Military Modelling Vol.47 Issue 04

Anniversary Special issue

A themed issue commemorating the 75th Anniversary of these decisive World War Two battles

100 PA

GE ISSUE

El Alamein ‘Special’ Panzer

The short barrelled Panzer IV Ausf.F1(F)

British M3 Grant

Sturmpanzer II ‘Bison’

The ‘General’ in North Africa

D.A.K. Panzerkampwagen II (Sf) in action 31st March 2017

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PLUS An overview of the El Alamein battles

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Contents

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EDITORIAL

Contributing Editor: Martyn Chorlton Enterprise House, Enterprise Way, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 6HF Email: [email protected]

PRODUCTION

Designer: Richard Dyer Illustrator: Grahame Chambers Retouching Manager: Brian Vickers Ad Production: Robin Gray

18

Features 10 The Battles of El Alamein

Turning the tide in the North African desert

18 ‘Special’ Panzer

Dragon 1/35 ‘8./Pz.Rgt. 8, 15th Panzer Division, Panzer IV f1 (f)’ by Mark Chisholm

26 Grant’ed Special Status

Modelling Academy’s M3 Grant by Mark Bannerman

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34 Desert Gossip

Marmon-Herrington in service with the Afrika Korps in Libya 1942 by Robert Blokker

48

40 Second-hand Swallow www.facebook.com/MilitaryModelling www.twitter.com/MilModOnline

Chris Lloyd-Staples presents his 1/35 Tasca Sherman II

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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.

58 48 ‘The Final Service’

Gary Radford presents a ‘Desert Emil’ in North Africa, 1942

54 Montgomery at El Alamein

Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery was one of Britain’s most famous Generals during WW2; by Malcolm Cuming

58 The ‘Desert Fox’

Erwin Rommel, Alexandros 1/10 resin bust by Adrian Hopwood

54

Vol.47 No.4 2017 62

Stand Easy...

62 Italiano Self-Propelled ‘Automotive’ in North Africa

68

Italian Italeri Semovente M40 da 75/18 by Mark Bannerman

68 ‘Matilda’s last Waltz’

Tamiya’s 1/48 ‘Queen of the Desert’, the Matilda II by Chris Meddings

74 Dirty ‘Diana’

7.62cm FK 296(r) auf 5t Zugkraftwagen Sd.Kfz.6 ‘Diana’ by Ivan Momcilovic Momcha

74

80 British Tank Commander

Sovereign 2000 miniatures 1/9th scale resin bust by Adrian Hopwood

82 Sturmpanzer II ‘Bison’ The 15cm sIG 33 Auf Fahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen II (Sf) by Ivan Momcilovic Momcha

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Regular Features 5 ‘Stand Easy’

A message from the Contributing Editor

96 Next Issue

What’s coming up in your favourite modelling magazine!

Cover Story... MAIN IMAGE: Malcom Cuming’s 1/9 Monty bust (Left) and Adrian Hopwood’s 1/10 bust of Rommel (Right).

W

elcome to a ‘Special’ version of Military Modelling Volume 47, Issue 4 which on this occasion focusses on the 75th Anniversary of the Battles of El Alamein. As we all know, it was a crucial, tide-turning campaign which saw the Allies suddenly step from the back foot to the front. Traditionally an AFV Special slot, I thought it would make a change to concentrate on a particular event and, with 100 pages to play with, I have taken advantage of the extra space to present you with 13 quality articles by a range of authors, some familiar and a couple new. I realise that this may seem a little early to some with regard to the dates of the two Battles of El Alamein but, all being well, I also may be able to create a second ‘special’ in the slot that was once occupied by the Euromilitaire Special this coming November. Even with a mag this size there is so much more I wanted to include such as the artillery, the multiple soft-skins and diverse range of armoured cars, half-tracks and light vehicles that were involved in the colossal toing and froing conflict which, by the time it had come to an end, had lasted for nearly three years. In that time, the Axis forces had dominated the bulk of Europe and North Africa and by the end were retreating and defending on all fronts. It really was one of the most important theatres of war during the Second World War and the sacrifice made by British, Australian, New Zealand, South African, Indian and Greek troops, not to mention the equally high losses for the German and Italian forces, should never be overlooked. Please send me a message at [email protected] if you think you have a project that I might be interested in within these hallowed pages. Please visit www.militarymodelling.com for ideas, inspiration and advice virtually 24 hours a day. ‘Carry On!’

Martyn Chorlton Contributing Editor [email protected]

LEFT INSET: Dragon 1/35 Panzer IV by Mark Chisholm. CENTRE INSET: Mark Bannerman’s Academy 1/35 M3 Grant. RIGHT INSET: Sturmpanzer II ‘Bison’ by Ivan Momcilovic Momcha.

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History

The Battles of

El Alamein Turning the tide in the North African desert ABOVE: One of the most effective artillery pieces in the British Army inventory was the Ordnance QF 25-pounder seen here during the opening barrage of the Second Battle of El Alamein on October 23, 1942.

BELOW: The Italian forces featured prominently during both battles of El Alamein. This pair is serving with the Bersaglieri (Light Infantry Marksmen) during the First Battle of El Alamein.

10

The first Battle of El Alamein (July 1-27, 1942) El Alamein was little more than a railway station on the coast of Northern Egypt. Ten miles to the south was the low Ruweisat Ridge which was an excellent observation position and a further 20 miles south was the Qattara Depression. This natural terrain was the British Army’s line of defence and, if Rommel wanted to outflank them, he would have to travel across the Sahara. This area had been surveyed as a key defensive position long before the war began and part of the region was already prepared with ‘boxes’ of dug-outs surrounded by minefields and barbed wire. Three ‘boxes’ were created, the strongest of them at El Alamein, another part-built at Bab el Qattara and a third close to the Qattara Depression at Naq Abu Dweis. Gen. Auchinleck (C-in-C Middle East Command) was confident that he could halt Rommel at El

Alamein but was still under no illusion that defeat was still a possibility so provision for further defensive positions was built deeper into Egypt. It was Auchinleck’s plan to use X Corp for the defences at El Alamein but they had taken such a pounding at Mersa Matruh that he was forced to re-position XXX Corps, made up of 1st South African and 5th and 10th Indian Divisions on the right of the coastal sector. To the left would be XIII Corps, comprising 2nd New Zealand and 4th Indian Divisions. What was left of 1st and 7th Armoured Divisions was held in reserve but during the battle would be deployed as mobile units. Meanwhile, Rommel continued to advance and by June 30 was close to El Alamein. His forces were exhausted but Rommel was convinced that if he kept advancing he could overrun the 8th Army and continue into Egypt. The problem of thinning supply lines never went away and they were continually attacked from the air by the RAF. Regardless, Rommel planned his attack, beginning with the 90th Light Division and 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions being ordered to pierce the 8th Army lines between the El Alamein box and Deir el Abyad. The 90th Light would then turn north to the coast, trapping all Allied forces while the Panzer Divisions would attack XIII Corps from the rear. Two Italian divisions would follow the 90th Light into the El Alamein box while the Italian XX Corps would attack the Qattara box. The 133rd Armoured Division Littoria and several German reconnaissance units would cover the right flank. All was set, but the battle did not begin well for Rommel because the 90th Light were 15 miles short of their start point and the 21st Panzer was stranded in the desert without fuel.

Rommel attacks The Axis attack began at 0300hrs on July 1, when the 90th Light advanced east only to discover that they had travelled too far north which exposed them to the guns of 1st South African Division. The 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions had fared no better; a fierce sandstorm and attacks by the RAF had hindered their progress. The divisions managed to advance to Deir el Shein where they were halted by 18th Indian Infantry, supported by nine Matildas, 23 25-pdrs and 16 anti-tank guns. With the element of surprise erased, the German attack began at 1000hrs and it took them the whole day to overrun the defenders who had bravely bought Auchinleck enough time to bolster his defences at Ruweisat. Meanwhile, the 90th Light had negotiated the El Alamein box but was now pinned down under a barrage from the South Africans. The next day, the 90th Light again tried to make progress against the South Africans but failed, forcing Rommel to re-position his panzer units to the east of Ruweisat in support of the infantry. Under the command of Brig. Waller, the Royal Artillery of 10th Indian Infantry Division held their ground on Ruweisat, buying further time before 4th and 22nd Armoured Brigades arrived to take on the 15th and 22nd Panzer. This extra armour enabled the Allies to further reinforce Ruweisat that night and further attacks from the air kept the Axis forces at bay. On July 3, the attack continued, bolstered to the south by the Italian XX Motorised Corps while the Italian X Corps held El Mreir. The panzer divisions were down to 26 tanks (from 55) and no closer to breaking

Military Modelling Vol.47 No.4 2017

History

through at Ruweisat. On the left of the 8th Army line, XIII Corps was ordered by Auchinleck to advance from the Qattara box and then steer north behind the attacking Axis forces. As they advanced, New Zealand 2nd Division, the remnants of Indian 5th Division and 7th Motor Brigade were greeted by the artillery of the Ariete Armoured Division which was driving hard towards Ruweisat on the Axis southern flank. Before the day was over, the Ariete was a shambles, their near demise again aided by the RAF. Extended supply lines were now beginning to suffer under regular air attacks and Rommel was forced to dig in. In contrast, the Allies were getting stronger thanks to the Australian 9th Division arriving on July 4 and Indian 5th Infantry and 161st Infantry Brigades joining the defence on July 9.

Australian victory at Tel el Eisa (Jul 8-16) It was now time to fight back and, on July 8, Auchinleck ordered XXX Corps, under the command of Lt. Gen. Ramsden, to capture the ridges at Tel el Eisa and Tel el Makh Khad and to dispatch mobile forces south to Deir el Shein and El Daba. The Australian 9th Division and 44th Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) would take Tel el Eisa and South African 1st Division would attack Tel el Makh Khad, while raiding parties were provided by 1st Armoured Division. The attack on Tel el Eisa began after a bombardment during the early hours of July 10 by the Australian 26th Brigade. The Italian defenders, the 60th Infantry Division Sabratha, were easily overcome and over 1,500 prisoners were taken. The Australians also captured German Signals Intercept Company 621; by this point Rommel was now blind from an intelligence gathering point of view. Before the sun was at its highest point, the South Africans had also acquired their objective at Tel el Makh Khad. Rommel responded by bringing up the 164th Light Division while the Italians followed with the 101st Motorised Division Trieste to bolster the weakening Axis position. Counter-attacks were then launched by the 15th Panzer and Trieste against the Australians but all failed.

On July 11, the Australians responded again by despatching 2/24th Battalion, backed up by the tanks of 44th RTR to attack the western side of Tel el Eisa hill which, by early afternoon, was captured and defended against several counter-attacks. A small column then probed deeper into the Axis lines to raid Deir el Abyad where a battalion of Italian infantry surrendered; by the end of the day, a further 1,000 Italians became POWs. The 21st Panzer attacked the following day, this time against the South African positions but, once again, the Allied artillery pushed back the Germans. Further counter-attacks were attempted on July 15 with heavy casualties at Tel el Eisa hill. On July 16, it was the turn of the Australians to attack, with the support of British tanks but this time the Allies suffered heavy casualties and this scrap of land called Tel el Eisa was proving costly to all. By the end of a week, fighting for Tel el Eisa hill had faded out.

ABOVE: Very rare colour image of El Alamein railway station during the Second World War.

Operation Bacon (Jul 14-16) Having drawn a number of German units further north to the Tel el Eisa region, Auchinleck recognised that this left two demoralised Italian units, the Brescia and Pavia Divisions, on their own near Ruweisat. The plan, named Operation Bacon, was for 4th and 5th New Zealand Brigade to attack the western side of the ridge while the Indian 5th Infantry Brigade would attack the east. As these brigades progressed, the 2nd Armoured Brigade would pass through the centre and on towards Deir el Shein and the Miteirya Ridge, while 22nd Armoured Brigade would provide support to the infantry. ABOVE: The Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command (Jul 1941 to Aug 1942), General Claude Auchinleck. Cecil Beaton LEFT: El Alamein Map.

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History LEFT: Making use of any vehicle you could lay your hands was no more prevalent than during the North African Campaign. This is an example of a captured Ford F15 converted by the Germans to carry a 2cm Flak 30 cannon. www.o5m6.de

The British tanks did eventually move forward to support the infantry but a swift counter-attack by the 15th Panzer and the 8th Panzer Regiment early on July 15 saw New Zealand 22nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, outgunned and 350 Kiwis taken prisoner. Rommel quickly responded to the Brescia and Pavia Divisions’ plight and by 1500hrs the 3rd and 33rd Reconnaissance Regiments and the Baade Group, all under the command of Lt. Gen. Nehring, arrived. Nehring launched a counter-attack and, at 1700hrs, took on 4th New Zealand Brigade. 380 New Zealanders were captured. At 1815hrs, 2nd Armoured put a stop to Nehring’s advance and he withdrew. On July 16, Nehring attacked the Indian 5th positions twice but thanks to a well-prepared defence, reinforced by a regiment sent to bolster 2nd Armoured, the Axis attack was thwarted. This three day battle, (aka The First Battle of Ruweisat Ridge) saw the Allies capture another 2,000 POWs. This again came at a cost though; the New Zealanders suffered over 1,400 casualties but three Italian divisions had been removed from Rommel’s strength, forcing him to dig in again.

The Second battle of Ruweisat Ridge (Jul 21-23, 1942)

ABOVE: An Italian Semovente M40 da 75/18s ready to move on!

BELOW: Rain or shine, day or night, the conditions in the desert for both the Allies and Axis forces.

At 2300hrs on July 14, the attack began and before dawn broke, the New Zealand brigades had taken their objectives, although minefields and some resistance slowed their advance. The New Zealanders found themselves occupying a number of exposed positions and were further compromised by a communications failure between 2nd and 22nd Armoured, the latter not knowing that it had been called up earlier to support the infantry.

The 8th Army now found itself in a stronger position with regard to hardware; the 1st Armoured Division had 173 tanks in contrast to Rommel who only had 89. Auchinleck was determined to take Ruweisat and his next plan involved the Indian 161st Infantry Brigade which would seize Deir el Shein via the ridge and the New Zealand 6th Brigade which would come in from the south to the El Mrier Depression. The 2nd and 23rd Armoured Brigades would take advantage of the gap created by the infantry. At 1630hrs on July 21, the battle began with the New Zealanders taking the El Mrier Depression but again, they left themselves exposed. The following morning, neither armoured brigade had managed to make any ground and, at the same time, Nehring launched a swift counter-attack with the 5th and 8th Panzer Regiments which overwhelmed the New Zealanders. The Kiwis suffered over 900 casualties despite 2nd Armoured despatching a pair of regiments to support them which were stopped by a minefield and anti-tank fire. The attack by Indian 161st on the western side of Ruweisat failed but at 0800hrs a reserve battalion did achieve its objective although they were soon driven back. In an attempt to recover something from the El Mrier situation, 23rd Armoured was determined to advance. However, the commanding officer of the 1st Armoured Division, Maj. Gen. Gatehouse suggested that 23rd Armoured advance should be cancelled as he was not sure that their path was clear of mines. Lt. Gen. Gott, the commander of XIII Corps, disagreed and ordered the attack to continue a mile further south of the original plan; an area he thought to be mine free. However, 23rd Armoured’s advance went ahead as originally planned because the revised orders were not received. The assault came to an abrupt halt as it bogged down in a dense minefield. To add further insult, 23rd Armoured was attacked by the 21st Panzer at 1100hrs and was completely wiped out. Gott order 5th Indian Infantry to capture the western side of Ruweisat and Derir el Shein at night. At 0200hrs on July 23, 3/14th Punjab Regiment and

Military Modelling Vol.47 No.4 2017

History

9th Indian Infantry Brigade launched its attack but lost its way in the darkness. An attempt to recover the situation in daylight also failed. Meanwhile, Australian 9th Division continued the pressure and, at 0600hrs on July 22, Australian 26th Brigade attacked Tel el Eisa and 24th Brigade set out for Tel el Makh Khad. Both objectives were taken, Tel el Eisa seeing high Australian casualties while Tel el Makh Khad was made easier by having 50th RTR in support. However, the latter still lost 23 tanks.

The final stages of the first battle

During July 26/27, XXX Corps was bolstered by 1st Armoured Division, 4th Light Armoured Brigade and 69th Infantry Brigade. This gave Auchinleck the opportunity to hit Rommel again and push through the enemy lines south of Miteirya Ridge and on towards the northwest. The South Africans were tasked with clearing a path through the minefields southeast of Miteirya before midnight on July 26. The plan was for 24th Australian Infantry Brigade to capture the eastern end of Miteirya Ridge by 0100hrs on July 27 while the 69th Infantry would take the safe route through the minefield and push on to Deir el Dhib. The 2nd Armoured would pass through the minefield and head for El Wishka while 4th Light Armoured Brigade followed and attacked Axis communications. Unfortunately, the plan had little chance of success and the defenders were well briefed as to where the attack would take place. At 0200hrs, the Australian 24th Brigade reached its objective at Miteirya Ridge and 69th Infantry also reached their goal, albeit at 0800hrs. Confusion reigned as information as to where the entries to the routes through the minefields were was inaccurate. This delayed the anti-tank support and 2nd Armoured from reaching 69th Infantry and seizing the opportunity; Rommel counter-attacked. The 50th RTR was having the same problems getting through the minefields, the routes of which had been made by the Australian 2/24th Battalion. Unable to get through, 50th RTR was hit by enemy fire and 13 tanks were lost. The 2/28th Australian Battalion was also overrun by German forces and, by the end of the battle, 69th Brigade had suffered 600 casualties. Auchinleck ordered that all offensive operations should come to an end on July 31 and that the focus should return to defensive positions. There were no winners in The First Battle of El Alamein; both sides needed to regroup and strengthen their positions. Rommel could not wait for the 8th Army to build up its strength; he had to strike again, while Auchinleck adopted another defensive strategy and stated that he would not be in a position to attack until mid-September. That decision brought about his replacement; Gott was appointed as the 8th Army commander and Gen. Sir Alexander became C-in-C Middle East Command. Gott was killed in a plane crash on August 7, 1942. His replacement was Lt. Gen. Montgomery.

The Second Battle of El Alamein (Oct 23-Nov 11, 1942) First Phase At 2140hrs on October 23, 1942, Operation Lightfoot was launched; the infantry who took part were too light to set off the anti-

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tanks mines they were walking over, thus the name of the operation. However, before the main action began, 24th Australian Brigade distracted the 15th Panzer with an intensive barrage. The main barrage followed, which involved 882 guns. Initially, the first shells fell at the same time along a 40 mile-long front. However, after just 20 minutes, the barrage switched to individual targets in support of the infantry and continued for over five and half hours. Meanwhile, paths were sliced through the minefields by the engineers. The four infantry divisions of XXX Corps began to advance at 2200hrs. Their task was to establish a bridgehead close to the toughest enemy defences which were on the furthest side of the second line of minefields. When the infantry reached the first minefield, a path was created for the armoured divisions of X Corps. It was not until 0200hrs that the first tank set out and it was another two hours before they were crossing the minefield. Chaos ensued as dust was stirred up and the tanks became bogged down, resulting in only half the infantry achieving their objectives and none of X Corps’ tanks breaking through. To the south, a secondary attack was made by 7th Armoured Division and a Free French Brigade from XIII Corps. The objective was to attack the 21st Panzer and the Ariete Division located around Jebel Kalakh. The Free French were tasked with securing the El Taqa plateau and Qaret el Himeimat while 44th Infantry Division and 131st Infantry Brigade protected the right flank. The Allies were faced with the 185th Airborne Division Folgore and the Keil Group, both of them determined defenders. The minefields in front of the Axis were much deeper than expected and progress through them was slowed by accurate enemy fire. To the south, 50th Infantry Division achieved some success against the Brescia and Pavia Divisions and parts of the 185th Folgore.

ABOVE: An M3 Grant of the 1st Armoured Division receives some attention from a group of happy German soldiers.

BELOW: Captain Charles Upham VC, who gained a bar to his Victoria Cross during the first Battle of El Alamein on July 14/15, 1942.

