6mm Rides for 1950s West Germans from Masters of Military

On Shapeways, Masters of Military recently released a bunch of variants of the Borgward B2000 series vehicles in 6mm for West german Cold War forces, and they are magnificent.  In all, I believe there are seven different variants that he has made available in different "packages".

I picked up a bunch of the infantry carriers, the B2000 A/O, as well as conventional cargo truck versions, and a mixed pack with seven versions.  Here are some pics of these lovely moels:

They are exquisitely detailed and look better in person, than in my photos.  Pricing is generally a touch cheaper than GHQ, and given the quality of the models, I am quite happy with them.

Masters of Military offers a great selection of models that are mostly unavailable from other sources, and has allowed me to round out a force that I've been wanting to build for over 35 years; West German infantry from the late 1950s.

The Borgward range of vehicles were very important to from 1956 through the early 1960s, with the infantry carriers giving way to the HS-30 as they became available.  Borgward 2000s served on with the Bundeswehr until the mid-1970s.

I haven't been this excited about a military model, since my GI Joe's got their Jeep in 1970.  Well, time to get back to painting miniatures.  Thanks for looking.

1/285 West German Vehicles from Shapeways

I received my latest order of 1/285 models from Masters of Military at Shapeways.  They are all produced in the same "smooth fine detail plastic" and are fantastically detailed.  Here are some pics of the raw models.

Hotchkiss SPz Kurz Mortar Carrier comes with 6 mortar carriers and one fire control vehicle.  Four mortars are open, two have the hatches closed. There is a just a touch of graininess to the surface texture of these, but they are still, by far, the best 1/285,  6mm HS-30 chassis that I've seen.  I am impressed enough with them, that I've decided to place another order and get the regular HS-30/SPz 12-3 infantry carriers from masters of Military.

Hotchkiss SPz  Kurz variants, comes with 8 models of three types, observation, radar, and ambulance.  They are simply perfect.

Unimog 404 light truck, you get two box body, and 4 cargo versions with separate tarpaulin.

Another remarkably beautiful, absolutely crisply detailed model.

Ford G398 cargo truck, 6 per pack with separate tarpaulin. Again, amazing crisp detail.  

You can just make out the edges of the plastic layers in the hood, which has a very gradual slope.  I would estimate the layers to be something like .005" thick.  I suspect that it they will disappear with application of paint, but either way, they are some slight that they don't detract from the model in any way.

HS-30 Mortar battery, with 4 mortar carriers opened, 2 closed, and one fire-control vehicle. 

DKW Munga LKW, you get 4 version, both long and short WB with and without canvas top. Again, keep in mind as you look at the detail, that these are like 6-7 mm long.

All of these models are simply outstanding, priced comparably with GHQ.  As you can probably tell, I am endlessly impressed with them, and will be adding SPz 12-3 and SPz 11-2 to fill out my 1960s German units.  Also, Masters of Military is considering adding a Borgward B2000 A (for the late 1950s Germans) later this year.