Military Modelling Vol.47 Issue 07

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From Waterloo to the Gulf War

En route to Berlin

Russian Guards’ JS-2 on the offensive ‘Thunder Run’ 1-64 AR Abrams and M113 taking Baghdad

Inniskilling Private

‘Assault Tiger’

1st Battalion, 27th Regiment Grenadier at Waterloo

Italeri’s 1/35 scale kit of the RW61 auf Sturmmörser Tiger 23rd June 2017

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THE ESSENTIAL REFERENCE FOR FIGURE MODELLER SCALE MODEL HANDBOOK FIGURE MODELLING SERIES FIGURE MODELLING 17 Byzantine Draconarius, 6th Century 75mm (Pegaso Models 75-101) Afghan Tribesman 1842 - 200mm (Grenadier Miniatures GMBI/902) Hidatsa Warrior 1835, Free Spirit - 75mm (Pegaso Models 75-030) Ottoman Warrior - 90mm (YS Masterpieces HF90-002) Stalingrad - 150mm (GRX Diffusion) Kyle, Heir to the Blue Sun - 180mm (Galapagos Miniatures GP-B003) Young Desert Warrior - 180mm (Young Miniatures YM1832)

FIGURE MODELLING 18 Roman Gladiator Thraex 90mm Corporal Vicente Manzano 75mm Sir Winston Churchill 200mm WWI Early War German Ace Oswald, Boelcke 54mm First World War German Airmen 54mm Waffen SS AFV Crew 1944-45 1/35th Edward Corringham “Mick” Mannock, 180mm British Trench Raider - 75mm

SCALE MODEL HANDBOOK DIORAMA SERIES DIORAMA MODELLING 1 (100 pages) Bailen July 1808 54mm Back to the Front 120mm US M3 Stuart Honey 1/35th Die Ostfront 75mm Conquistador 75mm The Canon 1/35th Kings of the Road 54mm Making Pine Trees 1/35th / 54mm Near Moscow December 1941 1/35th

DIORAMA MODELLING 2 (100 pages) Elephant Down Zama 202 BC 54mm Teutoburg Forest 9 AD 54mm Reply of the Zaperezhian Cossacks, to sultan Mehmet IV Ottoman Empire Landsknechte Players 75mm Stalingrad A Fight to the Last 1/35th Resting at Karachev 1/35th The Grim Reality of War pland 1939, 1/35th

SCALE MODEL HANDBOOK WORLD WAR II SPECIAL SERIES WORLD WAR 2 SPECIAL Vol.1 (84 pages) Deutsches Afrika Korps 1942 1/35th Rasputitsa ! 1/35th LAH Kharkow 1943 1/35th SS Unterscharfuhrer - 75mm WWII US BAR Gunner 1/35th Japanese Officer in a Tropical Hell 75mm Oberleutnant Georg Briel - DAK 120mm On The Edge of No Man's Land 180mm Tripoli, 1941 - The DAK is here! 1/35th Stalingrad, 1942 1/35th German DAK Infantry N.Africa 180mm Tips For Beginners Blitzkrieg - Vorwarts 1/35th Royal Armoured Corps AFV Crew 1/35 Battle of Moscow, 1941-1942 1/35th

WORLD WAR 2 SPECIAL Vol.2 by MAN JIN KIM (84 pages) Tools abd Assembly The use of acrylic paints Painting the face Painting the uniform Painting accessories Making the groundwork scenery Gallery

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Contents 10

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Features 10 ‘Thunder Run’

Taking Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom by Bob Burik

18 Call for a big gun! John Prigent presents the Resicast 8in Heavy Gun Mark II

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22 Take one Garage

Emmanuel Nouaillier continues his popular series on modelling techniques with the first of this two-parter based on old garage frontages

28 Great War Trenches – The Groundwork

Andrew Belsey presents the second part of his First World War trench build

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All rights reserved ISSN 0026-4083 The Publisher’s written consent must be obtained before any part of this publication may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, including photocopiers, and information retrieval systems. All reasonable care is taken in the preparation of the magazine contents, but the publishers cannot be held legally responsible for errors in the contents of this magazine or for any loss however arising from such errors, including loss resulting from negligence of our staff. Reliance placed upon the contents of this magazine is at reader’s own risk. Military Modelling, ISSN 0026-4083, is published monthly with an additional issue in April by MYTIMEMEDIA Ltd, Suite 25, Eden House, Enterprise Way, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 6HF, UK. The US annual subscription price is 59.40GBP (equivalent to approximately 99USD). Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named Air Business Ltd, c/o Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Military Modelling, Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Subscription records are maintained at dsb.net 3 Queensbridge, The Lakes, Northampton, NN4 7BF. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent.

34 ‘En route to Berlin’, April 1945

Radek Pituch presents his completed diorama following on from the build stages in MM4706

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Vol.47 No.7 2017 40

Stand Easy...

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40 ‘Assault Tiger’

Italeri RW61 auf Sturmmörser Tiger by Kayhan Kayar

46 The ‘Jaunty’ Inniskilling

Private Grenadier Company 1-27 Inniskilling; a 54mm scratch-built figure by Ian Succamore

50 Fifty Shades of Grey!

Ivan Cocker presents his rendition of a BT-5 named ‘Clemencia’ during the Spanish Civil War

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Regular Features 5 ‘Stand Easy’

A message from the Contributing Editor

56 MAFVA

Let the train take the strain by Chairman Jon Ham

58 On Parade

Recommended books for military modellers

61 Atten-Shun!

Products review section

72 Next Issue

What’s coming up in your favourite modelling magazine!

Cover Story...

46

elcome to Military Modelling Magazine Volume 47, Issue 7, which once again aims to cover as much of this huge subject as possible within the confines of its 76 pages. First though, I would like to take a step back and look at the madness that is going on in the world at the moment with regard to terrorism. With all that has recently passed in mind, modelling can undoubtedly provide some distraction from the terrible things that are happening in the world. World events remind us to keep things in proportion when we feel we need to be vocal in our criticisms of what is, at the end of the day, a shared hobby. Anyway, what have I managed to shoe-horn into this month’s edition? As the header on the front cover suggests, it’s quite a range which begins with another contribution from Bob Burik, this time looking at an incident involving the US 1-64 AR during the Second Gulf War. John Prigent makes a welcome return with his Resicast 8in Heavy gun; artillery being a subject we could do with a lot more of in the magazine. The popular Emmanuel Nouaillier returns with his amazing skills followed by another returner, Andrew Belsey, who presents us with his incredible WW1 trench sections. Radek Pituch, whose wonderful diorama takes the cover this month, concludes his two-parter with a photo montage of the completed work. We have another newcomer in the shape of Kayhan Kayar with his very nice Sturmmörser, Ian Succamore keeps the figure fraternity happy with his Inniskilling private and Ivan Cocker encourages us to ‘think outside the box’ with his lovely Spanish Civil War diorama. If you think you have a project that I might be interested in, please send me a message. Also, don’t forget www.militarymodelling.com, the magazine’s own popular website which has a vibrant forum covering every conceivable modelling subject. ‘Carry On!’

MAIN IMAGE: Radek Pituch’s outstanding ‘En Route to Berlin’ diorama LEFT INSET: One of two builds featured in Bob Burik’s ‘Thunder Run’ CENTRE INSET: 1-27 Inniskilling, 54mm scratch figure by Ian Succamore

Martyn Chorlton Contributing Editor [email protected]

RIGHT INSET: Impressive Sturmmörser Tiger by Kayhan Kayar

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AFV

‘Thunder Run’ 1st Battalion, 64th Armoured Regiment (1-64 AR) taking Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom by Bob Burik OIF1

The painted and weathered tracks mounted on the lower hull. Most tanks during OIF1 showed extreme wear as depicted here.

RIGHT: The nearly finished commander’s station. Many photos show the top lip of the TC hatch with the paint rubbed off. I used a combination of chocolate brown paint washed with black to achieve the look. The initial painting of the yellow GPS is noticeable here.

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Operation Iraqi Freedom was the campaign to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Over time, it came to be known as OIF1 in the U.S. The 3rd Infantry Division (ID) and the US Marines were the spearhead of the invasion. Within the 3rd ID, 1-64 AR was a key battalion. Throughout the first two weeks of the war, 1-64 AR was often called upon to lead assaults. April 5, 2003 was no different. On that day, Lt. Col. Rick Schwartz’s battalion would be tasked with testing the defences of Baghdad in an armed recon assault; otherwise known as a ‘thunder run’. There was no intent to hold ground – the intent was to test the defences of the southern approaches by driving north on Highway 8 and to swing out to the Saddam Hussein International Airport, then link up with other 3rd ID units that had already captured the airport. Heavy resistance was expected, so only armoured vehicles would be involved in the assault; no soft skin vehicles. 60 vehicles in all took part from 1-64AR and two of those vehicles are modelled here – an

AFV

ABOVE: Dry fitting MREs in the spare roadwheel. Many crews used the spare roadwheel as a place to store personal items.

The model after the tonal washes and pin wash.

M1A1 commanded by SSG Stevon Booker from Alpha Company and an M113A3 commanded by Cpt. Jeff Molfino. The battle turned out to be the most intense fight that 1-64 AR would encounter during the war and, unfortunately, SSG Booker was hit while he was exposed and did not survive. For the ‘thunder run’ that day, Alpha Company led the way and SSG Booker’s tank, A13, nicknamed ‘Another Episode’, was the second vehicle behind a plough tank. Earlier in the war, all of first platoon had a plough but A13 had traded theirs off when some issues developed with the suspension; so, for this model build there would be no plough. At some point in the battle, the column stopped and the lead tank decided to back up but it did so right into the front of A13 and rode up onto the front hull, crumpling the fender. Later, when the column stopped again while a disabled tank in the rear of the column was dealt with, SSG Booker took advantage of the down time to cross-level ammunition with another tank and so that tank parked next to A13 on the road. However, both tanks continued to scan for targets and so their turrets snagged, destroying A13’s extended bustle rack and losing much of the crew’s personal gear when it was scattered all over the highway. This too would be depicted on my model. At the tail of the column was the command element of 1-64 AR and that included assistant S-3 Capt. Jeff Molfino’s track, nicknamed ‘Hoopty 5’. He had the battalion XO, Major Rick Nussio, with him in the back of the track. Maj Nussio was one of those who left their vehicle to attend to C12 which was disabled by enemy fire during the early phases of the ‘thunder run’. He dismounted and attempted

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AFV

ABOVE LEFT: In retrospect, the damaged fender probably did not have as many scratches as I depicted, but it adds to the overall visual effect of the heavily used tank. ABOVE RIGHT: The finished hatches. Each hatch has rubber seals, depicted with dark grey paint.

to put out the fire with the C12 crew. The major’s eyebrows were burned off when the fire leapt out of the engine compartment. When the soldiers gave up trying to save C12, Maj Nussio returned to the track and the column pressed on. In addition to his command duties during the fight, Maj Nussio crewed the M240B at the rear of the track. Two days later, on April 7, 1-64 AR again participated in a ‘thunder run’ up Highway 8 but, this time with the entire 2nd Brigade, which penetrated into downtown Baghdad to stay. With the US Marines entering the city further east, Baghdad quickly fell and the expected siege was no longer necessary as a result of the aggressive and unrelenting tactics and strategy.

Building the M1A1 ABOVE: The MOPP pants falling out of the duffel bag. Both were made from lead foil. The pants have ties at the bottom to pull the legs tight.

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I wanted to show A13 when SSG Booker was exposed and yelling orders, as described in the book by David Zucchino, Thunder Run. With the assistance of the gunner, Sgt David Gibbons, and

driver, PFC Aaron Hofer, I was able to confirm the details of the tank, including the stowage and damage. The best kit for depicting a 3rd ID tank from OIF1 is the Dragon M1A1 AIM kit (No.3535). Out of the box, it is a very fine kit, with great detail and fidelity. It is important, however, to pay attention to the kit instructions since they are crowded with options. There are a few mistakes in the instructions where part numbers are reversed, including the lights – both front and rear, parts MA19/20, and MA5/MA15. They should be switched so check your references. For 3rd ID tanks in OIF1 the driver’s and loader’s hatches with the lips should be used – parts U32 and N13. The original offering provided hard plastic individual link Magic Tracks. Current kits use a nice one piece vinyl track with hollow guide horns. I built this with the Magic Tracks which gave me the chance to depict the heavily worn track pads by gouging them with a flat Xacto blade wrapped with metal wire onto my soldering iron. I jabbed at the plastic using online photos of worn out tracks as a guide and later rubbed off the unwanted lifted plastic with sandpaper. After weathering, the tracks look great with this detail added. I chunked up the roadwheels too using a Xacto blade. Roadwheels were painted different colours as per reference photos and one was left off the right side, since that roadwheel was lost a day or so earlier. The roadwheel arm had to be tied up like the real thing over the nearby return roller. In real life, the crew just used a strap, so I just used paper.

Military Modelling Vol.47 No.7 2017

AFV

Detailing of the hull continued by adding sideskirt serial plates with thin plastic stock rectangles. I also added the skirt securing pins by making rings with solder wire and the pins themselves by running thin plastic over a grinder bit until it had a nice point and then I cut the point to more of a snub nose like the real part. Then the right front fender was bent by softening it with the solder iron heat and using a blunt object to push on it slowly and at intervals to get the look I was after. For the turret, the main concern was to show the extended bustle rack in its damaged state. I had one decent photo of it at the airport and by studying that, it was easy to combine parts of the kit PE and Evergreen square tube stock to make what I needed. I detailed the machine guns with charging handles made of solder wire and I added a couple of PE locks to the TC cupola. I also added the missing cloth pull handle on the TC hatch and securing pin-chains to the .50cal using PE chain. Lastly, I carved a reasonable looking GPS device out of rectangular plastic stock which was added to the .50cal support arm. GPS’s of the time were large and looked similar to the first mobile phones of the 1990s. Laser protection vision blocks stickers are from AFV Club. The spent links from the .50cal are from Live Resin and the detail has been brought out with a wash of tan. The spent brass is sliced brass tubing washed in a chocolate brown. Note the M240 loader’s MG does not have spent links and shells because there is a box attached below the MG that catches them. Stowage was a combination of Tamiya Modern US Military Equipment (No.35266), Legend Production, and odds and ends from my parts box. I forget where the ice chests came from in my stash, but every 1-64 AR vehicle was provided with one and somehow A13 came up with two. I made MRE packets from folded lead foil over some plastic rectangles which then had their ends pinched like the real thing. A tarp was laid over the stowage and BELOW: The crushed water can rack. This depicted exactly as an existing photo. I cannot explain why the 120mm ammo can was not crushed, but yet the water can was.

LEFT: The TC figure yelling. I could not find a good African head yelling, so I settled for a Caucasian head. The loader’s head was more appropriate at least. BELOW: The damaged extended bustle rack. MREs were scratch built and placed to look as they spilled.

cargo straps were made of paper with PE ratchets. I needed a white plastic bucket so I decided to scratch one using an appropriate sized Evergreen plastic tube and detailing the outside with strips of plastic and a solder wire handle. Lastly, I made an empty duffle bag from lead foil and some dangling MOPP suit pants which were later hung off the rear of the tank. RIGHT: Many crews ‘lost’ their razor wire coils by this time but ‘Another Episode’ still had its coils. These were made from Eduard razor wire.

13

AFV

ABOVE: The scratch built QEAMS antenna.

BELOW: The side of the kit needed A3 holes drilled, and PE stowage handles added too. Here, straps are being rigged per photos.

BOTTOM: The overall look of the model coming together.

M113A3 – ‘Hoopty 5’ I used the Academy M113A3 as I did for the previous Military Modelling article in Vol.46 No.11, so I will cover the ‘Hoopty 5’ details here. Keeping in mind that it was 2nd Brigade, 3rd ID vehicles that had the side racks, as shown here, in OIF1. So, for M113s and Bradleys in 2nd Brigade those vehicle types had sideracks and the tanks had the extended bustle racks.

