US MARINE SUPPORT

My "bits bin" contains a variety of left over vehicle parts, which include a variety of weapons, some of them Machine guns. I decided to put  them to good use and scratch build support weapons for my US Marines. I also converted some of my Warlord games plastic figures to crew the support weapon.

M2HB 50cal Heavy Machine Gun 

The 50 cal is from Sherman Tank kit, I scratch built the tripod from paper clips and soldered the bits together, the firer arms are slightly modified to grasp the weapon.  

The 50 Cal with 5 crew members.

M1919 A5 30cal Machine Gun 

The  machine gun from a left over from a kit, once again the tripods are made from paper clips.

30 cal with 3 crew members.

I constructed 2 x 30cal machine guns.

M1917 A1 MEDIUM Machine Gun

M1917 A1 Machine Gun with 5 crew.

I cut off the barrel of the MG and replaced it with a piece of plastic sprue from the Infantry kit and added a few bits to turn it into a M1917 MMG.

The tripods were once again made from paper clips.

I made 2 x M1917 A1 machine guns.

60mm LIGHT MORTAR

The mortar tube is made from a thin metal rod, the supporting bipod is made of paper clips.

I  make 2 x 60mm Mortars.

60mm Mortar with 5 x crew

60mm mortar with 5 crew.

BAZOOKA TEAM

The only modification I did with the bazooka team, was to the loaders arms, positioning them to  accommodate the loading of the weapon.

Image shows the cut down portion of the warhead to create the illusion that the warhead is already within the tube.  

FORWARD OBSERVER

The Radio is made from a basic piece of plastic sprue with small plastic items added to give the appearance of a radio, the aerial is made from a paint brush bristle. 

Added binoculars 

FLAMETHROWERS

The Flamethrowers are scratch built from sprues, paper clips and plastic sprues and cut down M3 grease guns found in the US Infantry plastic kits. 

I used this image to roughly modelled the upright figure. 

SNIPER

Standard poses supplied in the kit with a sniper rifle.

HELPFUL HINTS FOR CONVERTING PLASTIC FIGURES 

This images roughly shows steps to convert upright figures into kneeing positions, you can also modify figures into a lying down position. 

Cheers John