might be of use if you are using 28mm-scale figures (Its number is 1443). It also comes in other versions as a towing vehicle with a trailer, as well as a Police and Fire Service emergency vehicle. I think that it is 1:57th-scale ... but this is not clear in the catalogue.

    The Hummer does look big ... and I suspect that this range of SIKU models is not of a consistent scale.

    Good luck with your hunt.

    All the best,

    Bob

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