For ‘Hoopty 5’, a few key additions needed to be made and two of them required scratchbuilding. The first was the sideracks for the track. Studying the myriad of photos of M113s from all angles makes it fairly easy to figure out the dimensions of the racks and then decide what size Evergreen stock to use. All parts of the sideracks are square tubing with the two middle horizontal parts being flat stock. 1.5 x 1.5mm was used for the five bottom tubes and the rest of the square tubes were 1.0 x 1.0 mm. Some nylon netting was cut to size for the bottom of the rack and glued in with white glue. The second scratchbuilt item was the large Quick Erect Antenna Mast System (QEAMS) that was fitted to this XO track. My friend, Epi Becerra, helped with some tech manual diagrams and I studied a similar scratchbuild. I was not worried about total accuracy since the antenna would mostly be covered by the camo net later, but I wanted to get the large brushguard right as that would be most noticeable through the net. Once again, Evergreen plastic stock came to the rescue and I used round and square tube stock for the most part. I had to be careful in bending the round plastic at the appropriate angles without pinching the plastic tube while it was over the candle. I actually got the bends to my liking on the first try! The rest of the antenna was finished off with square tubing for the supports and main mast, then detailed with lead foil and a few Grandt Line bolts on the base plates and other vertical plates. On the other side of the roof was a long square rod shaft used in supporting the QEAMS when it was erected and this was easily made with Evergreen square tubing and some detailing for hinges. The QEAMS was later covered with the AFV Club barracuda camo net, which is a thin resin product that is cut out and laid in a tray of water that softens the resin; it can then be carefully draped as you wish. You need to be very careful as it is easy to rip. Even though it comes in tan or green, I still recommend that it be painted after drying, especially with some dry brushing in different tones. Further detailing for ‘Hoopty 5’ included one rear machine gun shield which is included in some Vietnam-era M113 kits but since I did not have any, I ordered the Eduard PE set. A Live Resin M240B was used and a belt of ammunition was found in the parts box. For the TC area, the front machine gun shield had to be left by the crew due to interference with the QEAMS, so that was done here. However, the .50cal itself was detailed by using the Live Resin MG and Eduard PE detail set. As with the Abrams, I used Live Resin spent links and sliced brass rod for the casings. The M240B spent links would be smaller, so I used some left over PE grab handles, rolled them in my fingers and to my eye they looked pretty good for spent links in that smaller size. Stowage was similar to the Abrams build, trying to copy known photos of ‘Hoopty 5’ for the location and type. An interior bench was tied to the right side rack as per photos. Finally, Eduard razor wire was used on the right front and tied up with wire, then covered in paper wrapping. Maj Nussio had a large homemade map case with him during the war and it was right in front of him during the ‘thunder run’. I made it using paper and a few printed maps with Tamiya tape around the borders to represent

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ABOVE: The TC, Jeff Molfino, on the far left, and the XO, Rick Nussio, on the far right. This photo was used to depict their gear for the model. BELOW: Getting close. The little extras being added at this point.

the duct tape he used to strengthen his case. He had some tabs too and I was sure to include them on the edges. One MRE box was open on the left side of the track and so I made more packets like I did for the Abrams and put them inside the box.

Markings Before the war, some battalions were using a marking system with dots in the middle of a chevron that indicated their platoon based on the amount of dots. Very shortly before the war, a new system was put in place using a two digit number. The first number indicated the battalion (1-64 was assigned ‘5’) and the second number stood for the company – 1, 2, or 3. The chevron represented the platoon – pointing up - 1, right - 2, down - 3 and the platoon and bumper code could be determined by

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BELOW: The XO had a bandoleer hanging on the TC hatch so I used some extra magazines and epoxy putty to make the bandoleer.

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ABOVE: The finished model. Gear was laid out as photos showed. Two photos of this track are in the Concord book Special Ops, Vol 27. BELOW: Dark gear was washed in a tan/buff oil colour to show the dust settled in folds and crevices.

the colour and number of gun tube rings; Red - 1, white -2, blue - 3. Oddly, most tanks in 1-64 AR did not bother to paint over or otherwise cover up the old markings, so the old were next to the new and this is evident on ‘Another Episode’. Echelon Fine Details makes several OIF1 sheets for both US Army units and US Marine units. I have most of them and so it was easy for me to choose the appropriate leftover decals I had in my parts box and mark both vehicles. However, I did have to have ‘Another Episode’ made on decal sheet and, since I had yet to try this on my own at the time, my friend, Mike Del Vecchio, made them for me. He used a blank decals sheet, sized the stencilled lettering and printed them out. After they had dried he then sprayed them with clear lacquer. For the M113, note that instead of a ‘QTA’ number like the tanks have, they should have a ‘QTC’ number. I was able to cobble something together for the front hull code but I decided it was not worth

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it for the sides. On the right side, I covered the code with baggage and, on the left side, I weathered the ‘A’ to disguise it. ‘Hoopty 5’ was made with Archer dry transfers since it needed to be in an arching fashion. The other side of the TC ACAV shield did not need the name since it was still covered in tape from the pre-war security. I used a tan coloured blank decal to represent the tape.

Painting Model Masters (FS33531) was used on both vehicles as the base coat. I highlighted all of the large, flat areas with a buff colour lightened with white. Then a blue filter was applied for a little tonal variation followed by an orange filter. After that had dried, I then added a chocolate brown pinwash around all of the detail using raw umber thinned oils. Later, a medium brown burnt umber overall wash was brushed everywhere, being sure to create some vertical streaks here and there. AK Interactive OIF & OEF Streaking Effects added to the detail, along with fuel spills around the fuel caps using MIG Oil and Grease Stain. Roadwheels and the left side sideskirt had some MIG Gulf War Sand placed using thinner to attach it. Scratch marks on the sideskirts were made with a variety of coloured pencils; mostly silver and raw umber.

The figures I try not to use stock figures and this project was no different. In any event, my goal was to depict the individuals the way that they looked that day on April 5 based on communicating with the crew members, so some converting was necessary. For the A13 crew, I used old Warrior figures. Although they may not be available any longer, Master Box has a set that fits the bill – almost all tank crews wore green Nomex overalls with small flak vests. Hornet heads replaced the kit heads. I carved up an African head to get it to fit inside a Verlinden CVC helmet.

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For the M113 crew, I performed similar conversion work to get the look I was after, using a variety of torsos, arms and heads from the parts box. The DML Modern US Marines kit helped with much of the parts, but the TC body and pointing Maj Nussio figure are mostly Nemrod. Hornet heads again were used for two of the figures. The TC wore sunglasses that day, so I used Live Resin clear glasses and painted them black. PE bits were used to represent the NVG mounts on the TC helmet. The faces were painted with oils and the rest of the figures with Vallejo acrylics. Echelon decals were used for the 3rd ID patches on the shoulders and helmets.

Conclusion Over the years, I have gotten to know many US vets from OIF and so my modelling goals tend to lean toward depicting actual vehicles and their crews. I tried to accomplish that with these two builds and I learned a lot as a result of the research involved. I hope others will be encouraged to complete similar projects.

ABOVE: The ‘A’ on the QTA has yet to be covered up in this nearly finished photo. Pigments were laid in some spots on the roadwheels and then raw umber stained the pigments to fix them, showing grease build up. BELOW: For the most part, all of my hard work to show the crew exactly as they were that day was covered up by the hatches. But it is all there!

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Call for a big gun! John Prigent presents the Resicast 8in Heavy Gun Mark II

ABOVE: A battery of 8in heavy guns on the Somme in 1916.

RIGHT: Box top art from Resi Cast’s 1/35 kit of the 8in Heavy Gun Mk II.

Plunging fire

Resicast’s 8in Heavy Gun Mark II with limber is another of their superb resin pieces. It’s mastered by George Moore, which is a guarantee that good research lies behind it and is not too complex with only just over 100 resin and etched parts plus a few spares. These 8in (203mm) heavy guns were actually howitzers, designed to fire at high angles to provide plunging fire into enemy trenches and other positions. But they were an expedient solution to the need, produced by boring out shortened 6in naval gun barrels and putting them on new carriages. They were entered into service in 1915 with the Siege Batteries of the Royal Garrison Artillery and were used throughout the First World War on the Western Front. There were small differences between Marks I to V but they all looked very similar. Resicast has produced the Mark II version but my model is slightly modified to match a particular photograph so may perhaps be another Mark. These guns were very heavy (13½ tons) and needed many men to haul them over short distances, so were towed between positions by

RIGHT: The finished model. Here you can see where the handspikes were stowed.

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Holt Tractors. Their shells were not exactly light either, weighing 200lbs (90kg), so a hand-operated crane was used to load them. Firing recoil was heavy too, and there was only a short recoil path in their carriages so ramps behind the traction-engine-type wheels were used to absorb it and shorter ones in front to take the ‘bounce back’. Nevertheless, their crews reportedly like them and regarded them as very accurate.

Assembly stages The twelve-page instructions, as you’d expect, are nearly all devoted to the gun itself with just a single page needed for its limber. I’ve treated each page as a single assembly stage, though each of them has three or four photos showing what to do and what goes where. They’re all clearly captioned, with suggestions of alternatives for things like the handles at the front of the carriage which are cast into the resin but can be replaced by etched brass if wanted. Resicast has, as usual, used a good hard grey resin which is easy to clean up. Although a few casting blocks needed a saw for removal, I was able to deal with most of them by simply scribing between part and block a few times. Only a few obvious parts like the gun barrel itself lack part letters and numbers on their blocks and they’re all in ziplock bags so if you wish you can sort them out into separate bags for separate stages while you’re checking them against the parts list. I began with the first three photos on page 1 which put the breech and barrel together and ready the carriage for use. Here’s where the alternative etched handles go, I found it easy to clean out their resin flash while I removed the flash on its sides and bottom. At stage 2, you’ll need to drill holes for the axles and the pin joining the breech to the recoil buffer. This is easy enough, their positions have guide holes, but 3 and 3.5mm bits are needed; if you only have smaller ones you can simply thin the axles and pin down to fit your smaller holes. The photo shows clearly how much of each axle needs to show outside its mount, so cut it shorter to fit. In stage 3, you’re told how much of that pin is needed to have the gun in ‘down’ position ready for loading or transport; the excess length is provided for those who want to have it fully recoiled in an action pose. Here is the first use of the styrene rod in the kit, with 10mm lengths needed between the breech and the recuperator cylinders; no need for a drill here, the locations are provided for you. That’s 10mm between breech and cylinders, so you’ll need about 12mm of rod. The instructions recommend fixing barrel and cradle together now and adding the capsquares to hold the assembly onto the trail but I preferred to keep them separate for ease of painting later.

ABOVE: Here are the parts for the first three assembly stages, all cleaned up and ready to be fitted together.

ABOVE: With the barrel in its saddle and the saddle on the trail it begins to look like a howitzer!

Breech block and trail Stage 4 is about the breech block. Alternative handles are provided for open and closed positions but the parts list has them mis-numbered; use the one called out on the stage 4 photo for whichever you choose. In stage 5, you’re adding parts to the trail including the elevation gearbox but what isn’t

ABOVE: Here, the footstands and elevating gear etc. have been added to the trail to complete stage 5.

FAR LEFT: A tow point and maximum depression guard are added to the front of the trail. LEFT: With stage 6 complete you can see where the elevation pinion fits.

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marked places for the rods to be fitted through them later. Stage 7 is nice and simple with just the loading crane and sight mounts to be added. The crane sits on top of part 21 that was fitted earlier but does need a 2mm hole drilled into its bottom; there’s a partial hole already there to guide you but it’s mostly filled by the part’s attachment to its casting block. There are three sight mounts and all can be seen fitted at the same time in photos. No actual sights are given in the kit because they were always dismounted for either firing or transport. The only time you’d see them is if the howitzer was being sighted in readiness for loading and I’ve only found one photo showing a sight in place (on a different version of the howitzer so perhaps not the correct sight for this one anyway).

ABOVE: At this stage the howitzer is almost complete. INSET: A close-up of the sight mounts.

ABOVE: These are the parts for one wheel with the spokes pre-bent ready to check their fit. BELOW: Here’s how the brakes fit. The shoe should be almost against the inner ring, so dry-fitting is essential to check this before adding superglue. Note also how the small reel and its handle are right against the base of the crane. BELOW RIGHT: The completed wheel, lacking only its tow ring which would have been easy to knock off so was left off until later.

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mentioned at any stage is that there’s an elevation pinion to go on the inner side of that. I’m glad I left the cradle and trail separate because adding it with them, together would have been tricky. The already joined gearbox also gets a handwheel but both wheel and box have locating sockets with nothing to join them so I used a short piece of the kit’s rod. At stage 6, you’re still adding to the trail, including the pivots for the brake blocks that go on later and the mounts for their operating rods. There’s another mistype in the instructions here but it’s obvious that the rods run outside the trails so you can’t really go wrong. Before adding those mounts, drill through the

Wheels and brakes Now we come to the wheels. There are only eight parts for each but the etched spokes do need careful adjustment. Their shells are cast on solid backplates but a sharp knife will cut through the thin attachment rings. Resicast has thoughtfully cast them with their inside edges on the backplates so it’s only necessary to tidy those up because the conspicuous outsides are clean. Four pages of photos give you a step-by-step, assembly guide and there are locating footprints on the rims to show you where the spokes need to fit. It’s well worth taking your time over bending the spokes to the right shape and adjusting them against the laidflat rims until each one fits neatly into its footprint. The only slight difficulty comes when the second set of spokes has to be threaded between the first ones but a bit of manipulation gets it into place. My assembly method was slightly different to Resicasts, I attached the P1 spokes to rim C5 before fitting it into the wheel and left the P2 spokes sticking up a bit so that rim C4 would push them down to the correct fit. Dry-fitting C4 before putting superglue on it, allowed me to check for correct fit before applying. The first turned out to be a good idea; a 3mm drill bit is needed to open out the axle hole in of the centre hub between the spokes but guide holes are provided so it’s just a matter of drilling through them. Don’t miss Resicast’s warning in the instructions that the wheels should NOT be attached yet - you still have to fit the brake linkages which will be behind the wheels. Hauling rings are included in the kit but are only shown in one of the instructions’ photos, so don’t miss them. After wheel assembly come the brake linkages and yes, you do need the wheels to get the linkages right because the brake shoes need to fit against the insides of the rims. At that stage, you’ll also fit the front platform to the carriage. Resicast provides a positive location for the platform but no guide for placing the

Artillery

etched struts (P3) that support it. Looking at period photos, I settled for fixing them between the second and third rivets on each side. However, I didn’t use Resicast’s extra P2 struts inside them because they don’t appear in photos of the early howitzers.

Spool and handwheel For the next stage, you have the spool and handwheel used for the crane’s rope, though photos usually show them ignored in favour of many men hauling on a rope that is extended out behind the carriage. The crane job itself looks a bit odd in Resicast’s instruction photo but is perfectly correct. If the crane wasn’t in use, the sheaf and hook were pulled uptight to its top as shown. Coincidentally, and conveniently, the short length of surplus resin between the two A18s on their casting block is just the right thickness to complete the crane. You’ll have noticed by now that, as well as various spare parts to replace breakages, you also have four handspikes and the head of a barrel-cleaning sponge, with no indication as to where to fit them. The wooden handspikes were strapped to the outside of the starboard trail, so I glued them together and added straps cut from foil. The cleaning sponge needs a hole drilled into its bottom to take a 55mm length of 1.5mm rod as its wooden shaft and is then strapped inside the port trail with its head under the breech. There are also four wheel chocks in the kit for use if your model is in a firing position. I need not say anything about building the limber which is very straight forward, except that the support for it when detached from the howitzer is visible in the last-but-one instruction photo but not called out. Look for it among those ‘spares and replacements’, some minor surgery is needed to show it folded up in transport position. Unfortunately, I can’t show it to you due to an accident – the parts were all cleaned up for assembly when one of my dogs managed to grab the chassis for use as a chew toy and it was beyond repair. No markings appear in any WW1 photos, so all that’s left is the choice of colours. These earlyMark howitzers appear (in photos) not to be green but instead more or less the same colour as the bare earth near them, so I settled for Humbrol 29 Dark Earth, though your choice is quite wide. Note that the only bare steel parts are on the breech block – the visible parts of the recoil and runout cylinders were always painted. A few howitzers

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ABOVE: This is the shell’s hoisting crane. Yes, the sheaf really was carried tight up to the jib when not in use.

do seem to have bare brass handwheels but most of those appear to have been painted too. Yes, my howitzer is very clean with just a bit of ground-in dirt on the wheel rims. This is because ‘very clean’ is the normal state of artillery when not actually in action or on the move. Gunners are still taught that cleanliness of all parts is essential for safe firing, so they clean their guns thoroughly at every opportunity – one bit of dirt in the wrong place could cause a breech explosion.

