Musings of a Hobby Hipster: Here Comes the Hot Schlepper

Nah, na-na-na-nah
Na-na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na
Na-na-na-nah
Nah, na-na-na-nah
Na-na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na
Na-na-na-nah
Here comes the hot schlepper (carrier) 
It’s a munition schlepper (carrier)
It’s got crew in the area (carrier) 
Still love custom objectives (carrier) 

Inge Kamoze
RARE PHOTO!!! An abandoned German munitionpanzer Hummel sits quietly in  Budapest. 1945 : r/DestroyedTanks

What’s going on? 

Good question. Excellent question in fact. It has been a while since I’ve done anything remotely modelling-related for the blog… I thought I really should rectify that and with the release of the new Hornisse (8.8cm)/Hummel (15cm) Tank Hunter Platoon plastic box set from Battlefront I thought it would be a great time to jump back in.

Now, the origins of this project entirely revolve around my confusion as to why there are four models in the new plastic box set. There are only three or six model batteries for the Hummel… most perplexing… 

The 20 Best Confused Memes

It was Lee that then pointed out – “It’s a Hornisse platoon, Duncan, the fact it makes Hummels is a bonus” which led me to a follow-up question querying what I should do with the spare Hummel chassis? What, indeed…

Munitionstrager Hummel

We then started discussing if it was possible to convert the standard plastic Hummel into its helpful cousin, the Munitionstrager Hummel. 

Munitionstrager Hummel
Lot of room in the back

There are no in-game rules for the Munitionstrager Hummel as such, so it is perfect for an objective marker that ties into the Hummel deployment.  So, with an objective in place [pun! – Lee] we are off to the races.

Construction of these models, if you have any experience with modern Battlefront plastics, is really straightforward and everything goes together simply and snugly. I built up the hull and armoured fighting compartment and at that point started to tweak things. 

Making the Munitionstrager 

Blueprints > Tanks > Tanks Ma-Mz > Munitionstrager auf Geschutzwagen III-IV  (Sf) Hummel”/></figure></div>



<p>The first notible thing to do is to blank off the gap where the beast of a 150mm gun would normally sit, this creates a more enclosed compartment to store all of the ammo for the rest of the battery. </p>



<h3 class=Closing Up the Front

If you have plasticard then this is a good opportunity to break it out and get your metal ruler and sharp modelling knife out. I didn’t have any and rather that buy some for this one job I went a bit redneck engineering and noticed the square, flat plastic in the corner of the sprue. 

Gently cutting that out using my modelling knife and with a little trimming we get a decent rectangle of smooth plastic. 

This means that I was able to slide this into the gun position, mark the depth required and then using polycement to fix it into place. 

This is a bit more of a bush-fix rather than tooled to the gap exactly but I think it works. 

Opening Up the Back

Next I wanted to open up the doors at the back of the vehicle. 

take the back plate and carefully cut, with a sharp hobby knife, the bottom of the doors and the join between the two doors.
Where the doors would normally hinge, score the plastic with your knife and then dribble a little poly cement into the groove. The ploycement will soften the plastic and allow you to open the doors up and, once dry, remain fixed in place.

With that all dry, fix the back plate to the chassis and we now have the foundations of our model.

Roof Roof

We could create a full interior with ammo bins and the like, but instead, lets put a tarp over it all…

Take a couple of toothpicks and trim them to fit across the hull as support struts for our improvised tarpaulin roof. Fix them across the fighting compartment using some superglue.

Next up we want to create our tarpauline.  For this we will use tissue paper and PVA glue. I decided to wrap the model in clingfilm, though it’s not strictly neccesary. This means that the tissue paper, once set, will not stick directly to the hull and will allow me to trim the tarpaulin to the shape I want.

The PVA glue that will allow you to shape the tissue paper needs to be watered down. You are looking for a consistency of milk (full fat – not skimmed) and a mix of 50/50 PVA glue and water is a good place to start. 

Once this is all set up you are on to the fun step and shaping the tarpaulin. 

Place a single piece of tissue over the model and daub the watered down PVA with a wide, flat brush. Make sure that you gently use the brush to shape the wet tissue around the hull and supports. Take the end by the doors and gently roll it over on itself to create a rolled up entrance.

Don’t be shy with the PVA mix here; make sure that all of the tissue is saturated. After getting this initial layer down, repeat this step at least two or three times to create a denser, stronger tarpaulin that will survive the gaming table.

Leave this to dry completely – at least overnight. Once the tissue is dry you can lift it off the model and remove the clingfilm. 

Using some scissors you can then trim the tarpaulin to the shape that you want for your Munitionstrager.

It’s really easy and now i’m going to have to resist adding tarps to everything! 

Base and Paint

Now you can work out how you want your objective to look and add additional elements to the base. I had some spare German gun crew that I added to the rear of the vehicle to try and tell the story that they are moving out to resupply another gun.

I always try and offset vehicles on objective bases so that they don’t line up neatly with the edges. I think that this makes them stand out on the table and helps them look a little more organic. 

Finally it’s time to paint the Munitionstrager to tie it into the rest of the battery.  This can be painted however you normally paint your German armour.

[Greyhound? You dirty boy, Duncan – Lee]

I’ll be back soon with a cup of single-origin, cold brew flat white artisan coffee (but for the love of all that is holy, not iced coffee! What the $£&* is that all about?!) with more thoughts from the hipster’s beard.

– Dunc

4 thoughts on “Musings of a Hobby Hipster: Here Comes the Hot Schlepper

  1. One comment. Remove the bore cleaners (and don’t pain then as id they were alignment rods 🙁

    I liked the conversion very much, hence my comment!

  2. Clingfilm! Why for the love of all that might be holy have I never thought of that!!!
    Nice little project. And iced coffee is perfect.

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