History

RIGHT: One of the more unusual vehicles to be seen during the conflict was the Italian Pavesi P4M artillery tractor. www.o5m6.de

To the south, in the XIII Corps sector, 44th Division’s 131st Infantry Brigade managed to clear a path quickly enough for the 22nd Armoured Brigade to pass through. Again, the brigade came under heavy fire and at least 31 tanks were lost. Montgomery’s initial push was over by October 25 but the Allies had broken through the minefields to create a new six mile wide and five miles deep gain, which included the top of Miteirya Ridge. The 15th Panzer and Littorio Divisions went on the offensive to find weak points but were left disappointed. At midnight, 51st Highland Division launched the first of three attacks but sadly the assault was a failure and 500 soldiers were killed. During this assault, the Australians attacked an Axis artillery observation post southwest of Tel el Eisa known as Point 29. Their objective was to surround the German 164th Light Division which included a number of Italian infantry. At midnight, Australian 26th Brigade launched its attack, supported by 40th RTR with artillery and 30 tanks. Fighting was destined to continue for several days and this scrap of land was eventually captured. ABOVE: Italian soldiers are marched into captivity during the early stages of the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942.

BELOW: Sgt. Keith Elliot who won the Victoria Cross whilst serving with 22nd Battalion, 2nd New Zealand Division on July 15, 1942 during the First Battle of El Alamein.

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Phase 2 During the morning of October 24, Montgomery gave orders to the New Zealand Division, with 10th Armoured Division in support, to push south to Miteirya Ridge. The Australian 9th was ordered to carry out a ‘crumbling’ operation in the north that night, while in the south, 7th Armoured would continue to push through the minefields. The Axis HQ suffered a major blow when its temporary commander (Rommel was in Germany), Gen. Stumme, travelled towards the front line to study the situation. His car came under fire and, even though Stumme was not hit, he died of a heart attack. Maj. Gen. von Thoma was put in temporary command. Rommel flew back to North Africa via Rome on October 25 where he appealed for more fuel and ammunition. Axis tanks from the 15th Panzer and the Littorio Divisions launched the first counter attack of the battle at dusk on October 24 to engage the 1st Armoured. More than 100 tanks took part, more than half of them had been destroyed by nightfall to the advantage of neither. A convoy of 25 Allied vehicles was attacked by Axis aircraft on October 24, their fuel and ammunition destined for the 10th Armoured Division. Because of this, Lumsden wanted to cancel that night’s attack on Miteirya Ridge but Montgomery was insistent. Once again creating paths for the tanks to get through the minefields took longer than anticipated, complicated by the 8th Armoured Brigade, the lead unit, being scattered by an air attack. The brigade found itself in open territory in broad daylight soaking up enemy fire while the 24th Armoured Brigade at least managed to push forward and, by dawn, claimed to be at the Pierson Line. However, once the dust had settled, they were found to be a long way short.

Phase 3 The Axis forces in the northern section of the line suffered heavy losses; artillery and air attacks had taken their toll; the Trento Division had lost half of its infantry and virtually all of its artillery while the 164th Light was down by two battalions and the 15th Panzer (down to 31 tanks) while Littoria were also suffering. Rommel now focussed on retaking Point 29 and, at 1500hrs on October 26, the 15th Panzer, 164th Light and sections of the Italian XX Corps attacked the position which Rommel referred to as Hill 28. While the 8th Army had stalled in the middle of the front, a significant incident took place off Tobruk when the oil tankers, Tergestea and Proserpina, were sunk by RAF Wellingtons and Beaufort torpedo bombers. On hearing the news, Rommel knew that the fuel they carried was his last chance of victory in the desert. Montgomery received news on October 26 that the infantry of XXX Corps had finally secured the planned bridgehead, although the tanks of X Corps had still failed to breach the anti-tank perimeter. Montgomery therefore decided to reduce the strength of his front line and draw a reserve force from it which would, when called upon, swing the momentum of the battle back in favour of the 8th Army. This reserve included the New Zealand Division (inc. 9th Armoured Brigade) and the 7th and 10th Armoured Divisions.

‘Snipe’ and ‘Woodcock’ During the evening of October 26, the heart of the battle was located around Tel el Aqqaqir and the Kidney feature located at the end of the 1st Armoured’s route through the minefield. To the northwest of the Kidney was the Outpost ‘Woodcock’ and, to the southwest,

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one mile distance was Outpost ‘Snipe’ (‘Skinflint’ was also located nearby). Two battalions from 7th Motor Brigade; 2nd Battalion, The Rifle Brigade and 2nd Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) would attack ‘Snipe’ and ‘Woodcock’ respectively. At dawn on October 27, the plan was for 2nd Armoured Brigade to move north of ‘Woodcock’ while, at the same time, 24th Armoured Brigade would travel south around ‘Snipe’; both units supported by X and XXX Corps artillery. Both battalions set out but both found it difficult to locate ‘Snipe’ and ‘Woodcock’. 2nd Battalion did find and capture ‘Snipe’, thanks to some assistance from artillery while the KRRC had still not reached ‘Woodcock’ by dawn and were dug in when 2nd Armoured began its advance at 0600hrs on October 27. The 24th Armoured moved off not long after and it soon linked up with The Rifle Brigade, although it did shell them in error. Progress for 2nd Armoured was not so swift and they had still not reached the KRRC by noon. The tanks of the Littorio Division and anti-tank guns of the 15th Panzer kept 2nd Armoured at bay, even with the support of anti-tank guns of the The Rifle Brigade. Determined to dislodge the Allies from ‘Snipe’, Rommel launched a combined counter attack which saw the 90th Light carry out another attempt to capture Point 29 while the 21st Panzer would re-take ‘Snipe’. These counter attacks were launched at 1600hrs but as the Axis tanks rolled forward they were faced with 13 6-pdr anti-tank guns of The Rifle Brigade and a further six from 239th Anti-Tank Battery, Royal Artillery. The brigade held its ground and, by the end of the attack, 22 German and ten Italian tanks were destroyed. In error, British forces were withdrawn from ‘Snipe’ and ‘Woodcock’ that evening without replacement and, when it was discovered that these hard fought patches of land were vacant again, 133rd Lorried Infantry Brigade was quickly despatched to re-capture them. At 0130hrs on October 28, 4th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment estimated that they were at ‘Woodcock’ and dug in. The 2nd Armoured rolled forward to provide support to the Royal Sussex but before they could reach them, the battalion suffered a heavy counter attack. Two other battalions of 133rd Lorried thought they had re-captured ‘Snipe’ and also dug in, only to discover that they were short of their objective. In the meantime, the 90th Light launched its attack on Point 29 in the afternoon but suffered under heavy artillery fire which brought the action to a swift halt. D+5&6 October 28 was a significant day which would again see Rommel playing his final cards. The 15th and 21st Panzer were ordered to attack X Corps but their advance was halted by accurate fire. While the panzers attempted to re-group they were also attacked from above for over two and half hours. This was a major turning point in the battle in favour of the Allies and Rommel would never be able to grasp the initiative again. In response to this success, Montgomery ordered X Corp to take over the ‘Snipe’/‘Woodcock’ areas and create a defensive position. Focus was turned to the north and again the Australians would be involved. On October 28/29, Australian 9th was instructed to perform another set-piece action with 20th and 26th Australian Infantry Brigades, supported by 40th and 46th RTR respectively. The 20th Brigade was ordered to advance northwest from Point 29 to create a position for 26th Brigade to attack Axis

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positions at Thompson’s Post. If successful, 26th Brigade would continue across the railway, on to the coast road and then turn southeast and attack the rear of the Axis forces. 20th Brigade objectives were achieved but 26th Brigade ran into trouble. The tanks and carriers of 46th RTR, which were carrying a large number of troops because of the distance involved, ran into a minefield which forced the infantry to dismount. Tanks and infantry lost touch with each other when fighting began with the 125th Panzergrenadier Regiment and a battalion of the 7th Bersaglieir Regiment. The Australians suffered heavy casualties and the German and Italian forces managed to hold their positions until reinforcements arrived on November 1. Even with these Allied setbacks, Rommel’s position was tenuous and he admitted to his commanders that there was not even enough fuel to retreat. To confirm this train of thought, a third tanker bound for North Africa was sunk by the RAF off the Greek coast on October 28. Thanks to Rommel’s commitment of the 90th Light against Point 29, Montgomery was well aware that his foe’s reserves were disappearing fast. Rommel was still convinced that the main thrust would come from the north and Montgomery, knowing this, decided to carry out the same plan as before with the 9th Australian again on October 31/ November 1. This time, however, the assault would take place along a new front, south of Point 29. The Australians continued their attempts to capture the paved coastal road and late on October 30, they achieved this. On October 31, Rommel brought forward a battlegroup from the 21st Panzer

ABOVE: M4 Shermans of the 4th Tank Regiment, County of London Yeomanry, British 1st Armoured Division near El Alamein in November 1942.

BELOW: Men of the 28th (Maori) Infantry Battalion, 2nd New Zealand Division perform the ‘Hacker’ for the camera.

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RIGHT: Another example of a captured vehicle, this time the ubiquitous Chevy CMP C60L which would literally serve anyone anywhere! www.o5m6.de

which carried out four attacks against Thompson’s Post. The fighting was brutal and close quarter but the Australians never gave an inch. On November 1, Rommel continued to hit the Australians with everything he had but they would not budge. It was more bad news for Rommel when two more supply ships were sunk off Tobruk and the only fuel being received was being flown in from Crete. Rommel was planning for a retreat with the 90 tanks he had left compared to the Allies’ 800 plus.

Operation Supercharge (Phase 4)

ABOVE: Montgomery accepts the surrender of Gen. Wilhelm von Thoma on November 4, 1942.

BELOW: The Commanding Officer of the 8th Army in North Africa, Gen. Bernard Montgomery surveys the battlefield from a M3 Grant.

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This phase of the battle was designed to destroy enemy armour by forcing them out into the open and disrupting and destroying enemy supplies. The objective of Operation Supercharge was Tel el Aqqaqir, located three miles northwest of the Kidney shaped area positioned on the Rahman lateral track. The operation would be performed by the 2nd New Zealand Division under the command of Lt. Gen Sir Freyberg. The division would also have the 151st (Durham) Brigade (50th Division), 152nd (Seaford and Camerons) Brigade (51st Division), 133rd Royal Sussex Lorried Infantry Brigade and 9th Armoured Brigade under its command, in addition to its own 5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade and 28th (Maori) Infantry Battalion. The plan, which was very similar to Lightfoot, was for 151st and 152nd Infantry to advance and clear a path through the minefields for the supporting 8th and 50th RTR. Through these paths, the 9th Armoured, backed up by a heavy barrage, would crack open the Axis defence followed by 1st Armoured Division which would push on and attack Rommel’s reserves. In

defence, Rommel had positioned a Panzergrenadier Regiment to strengthen the Trieste Division with over 100 German and 65 Italian tanks at his disposal. The operation began with the RAF bombing the area around Tel el Aqqaqir and Sidi Abd el Rahman for almost seven hours followed by a four and half hour-long barrage. The 151st and 152nd Infantry set out at 0105hrs on November 2 and, in contrast to previous efforts, had achieved their objectives on time and with minimal loss. The 28th (Maori) achieved its objectives on the right-hand side of the main attack while 133rd Lorried achieved the same on the left. Meanwhile, 9th Armoured set out from El Alamein railway station at 2000hrs on November 1 with 130 tanks and, by the time it had arrived at the start line of the operation, it was down to 94. At 0615hrs, slightly behind schedule, the three regiments of 9th Armoured began their advance. With the sun at their backs, the Allied tanks were visible to the defending German guns and Italian cannons. As the attack unfolded, a number of German tanks managed to slip between the advancing Warwickshire and Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, causing many casualties. The Axis guns also began to account for a number of Allied tanks but momentum was on their side and in a short space of time approximately 35 enemy guns had been destroyed and a large number of prisoners taken. However, this had come at great cost and 9th Armoured were down to just 24 tanks (many more were recoverable) by the end of the action and 230 crew had been killed. The 9th Armoured was almost wiped out trying to achieve its objective and once the dust had settled the gap it needed to create for 1st Armoured to pass through was still not there. When 1st Armoured began to deploy, it collected the remains of 9th Armoured while behind, 2nd Armoured Brigade arrived and, a few hours later, 8th Armoured Brigade joined the fray and, as one, the British armour advanced in a south westerly direction. Further heavy fighting soon followed and, at 1100hrs, the remnants of the 15th and 21st Panzer and the Littorio Divisions carried out a counter-attack against 1st Armoured and what was left of 9th Armoured. Well dug in and with a wall of anti-tank guns supported by artillery and good air support, the Axis counter failed and 100 enemy tanks lay strewn across the desert. By late afternoon on November 2, 133rd Lorried and 151st Infantry attacked ‘Snipe’ and ‘Skinflint’. Assisted by a heavy artillery barrage, what few defenders of the Trieste Division that were left were quickly dispersed and the area which would form a base for future operations, was captured, with minimal casualties. On the night of November 2, Montgomery took the opportunity to re-organise and refresh his forces ready for the next stage of the attack. The 5th Indian, 5th

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New Zealand, 151st and 154th Infantry Brigades were all placed with XXX Corps and X Corps was made stronger by bringing forward 7th Armoured Division and moving 4th Light Armoured Brigade to XII Corps in the southern sector. On the Axis side, it was a different picture, the number of serviceable tanks had reduced significantly and artillery and anti-tank weapons were down to half strength. Phase 5 Rommel was now forced to withdraw to Fuka. Montgomery attacked again at 1745hrs on November 3 when 152nd Infantry, supported by 8th RTR, advanced two miles south of Tel el Aqqaqir. The objective was the Rahman track which 5th Indian Infantry Brigade would attack during the small hours of November 4 and, at 0615hrs, 154th Infantry Brigade would hit Tel el Aqqaqir. This three pronged attack met with varying resistance so initially the infantry fell short of their objectives and were forced to dig in. However, by the time the 5th Indian began its advance the defensive positions had been vacated and the objective was achieved with virtually no casualties. On November 4, it was time to begin chasing the enemy down, the plan being for the 1st and 7th Armoured Divisions to head north while Freyberg’s 2nd New Zealand Division would advance west to an escarpment above Fuka. The plan did not begin well and the New Zealand Division found itself bogged down in a number of minefields and it was not until dark that it reached the Rahman track. The 1st and 7th Armoured did not advance as quickly as hoped either and their plan to encircle the 90th Light was halted by stiff Axis resistance. The remains of the 21st Panzer held up 1st Armoured up for most of the day while 7th Armoured was halted by the Ariete Armoured Division which was wiped out as a result. November 4 also saw the demise of the Littorio Armoured and Trieste Motorised Divisions while the remains of the Bologna and Trento Divisions tried desperately to fight their way out of El Alamein. Again it was obvious to Rommel that all was lost; many of the Italian units were now abandoned and the situation for the Axis forces continued to deteriorate when 1st Armoured steered towards El Daba and 7th Armoured advanced towards Galal, 15 miles further west. Only the New Zealanders were prevented from reaching their objective by the 15th Panzer who caught the Kiwi’s tip toeing through a minefield which turned out to be a dummy. On November 5, 7th Armoured was ordered to head for the coastal road at Sidi Haneish and 1st Armoured to move from a position west of El Daba to Bir Khalda, 80 miles west of the Rahman track and then cut through the road at Mersa Matruh. Neither move worked, 7th Armoured ended the day 20 miles short and 1st Armoured ran out of fuel on November 6, 16 miles from Bir Khalda. At 1100hrs on November 6, two armoured regiments of 1st Armoured were refuelled, only to run out again 30 miles southwest of Mersa Matruh. The 2nd New Zealand Division managed to advance nearer to Sidi Haneish and 10th Armoured Brigade arrived west of Galal to take over the airfield and escarpment at Fuka. The 7th Armoured ran into the 21st Panzer and Voss Reconnaissance Group, 15 miles southwest of Sidi Haneish during the morning of November 6. The 21st Panzer lost 16 tanks and a number of guns before making their escape during the evening towards Mersa Matruh.

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By November 7, 1st and 7th Armoured were completely static thanks to heavy rain and a lack of fuel. The 10th Armoured were in a better position on the coastal road and managed to push on to Mersa Matruh, while the infantry cleared the road to the west of Galal. 80 miles west of Mersa Matruh lays Sidi Barrani and it was here that Rommel planned to fight a delaying action which would give the remainder of his retreating forces time to travel through the passes at Halfya and Sollum. The Axis forces held Sidi Barrani until late on November 9 while the New Zealand Division continued to push west towards Sollum the following evening. At the same time, 4th Light Armoured Brigade were positioned at the foot of Halfya Pass and 7th Armoured swung south and prepared to attack Fort Capuzzo and Sidi Azeiz. On November 11, the final day of the battle, 5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade poured into the Halfya Pass and took over 600 Italian prisoners. By the end of play on November 11, 1942, the Egyptian border area was finally declared clear of Axis forces and Churchill had finally been presented with the victory that he had been craving for so long. It finally showed the world that the German war machine could be beaten. The North African Campaign would drag on until May 1943 but this really was a major turning point in the Second World War for the Allies.

ABOVE: British soldiers and airmen show off a couple of souvenirs including a German sign warning of unexploded ordnance.

BELOW: Rommel at the head of his troops, specifically the 15th Panzer Division, after retreating into Libya in November 1942.

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AFV

‘Special’ Panzer Dragon 1/35 ‘8./Pz.Rgt. 8, 15th Panzer Division, Panzer IV f1 (f)’ by Mark Chisholm ABOVE: The author’s completed model placed into a North African scenic setting courtesy of Photoshop.

BELOW: The nearly complete model from Dragon, not the photo etch air intake louvres and fine detail on these ‘Smart Kits’.

Introduction At the time of the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942, the legendary Afrika Korps, the force that had been commanded by General Feld Marshal Erwin Rommel as the scourge of the Desert Rats, comprised approximately 443 armoured units. The 15th Panzer Division had been fighting as an integral component of the Deutsches Afrikakorps since 1941. At this time the primary tank remained the Panzer III J with the 50mm gun as the only mobile armoured component able to take on the British Matildas with their thick frontal armour. Also at this time was the appearance of the new Panzer IV ‘special’ as the British designated the long barrelled 75mm armament, which was the most effective

armour for tank on tank engagements the Germans could muster. However, the short barrelled Panzer IV was still being used in the role of infantry support and the latest version was designated the Ausf. F1(F) and was marked by the fact that the armour thickness was increased to 50mm at the front and 30mm on the sidewalls, increasing its weight to over 22 tonnes. This necessitated a wider track in order to spread the increased weight over a larger area and therefore slightly altered running gear. This subject interested me as it was the last appearance of the Panzer IV in the guise of an infantry support tank and the second Battle of El Alamein was largely an infantry battle.

Construction I chose the Dragon rendering of the Pz IV f1 (f) in the ‘SmartKit’ production series number 6315. This is a very straightforward project that can be nearly completed using just what is in the box. Construction as normal starts with the lower hull and suspension; the model benefits from highly detailed slide moulded single piece lower hull and turret. I started adding extra detail consisting of photo etch to represent the chain that keeps the front and rear toe pins from being lost. I recommend being very thorough in the clean-up; in particular the upper hull parts which all layer together and interface in a very precise manner. I found it best to have all the parts removed from the sprue and to dry fit all the pieces to

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ABOVE LEFT: Details of the armoured visors and crew hatches; these were deliberately posed open and ajar to give the model a feeling of animation. ABOVE RIGHT: The very simple modification to the standard kit was the addition of a plastic strip to represent the retaining bar (a field modification) to enable external storage of the water carriers (Jerry Cans). BELOW LEFT: Karaya brass cable was used to substitute the kits springy steel wire. The recovery tow cable is posed as if ready for action by draping it out along the fenders to affect more rapid battlefield recovery in the event of combat damage or mechanical breakdown. BELOW RIGHT: Super detailing of the tow pins was achieved using photo etched fine chain to depict this detail.

understand all the connections before committing to glue. There are no fit problems whatsoever with this model as long as the instructions are very accurately studied and you are careful with assembly. You have the option of using either plastic or supplied photo etch engine air intake covers. I opted to use the thin and in scale photo etch parts. The kit is supplied with a metal wire to depict the recovery wire, however I found this to be to ‘springy’ and difficult to use in the past. I therefore replaced the wire with aftermarket 0.3mm wire from Karara. The recovery wire was also posed in the ready for action position of being rolled out and draped over the fender.

