Sledgehammer Project; Preparation Pt X - The vehicle

Part of the diorama as I envisioned it would include a resupply vehicle more to fill up what I imagine will be a blank corner. Somehow I stumbled on some pictures of a early French WWII vehicle that looked like it would fit the bill. This is the Renault Chenillette UE with a trailer, and MadBob Miniatures had one in their catalog so I placed an order. It arrived over the weekend and while I still like the look of the vehicle I think its actually to small to fulfill the role that I have envisioned for it. 

The size of the box made me think that perhaps this wasn't going to work the way I wanted it to.

The pieces on the sprue are the armored front covers for the domes where the drivers are sitting. They swing up and back when opened and its a nice feature of the kit. I tried to see if one of the separate heads from Victoria Miniatures would fit inside and unfortunately they are just a tad to big right off the sprue, but a little cutting and I could fit one in there.

And poised with a crewman from the Sledgehammer box. Based on what I have seen in pictures this is just about perfect from a scale perspective.

And a look at the top

While the vehicle still fits the bill from a looks perspective I think its really to small to fill up the corner. Plus the casting is really rough, the details are nice but its going to take a lot of cleanup to be part of a competition piece. While I'm not looking for perfection, something that isn't going to take a couple of hours to prep would be nice. Its a great piece for gaming purposes just not quite up to par for competition.

I have spent some time and found a couple of 1/48th scale kits out there, of course those are all out of production and I haven't found one yet. I'll just have to keep my eye out for them on eBay.