BELOW: A large platform goes on the front of the trail. Superglue it in place, then bend its etched struts to fit like this.

BELOW: Now it’s ready for some paint but still in sub-assemblies.

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elling a story through a small urban scene, or as I do, a simple vignette, by focussing my work on a certain authenticity, has really become my philosophy, doubled with the search for strongly decayed effects. Among the emblematic structures inscribed in the collective unconscious, the old garage from the past undoubtedly features, as does the factory or the Café. That’s why I have spent many weeks modelling on triple framed ‘windows’ which work in different scales. One would depict a post war garage façade, another one an old installation frozen in its state of decay and, between these two, a simple, typical entrance in 1/72. This approach didn’t come spontaneously but rather from the acquisition of books devoted to this theme as well as different photo shots of antique garages or relics of signs/parts found during my wanderings. With the experience gained over many years of scratch building then focusing my work more recently in larger scales, I wanted to undertake something looking more like a tribute to these ancient structures. At the same time, I found it interesting playing with the different periods, as well as with the contrasting colours that

Take one Garage

Emmanuel Nouaillier continues his popular series on modelling techniques with the first of this two-parter based on old garage frontages 1

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I could highlight with several distinct façades on the same framed presentation. From a pure modelling point of view, this is also an opportunity to highlight some techniques around ageing walls and bring typical items such as those metallic plates depicted previously in Military Modelling magazine. Let’s see how I proceed for this 1947s façade, by focusing on the most important stages... Photo 1 A serious reference regarding this topic, with pictures showing various kinds of old structures as they appeared in the bygone age, is always a good thing. The more information you can grab, the more you will be saturated with the atmosphere you wish to produce. Nowadays, you can, of course, browse on the web and if you’re in search for some tasty French things as inspirations, I highly recommend a specialised blog from a friend called http://luniversdugarageetdelastationservice. blogspot.fr/. The blog looks at antique garages from the 1920s to the 1950’s, with tons of details that could look amazing in miniature. Photos 2 & 3 Whether it is a particular urban building or a simple ‘shop’ with wooden panels, the old & rather small garage always stands out in the landscape. With an overall or partly painted façade, distinctive typography reminding us of brands of motor oils, tyres, old enamel plates and sometimes large signs. Some very old and closed garages are still visible today, giving us good ideas for tasty translations into miniature.

Photos 4 & 5 It is not rare to find typical lettering dating from the 1930s and 1940s painted or moulded in ‘art deco’ style. For these, I highly recommend the possibilities offered by Vector Cut (www.vectorcut.com), who produce a special cardboard laser cutting service in various scales. Photos 6 & 7 Some years ago, I made my first façade of an urban garage in small scale as part of a wider street scene. At the time, this presentation had aroused the interest of a large audience, where I hadn’t yet dug into the topic. I was still working with methods of ageing materials that were not so successful (or more precisely should I say) as it is nowadays.

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Photo 9 Starting with our work concerning the façade from the 1940s, I initially drew a blank, with dimensions resembling a standard small city garage, as there were so many. After deciding on the precise size of the gable, a sheet of 10mm foam board was cut to the dimensions. Once the top layer card was carefully peeled back from the surface, I then cut out the openings, always using a new sharpened blade for an extra clean cut. Then some architectural items were scratchbuilt using 3mm foam board and plastic card to mimic the window stays, exposed wooden lintel and beam, stuck on to the polyurethane wall with cyanoacrylate glue.

Photo 8 In the same scale, a simple garage entrance with its peeled door and rusty plates. The fuel drum was made using aluminium foil and the art deco letters are from Vector Cut. I tried to work as precisely as possible, employing the same methods of ageing as in larger scales.

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Photo 10 To imitate the bricks on areas where the plaster has disintegrated, I embossed them in the foam with a tool I’ve made from an old large brush. This is very easy method of imitating the shape of the bricks in the material. For instance, here, the end of the handle was carefully hollowed out then the tool itself was pressed in using fine pliers and smoothed with a small flat file. At last, I obtain a tool which is easy to grip and work with. I emboss the bricks into the foam with or without the help of a metallic rule as a guide. Thanks to the porosity of this material, the brickwork created also has a certain surface texture which is very interesting in scale. Once done, you can scrape some bricks with a point of needle to bring more life to them.

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Photo 11 Then it’s time to apply the filler on the foam by using a spatula or a small chisel blade. The first step is to apply a thin coat of approximately 1mm of thickness (in large scales). The second stage is to split up this work by areas, taking care to always start with the openings. I have used ‘ready to use’ plaster (available in DIY stores) for many years to plug the holes. Photo 12 When the surface has dried, I draw cracks with a pencil then I used the needle previously used to damage the bricks and work over with a small diamond file. I’m used to engraving them really softly; take care not to make crevasses! However, if the groove is too deep, you can always rectify it by applying more filler with a small paintbrush to mask the over-emphasized fissure. Photo 13 The façade is ready; it’s now time to make or improve some items. For instance, I take advantage of this to lightly re-work, improve the resin moulded shutters and give it an advancing decayed appearance to fit with the general appearance of the façade that I have in mind.

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scale as it’s easier to work the effects of ageing onto a material we’re used to painting and whose effects are controlled. In my view, the real wood fibres appear too big, even in 1/35 scale and this way of working is a good alternative to imitating aged wooden surfaces. Photos 15 & 16 To end the preparation stages before colouring and ageing, the overall surface was painted with two coats of enamel paint (Humbrol 28), much-diluted with 30% of mineral spirit. Here, I simply used a large paintbrush (No.10) to apply them. Photo 17 In parallel, I also worked on the second structure, employing the same methods to build the façade of an abandoned garage. For instance, here, I took inspiration from a picture which has fascinated me for a long time and on which I wanted to bring

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Photo 14 I completed building the wooden main sliding gate using 1mm of thickness plastic card engraved with a point and a metallic brush. I still prefer this material to real wood, even in larger

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my personal input. I added some stronger aspects of decay, such as the blocked up windows and more peeled effects on the overall façade while keeping the original spirit with this superb wall advert. Photo 18 As with the other wooden door seen previously, I also made this using 0.8mm plastic card, separated into three parts then re-assembled to give this overall slung/hanging appearance. Instead of employing ready to use hinges, I completely made them from scratch using Evergreen strips and Grandt Line bolts. The big nails on the patched plank

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were imitated using very fine brass moulded items intended for railway modelling in 1/87. Photo 19 The metallic window was made using Evergreen ‘clear’ 0.13mm styrene to mimic thin panes of glass which I broke in some places. The frame was made up using with Evergreen strips stuck using cyanoacrylate glue. Photo 20 As for the façade, I took advantage by using polyurethane foam to mimic the concrete blocks. The typical granular rendering was obtained

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by buffing the foam with a small metallic brush. Similarly, I also used waterbased coating to simulate the coarse joints between the blocks. I employed an old fine brush as a ‘spatula’ to imitate this rendering in a precise manner.

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Photo 21 The second part of the project, once the related building was built, has received its primer enamel coat. A small part of the pavement was also made but, after rectification of the project, it will be set aside for future use and replaced by a smaller one. Photos 22 & 23 Two final shots bring to an end the first part of this subject and give a little idea of these two ‘corners’ with their details worked. See you soon in part two!

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Great War Trenches The Groundwork Andrew Belsey presents the second part* of his First World War trench build

‘‘ ” TOP: Two views of the ’real thing’.

The British and French command’s attitude was that they didn’t want their troops to get too comfortable...

*The first part of this subject appeared in Military Modelling Vol.46 No.8

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Three trenches In this article I will concentrate on the construction of the groundwork. I have not managed to get round to painting figures for many of my sections yet but each will eventually have one or two figures in them. My models have been on show at the Remembering 1916 Exhibition in South Croydon over the last year. It was a fantastic exhibition, rivalling even the IWM in my opinion and was displayed in one of the country’s top schools. It had glowing reviews and I am proud to have had my work displayed in it. In my first article (MM Vol.46 Issue No.08), I explained how the British built their trenches and how I’d created the first batch of three trench sections. After building them I realised that there were plenty of other things that they didn’t explain so I embarked on three more. Firstly, I built a German trench to show how they could look different from their British equivalent. The second is a recently captured German trench which has been wrecked in the bombardment and then very basically ‘reversed’ so that it has a rough firestep quickly dug on the other side. The last is a ‘fortified’ or ‘improved’ shell hole. If the weather or bombardment were bad enough, the easiest and quickest way of creating a basic shelter was to connect a few shell holes together. My sections show ‘typical’ versions of the different nation’s trenches. Both sides used all types of revetment and the trenches changed hands after attacks. So my models show typical examples of each nation’s preferences of revetment.

German and Allied attitudes to trench building The German commanders had a different attitude towards their trenches. They had captured territory at the beginning of the war and then mostly stayed on the defensive, trying to keep hold of the land that they had gained. This meant that they encouraged their troops to build strong, well-built lines of defence. They dug deep dugouts and used concrete pillboxes well before either the British or French did. The British and French command’s attitude was that they didn’t want their troops to get too comfortable as they were always expecting that their next assault would mean that they would soon be in recaptured land. Why waste time and resources on a temporary position?

My ‘Soil’ technique As this new batch of models have a lot of exposed soil, I will explain more precisely how I create the rough ‘soil’ on my models using car body filler and how I paint it. After making the basic shapes of my trench from sheet acrylic, I form the soil contours with a thin layer of car body filler. This is a polyurethane resin based product which really stinks, so make sure that you work in a well ventilated area. In the model making industry it is often called ‘plod’. After the first layer, I then add a second thinner coat using my rough soil technique. I discovered, by chance, that plod goes crumbly and crystalline as the catalyst takes effect and the filler begins to harden. You only have a very short

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‘window’ of time to work in, so you have to be quick and work in small areas. If you look at my models before paint, you will notice the varying shades of grey to pink, depending on how much catalyst I added. (The catalyst is dyed red, so the more catalyst you add, the pinker it becomes and the quicker it will harden.) It needs a bit of experimentation to master this technique but I believe it creates a realistic texture of dug soil. Broken soil usually has differing sizes of texture, which my technique also offers. As well as using ‘plod’, I also use dry Polyfilla to vary the texture further. Soil is rarely of a uniform texture, so my method offers a realistic solution. When my bases are ready, I spray a base coat of grey primer and then light (Moonstone) grey with cellulose paint. I use balsa wood for all my timbers and real twigs for logs but I keep these loose until after I have spray painted the groundwork. Once they are base coated, I glue all the loose parts with PVA or CA and then fill the gaps with Polyfilla. I bring out the detail in emulsion and acrylic paint. I apply several washes of dark (Cossack) brown or burnt umber which sinks into all the crevasses. Some areas get more wash to vary the background colour of the groundwork. I then dry-brush and detail with several shades of light brown and grey. I avoid stark black and white paint which are unnatural. I apply further washes and highlights until I’m happy with the effect. I try to not blanket colour the whole model, so have areas of darker damp soil, which I add gloss lacquer to and lighter coloured areas of dry soil. I have a few small bottles of paint to which I have added fine sand to create textured paint. (Historex Agents sell Reality in Scale’s textured ‘liquid mud’ paints.) Puddles are created with Mig’s Acrylic Resin and acrylic gloss medium. After painting ‘wet’ areas with gloss lacquer, I dry-brush some of the upstanding soil with medium brown to create slightly dryer soil amongst the wet patches. The higher soil will dry quicker with puddles forming in the hollows. When I’m happy with the soil, I then add real plant roots and etched leaves for weeds to add a little colour and interest. It’s surprising how much a small splash of colour lifts a drab palette.

LEFT: German trench - building sandbags with resin castings. BELOW: German trench - sandbags bedded together with Miliput.

German trench construction German trenches were usually very well built and were often deeper than those built by the Allies. They used timber and branches much more than the British and often used hurdles or woven wicker revetments. Wood is likely to splinter when shelled, which adds to the flying debris, but it was discovered that branch hurdles could flex back into position after the shock wave. The Germans considered them more robust than sandbags or corrugated iron revetment. They could gather branches from nearby, so there was less transportation of materials too. I have tried to show various types of wooden revetment on my model. The front face of my trench has a woven branch hurdle which I created in miniature with thin birch twigs. I used PVA and superglue to keep the pieces in place. The back wall is made of piled branches, held in place by thicker vertical posts. I used more twigs from birch and conifer trees in my garden for this. The base and firestep are made of sawn timbers with a small sump under for drainage. As with the previous models, I used balsa for my wood as it has grain already built in it. All it requires is colouring to look weathered, which I achieve with yellow and dark brown washes rather than solid colour. The wash appears rather bright at first but dries duller overnight. LEFT: Soil clumps in Andy Robertshaw’s trench.

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Diorama German trench - primed.

The Germans used metal plates with small opening loopholes to fire through. Many had an opening cover for the small loophole. I made my metal plate from sheet styrene with some rods for the handle. I surrounded mine with sandbags, using the resin castings that I had created for my earlier models. I sanded their upper and lower surfaces so that they had less of a gap between them. I then blended them together with Miliput. This method has the disadvantage that they do not sit together well unless they are sanded a lot. It’s like working with hard bricks rather than softer bags of soil. I have since made some more sandbags using Fimo, which stays supple until you bake it in an oven. These can be pressed together more realistically. I decided to have my German trench in chalk soil, so I added some real chalk which I crushed in an old meat mincing machine. I have a few larger chunks of chalk and some pieces of flint, made from broken small pebbles which I smashed with a hammer. I stick the larger pieces with PVA but all the small texture is held down with an acrylic matt medium, which is great because it dries matt.

Reversed German trench (now in British hands) My ‘reversed’ trench has similar timber revetments. I have tried to replicate bad damage from a bombardment before it was captured. Broken wood fragments lay all around, along with damaged sandbags. I made the branches from garden twigs and hollowed out some of my sandbags with a Dremel. I also added bits of nylon fabric to represent the edges of the torn bags. The old back wall (parados) which now points towards the new enemy lines (and has become the new parapet) has a basic firestep that has been hastily dug into ABOVE: German trench Chalk and flints added to soil ABOVE: German trench parapet painted. BELOW: German trench finished apart from figure.

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it. Boards with posts have been put in quickly to prevent the soil from gravitating back into the trench. I have made a few piles of soil which are falling into the old firestep and trench base. All this was done using the ‘plod’ technique again in small areas. I coloured the soil darker where it would have been dug more recently, as it would have

been damper. I also have soil spilling out of broken sandbags, which is particularly dark and soggy having been trapped in the bags. I added a German spade and helmet left by its previous owners. I scratchbuild most of the equipment like the British spade myself, but the German helmet is made by Tommy’s War and the German spade by JMD.

ABOVE: Reversed trench - base coated and wooden parts glued in place. BELOW: Reversed trench - wooden parts have been glued in place and gaps filled with Polyfilla.

BELOW: Reversed trench - First wash on soil.

ABOVE LEFT: Reversed trench before painting. See varying shades of filler where small bits were added. ABOVE RIGHT: Reversed trench awaiting paint. The wooden parts, although glued together, are still loose at his stage. BELOW: Reversed trench - primed.

Diorama

ABOVE LEFT: Reversed trench - close up of new firestep - note varying shades of soil. ABOVE RIGHT: Reversed trench Old German firestep.