ABOVE: Although real hairspray can be used, I opted to use the product ‘scratches effects’ the fluid is applied via air brush and left to dry naturally. As can be seen the coverage produces a sheen on the model which is the barrier to paint adhering to the primer. LEFT: The application of primer in this case I used Mr Surfacer Mahogany Colour to both cover the photo etch parts and also to depict worn exposed metal in the ‘hairspray chipping’ explained below.

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The acrylic colour available in the Mig Ammo Afrika Corps paint set ‘Gelbbraun’ is applied by airbrush as the base coat.

ABOVE: I used the colour ‘Dunkelgelb aus 44’ to provide some contrasting shadow tones to the previous base colour. This was again applied via airbrush and small paper masks are used to provide hard breaks in some areas for a varied appearance.

All ports and hatches are separate parts so they can be posed open and the various vents and louvers can be either open or closed. I therefore opted to depict some of the armoured visors and crew hatches in open positions to highlight these details. The turret is relatively conventional in its parts breakdown and for the L/24 gun. The barrel is nearly complete in regard to length, being trapped between the recoil cylinders at the rear and slid through the armoured recoil cover and barrel jacket. I found the slide moulded barrel perfectly rendered so decided not to replace with an aftermarket metal part. The provided tracks are the ‘Magic Track’ snaptogether-then-cement type, which are again first rate. However, I opted to use Friul Modelsimso metal link tracks to provide further detail and realistically weighted and sagging track appearance. I noticed on reference photographs that many Afrika Korps vehicles were modified in order to carry more fuel and water cans commonly referred to by the British as ‘Jerry Cans’. I therefore purchased accurate cans in a kit from Tasca Models. I only

RIGHT: The model after completion of the basic tone shading as can be seen by using just two slightly contrasting colours there is immediately more visual interest to the viewer.

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ABOVE: In order to chip the paint, the surface of a small area is dampened with water. I tend to use a toothpick and some fine tweezers to very carefully chip the paint in a controlled manner. RIGHT: On completion of the chipping, a gloss coat was applied to prevent any further degradation to the camouflage paint. The decals were applied at this stage note the distinctive divisional insignia of the 15th Panzer division on the turret and bow plate.

ABOVE LEFT: The many pioneer tools that adorn the German Panzers require detail paint work. I use the Vallejo acrylic colour Chocolate brown as a base colour for some of the tools applied using a fine brush. ABOVE RIGHT: To begin the weathering steps and overall application of a filter will unify the paint work. I used the Mig Ammo enamel ‘Brown for Desert Yellow’ filter and a broad brush to apply the filter.

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ABOVE LEFT: At this stage I felt the model was to light in tone. In order to create more depth and a shift in tone to better represent the Afrika Corps camouflage colour I used oil paints that were applied as filters and blended with a very small amount of white spirit. ABOVE RIGHT: I made a mix of burnt umber and shadow brown oil paints with white spirit as a solvent. Using a fine brush this wash is applied in the shadow detail areas and recesses of the model in order to accent the panels etc. RIGHT: The lower hull and suspension components are weathered using different mediums. I tend to use pigments in this case several pigments including Mig Ammo ‘Middle East Dust’ are applied dry to the lower hull and fixed with pigment fixer.

had to add a small strip of styrene onto the hull side of the tank as a holder for the cans. From my references it seemed that it was only really water cans that were carried externally by combat vehicles which would make sense as it would be detrimental to the crew and tank to become a fireball due to the gasoline tins being hit by enemy fire! ABOVE: Friul white metal tracks were used as an alternative to the kit supplied ‘magic tracks’. This photo shows a test fit used to determine the appropriate number of links to create a realistic appearance. Also note the white crosses to designate the jerry cans as water carriers.

The individual links are required to be ‘cleaned out’. A 0.5mm drill bit is fitted into a pin vice and the holes are carefully reamed to remove white metal debris. Be careful not to drill completely through the links.

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Painting and Weathering Prior to paint work I think it’s worth mentioning a quick tip. All too often we forget that during the process of construction the model will be covered in dust from sanding and greasy fingerprints. I use my airbrush to blow pure air over the entire model to remove sanding dust. I will then use painters rags (cloths in light alcohol) to clean the surface of the plastic. I primed the model using Mr Surfacer Mahogany Colour; this product achieves two goals in one application. The primer will coat all the different surfaces including the brass photo etch in a durable base coat; the mahogany brown will represent the underlying colour of weathered steel that will be exposed in the chipping steps. I chose to depict the model in a highly weathered state; references on the actual Panzers at the second Battle of El Alamein show no clear consistent picture of wear and tear to the actual vehicles in the battle. However, in telling the ‘story’

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ABOVE LEFT: The links are joined together using lengths of supplied copper wire that have been trimmed to the correct size. I use a pair of needle nose pliers in order to insert the track pins. ABOVE RIGHT: Cyanoacrylate (super glue) is carefully applied to the pin end to fix the pins into position. The super glue will wick into the drilled holes and only a small amount is necessary. LEFT: After the super glue has set I use a pair of fine snips (in this case some older Tamiya sprue cutters) to trim the excess track pin wire. BELOW: After the track lengths are completed it is necessary to soak them in a mild alcohol solution in order to remove any grease or residue.

Burnishing fluid is applied to the lengths of track using a soft broad brush. This chemical agent will create a chemical reaction that very realistically ‘blackens’ the tracks. Several applications may be necessary.

ABOVE: In preparation for the dust effects, I once again applied a layer of chipping fluid via airbrush to the model. LEFT: In order to reproduce that very characteristically oily dirt that accumulates on a tanks lower hull. The out of the bottle product from Mig Ammo ‘engine oil’ is applied via airbrush on top of the previous pigment layer.

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ABOVE: The tracks after completion of the burnishing effects. They are then coated with the same pigments and fixer as was used on the lower hull.

ABOVE: The enamel weathering solution ‘rainmarks effects’ is airbrushed on top of the previously applied chipping fluid layer. Although “sand dust effects” are available this much lighter tone creates more contrast with the camouflage colour of the tank. RIGHT: The divisional insignia of the 15th Panzer division. This insignia appears on either side of the turret, on the bow plate, and at the rear of the finished model.

ABOVE: In similar manner to the rust chipping. The model is dampened with water, however this time a fan brush is used to draw vertically down the previously applied ‘rainmarks effects’. This creates very realistic vertical streaking of the sand. RIGHT: An overall view of the model with completion of the weathering effects. All that remains are the final assembly of the tracks and some final touches.

In order to complete the tracks I used a graphite pencil to impart a sheen to the contact portion of the tracks. This technique creates a very ‘in scale’ metallic effect to the tracks depicting the polished portions of metal.

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ABOVE: The final touch I used Mig ammo ‘streaking rust effects’ both out of the bottle and also slightly diluted with thinner. The exhaust and some of the pioneer tools received a light application of this wash.

of this particular vehicle I wanted to emphasise the extremely harsh conditions of North Africa and the toll this took on men and machines. It’s important to not misconstrue this depiction as a reflection on the troops of the Afrika Corps being negligent in care of equipment as this was quite the opposite. However, by using techniques that can represent an armoured fighting vehicle that has endured a ‘hard fighting life’, the model can depict the desperate last battles of Rommel’s forces. This also should evoke interest to the viewer and provoke debate of course.

Views of the completed model.

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Grant’ed Special Status Modelling Academy’s M3 Grant by Mark Bannerman

Adaptable M3 The M3 medium tank was a pre-war design that went into full production in late 1941 and was provided to the British Army which the British named the ‘General Lee’. The M3’s were then updated to British specifications and were named ‘General Grant’ – or ‘Grant’ for short. The Grant played an important role in the North African campaign because it was well armed, despite several drawbacks including its high silhouette compared to other British tanks serving in the desert. The difference between the Grant and the Lee can be identified most commonly by the turret configuration. Although the M3 was eventually phased out and replaced with M4 Shermans, the M3 chassis would serve in numerous roles, such as the M7 Priest. Over 6,000 M3 medium tanks were produced with almost half serving with the British Army and 1,300 pushed into Soviet service. The M3 also served in the Pacific with the Australian army. The Grant mounted a 75mm gun as its main armament and a 37mm in the turret, as well as twin .3in Browning machine guns. The Grant weighed almost 30 tons and was operated by a crew of six with a top speed of 40 km/h.

TOP: Grant Tank on the move! (Courtesy of Photoshop) ABOVE: The Academy second generation and more correct offering of the M3 Medium Grant Tank kit 13228 - which includes a set of Miniart figures. BELOW: The lower hull was built as per the instructions. I affixed the wheels without using glue so that I could reach the rubber on the wheels when it was time to paint.

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AFV A Grant passing a burning Pz I. The four-colour camo scheme is evident in this photo. (Photo source unknown)

The Model I have had the Tamiya Grant in my collection of unbuilt models for many years and, although it is inaccurate, I managed to accumulate a plethora of add-ons and after-market offerings to correct the model. Then Academy announced the release of a M3 Grant. I made the purchase and realized that the Academy offering also had quite a few inaccuracies although not to the extent of the Tamiya model. The most significant Academy deficiency was the size of the roadwheel bogies. Fortunately, Academy re-released the M3 Grant, however, this time with a set of revised bogies and a few other details to correct the original release – most of which had to do with interior layout. I purchased both the original and the revised kits and chose to work with the updated version. The newer Academy offering, kit 13228, of the Grant is moulded in light grey styrene, with nine parts trees, including a MiniArt sprue with five figures from their ‘British Tank Crew’ release. The real bonus on the Academy model is the highly detailed interior that is provided. Almost half of the model parts are dedicated to the interior. If you are an interior lover, this is an amazing model with loads of options. The construction was relatively straightforward and I followed the instructions. A few details that I really liked along the way in the assembly were the fine casting numbers, the very nicely detailed rivets, the excellent fit of the parts, little flash and casting texture. Although the parts in the Academy kit are very nice, I did have an aftermarket ABM Grant update which I decided to use - not because of any issues in the Academy kit but because I had it and was anxious to use it. The ABM series is out of production but can still be found on E-bay. Again, I would have been happy to work with the Academy turret and details that are included but I figured that I would use the ABM as I would probably never use it otherwise. I did not deck out the interior as much as instructed and only used the basics. I was not planning on opening any hatches so spending an enormous of time on the interior was not worth the time. However, if one were planning to open up the side and top hatches, the visual into the tank from the side and above is quite wide so well worth doing the interior for that purpose. The model could be built in a few evenings – although it took me five years to complete it! The vinyl tracks

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included in the model are not correct as they are the padded type. The Grant typically sported the T54E1 type tracks and, although I have the set of plastic tracks from Bronco, I opted to use the DML DS set included in the DML British Sherman MK III model. I really do like these tracks. The DS type tracks are made of a rubbery plastic and provide excellent detail. It removes the painstaking exercise of putting together 168 separate tracks that can come in two

ABOVE: A damaged Grant in North Africa. Careful examination under the dust will reveal the outline contouring the darker camouflage pattern. (Photo source unknown)

BELOW: The idle and sprocket were not glued until the very end of the painting process. The ABM resin replacement for the turret and bins.

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ABOVE LEFT: Surface detail is excellent all round and rivet placement looks accurate. ABOVE RIGHT: The ports for the .30 calibre machine guns. Many photos do not show the guns mounted when the tank was in travel mod, probably to prevent dust and sand getting into the guns.

ABOVE: The fenders were only applied after the tracks were put in place. Blutac is a very handy product to use to dry fit and test parts. BELOW: A Grant heavily laden with equipment. The white contour line is not evident but it can be seen on the rear portion of the tank. (Photo source unknown)

ABOVE: Although there are numerous aftermarket sets out there to deck out and detail a Grant (i.e. Black Dog), I chose to use plain white tissue, white glue and water.

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LEFT: A burnt-out Grant. Note counterweight on the 75mm gun. (Photo source unknown) BELOW: Note how the interior of the side hatch is painted the darker camouflage colour. It was not unusual for tanks to travel with all hatches wide open due to heat. (Photo source unknown)

or three parts each. These DS tracks are absolutely revolutionary and while not all DML kits offer the DS type tracks, they are apparently available as a separate item (which I have not had any luck locating). If you can find these sets, they come as in a few track variants – the T48 (rubber chevron), T48 (duckbills) and this set, the T54E1 cast steel chevron patterns. The tracks will need to be shortened for this particular model by four lengths.

Painting and Finishing This is the part of the modelling that I really enjoy. When it comes to the North African Grant, there are only a few options. An overall solid sand colour was common - either No 61 (B.S. 381) known as Light Stone or No. 52 which was a pale cream. Some Grants were given a secondary camo colour such as Slate Grey (No.34) or black and other variations (Green, Terracotta Red).The effect of the sun and sand altered the base colours significantly so if I can attain a likeness, I will be satisfied. The scheme I chose is a four colour scheme used by the 22nd Armoured Brigade as described in Dick Taylor’s book Warpaint Vol 2. He states that the 22nd Armoured Brigade used a scheme designed by a CLY officer where a darker colour (a brown shade) was applied over the sand base, the brown then being outlined with thin black and white lines. The Grant at Bovington was painted in this scheme but the base appears too ochre for what is described as either Light Stone or Pale Cream. Surprisingly, as I started flipping through my references, I found many photos of wartime Grant tanks in North Africa sporting this unique four-colour pattern. With the model built, modified and ready for the painting process, I primed the model in two even

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LEFT: The model is almost complete and requires surface details – some were left off until the end such as the axe and shovel on the rear engine deck.

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ABOVE: The Bovington Grant in a four-colour camouflage scheme. RIGHT: Two coats of the base colour were necessary. One needs to ensure all of the primer is covered because there are many crevices that an airbrush cannot reach on a first passing.

applications of Tamiya primer in preparation for the base coat. For the basecoat, I used Tamiya acrylics, mixing a 70/30 solution of Desert Yellow XF-59 and Tamiya White XF-2. This mix was further diluted with 30% Tamiya thinners and 20% Tamiya Gloss and sprayed on the model in two even coats. There are loads of crevices on the model so you need to ensure good coverage. The tracks had not been installed at this ABOVE: For the basecoat, I used Tamiya acrylics in a 70/30 solution of Desert Yellow XF-59 and Tamiya White XF-2. BELOW: The rubber on the roadwheels and idlers were painted in Vallejo Grey Black.

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point because I would save that for the last step before the weathering. Once the basecoat was thoroughly dry, it was time for the camouflage pattern. I started by drawing out the pattern in Vallejo White 70951. I kept the line thin and, because of the liquid nature of Vallejo paints, it was necessary to go over the lines with a second coat. With the pattern drawn out (and apologies for no step-by-step photos on this part), I then painted in the brown using Vallejo Chocolate Brown 70872. I tried as much as possible to emulate the tone of the colours of the Bovington Grant. This required two layers of brown being painted inside the white lines to eliminate all of the streaks. The brown was painted within the white boundaries leaving a thin and consistent white line still showing. This does take time so patience is really important. With the white outline and solid brown camouflage pattern painted in, I then used a Faber-Castell artist Pen (size B) to draw in a black line separating the white and brown. It is a bit tricky and very hard to keep it consistent with the white and black lines having the same width. Although the scheme on the Bovington Grant is very straight and consistent, wartime photos actually show these lines to be far more jagged and haphazard when painted on – with some areas having no black lines at all. This scheme was applied in the field by the crew with crude brushes so I realized that having super straight and very consistent lines was not quite an accurate representation of what I could see in the wartime photographs. I did make every effort to keep the lines consistent but I was not over-zealous trying to make these white and black lines exactly perfect. Once the brown, black and white were down, I did do some touch ups to ensure that there were no errors or omissions. I added some transfers from a spares box to depict a Grant serving with the 22 Armoured Brigade which would have had the 7th Armoured Division Red Jerboa. Units were 2 R Gloucester Hussars, 3 CLY and 4 CLY with Arms-of –Service of 40, 86 and 67 respectively. My thanks to Military Modelling colleague Ken Holland for this info. Once the transfers were on, a light misting of Tamiya Buff XF-57 mixed with 70% Tamiya thinners was applied to the whole vehicle to remove some of the starkness between very opposing colours. Tamiya Buff is almost a must when doing desert vehicles as it really does provide a very convincing first thin layer of dust. This application also helped tone down the glossy finish on the transfers. This was followed by a few filters – three specifically for this project – three brown toned Humbrol paints and each one was applied in succession, each mixed with 90% Testor’s thinners and separately applied with the widest paintbrush to the entire model. This is a very quick process and, once thoroughly dry, I applied a controlled wash using a mix of Raw Umber Newton oil paints mixed with 50/50 Testor’s enamel thinners. This dark wash, combined with the filters, helped to enhance the surface details such as partition lines, panels and rivets and also muted the overall tone of the base. To help bring out some highlights on the vehicle, two light drybrushes were applied using a restrained approach - the first with Humbrol 93 neat and the second with Humbrol 94

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mixed with 30% Titanium White Winsor Newton oil paints. This really is a very light application and hardly noticeable but makes a significant difference at the end of the weathering process. I then repeated the process of applying a few pinwashes using Rembrandt Sepia oil paints mixed with Testor’s thinners and applied onto all seam and rivet lines. The tracks were cleaned up in soap and water to remove any greasy deposits as a result of the production. I sprayed the tracks in primer, then Tamiya Black and then misted in Tamiya Buff. As I was going to heavily weather the tracks with pastels, I was not anxious to do much detailing on the tracks. I then used the wet technique of diluting a mix of brown and black pastels with Tamiya thinners and applying the mixture along seams. I find this really helps bring out the shadows. The model was then dusted in various light earth colour pastels and tried to create the effect of ‘blotchy’ to emulate the wartime photos in my references. In moderation, applying pigments is a very effective means of bringing the model to another level of realism. The best way to proceed is to apply small amounts at a time and to work in sections until it looks correct. The pastels were applied with a soft round brush and placed in those areas that would typically have more dust and dirt accumulation. Most often, pastels applied to models become susceptible to handling. To remedy this and make the pastels more permanent, Tamiya thinners with a drop of Tamiya Buff was applied by spraying the mix through an airbrush at a very low dpi setting. This really helped the pastels to adhere to the surface of the vehicle. This process was repeated at least six times – each time alternating the colours of the pastels from light to dark to light using shades of yellow, off-white and light brown. Wartime photographs of Grants typically show these with a mounting array of tarpaulins, bags and equipment. I found a slew of equipment through my spares box - Verlinden, Cromwell Models and Accurate Armour. These were primed and then hand brushed in Humbrol enamels using khaki and brown colour paints. Each piece of equipment was painted a different colour to keep it all from looking too uniform. I like to use Humbrol enamels for equipment because it is almost a guaranteed that the paint will dry flat which is desirable for webbing and canvas. The equipment was then given various washes in greens and browns from the Humbrol paint series and then dry-brushed with

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ABOVE: The model after the first round of application. ABOVE RIGHT: The two colours I used for the camouflage: Vallejo White 70951 for the outline and Vallejo Chocolate Brown 70872 for the secondary camouflage pattern.

ABOVE: Touch-ups were necessary and this took the better part of a few evenings to complete. BELOW: The model base coated and camouflage complete.

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ABOVE: The decals were sourced from a spares box. I did not use any decals from the Academy offering as these are not accurate for the model I was depicting.

RIGHT: Three applications of heavily thinned Humbrol paints provide a different tone to the base, making the surface gritty which is important when the pastels are applied, and which creates a multi-layer effect on the surface.

BELOW: Note the light accumulation of Sepia oils around the bolts.

Humbrol, lightened with Humbrol white. All straps were painted using Humbrol 110 and then further drybrushed with Humbrol 93 and 94 to create a muted effect and this helped bring out the shadows in the creases and along strap seams on the gear.

