Let's Go Camping! - Even More Vehicles for 28mm Zombie Gaming.

I was going to post another All Things Zombie Batrep this week but having fine-tuned my scale-dar, this was too good not to share.

I went camping with the family this weekend, just a few quiet days with nothing to do except stay out of the rain, catch the sun (when it dared show it's face), eat far too many baked beans and share your sleeping bag with grass and earwigs. It was a chance to completely switch off from hobbies and zombies and I didn't even take a zombie novel with me. My scale-dar had other ideas!

I was looking for a lighter (we'd forgotten ours and uncooked bacon just doesn't cut it) what I found, in the on-site 'glamping' store, was these.

VeeDub
First up was this 1962 VW Campervan from 'Welly'. It's not particularly fancy and it wasn't marked for scale although it is pretty iconic. Having picked up quite a few vehicles recently I was happy to take a chance - the second purchase was marked for scale and the two looked okay side by side. The doors don't actually line up that well but I'm fine with that. It is a toy, not a collector's model. and priced accordingly at just over £4.00.

'Welly' 1/43 VW Campervan with 28mm Studio Miniatures Zombie.

It's the freedom it gives you
The second find was the one that got me really fired up. This 1/43 scale 'Teamsterz' car and caravan set is superb and the caravan would definitely count as a building or encounter location. The generic SUV is nothing to write home about but it's a good representation. A little under £7.00 is not bad, especially as you get two models. The caravan is pretty much all plastic but the SUV is die-cast.

"Pull over!" Teamsterz car and caravan.

SUV from the car and caravan set - with opening doors and tailgate.

These two vehicles have given me a great idea for an All Things Zombie scenario, so it's likely they'll crop up in a future Batrep.

The boxed models - if you want to go internet shopping for these.

Speaking of Batreps... coming soon on The Lead Will Walk The Earth...

More Vehicles for 28mm Zombie Gaming

Finding good die-cast vehicles for a 28mm Modern Wargame isn't necessarily difficult, once you settle on a scale, most of us go for 1/43 (I certainly did), it is simply a case of trawling the interwebs, scouring ebay and visiting high street stores.

Unfortunately, it is not always so easy to pick up suitable models at a reasonable price. Some of the more desirable 1/43 models can sell from anywhere up to £200 (yeah, I was surprised too). And at the lowest end of the price scale, the cars are often not even marked so you know what scale they are.

Whilst hunting for vehicles to fill the streets of my All Things Zombie campaign's Outbreak City one tip I found useful was to keep a 28mm model (unpainted) in my pocket whenever I headed to the shops. So if I stumbled across something that looked promising, I had something to compare it against. This didn't guarantee against the perils of scale creep, but it certainly helped.

This little trick stood me in good stead this weekend when, whilst guarding the trolley against the addition of surplus items (kids do that sometimes) during our weekly food shop, I spotted these three beauties in the reduced goods aisle at Tesco.

1/43 - 28mm stone quarry tipper.

1/43 - 28mm Up-and-over skip

1/43 - 28mm refuse lorry, comes with an 1100l Eurobin

These are from their 'large industrial series' and the three models available were a refuse lorry, a truck hauling a large skip and a stone quarry delivery tipper. These are not the smaller HotWheels/Matchbox scale cars. These 1/43 equivalents are not always on the shelves for long, but they're worth it if you can find them.


£1.75 each in Tesco's reduced section. It got my attention.

The potential of the Tesco models was first highlighted to me over at Colin's Down Among the Zed Men. I've always kept an eye out since. Each one of these models was sold for the princely sum of £1.75. Falling prey to the 'addition of surplus items' demon, I almost bought the lot, but settled on one of each instead.

I think they're actually might be just a little bit bigger than 1/43. But they match very closely in scale to the delivery trucks I picked up - the Tesco Load and Go sets, which I updated with BioFlex livery.

Comparison - same scale, more detail, lower price.

In comparison these vehicles are of a far better standard than the previous ones, with crisper lines and additional detailing. They all have moving parts - great for us gamers who like to move bits on models to represent different scenarios on the tabletop and the inclusion of the 1100 litre Eurobin (sometimes referred to as a Taylor bin) is a bonus.

A little large for 28mm but it works well enough.

However, as the name suggests, I'm not sure they have Eurobins in the states, where my Outbreak City All Things Zombie campaign is set. I think I'll use it all the same.