"Some Matchbox MRAP conversions" Topic

This latest project was inspired by a documentary about Strykers. They showed all the different versions and talked about the structure of the entire brigade.

Walking through walmart I scored a set of the Tech Deck skate park for $7.50 USD. Someone posted pics a few months back about using it for buildings. I later went back for 2 more :) I'm planning a spaceport and a light industrial board. I also found some really cool MRAP like Matchbox trucks. I was amazed to find 7 total in one store! I grabbed 6 of them for this project.

They are a bit oversized. Here is a comparison shot with a newly acquired Rebel Mini's APC

I only had one of these guns. It was an AA gun from Axis and Allies miniature game. I wanted to prime it before I decided to cut a set of guns off. I eventually did. It looked weird with 4 barrels. I took the lower set off. This will be the command truck so I still have to add some Comm gear.

I'm currently working on the Anti-Tank variant.

I used a 1/144th tiger turret with a GW rifle that was cut down for the barrel. The "sensor" bit is something random from a GW sprue. It is still a WIP.

My goal is create a mechanized infantry battalion similar to how the Stryker units are setup now.

I hope to have the following
1 x Command
1 x Anti-Tank
1 x ATGM launcher
2 x standard IFV
1 x medical

I plan to use it for Tomorrow's War . What vehicles enter the battle will depend on the scenario. Primarily it will be Command and the IFVs. Some situations would require the heavy hitters and the medical one will probable just be a CASEVAC terrain piece.

They look great.

They're part of Matchbox's 2012 line (#2). I searched eBay and found that if I searched for "Matchbox guard" then they came up.

I'm going to check local shops first, but it's cool that there's an online source as well.

I have 3 of those, and your pics inspire me to do something similar.

Thanks,

Thanx for great idea of putting Turret on top of MRAP!

I gonna use Brigade 6mm AA turret for my MRAP to make it look like yours vehicle
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How long is the MRAP in cms/inches?

2.75" long and 1.25" tall without the gun shield part I have been slicing off.

Scale wise, that actually makes them within an acceptable range of real-world MRAPs.

2.75"…7 centimeters…that makes them as long as the other perennial Matchbox favourite of the 15mm SF crowd, the Armoured Response Vehicle!

Not bad, not bad.

Pics courtesy of the dude of Eclipsing Binaries.

I have one of those. If I had more I'd paint them up but I haven't stumbled on anymore

CorSec, you mean "One ARV" or "One MRAP"?

However, whatever the answer, if you need more of them just check Ebay, you'll find several of both types being auctioned for little more than spare change.

I have 6 MRAPs but only 1 ARV. I know I can get them from Ebay but it hasn't been a priority yet.

I found some 6mm turrets in a bits pile that will work for the IFV variant. Still working on an ATGM version. I'm also gluing the wheels in place so they stop rolling around on me :)

I have a few more done.

This is the IFV version. I found a small 6mm turret that looked cool.

I'm not sure about the ATGM version yet.

The guns are 28mm shoulder fired missiles with the bottom section to a mortar tube for a mount. The picture doesn't show it very well but their are two tubes. I might chop the tubes down more. I have to wait for the glue to dry before I do that. I'm thinking that a short bit in front of the mount would make it more in line with the Styker version that inspired it.

I bought three of those matchbox armored SWAT trucks today at a Dollar General. They were $1.25 USD each. Two were light blue and one was a dark blue and had a design on it.

I also got several of some baja looking hotwheels and matchbox things that might make for a sort of humvee kind of all terrain transport vehicle.

I bought some odd looking hotwheels in the hopes of turning them into something. I think the metallic ones might make good car-drones? Sort of an armed/armored remote controlled F-1 car with EW equipment on it? I dunno. A few of these (the SUVs with giant revolver-ish headlights, and the giant armored muscle car with missile things on them. ) might make good bad-guy rides. I think five of them (the lambourgini looking ones, and the ultra-sting-ray one) would make good futuristic patrol/pursuit cruisers similar to the Agency cars in the game Crackdown. Anyway they look odd so I'm

Where are you guys finding these? Any store (Target/Wal-Mart) I go to around here doesn't have any of these cool cars!

