Model Military International - Issue 092 (December 2013)

Contents - Issue 92 December 2013 28

34

46

REGULARS

FEATURES

p 4 NEWS

p 6 THINK TANK

p 51 BOOKS

p 14 PREVIEW

p 55 SMALL SCALE

p 16 EASTERN FRONT COVERRE p 38 PREVIEW FEATU HobbyBoss 1:35 Meng Shi WORKHORSE

What’s new in the world of military modelling the latest book releases under review

New releases in 1:72 scale and smaller

p 56 INCOMING

MMI’s thoughts on the latest kits and accessories

p 58 1:48 SCALE

Luke Pitt explores 1:48 scale military models, figures and accessories.

p 60 FIGURES

Roundup of the latest figure models

p 66 LAST POST

Late breaking news and ramblings from the Editor

Steyr Trucks by Bruce Culver Tamiya 1:48 BA-64B

1:48 scale Tamiya 1:48 Steyr Kommandeurwagen by Luke Pitt

p 32 PREVIEW

HobbyBoss 1:35 Hungarian Light Tank Toldi III (C40)

p 30 THE FRENCH CONNECTION

Andy King builds Hobby Boss’ 1:35 Panhard EBR-11

40

p 32 PREVIEW

ICM 1:35 Packard Twelve

p 34 SHOW REPORT

Queensland Model and Hobby Expo 2013

p 39 PREVIEW

Bronco 1:35 Valentine Mk.IX

p 40 SMALL SCALE, BIG TURRET

Alex Clark converts Revell’s 1:72 scale T-72M1 to a T-72B1 model 1985

p 45 PREVIEW

Panda 1:35 Object 279

p 46 BULGE 1944

Patrick Dorn’s Battle of the Bulge Diorama featuring Dragon’s 1:35 M4A3(76)W Sherman STEP

STEP BY

p 52 BUILD PREVIEW

ICM 1:35 Leader’s Car by Graham Tetley

©ADH Publishing Ltd 2013 Tel: (UK) 01525 222573 Fax: (UK) 01525 222574 Email: [email protected] Address: ADH Publishing, Doolittle Mill, Doolittle Lane, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, LU6 1QX, UK Model Military International is published monthly by ADH Publishing. Reproduction in part or whole of any text, photograph or illustration without written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. While due care is taken to ensure the contents of Model Military International is accurate, the publishers and printers cannot accept liability for errors or omissions.

ISSN 1749-8864

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Newsline - December’13

MMI Newsdesk, ADH Publishing, Doolittle Mill, Doolittle Lane, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, LU6 1QX, UK Tel:01525 222573 Fax:01525 222574 Email:[email protected]

NEW NEO FOR IWATA TRIGGER AIRBRUSH SERIES The Airbrush Company Ltd. Has announced the launch of the Neo for Iwata Pistol Trigger Airbrushes. The Neo for Iwata Pistol Trigger Airbrushes feature innovative dual action pistol trigger design for simple, ergonomic operation. The pre-set handle allows even the beginner to pre-set the spray performance for any line, any background, and any shade. A choice between gravity fed top cup or side feed side cup models is available.

Specifically designed to work together, the Neo-Air for Iwata Miniature Air Compressor and the Neo for Iwata Pistol Trigger Airbrushes are ideally suited and are very compact. Users will be able to upgrade the airbrush in the existing Neo kits to any airbrush in the Neo Series range by simply adding the difference in SRP inc VAT. Thanks to The Airbrush Company Ltd. for the information and images www.airbrushes.com

NEW INSIDE THE ARMOUR RELEASE A9 CRUISER TANK

Inside the Armour has announced the release of a 1:35 scale A9 Cruiser tank kit. Similar to their recent A10 kit, the ITA A9 Cruiser is based on the original Cromwell Models 1:35 scale kit, now enhanced and upgraded with new resin and photo-etched parts. Inside the Armour’s 1:35 scale A9 Crusier comprises around 100 parts including a resin Commander figure, and is available now from their website. Thanks to Inside the Armour for the images and information www.insidethearmour.com

NEW FROM ACCURATE ARMOUR

New from Accurate Armour is a nice simple U.S.Army WWII M4 Sherman Crocodile conversion. On the subject of CHURCHILL, and following on from this years release of the ARV-I Conversion (C064), Accurate Armour has now also released an ARV Mk-II with full interior (C065i) and a lift off roof so you can see the complete inside detail, (and a budget version (C065) without the insides). Extensive full colour decals for multiple vehicles are included in both sets. Thanks to Accurate Armour for the information and images www.accurate-armour.com

CHURCHILL TANK RESTORATIONS

A troop of World War Two Churchill Tanks being restored in time for 70th anniversary of D-Day next year A partner at a prestigious London law firm with a passion for tanks has written a revealing account of the fighting history of the Churchill tank, as well as the painstaking restoration process involved in bringing them back to life, in a new book. Nigel Montgomery, whose Churchill Tank Project owns three World War 2 era Churchill tanks, is working with a team to restore them to full running order ahead of next year's 70th anniversary of D Day. Their work is supported and assisted by the Tank Museum at Bovington. Nigel said: “I have always been interested in the role of tanks in World War 2 and the Korean War, and with so few veterans of those conflicts remaining, I wanted to found a restoration project to preserve the memory of what they did for future generations. Having started my restoration work with a Cold War era Chieftain tank, which was returned to full running order, I set out to build a complete project to restore, and then use, truly historic British wartime tanks. “For me, the tanks to restore had to be Churchills, which I regard as the greatest British tanks to fight through World War 2, and which remained in service to see action in Korea. The Churchill Tank Project is bringing these unique survivors back to life in as original and complete a state as possible. “By doing this we hope to widen knowledge and appreciation of the Churchill Tank, testing some of the myths around them, and to pay tribute to those who fought in them. “These tanks played an important part in our history, and we are making them available for use in films, documentaries and the media, as well as for corporate visits and exhibitions so that the public can share in the knowledge of what they did, how they drive and sound, hopefully maintaining interest and pride in their achievements.” The Churchill Tank Manual includes an account of the Churchill’s role in battles through much of the War. Based on actual restorations, archive research and interviews with veterans, the book presents a meticulously detailed and extensively illustrated insight into these legendary tanks and their actual achievements. The manual uses superb period illustrations, as well as many previously unpublished photographs and documents to reveal the Churchill’s development, construction and war record. The book looks in detail at the tank’s anatomy and armament but also explores what it was like to use, drive and operate one in combat. There are only a handful of Churchills in running order around the globe, and those being restored by Nigel Montgomery's Project will be the only ones of their kind running anywhere in the world. This background gives him a particular insight as an author on the subject. Churchill Tank Manual by Nigel Montgomery (Haynes Publishing) is available now, £21.99. www.haynes.co.uk

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One year togheter!

Are you ready for the next? scale modelling since 1962

Visit our website (www.italeri.com) or follow us on Facebook: everything you need to know about our products, news and events

6497 508 CM “Coloniale”

6517 Hf.2 Schwerer Heeresfeldwagen

5613 Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109

VosperSherman Crew Calliope 5616 288 M4A3

Photo-etched fret included

6507 Pz.Kpfw. VI Tiger I Ausf. E mid production

Contains 6 figures

6515 M109 Tracks

Photo-etched fret included

6514 Sd. Kfz. 161 Pz. Kpfw. IV Ausf. F1/F2

6503 U.S. Armoured gun truck

Photo-etched fret included

6510 HEMTT Gun Truck

6511 M998A1

Think Tank - Steyr 1500A/2000A Trucks and Vehicles

This is the Steyr model 274, also designated as the Steyr 1500A Mannschaftswagen. The Kubel-style box body seated eight, and was built by the Lohner company in Vienna. This was the main production model along with the Pritschenwagen light cargo truck. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG)

STEYR 1500A/2000A TRUCKS AND VEHICLES Bruce Culver explores the development, production and operations of Steyr 1500A/2000A family of trucks

A

t the end of World War One, Germany was forced into a series of reparations to the Allied nations and was also deprived of much of its wartime industry. It was not allowed to have an air force, and the size of the army was held to only 100,000 men. The Weimar Republic of Germany in the 1920s cleverly used the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty to build the best trained army in Europe. Learning from their defeat, and far more willing than the victorious Allies to adopt

new ways of waging war, the Reichsheer (army) pioneered new ways of motorising military units, using cars (disguised as tanks and armoured cars) for training. All of these early vehicles were standard commercial civilian automobiles. The 1920s economic calamity in the Weimar Republic, with unbelievable levels of inflation and near-total debasement of the currency, inhibited the full development of these new military tactics, but planning went ahead. The Great Depression of the early 1930s extended the poor economic

conditions, but the accession of the Nazi party to national power under Adolf Hitler led to a renunciation of the Versailles Treaty and the open intention to rearm Germany. The Nazi government started conscription with a major expansion of the military, development of new tanks and military vehicles and in 1935 established the new Luftwaffe (air force). As was common in Europe, Germany and many surrounding countries had an automobile industry composed of many small

manufacturers as well as a few larger concerns. The needs of the German military in the mid-1930s led to the purchase of numbers of vehicles from a variety of companies and in the beginning, the sheer numbers required overrode other factors. Germany’s automobile industry simply wasn’t large enough to supply the need. Germany had annexed Austria in 1938, and added the output of Austria’s industry to its own. Regrettably this only added to the growing numbers of different vehicles.

