Sonderkommand Dora Build

Time for another backstep. This summer past I finished off a Raiding Aces force for Sonderkommand Dora.

I was basing them off kind of what we know of SD, and tweaking it to include what the LRDG became. I figure a parallel force from the opposite army would end up following a similar evolution.

To that end, I gathered a bunch of Steyr 1500s, some Horch Kfz. 15s, a pair of captured British trucks, and a heck of a lot of Kubelwagens, and got to work.

There is a CMP 15cwt truck you'll see there that is based on a specific photograph showing a captured one with a Flak gun mounted in it.

The Raiding Ace himself is front-right; a highly converted version of Jock Campbell's truck.

Now historically, they had two Kfz. 222 scout cars, but they proved to be ill-equipped to run around the desert. Nevertheless, this was right when Zvezda released its 222 models, and I had to have some. I do like that most kits come without stowage moulded on, because it means I can vary it up from vehicle to vehicle, and add variety to an otherwise same-y force.

The 222s proved so ill-adapted to the desert that one broke down beyond fixing. Not ones to waste, the Germans pulled the entire gun mounting out of it, stuck it on the back of a Steyr 1500, and drove around in that instead. Here I depart from history a bit, because my assumption is that this idea was so well liked, they decided to do it with other broken down 222s, but still requisition another proper 222 to replace the busted one. To that end, I crafted two Horch trucks with 222-like mounts on the back. (They're also magnetized, so I can still use the Kfz. 15s as such.)

Finally, the Kubelwagens and trucks themselves were loaded with stowage. I put sacks, rolls, Jerry cans, waterbottles, lengths of rope and cable, extra spare tires, one radio truck, and even some winter coats. All this was meant to give the vehicles an appropriate feel of being a motorized lifeline in the desert.

(They all of course got tons of guns as well!)

So then it came to (re)painting. Everything except the pre-painted ones got hit with an all-over black spray, while the rest got a hand painted undercoat of black. Next I painted them like I do most of the rest of my desert troops, to make them look nice and dusty. For contrast against all the dusty-coloured browns, I kept the tyres fairly strongly black. The markings were minimal, as both sides' raiding forces loved to pretend to be from the other army to sneak behind lines. (This is except the 222s, which will be seeing double-use in my main force as well. I also figure they're fairly distinct no matter what markings are on their sides!)

(Top to Bottom: A CMP 15cwt with modified Type-11 cab, and Flak38; next is the entire force nose-on; thereafter is the entire force broken down by platoon; The modified Horch trucks; The pair of painted 222s; The pair of heavily-filled Steyr trucks; finally, the buggy brigade of my various Kubelwagens. The one leading the way is the 2iC with a gunshield.)