Conclusion Although the model itself seems to get a lot of criticism, I thought it was an excellent model – well thought out, superbly designed and the best rendition of a Grant out there! The model is basically dimensionally accurate; it includes an extensive interior, the assembly is not difficult and painting the model was the absolute joy of the entire project. Although I did have several etch sets for it, I did not make use of any (may have to save for a Lee)

LEFT: Tools for pinwashes and weathering. The pastels are home-made using various artist chalks that have been scraped down to a powder. BELOW: Filters have become very much a standard for me in the weathering process and Humbrol paints are perfect for this purpose.

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because there were very few parts that needed to be replaced. The only downside are the rubber tracks included in the kit which are inaccurate and need to be replaced. This kit is definitely recommended.

Recommended Reading Classic AFV No 2 – Lee and Grant by Ken Jones and Peter Chamberlain (Airfix Book – 1977) ISBN 0 85059 269 0 M3 Medium Tank (Grant & Lee) by Dave Doyle, Squadron Series, Walkaround Series M3 Lee/Grant in Action - Squadron/Signal Publications No. 33

ABOVE: The model is brushed down in various light earth-coloured pastels and my purpose is to create a ‘blotchy’ effect to emulate dusty surfaces as shown on tank surfaces in wartime desert photos. I repeat the process of applying pastels then spray Tamiya thinners with a drop of Tamiya Buff at a very low dpi setting to help the pastels adhere to the surface of the model. RIGHT: A black and white image in wartime quality (Courtesy of Photoshop)

M3 Lee/Grant in Action - Squadron/ Signal Publications No. 33.

ABOVE: The blotchy effect is difficult to reproduce in scale form because the base of the tank is light. To create the effect, I will drop a minute speck of dark brown pastel into the pastel mix and when it is applied to the surface, it will create a streak and muddy up the pastels – and that is the blotchy effect I am looking for.

M3 Medium Tank (Grant & Lee) by Dave Doyle, Squadron Series, Walkaround Series.

RIGHT: The effect after six rounds of pastels and thinner applications. Note how the amount of weathering on the turret is much lighter than the lower hull. The turret only received three pastel treatments.

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‘Desert Gossip’ Marmon-Herrington in service with the Afrika Korps in Libya, 1942 by Robert Blokker

History One thing I always thought was interesting when reading about the Afrika Korps and its actions in Northern Africa, was the vast amount of captured vehicles it put to use in its ranks. Because of shortages and long supply lines, everything had its use and published pictures often show columns of vehicles of different origin and plumage. These ranged from American halftracks to British light trucks working alongside the workhorses of the German war machine. The original markings were either painted over or just covered over in a basic DAK livery. Allied vehicles under new command could be found in all echelons up to Rommels Staff which had several captured machines. The most well-known were probably ‘Max’ and ‘Moritz’; a pair of AEC Dorchesters captured during the African Campaign. The re-use of these vehicles makes for some interesting diorama subjects and, with that as inspiration, I decided to build a Marmon-Herrington. It doesn’t get more diverse than a South African designed vehicle, used by the British, under the new Management of the Germans.

ABOVE: The as yet unmodified Marmon-Herrington. RIGHT: The added ribs on the interior.

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Often overlooked; the amount of stuff soldiers take around with them.

New size of the side doors.

Point of no return. Drill holes to enlarge the door.

Cut the excess out.

The kit IBG’s 1/35 Panzerspahwagen Marmon-Herrington (e), Kit No.35024 served as the basis for this project. I found a few pictures of this type online. What was interesting was that the German crew seemed to have used it for some time. It had damaged fenders and the doors that protected the radiator were missing. The vehicle was also fitted with a makeshift wire antenna on the roof and a telescopic antenna on the side. The IBG kit is very nice and features both engine and interior. Overall, the dimensions and details are accurate. There were only a few things that were incorrect or missing. On the interior side, the most obvious were the ribs to which the armour plates were welded, a detail that is well visible with such a big hole in the roof. I fixed this by making the ribs out of evergreen styrene. The IBG MH still comes with ABOVE: Doors cut and insert added. RIGHT: Added locks to the inside of the doors. BELOW: Dented fenders and antennas.

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ABOVE: Vehicle in base colour.

Decals added. No weathering yet.

BELOW: Close up of the chips and scuffs.

Bleached, sandblasted and chipped.

the British wireless and I figured that if they took the time to add the antennas to the vehicle they probably swapped the radio sets as well. My choice of radio came from Plusmodels Easy line range, an EL020 German wireless station WWII with accumulator. The interior was further detailed with scratchbuilt storage boxes, a rack for the telescopic mast’s wirespools and a lot of personal kit of the crew. The biggest mistake they made on the exterior was the vehicle’s access doors. They are the wrong shape

and size. The kit doors are rectangular and should be square that is as wide as they are high. So I took measurements and enlarged the door openings, cut the original doors in half and made inserts to widen them to the required width. I also fashioned some door locks on the inside of the doors. The legs of the roof antenna were made out of styrene and the telescopic mast came from an old Verlinden set. Last but not least, I fashioned some Jerry can racks and storage boxes. I used fishing wire to make the antenna wire.

Painting and weathering the vehicle After priming the MH with Tamiya light grey primer, I mixed a desert sand colour out of Tamiya Acrylic. The mix consisted of XF-60 Desert Yellow, XF-57 Buff and XF-2 White, airbrushed over a black preshade. I have no ratios of the mix as I tend to mix everything by eye and rarely write down anything on how a mix came together. When that was dry, I added the few decals that the vehicle had and painted the details, mostly with Humbrol colours. With the Marmon-Herrington spending a lot of time in the harsh desert environment, I wanted the paint to look bleached and sandblasted. To recreate this effect, I mixed some Humbrol enamel colours to a tint lighter than that of the basecoat and applied this by stippling and wiping the paint onto the vehicle with a piece of sponge. The sponge was also used to do all the chipping on both the interior and exterior of the vehicle. Again, I mixed a light variant of the base colour out of Humbrol enamel and applied this with the sponge to high traffic areas; around hatches and such; areas that the crew walked over constantly and the areas that would get scuffed and chipped by general use like the lower area of the vehicle. Then I

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mixed black oil paint with Van Dyke Brown to create a dirty Black Brown colour. The chips with this oil paint mix were also added by sponge on smaller sections than the light chip colour. When that was dry, I added scratches in both the lighter Sand colour and the Black/Brown oil paint with a 10/0 brush. After everything was cured, I hit the vehicle with some Tamiya XF-70 matt lacquer from a rattle can for the next step. One thing the desert provides in copious amounts is dust. The stuff will get everywhere. To simulate this, I made a pigment wash out of the first series MIG pigments with the colour alkaline dust (MIG00054) and turpentine. I applied it as a generous pinwash to both the interior and the exterior of the vehicle to give the impression that the dust had settled in the nooks and crannies. The lower part got the same pigment wash applied with the sponge to give a mottled appearance, which was toned down by brushing off the excess with an old stiff bristled brush. The wheels were treated the same way and, when dry, I wiped most of the pigments off with a moist piece of tissue paper, just leaving pigments in the ridges and treads of the tyres.

crew was trying to see what to do with that bit of new intelligence. The figures were assembled straight out of the box and painting was again done with Humbrol paints. A wet on wet technique followed; I started with the darkest colour and I painted up to the highlights. The wet on wet technique allows for relatively quick painting and smooth blends. The skin colour was built up out of Humbrol 70, Humbrol 63 and Humbrol 147 which was mixed between the steps to six different coloured

ABOVE: Views of the painted details.

BELOW: Pigments sponged, brushed and spattered.

The figures Along with the IBG MarmonHerrington I also got myself the Masterbox’ Deutsche Afrika Korps Kit No.3559. I liked the interaction between the vehicle’s crew and the Bedouin. It was like he was telling them about something he just encountered in the desert and the

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Where the figures were pretty neat in detail the donkey lacked a bit. There was something in the texture that did not work very well; it was soft and rather unconvincing so I took some extra time texturing it by making small scrapes with an Xacto #11 knife and toned it down with Tamiya extra thin cement. Then I painted the donkey in a variety of greys and whites. The blue and white theme was transferred to the saddlebags as well with some blue decorative piping.

ABOVE: Base ready for paint. RIGHT: Base in colour.

The Diorama

RIGHT: Close up of rock face. BELOW: The officer painted up.

layers. The uniforms were painted in the same manner. I wanted the soldiers to be part of a communications unit so some time went into researching what waffenfarbe the unit had for their shoulder boards. Yellow piping was added where necessary. The Bedouin figure had his own treatment. I painted him mostly in light bright colours to offset him against the vehicle, the DAK Soldiers and the groundworks. The headgear and trousers were painted white with the djellabah a bright blue. RIGHT: The Bedouin and his steed.

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The soldiers and the Bedouin created a visually interesting story, the only additional thing it needed was an interesting backdrop. So, it was time to build myself some groundwork. I wanted some decent sized rocks behind the vehicle so I started to explore the various methods of creating rock, from using bark to charcoal to pouring them with plaster. I settled on the latter and bought some rock moulds from Woodland Scenics; a very useful product with quick results. Aside from the rocks, I also saved the leftover plaster from the mould as it was a great source for smaller rocks. It was now time to determine the size of the base and cut that out of green styrofoam. I marked the locations of the newly formed rock formations and the wheel ruts with a marker then continued to start forming the landscape by cutting and sanding the foam. This gave the impression that the rocks were actually poking out of the sand. I made a sloping angle in the foam from the base of the rock to ground level to simulate sand that has been blown towards the rock giving it a more natural transition. The wheel ruts in turn were cut out a bit wider to allow the Spackle to move around naturally later on. One of the things I like to do is a smooth finish on the base’s edges. So out of 1mm thick styrene I crafted a tub, that followed the contours of the groundwork, complete with rocks and ruts and glued the whole base into that. Then it was time to cover the whole thing up; I again use Spackle for this, the kind you use to fill seams between plasterboards. This is available at any DIY Store. It comes ready to use in a small tub and dries really fast to a rock hard state. The whole base received a nice thin layer of around 1mm. As I said before, the wheel ruts were cut a little wider than necessary but were filled evenly with the rest of the base. At this stage, you need to work quite fast as the window in which you can effectively work the Spackle is limited. On top of the fresh Spackle, I sprinkled birdcage sand. It gives a nice texture to the groundwork and prevents the Spackle from sticking to everything you push in it. Then the vehicle got pushed into its final place. I took it off the base again and rolled the ruts with a spare wheel. Because the wheel ruts are deeper and wider, the Spackle moves pretty much like real ground producing the ridge created by the wheels pushing the sand aside. With an old figure, I stamped footprints around the vehicle as if the crew had been walking there. The donkey also got its place at this stage. I made sure that the Spackle reached all the way to the edges of the styrene tub so that it looked like somebody had cut out a square of WW2 Libya and lifted it out of the ground.

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Views of the author’s completed model and figures on their scenic base.

Painting the base When the whole base was cured, I primed it with Tamiya light grey primer then I added a coat of Matt Black from a Motip rattle can. I masked the base’s sides and then it was on to the interesting stuff of bringing colour and life to the groundwork. I first did some research into what colour the rock formations found in Libya would be and eventually settled on the dark greyish brown rocks of the Akakus mountain range. Again, I used a mix of Tamiya acrylics to get a dirty dark greyish brown and a reddish dark rust tone which I airbrushed onto the rocks trying to form different layers in the rock surface. The sand was airbrushed in a mixture that was made to mimic the Alkaline dust pigment that was applied to the vehicle. This was built up out of XF-57 buff and XF02 White in which the latter took the biggest part of the mix. This was airbrushed over a pre-shade of Dark Grey. The transitions between the sand and the rock were blended with the Alkaline Dust pigment. The rocks received a drybrushing with some Humbrol 72 to get some more depth in them.

Finishing With all the painting done, it was just a matter of gluing everything to the base with white glue and gluing the figures to the vehicle. I placed the diorama on a nice wooden base and gave it a space in the display cabinet.

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Second-hand Swallow

ABOVE: The author’s completed model placed into a scenic setting courtesy of Photoshop.

BELOW LEFT: A view of the completed model from the front.

Chris Lloyd-Staples presents his 1/35 Tasca Sherman II

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The origin of the Swallows Following the disastrous fall of Tobruk in late June 1942, the whole of the North African theatre was placed in jeopardy, with the very real risk that Axis forces would thrust eastwards into the Suez area, cutting the canal’s lifeline to Britain. The Allied army made a stand at El Alamein, halting Rommel’s advance at the narrowest point between the coast and the impassable Qattara Depression. It was from this narrow front that the British and Commonwealth forces burst out in the Second Battle of El Alamein, leading to the eventual defeat of the Italian and German armies in North Africa. The success of the Second Battle of El Alamein can be attributed to many factors: tactics, logistics, leadership, terrain………but one very significant factor is the availability of new and modern equipment. Principal amongst these were the new Sherman tanks, known at the time by the codename ‘Swallow’. President Roosevelt had been anxious to support the war in the Middle East and, following the Tobruk debacle had mooted sending the US 2nd Armoured Division. However, this proved impractical in the time available and instead 300 M4 Shermans (and 100 M7 Priests) were hurriedly stripped from American units and sent across the Atlantic. These ‘pre-owned’ vehicles arrived in the Cairo workshops, and were quickly modified to meet British needs

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ABOVE: Crew wearing side caps and SD caps. LEFT: Note extreme weathering of surface paint.

before being repainted and allocated to units. Once in the hands of individual units, the vehicles were often further modified at unit level or according to the preferences of individual commanders.

Planning the model The request from the editor to make this model came at a time when I’d already gathered the basic kit and the numerous accessories in preparation for an informal competition with two friends (Chuck Aleshire and John Charvat) at the AMPS Nationals in Danbury, CT. However, what seemed

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like an easy build became steadily more complex as the project evolved! The stimulus for the model came from the book Codename Swallow, British Sherman Tanks at Alamein, by Dennis Oliver (2006). This slim book contains countless details of the colour schemes and markings employed, along with details of the units allocated the M4A1 and M4A2 vehicles. I was really torn as to which vehicle to represent but I eventually went for the Queen’s Bays, using markings from the Bison Decals sheet 35061 and meticulously following the official painting diagrams in Mike Starmer’s excellent reference book Alamein

‘‘” The Allied army made a stand at El Alamein, halting Rommel’s advance...

LEFT: Stowage packs, MG on turret.

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ABOVE: hard edge to camouflage.

To the model The Tasca Sherman II is a superb kit and can be made with complete confidence in all parts of the assembly, leading to a near perfect model. An alternative starting point would have been the Dragon El Alamein Sherman but, as a personal preference, I really rate the Tasca/Asuka kits. Assembly is very easy, although it is essential to carefully follow the numbering of parts. If something doesn’t fit, you have made a mistake! I found this to my cost when assembling the air cleaners and realised I had mistaken parts F7 and F19, which look similar…..

Starting on the hull ABOVE & RIGHT: The curved fillet under the rear.

BELOW: Smoothed join.

and After, 1942-43 (2006). The attraction of this unit, the Queen’s Bays (2nd Hussars) was that they kept the .50cal machine gun (many British units did not because they impeded hasty exit from the turret, as well as raising the overall height of the tank). They also modified the turret hatch by removing the rear hatch flap, retaining only the one with the periscope. Finally, along with the 9th Lancers, the ‘Bays’ were reluctant to adopt the black beret and the photos clearly show the crew with sidecaps and the commanders with Service Dress caps.

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Working from various references, I discovered that many (not all!) of these M4A1 vehicles had welded rather than riveted hulls. To make the necessary changes, I stripped rivets from the lower hull sides and, at various points on the rear, following guidance from Paul Owen’s blog on the Track-Link website, Steve Zaloga’s article in Military Modelling (2008, Vol.2) and the Son of Sherman book. I was aiming for a vehicle produced by the Lima factory in the correct time period. Once the necessary rivets had been removed, the lower straight fillet on the hull rear needed to be replaced with a curved piece, as found on these vehicles. I agonised about how to do this but in the end it was very easy to cut a slice from a piece of plastic tube (an old biro!). The only other modification at this stage was to carefully fill in the slight step at the top of the cast transmission plate (part C50) and blend this in. Once the bolted flanges had been added, the whole nose was given a coat of Mr. Surfacer to replicate the cast texture and remove any gaps. Casting numbers were added; using Archer Fine Transfers set AR88007 which actually includes the correct casting number sequences for these parts! Turning to the upper hull, it is quite noticeable that the front hatches sit a little too proud of their surrounds and some trimming of the protective pads is necessary for the correct ‘look’ of the closed hatches. As for the open hatches, little needs to be done other than – for detail fanatics only – adding the tiny plate into which the closing handle locks on the inside of the hull! For personal preference, I chose to replace the Browning machine gun barrels with Aber 35 L-82 brass parts because the open holes in the sleeve are very visible. However, once again, the Tasca parts are more than adequate for the job. The tiny cable running from the horn to the front hull is a detail that some may like to add. As

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Overall view of the model before painting.

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for the tools, the ones in the Tasca kit are superb and highly accurate, though they lack some of the brackets and all of the straps needed to hold them in place. I opted to use the WW2 U.S. M4 Series Sherman Pioneer Tools (F018) by Formations, since I had them and they saved time on this project. With no deadline to meet, I’d prefer to add paper straps to the tools in the kit. While working on these aspects of the model, it struck me that anyone could have a thousand pictures of Shermans but not one showing a particular detail of a tool fitting.

Making tracks The one-piece tracks in the kit are excellent, with great detail and only the faintest trace of a mould seam. As this tiny mould line would be impossible to remove, I foolishly decided to try aftermarket replacements. Amongst the best available are the Bronco T51 tracks and I used these. They fit with no difficulty, although the sprockets need some minor sanding on the inner surfaces in order for the endconnectors to fit inside. In retrospect, the extremely tedious construction of individual track links has little benefit on US tanks which use so-called ‘live track’ and there is virtually no track sag at all. To make

ABOVE: Rear deck before painting. BELOW: Tools on rear plate. You need to drill out a starting handle hole in rear plate.

ABOVE: Details on rear plate before painting.

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ABOVE LEFT: Turret bin catches and other details. ABOVE RIGHT: Details on MG and turret bin.

ABOVE: Turret before painting.

ABOVE: Filler cap area.

matters worse, on the British Shermans much of the track is hidden under the sandshields, plus the painting of the tracks is much easier done with the one-piece tracks that can be added afterwards. For all of these reasons, I’d strongly recommend using the tracks in the kit! The characteristic sandshields are excellent and fit very well. My only real problem with this kit was with the fitting of parts M13 and M14, which are the inner parts of the rear parts. I just could not see how these fitted in relation to parts E2 and E4, which are added early on. I ended up with what appeared to be a bodge job, with the sandshield parts leaving little space next to the track. I suspect that some cutting would have helped but, as this is hardly visible, I closed my mind to it! The so-called houseboat rail along the sides is very well made but the slots for the disguise cover are moulded as lumps rather than hollow channels. I replaced these blobs with sections of U-channel plastic strip, producing the desired effect.

BELOW: Water cans fitted on front wing.

The Turret Moving on to the turret, the kit supplies both types of barrel – the early type with a slight flare at the end and the later straight-sided type. The kit barrels are split lengthways and need careful treatment of the join between the two halves. I prefer metal barrels and simply substituted the Lion Marc LM10021 which is designed for this kit. Incidentally, the straight sided barrel appears more commonly in photos and the early flared type is relatively rare, even on this batch of very early Sherman types. Aside from this, the turret needs very little attention. A few lumps and bumps on the turret

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top need to be carefully removed, along with the mount for the searchlight. For details of these initial turrets, you will need to consult references but in essence they had few extras and were very basic. The turret hatch is superb and I chose to remove the rear leaf of the hatch as was common at the time. Very careful examination of the hatch and the cupola will reveal tiny features linked to the hatch-locking system that was later fitted to prevent the hatches from slamming shut. A tiny bit of filling is needed on the pads around the interior and on the hatch leaves themselves. The ‘blanket box’ or turret bin is the type used on Crusader tanks and these appear to have been fitted to the turret in various ways. It is often not clear, so for my vehicle I opted for thin metal strips. What is most definitely missing from the kit is any sign of clips to secure the bin closed. After much searching on the internet, I located photos of the Crusader bins and I replicated the locking mechanism which consists of a circular nut on a threaded spindle. The antenna mounts were drilled out in preparation for carbon-fibre aerials. The ‘A’ set aerial is in four feet sections and crews could use from one to three at a time. I measured mine to be eight feet in scale, but you could go for the full 12 feet version if you want your crew to be using all of the rods. Meanwhile, the ‘B’ set aerial is about 20 inches in length or 15mm on the model.