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The chassis was designed by Ferdinand Porsche, and was an elegant example of his simple approach to design. The front suspension used the driven axle as the lower arm, and the upper arm was sprung with a single longitudinal torsion bar, with a shock absorber as shown.

The Steyr 1500A frame was composed of closed box members that added stiffness. The rear axle was a simple sprung beam on semielliptical leaf springs. All wartime Steyr 1500A/2000A vehicles used only four wheels; post-war models often had dual rear wheels. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG)

Ferdinand Porsche also worked with Steyr to develop the innovative engine for the 1500A series. It was an 8-cylinder air-cooled gasoline engine that proved to be reliable and durable. Many of these vehicles survived the war and were used for years afterward.

The Steyr 1500A had excellent cross-country performance, as shown in this off-road testing in December 1941. The vehicle was capable of climbing 65 to 80 degree slopes and descending up to 65 degree slopes and had a high ground clearance. Note the wrinkling of the body panels due to the twisting forces. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG )

The early models of the Steyr 1500A Mannschaftswagen carried the spare tyre outside the body; later models carried this inside. This is a factory shot highlighting the vehicle. The top was fully folding and the side curtains were a standard feature and could be stowed inside. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG)

LOGISTICAL CHALLENGES

primarily on roads, many of the trucks used by Wehrmacht units were Typ S 4x2 models. A major goal of the Schell Program was to reduce costs as much as possible. Among the firms asked to take part in the Schell Program was the Austrian company of SteyrDaimler-Puch (hereafter referred to as Steyr) headquartered in Steyr, Austria with factories in several European countries. It had been formed in 1935 with the joining of Steyr, Austro-Daimler and Puch into a larger more competitive company. Steyr had supplied military vehicles to the German army after the annexation in 1938 and was approached to build a vehicle family for the Schell Program, a 1.5 tonne 4x4 light truck. Another goal of the Schell Program was to reduce the weight of new vehicles to save materials and reduce fuel consumption. To help them cut weight and complexity as much as possible, Steyr contracted with the Porsche design firm in Stuttgart to develop a new vehicle and a new engine for it. Work began in 1939 and the first

By the late 1930s, the German military was swamped with the huge logistics challenges of trying to operate and maintain over 135 different models of trucks and well over 50 models of passenger cars, ranging from standard civilian sedans and cabriolet models to the elegant but complex and expensive “Einheits” (standard military) types. The Einheits cars were the most complex automobiles Germany had built. They featured four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, locking differentials in both front and rear axles, and even a locking differential in the transfer case. There were several models of light, medium and heavy passenger cars, but they all had the same very complex chassis design. Their cross-country performance was quite good, but it was obvious they could never be built in the numbers required to equip even a few of the Panzer Divisions and other motorized units. In addition, it was proving extremely difficult to maintain the great variety of vehicles, most of which didn’t share spare parts with

many other models. Well before the start of World War Two, the Germans realised that vehicle design and production had to be rationalised to allow the military to use and repair their equipment. Hermann Goering had been designated “Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan” with the task of improving the rearmament program and rationalizing military production, improving food production and increasing government control of the general economy.

THINNING THE HERD As part of the military production program, Goering asked Oberst (Colonel) Adolf von Schell to create plan to reduce the number of vehicle types drastically. Von Schell was able to cut the number of truck models from 114 to 19 and the 52 types of cars were reduced to 30. In addition, plans were made to simplify the Einheits vehicles. The new trucks made under the Schell Program were produced in two models, a 4x2 (Typ S) for civilian use and a 4x4 (Typ A) intended for the Wehrmacht. Since many military trucks were used

prototypes were ready in 1940. The design was quite successful, though a planned 4x2 civilian model was not put into production. All wartime production was the military pattern Typ A 4x4. The engine, the Porsche Typ 145, was an innovative air-cooled 3.5 liter overhead valve gasoline V-8 with two cooling fans on top driven by a belt off the crankshaft. The engine was rated at 85 PS at 3000 rpm. Power was transferred through a four-speed transmission and transfer case, with a disconnect to the front wheel drive to allow two-wheel drive on smooth roads. The front differential was inside the bottom of the engine crankcase, with the transmission bolted directly to the rear.

INNOVATIVE DESIGNS Porsche’s design for the chassis and suspension was even more original. The chassis ladder frame was composed of closed box beams for greater stiffness and there were a number of lightening holes in the frame to save weight. In place of the complex independent rear suspension of the Einheits A

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Think Tank - Steyr 1500A/2000A Trucks and Vehicles

This Mannschaftswagen carries 9 men, more than a full planned load. Note the missing right headlight and the 30m early Panzerfaust anti-tank rocket grenades. This view gives a good idea of the 1500A’s excellent ground clearance.

An early Steyr 1500A Mannschaftswagen shows the use of snow chains to increase traction in mud and soft ground. tyres often spun in mud due to the lubricating effect of the water; the chains helped restore traction.

The Steyr 1500A was large enough to support carrying a number of weapons that were added by kits or by various unit workshops. This 1500A in Africa was outfitted for airfield defense with the twin AA mount for the MG 34. This could fire over 1800 rounds/minute.

This interesting vehicle is an early Steyr 1500A that has been modified to mount a generator as part of a V-2 missile battery. The original spare wheels well holds the engine powering the generator, with the louvered panel protecting the installation. The spoked wheel on the rear is for an infantry supply cart. Note the later position of the spare tyre.

B vehicles, the Porsche installation

used a beam rear axle mounted on semi-elliptical leaf springs, which in practice provided nearly as good ride quality using far fewer parts, eliminating a great deal of maintenance. The rear axle had a locking differential for better traction going cross-country. It was the front chassis design, though, that showed Ferdinand Porsche’s creative mind. In place of the Einheits suspension with double control arms, separate drive shafts and double coil springs at each wheel, Porsche used an extraordinarily simple design. The front drive shafts were made of

All Wehrmacht services use the Steyr 1500A – this is a Luftwaffe Mannschftswagen seen in winter training. The snow chains added traction on ice and packed snow, and were also used in mud and soft ground. Note the missing top assembly.

heavy steel tubes and served as the lower control arms. The wheel mounts had struts which engaged the one-piece upper control arms, and these were sprung with single longitudinal torsion bars mounted on the forward side rails of the frame. In common with the Einheits vehicles, the new chassis had a central lubricating system that fed oil and grease to all the joints that required regular periodic lubrication. This new design was known at Porsche as the Typ 147; at Steyr, it was called the Model 270, which designated the 1.5 tonne Lastkraftwagen (truck). The Schell

This Steyr 1500A in Africa carries the complete gun mount from a SdKfz 222 light armored car, mounting a 2cm KwK 30 and an MG 34. This would give this car a good defensive capability and a limited offense against unarmored targets or personnel. Many Steyrs were used for scouting and reconnaissance because of their crosscountry performance.

In Russia, the roads became quagmires of mud in the spring and fall, and here is a later Steyr 1500A earning its keep in driving through the deep mud. Though really deep mud could stop any vehicle, the 1500As were among the more useful pieces of equipment on the Russian front.

