I'm back with some more customized Lledo Days Gone vehicle for 28mm Back of Beyond and WW2 Chinese wargaming. Part 1, which also covers decal creation, can be found here.
Sunday, August 30, 2020
Customized Diecast Vehicles for 28mm China Wargaming Part 2
Sunday, August 9, 2020
Customized Diecast Vehicles for 28mm China Wargaming
I wanted some more scatter terrain for my Back of Beyond and WW2 Chinese wargaming, so I though some appropriate 1920's and 1930's vehicle would fit the bill nicely. 1/56 civilian vehicles designed for 28mm wargaming are hard to come by, so your best bet is to look for diecast cars and trucks that are relatively close in scale (as I did for VBCW). As I only knew of one truck specifically intended to represent a vehicle of that era in China, so conversions of American and British branded vehicles were called for.
First up was the aforementioned ready to use truck, a Matchbox Yesteryear Tsingtao Great Beers of The World 1920 AC Mack (YGB23).
For modifications, I only weathered it and added some clear plastic for a windshield. It was nicely detailed for a toy truck and cost me around $15 US with shipping. No scale was listed on the box, but collector sites have given it a nominal scale 1/60, so fairly close to target. When compared to a Warlord Games' 1/56 Type 97 Isuzu truck, they looked reasonable together.Next up were some Lledo Days Gone vehicles that seemed suitable for conversion. The Lledo cars were not as detailed as their Matchbox rival, but at $7-10 US with shipping, they were a good deal (with lots of color variants to choose from).![]() |
Source: Madspace.org |
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Source: Virtualshanghai.net |
I have not be able to find a scale guide for the various Lledo vehicles, But I think these models looked reasonable with a Copplestone Chinese figure and against a Warlord Games 1/56 Morris 15cwt Truck.
One additional Lledo vehicle I purchased that did not look good for 28mm wargaming was the DG42 1934 Mack Tank Truck. It should have been similar in size to my Matchbox Mack, but was woefully undersized.
As I think the 1934 Mack variants share parts, I would avoid all of these.
Overall, these came out much better than I thought they would. I've placed some eBay orders for additional Lledo vehicles, so fingers crossed they will look good as well. If you would like to do any conversions yourself, here's the decal designs I made. They are free for personal use, but I don not give permission for them to be sold.
Added 30Aug20: Part 2 of my conversions can be found here.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Diecast Vehicles for VBCW Part V
Lledo DG 18000 1936 Packard U.K. Ambulance
I am unable to locate a photo of the real vehicle for comparison, but I think it looks good with the figures.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Diecast Vehicles for VBCW Part IV
Lledo DG 029 1931 Rolls-Royce Phantom II
Lledo DG 025 1925 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Tourer
Compared to the Model A Truck
Size-wise they seem to fit fairly well, though perhaps slightly small for the larger Artizan miniature. Let's check against real life examples.
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Source: Flicker |
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Source: Wikimedia Commons |
Friday, May 17, 2013
Diecast Vehicles for VBCW Part III
- Lledo DG 043 1931 Morris Van
- Lledo DG 013 1934 Model A Ford Van
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Source: Grace's Guide |
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Source: Motorstown.com |
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Source: imcdb.org |
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Diecast Vehicles for VBCW Part II
Lledo DG 034 1932 Dennis Delivery Van
To me, this looks like a fairly good size match for my figures. The door height is about the same as the Ford Model A truck from the earlier post.
Lledo DG 016 1934 Dennis Parcels Van
Looking at the door height, I think this one might be slightly undersized for 28mm figures. However, all in all it's not too bad (especially since it was on $4.99, including the shipping).
Size comparison of both with the Ford truck:
- Height (not counting the top tab) 6.0cm, 2 3/8"
- Length 12.6cm, 4 7/8"
- Height (not counting the top tab) 6.6cm, 2 5/8"
- Length 14.2 cm, 5 5/8"
Monday, May 6, 2013
Diecast Vehicles for VBCW
I asked for advice on LAF, and got various opinions on what looked good and what didn't, but got no real consensus other than people were using some models from Matchbox's "Models of Yesteryear" and Lledo's "Models of Days Gone" lines (both discontinued, but available second hand).
Some additional Googling turned up a Russian Matchbox site that had photos and scales for the Yesteryear series. Based on this I made a short list of Matchbox vehicles between 1/50 and 1/60 size that seemed promising. Sadly, I couldn't find such a guide for the Lledo cars, and had to eye it based on photos helpful LAFers added to my post.
After a bit of searching on eBay, I took the plunge with two vehicles:
- Matchbox Y31-B 1931 Morris Courier (though oddly the stamp on the bottom of the lorry says 1933 Morris Pantechnicon - not sure if they are sharing parts); 1/59 given scale
- Lledo DG 020 1934 Ford A Stake Truck; no given scale
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Lanchester 6x4 Armoured Car |
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Morris Courier |
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Ford A Stake Truck |
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Source: Wikipedia |
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Source: Grace's Guide |
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Source: Wikipedia |
As such, I think I'm off to a good start with both brands. The Lledo seem to go a bit cheaper on eBay (I got mine for $7 with shipping, vs $17 in total for the Matchbox), so I think I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for these even though I'll have to guess at the scale for each individual model. Luckily my Ford came in the original box, so that will help me gauge how large (or small) other vehicles are in comparison.
As I add more, I'll post additional size photos.