Colouring the Swallow The Shermans arrived in the depot in Cairo painted in standard US Olive Drab, having been pulled from army units. After adding the various fittings for British service, the tanks were painted overall Desert Pink No.Z.I., and for this I found Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow to be a very good match. One surprising fact is that this colour seems to have worn very badly in a short space of time and photos of vehicles show a great deal of chipping to reveal the OD beneath. As the US paint was baked on in the factory, it was much more resistant. Around October 1942, the policy changed and regulations specified that vehicles would receive dark camouflage bands designed to run through areas of shadow on the vehicle and disguise any openings. These patterns were very specific and all vehicles were to carry an identical design so that the enemy could not identify individual vehicles. On many of the Shermans, the pattern was first marked out in white paint before the darker colour was added. Traces of this marking out can be seen on many vehicles and in some classic cases this developed into a distinctive edging to the camouflage areas (rather going

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ABOVE: One hatch on turret. BELOW: Suspension is excellent and can articulate.

against the whole idea of the vehicles being identical!!). The camouflage colour was specified as Dark Green, with black, very dark brown or slate being acceptable alternatives. Most illustrations suggest that black was used and I chose grey-black from the Vallejo range, as it is better than using a pure black and Vallejo paints are easy to apply by hand. Having settled on the colours, the painting sequence was the next issue.

Hairspray

ABOVE: Stowed hatch and wheel details.

After an overall coat of Olive Green, which helped to spot any flaws in construction, the model was left to fully dry before being given a coat of hairspray and then an overall coat of Desert Pink. After waiting a short while, the areas of high wear were wetted and then scrubbed with a rough sponge. The dampened hairspray loosened the topcoat, allowing patches of the pink to come away from the green beneath. My

ABOVE: The spade on left haand side. BELOW: Each tank came supplied with two huge funnels for fuel.

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ABOVE LEFT: Scratched turret. Red square is B squadron in the senior regiment in a brigade. ABOVE RIGHT: Tools on the right hand side.

ABOVE: Clips on bin shown to good effect. RIGHT: The commander figure under construction.

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first attempt at this technique was quite satisfactory but I quickly realised that I had left the hairspray for too long, meaning that removing the surface colour was much more difficult than it should have been. The pattern of the black camouflage was carefully copied from Mike Starmer’s book, though these diagrams can also be found on the internet. I marked the areas with white outlines, then painted in the grey-black using a brush. In areas, I allowed a trace of the mark-out in white to remain visible. The weathering of the black coat was done in Desert Pink, as if the black had worn off and revealed the layer beneath. The belly of the front transmission armour, plus the underside of the gun barrel, were painted white as per regulations for countershading – a camouflage technique to hide shadows by painting those areas in a lighter colour. The decals were applied in the usual way with Johnson’s Klear applied beforehand and matt varnish afterwards. With the turret decals

I experienced strange blistering of the paint as I applied the wet decals and only now do I realise the reason…….. the hairspray layer was getting wetted by the decal solutions. Clearly something to be aware of.

Weathering The desert environment can be very harsh and the scraping of gritty boots can play havoc with paint surfaces. On the other hand, these tanks were relatively newly painted and had not been exposed to the elements, including rain, since arriving in theatre. As a result, rust stains and downward rain streaks would not be appropriate but the tanks were looking quite ‘worn’ after a short period of time. Simulating this, I made good use of pastels, grime colours and dry brushing in order to carefully replicate a vehicle that had been in the desert for a few months. Detail painting takes a long time but is ultimately satisfying. This covers tools and little parts, the tracks, the tyres and then simulating bare metal on worn edges - a long task. It is important to imagine which parts of the vehicle will experience metal rubbing together, such as on the edges of

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ABOVE LEFT: Good view of side scratching from hairspray method. Tow cable is made from tristing copper wire strands. ABOVE RIGHT: Good shot of bin clips and antenna bases.

the road-wheels where they chafe against the endconnectors of the tracks. Similarly, as the crew clamber up the glacis, this is an area prone to abrasion and the turret roof is often grimy from dirty boots. Meanwhile, hatches are rarely stepped on, so they are relatively clean. All of these things need to be considered when applying the final weathering. Tools are often painted by the subcontractor who made them and when the vehicle is repainted, they are often sprayed in situ. In truth, tools are rarely bare metal and bare wood. I therefore painted mine ‘unrealistically’ but they do add a touch of colour. I’m not at all happy with the dark wood, however, and a quick check in your garden shed will reveal that wooden handles are very pale, often greyish and never a rich mahogany colour. I think my tools will get a repaint in the future.

And so to the crew I was attracted to the cavalry regiments as they tended to resist the introduction of the black beret, and kept their own headgear for as long as possible. After trying out various figures, I eventually went with two figures from the Tamiya Matilda, though

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with Hornet heads. The Tamiya figures are not the most detailed but with the sharp tip of a new blade, the features of the uniform can be brought out. They needed cap badges to represent the Bays and a search in Dick Taylor’s The Men Inside the Metal, vol.2 provided the detail for this. The figures were painted in a mixture of media, with acrylic base coats and detail in oils and enamels.

Finishing touches The .50cal machine gun in the kit is exquisite and some tiny details are all that is required to make this a model in its own right. Most of the Shermans in the El Alamein period had a variety of stowage fixed to the houseboat rails each side. This often consisted of an enormous canvas sheet on one side, designed to cover over the tank and typically five British ‘37 pattern large packs suspended on the other side. Lack of time prevented me from adding these details but they can be added later. Overall, the Swallow from Tasca is an outstanding kit and, despite my additions, can realistically be made straight from the box with great accuracy.

ABOVE: Driver and worn area up the galcis. BELOW: The driver from rear.

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‘The Final Service’ Gary Radford presents a ‘Desert Emil’ in North Africa, 1942

ABOVE & BELOW: Views of the author’s completed 1/32 scale Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7 Trop model on its scenic base.

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The long-serving ‘Emil’

The mainstay of the Luftwaffe until 1941 was the Messerschmitt Bf 109E ‘Emil’ variant which was integral to maintaining air superiority during the Blitzkrieg of 1939-1941. Production of the E variant began way back in 1938. Powered by a new Daimler Benz DB 601 engine and armed with two 7.92mm machine guns above the engine and one 20mm cannon in each wing this was a significantly more powerful variant than its predecessors. As the war progressed in North Africa it soon became apparent that a fighter was needed to fill the roll in that theatre

of operations. The E-7 which was an up graded version of the E-4 rectified this problem. It was the first Bf 109 subtype to be able to carry a standardized Luftwaffe 300ltr drop tank mounted under the fuselage. This increased its range from 660km to 1,325km alternatively a bomb could be carried in place of the tank. A tropicalized version of the E-7 was developed for use in the Mediterranean Theatre. The Bf 109 E-7 Trop as it was known was easily distinguished by its long air filter in front of the supercharger intake. This particular aircraft is S9+DR and at some time in its life the aircraft had been fitted with a

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replacement starboard wing which retained its European ‘splinter’ camouflage. The aircraft was flown by Unteroffizier Hans Sennholz (February 3, 1922 to June 23, 2007) who was a Germanborn American. He was drafted into the Luftwaffe during World War II and became a pilot flying the Bf 109 earning the Iron Cross for valour for his engagements in Norway, France and Russia. On August 31, 1942 while flying his Bf 109 on a sortie near El Alamien, his aircraft was hit by flak causing him to make an emergency landing. Sennholz was subsequently taken prisoner and eventually ended up being moved to a POW camp in Wilson, Arkansas USA where he was put to work milking cows on a dairy farm from 1945 to 1946. After returning to Germany Sennholz took degrees at the universities of Marburg in 1948 and Köln in 1949. He then moved to the United States to study for a Ph.D. at New York University. He taught economics at Grove City College from 1956–1992. After he retired he became president of the Foundation for Economic Education from 1992–1997.

The Build Like the majority of aircraft kits these days construction starts with the cockpit. There are two cockpit wall sections (F1 and F9) that fit to the inside of the fuselage which can be detailed before fitting if one wishes. One of the port side ribs (F17) is supposed to have three control handles fitted to it that are quite prominent on the actual aircraft. On the kit these were simply moulded protrusions which I removed and replaced with more realistic items from my spares box. You can see in the accompanying picture the moulded detail was removed from the right hand side wall panel (shaded red) to accommodate the pre-painted photo-etched plaque (PE26); this was left off until the painting stage had been completed. Before applying any paint to the interior I added the rear wheel support to each side of the fuselage. The radiator assembly was then built and the photo-etched grills fitted using small amounts of thin super glue so not to obscure any detail. The cockpit floor and seat were fixed together and PE detail added as per the instructions. I chose to leave the seat belts off until after the painting had been completed. There was an issue with the oxygen cylinder cover part (E12); it is too tall by about 2mm, it could be cut down but fortunately I had a replacement part from an old Dragon kit which was of a more realistic size. Before the parts were undercoated and pre-shaded I made the rudder pedals and lower half of the instrument panel. All the parts were then sprayed with Mr Hobby RLM

02 Grau and later weathered using AK Interactive Engine Grime. Once all the parts were dry I added the remaining features such as etched chains etc. at the same time carrying out the detailed paint work. Once I was happy with everything, the fuselage halves were joined together although I did leave the engine bay section loose until the engine was fixed in place. Any small gaps, of which there were few, were filled and the resulting seam was cleaned up and lost panel lines were re-scribed. Eduard gives the builder the choice of either building the kit with the engine on display or all closed up. My personal preference is to build a kit with engine on show where possible so I can add extra detail. Using references I started by adding pipes and wires to the surrounding areas, namely the bulkhead that supports the two machine guns and ammo trays. I then assembled the Daimler Benz DB 601 engine and added extra detail to that before spraying the whole thing black. I then gave the engine block a coat of gloss varnish and applied the serial numbers to the side walls. These were also taken from spares left over from the Dragon kit mentioned earlier. Another coat of gloss varnish (Johnson’s Kleer) was applied to seal them in place followed by a coat of Vallejo Matte Varnish. After 24 hours, the engine was dry-brushed using Humbrol 27003 Polished Steel from their Metalcote range. After that had dried a pin wash of the AK Interactive Engine Grime was applied, blended with a brush and slightly moistened with AK odourless turpentine. To finish the engine off the twelve exhaust stubs were first sprayed flat black followed by several thin layers of Engine Manifold ALC-123 from the Alclad 2 range. These were then fixed into their respective locations. When I was happy with the look of the engine the two engine

ABOVE: Eduard’s typical box art. BELOW: The internal structure of the air intake with photo-etched grill fitted.

Tail wheel support added to the inside of the fuselage.

ABOVE: Cockpit floor pan assembled. The PE edging to the harness aperture was placed onto a cocktail stick which had been trimmed down to a flat shape. A small amount of thin Super glue was then applied around the edge of the hole in the seat and the cocktail stick then passed through the hole. The PE part was then simply slid along the stick thus ensuring correct alinement.

ABOVE: Port and Starboard side walls fitted in position with red shaded area showing where detail has been removed ready for the pre-painted photo-etched panel. RIGHT: The replacement CO2 cylinder guard with added detail.

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ABOVE: Pre-painted photo-etched lower instrument panel ready for fitting. BELOW: The rudder pedals this picture shows how delicate these parts are.

ABOVE: Cockpit and engine bay primed in Halford’s grey primer and pre shade in Tamiya Flat Black. BELOW: Floor pan added to the Starboard side of the fuselage after painting and weathering small information placards came from the spares box.

LEFT: Port side of fuselage clearly shows the three prominent handles which were added from an old Dragon kit.

support brackets (G4 and G7) were attached and the whole assembly was fitted to the firewall. I had left the fuselage around the engine bay loose, the two halves were able to spring over the exhaust stubs before being glued together. With the fuselage now joined, the rudder which is a single moulding, can be attached. At the same time I assembled the two tailplane sections. The tabs that fit into the fuselage were very slightly oversize and just needed a very light sanding to achieve a good fit and a small amount of filler was needed at the fuselage joint. The tail support struts (E10 and E13) simply slotted into place blending in with the moulded mounts and needing no filler at all. The wing comes moulded in three sections having a full underside and two upper units. Before the parts are joined the radiator grills on the two wing intakes need adding along with the wheel wells. Detail is very basic in this area just like on the actual aircraft. The instructions call for the wells to be painted black and aluminium but looking at references I painted them in RLM-2 Grau again shading and weathering with the Engine Grime. The wing sections were now glued together remembering to trap the two machine gun barrels that are mounted in the wings. In my opinion it would have been better if these could have been fitted at a later stage but I was surprised how robust they were. For the time being I decided to leave off the leading edge slats. I did this for two reasons one, I could clean up the leading edge joint and two, the inside needs painting in RLM-2 Grau. The flaps and ailerons on the other hand were fitted into place without any issues at all. The whole wing was then attached to the fuselage, it needing a small amount of pressure to get them to fit but a very satisfying ‘click’ was heard and any resulting gaps were then filled.

ABOVE & BELOW: The fuselage has been joined and detail is starting to be added to the engine bay. BELOW: The engine block with extra cables, wires and pipes added and then painted flat black.

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LEFT: The weathered engine was fitted along with machine guns and exhaust stubs. It was at this stage the front part of the fuselage was finally cemented together.

The undercarriage legs were assembled and painted in a similar way to the rest of the internal surfaces. The oleos were first painted gloss black and then Alclad Chrome to simulate the polished surface. I didn’t encounter any issues with these items apart from the instructions calling for the wheel hubs to be painted RLM-2 Grau they should be black. I painted the tyres with Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black to add contrast.

RIGHT: The upper sections of the wing showing the basic but original detail in the wheel wells.

Painting Before any painting could take place I masked all the exposed parts to prevent any over spray. The cockpit glazing was added and masked using the set provided in the kit. This area was then sprayed in the RML-2 Grau. After this had dried I applied an undercoat before adding black pre-shading. The areas that were to be yellow and white were then painted in. When these had dried they were masked off so the top colour could be applied. The first thing I did was to spray the underside and part of the starboard wing with Mr Hobby RLM-78 Hellblau. This was then masked off and the lower section of the wing was sprayed with RLM-65 Hellblau. Moving on to the top colours, I decided it would be easier to paint the European style starboard wing and then mask it off prior to applying the Sandgelb. The wing was first painted in RLM- 2 Grau and then the splinter camouflage was masked and the remainder sprayed in RLM-71 Dunkelgrün. The remainder of the upper surface was then sprayed with Vallejo 71.034 Sandy Brown (RLM-79 Sandgelb). When all this was dry the masking was removed from the yellow and white recognition areas and the whole thing given several coats of Johnson’s Kleer. As already stated the aircraft I wanted to depict was a Bf-109E-7 Trop. ‘S9+DR’. The only set of decals I could find in 1/32 is made by Rising Decals RD32005 Unusual Emil’s Pt II. www.risingdecals.com. I found the decals to be very thin and had a tendency to buckle up while applying them. I did try using Micro Soft and Micro Sol system but to my horror the decal broke up. Fortunately there are two identical sheets in the set and the damaged decal was repeated but not used on the other sheet. With the aid of a soft brush and plenty of water I managed to get the decals in place. After 24 hours I gave the whole aircraft another coat of the Johnson’s Kleer and placed it in a large plastic container to prevent and dust from settling on the surface.

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ABOVE: Wing sections fitted together and fixed in place. When they were eased into place there was a very satisfying and pleasing ‘click’ you just knew from the sound there was no need to take them off again.

BELOW: Engine bay and cockpit masked off and undercoated with Halford’s Primer. Before the primer was applied the glazed area was painted in RLM02 Grey.

BELOW: The black pre shading added.

BELOW: The white desert identification markings added to the fuselage and wing tips along with the yellow underside of the engine bay.

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BELOW & RIGHT: Basic upper and lower camouflage colours blocked in note the subtle difference between the European RLM65 Hellblau under the Starboard wing and the Mediterranean RLM78 on the remainder of the underside.

Now began the process of making the aircraft look used. To start with I diluted a mixture of Winsor and Newton Burnt Umber and Lamp Black oil paint with thinners. I then took a pointed paint brush and applied small drops of the solution to the joints in the panel lines. Capillary action fills the engraved line but if more is needed then simply place another drop on the joint. Working on a small area at a time I then took a 10mm flat brush that had been moistened in thinners and gently dragged it back across the airframe in the direction of the airflow. The result is subtle streaking which can be seen in the pictures. Various chips and scratches were added using a small bit of sponge dipped in silver paint and dried off on kitchen towel then lightly dabbed on the required area. Other areas such as around hatches

etc. were touched in with a fine brush. In order to seal the paint I sprayed two thin coats of Vallejo Acrylic Matte Varnish. With the final coat of matte varnish applied I could now concentrate on the final weathering. The exhaust stains were added by first applying a delicate layer of Yellow Ochre oil, I then slightly thinned some Paynes Grey and applied this over the top gently blending the edges. The reason for thinning the paint is that thin oil paint will always go over the

ABOVE: Undercarriage, propeller and spinner along with the engine bay cover showing its distinctive tropical air filter.

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BELOW & RIGHT: The decals in place, I found them to be very thin and they did not like the Micro Soft/Set treatment. Luckily for me the ‘DR’ part of the decal was duplicated so all was not lost. In the end I resorted to plenty of water to get them in place.

top of thicker oil paint. Finally I applied a thinner coat of Lamp Black. When this had dried I brought the staining together using Mig products weathering powders. Lighter streaks were added to the wings and fuselage again using Yellow ochre this time mixed with a touch of Raw Sienna and gently blended in with a large soft brush, as they say using a few hairs and plenty of air. To finish the Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7 Trop. I added the

aerial mast and other sundries such as the fuel tank, pitot tube and aileron counter weights. The aerial wires were added using thin E-Z Line with the insulator beads being made from drops of thick super glue which were painted flat black when dry. As I had built the aircraft with its engine on display I decided to add it to a simple base so the removed panels could be seen at the same. It depicts the aircraft receiving its ‘Final Service’ before that fateful day in August 1942. Although this Eduard 1/32 version of the Bf 109E-7trop is currently out of production there are still a few to be found in various shops around the UK. My sample came from Veteranus Model Kits. 6&7 High Skellgate, Ripon, Yorkshire, HG4 1BA www.veteranus.co.uk With the Rising Decals set came from Hannant’s, www.hannants.co.uk.

BELOW: Aircraft on a modest base undergoing ‘The Final Service’. The figure of the airfield guard was added simply to give a sense of scale.

Figures

ABOVE: Face and beret have been given a basecoat of acrylics and the eyes painted in oils.

‘Monty’ Monty, as I like to refer to him, (just as my late Father did having served in the 8th Army,) was born in London on November 17, 1887. Following his education he went to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst where he was commissioned into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 1908. During WW1 he was severely injured and spent the remainder of the war as a Staff Officer. In April 1939 he was given command of the 3rd Division of the Expeditionary Force preceding the fall of France. In August 1942, he was swiftly promoted to Commander of the 8th Army, British and Commonwealth forces fighting in the western desert. He inspired his forces to victory at El Alamein which was thought to be a turning point in the war. Following the war, Monty was made a Knight of the Garter and Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. He died on March 24, 1976. I remember my Father being very honoured at being able to attend the funeral service.

Montgomery at El Alamein Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery was one of Britain’s most famous Generals during WW2, notably for the victory at El Alamein by Malcolm Cuming

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The components to the kit prior to assembly.

Figures

ABOVE: Basic flesh tones have been added and blended in. ABOVE RIGHT: I’ve begun to build up the facial detail by strengthening the shadows and highlights. BELOW: Final facial detail has been added to bring out the features of the face.