Program referred to the new Steyr design as the Steyr 1500A after its 1.5-tonne load rating. The main production model Steyr built was the Model 274 Mannschaftwagen (personnel carrier). This model carried eight people in a box shaped “Kubel” body built by Lohner in Vienna. It was issued as the Kfz 12, Kfz 15 or Kfz 70 depending on its fittings and function, though all these types looked much alike. This was called the Steyr 1500A/01. The Lohner body had four trapezoidal shaped doors, a folding windshield and several seats – two small ones in front for the driver

and commander and two bench seats facing each other in the rear main compartment of the open body. A single spare wheel and tyre were carried on the driver’s side in a well built into the body. Two large hinged doors in the rear wall of the body accessed a large stowage bin. A large folding canvas top was usually carried folded on the rear of the body, but could be raised to enclose the full length of the passenger compartment. Plastic side windows in frames could be fitted to the tops of the doors to protect against the weather. The tube-framed seats were generally covered in leather. A

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The Steyr 1500A was bult in several models; this is the Kfz 21 Kommandeurwagen intended for use by senior officers in the field. The coach-built bodies were made by Glaeser, and came in several versions. This is the initial type, which appeared in 1942. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG)

This is the second version of the Glaeser body for the Steyr 1500A Kfz 21 Kommandeurwagen. The body was set lower on the chassis and no longer carried the spare wheels. It also had a larger rear stowage bin and was more comfortable than the previous model. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG)

The Glaeser coach bodies carried two spare wheels and were considerably more comfortable than the standard Mannschaftswagen. They were usually reserved for fieldgrade officers and could keep up with the movement of armored and motorized units cross-country. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG )

This view shows the lower stance of the body and the much larger stowage bin in the rear. The 4-wheel drive and good ground clearance made this a popular vehicle for commanding officers in the front lines. The side windows were glass and could be rolled down. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG)

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The interior of the Kfz 21 Kommandeurwagen was made like a luxury car – rolled and pleated upholstery, adjustable seating, ashtrays and a folding footrest. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG)

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Phone: 00 44 (0)1502 517444 (8 lines) 0845 130 72 48 local rate from UK phones only (NOT mobiles) Fax: 00 44 (0)1502 500521 E-Mail: [email protected] Web Site: www.hannants.co.uk To join our mailing list so you receive our free weekly email news letter please use this link: December 2013 - Model Military International 9 www.hannants.co.uk/cgi-bin/mailinglist.pl

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Think Tank - Steyr 1500A/2000A Trucks and Vehicles

Wartime exigencies led to simplification of all military equipment – here a late production Kfz 21 Kommandeurwagen sports a plain Glaeser body with no additional decoration. The glass side windows could still be rolled down, and the cabriolet top was still well-fitted, but the vehicle was simplified as much as possible. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG)

This factory brochure photograph shows the first production model of the Steyr 1500A light truck, referred to as the Pritschenwagen. This example is fitted with the special wide wheels and tyres intended for desert service. The vast majority of Steyr 1500A/2000A vehicles used the narrow 7.25 x 20 tyres. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG)

The first cab design had a vertical windshield as seen here. The cab front was changed to set the windshield at an angle for most production trucks. These early cabs were all steel. Note the elliptical springs on the rear axle. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG)

B Variants Although most of these vehicles were used to transport troops or field commanders, there were a number of variations, some issued to units and others built or converted by unit workshops. A variety of light weapons could be mounted, and examples include twin MG 34 anti-aircraft mounts, single MG 34 or MG 42 defensive weapons and on one occasion, a Steyr Kfz 70 in Africa mounted the complete gun mount from a SdKfz 222 light armored car. There usually stowage brackets for crew weapons, generally Kar 98k rifles for the soldiers in the rear and MP 40s or rifles for the driver and vehicle commander. The large body could accommodate a good deal of soldiers’ personal gear as well as specialized equipment. The high ground clearance and fourwheel drive made the Steyr reliably mobile in very bad road conditions, and the air-cooled engine proved reliable in all climate conditions. Steyrs were used in all operational areas, from Africa to Russia. There were relatively few visible changes to the Model 274 during

production. The major difference is that later models (1942-44) had the spare wheel carried inside the body and not out in the well, which was eliminated. Many later vehicles had a bracket to mount the spare wheel added to the front grill guard over the front bumper, but often the wheel was not carried there. In August 1944, the Steyr 1500A was redesignated the 2000A and rated for a full tonne of load. This resulted from fitting booster springs to the rear axle after August, but a number of 1500As also received the springs. All Steyr 1500As and 2000As were capable of towing light artillery such as the 2cm Flak 38 or the 3.7cm Pak 36. However, there are a number of photos showing Steyrs towing much heavier loads like the 7.5cm Pak 40 antitank gun.

Kommandeurwagen While the Model 274 Mannschaftwagen served to carry troops, there was a need to transport senior field grade officers with a higher level of comfort and Steyr developed the Kfz 21 Kommandeurwagen for this

Victorious Allied troops cheerfully captured and used a wide variety of German vehicles, including this steel cab Steyr 1500A Pritschenwagen. Some units actually repainted such captured materiel. Others like this example simply had large star insignia added to the original camouflage.

task. There were at least three types, with all the custom coachbuilt bodies being supplied by the Glaeser company of Vienna. It was designated Steyr 1500A/02, as it was a different model from the other types. The Kfz 21 first appeared in 1941. The first model sat high on the chassis like the Model 274 Mannschaftwagen. It had a coach-style body with small doors separated by spare wheels mounted on each side, a fitted folding top and roll-up glass side windows. Inside there was rolled and pleated upholstery, and various fittings such as ashtrays not added to troop carriers. This body had limited interior space because of the two spare wheels. A fairly small luggage bin was added to the rear of the body for the commander’s personal belongings. In 1942, a second model of the Kfz 21 Kommandeurwagen appeared, with a completely new body, which sat lower on the frame and had more interior room. It had a larger luggage bin in the rear and was more comfortable than the earlier

model Kfz 21 Kommandeurwagen, and had larger doors for easier entry, but it had the disadvantage of identifying a commanding officer in the front lines. Some commanders remained in the Kfz 70 heavy cars as they were not as conspicuous. A third model was simplified further with no beading on the body work and presented an austere appearance. It is possible some may have had armor plating added to the body as this was done with some heavier commanders’ cars, but available photographs do not show the heavy bulletproof glass windows normally seen on those versions. All of the Kfz 21 Kommandeurwagens provided comfortable transport for senior commanders that could keep up with armored and motorized units even cross-country. The basic original model of the Schell Program was the Steyr Model 270 Lastkraftwagen (Lkw), a light truck rated at 1.5 tonnes capacity but capable of carrying much more on roads. Relatively few chassis were built as cargo

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Steyr was involved in producing a huge amount of war materiel for German troops and the Wanderer auto company was tasked to augment production of the Steyr Pritschenwagen. Wanderer was part of the Auto-Union consortium and eventually produced over 5600 examples. The trucks built by Wanderer all had the later “Einheits” composite box-shaped cab seen here.

trucks compared to the other body types, but several thousand were made and it was in wide use. Early models had a steel cab and wood rear bed, in the usual arrangement with a rear gate and sides that could be dropped for side loading and unloading and metal brackets to erect hoops for a canvas top. The 1.5 tonne capacity was regularly exceeded, especially on good roads where the Lkw could handle far more. The truck’s high ground clearance and four-wheel drive made it a very useful vehicle on the muddy roads typically seen in Russia in the spring and fall. In August 1944, added booster springs on the rear axle allowed the truck to be designated as the Steyr 2000A with a rated capacity of 2 tonnes.

Late War Modifications Several modifications appeared later in the war. Shortages of steel led to replacing the metal cabs with structures made from wood. Steyr fabricated a wood cab that from a distance looked very much like the metal version. These wood cabs were used along with the steel cabs, the wood generally indicating later production. There was no special designation for the different cab types. Some trucks were modified to run on railroad tracks with special wheels, and were sometimes used as tractors for railcars. The Steyr 1500A series proved superior to most other vehicles in its class and demands for more examples led to a second production line at a factory run by the Wanderer auto company, part of the giant Auto-Union conglomerate. Wanderer built the

This is a late production Steyr 2000A Pritschenwagen with the Einheits cab, powered by an Imbert wood-burning gas generator, made necessary by the extreme fuel shortages the last year of the war. The 2000A was basically a 1500A with added booster springs on the rear axle, and was introduced in August 1944, though some 1500A trucks had the extra springs. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG)

Lkw light trucks, and these were distinguished by having the new box-shaped Einheits cab made of a wood frame and panels made from pressed phenolic-impregnated cardboard, similar to the U.S. Masonite material. The new cab was far easier to build than the shaped Steyr wood cab, and saved a large amount of steel. Along with the basic light truck, Steyr built variants for special purposes using the truck’s chassis and cab arrangement. The most common were two designs with a box-shaped “Koffer” body. Almost identical, they were the Kfz 31 Krankenkraftwagen (ambulance) and the Kfz 17 Funkwagen (radio car). The ambulance had two large rear doors for moving patients and some additional markers identifying it as an ambulance, while the radio car had an upper lift gate and two lower doors that accessed a stowage area in the rear of the body. In other respects they were hard to tell apart. In common with the other members of the Steyr 1500A family, their excellent cross-country performance made them valuable in rough terrain and poor weather conditions.