The cool ones are usually the ones that attract people's attention and sell first. I'd ask the sales person in the department when their next restock is and go back then.

I usually can't find anything worth using. I do check the dollar store every once in a while but I make a lap through the toy section every trip to walmart looking for new stuff. I was shocked to find 7 of those MRAPs at one time. I am kicking myself for only grabbing 6 of them.

Luck of the draw, I guess. Apparently, I need to "volunteer" to go shopping more often.

I'd kill for some of those Armored Response Vehicles…

I found them for not too much on eBay. But I guess murder is always an option too.

I wish Matchbox and Hotwheels would do some versions of modern military vehicles. I mean you can use an armored SWAT truck as an MRAP but it would be better to have an MRAP and Stryker and LAV etc.

Siku, a German toy car manufacturer, sells several military vehicles. They are based mostly on the German army but some are still very useable like the tank model no. 0870 or AFV no. 0871:

link

The helicopter no. 0872 is too small for 15mm by the way. It's more like 10mm or even 6mm.

Speaking of Siku,

I already own five of their 6-wheeler APCs, you mean that the 0870 Leopard 2A4 is in scale with them?

Do you have proof?

Thank you for any reliable info you may have.

I found two of the SWAT Matchbox vehicles (those that CorSec is converting) today at Dollar Tree! Yeah me!

If you have a Dollar General nearby you might find a few of the blue ones. I think they are from last year. Dollar General charges $1.25 USD but they seem to drop them to $1 USD if you buy five.

In my sweeps I've found eight armored swat vans so far. Four light blue "police", one dark blue "swat" with design, and three red-orange "guard" ones. And I found the guard ones at a Dollar tree, who were not surprisingly charging $1 USD each for them. I also found some open topped six wheel buggies (4 of them) that I snapped up as future utility/towing vehicles, and some tiny matchbox attack helicopter things that have a fat cockpit that I will probably try to turn into a one man mini-vtol.

4 six wheel all-terrain buggies, (Hotwheels)
2 EMT fire trucks (Matchbox)
1 baja truck (Matchbox)
2 attack helicopters that might make good 1 man mini-vtols. (matchbox)

I think they could make a good 'utility vehicle' set to be parked on a base somewhere. I will have to try and modify the buggies to have a makeshift cab, or else stick some drivers into them.

I went on my last little shopping spree and picked up a few new doodads.

3x ARV's (matchbox)In $5.00 USD Medieval Pack -Big Lots!

3x utility buggies (Matchbox) $1.00 USD formerly mini-earthmover -Dollar Tree

3x Humvee (Matchbox) In $5.00 USD Medieval Pack -Big Lots!

1x MRPV Mine clearing armored Truck (Matchbox) $5.50 USD at -Big Lots!

And the whole family.

There were also some spare heavy tour-truck/bus, lift-wheeled baja trucks, and a weird rounded old-timey car with lifts in the medieval pack. And I bought three of those packs.

I think I spent $23.50 USD total on 19 vehicles, about 10 of which I think fit the near future military/paramilitary/merc theme. I might be able to use the heavy tour bus type things too eventually. I think the baja lift-trucks are a bit too out of scale as are the old-timey lifted body cars. Anyway I have three of each. the humvees are also too big but I kind of like it for some reason. Maybe I can turn the tour bus thing into a badlands post apocalyptic battle wagon? I dunno. Maybe a surveillance truck? I have no real idea what to do with them. but they are big and cool.

If I glue a lot of crap (armor panels and such) to them they might make okay desert raiders.

Well I guess it's about time to start the cutting, grinding, sanding, gluing, and painting these guys. I am now planning to take the 2 wheel AT-buggies cover up that shovel molding, and cut that roll bar and put a mount and a turret on top of that and make them into light armored cars. If it works out well, then I will buy a lot more of them.

Moqawama: I don't yet have the armoured vehicle but here are some shots of the Siku tank with 15mm minis, on a 1cm grid cutting mat.

Pole Bitwy PL, I-Just-Love-You!!!!

That centimeter-grid was all I needed to rush on ebay and buy 4 SIKU tanks!

