20mm Snatch Landrover Corgi Conversion

This week I have been mostly working on 20mm modern vehicles and figures.  While shopping in Tesco's, I noticed Corgi do a range of modern vehicles in a pack for £8.  Unfortunately, scale doesn't seem to be an issue for Corgi, I suppose they are toys after all, and the vehicles range from 10mm (a very small Challenger) to 20mm (Landrover).  The Landrover  comes in a desert sand and brown cammo scheme with a brown canvas roof in a tan coloured plastic.  I looked at photos on Google of the Snatch Landrover, which appears, from outside at least, to be a basic Landrover (?Wolf) with a hatch in the roof for a passenger to fire from.  I also compared the Corgi model with a Britannia WMIK that I had and they are almost identical in size.

So, I cut a square hole in the top of the roof near the rear of the vehicle and built up the rim with some strips of plastic card, then cut a larger area of plastic card to represent a hatch cover.  The model on the left in the photo below is as it comes out of the box.  The two on the right have been modified.  It's a pretty simple modification but watch out for the craft knife slipping on the plastic as it's quite thick and quite stiff to cut.  Always cut away from your fingers!!!

I also had a bunch of Elhiem British infantry to paint up, the chap rear right is a beret wearing figure who will appear later in one of the Landrovers.

I also had a few Taliban odds and ends (IED trigger men and a HMG and crew), as well as a section of 1980's Cold War British infantry in NBC gear.

Here are the three conversions completed so far, together with an undercoated fourth model and three Britannia minimi gunners who will crew the vehicles.  They are mounted on Coke bottle lids as they won't be based when finished.

The last undercoated vehicle.  This will complete transport for an infantry platoon.

The completed model with a Para crewman.  His base is stuck to Blue-Tac, which is then stuck to the floor of the vehicle so I can remove the figure if it becomes a casualty.  The Blue-Tac keeps him at the right height for firing and he doesn't wobble.

View of other side.

Rear view.

Yet another view.

I'm quite pleased with these conversions.  Although they are available as resin models commercially, I quite like that they are home-made conversions and they cost less than £2 per vehicle.  The Corgi pack itself comes with the Landrover (20mm), a Rigid Raider style inflatable plus trailer (15-20mm), a Eurocopter helicopter (10-15mm), a Challenger tank (10mm) and a Jackal II (c. 15mm).  I gave the Challengers to my son as I cant find a use for them, but he can.  The rest will find a way into my 20 or 15mm forces, especially the Jackals, which are really nice, with some minor inaccuracies.

Thanks for looking.