Combat Car In 1944, the need to save even more steel and other critical materials led to the development of the last version of the wartime Steyr vehicles. Built exclusively as the Steyr 2000A with the booster springs, this new model was designated by Steyr as the Gefechtswagen (combat car), adapted to carry either troops or cargo equally well. The spare wheel was usually carried on the front A

Seen at the end of the war, two Steyr 2000A Pritschenwagens share a vehicle dump with a VW Kubelwagen, an Opel Kadett car and a Horch Kfz 15 medium passenger car. Because of the severe shortage of transport post-war, most of these abandoned vehicles were repaired. Steyr planned to build a variety of vehicles on the 1500A chassis, and this early Krankenkraftwagen (ambulance) was one example. Built on a small bus chassis, it used a coach-built body, but wasn’t accepted for military service. Steyr military ambulances used a standard box body. (Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG)

Here is an example of the Steyr 1500A Kfz 31 Krankenkraftwagen, using the standard box body that could be used for several different vehicles. The excellent cross-country performance made these Steyr ambulances invaluable for reaching wounded troops in hardto-reach places.

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Think Tank - Steyr 1500A/2000A Trucks and Vehicles

This front view of the same Kfz 31 Krankenkraftwagen shows its interesting new cab. Though very similar to the earlier steel cab of the Pritschenwagen, this cab was made entirely of wood, shaped to resemble the steel cab. Later the box shaped “Einheits” cab replaced this design.

Almost identical to the box body for the Kfz 31 Krankenkraftwagen, this is the Kfz 17 Funkwagen, or radio car, a tactical radio and communications vehicle. Like the ambulance, this could be found with either the steel or wood cab. The rear had two smaller doors below a window that accessed a stowage cabinet for equipment. Radios were normally set against the front wall.

In 1944, a new version of the Steyr 2000A appeared, designated “Gefechtswagen” or combat vehicle. It used the front of the Mannschaftswagen back to the angle break in the body, but the rear was completely different, consisting of a plain wood box body with folding seats and two hinged small doors in the rear body wall. Note the nose frame for the spare wheel and tyre.

B mount over the front bumper. It

should be noted that all wartime Steyr light trucks used only four wheels and had standard length frames. The dual rear wheels and extended frames seen in some photos are all post-war production vehicles or wartime vehicles rebuilt after the war. The body was largely new, using the metal front portion of the

This front view of the same Kfz 31 Krankenkraftwagen shows its interesting new cab. Though very similar to the earlier steel cab of the Pritschenwagen, this cab was made entirely of wood, shaped to resemble the steel cab. Later the box shaped “Einheits” cab replaced this design.

A Kfz 17 Funkwagen in a precarious situation, slogging through the mud of an early spring. Reflecting the change in weather, mud has been smeared all over the vehicle. This was a very common tactic and usually provided much better concealment than even a well-done paint job.

This surrendered Steyr 2000A Gefechtswagen shows the simple body design and the two rear doors. The lower body is cut back to retain the required angle of approach clearance to keep the body from snagging a slope when backing up. This was a very versatile vehicle, equally at home carrying troops or supplies. It also was used near the end of the war as a Flak vehicle.

Mannschaftwagen Kfz 70 back to the body break behind the front doors. The main body was a very simple wooden box, almost crudely made. It had a wood floor and two folding wooden bench seats, one on each side of the body. The seats could be folded up against the sides and latched in place to allow cargo to fill the rear bed. When folded down, the seats accommodated up

to ten men. The rear body had two small hinged doors to allow entry and exit. The rear of the body was relieved at the bottom to maintain the angle of approach and prevent the body from digging into a hill when backing the vehicle. Though simple, it was a versatile design, and a number of them were manufactured in late 1944 and into 1945.

As the war continued and German forces were driven back into their own territory, more improvised weapons appeared. This had started at the beginning of the war with various lash-up vehicles mounting artillery on tank chassis, but as the war progressed, the Germans considered every possibility. And so it was that in December 1944, the Steyr 2000A

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Two Steyr 2000A Flak trucks, without the guns installed, provide transport for US troops at the end of the war. The giveaway is the side hinges on the vehicle ahead of the jeep – part of the sides of the Flak variant could be lowered to provide a clear field of fire for the gun mount.

This is how the late-war Flak 103/38 mount was fitted into the Steyr 2000A Gefechtswagen to make a Flak truck. About 50 of these improvised antiaircraft vehicles were produced and issued to a few units; 20 went to the 17th Panzer Division as protective escort vehicles, as seen here.

Postwar, Steyr continued building vehicles based on the design of the 2000A and a similar 4x2 pre-war model. This magnificent and colourful tour bus in Vienna, Austria is a Steyr 380, a diesel-powered successor to the gasoline-powered wartime models. This example was photographed in Vienna in July 2013, where it remains in service to this day. (Dragos Popescu)

Gefechtswagen was accepted for service mounting the new Flak 103/38, itself an improvised weapon carrying a 3cm MK 103 aircraft cannon mounted on the carriage of the 2cm Flak 38, fitted with a large fixed box magazine to hold the belted ammunition. It was assigned the name “Jaboschreck” (fighter-bomber terror). The mount was placed on a false floor to raise it and the sides partially cut and hinged to provide clearance for the gun to traverse. The order was for 1000 Gefechtswagens with the Flak 103/38, but in the usual way in late-war Germany, only about 50 were actually completed. These

were assigned to a small number of units, among them 20 vehicles delivered to 17th Panzer Division in February 1945. They served in three companies of PzGrenRgt 40 and also with the DivBeglKp 17, the escort protection company for division headquarters. They were completely overwhelmed by Allied fighter-bombers, and most were reduced to smouldering wreckage.

Post War Usage At the end of the war in Europe there was a huge shortage of useful vehicles, and the Allies soon realised that the thousands of abandoned and damaged German vehicles could be put to use.

Steyr and other firms repaired many of these orphans of the storm, and surplus and reworked wartime vehicles served for many years until newer types were available. In addition, because of the destruction of so much of Germany’s industrial capacity, the factories that could still assemble vehicles resumed producing the models they had been making for the German military. Steyr built the 2000A for a year or so before adopting improved versions for continued production. After the 2000A production ended, Steyr began the next model, the Steyr 370 in 1946. It was similar in appearance to the 2000A

but with the engine section pushed forward, and was a 4x2 vehicle based on the pre-war Porsche Typ 146, never produced during the war. The Steyr 370 was fitted with an excellent diesel and later improved to become the Steyr 380. While most of these vehicles were scrapped long ago with only a few wartime examples in museums or private collections, they are not all gone – in Vienna, there are still at least a couple of Steyr Model 380 tour busses, keeping the tradition alive, a current reminder of the time long ago when an Austrian automobile company asked a man named Porsche to help them design a truck... n

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KIT PREVIEW

Tamiya 1:48 BA-64B Russian Armoured Car • Kit No. 32576

The one-piece upper hull.

Tamiya has added an all-new BA-64B Russian Armoured Car to its growing 1:48 scale range. The Editor takes a look.