Preparation On inspecting all the components for this 1/9 kit, a reasonable amount of cleaning up was required before assembly could begin. I find that the different challenges each model sets you makes you a better and more experienced modeller. On a couple of the parts there some ridges or steps (whatever you prefer to call them). In the past, I’ve filed and sanded them away, this time around I thought I’d try a different approach and apply a skin of Magic-Sculp leading up the edge then smooth and shape it. This worked very well for me. After all the casting marks and filling were complete, I drilled and pegged all the parts I wanted to be secure when fitted. All the components were washed in soapy water to clean away any particles or grease from handling then left to dry ready for priming. The head was mounted in a pin vice and primed with Halfords grey primer.

Painting the Face I began by painting in the whites of the eyes and, for this, a nice warm off-white works very well. For most of the basecoats I use paints from the Scale 75 range of acrylics thinned as necessary. A blend of White, Basic Flesh and a touch of a dark blue provides just the right tone, following this I moved on to the flesh tone and for that, a mix of

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Pinky Flesh and Basic Flesh give a suitable shade for the basecoat before the oils are applied. Before adding in the oils I blocked out Monty’s beret. I painted in the shadow areas first before adding a little Basic Flesh for the rest of the beret. Before going any further, I must congratulate the sculptor, Pavol Ovecka, for the excellent job he did in capturing Monty’s likeness. I wanted to paint in the eyes before moving on to the flesh tones. Monty was known to have prominent blue eyes, so I began by marking out the iris with Ultramarine Blue. To bring out the detail I carefully started stippling in the lighter tints by blending Titanium White with a little Cadmium Red Light together. I let this dry before painting in the pupil with Mars Black. Now for my favourite part, adding the flesh tones in oils. So I prepared my palette. I began by mixing my basic flesh tone mix, Golden Ochre, Burnt Sienna, a speck of Viridian, which is the amount on the end of a cocktail stick, any more than that and you can spoil the tone. This was followed by a small amount of Cadmium Red Light and blended in well. From this I can add various other colours to produce all the tints and tones required. I went on to mix some different flesh tones by adding some more White and to the darkest flesh tone I blended in some Alizarin Crimson. Rather than paint the face with one flesh

The hair, moustache and eyebrows have been given a basecoat of acrylics in a shade pale grey before washes of oils are applied.

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The beret has been overpainted in oils to give a slightly dusty appearance and the badge is painted in metallic.

Shirt has been underpainted in a pale khaki tone.

The shirt has been detailed in oils.

tone and work from there, I add the varying tones, i.e. lighter tones to the forehead, upper cheeks , bridge of the nose and so on, the mid to the rest of the face and finally the reddish tone to the lower cheeks. These are then blended in carefully with a flat brush, to get a nice graduation of tones. I then worked on building up the detail on highlights and shadows until I was happy with the results. The head was put aside to dry and settle overnight. Then all that was required was to add the finishing touches using the ‘wet on dry’ process.

with a basic flesh mix added. These were blended in with a flat brush, removing any excess oils at the same time to leave a nice thin film of oils to work on. I began by building up the lighter areas first, by adding more flesh tone with the addition of Titanium White so that I could vary the tones as I wanted. For the shadows, I added a little more Lamp Black to the base colour and worked and blended these in as necessary. At this point I left it to dry for 24 hours before returning to the palette to add the finishing touches.

Beret

Shirt

For the beret I wanted to give the appearance of it being dusty from being in the desert, this was accomplished by adding Basic Flesh to Flat Black for the basecoat. Prior to doing this however, I did paint the areas that were in deep shadow with Flat Black first, then using the above mentioned mix painted in the rest of the beret. With the oils the same approach was taken. Lamp Black was chosen for this task, as it dries nice and flat. As before, I painted in the dark shadows first and then applied a blend of Lamp Black

The shirt I’ve painted is a basic pale khaki colour, although I have seen some black and white photos of Monty indicating that he is wearing a darker one. I opted for the lighter one to give some contrast between the shirt and jumper. I began by blocking it out with a pale khaki shade, using a mix of Andrea English Khaki and Scale 75 Birch. Moving on to the oils, I started off by preparing a slightly darker shade of khaki by blending together Mars Yellow, Mars Black, followed by Titanium White to acquire

The left arm has been fitted and the jumper finished in oils. The middle section of the binoculars has been cemented in place.

ABOVE: The jumper has been given a basecoat of acrylics in a shade of drab green. RIGHT: Oils have been added to the body section of the jumper prior to the arm being fitted.

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ABOVE: The main section of the turret was first given a coat of a sand colour. Here the turret section is shown ready to have the camouflage and detailing added.

the shade that I wanted. The base coat of oils was thinned a little by adding some Windsor & Newton Sansodor and then applied to the shirt. Any excess oils were removed before adding the lighter shades for this I simply added a little more white to the mix. Burnt Umber was used for the shadows. These were added subtly to begin with and then deepened where necessary.

Jumper Prior to starting on the jumper itself I painted both hands in oils, using the same palette that I used for the flesh tones. At this stage I also painted the binoculars. For the acrylic basecoat of the jumper I selected a blend of Ardennes Green, Red Leather and Birch. I was toying with the idea of painting the jumper in oils in two stages, the main section and the left arm separately. I found myself in a bit of a predicament as I didn’t have anything that I could securely fit the arm to while it was painted. To add to the problem, if I cemented the arm in position prior to adding the oils I wouldn’t have it easy when painting the front of the jumper. So after some deliberation, I decided to paint a section of the jumper first, cement the arm in position, add filler and basecoat as necessary and then carry on. Not an ideal way to go about things, but there we are. Initially, I mixed a shade of green, using Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Yellow. First of all I soaked out as much of the oil by placing the colours on cartridge paper for half an hour. Hopefully this would reduce the shine once painted. I transferred the oils to my palette of greaseproof paper and began to add some Caput Mortuum, yes that’s right, Caput Mortuum - a very unusual name for a shade of paint. It is a reddish brown and I have found this extremely useful in blending various shades of Drab Green. Initially I thinned the oils by dipping my brush in Sansodor, to aid getting a nice thin coat over the acrylic basecoat. Any excess oils were removed with a flat brush; this will help achieve a matt finish too. I wanted to keep the highlights subtle, I added a tiny amount to a little of the base colour that I’d put aside for this purpose, and blended these in as required. For the shadows, I used varying shades to produce the darker shades for the deep shadows. To acquire the darker shades I added some more of the Ultramarine Blue and Caput Mortuum to suit and as before carefully blended them in. As the trousers were going to be hidden when positioned in the turret of the tank, I didn’t go to too much time and effort painting them. Once the jumper had dried, I added a strap to the binoculars, made from electrical tape.

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Grant M3 Turret I only have a limited knowledge of tanks, so I googled a lot of photos and videos of the tank to get an idea of what I needed to do. After I’d primed all the parts for the turret, I decided to paint the interior section first. It’s very basic and some of the equipment you’d find inside has been omitted as the figure of Monty would obscure it. I began by painting it a light sand colour and the inner ring in white as depicted in some of the photos I’d seen. For the outside of the turret and the flaps I used a deeper shade using Iroko and Birch. To add the camouflage pattern, I added some Ardennes Green to some Iroko and finally to take it down a notch, I mixed in some Birch. Before finishing off with some oil washes of Burnt Umber, I painted in chips and weathering on the Cupola ring and hatches. The blocked sides were painted black to complete the model.

ABOVE: The completed kit. BELOW: The completed bust section.

Availability This kit is reasonably priced at just £55.00 and can be ordered by contacting Gordon Mitchell at [email protected]. On a final note, I’d like to dedicate this article to my late Father who was proud to have been a Desert Rat and to have served under Monty. And one thing is for sure, he would have loved to have had this piece in his cabinet, taking pride of place.

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The ‘Desert Fox’ Erwin Rommel, Alexandros 1/10 resin bust by Adrian Hopwood

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A complex character

‘‘ ” Rommel was a complex character. His tenacity to advance his forces and yet at the same time to minimise losses within the ranks...

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Where to start – a little history I suppose. Ask almost anyone and they will probably give you a glowing report of Erwin Rommel as a respected general, both in terms of his men and those who were standing against him in the desert campaigns during WWII. It’s not unreasonable to go along with these first hand views of the man and a lot has been documented to back it up, he is certainly one of the few German commanders that are thought of as generally decent and honest. Rommel was a complex character. His tenacity to advance his forces and yet at the same time to minimise losses within the ranks, can be read about but the overall futility of the task that he was assigned led to a stalemate within the desert. His lines of supply and repairs to vehicles were the undoing of any advances that his forces had made. The Allied forces kept hold of their port at El Alamein bringing the German and Italian forces to a point where there simply was no other option than to withdraw – even against instruction from Hitler himself which ultimately led to Rommel’s apparent forced suicide. Painting this bust accurately, like many historical subjects, is reliant on the art of deciphering information and in this case of WWII, old black and white photos. Even the few colour photos out there give the modeller problems as the reproduction can be less than accurate in representing the true shades of the time and with some pictures being ‘retouched’ to produce colour shots, the information frequently becomes muddied.

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I chose to use a mixture of pictures of actual equipment, lightening some of the colours I then used to represent dust and fading. I planned out the basic pattern of the scarf but where that one was concerned there were no colour pictures that I could find, so I copied the patterns and assumed (oh so dangerous my friends) that the colours would be mixtures of cream and browns.......these could be totally wrong, so please don’t take my painting as gospel.

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The model I’ll be quick about this, simply because there are certain parts that I want to focus on. Photo 1 shows the box art, very nice; several pictures of a painted piece and a nice version of the scarf although a tad too ‘Burberry’ for me. Nicely packaged too, but disappointment hit hard when I got the parts out of the wrapping. I’ve laid them out in photo 2 but for a kit that costs the wrong side of £45, I was less than impressed with the casting quality – a shame when the sculpting promises so much. Photos 3 and 4 show what I’m on about and speak for themselves. So, a lot of clean up and a little resculpting are necessary. Rommel’s favourite uniform was the D.A.K. one and he’s seen in photos with the dusty coloured tunic quite a lot. I chose to paint that, using Mars Yellow, Mars Black (to grey out the yellow a little) and Titanium White with just a touch of Mars brown to warm the mix a little. The basics of this are shown in photo 5, with only the deeper shadows needing to be added to the armpits, under the collar flaps and around the seams. OK so I’m rushing things but I really wanted to get on to the scarf – it was going to be both a headache and some fun.

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Research told me that the scarf was knitted by Rommel’s illegitimate daughter to Walburga Stemmer – their daughter’s name being Gertrud. It’s said that Gertrud knitted the scarf for her father and that it had a plaid pattern. I worked out what I thought the pattern could be from a couple of the better photos of Rommel from the time, although it’s difficult to say exactly what the pattern is because of the way that the folds and rucks in the wool form when it’s wrapped around Rommel’s neck and tucked into his tunic.

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Painting it was fun; establishing a light background, then adding darker red/brown horizontal stripes that would form the basis of the pattern – shown in photo 6. I noted that there were fine diagonal stripes across the darker bands and these were painted in first, See photo 7 - with even lighter lines running across the diagonals and also down the length of the scarf. I used a very fine brush to add them and discovered that the bristles were probably not

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meant to be used with oil paints as they developed a ‘hook’ at the tip of the brush. Ah, but this came in handy when I the added the darker lines to the pattern. At the beginning of planning the layout of the pattern I noticed that a lot of the lines were actually made up of short diagonal cross-hatches, rather than simple straight lines. The hook on the tip of the brush bristles helped me to paint these very fine short lines in, to form what, from a distance, appear to be solid lines. It was tedious and time consuming but with patience the pattern built up and certainly a blind man galloping past on a horse at midnight would agree that the pattern works........if I paid him some money at least. The final shots show the finished bust. I’m not convinced at the time of writing that the background colour of the scarf has enough contrast so this might well get a couple of very thin washes of a shadow colour put over the whole scarf to make things blend

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together a little better. I’ve never been keen on painting tartan patterns and I’m sticking with that feeling even after this foray into knitted neckwear. There is an option to paint the scarf as a white silk item – for those who give the matter more thought for an easy life. Overall, if I was reviewing this bust I would admit that the initial casting faults put a dark cloud over the project. I know we’re supposed to be modellers but the previous two or three busts I’ve painted have been a darn sight cheaper to buy and were of a lot higher quality in terms of casting. The sculpting, however, is good and perhaps for the onlooker there is a little bit more punch or glamour with this piece.

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Italiano Self-Propelled ‘Automotive’ in North Africa Italian Italeri Semovente M40 da 75/18 by Mark Bannerman ABOVE: The model set in a desert scene somewhere in North Africa (Courtesy of Photoshop)

BELOW: The Italeri boxart. The 1/35 model was previously sold by Peerless and Esci. Although the mould is 40 years old, it is still an excellent model by any standards.

A superior gun The Semovente M40 da 75/18 was the first Italian self-propelled gun to be produced in series in World War II. The prototype was tested in early 1941 and pushed into operational service later in that year. The first vehicles to participate in active combat were assigned to two self-propelled artillery gruppi of the Ariete Division. These guns were introduced in North Africa and were considered superior to both British and German guns. The effectiveness of their guns was further enhanced by the use of a shaped-charge ammunition. The first series were built on the chassis of Carro Armato M13/40

and other series were later built on the M14/41 and M15/42 chassis. Many of these tanks were pushed into German service in the African and Italian campaigns. The Semovente da 75/18 weighted 14.4 tones, was crewed by three (commander/gunner, loader and driver), sported a Model 35 75/18 howitzer and typically carried 100 rounds. At the end of the war, many were sent to Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Greece for post war military service. In total, approximately 200 of all series combined were produced.

Timeless Italeri This release from Italeri has been in existence for a long time and I believe represents the same model (and moulds) released by Peerless and Esci. Despite its age, it is still an excellent model holds its own and is well up to today’s standards. Overall, the detail on the suspension, breach and sight, drive shaft and rivets are excellent. The model out of the box would be an easy assembly with little to no fit issues. The instructions are easy to follow, the parts fit together very well and the model offers decals to cover four vehicles (three Italian and one German). For this project, I decided to take it one step further using etch, resin and a little scratch building as a method of honing in on my modelling skills. Most of the model was built per the instructions, however in some cases, where the detailing was better on an aftermarket offering (exhaust pipe, sidelights, barrel etc.), I left the plastic part off for the replacement. The model is a very simple build and I used a variety of parts from the Italeri Carro Armatto M13/14 to replace missing parts (I bought the kit from a flea-market) from the Italeri

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LEFT: A disabled Semovente. Note the full track fenders and the fully extended antennae bracket. (Photo source unknown)

Semovente offering. Fortunately, many parts for the Italeri Carro Armato and the Italeri Semovente are interchangeable. With the basic model built up, I spent some time gathering close-up museum and wartime photos of the Semovente on the internet and in magazines and other publications. To start, I used a punch and die set to make 30-40 small rivets (Waldron Set using .023’ hole and .020’ Evergreen sheet styrene) which were to be attached with liquid glue on the hull where bolts were missing.

Replicating photos Attaching the front fenders was a little tricky because there was a large gap between the connector point on the hull and the fender edge. I had purposely sliced off the rear section of the fenders to replicate photos of the Semovente with short fenders in the North African

campaign. Once glued in place, I filled the gap with auto primer and applied copious amounts of liquid glue to smooth out the primer. Once dry, light sanding with fine grit sandpaper smoothed down the connection point. I also used some etch from the Royal Models after-market offering and while there was really not much in the way of important etch, I could have done without it. Most parts could have been made using sheet styrene. The barrel is an aluminium offering from Aber and it is a super two part offering. This was very much worth the purchase. The lids on the side boxes were replaced with sheet styrene and the boxes themselves were wrapped in the Royal Models etch. The exhaust pipes and side lights were also replaced with the resin offering from the Royal Models set. Other replacements included using etch for tie-down lugs, etch grill over the engine vent and a few small details on the hull surface.

ABOVE LEFT: I used parts from the Italeri M13/40 as I was missing some parts for the Semovente. The running gear was a relatively easy affair to assemble. ABOVE RIGHT: Some parts were replaced such as the exhausts and some of the etch from the Royal Models aftermarket offering was also used.

LEFT: Tracks have been welded to add a protective layer to the tank’s armour. It appears to have been a Semovente used by the Germans. (Photo source unknown)

BELOW: The model was built primarily out of the box with some additional detailing. Here, I drilled a small hole into the fender as per wartime references.

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AFV An Italian tank squad appears to have Rommel (background) in their midst. Note the tracks welded to the hull and front. (Photo source unknown)

detailed and the best one can purchase. Many will suggest that the plugs that attach the tracks together are not long enough so some modellers will use copper wire or fine gauge brass wire to attach the links together. I made an attempt at attaching a few links with the plugs but found the process very tedious, time consuming and realized that it was not that important to me to necessarily have articulated workable tracks - unless I wanted to attach the tracks to the tank after the tank was painted. There is no question that separate track links create a much more authentic look compared to single-piece vinyl tracks but I was uncertain that I wanted to spend hours upon hours attaching links, adding wire on either end with superglue, snipping off the excess wire and moving on to the next link.

ABOVE: The Aber turned aluminium barrel is an excellent offering and well worth the investment. RIGHT: The superb release by ModelKasten of the tracks for the M13/40 which is also applicable to the Semovente 75/18.

BELOW: I used the metal Friul sprocket wheels because I had them. However, the plastic wheels in the Italeri offering would have been fine to use.

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The next step in the building process was the lower suspension and tracks. The Italeri suspension was put together in one evening and was easy to assemble. With the suspension built, I began the process of putting together the ModelKasten tracks designed for the M13/40 (which are the same tracks as the Semovente). Modelkasten tracks are highly detailed plastic links and are attached link-by-link using small plastic plugs provided in the track set. When finished, the track links can be articulated similar to real tracks and are often referred to as ‘workable’. The links themselves are exquisitely

ModelKasten tracks While there are several methods for assembling ModelKasten tracks, I chose to side step the process of building the tracks off the model and to assemble in sub-links on the already attached road wheels before painting the model. I snipped off the tracks from the sprues, cleaned up any excess plastic and then glued 8-10 links together with liquid glue. I used a wooden ruler as my surface so that liquid glue would not affix the tracks to the ruler. I allowed the length of 8-10 links to dry for ten minutes, squeezing the length between two straight-edge rulers to keep the length straight then mounted the length onto the suspension. A hairdryer can be very handy to speed up the drying process. While the glue was still tacky on the length, I added some slack where the tracks would suspend between the return rollers. I repeated this step until one side was complete. One side of the Semovente took me just over an hour. The tricky bit with using this approach is the attachment of the last length and ensuring that the length is a perfect fit between two already installed lengths. If the length is slightly too long but removing one link will render the length too short, I pull the last two links on either side of the gap inwards by a fraction towards the gap so that the gap can be reduced in size to

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accommodate the last link. This worked and resulted in a perfect fit. The other option is to decrease the slack in the top tracks. My suggestion when starting off with putting the tracks together is to start with the ground lengths, work your way around the idler and sprocket and then slowly work your way in with the top length of tracks (the length that extends over the return rollers) to allow the flexibility of getting the length correct as you close the gap. This was my second or third go with ModelKasten and these are absolutely superior. In fact, the best tracks I have yet come across. Finishing touches on the assembly included using the sprocket wheels from the Friul track set, drilling a small hole in the inside front portion of the fenders, reinforcing all etch with a minute speck of superglue and filling any small voids and joints between parts with liquid glue to ensure a sturdy bond.

I began the process of putting together the ModelKasten tracks by clipping these off the sprues with nail clippers.