Improved shell hole ABOVE: Reversed trench - Further washes - see dark soil spilling from broken sandbags.

ABOVE: Reversed trench - Further washes and dry-brushing. Wet soil in places. BELOW: Reversed trench - Roots, twigs and etched weeds added.

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The ‘improved’ shell hole was created in a different fashion from the other two due to the complexity of its shape. The basic box shell of my base was made in the usual sheet acrylic, but I filled this with polyurethane foam (A word of warning - don’t try coating expanded polystyrene with car body filler - it will melt it!). I was able to carve out and sand my concave surface in the foam before coating it with the filler. Insulation foam is similar to what I used. Shell holes were often used for shelter when the trenches had been blown to bits or when the weather contributed to difficulty in creating standard lines of trenches. It was easier to improve the ditches that had already been created by shellfire, rather than starting from scratch. The important thing was to get shelter as quickly as possible from high explosives and sniping. Several shell holes would be linked together with shallow channels. Some of the craters were used as sumps into which the water would be tipped to keep the ones you were sheltering in as dry as possible. The base of my shell hole is filled with water, created using coloured acrylic resin on top of thin acrylic sheet. The resin has to be applied in several thin layers as it shrinks back. Acrylic resin comes out white but dries clear and just needs water-based paint to colour it. Above the pool, the occupants have tried to create a small shelter and put in a raised

‘duckboard’ bridge. The back of the model, which is a side wall of the shell hole, has a channel that has been dug towards a neighbouring shell hole used as a sump. They would not throw water over the rim of the shell hole as this would give away to the enemy which shell holes were occupied. Notice how the soil gets darker and damper towards the pool in the base of the shell hole - water gravitates and drains down. Soil is darker when it’s wet. I like adding a little colour to my models, which are otherwise pretty dull and dreary. Most have small weeds which grow very quickly in any soil. This model has some dandelions, which I made using etched leaves and cigarette paper petals. I cut ‘combs’ of paper, which I then rolled or spiralled up into a cylinder and glued at their base or spine before teasing out the ‘petals’ from their top. They were then stuck onto fine wire stems and painted yellow. To fill in the empty gap at the back of this model, I sculpted a large rat in Miliput and made a mould so I could cast more. Rats were a constant menace to the troops, breeding profusely and growing large through eating anything that they could chew their way into. As soon as it was dark, they would appear from nowhere, disturbing the troops and keeping them awake. If the troops killed them, their rotting flesh would add to the terrible stench and they multiplied anyway, so the troops would generally try to ignore them.

BELOW: Reversed trench - finished apart from figure.

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Figures As I noted before, these sections are awaiting figures. I have made small conversions to Tommy’s War figures and have been scratch-building equipment for them. The German is from their Christmas Truce diorama but I have swapped his cap for a Picklehaube and given him a gun made by JMD. The British soldier on the reversed firestep is a Tommy’s War officer with just the slightest of conversions. I changed his left hand to hold a folding periscope, which I scratch-built. The third figure in the shell hole is a Kiwi and will be painted by Mike (the Kiwi) Butler. The figure is one of the Tommy’s War gun crew. I have chopped him around a little to make him a seated figure. My figure is shaving, which had to be done where you were, as you couldn’t escape from the shellholes until nightfall and darkness. Mike’s paintwork will outshine anything that I can ever aspire to. I may come back with a future article to explain the process of creating all the equipment for these figures. I am enjoying learning about what our

Grandfathers endured and have built my models with education in mind. They fulfilled that in the Remembering 1916 exhibition, but have also gone viral on the internet, where they have had millions of views now. You can follow progress on my blog in the Dioramas section of the Military Modelling Forum which has been running since 2013.

ABOVE: Shell hole - primed - again loose wooden parts. BELOW: Shell hole - note varying shades of soil. Roots, weeds, and dandelions added. Some soil is ‘wet.’

Shell hole - note varying shades of soil. Roots and weeds added.

BELOW: Shell hole - finished apart from figure. See rat. RIGHT: Reversed trench figure with scratch-built periscope.

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Radek Pituch presents his completed diorama following on from the build stages in Military Modelling Vol.47 No.6

‘En route to Berlin’ April 1945 Although the house left behind was intact, a shot from light artillery or perhaps a mortar has damaged the roof tiles. The broken parts that fell from the roof lie in front of the entrance.

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Military Modelling Vol.47 No.7 2017

Diorama A bruised and beaten up veteran, a JS-2 tank, the main subject of the scene, after driving on soft ground earlier that morning has left the hull and suspension dirty with mud.

I painted one of the recon troopers, the DP28 gunner, in a different base tone. The amoeba smocks came in a variety of colours, including sand, pale green or khaki colours (as the other three troopers are wearing).

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Diorama

My intention was to give the impression that the house was vacated in a hurry, so partially opened luggage lies on the road. It has probably fallen off a horse drawn wagon because household gear like a bag of potatoes, milk bottles box and a wooden bucket lies around. The invaders have already been inside the house and some newspapers are lying here and there.

The fierce facial expression of the middle recon trooper armed with a PPS43 perhaps tells an untold story of his tragic experiences during the German invasion of the USSR.

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ABOVE: The JS-2 parked next to the house points his gun towards the unknown. BELOW: A lack of front fenders (lost in a previous fight) means that the whole nose of the tank is covered in mud and dust.

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ABOVE: As two other SS-men lay dead, the Obersturmführer knows that there will be no further negotiations for him. One of the Soviets took his MP40 as war booty and there’s still smoke coming from the barrel of a Luger in his hand.

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ABOVE: In this view you can see the wooden frame that has been added to the wall of the house; this was done to allow creeping plants to grow on the house’s wall for decoration.

ABOVE: In this photo you can see how the composition was built, starting from left to right, a strong aspect of the shot (the tank crew and the recon squad commander) smoothly passes into the main story of the scene – the encircled SS officer, surrounded by his captors. LEFT: A general view of the scene showing all of the subjects.

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AFV

‘Assault Tiger’ Italeri RW61 auf Sturmmörser Tiger by Kayhan Kayar

TOP: The author’s completed model placed into a scenic setting courtesy of Photoshop. BELOW: The box art from Italeri’s 1/35 scale Sturmtiger kit.

The last brute The Sturmtiger was a World War II German assault gun built on the Tiger I chassis and armed with a 380mm rocket-propelled round. The official German designation was Sturmmörserwagen 606/4 mit 38 cm RW 61. Its primary task was to provide heavy fire support for infantry units fighting in urban areas. The Sturmtiger was the Germans’ answer to a requirement for demolishing building structures and was used on the eastern front in built up areas to destroy defensive strong points and, ambush structures with just one shot. The few vehicles that were produced fought in the Warsaw Uprising, the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Reichswald.

The vehicle was a response to the need for a heavily armed assault tank that could be employed in builtup areas of the type experienced by the German Army in Stalingrad. Although originally intended to mount a 210mm howitzer, the lack of such a weapon led to the adoption of the Raketenwerfer 61 L/54. This was a huge 380mm weapon employing a rocket projectile with each shell weighing 344kg which meant that only a dozen could be carried. The machine weight fully loaded was 70 tons and it had a crew of seven.

Construction In typical Italeri style, the mouldings are crisp and free of flash and the detail is of an excellent standard. The instructions are printed on five double sided, fold out sheets in 17 stages. The kit consists of over 160 parts, which are divided up into four sprues. Decal markings are provided for only one example; German European Theatre 1945. What I did like a lot about this Sturmtiger was the possibility to construct, paint and weather a basic interior. Until the end of construction, I was not sure whether I should have cut some large pieces out of the superstructure to give a nice view into the interior. In the end, I chose not to. The idler and drive wheels are nicely replicated and appear accurate judging by the pictures I have viewed online. I was really impressed with the overall quality of moulding, attention to detail and the lack of preparation required prior to assembly.

Lower hull and tracks The exterior of the lower hull is built in six very easy and very well-fitting stages (Photo 1). Not much to

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The exterior of the lower hull.

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ABOVE: A track jig was used to align the individual track links correctly. LEFT: Part of the tracks was curled around the drive sprockets and the idler wheels were set aside so the glue. BELOW: The road wheels carry an excellent level of detail.

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tell here - just follow the instructions carefully and leave the front plate enough time to cure. Italeri supplied individual link and length track links which were really wonderful to build, so there was no need for aftermarket parts. After cutting the links from the sprues, a flat sander was used to quickly remove the seams on each end of the links. Thankfully, there were no pin marks in the links. A track jig was used to align the individual track links correctly (Photo 2). The jig was indispensable and made construction much easier and faster. Before the glue, in this case Revell Contacta Liquid, had dried, a part of the tracks was curled around the drive sprockets and idler wheels and set aside so that the glue could dry thoroughly overnight (Photo 3). The road wheels carry an excellent level of detail. These parts were a pleasure to build with no fit problems at all (Photo 4). The rest of the link and length tracks were now carefully placed over the road wheels and secured with Revell Contacta Liquid (Photo 5 & 6).

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The rest of the link and length tracks were carefully placed over the road wheels and secured with Revell Contacta Liquid.

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Interior A basic and minimal interior is included in the kit; this area is covered in five to six stages. The kit

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The kit interior consists of a floor pan, the driver’s position, rear fighting compartment firewall and ammunition storage racks.

7 ABOVE: Some chipping and rust streaks.

interior consists of a floor pan, the driver’s position, rear fighting compartment firewall and ammunition storage racks (Photo 7). Throughout most of the war, the most common interior colour for German armour was Elfenbein (ivory) and Graugrün, with some pieces of equipment retaining their factoryapplied colours. For this, I used Vallejo Model Colour 70.918 Ivory and a very rudimentary black acrylic wash (Photo 8). Further washes and weathering processes will be applied later.

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Upper hull, exhausts and engine deck

ABOVE: Rudimentary black acrylic wash.

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ABOVE LEFT & RIGHT: I did paint the kits exhausts with the base colour yellow. BELOW LEFT & RIGHT: Some convincing rust effects.

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Another stage that I skipped over and left to the end was stage 22 which is the assembly and attachment of the exhausts. There are many ways of painting and weathering exhausts and everyone has their own preferred technique. I did paint the kit’s exhausts with the base colour yellow (Photo 9 & 10). Afterwards, I did apply a light Vallejo Oiled Earth wash. Before the wash dried completely, I used a small, old paintbrush and applied Vallejo Carbon Black pigments, some rust colour and some burnt umber pigments. The pigments should work well for replicating exhaust soot and light rust. Afterwards, another light Burnt Umber wash was applied. The wash and the pigments dry fast and results in some convincing rust effects (Photo 11 & 12). The next stages deal with the RW61 mortar gun. To be honest, just follow the instructions and they will guide you through without problems. The easilyfinished weapon does give a good impression of what an imposing beast the Sturmtiger was. The detail includes a full breach and various adjustment handles, which help to give the impression of a busy fighting compartment. The mortar gun was painted with the same interior colour and weathered with Vallejo Black Wash. Some chipping and light rust streaks did finish the weathering process (Photo 13 to 15). Next, I did connect the mortar gun to the superstructure (Photo 16). Before gluing the lower and upper hull together, the interior was weathered again with some chipping colours. The RW61 rockets were painted accordingly and placed over the ammunition racks (Photo 17 & 18). The focus of my attention then turned to the upper hull/superstructure. The few build steps are very easy. There is honestly nothing worth a mention here. Finally, the lower hull and the superstructure were glued together and were left to dry completely overnight.

Painting, marking and weathering My main focus with this model was to paint and weather it without going over the top. I was looking to get a multi-dimensional finish with layers of chipped paint, dust and just a little rust here and there. With the main assembly and all of the subassemblies completed, it was time to give everything a coat of primer. First, the whole model and accessories

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16 LEFT: Next, I connected the mortar gun to the superstructure. BELOW: The RW61 rockets were painted accordingly and placed over the ammunition racks.

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This acrylic primer dries very fast and leaves a smooth finish behind.

were cleaned with alcohol, the next step was to prime the entire kit with Vallejo German Dark Yellow Primer from their AFV Painting System (No.78.401). This acrylic primer dries very fast and leaves a smooth finish behind (Photo 19). With the primer in place, it was time to move on to the base colours. I airbrushed Vallejo Sand Yellow on the less recessed and more prominent parts (Photo 20). Afterwards, Vallejo Light Brown and Sand Ivory were airbrushed onto the most exposed areas and the majority of the raised details and panels of the model (Photo 21). The camouflage pattern was outlined with thinned Vallejo Uniform green using a brush and then directly afterwards, airbrushed (Photo 22 & 23). The same

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ABOVE LEFT: I did airbrush Vallejo Sand Yellow on the less recessed and more prominent parts. ABOVE RIGHT: Afterwards, Vallejo Light Brown and Sand Ivory was airbrushed on the most exposed areas and the most raised details and panels of the model. BELOW: The camouflage pattern was outlined with thinned Vallejo Uniform green by brush and directly afterwards airbrushed.

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ABOVE LEFT: The same procedure was applied with Vallejo Model Air NATO Brown. ABOVE RIGHT: I started spraying the dust colour on the lower hull parts and under the fenders where the most dust would accumulate.

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ABOVE: The light pin-wash was thinned with few drops of tap water and Retarder Medium. BELOW: The streak and the area with the wash are starting to fade and blend in.

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The chipping effects, I completed earlier, were now painted with a very fine tipped paintbrush with Model Color German Camouflage Black Brown and washed with a light rust wash.

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procedure was applied with Vallejo Model Air NATO Brown (Photo 24). The model received a coat of satin varnish, both to prepare it for the application of the decals and to protect the paintwork during the following weathering stages. Afterwards, some decals were placed in the appropriate locations. The kit-supplied decals are excellent and adhere well to all surfaces. The tracks were simply airbrushed with Vallejo Model Air Cam Medium Brown and washed afterwards with some light and dark rust colour washes. Later, the tracks got some Burnt Umber and metallic pigments. Nothing special here, just basic painting and weathering techniques. For the light coloured dust, I used Vallejo Model Air Sand Yellow which I thinned 50/50 with Airbrush Thinner. I started spraying the dust colour on the lower hull parts and under the fenders where the most dust would accumulate (Photo 25). Since the dust colour was thinned in this ratio, I made sure not too apply to much at once. It is much easier to apply more later on. After a very short drying time, the weathering proceeded with a Vallejo Model Wash Brown to redefine panel lines. The light pin-wash was thinned with few drops of tap water and Retarder Medium (Photo 26 & 27). If the acrylic pin wash is not strong

enough, you just need to repeat the process a few times, until the colour slowly builds up. Several other thinned dusty colour filters followed on specific sections of the model. Afterwards, some light chipping was applied with the sponge technique and a fine brush. With the brush loaded, I started applying the chips. A tapping motion will help to keep it looking like chips and not blobs. Keep things random and every now and then stop and examine what you have done. Soon after, a heavily thinned mix of Vallejo Model Air Buff was sprayed again along the lower edges of the model to blend everything in. For the streaking effects, I used Model Wash Black, tap water and Retarder Medium to extend the drying or working time of acrylic washes. You can also use Model Air Black instead of Model Wash Black but this colour should be thinned much more. Blending and fading in will come with paint retarders which are so much easier. With a soft flat brush, I first wet the surface where the streaks would be applied. You do not need to overflood the surface, just give it a light wetting. Next, I have applied the mix with a fine brush. Afterwards, I used the same flat brush to clean the streak by pulling downward. The streak and the area with the wash started to fade and blend in (Photo 28 & 29). You have

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ABOVE LEFT & RIGHT: The right time to add the prior painted exhausts. RIGHT: Some diesel spills were placed at the appropriate places with Vallejo Weathering effects Engine Diesel, Petrol spills and Light Sienna Pigment.

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LEFT & BELOW: Views of the finished model.