SMALL BUT PERFECTLY FORMED

T

he BA-64 was a 4x4 light armoured car, employed by the Red Army from 1942 into the early 1960s for reconnaissance and liaison tasks. The initial BA-64 model was based upon the GAZ-64 jeep and fitted with sloped armour that had some similarities to the German Sd.Kfz. 222 design. The first prototype was tested on January 9, 1942. The hull had an open roof, with a pintle-mounted 7.62mm DT machine gun. The vehicle was operated by a crew of two. The State Defence Committee adopted the BA-64 for Red Army service on 14 March, 1942, but it was topheavy and could easily overturn on rough terrain. The improved BA-64B model was introduced in 1943, based on the GAZ-67B jeep, with a wider wheelbase. This model also had a small machine-gun turret added. The mass production of BA-64Bs continued through the rest of the Second World War and ceased in 1946. The last 62 vehicles were completed in that year. BA-64Bs were also used by Polish and Czech units, raised in Soviet Union. After the end of the war, some BA-64Bs were transferred to the police of East Germany. There were other post-war transfers of BA-64Bs to North Korea, China and Yugoslavia. The BA-64 remains in use with the Korean People’s Army Ground Force. The BA-64B was nicknamed ‘Bobik’ by its crews. BA-64s were successfully utilised in reconnaissance and liaison missions despite their light armour and armament. One benefit was the high elevation

angle of the DT machine gun in complement with high speed and good manoeuvrability, which allowed BA-64s to be used in urban combat with success against enemy infantry hiding on the upper floors of buildings. The total production number of BA-64s differs even in Russian sources. The most frequently stated figures are 9,110 (3,901 BA-64 and 5,209 BA-64B) vehicles that were built in the GAZ automobile plant, although a memorial plaque near the pictured Nizhny Novgorod car states 9,063 cars. The Red Army representatives accepted only 8,174 BA-64s, including 3,390 with radio sets. The other vehicles were transferred to NKVD units and Soviet allies.* Tamiya’s latest contribution to 1:48 scale military modelling is an all-new BA-64B Russian Armoured Car. Supplied on a single sprue, the kit comprises 42 parts in khaki coloured plastic, which includes four parts for the Commander half-figure. The model features separate side hull doors and driver’s visor, although no interior is provided. The chassis and leaf springs are supplied as a single part, with the rear axle and front suspension, including the steering fixed in the straight-ahead position, offered as one part each. Surface detail is by way of crisply recessed panel lines and exquisite little hinges. Ejector pin circles are limited to the insides of the doors and the turret floor, so they’ll be hidden when the model is built. The tyres are moulded in polystyrene plastic and the hub

and tread texture looks excellent. A spare tyre is included too. The tools are separate on the sprues, and include a saw, a shovel and a crowbar. The headlight features a separate solid lens, but it will be a simple matter to replace this with a clear or reflective item from Little Lenses, Elf or M.V. Products. The open turret is broken down into two parts, with the Commander’s seat moulded to the base. The pintle-mounted 7.62mm DT machine gun is well represented in this relatively small scale. The four-piece Commander looks good, and he may be posed with his elbows on the rim of the turret. Markings are supplied for a single vehicle – 249. This looks to be an easy to build and nicely detailed kit of a significant Soviet wartime and post-war vehicle. It is great to see this BA-64B in Tamiya’s growing 1/48 scale line-up. Highly Recommended. ■

The lower hull features separate side doors.

The chassis is moulded along with the leaf springs.

The turret top.

The turret floor has some sink marks but these will be hidden once the model is built.

Nice detail on the wheels.

Markings are supplied for one vehicle.

The four-piece Commander figure.

Thanks to Tamiya Japan for the sample www.tamiya.com Tamiya kits are distributed in the UK by The Hobby Company Limited www.hobbyco.net Tools are delicately detailed.

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* History courtesy of Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BA-64

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Tamiya 1:48 Steyr Kommandeurwagen • Kit No. 32553

ARBEITSTIER DE

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DER OSTFRONT Tamiya Steyr and Hauler kit bash in 1:48 scale by Luke Pitt

R

oughly translated, the title of this article means “Eastern Front Workhorse”. The Steyr 1500 light truck was indeed a vehicle for all occasions. I won’t delve into the history or development of the vehicle as Bruce’s excellent Think Tank piece has already covered that aspect. I will say however, the general look of the vehicle is pleasing to my eye. It’s funny how ideas for models come about. With this piece, I was motivated by seeing endless pictures of German trucks liberally covered in foliage during the latter years of the Second World War. I could have done an Opel Blitz but I like things a little different. I already had in my possession a number of updates and conversions for Tamiya’s Steyr twins (kits 32549 and 32553). I surmised I would never build the Kommandeurwagen version of the Tamiya kit that I already had it in my stash. I used this as a starting point. The Hauler conversion (HLX48221) was obtained next followed by the superb Aber photo-etched set (48045). This project stretched to well over 12 months and was sort of an “in-between” model. No less than five other models have been started during this period with just two of these completed. I think the main reason for the long gestation period was my uncompromising approach on this project. I broke the build down into roughly seven distinct stages and did not move on to the next phase until I was happy with the results of the last. The modelling world seems to be full of terms and acronyms these days so I’ll throw in another. I call my approach “Modular Modelling” or “MM” for short. I break down the build into a number of steps and approach each build step in small bites adding as much detail as I can possibly manage in each. In reality, we all do this and all I have done is simply put a name to the process. In the coming months I will tour the globe, doing instructional seminars, issuing T-shirts and plastering the web with promotional videos promoting this process (just kidding guys!). The model itself is very much a work in progress. It has always been intended to fit into a diorama with another vehicle and a number of 1:48 scale figures. For that reason, you will note the wheels on the vehicle are not as muddy as the rest of the vehicle. I have intentionally done this as I like to add the final mud coverage on the wheels themselves when I finally place the model on its base. Over the next year or so I will submit a number of other articles pertaining to this diorama. They will be broken down into another vehicle build, a figure build and lastly a terrain and completion build. This article has been presented in the Spanish style (for want of a better term), as most of the build process has been covered in some way or another with photos. The one thing that did strike me during this build was the severe lack of high quality figures in 1:48 scale. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, the scale really needs a complete range of high quality figures to make it successful. The build, in common with all of mine, was not without its fair share of dramas. One week before the completed photos were taken and while adding the final pieces I dropped the model onto the floor seeing it shatter and break into what seemed like a thousand pieces before my eyes. I have written the “Hollywood” version of what happened in my 1:48 scale column later in this issue. What can I say but “bummer man”. Now on to the build! A

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Tamiya 1:48 Steyr Kommandeurwagen • Kit No. 32553

The Beginning - Detailing the Front of the Steyr

The build began by firstly thinning out the front engine compartment from the inside. The areas behind the front and side grillwork were thinned out to around 7 thou in thickness. Small pilot holes were then drilled to accept a jeweller’s fret saw.

The superb Aber photo etch set (48045) was used for the grillwork on this piece and in this photo it is shown to good advantage. The careful thinning on the inside surface of the engine bay has resulted in an almost flush appearance on the outside, just like the real vehicle.

The jeweller’s fret saw was then used to roughly cut out the inside shape of the front and side grillwork. Final clean up was achieved with small jeweller’s files and wet and dry sandpaper.

The top engine bay cooling flaps were a late addition and were scratch built. These may be seen in white against the Tamiya yellow of engine compartment. The top of the engine bay was firstly thinned out to around 10 thou and then a 10 thou plastic flap was liquid glued to where the opening would appear. When this had dried, the inside opening was then opened up using much the same method as the front and side grill work. A small 5 thou ridge was left on the outside of the opening to represent the outside rain gutter. The last step was to fabricate the top of the engine flap itself. 10 thou plastic card was used with the outside edges sanded to a semi round shape and attached to the body work, small 5 thou lifting handles were then attached to the outside edge as were the internal lift brackets.

In this comparison, the completed piece on the left looks more refined than the standard kit piece on the right. The final step on the front of the body work was the thinning of the nudge bar. The outside was thinned to 10 thou in thickness, then the inside slats removed. These were then replaced with 10 thou strip to produce a front grille that is more scale-like in appearance. In this comparison, the modified piece on the left is shown next to the standard kit item.

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Now On To the Hauler Cab

The Hauler conversion (HLX48221) includes a wonderfully cast resin cab. It represents the pressed steel version. The cab, however, is not without its flaws. Apart from a few minor casting imperfections the conversion does not include a dashboard. To address this I have installed the dashboard in the cab.

The Hauler conversion does not include any windscreen hardware. I fabricated this from clear acetate sheet cut from a bubble container and thin plastic card strip.

The underside of the cab was detailed with the inclusion of a number of plastic card structural beams modelled from my available references.

I wanted two figures to occupy the front cab but found it impossible to position them correctly with the moulded-on firewall in the Hauler conversion. I removed the firewall with the aid of a jeweller’s fret saw. This enabled me to correctly position the figures.