Desert Colours The colours of a Semovente depended on the theatre of operation. Tanks leaving the factory were typically painted in Grigio Verde Scuro which was a dark greygreen colour. It can be best described as a mediumdark green with a distinct grey tone. Desert colours varied greatly with most receiving the camouflage paint application in the field. Desert colours varied from tan-brown with a mottled or spotted green camo, to Giallo Sabbio (sand) with or without dark Marrone Rossiccio (brick red-brown) and/or Grigio Verde Scuro (grey-green). From March 1941 onwards, Italian tanks were painted in the factory in ‘Khaki Sahariano’, a deep sand-yellow which was completely suitable for North Africa. As I was modelling a tank serving in North Africa, I opted for the overall one colour sand-yellow. Sandstorms and the low quality field application of paint would not stand up well to the effects of sand hitting the surface of the tank and as a result; some images of the Semovente’s finish may appear to be camouflaged when it is actually the result of the base sand colour rubbing off and revealing the paint underneath. To start the paint process, I cleaned the model down with soap and water and then primed with two coats of Tamiya Grey Primer. Once dry, I sprayed the entire model, including the tracks, in two thin applications of a mix of Tamiya Dark Yellow XF59 (80%) and White XF-2 (20%) further mixed with 30% water. Before starting in on the weathering, I brush painted the tracks using a combination of Vallejo 822 German Camo Black Brown and 862 Black Grey which was followed by brush painting the rubber on the road wheels using Tamiya NATO Black XF-65. This took about one evening. There are some areas where I inadvertently painted on the rubber of the tyres with track colour and rubber colour onto the tracks. However, the colours were so similar that any subsequent weathering would eliminate the glitches. Once dry, the whole model took a light airbrushing of heavily diluted Tamiya Buff (ratio paint to thinner was approximately 1:4). To start the weathering, I ripped up small sections of sponge

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from a dish scrubbing pad and dipped this into small amounts of Tamiya Dark Grey. After removing excess paint from the sponge, I lightly applied the sponge onto the tank’s surfaces concentrating on high traffic areas used by tank crews and then dabbing the sponge more conservatively on all other areas of the tank. There is no right or wrong way to

ABOVE: Note how the tracks only slightly sag between return rollers.

BELOW: I primed the model using two light coats of Tamiya grey primer – the best primer on the market in my opinion.

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AFV LEFT: I brush painted the tracks using a combination of Vallejo 822 German Camo Black Brown and 862 Black Grey and this was followed by brush painting the rubber on the road wheels using Tamiya NATO Black XF-65.

ABOVE: I used small sections of sponge from a dish scrubbing pad and applied small amounts of Tamiya Dark Grey to the whole tank.

ABOVE: All of the filters were applied with 15% paint and 85% Humbrol thinners and each filter was allowed to dry thoroughly before adding the subsequent filter. LEFT: Close up view of the sponge effect, filters and pin washes. BELOW: I also added pinwashes using Sepia oil paint thinned with Testor’s paint thinner.

do this but rather more thinking through where the heaviest concentration of paint chips may occur. One way to reverse the effect if the chipping effect is too heavy is to use the sponge and dab some of the base colour back in. Once thoroughly dry, I added three filters using Humbrol paints - 29, 72, and 83 – and applied in that order. All of the filters were applied with 15% paint and 85% Humbrol thinners. Each filter was allowed to dry thoroughly before adding the subsequent filter. Once dry, I started in with pinwashes using Sepia oil paint heavily thinned with Testor’s paint thinner. I used a liner brush to add a pinwash of Sepia along all panel lines, around rivets and inside the wheel wells. I added in a few additional scratches using Humbrol Dark Grey to the model using a ‘00’ brush. Once the decals were firmly in place, I started in with copious amounts of powdered pigments using a mix of Vallejo Green Earth and MIG Sand. The combination looks likely to be a light grey shade but once applied looks remarkably similar to sand dust. I worked small sections at a time and, once the entire tank and tracks had received the pigment treatment, the pastels were then fixed into place by airbrushing the entire model with pure Tamiya thinners X-20A. I typically repeat this step several times because the airbrush will remove some of the pigments so repeating the process provides some depth to the overall effect I was trying to achieve. The pigments that I use most often are dry stick types that can be purchased at a well-stocked art store for a few dollars. However, I was quite impressed with the quality of the both Vallejo and MIG pigments. A few oil stains were added by flicking diluted Sepia mixed with Raw Sienna oil paints from a dried brush onto the rear part of the model. The track links were then picked out with a regular pencil to show bare metal where the cleats would meet the road. The interior of the hatch and inner wall were painted in white Humbrol enamels, followed by a few washes of Sepia oil paint and regular pencil to show metal wear. Some finishing touches include painting the inside of the light pots in Tamiya Silver and filling the pots with 5-minute epoxy. The last step was using Friul metal tracks as extra protective armour on the tank’s hull. It was common practice to weld tracks to the tank’s vertical and frontal armour to protect it from enemy fire. I painted the Friul tracks in the same colour as those used on the MK tracks and dusted these with the same pigment mix that I used on the tank. I used 5-minute epoxy to glue these to the model. To finish off the project, I used a resin figure of an Italian commander from the excellent line of Hornet 1/35 figures. My treatment of figures varies. For this figure, I airbrushed the clothing ion black followed by light applications of Dark Grey ensuring only to catch the highlights. The face was painted in oils as were his helmet, gloves and boots. Detailing such as the belt and goggles were painted in enamel Humbrol.

Conclusion This is an old model that was absolutely lovely to build and weather. It is certainly not a weekend project but, once completed, it is a very rewarding model. I do not know whether it is a highly accurate rendition but compared to wartime photos and a

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few museum samples, I think Italeri have done a superb job. This model can be built out of the box or can be upgraded without spending a significant amount of money. The only two recommendations I would make in terms of after-market purchases would be replacement tracks (MK) and a replacement barrel (Aber). This is a finely engineered kit with loads of potential for detailing. I do rate this offering very highly and look forward to building another in the near future. ABOVE LEFT: A superb offering by Hornet of the 1/35 tank Commander. ABOVE RIGHT: The uniform was painted in Tamiya using an airbrush, the head was painted in Rembrandt oils, as were his helmet, gloves and boots. Detailing such as the belt and goggles were painted in enamel Humbrol. The now out-of-print Bellona booklets are an excellent source of information. These can be picked up for a good price at flea markets and on the internet and are packed with information and photos with scale drawings for the modeller.

ABOVE: The pigments helped mute down the stark contrast between the base colour and the grey sponge chipping effect. RIGHT: I worked the pigments in small sections at a time and, once the entire tank and tracks received the pigment treatment, the pastels were then fixed into place by airbrushing the entire model with pure Tamiya thinners X-20A.

This is an excellent book by Nicola Pignato – it has all Italian text but the photo references are superb.

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‘Matilda’s last Waltz’ Tamiya’s 1/48 ‘Queen of the Desert’, the Matilda II by Chris Meddings

TOP: The author’s completed model on its base set against a scenic backdrop courtesy of Photoshop.

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Introduction The Matilda II’s time in the sun was the war in North Africa. The ‘Queen of the Desert’ outclassed all comers when she was introduced. Her armour proved itself against the best that Italian Armoured Brigades could offer and the 20mm cannon of the Panzer 2 and 37mm KwK 36 of the early Panzer IIIs and performed respectably against the 50mm KwK of the Panzer III G to J. Her 2pdr gun, designed as an anti-tank weapon, was very effective against Italian tanks and performed well at reasonable distances against early panzers. Above all though, she was mechanically eminently reliable. In a desert that rendered large proportions of previous British tanks strength unavailable for combat, this was incredibly valuable. However, by the time the first and second battles of El Alamein had come around, the Matilda II was pretty much obsolete. Later, Panzer IIIs with higher velocity

guns, the Panzer IV with its 75mm and better German towed anti-tank guns available to the DAK all did away with her armoured advantage and the 2pdr was no longer able to knock out many tanks at a range on a par with axis armour. The Matilda had been superseded in the Infantry Tank role by the Valentine (although still sadly with a 2pdr) and the first few of the new, far heavier and more potent infantry tanks, the Churchill, had been introduced in time for the battle. However, Montgomery wanted every weapon he could lay his hands on, so a few Matildas, that were still capable of fighting were on strength for the battle.

The Model Released with great fanfare as their landmark 300th kit in the Military Model series, Tamiya’s Matilda II (2009) was a tour de force of moulding, engineering and was just huge fun to build. In 2012, they released a 1/48 version that was basically the 1/35 kit reduced to 1/48 with a couple of small changes. Having enjoyed the 1/35 so much I chose to build it again, in 1/48. The kit is basically accurate but, as we will see, I made a few small changes.

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Assembly starts with the hull tub which goes together easily and well. We are given two cylindrical weights in the newer Tamiya 1/48 kits (the older kits in their 1/48 series having die-cast metal lower hulls) and I elected to use them to give the model a little weight. The suspension is next and Tamiya have made this nice and simple, in this scale this results in only a little loss of fidelity. At the rear of the hull I removed the two moulded on, solid handles that lock the armoured cover of the radiators in place and replaced them with scratch replacements. Matildas in the desert virtually never used the auxiliary fuel tank so I filled the holes for the brackets. Sometimes, they had a rack in its place with two gallon cans, some fuel and some water but lacking any 1/48 cans, I left this off. On the sides and on top of the hull, I removed the tie downs which again are moulded solid. I replaced them with stretched sprue. I also removed the shovel, pick handle and crow bar and moulded on straps to correspond with the tie downs and the bracket moulded on the blade of the shovel. I placed the tools and tied them down with thin strips cut from the foil on a Swann Morton blade pack. The bracket for the shovel blade was replaced with plasticard. Some of the tools had box brackets on the end. These are moulded very thickly so I carefully thinned them with a scalpel for thickness of a better scale. The locating pin holes for the tools were filled by stretching kit sprue then pushing it in as far as the taper would allow and fixing it with

CA. Then I simply snipped the end off and sanded it flat. The long jack handle is simply a rod so I just replaced it with brass rod. Moving on to the rest of the hull, the exhaust ends are moulded solid so I drilled them out, starting with a .5mm to centre the hole properly then, using progressively larger bits until the sidewalls were as thin as I could get them, I also drilled out the holes in the lifting eyes. There are two runs of spare track on the forward mudguards. Regrettably, the metal strip brackets that secure them are moulded on and are rather clunky. I carefully cut the brackets off, replaced the missing track detail underneath, then made new brackets from strips of brass fret from spare PE sets. Doing one was a lot of work so, with the other, I only made empty brackets. I also replaced the rear light and registration plate with styrene sheet and brass tube by Albion Alloys. The headlights are moulded solid in the same tan plastic as the rest of the kit. I drilled them out and replaced them with sections of clear sprue from the spares box cut and polished them clear again. For the Periscopes, I heated a piece of clear sprue then pressed it flat, while it was still hot, with a pair of tweezers. I then cut squares of the right size, painted the backs black and placed them in the hollow periscope mounts. The last thing I replaced on the top hull was the driver’s mirror. This is thick and clunky in the kit so I soldered two pieces of rod and a rectangle (cut from brass sheet) together to make a replacement.

The shovel comes with a nasty moulded on bracket. I removed and replaced it with a strip of thin plastic card.

BELOW LEFT: The tie down loops were replaced with stretched sprue and thin foil provided the straps. BELOW RIGHT: The long jack handle was replaced with brass rod as it was easier than cleaning up the kit part.

ABOVE: The desert Matildas almost never carried the auxiliary fuel tank so I deleted the slots for the tank holders. RIGHT: I made new straps from scrap PE fret and left one side empty.

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BELOW: To make the missing periscopes I heated clear sprue from another kit and flattened it with tweezers before cutting a suitably sized rectangle out.

LEFT: I also replaced the thick kit license plate with plastic card and brass tube. BELOW: I textured the parts of the tank that would have been cast metal for better contrast.

I had to make a periscope for the inside of the commander’s hatch as its missing from the kit.

The ‘luggage rack’ is moulded onto the rolls provided in the kit. The rolls were very poor so I discarded all of it and replaced with a scratch rack.

I was now nearly ready to move onto the turret, so I decided to tackle texturing the cast steel parts of the tank. The kit has some texture on these parts but it is somewhat marred by seams and attachment points etc. that need cleaning up, so I chose to re-texture them. I did this by diluting Tamiya basic putty with Tamiya extra thin cement and dabbing it on with a piece of sponge. The turret was reasonable straightforward, although I did make a few small changes. I replaced the left side stowage rack and rolls because they were very poorly detailed, which was quite a letdown in an otherwise very nice kit. I made a new rack from strips of styrene sheet and straps from the Swann Morton packet, teasing them into a draped

ABOVE: The aerial mount is very clunky so I replaced it with styrene sheet and 0.1mm copper wire.

shape. I also drilled out the Besa muzzle and enlarged the slide moulded hollow muzzle of the 2pdr. I also replaced the finger guards on the cut off Lee Enfield actions used on the Smoke launchers with PE strip. The commander’s hatch is missing the internal parts of the periscope, so I scratched one to complete it. The least attractive part on the turret for me is the mount for the radio aerial. This is moulded solid as many things are on the kit but the real one was rather interesting and comparatively delicate so I re-made it in styrene sheet, using the insulator dome from the kit. The real one was also tethered and sprung with a cable so that it would flip back into place if disturbed. I made this from 0.1mm copper wire, winding it around the shank of a .5mm bit to get the spring section. In practice these were often a little slack so I left the slack in it and attached it to a small wheel made from a punched disc of styrene. Finally, the commander’s blade sight in the kit is rather thick so I made a replacement from thin sheet. Due to the design of the Matilda’s skirts and wanting to paint the track properly prior to fitting them I left the track and skirts off for painting.

Painting and Weathering

The model ready for paint. The tracks and skirts were left off to better facilitate weathering.

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I painted the whole in a mix of white (XF2), dark yellow (XF60) deck tan (XF55). Once that was dried, I used Vallejo model colour to brush paint the various tools and smaller parts that have a different colour from the main colour. While that was still wet, I quickly added a touch more white to the mix still in the cup and sprayed some faint highlights in suitable areas. Unfortunately, the kit does not come with decals suitable for this time period. The two options given are: one tank in the UK on home defence duty and one in Caunter for Operation Crusader a year before. Moving on to the weathering, I used to use oils exclusively for weathering but over the last year

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or so I’ve moved over to enamels, partly because they dry a lot faster (I like to work fast) and partly because they tend to dry dead matt). I started with Humbrol 110 Natural wood. I put some on a strip of cardboard, which leaches the solvent out of it and helps it dry faster then applied it with a fine brush in areas where I wanted to add a general grimy shade. I chose Natural Wood as it goes best with the sand colour of the camouflage. It’s important to be flexible in your choices to make sure you get a good, sympathetic colour match. Once I had the colour in the places I wanted it, I took a clean, dry brush and blended it into the surrounding areas to make a gentle transition from shade to light. I decided to add the chipping next. Given the age of Matilda IIs by the time of El Alamein, I wanted mine to look like a really tired old veteran on one last hurrah. In actuality, it’s possible that they would have been recently repainted and I confess to a certain amount of artistic license, used to tell the story in this case, rather than for the sake of heavy weathering on aesthetic grounds. To add the chips, I got the finest brush I have, a 0000 with most of the bristles missing and used Vallejo raw umber diluted just enough to make it flow very easily but still quite thick so that it would keep its opacity. Using this very fine brush, I added very fine scratches and chips in areas where this would most likely occur. Again, the choice of colour is important here. Raw Umber is on the same palette of yellowish browns and has the added benefit of being dark for good contrast but also having a hint of oxidised metal. Next, I added a touch more lightening and fading with very well thinned white enamel. I blended this in to get the effect that I wanted with a soft brush. When this was dried, I wanted to start bringing something of the ever present dust mentioned in desert war memoirs to the build. I chose to start this process with a product that was new to me; AK Interactive Dust and Dirt Deposits; Sand Yellow Deposits, I was thoroughly impressed with it. It appears to be somewhere between an enamel filter and pigments in solution and it dries to a very fine dusty effect. I certainly recommend it. To use it, I gave it a really good shake then used a fine brush to

ABOVE: The model was basecoated in a homemade mix of Tamiya white, deck tan and dark yellow. BELOW: I put some Humbrol natural wood enamel on cardboard to leech the solvent from it and rubbed it into the recesses, blending it with a soft brush.

apply it in areas where dust would collect. When it dried I found it had quite a subtle effect so I gave the whole tank a light wash with it and, when that was dry, I built up more in the areas where it would collect. Next, I turned to the tracks. As these were link and length and reasonably small, I left them

ABOVE: I lightened selected areas with heavily thinned white enamel. LEFT: I tried a new product to me; AK Interactive Dust and Dirt Deposits; Sand Yellow. I didn’t know what to expect but it was superb; highly effective and easy to use.

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AFV ! added rust by applying just a little AK interactive rust wash on the chipping for a rust stained look.

on the sprue for painting. I started by spraying them with a mix of Tamiya black (XF1) and Flat Earth (XF52). When that was dry, I gave them a couple of heavy washes of the AK Dust and Dirt mentioned above. When that was dry, I dry-brushed the guide horns with a mixture of Vallejo black, raw umber and steel. I cut them off, cleaned up the attachment points and touched up the exposed plastic with a brush then fitted them. Once they were on I fitted the skirts. Next, I wanted to add a little rust. The desert is thought of as very dry but in fact moisture can form at night in North Africa and in places the fighting was not far from the sea. In Alan Moorhead’s Desert Trilogy he talks about how quickly the damaged or knocked-out tanks rusted. So I added rust but erred on the side of subtlety. I used AK interactive light rust streaking and applied just a little colour around some of the chips and a few streaks here and there but not much and nothing too stark. ABOVE: A pinwash of dark brown picked out details.

ABOVE: I carved a base from dense Styrofoam. RIGHT: Checking the fit of the tank, some gaps under the tracks would need addressing.

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ABOVE: The base was finished off with white tape for a mine cleared lane, and home-made barb wire and stanchions.

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Next, I added pigments and used Pinnacle Pigments Light Mud. I mixed a wash with enamel thinner and added it heavily in various collection areas. Finally, I added just a little more lightening. When adding so many tones and playing so much with the look of a project there’s always a danger that it will start to get a bit ‘muddy’. You have to ensure that detail on the model is king; giving the sense of a complex machine shrunk to 1/48 its original size. This is, in my opinion, best done with light, shade and above all, contrast. My model was starting to merge in tones. I was happy with the dark and the mid-level tones but it was lacking light. I mixed some diluted white Vallejo to the consistency of slightly milky water and applied it a little at a time, blending it to avoid tide-marks. When I was happy, I painted the commander and added him and the model was done.

The Base It’s always a good idea to add a base. Models work so much better in context than they do on a plain wooden base and it’s well worth trying. I’ve recently been building a lot of ship models and I decided to import the method for seascapes here to make an undulating desert base. I started with a section of blue Styrofoam (I get mine from 4D Modelshop) and carved the waves, err I mean dunes, into it with a knife. This is a messy job, keep a vacuum cleaner handy! I then used artist’s medium (you can use PVA) to stick patches of tissue paper onto the foam to give a smoother surface and to seal it for later. Next, I crushed up some hard pieces of household filler powder mixed with brown paint. I mixed this for another base but it crushes to a fine dust or you can get ‘rocks’ from it. Mixed with pigment, it makes a very nice rocky desert terrain. I pained more medium onto the top of the tissue and scattered it with the powdered mix. When that was dry, I tried the tank for fit and built up more of the dusty mix in areas where the track didn’t meet the ground to bring the ground up to the track in effect. I set that with pigment fixer. To finish the base, I added white ‘tape’ for the lane markers used by the sappers to clear routes through the wall of mines and wire constructed to stop the British. They cleared these routes to allow the armour to pass through and penetrate the DAK defences at night behind the massive opening barrage; a dangerous job requiring brave men. They marked safe routes with white tape

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staked to the ground. I cut strips of white paper and used brass rod for the stakes. I also made some stanchions from brass rod, annealed, then twisted to make the loops and barbed wire from .1mm copper wire. I painted the stanchions and wire with Raw Umber to give them an old metal look and the project was finished.

Views of the author’s completed model on its base.

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Dirty ‘Diana’ 7.62cm FK 296(r) auf 5t Zugkraftwagen Sd.Kfz.6 ‘Diana’ by Ivan Momcilovic Momcha ABOVE: A view of the diorama with scenic backdrop courtesy of Photoshop. BELOW: The author’s completed Sd.Kfz.6 model placed in a diorama.