Thank you from the heart!

:D

I bought a few of the packs that had non-military vehicles in them a while back.

I turned them into burnt out hulks. A few stress relieving minutes with a hammer and then I took them outside and literally lit them on fire. I might not do that again. They look great but the plastic melts funny. Next time I'll drill out the rivets and remove all the plastic first. I might experiment with putting them in the oven or on the stove to flatten the tires and then take the hammer/dremel to them.

Here is one of the ones I had handy

I like how the flames left some of the original paint behind.

I also have a nearly complete MRAP and the Earth Force APC

Cool!

I went on a little matchbox shopping spree as well. I only managed to find one "guard" SWAT vehicle to be converted into an MRAP. However, in total, I ended up with 10 vehicles. I got some construction vehicles that were about the right scale (2 front end loads, a bull dozer and a steam roller). These will be for an abandoned post-apocalyptic construction site piece of terrain.

I also got a cool vehicle for some post apocalyptic survivors to be driving around in:

I also got a "mission helicopter" which is a bit small. It'll probably lose it's rotor and get some grav pods or something to be a single person VTOL fighter. People online claim it's 1:80 and is already a really small helicopter, but I'm not sure about using it as is.

The coolest thing I got was a HEMTT. It's perfect for 15mm.

The HEMTT is similar to the Buffalo Mine Protected Clearance vehicle I bought (which looks a bit like the big multi-wheel battle truck that Khurasan sells) which unfortunately I found in green even though I'd prefer desert colors.

Both are the same "class" of Matchbox toy. I got the MPCV at Big Lot's for $5.50 USD which is about half what they go for on Amazon, so I might just have to check the other two Big Lots! I know about in town to see if I can't find a couple or three of them.

I will make two of them flat beds with rails, and put troops and crap on them and fir them with an MG turret on top and a small four tube mortar system. Then a third would have multiple angles banks of bombard rocket launch tubes, like a Katyusha truck only with three "sets" of tubes! And then I'd put some welded plates and grills on it just to make it look more patchwork-field modified "kinda" armored. Or maybe I should just put a bunch of GZG quad AT-missle pods on there.

Some of the exotic Hotwheels semi-trucks with a car on the back might also work for something else I could kit bash into a combat worthy military caravan support vehicle.

Oh and if I ever find THIS in a store it might look really nice with some tan paint and funky guns stuck on it. It might make a nice good command vehicle for my ARV's!

Unfortunately some Matchbox / Maisto vehicles don't look OK with 15mm [18mm] miniatures. The following three vehicles definitely look better next to 1:72 [about 24mm] plastics :/

HUZZAH! Nathaniel have posted my photo!!!!! THANX!

Nick
15mmworld.blogspot.com.au

I made Matchbox MRAP size comparison. I havent made proper painjob yet. Only base colour for hull and wheels.

Nick
15mmworld.blogspot.com.au

@SirFjodin Sorry about not giving you appropriate credit! I usually do and totally blanked. I meant for each image in that post to have a link to the page I got it from and just pasted the image URLs in and forget to add the html links.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the roof of my MRAP. Part of me just wants to put a gun up there, but all the pictures of these vehicles show that when a 50 cal is on top, there's a lot of protective armour plates that surround. Like this one:

I'm not sure whether or not I'll shave the thing down, add a turret, build the armoured cupola for a machine gunner or what.

SirFjodin they are great photos! Much better than my lame "sitting on an old coffee table or tile floor at night" pictures.

Nathaniel, Rebel Minis sells an armored cupola for their pseudo-humvee that comes with multiple weapon options including what looks like a .50, a missle/grenade launcherish thing and what I take to be some kind of a gatling gun. $2.99 USD ea. I have no idea how it would look on the swat truck though. It might be a little too wide.

link

link

I'm going to add a small LED to the back of my command vehicle. The striker command vehicle has this cool rotating antenna.

I'll drill a hole in the top and a length of small brass rod. Then some piano wire for the rest of the antenna.

@palaeoemrus – that looks to be about the perfect size once you cut off the shield plate and emergency lights like CorSecEng did for his turret mount.