The windscreen was carefully measured to ensure an almost “click in” fit. In this view, I am test fitting the front windscreen to the cab.

I found it almost impossible to position the figures within the cab in any meaningful way with the moulded on Hauler firewall. I cut this away and replaced it with the Tamiya item (in yellow), gluing the firewall itself directly onto the floor plan. In this view I am checking the figure fit inside the cab.

The two figures in the front of the cab are an amalgam of several figures I had in my spares box. They This view gives a good indication of the modifications necessary to correctly position the two figures were modified and changed to confirm to the Hauler Cab interior dimensions. The figures in this view with in the cab. You will note the addition of the Tamiya firewall (in yellow) glued directly on to the have been coated with Tamiya surface primer and represent generally the final configuration of the Hauler floor assembly (in grey) and the addition of the scratch built dashboard (in white). completed figures.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Tamiya 1:48 Steyr Kommandeurwagen • Kit No. 32553

Rear Tray and Tarp

The rear tray of the Hauler conversion is a wonderful piece of casting. Not only is it accurate, but it has a fine wood texture on the wood panels. In this view the chassis is being test fitted against the semi complete rear bed assembly. You will note a lot of extra detail has been added to the rear differential assembly.

I wanted a rear tarp for this build and had no other option but to scratch build one. The tarp is a highly modified version of the tarp included in the Hasagawa Isuzu Type 97 truck (Kit x48-15). Here I have added Milliput to simulate the middle three internal support rods.

This view gives some indication of how the tarp was made. The original donor tarp was modified by firstly cutting the original tarp to fit widthwise, and then cutting it lengthwise and blanking off the end with plastic card.

The tarp was then test fitted on the semi complete Hauler cargo bed. A thin layer of Milliput was added to the top of this tarp structure. This was then manipulated to form the folds in the tarp and the bottom insertion channel.

This view of the semi- complete tarp clearly illustrates the insertion channel and the semi complete interior of the tarp.

The tarp was coated in Tamiya surface primer to show any imperfections.

The complete structure was then test fitted to the cargo bed. You will note that the support arms have not been applied (at this stage) to the side the cargo bed sides.

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Is Your Chassis Straight? This view clearly illustrates the differences between the Tamiya and Pk chassis. Sadly this Pk chassis is now no longer available, but a plastic alternative could be made from plastic card if necessary using the Tamiya item as a guide.

This is an overall view of the completed chassis with the addition of the wheels.

A reasonable rendition of the engine was fabricated from items from the spares box. Note also the detailed front suspension mounts.

The Pk chassis was quite a difficult casting to clean up, requiring a number of parts to be fabricated from scratch.

The engine, sidebars, and rear suspension can be seen in this view.

The rear tow shackle was sourced from the AFV Sdkf250 kit suitably modified

This view illustrates a number of additions made to the chassis.

A close up view of the rear suspension and differential modifications

Not As Thick As Some – The Wheels At the end of the war Germany suffered severe rubber shortages and basically any tyre was pressed into service. I have always been intrigued by how thin in cross section many pre-war European tyres were. I wanted to replicate this. I sourced a suitable tyre from the 1:35 scale Miniart MercedesBenz Type 170 car kit (KT35095) by omitting the “E4” disk. I asked Bill Wiseman from World War II Productions to cast me up a set. I then removed the centre section and inserted the Tamiya hub and added the retaining bolts around the rear rim.

This view gives a good idea of how much thinner my wheel is to the standard Tamiya wheel.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Tamiya 1:48 Steyr Kommandeurwagen • Kit No. 32553

Oh Figures, Where Art Thou? In keeping with the modular theme, I decided to build the complete cargo area as a separate model. I firstly obtained a pack of Wills OO scale wood planking (SSMP201) from a model railway shop. I cut a piece of planking to fit inside the rear of the Hauler cargo area. I also positioned some Plus Models German ammunition containers (4021) at the sides of the cargo area.

The completed figures were then coated in Tamiya Surface Primer and tested for fit in the rear cargo bed.

My main aim with the figures was to have them appear to be part of the vehicle and, more importantly, relaxed.

The figures are an amalgam of various commercially available items. In this view, the solider on the right has been modified from the sitting German tanker from the Evolution 1:48 scale(EM-48006) set with his right and left arms made from Milliput and the addition of some ICM hands from one of their sets. The head is from one of the Jaguar range of 1:48 scale aircrew sets. The solider on the left is a modification of one of the Gaso.Line figures with the lower half coming from the Tamiya 1:48 scale US Navy Pilots (item 61107). Again the arms were made from Milliput with the addition of the hands from the previously mentioned Tamiya set

I decided to add another figure to the cargo bed. In this view you can see that I have used a suitably modified figure from the Evolution range. The figure on the right is fromSet No. EM-480008, with the left leg cut and straightened and the right arm made from Milliput.

The completed figures were then painted separately and glued to fake cargo floor.

All of the figures shown in these last few photos are not attached to the upper torso. I do this as an aid to the painting process. You will also note that some of the heads are indeed on different figures on the completed model. In this view both the driver and passenger are shown. Note also the practice eyeball dots on the base of each face.

In this view, I am checking for fit.

The completed figures look to all intents and purposes to be part of the vehicle. Mission complete!

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Final wrap up painting, weathering and completion of the model The whole idea of this model was to show a heavily foliaged vehicle but firstly I had to paint the darn thing. The paint was thinned 30% paint, 70% thinner. I generally spray with a higher Psi Air mix than most (in my case 35 PSI) for the first pass, as I tend to do a few light coats rather than one thick coat. I then sprayed Tamiya XF-58 Olive Green toned down with XF-59 Desert Yellow for the camouflage colour. The foliage is the 1:72 Scale Link Foliage (SLF-39). The leaves lying on top of the tarp are crunched up from real leaves and applied with a diluted while glue mix.

If you look at any normal leaf you will note that the leaves themselves are not flat, indeed in most cases they are bent at a slight angle from the centre of the leaf to the outside edge. I try to imitate this by placing the fret on a semi-soft surface. In this case I have used a small pad of Post It Notes and press the curl in to each and every leaf with aid a fine needle. I generally only exert a small amount of pressure on each leaf. This is the most time consuming part of the process and, be warned, you will need the patience of a saint, but the results are worthwhile.

In this view, the figures are shown to good advantage as is the freehand camouflage pattern.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Tamiya 1:48 Steyr Kommandeurwagen • Kit No. 32553

The fallen leaves on top of the tarp were a deliberate attempt to add a little visual interest to the top of the vehicle.

The foliage was the most time consuming part of this project. I used an entire fret of Scale link Foliage on this model. The entire fret with brown closely resembled the hue of the real autumn leaves I had collected. The shade of brown is not really that important as the leaves will be touched up latter in the process.

In this side view, the tarp is shown to good advantage. I adopted the “‘less is more” philosophy with the shading process. The colour choice of the tarp was also a deliberate attempt to add contrast to the model.

The application of paint to the branches can be tricky. A good quality brush is essential. I always use Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes as they keep their point, as long as they are taken care of!

The addition of the ubiquitous German bucket (which seems almost a cliché in today’s modelling world) was a deliberate attempt to add a bit of interest to the rear of the vehicle.

The model was sprayed with XF-60 Tamiya Dark Yellow mixed with equal parts of XF-57 Tamiya Buff and a little XF-2 White added to tone it down. This was done after a discussion with one of my modelling friends and it was our conclusion that a lot of German armour had more of a Buff colour than a yellow colour that is so often seen.

The chain on the front of the vehicle was obtained from the Tank Workshop line of 1:48 scale accessories with small hooks scratch built an attached to the ends.

I generally use 30% paint, 70% thinner. For this model I have thinned the paint with Mr Hobby Levelling Thinner. It simply does wondrous things to Tamiya paint, making it so much easier to achieve a fine demarcation line between the base and camouflage colour.

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B ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the following people for sharing their knowledge: Ross Ferro for his these views on German camouflauge colour, Bill Wiseman for his casting help and lastly Phil Young for his figure help. ■

I sprayed the camouflauge line in an inward direction, so the demarcation between the sand and brown was the sharpest I could make it.