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Bronco beauty I remember when I saw this kit in an announcement by Bronco Models, I was more than happy to see it finally in plastic, so I bought it right away when it was on sale in an on-line shop (www.hobbyeasy.com). Like every BM model, it is highly detailed and I was

very satisfied with the sprue details. But unfortunately, it waited in my stash until the moment when Martyn, Contributing Editor of Military Modelling, asked me to build the kit for this special issue. I was very happy to finally put it on my workbench and get started. Construction of the kit went very easily. It was not difficult to build and all parts fitted nicely. For those who like extra detail, there is an engine provided. With the addition of a few wires, it can look very realistic. The biggest minus is that there are no decals provided for instrument/drivers control panel,

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so I had to use some of the decals from other kits that had a similar panel. I decided not to glue the rear part (combat compartment) to the chassis as it needs a lot of work after painting (Photo 1). Firstly, I started with the lower chassis and engine. The engine was airbrushed in black primer and the rest of the chassis in grey primer (Photo 2). Waiting for it to dry, I airbrushed the combat compartment in white primer. The best way to achieve shades of colours that you desire is to wait at least 24 hours for the primer to dry. By waiting that long, you will avoid a chemical reaction between the shades of colours and the possibility of shade changes. So, after a day of pause, I started the black and white technique on the combat compartment. I used Scale75 Petroleum Grey colour, a dark shade of grey, and I painted lower/darkest areas first. Then, I airbrushed a White colour onto the brightest parts which are subjected to more sun light than other areas (Photo 3).

Harsh African conditions After waiting for few hours, I have airbrushed a base camouflage to the interior; Scale75 Brown from War Front series for D.A.K. (Deutsches Afrikakorps) (Photo 4). It was thinned a lot, about 50% colour

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50% thinner and a few layers were airbrushed on. I was careful not to cover previously made B/W effects. Lower parts, like the chassis and wheels, were painted with a darker shade from same Scale 75 set, Gelbraun Brown. I wanted to create a difference between the shades of the parts that were exposed to mud, dust and dirt and parts that were less exposed to these effects (Photo 5). It is now time to remove the masks from the floor of combat compartment and paint it. In this step, some parts are still not glued, like frames for gun wheels, ammo racks, etc. I guessed that in African conditions, the floor inside the vehicle was exposed to the friction of sand. I used Mr. Metal Iron. As many of you know, these types of colours are specific because they can be polished for up to

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Brown over it. After a few minutes using hot water and flat brush, I started to remove it with a standard chipping technique (Photo 9). Some lower side parts were also affected by chipping. The rest of the model was painted with a Braun colour. The shading effect under the base camouflage is still visible and waiting for weathering. This colour was also thinned a lot and airbrushed.

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24 hours after being used. I used a cotton bud and polished it all over where I airbrushed it (Photo 6) achieving a realistic polished metal look. Waiting for the metal colour to dry completely, I began painting the exterior. I used the same B/&WW technique but, this time, I added a few more shades, darker and lighter from Scale75 B/W set (Photo 7). When the model is finished, all of this contrast will look more natural. I didn’t want to carry out too much detailing on the lower chassis because these parts would not be visible when finished. I sprayed a steel colour on the engine without any weathering (Photo 8). Returning to the combat compartment, I sprayed a chipping effect fluid onto the floor and Gelbraun

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Now it is time to start with the weathering. First, I used a Vallejo Dark Khaki Green wash and sprayed it onto the darkest areas. It gave a nice filter to the Braun colour. Most German vehicles in the first half of the war had a Nazi flag for air identification. It was the same for vehicles that served in Africa, although some had big white stripes instead of flags. This was the case with Diana. On only few pictures that document this vehicle during the war, white stripes are visible. I have masked the parts where the white insignia would be painted and initially sprayed chipping fluid. Then, after few minutes, I painted a white colour. Again, after a few minutes with flat brush and hot water, I placed chipping effects on the white insignia (Photo 10). The next stage was to weather the interior parts using a new line of Ammo by Mig oil brusher paints which are great products for weathering effects. On the first picture, I put the paint straight on from the bottle. Then, using fine brush and enamel thinner, I blended them in to get a sandy effect (Photo 11). After a pin wash, scratches were made on the rear box with a sand colour and small thin brush and then, in the same places, with the dark brown colour which created deeper scratches and damage. With the brown, I was careful not to cover all the scratches that I had made with the sand colour (Photo 12). As an option, BM provided a windshield with and without canvas. I chose the former which I painted in a light green colour. Deeper shades were made with Vallejo Dark Brown wash. After painting the running wheels in Gelbraun Brown colour, I painted the parts that were most exposed to the friction of the tracks in a rust colour. When the colour had dried, I used a metal pigment and put it on with a rubber brush over the rusty painted parts. The metal pigment is representing current friction from the tracks and has a rusty look under it. To highlight the details of the main gun, I used a standard pin-wash technique with D.A.K. dark brown wash from Ammo by Mig applied with a thin brush. When the washing effect had dried, I started with the chipping. Originally this was a Soviet gun, so its base colour was definitely green, so for the chipping I used Dark Green (Photo 13). The rear of the Diana was painted in a Panzer grey colour. As this shade is dark, the B&W technique won’t be visible. Because of this, the camouflage colour was not thinned (Photo 14). When it had dried, a light coat of chipping fluid was put over the Panzer Grey, followed by the same Braun that the rest of the upper parts are painted in (Photo 15). Then, using flat brush and water, I removed it randomly (Photo 16). Next step, I airbrushed Ammo by Mig washable Sand. This colour is different from other acrylics because it can

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be washed/blended with water and you can work with that colour until you protect it with varnish. While I was blending the washable colour, some of the previously painted Braun over the chipping fluid was removed. This gave me the possibility to get levels of in depth weathering effects. When I finished with the blending, I used various mixes of Scale 75 colours and carried out filtering and weathering on the box sides (Photo 17).

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The whole model is airbrushed with Tamiya Clear X-22, which will protect the painted colours and effects and give a nice base for the oil/enamel effects. The first of them was a pin wash, to highlight all of the details on the model and to bring it to life (Photo 18 & 19).

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The next step is chipping. Vehicles that have served and are still serving in desert areas are more prone to chipping effects, firstly from sand friction, then from the sun. Using Panzer Grey colour, I made scratches, mostly on the front part of the vehicle, the crew step and on the grills (Photo 20). Before I placed the gun inside the rear compartment, I wanted to make few more weathering effects. Again, I used Ammo by Mig oil brusher called Starship Filth. I put it near gaps and crevices to show grease and general dirt. It was put on directly from the bottle (Photo 21) and then, with a smaller fine brush and thinner, it was blended. Now it is time to carry out some more dusty effects. African Dust effect from Ammo by Mig is

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great for this. It was blended with fine brush and thinner up and down, more like after a rain effect (Photo 22). Then I made streaking effects on the sides of the Diana. Randomly size painted stripes with small brush follow, which I blended from top to bottom (Photo 23), the opposite to the previous dust effect. When all had dried, I made another layer of dust but this time with oil brusher Buff (Photo 24) and then blended again using the same method. The model is now finished but I always like to build a small base or diorama. The diorama base is made of Styrofoam. For the earth effect I used Vallejo Brown Earth and Desert Sand texturing with quartz sand that I bought in local flower shop (Photo 25). I then added some small stones (Photo 26) and secured it with a mixture of white glue and water. When all was glued, I painted the whole base with a variety of shades of Sand and Brown. When someone mentions desert, first thoughts are sand with a few rocks but not all parts of the desert look that way, there is also vegetation which can still grow under extreme conditions. On visiting my local flower shop, I found some nice samples. I repainted them and added them to the base. Diopark is also making great cactus plants in 1/35, so I used their set and added it to the diorama. Cactus is characteristic because is grows in colonies, plant near plant and on the big rocks and hills, etc.

The vehicle and diorama would look empty without figures. Scale75 has very nice figures of Africa Korps soldiers. I used two of them and painted them with colours from same manufacturer. I only replaced heads with Hornet and Alpine heads for these figures.

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British Tank Commander Sovereign 2000 miniatures 1/9th scale resin bust by Adrian Hopwood 1

The Model As I noted in the review I wrote in Military Modelling Magazine Vol.47 Issue 2, this probably isn’t the kind of model that will shake the foundations of your modelling world when you see it on a trader’s shelf or pictured on a website, but that shouldn’t put you off. Photo 1 backs my statement on this up, I think, in that the box art depiction looks a little bland and uninspiring. However, looking at the second picture

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showing the bare resin, I think you’ll probably agree that the casting looks a lot better than the box art leads you to expect. And, in some ways, that’s good because if you did purchase this, then on opening the box you’d be very pleased with your acquisition – better this way round than superb box art masking a horror of resin being emptied out of the box, eh? In Photos 3 and 4 I’ve just added oil paints to the face and undercoated the beret and already the model is coming to life. Admittedly, I feel I should have carved back the eyebrows before doing this but as it is the model is being painted right out of the box.......perhaps it’s something to consider if you decide to get hold of this one. I’ll skip the details on the flesh colours – my usual use of Mars Brown and Titanium White – and go to the painting of the beret and the shirt. The beret received an undercoat of mid-grey acrylic (Chaos Black and Kommando Khaki from Games Workshop) and I also added a spot of Tamiya Matt medium to let the paint flow a bit more and give an absolute matt effect to the undercoat. This will soak up more of the oil in the finishing coats of paint and look more like cloth. The same was done with the Khaki Drill colour undercoat for the shirt.

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Mars Black, a little Mars Yellow and some Titanium White oils were mixed to provide a similar grey to the undercoat and then added to the beret and Buff Titanium was added to build up the highlights. Once dry, Mars Black was thinned with a little White Spirit and painted into the deeper recesses to give the darkest shadows. The shirt was a mix of Mars Black, Mars Yellow and Titanium White too but using a lot more of the lighter colours. Mars Black and Mars Yellow (or Yellow Ochre) will give a range of Khaki shades and the addition of the white will make the mix look lighter (obviously) and somewhat cleaner. Again, a mid-tone was mixed up and added to the model. I added a little more black to a small amount of the mid-tone mix and blended this into the lower edges of the shirt and the deeper recesses under the collar and at the junction of the arms. Once that had been done, I could then gradually lighten areas to build up highlights by adding more white. The model was put in the drying cupboard for a couple of days and then darker Khaki was used to line in the seams and button holes and add definition to the deeper shadow areas – see Photo 6.

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Looking at Photo 6 again, I’ve painted in the edge of the beret with a little Mars Black and Liquin. The Liquin adds a slight sheen to the paint even after it has dried and will separate the edging from the rest of the beret material. Also in this shot, I’ve added the glazing to the goggles, simply painting the area with black acrylic, washing on a dozen or so very thin layers of a very pale grey acrylic to build up a couple of lighter areas (adding smaller and smaller areas of the paint on each layer makes for a gradual build-up of colour) and once that has fully dried I painted over a couple of thin coats of Tamiya Clear Blue lacquer to give the effect of glass with the sunlight through it. The hair at the back of the head and on the neck is the only part I’m not really keen on. The sculpted hair seems to end too high to me so I painted it on to be a little longer. It looks OK but from certain angles you can see where the sculpting ends and the painting carries on and again, in hindsight, I think I’d add a little putty here and extend the sculpting of the hair to come further down the neck. Finishing touches for the main casting are the goggle strap – leather with a little bit of damage on the edges – and the cap badge. It’s a very small space to work on but with a fine brush, a steady hand and a lot of cursing..... Sorry, patience, it is possible to depict the tiny WWI rhomboid tank and the laurel wreath of the badge. OK, final finishing touches to the main casting – chest hair! Same to you too, I hear you say. I decided that, seeing as there’s a gaping ‘V’ formed by the open shirt I’d give our Tanker a few chest hairs peeping out from under the shirt – just some Burnt Umber oils and a very fine brush – no problem. The binoculars need a bit of refinement when they’re being cleaned up – not a lot of work really, just a bit of squaring up of the links between the two halves and I drilled out the eyepieces a little so I could later drop a thick blob of Tamiya Clear Blue lacquer in to make the lens on each side. Otherwise, plenty of matt black, a hint of some silver for scratches and wear and that was then ready to attach to the front of the model. I found a nice piece of wood and a short length of brass pipe for the model to sit on, and that’s it complete. OK, not the most earth-shattering of models, but he is rather nice once some paint’s applied and the whole thing finished here, including the wood plinth, comes in at less than £25.00. That can’t be bad for a 1/9th scale bust, decently cast and of an unusual subject. There are not many British subjects out there and certainly a lot less depicting British WWII tankers. So, perhaps one worth considering if your historical interest covers the desert campaigns.

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Sturmpanzer II ‘Bison’ The 15cm sIG 33 Auf Fahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen II (Sf) by Ivan Momcilovic Momcha

German self-propelled infantry gun One of the most interesting artillery vehicles from WWII, the Bison II, saw service in Europe and the African Theatre of war but for many, it is most recognizable through its service in D.A.K. This welldetailed model was released a few years ago by Dragon Models in 1/35. For this model, I purchased a PE upgrade set from Eduard for some extra detailing. The model that I have built, evidenced by its side markings, has fought in the famous Battle of El Alamein. This is an open roof vehicle so I began working on the interior and painting, as during the construction, I didn`t glue all of the parts at once. Before I glued the PE parts (using gel super glue) onto the model, I put them in PE burnishing fluid. For some of the very small PE parts, I used a glossy varnish to glue them. This is a nice method for gluing PE parts onto visible plastic

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places and it avoids using gluing fluid later when dry. Almost all of the parts are assembled in groups for easy painting. I start with the primer colours. The first primer colour is black (Photo 1). I painted the interior details in black while the exterior body was left to be painted later using a different technique. After a few hours, waiting for the black primer to dry, I airbrushed the next shade; this time in dark brown. When I was painting the dark brown, I was focussing on shading the black, not over painting it. Once the dark brown had dried for few hours, I used a Rusty colour for the final shading layer. After this step, the painted part looks a little like burnt/weathered metal. Some parts, like the radio stations and the cradle for the gun are painted in Panzer Grey. I then airbrush chipping fluid over the painted parts (Photo 2) using Scale75 Braun for D.A.K., diluted with a thinner (ration 50%-50%) and a few layers airbrushed on. The previous step should still be visible under the new colour (Photo 3). I then used water and a fine brush and started to remove the paint on places where I wanted to show first layer of paint (Photo 4). On some parts, the camouflage spreads around like liquid, which will look nice later on when weathering. While waiting for the paint to dry after the chipping technique, I painted some small details like the fuel canisters, gas mask, etc. (Photo 5). Firstly, they were painted with white primer and then with very diluted colours. Back to the interior painting, and Tamiya X-22 clear was airbrushed over the painted areas. It protects acrylic paints from a chemical reaction during the weathering process with oils and enamels and will

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also help to blend these effects (Photo 6). Pin washing was the first technique used to highlight the details. I used a wash of Ammo by Mig Africa Korps, a dark brown shade and put it around the details I wanted to highlight (Photo 7). After a coffee break, when the wash had dried a little, I started blending it and removing any excess (Photo 8). In the next step, I used Oilbrushers from Ammo by Mig. These paints are like artist oils but are easier to use because of the supplied brush and specifically designed bottle. I put on a Buff shade straight from the bottle onto the parts where I wanted to achieve a dusting effect (Photo 9). Then, using enamel thinner and a fine brush, I started blending (Photo 10).

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The interior is nearly finished but still needs a few more details painting. It is time to get started with the exterior painting. As I already made one model for this special issue of Military Modelling with one of my favourite ‘before painting’ techniques, I wanted to do something little bit different. The Black and White technique has become one of my favourites lately. The model is cast in a grey coloured plastic so I airbrushed on white primer as a base for the next steps. Now, we’ve all heard of the ‘wheel of colours’? A colour wheel or colour circle is an abstract illustrative organization of colour hues around a circle which shows the relationships between primary, secondary and tertiary colours etc. As I have planned to paint this tank as if it saw action in North African campaign, the Base colour will be Braun (German sand), therefore the relationship for this colour is the shades of blue and purple. I started with mix of blue and purple (Photo 11) and then I made a mix with blue, purple and white; a very light and thinned mix and I airbrushed it over the previous blue/purple mix (Photo 12). To make a fine reduction between colours, I made another very thin mix of Ammo by Mig Cold Gray and, with thinner, airbrushed it over the model (Photo 13). I left it to dry for one day before I started with the camouflage. As I mentioned before, I chose to paint this model like it was in service in the North African campaign. For the base colour, I chose Braun

Military Modelling Vol.47 No.4 2017

AFV

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from Scale75. I made a light mix (50%-50% colour-thinner) and airbrushed a few light layers. This transparent mix allowed me to add a few layers of paint, until I was satisfied with the result. Then I used a Vallejo Dark Khaki Green wash and airbrushed it only on the darker areas. This wash is transparent but will give a nice filter to the darker parts (Photo 14). After the colours have dried, it is time to protect the surface for weathering and to make a nice layer for the decals. A coat of Tamiya X-22 Clear was airbrushed over the model and, when it had dried, the decals were added. I used Vallejo medium and fixer for the decals (Photo 15). Again, a pin wash, but this time on exterior details and then, with enamel thinner, I blended it in. All details are visible and the model is coming alive. Chipping effects are one of my favourite things when made with a sponge technique and with a small thin brush. First, I made scratches with Buff acrylic colour and then Panzer Grey was used to simulate deeper damage on the vehicle. Chipping is added on the places where it is expected to be seen; as a result of damage, scratches, crew use, battle damage etc. Again, a light mix of Vallejo washes (Dark Khaki Green and Dark Brown) was airbrushed over some parts on the model, to achieve more dramatic look. Streaking grime for D.A.K. was used for the sides, the front and all slanted parts. I randomly sized the painted lines with a small brush from top to bottom.

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AFV 16

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Then, using a fine brush and thinner, I blended them, repeating the previous moves, from top to bottom. Vehicles that were/are serving in deserts are not just covered with dust and sand. Many photographs show that, in some cases, they are covered in heavy mud on lower parts too, where the tracks are. For my model I planned a light texturing effect of dry earth/sand/mud, so I used a Dry Steppe splashing effect from Ammo by Mig and thinned it a little with enamel thinner. I only put it on the lower parts, near the road wheels. Building this model and searching for references on the net, I found a lot of inspiring photos for a diorama. One of the most common ways to stop enemy advancing tanks and vehicles was

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digging deep trenches. The same technique was used in the Africa campaign too. I made a base from Styrofoam and positioned it in front of the trench (Photo 16). Vallejo Sand Paste was put over the Styrofoam. I made little sand dunes with a modelling tool and added some rocks and fuel barrels. Wire holders were homemade. Then I airbrushed almost the whole scene with a Dark Brown colour (Photo 17). Dark Yellow was airbrushed over it; I left some parts darker, to keep the contrast (Photo 18). A Sand colour for the highlights was the final shade for the day (Photo 19). On this picture you can see the reaction that happens between light and dark shades of colours if you don`t wait for long

Military Modelling Vol.47 No.4 2017

AFV

enough between layers. So, after 24 hours, I made another layer of Sand and achieved a much lighter effect (Photo 20). At the same time, I made track traces, made filtering with a Green colour on the fuel barrels and painted the rocks. The final step for the diorama was putting a mixture of Sand, Mud and Dust pigment on it, to get a more authentic and realistic desert effect (Photo 21). The diorama is ready for the model, but the Bison needs a few more final touches. The first of them involved playing with oils. The same artist, Oilbrusher Buff was put on the places where I have planned this effect. It is then blended with enamel thinner, the same as I did for the interior which gave a dusty effect. For a more authentic effect, I

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put a mixture of Light Dust pigment and African sand pigment and worked them in with a fine old brush. The model is now finished the same as the diorama. Extra equipment is from Value Gear Details which gave nice detail to the model. The scene without figures can hardly tell the story so I have combined an Alpine figure with Doug`s Original figures from Afrika Korps (Photo 22). They were painted using Scale75 colours, which gave them nice shades and a matt finish. Big thanks to Hobby Easy for providing this model.

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l ‘The finest tank in the world’ ICM, 1/35 T-34/76

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Military Modelling Vol.47 No.4 2017

WW2 WESTERN DESERT Perry Miniatures produce a large range of 28mm metal and hard plastic figures for the Western Desert.

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Afrikakorps, German Infantry 1941-43

38 Hard Plastic multipose British or Commonwealth infantry for the desert war. There are enough h to make a platoon of 3 sections plus an HQ section.

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