Kubuś armored car 1/35

[Frank3k]

This is the Mirage Hobby 1/35 scale model of the "Kubuś" improvised armored truck, used by the Polish Home Army during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. The history is pretty interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubu%C5%9B

For a modern kit, this kit sucks. I've built older Mirage kits that had better instructions and better molding. In any case, I was still able to build this in three days (being on vacation helped).

These are the two main components. The interior only has two supports, a seat and a steering wheel. I added a second seat for the gunner, and painted everything in a rust color after I took this picture.



I didn't really try to match the original camo pattern, just went for something "representative". The original still exists and it looks like it was brush painted.









Despite the crappy instructions, the kit does have a nice sheet with the vehicle's history, options to build the original or the replica, and a section indicating the bullet holes in the steel armor.
It looks pretty nice when finished. I didn't weather it much because it went into battle straight from the "factory" - the paint was probably still a little wet. I just noticed that I left the Notek lamp off...

[LemonJello]

Very cool! Unusual subject and the camo is nicely done.

[Artoor_K]

Well done :) I've never seen it although it's preserved in museum not very far from where I live :) Nice camo :)

[GTX_Admin]

One could very well do this up as a modern 'stealth' vehicle.

[Frank3k]

Thanks guys. The story behind this vehicle is interesting (the driver had not seen or driven the vehicle until the day of the attack) and it took some seriously large testicles to not only drive but fight from this car. Apparently only one bullet pierced the twin steel armor plates.

This kit arrived without the rubber tires, so I used the tires from the Mirage Wz.34/II armored car, which fit. Now I'm turning that into a tracked armored car.

Greg, some minor changes to the vision ports and adding modern weapons might make it fit in places like Syria or Iraq.

[GTX_Admin]

Greg, some minor changes to the vision ports and adding modern weapons might make it fit in places like Syria or Iraq.

Or maybe somewhere like Croatia...

[Buzzbomb]

GTX, where do you find this stuff ?

Frank, I reckon that came out great. I know what you mean about some modern kits.
I have just built the Tommy's War 18 Pounder and while the model itself is first class, the instructions are not, even remotely good.

[GTX_Admin]

GTX, where do you find this stuff ?

Just knew about it from years ago...did a quick google search for images...and there you go...

[ChernayaAkula]

One could very well do this up as a modern 'stealth' vehicle.

In Bruce Wayneski's voice: "Does it come in black?"

[Frank3k]

In Bruce Wayneski's voice: "Does it come in black?"

How do you say "I'm Batman!" in Polish? "Jestem Batmanem!"

In some ways, the Kubus was a bit like a bat car.

[Weaver]

Good result Frank, even though the kit was poor.

That's a pretty decent design as such things go. The usual mistake that improvised armour designers make is to keep to the original outline of the vehicle, not appreciating how much heavier it's going to be once armour is added. The pyramid shape of the Kubus gets around that nicely. Considerable care has been taken to facet it and slope all the "horizontal" surfaces so that they shed grenades and molotovs too. I'm sure that the designer could have come up with a better weapon station, but time was obviously the constraint.