Modelspec Tamiya 1:48 Steyr Kommandeurwagen. Kit No. 32553 Materials Used Hauler 1:48 scale Steyr 1500 light truck conversion: HLX48221 Tamiya 1:48 scale US Navy Pilots: 61107 Scale –Link “SLF-39” 72nd Foliage ABEA 1:48 scale Steyr update: 48045 Plus Models German ammunition containers: 4021 Evolution 1:48 scale figure sets: 48006 & 48008 Wills “00”” scale planking : ssmp20 The chain on the front of the vehicle was obtained from the Tank Workshop line of 1:48 scale accessories with small hooks scratch built an attached to the ends.

The mud was a equal mix of MIG Productions Dark Mud pigment and soil from my garden, mixed with Matisse Raw Umber oil paint that I had picked up in an art supply store.

Paints Used Tamiya XF-2 Flat White Tamiya XF-69 Nat Black Tamiya XF-18 Medium Blue Tamiya XF-1 Black Tamiya XF-52 Flat Earth Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow Tamiya XF-9 Hull Red Tamiya XF-79 Deck Brown Humbrol Matt White “34” Humbrol Wood Brown “62” Vallejo Matt Varnish “520” Vallejo Red “829” Vallejo Red “947” Vallejo Orange “911” Vallejo Brown “”856” Vallejo Maroon“859” Vallejo Yellow “953” Vallejo Orange Brown “981” Accessories Used Squadron Green Putty Tools Used

The rear of the vehicle was weathered with the so called “micro chipping” method on the folding tail gate of the truck. The camouflage pattern on the two soldiers is shown to good advantage in this photo. The mud mix was applied to the wheels and lower half of the body in a random pattern. When complete, the areas were highlighted with a thin oil wash and dry brushed in a sand white mix.

Waldron Sub-Miniature Punch and Die Set Small Shop Brass Assist Roller set Small Shop Hold and Fold References The main reference source for this build was the following web link: http://svsm.org/gallery/steyr1500a ✓ Simple build; nice detail; fun base for superdetailing and conversion. ✗ Nothing worth mentioning!

This model is very much a work in progress and as such the wet mud effects on the wheels will be left until the model is placed in its diorama setting.

Available from Tamiya kits are distributed in the UK by The Hobby Company Limited www.hobbyco.net

Rating

In my opinion, the combination of different colours and textures gives a pleasing effect when viewed from this angle.

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KIT PREVIEW

HobbyBoss 1:35 Hungarian Light Tank Toldi III (C40) • Kit No. 82479 One colourful painting guide!

The all-new turret.

Turret doors sadly moulded shut.

TOLDI III T

he Toldi was a Hungarian light tank based on the Swedish Landsverk L-60B. It was named after the 14th century Hungarian knight Miklós Toldi. The 38M Toldi was produced and developed under license from Swedish company AB Landsverk between 1939 and 1942. Only 202 were produced. Variants were: • Toldi I (k.hk. A20) - first variant armed with 20 mm gun, 80 made. • Toldi II (k.hk. B20) - variant with thicker front armour, 110 made. • Toldi IIa (k.hk. B40) modification developed in 1942, armed with 40 mm gun - 80 tanks of earlier variant were rearmed this way. • Toldi III (k.hk. C40) - improved variant, only 12 made. Toldi tanks entered Hungarian service in 1940. They first saw action with the Hungarian Army against Yugoslavia in 1941. These tanks were mostly used against the USSR between 1941-1944. Because of their light armour, armament and good communications equipment,

Graham Tetley examines the latest of 1:35 scale HobbyBoss’ Hungarian armour kits, the Toldi III

they were primarily used for reconnaissance. The design was no match against Soviet T-34 medium tanks encountered during the early stages of Operation Barbarossa. The only two known surviving 38M Toldi tanks (one Toldi I and one Toldi IIa) are preserved on display at the Kubinka Tank Museum.* Following on from Hobbyboss’s 1:35 Toldi II from late last year, we now have the C40 version to add to our collections. This version is almost identical to the earlier kit, ref. 82478, apart from a new turret. In the box we have over 430 parts, although 250 of those are for the tracks. We get two duplicate sprues for the road wheels, suspension parts and other fittings, one for the main hull and turret parts and another containing the turret stowage bin, gun barrel and mantlet. Added to this we also find a small photoetched fret that contains the fender strengtheners, headlight guards and other small parts. Markings are rather plain and contain options for one vehicle

only, but when you consider that only a handful were built, your choices are limited anyway. The parts are nicely moulded with no flash or imperfections on my example, although some mould seams are a little heavy. A test fit of the hull and turret main parts suggest very good fit with no need for filler. The tracks, all 11 sprues worth, are very fine but that comes at a price. They are attached to the sprue by 4 attachment points and, at the size of a Panzer I track link, I can envisage that they will need care in removing from the sprue and cleaning up. They will be tricky to assemble and it would be nice to have them in link and length. As noted above, the only new bit to this kit is the turret and turret ring. The turret side hatches are moulded closed and, whilst the driver’s and commander’s hatches can be built open, there is no interior detail to them. Hungarian tank figures are bit sparse anyway so this is one kit best shown closed up. The instructions are uncluttered and clear and come with a lovely all-around camouflage paint scheme. This is what draws me to the kit as it will certainly be an eye-catcher. HobbyBoss’ 1:35 scale Toldi III looks lovely in the box. The basic tank will pose no construction problems but the tracks will be fiddly. The current retail price is very fair and this one gets the thumbs up from me. Highly Recommended. ■

The only new parts - one larger turret.

Just visible are the tiny holes in the muzzle brake.

One of the drive sprockets.

Nice detail on the rear hull.

HobbyBoss kits are available online from Creative Models Limited www.creativemodels.co.uk Safely packaged track links. For plastic parts, the side grilles are really well done.

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*Historical text courtesy Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toldi_(tank)

23/10/2013 13:07

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TM02340 Chinese Type 56 Div Gun...........................................................£TBA 1:350 Scale TM04551 PLA Navy Type 071 Amp Trans Dock (LPD).............................£TBA TM04546 HMS Westminster F237 Type 23 Frigate............................... £39.99 1:700 Scale TM05798 HMS Barham 1941....................................................................£TBA MERIT MODELS 1:16 Scale MM61602 M198 155mm Towed How...................................................... £69.99 MM61603 sFH18 15cm German How........................................................£TBA 1:18 Scale MM61701 Flak 88 (kit)............................................................................. £39.99 1:200 Scale MM62001 USS Hornet CV-8................................................................... £259.99   TRUMPETER (New Releases) TM09940  0.05mm Acetate Gauge (Black)................................................£TBA TM09941  0.15mm Acetate Gauge (Silver)................................................£TBA 1:35 Scale TM02061 French R35 Light Inf Tank Track Links......................................£TBA TM02064 T-90 Workable Track Links........................................................£TBA TM02346 Soviet GAZ-67B..........................................................................£TBA TM05562 T-90A Russian MBT (Welded turret).........................................£TBA TM05564 T-72B Mod 1989 (Cast turret)...................................................£TBA 1:200 Scale TM03705 USS Missouri BB-63..................................................................£TBA TM06631 USS Missouri Upgrade Set........................................................£TBA 1:350 Scale TM04550 HMS Daring Type 45 Destroyer.................................................£TBA ACADEMY TW13280 Panzer 35 (T)........................................................................... £21.99 TW13277 Hetzer Praha 45...................................................................... £27.99 KINETIC MODELS (future releases) KN61010 RG-31 Mk 3 Canada...................................................................£TBA KN61011 4x4 MRAP Truck ........................................................................£TBA KN62001 1/48th R-11 US/NATO Fuel Truck..............................................£TBA NEW BOOKS Panzerwaffe on the battlefield........................................................................ £23.99 MIRROR MODELS (future releases) MM35800 US Diamond T 968A 4T Truck (hard/soft tops).........................£TBA MM35801 US Diamond T969 Wrecker.......................................................£TBA MM35803 US Diamond T 968 Cargo (hard top).........................................£TBA MM35851 US Caterpillar D7 Tractor...........................................................£TBA MM35122 CMP CGT Field Art Tractor cab 13............................................£TBA MM35603 Marmon Herrington Mk II..........................................................£TBA MM35900 Morris Commercial C8 Quad.....................................................£TBA MM35121 CMP C8A Heavy Utility Cab 13..................................................£TBA MM35901 Morris Commercial CS8 GS......................................................£TBA MM35161 CMP C60L GS Truck cab 13......................................................£TBA MM35104 CMP C15A Water Tank Lorry cab 11 & 12...............................£TBA MM35105 CMP F15 Ford Truck..................................................................£TBA MM35107 CMP F15 Italian service Ford....................................................£TBA MM35851 US Caterpillar D7 Tractor...........................................................£TBA MM35300 Italian 20mm Breda Gun............................................................£TBA MM35200 Russian T-20 Art Tractor............................................................£TBA MM35831 US Indian 741B M/Cycle............................................................£TBA MM35126 CMP Ford F.A.T cab 13..............................................................£TBA MM35821 US M5 High Speed Tractor........................................................£TBA MM35181 CMP F60L Ford Workshop Lorry...............................................£TBA MM35151 CMP C30 Chevy GS Truck..........................................................£TBA

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17/10/2013 17:40

FEATURE ARTICLE

HobbyBoss 1:35 French EBR-11 Wheeled Reconnaissance Vehicle • Kit No 82490

THE FRENCH CONNECTION Andy King builds the recently released HobbyBoss 1:35 French EBR-11 Wheeled Reconnaissance Vehicle

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The commander’s cupola with gaping holes where the vision blocks should be.