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to be patient here and repeat the streaking effects to your liking. To conclude this stage, some small dots of various coloured acrylic paint were added and then removed using a brush moistened in water. This added tonal variation to the model and helped tie the colours together using basically the same technique used with oil paints. Next, I wanted to create some light rust effects. The chipping effects, I had completed earlier, were now painted with a very fine tipped paintbrush with Model Colour German Camouflage Black Brown and washed with a light rust wash (Photo 30). In some places, this wash was blended with tap water like the streak effects done previously. With the paint still wet, or workable, it is much easier to create realistic streaking effects. One should be careful not to overdo this effect. There is a very thin line between looking realistic and artificial. Now it was the right time to add the exhausts (Photo 31 & 32). Finally, some diesel spills were added in the appropriate places, like the filling ports, with Vallejo Weathering effects Engine Diesel, Petrol spills and Light Sienna Pigment (Photo 33). The engine grilles were painted with Black Carbon pigments. I finally sprayed a coat of matt varnish to seal everything in (Photos 34 to 36).

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The verdict This kit was pure joy. Modelling is a constant learning curve and process. With every new build we learn something new or get a technique better done. There is no right or wrong. If you are interested in painting with acrylics I highly recommend Rob Ferreiras outstanding book ‘Airbrushing and weathering techniques’.

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Figures

The ‘Jaunty’ The sculpt

Private Grenadier Company 1-27 Inniskilling; a 54mm scratch-built figure by Ian Succamore 1

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nce in a while an idea comes along for a figure that I just cannot ignore. I store it away in my memory for when I am going to have time to realise my idea. It could be a scene, or a regiment, or a description of a battle, or many other things that inspire the creative juices. This piece was inspired by a head! That’s it really, just a head. I had it in my stash for many years. It is from the Hornet range and it was the first set I bought when I was a teenager. It is cast in white metal, which ages it to the late eighties/early nineties. I picked it out of my head stash last year and had a look at it, wondering what on earth I was going to do with such a head. It had such an unusual and distinctive ‘happy’ expression. It reminded me of a picture of someone completing their first marathon and there it was! That flash of inspiration for what to do with it. I wanted to depict him as an Inniskilling from Waterloo. Whilst I was sculpting him I had many people offer their ideas regarding the reason why he was smiling. Some suggested I sculpt a pig under his arm in memory of a famous Corporal who got caught looting by the Duke of Wellington. When challenged by the Duke, the Irishman had said that “the pig had lost its way” and that he was “helping it try and find its mother!” The Duke raised him to Corporal on the spot declaring that he was “capable of defending a hopeless position”. There was also a suggestion that I should have him holding some other contraband like a bottle of looted spirits. Or that I should put a blade of grass in his mouth. Whilst these suggestions had their merits, I wasn’t sure. The blade of grass is a little too relaxed. The pig and the bottle – although a great name for a pub – were a little too obvious. I wanted the viewer to look at the figure and try and make up their own mind as to why he had such a big grin on his face.

My method of sculpting figures will not be entirely alien to the readers of this magazine. The use of an armature plus a mixture of Magic-sculpt and Duro putties being my normal approach these days. I was asked by Adrian Hopwood to do a sculpting demonstration at FigureWorld in 2016. Before the show began I wanted to have the basics of a figure ready so that I could demonstrate sculpting a pair of trousers, plus anything else that took my fancy on the day. I needed to get the pose of this fellow right though. The emphasis of the figure would be the head but the rest of the pose would need to match the expression. A bent over posture would do nothing to enhance the feeling of elation this chap has. He had to have an open posture, with his chest out and head back. I decided to try and get a “jaunty” posture that would work (Photo 1). The arms could then be added as if they are swinging along at his sides. This should suggest that he is walking at a reasonable pace but not over-exerting himself, again to enhance the look of a ‘jaunty’ character (Photo 2). Photo 3 shows the pre-show status. The boots are sculpted with the buttons added from plastic card, made with a punch and die set. The hair on his head and the collar are also finished. The shako is a resin casting from a master I sculpted some time ago. This was modified to make it more accurate and the cap badge was altered for the regiment that I wanted to depict – a Private from the Grenadier company; 1st Battalion of the 27th Regiment of Foot (Inniskillings). I will go into why I chose this regiment later. He is now ready for his trousers. I do enjoy FigureWorld. Like-minded figure modellers get together, not to compete but to meet and discuss their past, current and future projects. They come from all over Britain just to show their work. Demonstrating at this show was a privilege and I have done it a few times in the past. I hope to again in the future. Many folk came to see what I was doing, to ask questions, or just to watch. At the show, I sculpted his trousers. One leg in the morning then the other leg in the afternoon. The result is shown in Photos 4 and 5. I wanted to depict a worn look to his trousers, as if he has been wearing them some time and had seen some active service. The tears and rents in the seams were all added to the wet putty whilst sculpting the folds. The sculpting process wasn’t without issue though. I find that, as I get more experience with sculpting, I have come to realise that it is not about how many mistakes you make, but how you rectify them. For example, his crotch was too low and the lower half of his left leg was too long. I corrected the crotch problem before Photo 4 was taken. The correction of the leg problem was not done until a few days later. This is shown in Photos 6, 7 and 8. A section of the leg was cut away mid-shin, a section was then removed and the leg was then re-grafted back with putty. We now fast-forward to the end of the sculpting process (Photo 9, 10 and 11). The arms were reattached after the trunk and cross belts were sculpted but the right arm was re-aligned. Muskets are heavy so, rather than having the arm swing backwards, it needed to hang at a more natural angle. The left hand remains empty and the fingers were sculpted individually. The braid was not sculpted onto the tunic

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Inniskilling 2

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as I had decided to paint these on later. The hands and the back-pack are removable at this stage to make accessing the parts easier for painting.

Painting I have recently started using a wet palette when painting. If you have not come across this concept then I urge you to consider it. I paint exclusively in acrylics now. Their drying time is faster and I am an impatient sort of person. This can lead to its own problems though as the paint has a tendency to dry fast on the palette. Oils do not dry fast but I do not like the smell of the solvents. Enamels have a medium drying time but again the solvents have a tendency to smell bad. I also have a young family that demand much of my attention so I rarely get more than a couple of hours to spend painting. Being impatient, I do not want to spend my painting time mixing paint. I would rather mix the paint once, come back to it the next day and continue to use the same mixes. With acrylic paints, this is possible with a wet palette. These are available on the market at varying prices but I decided I did not want to spend any money without trying it first. So I decided to make my own. I used an old plastic tub that previously contained

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a Chinese take-away. After washing it thoroughly, I turned it upside down and placed a flat foam dish cloth in the lid that I had previously soaked in water. On top of this, I added a piece of white kitchen towel as the dishcloth was yellow. Over this, I added a square of baking paper onto which I mixed the paint. When I had finished my painting session, I just placed the bottom part of the plastic container back into the lid to store until the next day. This was ideal for keeping the atmosphere in the container moist and the paint wet. This could then be re-used. I used one mix four days after mixing it in my palette. I am yet to buy myself a wet palette as I seem to be getting on fine with my home made version! The mix for the flesh is shown in the photo of my wet palette. The process I undertook for painting the face was as follows. Photo 12: The base colour was added, over which two graduated highlights and three graduated shadows were ‘sketched’ in with opaque paint. Blocking in the areas gives very high levels of contrast that eventually need to be more graduated. These blocked out areas were roughly smudged at their boundaries during their application to start the blending process…

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Photo 13: Blending the blocked out areas of colour was achieved by adding small transparent washes over the demarcation lines. The colours were a thin mix of the two colours that meet at the demarcation line. For example; the first and second highlight colours were mixed together and added to the areas where the first and second highlight colours meet. This can be brushed along the demarcation lines, or added using pointillism (a series of miniscule dots). Patience is required here and the process can be repeated as many times as is necessary to blend the edges of paint. Photo 14: Further blending was achieved using transparent washes of tonal variations mixed thinly with the base colour. This was used over the beard areas (a brown/grey colour), over the tip of the nose, lips and the ears (a red colour), in the hollows of the cheeks (a red colour), around the eyes (a dark grey), on the cheek-bones (a yellow colour). Photo 15: The highest highlights and the darkest shadows were touched up with thinned paint to regain the contrast lost during the blending process. A face never looks completed until the areas around it are painted. Photo 16 shows the red tunic undercoated and the shako completed and sufficiently dirty. I have not painted the brass plate yet as I wanted to do this right at the end. I seal all my figures with a matt medium and I did not want to take any of the lustre out of the metallic paint by doing this. Therefore, all the metal areas were painted last. With the red and buff areas completed on the tunic, I then turned my attention to the white areas. These were deliberately painted a dark and dirty grey colour. I did not use a pure white colour on any of the white areas as I wanted them to appear muted and dirty, in keeping with the rest of the figure. As you can see from the photo of my white palette, I used many shades of grey for the shadows and highlights which were mixed with various browns. These colours were blocked in and then blended using the same method as I used for painting the face. Relief of the cross belts and lace was further accentuated

by a pinstripe highlight painted on the upper surface, with a pinstripe shadow painted on the lower surface (Photo 17 & 18). Although the colours are painted as faded and worn items, there is not much dirt on him at this stage. This will be added later to maintain uniformity. Photo 19 shows the worn looking cartridge pouch and the water bottle painted. It also shows how I have left the cross belts at the back deliberately dark as they would not be seen when the pack is glued on. Photo 20 shows the wear and tear added to the belt of the water bottle. Incidentally, I wrap my figures in cling-film to stop my fingers coming into contact with the figure. The oils from my fingers are very difficult to paint over and leaves a greasy sheen on the surface of the paint! The trousers were painted various shades of grey mixed with browns in a similar method to the crossbelts (Photo 21). I was then ready for the mud and blood! This is where the wet palette came in very handy. To maintain a sense of uniformity with the mud there had to be ground in mud, dry mud and wet mud. All of the muddy areas needed to be highlighted and shadowed as well. The mud was applied over the course of a few days and involved using light browns for the dried and ground in mud, dark browns and black for the wet mud. Texture was added using mud from my garden that I ground down to a powder and mixed in with the wet mud effects. This was painted sparingly in selected areas. As he would have been knelt down for most of the Battle of Waterloo in a square formation, he needed to have muddy knees. It was an exceptionally muddy day in the middle of a field and many of his comrades would have died. He would have been injured himself so a lot of mud and blood was required. Where the bloodied areas are would need to be mixed with the muddy areas, so darker patches of red and black were added accordingly. Splatters of both mud and blood were also added as if they had been thrown against his clothes from many directions. Many painters try and add these at random intervals. This can end up looking unnatural,

Military Modelling Vol.47 No.7 2017

Figures 21

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as our brains are constantly looking for patterns. A good idea is to start with a pattern, as it is natural for mud and blood to form some pattern. Then add random areas. The trick is to be subtle and build up the effect in a few areas (Photo 22). When it came to painting the boots, I decided not to bother! His boots would be covered in mud, so I decided to just paint them using the mud colours I still had on my palette (Photo 23). I then sealed him with a layer of Dullcote sprayed through an airbrush. Photos 24 to 26 show the finished figure. The gold and silver areas were both painted using Vallejo acrylics. The silver was mixed with black and the gold was mixed with burnt umber. Extreme highlights on the gold were achieved by mixing the gold and silver together. The sling on the musket was cut from rolled out putty and glued into place before the hands were painted (with dirty finger nails). The addition of further mud effects and texture to the mud was completed after I had mounted him onto the base to maintain the uniformity of the textures and the colour. Small coats of gloss varnish were also added to make the mud look more wet. But why is he smiling? Well, in my mind Waterloo was horrific. The Anglo-Allied forces led by The Duke of Wellington were primarily stationed on the reverse side of a ridge when looking from the French position. The Inniskillings, however, ended up on the forward slope of the hill. Following an over-zealous charge from the Anglo-Allied Cavalry that saw most of them either too exhausted to continue, captured or dead, the French Cavalry ruled the valley. They were a constant presence near to where the Inniskillings were stationed and therefore the infantry had to keep in a square formation for many hours. This made a prime target for the French artillery who bombarded them for most of the day. After the battle was concluded with an Anglo-Allied victory, the infantry all advanced. The dead of the Inniskillings were left behind, still in their square formation. It is reckoned approximately two thirds of their number was killed. Following this astonishingly brutal death rate and the knowledge of the position

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of the regiment, it is a wonder that anyone from that regiment survived. But some of them achieved it. They had survived. It must have been a truly strange sensation. The feeling of elation that they had made it through the bloodiest battle in their history but had lost so many friends. I am sure it is enough to make anyone adopt a strange sort of smile….

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Diorama

Fifty Shades of Grey! Ivan Cocker encourages us to ‘think outside the box’ with his rendition of a BT-5 named ‘Clemencia’ during the Spanish Civil War

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The author with his completed vignette. The vignette was awarded a Gold medal at Euro Militaire in 2012.

The Battle of Fuentes De Ebra Inspiration for building models can come from many sources; a book, painting, movie or an image. Personally, I have a taste for the ‘not so common’ subjects and ideas; they present me with a challenge to find out more about the subject and even execute the project. Having an interest on Soviet subjects, especially small tankettes and fast tanks, I came across an interesting article in a couple of old Military Modelling magazines about the battle of Fuentes De Ebro, Spanish Civil War 1937 (Military Modelling MM9411 and MM9412 (Nov & Dec 1994)). The Spanish Civil War is rather overlooked yet it is very interesting as most weapons used during WW2 saw their baptism of fire during this conflict. In 1937, the Republicans began their major offensive on the Aragon front with the aim being to capture the city of Zaragoza and drawing the Nationalists out of the Northern front. Fuentes de Ebro, a small town near the River Ebro, was the last significant strongpoint before Zaragoza and it was here that the newly formed Republican Heavy Tank Regiment saw their first action. The Soviet Union had sent about 50 BT-5 fast tanks, which were serving in the Heavy Tank Regiment. The Republicans already had units of T-26 and BA-6 armoured cars which proved to be better than the Nationalists’ small tanks (which mainly consisted of Pz1s, Italian tankettes and captured T-26s). The tank battalion was led by Soviet officers but the crew was a mix of Russians, Bulgarians, Spaniards and even a Canadian. Arriving just in time for this battle, the Republicans planned to use these BT-5s to make a dashing charge combining with the International Brigade to break the Nationalist trenches and take the city. On October 13, the day started with an artillery barrage and the air force also showed up just before the expected tank charge. Yet early morning there was no sign of the new tanks as they were still refuelling and picking up troops. The idea to combine infantry riders was good but the BT-5, being narrow and fast, was not an ideal troop carrier. Due to poor information, some Republican units entrenched as they saw the tanks approaching and opened fire thinking they were hostile. Some of the infantry riders fired back into the trenches, and in spite of this initial confusion they travelled on to prepare for the charge. Seeing the tank battalions approaching line abreast the XV International Brigade, the British, the Lincolns and ‘Mac-Paps’ who were in the front trenches went over the top to join in the attack but without proper communications and because the tanks were travelling too fast, the troops were left behind. The tanks ploughed through the fields of high vegetation and, using the church spire of Fuentes as

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guide, started picking up more speed as they neared it. The speed of the advance shook off many tank riders and others that were still hanging fell to the Nationalists’ murderous hail of rifle and machine gun fire. To add to the damage, many tank crews did not see that the fields were full of irrigation ditches and gullies, hidden behind tall grass and reeds. Some managed to cross, but many were driven wide, unfortunately acting as natural tank traps and a number of them ditched to a halt and could not be extricated by their crews. Without infantry support, the trapped tanks were helpless, the crews tried to escape and find their way back to safety but many ended up being surrounded and killed. Some tanks managed to get through and even cross over the Nationalist trenches to enter the city but with narrow streets and no room to manoeuvre, were easily knocked out or captured. The attack was a costly failure and there were heavy casualties from the Republican side, both in equipment and human lives. It is estimated that this action cost about 19 tanks; a good percentage of them newly-arrived BT-5s. Ditched tanks were later recovered and impressed within Nationalists units and then used against their former owners in the coming battles. Gathering all this information gave me the inspiration for my new vignette which depicts one of the unfortunate incidents during this battle. I had a go at a ditched BT-5 in one of the unnoticed ‘tank traps’.

