Smurf scratch builds a T27 rocket Jeep!

Assemble the dough boys, we have a new toy!

Recently I've been looking through the US options for boltaction that aren't currently covered by a model. One particular addition I wanted to make was a rocket battery to support my plucky GIs and dish out some much deserved retribution to Jerry!

I started to do some research on the T27 rocket battery and came across some images of them mounted on Jeeps. Other versions were mounted on a tripod without wheels, which I thought might make it a bit difficult to move around (unlike the Nebelwerfer). Luckily, trenchworx make a really lovely T27 rocket launcher, which I intended to mount on the back of a warlord Jeep. 

Unfortunately, despite being a wonderful model, the tripod was slightly too big to mount and the historical details were all wrong anyway! Instead, I decided to scratch build my own rocket launcher and mounting. 

The trickiest part of this build was the Jeep itself! Goodness me it was fiddly, with badly miscast metal parts and no instructions. Luckily there's a million reference photos on-line, but still, a nightmare I could have done without.

Anyway, the launcher was fairly simple to assemble. I heavily borrowed from this article as a reference and source of inspiration. The launcher was mainly made from cotton bud rods (I used Boots own brand which are perfectly scaled) and thin plasticard.

The most difficult part to mounting the launcher was removing the resin back seat from the Jeep model. I achieved this with the help of a Dremel, but it was still quite fiddly and took a lot of concentration. There's also a couple of stowage bags in the back, which I decided to leave in. In hindsight I'd recommend removing them too, as they got in the way of the launcher mounting.

Overall I very pleased with the result. In game terms, I'll be using it as a normal rocket battery (You seriously don't want it mounted on a softskin transport anyway!). I also have some crew members to stand behind the Jeep and prepare the rocket launcher to fire. I'll post more on this characterful addition once it's fully painted! Until then, have fun.