The desert wooden Sherman and resin or wood bren carrier in the desert are very rare, not mine!
Here is there story of these vehicles from the text of the K&C books Kevin and I wrote together:
An early sample wood Sherman from a factory in Vietnam was painted by Andy for his own private collection as a shell damaged 8th Army Sherman employing green/blue/light stone "Caunter" camouflage. According to collector Gary Binder, this “Caunter” camouflage was an earlier scheme that pre-dated the arrival of the Grants and Shermans, so apparently Andy took an attractive liberty with the facts. This tank was never sold, and remains (despite my best efforts, more on this later) in Andy’s collection to this day. . . .
In 1999, I, who both (1) disliked the first polystone Sherman IWJ11 and (2) had been unable to locate the earlier wood U.S. Sherman pestered my good friend Andy Neilson to custom make me a wood version of IWJ11. Andy eventually gave in, and, after a six month delay from the Philippine factory Andy commissioned to make five of these wood Shermans, the first of these vehicles arrived. It was an exact duplicate in wood of the Iwo-Sherman, with the box and three gas cans on the rear. The only real improvement, other than the gun elevating, was the perfectly detailed bogie wheels and tracks. The turret hatch didn’t open, and the tank did not come with a machine gun mounted on the back of the turret. I paid $300 for the vehicle.
One of the other four wood Iwo-Shermans found its way into the hands of a dealer I knew. In 2001, Andy sent the me a photograph of a Desert outpost diorama in his office. On this diorama was the above described one of a kind early production primitive wood Sherman painted in 8th Army “Caunter” camouflage and 7th Armored Division markings with shell damage. I offered Andy virtually anything he wanted for this one of a kind vehicle to no avail. Finally, I asked Andy if he would repaint another wood Sherman as an identical shell damaged 8th Army Sherman, and Andy agreed to do so. I purchased the other wood Iwo Sherman from the dealer, shipped it back to Andy, and obtained the only shell damaged 8th Army Sherman K&C ever sold.
The wood bren gun carrier, first released in February, 1996, another beautifully detailed vehicle with many metal detail pieces such as the bren gun itself, an antenna, metal screen and metal tow cord came in dark green, with British 56 Division markings and white Allied Stars on either side. The vehicle was the first of several British armored vehicles to come with a ¾ figure of a British Tank Commander wearing an olive green uniform (sleeves rolled up), black beret and goggles, holding a clip board in his let hand and a microphone to his mouth with his right hand. This vehicle, designated TK07, originally retailed for $256. Approximately 100 of these vehicles were produced.
In March 1998 K&C released the desert version of the wood Bren Gun carrier, a tan version of the vehicle described above, with appropriate 8th Army markings. It had the same designation and retail price, but was extremely limited production, no more than 5-6 of this version of the Bren Gun Carrier were produced.
this was one she did earlier