Building a BT-5 With this interesting account in hand I fancied building a BT-5 as used during the campaign. Sadly, the only injection moulded BT-5 is the old Zvezda which was also released under the Italeri label. Searching in my stash, I had one in store and when comparing references found out that it has a lot of inaccuracies but could easily be updated. The major inaccuracy that this model has is that the details in the hull side were meant for the BT-7 not the BT-5; these were shaved off and I added the necessary central flat bar and additional brackets with plastic card. For the rivets, I used Archer raised printed water slide round rivets; patience is needed with these but the detail is very realistic and quite

‘‘ ” Without infantry support, the trapped tanks were helpless, the crews tried to escape and find their way back to safety but many ended up being surrounded and killed.

Building the Spanish BT-5 from kit bashing an Eastern Express turret and Zvezda Chassis. Extra detailing was produced from plastic card, photoetch and an RB turned barrel.

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Diorama

LEFT & ABOVE: The interior was scratchbuilt from plastic card and the seat cover was textured from Magic Sculpt. Miniart 45mm rounds came handy to add to the back racks.

to size. An old Aber Photoetch fret was handy for updating engine decks and other details but the fenders were re-done with plastic card rather than using the thick ones provided in the model. I scratchbuilt the interior for the BT out of plastic card, scrap PE and Magic Sculpt to form the seats.

ABOVE: Detailing of the suspension and behind the end, the rivets were made from Archer transfers.

ABOVE: The engine deck and air intakes had the louvres added as these were omitted from the original model. BELOW: The Tank was undercoated in a very dark grey, playing around with overhead lighting to create some contrasts after this step.

Eduard PhotoEtch for the interior came in handy for the machine gun racks and I also used Miniart 45mm rounds. The engine deck received some more attention and here an old Aber Photoetch set came in handy to replace some items which were out of scale. As for the turret, I decided to replace the Zvezda one with an Eastern Express BT-7 version for the simple reason that it had some finer details. This type of turret was extensively used by the Soviet army; T-26 and BA armoured cars used the same, even the early BT-7 tanks. Obviously, some details had to be added like the mantlet which also received a new turned barrel from RB, a scratchbuilt early periscope, which had no cover and also an interior; again PE and plastic card were used. I configured my model as the only BT-5TU version used in this battle by adding the radio railing on the side. I changed the wheel arms with the Eastern Express items as they were finer and I wanted to make them workable for me. The roadwheels were replaced to an early type version with a Russian Resin.

The Figures I had in mind a surrendering crew for this scene and the only way to achieve this was to convert them to get the correct body language. The Republican Army are quite interesting as they wear a mix of military and civilian items. The officer was created from parts of a Miniart Soviet tank crew dressed with the typical tank vest but had a Hornet resin head replacement, a sculpted a beret and new arms. The kneeling figure was created from Miniart parts which were detailed or re-sculpted to have a mix of civilian and military. The head is Hornet from the Russian set which sports an Adrian helmet with a red star. The wounded figure began as a stick man made from wire and was formed with Magic Sculpt. I started from the body and then ‘dressed’ him up in stages with thin coats of Magic Sculpt. I prefer using this putty as it’s very fine and not very tacky. Folds and creases were worked up with a basic tool - toothpicks. The head with a tank helmet was borrowed from another pre-painted figure that had never been utilized.

The terrain I prefer simple and minimalist vignettes so as not to distract the viewer from the focal point. The accounts of the battle mentioned some interesting features that surely needed to be incorporated into the terrain; tall grass, reeds, irrigation ditches and water. The idea of a ditched tank inspired me a lot, apart from giving a different sense of display of the tank, it was also appropriate to show the extra hidden detail inside. The angle of the tank also helped to create a small base. The base was created from pieces of Styrofoam cut at an angle to represent part of the ditch. Glued together with white glue, the base was covered

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with a mix of plaster, small rocks and sand to add texture. Some roots were added in the ditch area and on top was spread short static grass. The long grass was next. I used a natural product commonly found in winter on sandy Mediterranean beaches. These are parts of dried Neptune’s grass, Algae that forms into balls and washes ashore. They look like dried moss balls and when split them you will get different sized fibres. These were glued in batches and glued to form the tall grass mentioned. I have to say that the most time consuming part was making the reeds. These were purchased from the Federicus Rex catalogue. The leaves are laser cut fine paper in different dimensions and you have to glue them to a copper wire to form the reed stem and the top part, where it has the flower, needs to be glued and inserted in a small bag of material provided (it smells like coffee) to add texture. To help, I went into the countryside and cut a small piece of reed which would help me place the leaves. I made a number of these stems in different sizes and lengths. These were placed at an angle to create a sense of height and at the edge of the irrigation ditch. Reeds are strong vegetation and love water, so they are very appropriate for areas like these. I test fitted the tank to make it look as if it had ploughed through the long grass fast, crashed into the reeds and fallen down into the ditch. BT-5s and even BT-7s, due to their Christie suspension, can travel on the wheels alone and, for this concept and, to make it more interesting, I omitted the tracks as they were either lost in the charge or when falling into the ditch.

The paintwork, 50 shades of Grey While researching the Spanish Civil War, I obviously had to come across Picasso’s masterpiece Guernica. This painting captures the horror of war but above all what inspired me were the colours used, grey, giving a dull effect. When I was also working on this vignette, my wife was reading ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’… hmmm this got me thinking, not the content of the book, but the name. When building models, I always keep a motto of ‘think outside the

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The finished grey scale model, weathered and dusted.

box’… so Picasso and Mr Grey gave me the idea of experimenting with something different; work the whole diorama monochrome, shades of grey. Painting everything in monochrome proved to be quite a challenge. I started studying black and white photos of the period, I took note of the shades and how they contrasted. For example, I knew the colour of the tank was the typical Russian green and also that the grass is also another shade of green. Contrasting into shades of grey-green translates

The figures were converted from Miniart parts with Hornet heads added. Working with references, the crew were dressed in a mix of military and civilian clothing. The beret, scarfs and espadrils were some of the typical items chosen by the International Brigade.

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Diorama LEFT: Neptune Grass Balls Photo BELOW: Detail of the Terrain, showing the reeds made from laser cut paper and natural fibre from algae provided the long grass.

into the darker shade. I also noted whether any reds were in the uniforms as red has a tendency to look almost black. So I started building shades of grey (more than 50 for sure) and choosing the right colours from what I had in stock, Tamiya, Gunze,

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Vallejo and Andrea acrylics. What I avoided was direct black and pure white; this would have created a harsh contrast so those two were discarded. The only time I used them was for the undercoat, setting everything altogether, I gave an overall black coat and sprayed a directional overhead shot with white to get the desired angle. Having gathered and tested a spectrum of colour for each item, I started painting each item individually in a glaze of greys. I had to keep the original natural item colour translated in greys, this is quite a challenge but a pleasurable experience with regard to lighting. Basically, I first checked in my paint box what greys were available, having bottles like Panzer, Gull and

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Finished photos of the vignette and detailed shots of different grey tonalities. The surrendering crew faces the dilemma and letting the viewer reach his verdict, mercy or not…

Extra dark Sea Grey … and then I started mixing light Ochres, Desert Yellow and Tan for the light and blues. The different mixes were than selected to create different schemes of grey depending on the translated colour of each item. I started airbrushing the base and tank according to this idea, creating different shades of grey for each item. The figures received the same treatment but this time with a brush and acrylic colours. Each figure was worked individually so that all mixes were different to create contrasts. I do not really keep track of what I mix, I personally do not like being mathematical and exact, I just started mixing and developing the colour accordingly. As for steps from dark to light, I will go in at least five to seven steps; I never rush by adding the lightest colour immediately but always step after step. The tank had some numerals as per references added; these came from the Bison Decals catalogue. Luckily, the numerals were white so when changing to monochrome nothing changed. Now another challenge came up and I felt that this was the biggest hurdle. Weathering is the norm in our builds nowadays and we have the luxury of an arsenal of excellent products to facilitate this process, being all green, desert, white or camouflaged vehicles, but not for this project. Working in greys there was practically nothing to be found on the shelf so I had to turn old school and make my own mixes. I used pigments and oil paints mixed with turpentine or enamel thinner and created some interesting mixes to work from. The photos from this period showed the fast tanks with a lot of dust and subtle weathering. So this time, with different greys, the tank started receiving weathering effects, beginning with chipping and scratches, to streaking, dusting and stains. Finally, I placed all of the elements together and fixed everything to the base with pegs and glue. Additional elements like broken reeds were placed around the ditch and tank to give an indication of the impact and the last thing was to add a bit of contrast by pouring in some liquid clear resin in the bottom of the ditch to represent water. A few drops of dark stains were added on the resin surface and mixed in to represent some oil spills from the tank travelling onto the surface of these little ponds of water. When I first represented this vignette, I have to say it was well received, though this is not the first time black and white subjects have been

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seen in model shows but normally these ideas are more associated with figure scenes. Others, more conservative, felt I delved more into an artistic idea but I feel our work sometimes needs to be artistic to give a different meaning, or else we start being stereotypical and get caught up in our traditional comfort zone. So if anyone thinks of ideas out of the box, I will say go for it … it is a way of experimenting on new boundaries!

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MAFVA

ABOVE: Armoured train Krasnavostochik (Red Eastener) No. 5067 in Moscow. Originally built in 1896, like many similar trains, it had a long life and after refits was employed in several conflicts. Photos author unless stated otherwise.

S

ome years ago a contributor in the now defunct AFV News had calculated that a WW2 US armoured division using standard railway timetables of today would take two weeks to travel from east to west coast; the last units would be entraining whilst the lead units unloaded. A more vivid recent illustration of military reliance on rail travel was experienced on the Sapsan train from Moscow to St Petersburg. A trainload of Russian soldiers was returning to the St Petersburg

garrison after the Victory Parade in Red Square. They spent the entire journey on their devices phoning girlfriends and checking messages, demonstrating that squaddies are much the same everywhere. Railways have been a major mode of transport for tanks, particularly for long marches from early days. Indeed, the size and design of tanks has been influenced heavily by railway loading gauge restrictions to avoid fouling lineside structures, bridges and station platforms. In WW1, Mark V tanks were fitted with narrow track plates for rail travel, for this reason, Churchill tanks of WW2 had their side air intakes removed and the narrow Tiger 1 rail transport suspension configurations are well known. Many types of rail wagons have been employed for military vehicle transport. These were generally the flatwagon (for military use called warflats) and wellwagons with a low longitudinal well between the wheelbogies that enabled high vehicles like Grant tanks to be carried without exceeding height limits. Trains could be end loaded with a column of tanks simply driving from an end ramp across one wagon to the next. Alternatively, wagons could be side loaded with each tank driving obliquely on to its wagon direct from the platform.

The MAFVA column News and views from the Miniature Armoured Fighting Vehicle Association

‘Let the train take the strain’ -

The military use of railways

MAVFA news by Chairman John Ham ([email protected])

ABOVE: Crusader on a Warflat at Shildon Locomotion Railway Museum. Specially strengthened, these were the most common wagon configurations for AFV transport. RIGHT: MOD Tank train with Scorpions seen at On Track 2017 by Mike Gill, S Wales MAFVA. These modern warflats, although improved, essentially differed little from their earlier predecessors.

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MAFVA

ABOVE: BTR-40A ZhD Zheleznaya Doroga (Steel roadrailroad) 1969 at Kubinka showing the railway and normal wheel layout that allowed use in dual purpose patrol and AA protection roles.

Armoured trains have been employed by most countries with a reliable rail network, which allowed a concentration of firepower to be moved quickly from one location to another. In Britain, after the loss of much equipment at Dunkirk when there was a high invasion threat and with long coastlines to defend, armoured trains were employed for this purpose. In areas with poor roads such as the wide expanses of Russia, railways were a more dependable method of moving heavy firepower. A number of nations fitted railway wheels to AFVs allowing them to operate independently as patrol vehicles in remote areas. Railway guns were operated by many nations, but were troublesome to move and erect. The psychological impact on the enemy of being bombarded by a supergun outweighed their disadvantages. Dedicated trains carrying their dissembled components, equipment and crews were required to move these monster guns from site to site.

ABOVE: 180mm TM-1-180 Rail gun at the Great Patriotic War Museum, Moscow. Guns often of naval origin were sometimes removed from obsolete warships then mounted on specially designed railway carriages. BELOW: Molodets Missile Train at Oktyabrskaya Railway Museum, St Petersburg. The train would consist of locos, personnel, command and communication cars and, the ICBM had several independent nuclear warheads.

LEFT: A7V on flatwagon by Graham Taylor, South Staffs MAFVA. Special shackles secured the A7V. On the wagon sides are sockets for stanchions allowing use for other loads. BELOW: Petrol engine armoured loco LR2182 of 1918 at Apedale Valley Railway Museum. Narrow gauge railways were a very useful means of transport on WW1 battlefields.

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Books

Book of the Month

On Parade Books, magazines and DVDs reviewed The Editor welcomes publications for review. All samples intended for review in ‘On Parade’ should be sent direct to the Contributing Editor at the address listed under ‘Editorial’ on the contents page. Another highly recommended manual about a great post-war AFV icon which continues to serve. Thanks very much to Max at McCann PR for our review copy. MC

Tiran 4/5/6 Wrecks in the IDF – Pt.1

ISBN: 978-1-78521-057-0 Pages: 156 Price: £22.99 Format: hardback – A4 Publisher: Haynes Publishing Website: www.haynes.com

Centurion Main Battle Tank

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Heinkel He 111 & Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Early Years by Chris Goss Clearly paving the way for a series of books on each of these famous Luftwaffe machines of WW2, both of these cover the early years of the war up to the Battle of Britain and Blitz as part of the Air War Archive. Laid out in pictorial history form, these books are packed with superb photography, the bulk of which I have never seen before and its very encouraging that images like these are still turning up and being shared. Every photograph has an informative extended caption; some of them are up to half a page long adding a significant

amount of meat to the bone at what ordinarily would simply be a photograph of a pilot standing next to his aircraft. With regard to the He 111, the number of graphic images displaying damage caused by British fighters over England makes the reader realise how dangerous those operations where for the German crews. Without exception, it is difficult to criticise any of the images selected in both books and everyone inspires you, from a modelling point of view, to have a crack at one of those ‘wingy’ things! Thanks to Charlie Simpson at Pen & Sword for our review copies. Owen Cooper

INFORMATION

1946 to present by Simon Dunstan One of the best post-war tanks ever built, the Centurion entered service in 1946 and has served in multiple conflicts from the Korean War through to the last Gulf War. Nearly 4,500 were built, the last of them rolling off the production line in 1962. The Centurion remained a front line tank for the British Army until the arrival of the Chieftain but continued to serve on until 2004 when the 165 AVRE variant was finally retired. Incredibly, albeit in modified form, the Centurion still serves in Israel, Jordan and South Africa. This Haynes manual celebrates the 70th Anniversary of the Centurion and the author’s close relationship with The Tank Museum shines through again with this excellent book. The attention to detail and numerous unpublished photographs and diagrams make this one of the best books I’ve read on the Centurion to date. Contributions from former Centurion crewman are excellent and the operating chapter is the closest to what the original Haynes manuals’ were all about from a maintenance point of view.

ISBN: 978-1848324831 (111) & 978-1848324794 (109) Pages: 146 (111) & 180 (109) Price: £14.99 ea Format: softback – 244mm x 188mm Publisher: Pen & Sword Military Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

INFORMATION

INFORMATION

IDF Tank Wrecks Series (TWR1) by Michael Mass (Author) and Adam O’Brien (Editor) The first in a brand new series of books which will focus on the many retired AFVs of the IDF begins with the Tiran series of tanks; specifically the Tiran 4 (a T-54), the Tiran 5 (a T-55) and the Tiran 6 (a T-62). Many of these machines have been captured by the lens of Michael Mass and he rightly thought that these images would be most useful to the modeller. These slowly

decaying machines have also proved to be a useful reference source for a number of specialist paint and weathering companies who have honed their products as a result. The book is beautifully illustrated with 165 full colour photographs of these once proud operational machines now left in various states pending their fate which will eventually and most likely be the scrap man. Each image is carefully captioned and there is further information spread throughout on the many sub variants of these great tanks. Special thanks to Wendy Myers at the Aviation Book Centre who are the UK distributer for Desert Eagle Publishing. Zelda M113 is available at www. aviationbookcentre.com (Product Code 00051MIL2).