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This is all of the vehicles I bought that can probably be put to use as sort of low-midtech stuff. (On a desert wasteland planet).

I need to work on disguising those buffalos and get all those six wheel buggies turned into recon mini-tanks/C-IFV's where the C is for compact. I'm going to cut off the roll bar and control column and put a platform over the "cockpit space and then stuff the sides with brown stuff and then sand them flat. I may try for a bevel on there with a razor blade before it dries then I will go turret shopping. Since I have 17 of them I should be able to make lots of versions. I think it will require a lot of body work, grinding off details and then filling them with green or brown putty and then sanding them and adding plasticard details, stowage, and some torsos popping out of the turret. Should be challenging and educational and every-time I screw up I'm only out a dollar!

What are you planning on doing with the matchbox "mission copters?" I grabbed one and just cleaned off the mould lines and superglued the tail and rotors.

Part of me wants to remove the rotors and tail completely, add some thrusters and make it a grav recon vehicle. The other half of me wants to keep it as a copter.

palaeoemrus:

I am very interested into following your progress with the 6-wheel buggies and I'd love to see a step-by-step tutorial on any platform you may want to upload it…

Natahniel, I'm thinking of making them some sort of a small one man rotorless vtol if I can find some good jets or turbines.

(Sort of like the airmule). urbanaero.com/airmule

Moqawama I'll see what I can do.

I've got some (sorta)work done on one of the buggies. I snipped out the roll bar and steering column thing. I used a needle file to eradicate the giant shovel surface detail on the rear left hand side of the buggy.

I bought some grey stuff and a sculpting tool for the next stage.

I am currently working on the "off center gas can" feature on the hood and the box feature in the rear of the buggy but those are slow and angry work so I will probably need to buy a cheap foo-foo Dremel rotary tool and a cut-off wheel to trim them down to where I can file the remnants off. So far they seem to be solid features! I thought they might be hollow and stamped. But NO! I guess they are actually cast. Dang it!

So I will continue after I blow $40 USD or so on a Dremel.

Gosh!

You mean the jerrycans are SOLID METAL?

Instead of cutting them away I think I'll give the buggies a bulkier hood by submerging the front jerrycan in milliput or green stuff and then shaping it as the new buggy's hood.

I'll try and do the same with the rear two shaping them in the base block of any weapon system I'll give to the buggy.

Lazy, yes, but hacking away solid blocks of metal from a wee toy car ain't for me.

Yeah, the top part of the body is a brittle steel similar to the stuff they make cheap 1/4" screws out of. Geez? Why couldn't they have used aluminum if they were going to cast the body? The bottom is plastic! I'm more than half way down the gas can and there is no hole or pocket anything. And it's not a foamed texture like some metal-powder processes. I really thought it was just a thin stamped steel or aluminum when I started. My $1 USD wheeled mini-tanks might end up being more like $3 USD-$5 apiece when all is said and done and divided amongst the 17. (Not counting the turrets, stowage, and other details obviously)

The buggy, he TASKS me! He tasks me, and I shall have him! I'll chase him round the Moons of Nibia, and round the Antares Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up! Prepare to alter course!

Etc…

palaeoemrus, you've been paralleling my toy car purchases. Glad to see you're making more progress than me!

I don't think I can speed things up with a coping saw. The angle is wrong for that. I don't have one of those small angle grinders either.

I'm sort of tempted to sneak down the community college welding lab, put the car in some pliers, and turn on the ol' grinding belt and hope nobody notices me… But no, there are serious liability issues for them. And I don't fancy having a shop teachers traditional partially missing finger and a "boy was I dumb" story to o along with it that involves police and restraining orders.

Damn it! Why don't I have access to a $70,000 USD metal shop? I don't even have a CNC laser cutter or ANYTHING. I'm looking for a cheap dremel. Hay! Que lastima!

I have this really bad idea to complete on and the unverse refuses to cooperate! Now I need to buy some tools to probably break and add to the tragedy. Woe is me!

Search for a local Makerspace or Hackerspace. I had the same desire for all those cool tools. We are starting one in Pensacola.