ISBN: 978-965-7700-04-4 Pages: 84 Price: £26.99 Format: softback – 280mm x 210mm Publisher: Desert Eagle Publishing Website: www.deserteagle-publishing.com

Panzer III on the battlefield (Vol.14) WW2 Photobook series by Tom Cockle This outstanding series of high quality dual-language (English & Hungarian) continues with a look at the Panzer III in every conceivable environment of war. The book leads with an introduction by the author about all variants of the Panzer III from Ausf A to M. This is followed by 105 photographs which take up 80% of the page while the remaining 20% is filled with an informative caption in both languages. The range of images, as we have now come to expect, is broad and their quality is high and their content inspire

Military Modelling Vol.47 No.7 2017

Books

you to go out and buy a Panzer III in any scale immediately. The Panzer III is presented in all theatres from North Africa to the Eastern Front and from 1940 through to images of them being surrendered to the Allies in great numbers. Once of the many things that comes across about the images selected by the author is that no two tanks are ever the same; there is always something positioned slightly different to the next tank or a paint scheme applied in a different way. This book provides unlimited inspiration – highly recommended. Thanks to Lee Archer at Panzerwrecks for our review copy which is available from www.panzerwrecks.com. MC

Publisher: Peko Publishing Website: www.pekobooks.com

ISBN: 978-1-4456-6254-1 Pages: 96 Price: £14.99 Format: softback – 235mm x 165mm Publisher: Amberley Publishing

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ISBN: 978-1-4456-0803-7 Pages: 160 Price: £17.09 (Amberley website) Format: softback – 244mm x 168mm

for modellers whether by design or accident. Filled with black and white images from front to back the books chapters include a detailed look at the M46, M47, M48, M48A3, service in Vietnam, M48A5, Foreign Service, variants and accessories. Just like the Centurion, it is hard to believe the variants of the Patton still serve today while the M60 was not replaced by the US Army until the arrival of the M1 Abrams. As with the bulk of the IOW, the photography is well selected, the captions add a great deal of background information and the main chapter text makes this one of the best books currently available on the Patton family. Thanks to Charlie Simpson at Pen & Sword for our copy. Owen Cooper

ISBN: 978-1848847613 Pages: 208 Price: £14.99 Format: softback – 241mm x 188mm Publisher: Pen & Sword Military Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Publisher: Amberley Publishing Website: www.amberley-books.com

Website: www.amberley-books.com

Photographing Models and Miniatures By Paul Brent Adams We’ve all been there; well modellers at least, battling with a camera we don’t know much about, poor or no lighting whatsoever and a completely bemused expression when someone dares to mention composition. As the title suggests, this book is about the subject of photography and not just plastic models but also diecasts, as per the front

INFORMATION

Format: hardback (landscape) – 305mm x 215mm

drawings this book will answer every question you have from a modelling point of view let alone an historical one. Drawing from archeological evidence, published information and sculpted imagery the author’s experience of physically reconstructing the armour, rather than creating it as a line drawing, comes across well. A lengthy introduction is followed by chapters on Lorica Segmentata, Mail, Muscle Cuirass, Scale Armour and Protective Undergarments to name a few. The appendix features a reassessment of the armour found in the Corbridge Hoard which was excavated back in 1964. There is a lot going for this book and if you a fan of the Romans and you have not got this book – why not? Thanks to Philip at Amberley Publishing for our review copy. David H Smith

INFORMATION

Pages: 112 Price: £25.99

INFORMATION

INFORMATION

ISBN: 978-615-5583-06-3

cover, paper buildings, plastic figures and so on. What will put many off this book is the front cover and the general array of poor quality subjects scattered throughout the book. This is a shame because the book is filled with great tips, ideas and techniques, especially for the beginner and for me that’s the target audience; maybe even a young beginner? However, the author does not promote this as some kind of guru’s technical manual and for that I applaud him for the having the guts to try a different approach to this often challenging subject. The book specifically looks at scenery, props, close-up work and vintage style images and the point that all of these things can be achieved without an expensive camera or studio. The jury is still out on that one! Thanks to Philip at Amberley Publishing for our review copy. David H Smith

The Patton Tank – Cold War Warrior Roman Body Armour By Hilary & John Travis Well this is a little gem of book which was first published back in 2012. While this is nearer to a reference book rather than a bedtime read, this is no criticism from a historian’s point of view. Filled with numerous re-enactor photographs, colour artwork and many diagrams and line

Images of War from Wartime Archives by Michael Green Another AFV icon during the postwar period was the Patton family of tanks (M46, M47, M48 & M60) which first saw service during the Korean War (the M46) with the 6th Tank Battalion. US tank expert, Michael Green presents one of the best and largest (208 pages) of Pen & Swords excellent Images of War series which is tailor made

Wings Over Sinai (Middle East at War No.8) The EAF during the Sinai War, 1956 by David Nicolle, AVM Gabr Ali Gabr & Tom Cooper The French, British and Israeli side of Operation Musketeer is well published while the actions of the Egyptian Air Force (EAF) over Sinai in 1956 are poorly recorded, until now. Musketeer was designed to destroy the EAF which in turn would, in theory, toppled president Gamal Abdel Nasser’s government.

59

Books

This well-produced book takes a serious look at the state of EAF not to mention the politics and complex lie of the land at the time. Despite its overwhelming superiority with regard to numbers and more technically advanced aircraft the destruction of the EAF during this conflict appears to have been exaggerated somewhat. The EAF was admittedly in an awkward position at the time, as it was converting en masse to Soviet–built types. It was a match for the Israeli Air Force but relentless bombing raids by the British and French took their toll. This book helps to set the record straight with 120 black and white and three photographs and colour illustrations plus 15 colour profiles. The latter display the wide range of machines being operated at the time from the Spitfire through to the Mig15. A highly recommended and refreshingly balanced viewpoint of a significant period of Middle Eastern history. Thanks to Tom Bonnington at Casemate for our review copy which is available from www. casematepublishers.co.uk. MC

Pages: 72 Price: £19.95 Format: softback – 297mm x 210mm Publisher: Helion and Company Ltd. Website: www.helion.co.uk

When the Navy took to the air

Format: softback – 234mm x 156mm Publisher: Fonthill Media Website: www.fonthillmedia.com

German Standardised Field Cars of WW2 by Jochen Vollert Another excellent dual-language (English/German) publication from the Tankograd stable headed as ‘Wehrmacht Special No.4021’. The problem of multiple designs of passenger carrying field cars for the German Army began to be addressed in the mid-1930s when the range was reduced to light, medium and heavy, all embraced by the standardised ‘Einheits-PKW’ series of vehicles. This book studies the many types of PKW, variants, production numbers and their pros and cons in military service which came to an end, on the front line at least, in 1941 when failings were exposed on the Eastern Front. The book is lavishly illustrated with 172 black and white photographs, many of which have not been published before. The author should be applauded for the selection of images which present every variation of this versatile breed of military vehicles which prove most useful to all military modellers. A recommended series of books that gives the more obscure German vehicles some long overdue publicity. With thanks to Justin at Bookworld Wholesale Ltd. (www. bookworldws.co.uk) who are the main distributor in the UK for this book. Owen Cooper

ISBN: TANKO 4021 Pages: 80 Price: £13.99 Format: Softback – A4 Publisher: Tankograd Publishing Website: www.tankograd.com

British Cruiser Tanks A9 & A10 By Peter Brown Number five in the ‘Armor PhotoHistory’ series, this expanded version of this high quality publication takes a look at the popular Cruiser A9 and A10 tank. I was initially quite alarmed when I saw the retail price but once you have viewed the superb 124 photographs, 30 colour profiles and 64 line drawings, alarm quickly turns to wow! A large number of the images are credited to the Imperial War Museum which gives an immediate indication that little expense was spared in the making of this book. Pages 3 to 26 cover the development, production and service history of the Cruiser followed by a large ‘PhotoGallery’ section; each image being supported by a useful caption and credit. A batch of 1/35 scale line multi-view drawings is next featuring the Mk.I Cruiser ICS, Mk.I , Mk.IA Cruiser Mk.IIA and the Mk.IA Cruiser Mk.IIS. These are backed up by a number of technical drawings (six to a page) with the excellent colour profiles bring up the rear. A book for serious military modellers – highly recommended. Thanks to Tom Bonnington at Casemate for our review copy which is available from www. casematepublishers.co.uk. MC

INFORMATION

60

ISBN: 978-1-78155-572-9 Pages: 160 Price: £18.99

Einheits-PKW

INFORMATION

The Experimental Seaplane Stations of the RNAS by Philip Macdougall The early days of aviation in Britain were dominated by the efforts of the Royal Navy; more specifically in the shape of the fledgling RNAS (Royal Naval Air Service) which was formed on July 1, 1914 while the more conformist RFC (Royal Flying Corps) was formed two years earlier. It was the Navy who appeared to be more experimental with their approach to aviation while the Army simply dismissed the RFC as a mere novelty

INFORMATION

INFORMATION

ISBN: 978-1-911096-61-0

at the beginning of WW1. The Royal Navy went on to establish experimental stations at Eastchurch and Calshot and this book focusses on those pioneering days. The book is mainly text and is only broken by 30-image strong A-section in the centre of the book. Chapters look at Eastchurch, Calshot, Cdr Sneddon, Navalising land fighters, dummy landing decks, towed lights and airship experiment sot name a few. I was a little concerned with the standard of the book when I saw that RNAS Pulham in Norfolk was referred to as ‘Pulhan’ throughout the book and that a ‘Sopwith Torpedo Bomber’ was clearly a Cuckoo; I know, it’s an ‘anal’ aviation thing but these are mainstream errors on this subject. The author has presented a good overview of this experimental period backed up by a good solid list of documents referenced from the National Archives at Kew. A decent book if you are new to the subject; if you’re not, you’ve probably got everything already covered in your library. Thanks to Jay Slater at Fonthill Media for our review copy. David H Smith

ISBN: 978-1-911096-61-0 Pages: 88 Price: £32.95 Format: softback – 290mm x 205mm Publisher: Model Centrum Progres Website: www.modelbooks.republika.pl

Military Modelling Vol.47 No.7 2017

Product reviews

Atten-Shun! The Product Review Column The Editor welcomes product samples for review. Please send direct to the Contributing Editor at the address listed under ‘Editorial’ on the contents page.

AFV

Figures Warlord Games 1/56 Churchill Tank

Product: Plastic kit Ref: 402011002

Scale: 1/56

Price: £20

Parts: Approx 60

Manufacturer: Warlord & Italeri Website: www.warlordgames.com

MJ Miniatures 1/10 ‘Werner Moelders’ (Luftwaffe Ace) Born in March 1913, by the time the Second World War had begun, Werner Mölders was already an experienced fighter pilot. Having joined the Luftwaffe in 1934, Molders gained, like so many other German fighter pilots, valuable experience during the Spanish Civil War and by the end of it had shot down 14 aircraft. Mölders tally continued to climb during the Battle of France, Battle of Britain and during Operation Barbarossa by which time (July 1941) he had reached 100 victories. Mölders went on to chalk up 115 victories before he was withdrawn from operational flying and allocated the task of Inspector of Fighters. Ironically and considering the amount of action Mölders had been involved in he was destined to die in a flying accident whilst trying to attend the funeral of Ernst Udet. The He111 in which he was travelling as a passenger from the Crimea tried to land in a thunderstorm at Breslau but crashed killing all on board. Supplied in a typically sturdy box, this MJ Miniatures 1/10 resin bust of Mölders is supplied

in just five components. These are the upper torso, a brass display pole, a cap and a pair of heads, one designed for the cap and one without. The box art and the sculpting are by Jae-Kwon, Yoo. As with all of these quality busts there are a couple of moulding mounts on the right-hand side of the torso and at the rear of the cap. The sculpting is excellent and the detail in the uniform is spot on, not to mention the badges and epaulettes. Mölder’s typical tight-lipped look is captured perfectly and this will make a great accompaniment to the previously reviewed Erich Hartmann bust; albeit a slightly different scale. Another highly recommended resin figure from MJ. Thanks to Man-Jin, Kim at MJ Miniatures for this bust which is available from his website or a wide number of online outlets. MC

INFORMATION

www.militarymodelling.com

INFORMATION

I think this is another first for Military Modelling; a review of a kit from Warlord Games who as we all know, are a well-established producer of 28mm plastic, resin and metal miniatures for the wargaming fraternity. However, as you have heard me bang on about before, the standard of these figures, vehicles, aircraft and buildings are well on a par with nonwargaming scale models and as such I know they will appeal to the general military modeller. The first of several items received from Warlord is this 1/56 Churchill infantry tank which was produced by Italeri in partnership with Warlord as part of the latter’s growing Bolt Action (1939-1945) range. The kit is reasonably comprehensive; its 60 parts are held on three sprues plus a set of Warlord decals, three Bolt Action Statistic Cards and three damage markers representing white and black smoke and fire. The basic kit has been around a while and as such will require some clean-up from a flash and sprue attachment point of view. This task is quickly forgotten about when you realise that you

are actually getting the option of seven Churchill variants with this kit; namely the welded turret of the Mk.III, VI and V CS or the cast turret of the Mk.IV, VI, NA75, AVRE (with a 290mm Petard spigot mortar (my favourite!)) and the Mk.V CS. Instructions are a single A4 double-sided sheet and the tracks are worth mentioning as they only comprise six components on each side, four of which is the plastic track. The rear of the box presents a range of colour schemes pertinent to each variant while there are enough decals to portray the tank with at least eight different units and three different armies. All good stuff and I look forward to seeing more from Warlord in Military Modelling. Thanks to Jamie Tranter at Warlord Games for supplying this kit for review which is available at www.warlordgames.com. MC

Product: Resin figure kit Ref: MJ09-007

Scale: 1/10

Price: approx £35

Parts: 5

Manufacturer: MJ Miniatures Website: www.mj-miniatures.co.kr

61

Product reviews

AFV

Affectionately nicknamed the ‘Deuce and a Half’, the ubiquitous GMC-built CCKW (‘C’ = 1941; ‘C’ = Conventional Cab; ‘K’ = All-wheel drive & ‘W’

the back or a standard tailgate, plus a further option of a winch mounted between the front bumper and radiator. I think you can produce eight or more different configurations without mentioned the two figures provided who serve as driver and gunner. The kit is also provided with an extensive decal sheet for trucks serving with either US or Russian Army while the box art and info on the rear give you all the colour information you need for the ‘Deuce’; any variation of olive green will suffice! Thanks to Rubicon Models for our example. Andy Palmer

= dual rear axles) was one of those iconic workhorses that was taken for granted during WW2. An incredible 562,750 of these hard-working trucks was produced between 1941 and 1945 by GMC, Yellow Truck and Coach Chevrolet.

comprising two figures per team both of which are also in two parts. There are also three figures armed with a Panzerfaust and three more tooled up with an 88mm Panzerschreck. All of the figures/components are attached to the sprue in three places, two to the base on one to the top of the head, so

clean-up should be a simple task. The rear of the box features a good painting guide which recommends using no less than ten different colours for each soldier. A big chunk of your army is supplied in this one value-formoney box. Thanks very much to Piers Brand for our sample which is available from www.

theplasticsoldiercompany. co.uk. MC

INFORMATION

Rubicon 1/56 US 2½ ton 6x6 Cargo Truck

This very nice rendition of the 6x6 Cargo Truck gives the modeller numerous build options from a kit that has just 59 parts held on two sprues supported by an A5 instruction booklet with just seven stages to follow. Sounds simple doesn’t it and yes it should be but even I almost managed to build a hybrid as I was so easily distracted by the different options. As always, take your time and think about which variant you really want to build. I ended up with the common open rear flatbed floor, framed sides and benches for troops plus a gun ring over the passenger seat complete with 0.5in machine gun to make it more warlike. My build left at least eight parts still on the sprue without mentioned the figures. Other options are a no machine gun, a canvas cover over the cab and a full canvas cover to the rear with solid canvas cover at

Product: Construction kit Ref: 280037

Scale: 1/56 (28mm)

Price: £18 (PSC)

Parts: 59

Manufacturer: Rubicon Website: www.rubiconmodels.com

Figures Plastic Soldier 1/72 15mm Late War German Fallschirmjäger

62

INFORMATION

Literally translated as ‘Parachute Hunter’, the German Fallschirmjäger had a fearsome reputation during the Second World War to such a degree they were nicknamed the ‘green devils’ by the Allies. Formed from a small group of volunteers in 1935, these Fallschirmjäger became Germany’s first specialist airborne regiment and would go on to serve in almost every major action of the war. This latest offering from the PSC is another typically jammed box containing a dozen sprues. These contain an impressive 141 figures, enough to make up three platoon companies and a company HQ. The only figures that need assembling are a three radio operators in two parts and nine MG42 teams

Product: Construction kit Ref: WW2015013

Scale: 15mm

Price: £21.95 (PSC)

Parts: 141 figures

Manufacturer: The Plastic Soldier Co. Ltd. Website: www.theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk

Military Modelling Vol.47 No.7 2017

Product reviews

Military Aircraft Revell 1/72 Vampire F Mk.3

the first entering service with 54 Squadron in April 1948. Revell have recently released a well-regarded model of the Vampire F.3; I say that because the mouldings have been released under the Special Hobby, Xtrakit and Azur labels as the FB.3, FB.5 and FB.6/52 in recent years. However, that should not be seen as a reflection of the quality of the kit. The Vampire F.3 is made up of 51 grey coloured parts

from two sprues and five items from the clear sprue. The parts themselves are nicely produced; panel lines and fasteners very cleanly cut. The wing wheel wells are particularly nicely moulded while the front nose wheel slot may benefit from a little ‘busying up’. Instructions are the standard Revell multi-coloured booklet and a decal sheet is included for two aircraft from the RAuxAF in the early fifties.

plough/blade assembly. The bonus edition also features a detailed gearbox as well, while the kit presented here lacks virtually all of its internal organs. The rather drab, yet comprehensive black and white instructions are complimented by a double-sided, laminated painting and marking guide which gives you two camouflage options; one in the

Rhineland in 1945 and the other in Germany in March 1945. This is a good kit, but for the price I would have expected to have received the engine and gearbox and maybe some extra internal detail as well for that money. That said this is something a little different from your standard Hetzer. Thanks to Rhiannon at Pocketbond for supplying this

INFORMATION

Born from Air Ministry Specification E6/41, the Goblinpowered De Havilland DH.100 Spider Crab (as the Vampire was originally known) first flew from Hatfield in September 1943 followed by the first of 120 F.1s entering service with 247 Squadron in March 1946. A well-designed aircraft from the start, it had limitations that were addressed in the F.3 variant; the biggest improvement being a better than 50% increase of internal fuel capacity to 330 gallons. Armed with four 20mm cannons, 138 airframes of this mark were built for the RAF with

There are some small issues with the model, but overall I really do like the look of this kit, it will definitely look the part when complete and for a reasonable RRP, this is definitely a good buy. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. Paul Carter

Product: Construction kit Ref: 03934

Scale: 1/72

Price: £12.99

Parts: 58

Manufacturer: Revell Website: www.revell.de/en

AFV Thunder Model 1/35 Bergepanzer 38(t) Hetzer Late

www.militarymodelling.com

kit to Military Modelling for review which is available from www.pocketbond.co.uk MC

INFORMATION

One of seven designs based upon the chassis of the highly successful BöhmischMährische Maschinenfabrik AG Jagdpanzer 38, the Bergepanzer 38 was a light recovery vehicle which served alongside units already operating the Hetzer. Powered by a Praga AC six-cylinder engine, 170 Bergepanzers were built although 64 of this total were conversions. A very versatile vehicle, the Bergepanzer could be fitted with a two-ton folding crane, a Baumgarten five-ton winch and/or a rear-mounted plough which is the main rendition presented by Thunder Models of this new kit for 2017. This new tool will be a popular subject for AFV fans who like to build something slightly outside the box and the multiple display options, with regard to the crane and/ or plough, will also make this appealing. The build begins with the Praga engine (if you are lucky enough to hand the ‘Limited Bonus Edition) and continues through 28 stages which conclude with the

Product: Plastic kit Ref: 35101

Scale: 1/35

Price: £47.99 (Pocketbond) Parts: 350+ Manufacturer: Thunder Model Website: www.thundermodel.com

63

Product reviews

Figures

Aftermarket

DG-Artwork 1/12 Sandhurst Subtitled, World Military Academy Series 2 and United Kingdom Military Academy this new bust from DG Artwork presents an officer cadet at the Royal

Macone Models Asphalt Base Large & Short

64

INFORMATION

Macone Models are a small Spanish manufacturer producing a varied range of accessories and detailing sets in a variety of scales. Asphalt Base Large This simple and effective resin base arrives in a medium sized ziplock bag. This light grey resin base measures 273mm x 160mm and displays a number of features commonly seen on modern roadways. Cleanly cast in a medium grey resin this base displays a drainage grid, circular drain cover, three seams/expansion joints, damaged section and a patched section. This base is large enough to accommodate an AFV and a couple of figure and comes recommended for those modellers who want a simple base to display a modern AFV or as part of larger diorama. Asphalt Base Short - This small base cast in a medium grey resin arrives in a small

ziplock bag measuring 200mm x 95mm. My base was slightly warped but it was immersed in very hot water and then allowed to cool in a press, although you could use a heavy book instead. This smaller base features a drainage grid, a partial drain cover and three seams/ expansion joints. This section of roadway appears to be heavily worn more so than Macone’s larger roadway base. It is large enough to accommodate a small AFV, such as a BMP 2 in its entirety or a smaller vehicle like a Humvee or Gaz Tiger and a couple of figures. This simple but effective base is available at a reasonable price. My thanks to Juan Macone for supplying these samples. Brian O’Donoghue

Product: Plastic accessory

Scale: 1/35

Ref: MAC35162 (Large) & 35163 (Short) Price: €13.00 (Large) & €8.00 (Short) Manufacturer: Macone Models Website: www.maconemodels.com

Military Academy, Sandhurst, the British Army’s initial officer training centre. Made up of just three components, this nice bust is sculpted by Dae-Hyeong, Kim who also produced the pleasing artwork. The officer in training represents a man who has been selected from the rank and file; hence

AFV

Trumpeter 1/72 German Jagdpanzer E-100 The E-100 (Gerät 383) was a super-heavy tank which weighed in at 140 tons, was 33ft 8in long and was to be armed with either a 12.8cm or 15cm KwK 44 main gun. With armour up to 7.9in thick, the E-100 was developed in parallel with the Porsche Maus from mid-1943. As a result, this monster only reached the

prototype stage and that was not fully completed by the time the machine fell into Allied hands in April 1945. Trumpeter’s rendition of this huge tank is wellsuited to 1/72 because of its proportions. Admittedly there is some artistic licence with regard to the upper hull which host’s the 12.8 KwK 44/L/55 gun and sports a 7.92mm MG34 on the commander’s

Military Modelling Vol.47 No.7 2017

Product reviews

AFV the medal on his chest and para wings on his shoulder. The bust’s mount also features the crest of the Royal Military Academy, which is a nice touch. Once again, a high quality resin bust which is part of a new series focussing on military academies across the world. Thanks to Dae-Hyeong, Kim at DG-Artwork for this figure which is available from his website or a wide number of online outlets. Andy Palmer

Scale: 1/12

Price: approx £20

Parts: 3

Manufacturer: DG-Artwork Website: www.artworkdg.com

hatch. The bulk of the part count is taken up by the tanks running gear and is made up of idler, sprocket and road wheels and single piece rubber tracks. Only a ten stage build, this will be a straight forward but interesting project. The instruction booklet is in black and white which does not help with regard to the painting guide at its rear. However, the machine on the box and a small but useful paint reference chart should steer you in the right direction. Thanks to Rhiannon at Pocketbond for supplying this kit to Military Modelling it is available from www.pocketbond.co.uk Andy Palmer

Ref: 07122

Scale: 1/72

Price: £14.99 (Pocketbond) Parts: 40+ Manufacturer: Trumpeter Website: www.trumpeter-china.com

www.militarymodelling.com

detailed interior means that the part count is comparatively manageable and the build is not as daunting as some. With that said and considering the parts are a decade old now, they are still of a very high standard and go together very well. There are just 22 stages to this build, all contained within a high-quality A4 instruction booklet which only has a single decal and colour guide at the rear. The latter depicts a vehicle from D Sqn, Royal Canadian 12th Manitoba Dragoons operating around Caen in August, 1944 and the necessary decals are supplied for this machine. I’m sure the more adventurous would opt for a machine

serving during the North African campaign or even with one of the many post-war countries which kept this armoured car in service into the 1980s. This is a very detailed kit which is further enhanced by some useful PE. Thanks to Bronco for supplying the Staghound to Military Modelling for review. MC

gives you Vallejo or Lifecolor options and the same images on the rear are also annotated with the appropriate colour code. All of the parts are up to MBs usual high standard and are presented in very high action poses which would complement any diorama on this huge subject. Thanks very much to Mary at Master Box for this sample and to Creative Models for passing

it on to us. Creative Models is the UK distributor for this kit. www.creativemodels.co.uk MC

Product: Plastic kit Ref: CB35115

Scale: 1/35

Price: Approx £28 Parts: 260 + PE (x100) Manufacturer: Bronco Website: www.cn-bronco.com

Figures 1/35 Master Box Ltd (MB) Tomahawk Charge Indian Wars Series, kit No.2 The second in a series of kits dedicated to the Indian Wars, produced by quality figure manufacturer Master Box, is this dramatic duo presented under the title ‘Tomahawk Charge. These very nice figures are sculpted by A Gagarin and the lovely box art is by I Varavin. The subjects are a pair of Apache Indians at full charge, belting out some kind of terrifying war cry; one is on foot armed with a war club and the second on horseback yielding a tomahawk. There are no instructions but there are four annotated images of the completed figures (unpainted) accompanied by a shot of the sprue with part numbers added (these do not appear on the sprue). A small, but informative colour chart

INFORMATION

INFORMATION

Product: Plastic kit

Designed by Chevrolet, the T17 was an armoured car which achieved a production run of over 4,000 (3,844 of them were T17E Staghounds and 250 were T17 Deerhounds) between October 1942 and April 1944. The subject of this latest offering from Bronco is the T17E Staghound which also features a 12ft Assault Bridge mounted in two sections either side of the vehicle. Armed with a 37mm M6 gun in a rotating turret and up to three 7.62mm M1919 Browning machine guns, the purposeful Staghound was not adopted by the US and was primarily supplied to the British and Commonwealth forces during WW2. This kit is a 2017 rebox with some new and updated parts which is based upon the original that first appeared in 2007. Lacking the usual highly

INFORMATION

INFORMATION

Product: Resin figure kit Ref: DG12B008

Bronco 1/35 T17E1 Staghound Mk.I (Late production)

Product: Construction kit Ref: MB35192

Scale: 1/35

Price: £10.99 (Creative)

Parts: 35

Manufacturer: MB Website: www.mbltd.info/

65

HOBBYBOSS 1/35 SCALE HBB83880 Vickers Medium Tank MKII* ......................£37.99 HBB83889 M35 Mittlere Panzerwagen (ADGZ-Daimler) .£33.99 HBB84510 T29e1 Heavy Tank ...................................£29.99 DRAGON 1/35 SCALE DN3578 IDF MAGACH 3 W/ ERA(SMART KIT) ..............£59.99 ITALERI 1/35 SCALE IT6543 Carro Armato M14/41 I w/Italian Infantry ......£24.99 ICM MODELS 1/35 SCALE ICM35663 Model T Ford 1917 LCP .............................£16.80 TAMIYA MODELS 1/35 SCALE TA35355 Matilda Mk.III/IV Red Army .........................£44.99 AFV CLUB 1/35 SCALE AF35272 IDF M109A1 Rochev....................................£59.99 TAKOM 1/35 SCALE TAK02070 US Medium Tank M47/G 2 in 1 .................£49.99 TAK02072 US Medium Tank M47E/M 2 in 1 ...............£49.99

TAKOM 1/35 SCALE TAK02051 Tiran-4 IDF Medium Tank ..........................£49.99 TAK02066 British APC FV432 Mk 2/1 w/interior.........£38.00 IBG MODELS 1/35 SCALE IBG 35029 Scammell Pioneer SV2S Breakdown ...........£35.00 RIICH MODELS 1/35 SCALE RC35017 Universal Carrier 3 in. Mortar Mk.1 .............£35.99 THUNDER MODELS 1/35 SCALE THU35101 Bergepanzer 38 Hetzer Late .....................£45.00 MENG MODEL 1/35 SCALE MMTS032 M1A1 Abrams TUSK MBT ...........................£49.99 TRUMPETER 1/35 SCALE TM09511 Ukrainian T-84 MBT ...................................£49.99 TM01015 M915 Truck Tractor & semi-trailer ...............£79.99 TM01548 T-62 Mod 1962 (Iraqi Regular Army) ..........£39.99 TRUMPETER 1/16 SCALE TM00924 Russian T-72B MBT ...................................£149.99

>>New Address< Bison/Star Bi S Decals D l & Black Dog Resin NOW IN STOCK! ring for details POST & PACKING U.K. £3.00

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BRAND NEW

BK-062 M48 Early pattern wheels + Spare (for Revell & other manfuacturers’ kits). QuickWheel mask included.

Set of resin wheels for kits in 1/35 scale. Our wheels are designed with use of original measurements and pictures. The original casting method leaves only a tiny trace of casting plug (around 1 mm wide). The set contains 14 complete wheels, a spare wheel, a drill and a QuickWheel painting mask. FEATURES LIST: - corrected shape of the steel wheel by adding the grooves inside the rims - corrected depth of the steel wheel (please note how shallow are the ones in plastic kits and how deep are the wheels actually on pictures of real tanks) - corrected shape and size of the bolts - added optional „stripe” in the middle of wheel’s rubber bandage to imitate the residue of rubber from vulcanization process, which can be easily sanded off if not required. - corrected height and width of the middle hub of the wheel - added the grease nipples on the middle hub cap and its side (early place ment and shape) - added markings on the rubbers

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OMRS PUBLICATION PU UBLICATION TThh e la te st

Honours and A Awards to Women The Royal Navy by N.G. Gooding

N rman Norman Norm an Gooding Goodi ding g is is one of Britain’s Bri rita tain in’’s leading lea ead ding eexperts perts on honours hono rs and and d awards a ards d tto o women, omen iin addition to being a past President and a longserving General Secretary of the Orders and Medals Research Society. O Honours and Awards to Women The Royal Navy is his third work in a series of such books. Divided into sections on Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service, the Voluntary Aid detachments who the h assisted i d them, h h Women’s Royal Naval Service and the Women’s Royal Naval Reserve, it contains the fruits of a lifetime’s research in one easy-to-use volume. There are full rolls of all honours bestowed on those who served in the separate women’s sections of the Royal Navy until these were absorbed into the main body of the service in modern times. There is also a list of those who received long service medals and a mass of information about campaign medals. The book is a unique reference work. Published March 2017, 155mm x 234mm, soft bound with colour cover, 132 pages, numerous black and white illustrations, ISBN 9780-9568266-9-5. This limited edition is priced at £5.00 to members (restricted to one copy each) and £7.00 to non-members, plus post and packing (UK - £2.10, Europe – £6.70, rest of the world - £9.50). Order and pay using credit and debit cards via the Society website: www.omrs.org Members and non-members may also order by post with a cheque (made payable to ‘OMRS’) via the General Secretary, (enquiries to: [email protected]): PO Box 6195, Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV31 9JU, United Kingdom.

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