The moulded canvas for the turret. Along the top there should be a lot of rectangular bolt heads present.

The internal turret pivot.

I

reviewed this kit a couple of issues ago and although French armour isn’t really my area of interest, it was while researching the vehicle I had the urge to build it, especially after looking at a walk-around on www. primeportal.net and finding various other images on the net. The Panhard EBR (Engin Blinde de Reconnaissance) was a French armoured car that was actually conceived before WWII but only went into production after the war with 1200 vehicles built after 1954. It had a crew of four, was armed with a 90mm FL-11 or 75mm FL-10 cannon in an oscillating turret with up to four 7.5mm machine guns, one of which was mounted co-axially. It weighed up to 14 tons, was powered by a 200hp horizontally-opposed air cooled 12 cylinder engine and could reach speeds up to 100kph (around 62mph). The inner set of wheels were steel to aid traction over rough terrain but these could be raised for road use. It saw combat with French forces in Algeria and also with Portuguese Army during the Colonial War in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. In the box, we are presented with ten sprues and two hull pieces

moulded in tan styrene, a sheet of photo-etched metal, a small decal sheet and eight vinyl tyres. As is usual with HobbyBoss, the parts are well moulded with minimal flash although some mould pin marks are visible under the wheel arches as well as mould seams on some parts.

The tow rings drilled out and copper wire inserted.

A suspension spring with the rather hefty knock-out pins.

CONSTRUCTION Construction starts with the main suspension and inner wheels. I usually replace moulded springs with thick fuse wire however the kit items are pretty good. All they really need are the mould seams and knock out pins removing. This I did with a small piece of wet and dry sand paper to get between the gaps, giving them a quick goingover with liquid cement to remove any swarf from between the springs afterward. The inner wheels are vinyl and these would be much better moulded in styrene plus all four have a very difficult to remove mould seam to one side. The fit of the styrene wheel centres are a bit sloppy too, so I put a dab of cyano on the insides to hold them in place better, also all eight axles are fairly loose and would be better glued in place (it’ll stop your model rolling off the shelf anyway). A

Fortunately they cleaned up well.

The turret with extra details added.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

HobbyBoss 1:35 French EBR-11 Wheeled Reconnaissance Vehicle • Kit No 82490

This image shows the correct orientation of the inner wheels plus it highlights those mould-seams.

These images show the built-up model. The bolt heads on the inner fenders made from styrene using a punch and die set.

B The hull fitted together perfectly

The model sprayed with a mix of Tamiya XF-81 RAF Green and XF-2 Flat White.

Gloss varnish and decals applied.

but before you start gluing the parts, drill out the holes as shown in Step 2 taking careful note which way the upper hull is shown. After fitting parts B11 and B12 to the lower hull there are small etch pieces to glue to them as well however I left these off till the end. Small towing rings are added to either ends of the hull and to improve the look I drilled through the anchor points and made ’L’ shaped bolts from thin copper wire to put through the holes. The turret, like the hull, has no interior detail and is mostly occupied by a large pivot for the vertical movement, so if you were to fit a crew it would be an idea to leave out the pivot and firmly glue the turret in place. The turret halves themselves fitted perfectly with minimal clean up needed afterward. After the halves were set I roughened the surfaces with liquid glue and a stiff brush to give it some texture. The canvas skirt for the turret appears to be optional which is good as the kit supplied one is in two halves and rather tricky to fit. On the actual vehicle there is a thin flange of metal welded all the way around the turret and the canvas cover is bolted to that as well as the lower part of the turret. The kit canvas cover has the flange moulded at the top and is missing all the bolt head detail too so as I wanted to keep this build basic I left it off. The Commander’s cupola has no vision blocks supplied so I made my own from styrene sheet and stretched sprue to fill in the holes. The turret basket needed some extra detail as the mesh at the bottom, tie down straps and inner brackets are missing. These brackets were made from strips of brass but when trying to work out

how many were needed it became apparent that the stowage basket was incorrect in only having eight vertical brackets around the outer edge instead of nine. This would require a major rework of the basket so I left it as is. The driver’s front and rear hatches were going to be closed and these required some fettling to make them fit. In the end I glued the hatches together and sanded them until they eventually fitted. I also removed the locating lugs on the inside edge of the hatch openings to get the hatches flush with the upper hull. The tiny photo-etch rivet details where the wheel arches meet the hull were fixed in place with Johnsons Kleer rather than super glue for a neater finish. Bolt heads were replaced with ones made from styrene sheet using a hexagonal punch and die set.

Painting, Markings and Weathering After a good clean, the model was primed using Games Workshop Chaos Black then it received a coat of Tamiya XF-81 RAF Dark Green lightened with XF-1 White (which was a tip found over on the armour website Missing-Lynx), adding more white for the top surfaces. After a coat of the new Humbrol Clear Gloss Varnish the few decals included in the kit were applied, sealed in with another coat of gloss varnish and when completely dry Mig Productions Dark Brown Wash was applied to all the recesses and raised detail. A couple of coats of Winsor & Newton acrylic matt varnish from their Galleria range was sprayed all over then dots of various oil colours were dabbed on and worked into the base colour with a flat brush moistened with enamel thinner to try and impart some tonal variation in an otherwise

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pretty drab colour scheme. I threw various MIG Productions pigments all over the model, followed by a slurry of different AK Interactive Mud Effects mixed with household filler under the fenders and especially around the inner wheels in an attempt to hide those prominent mould seams. AK Mud Effects were also flicked on using an old stiff brush and my thumb. Finally, I used an old G string (no, behave, it is from a guitar, the ‘G’ or third string) cut to length for the two aerials, painted the four wing mirrors with a Tamiya Silver paint marker then gave them a wash of Tamiya X-19 Smoke and that was pretty much it.

CONCLUSION This is another good kit from HobbyBoss. It went together well apart from the driver’s hatches and stowage basket plus those vinyl tyres. HobbyBoss is certainly doing some good stuff armour-wise at the moment, especially with unusual subjects such as the EBR-11. Fit of parts is generally very good and although the level of detail is not quite up to Tamiya or Dragon standard, the RRP of their kits and a parts count that doesn’t reach the near 1,000 mark makes them very attractive especially for newcomers to the hobby. ■

A wash of Mig Productions Dark Brown Wash followed.

One thing I noticed in reference photographs was the shine on the steering ball joints even with fairly heavy weathering.

The model matted down with Winsor & Newton Acrylic Matt Varnish.

Modelspec HobbyBoss 1:35 French EBR-11 Wheeled Reconnaissance Vehicle Kit No: 82490 Accessories Used Guitar G String for aerials Paints & Finishing Products Tamiya Acrylics: X-11 Chrome Silver; X-19 Smoke; XF-2 Flat White; XF-81 RAF Dark Green Humbrol Clear Gloss Varnish Winsor & Newton Galleria Matt Varnish MIG Productions Pigments – various MIG Productions Dark Brown Wash AK Interactive Mud Effects Johnson’s Kleer (as an adhesive)

The finished article.

✓ Interesting subject; generally good fit; simple parts breakdown; good value for money. ✗ Vinyl tyres; tricky fit for driver’s hatches; turret basket needs extra work. Available from Thanks to Creative Models Limited for the sample www.creativemodels.co.uk

Rating

Low down and mean!

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KIT PREVIEW

ICM 1:35 Packard Twelve (Model 1936) WWII Soviet Leaders Car • Kit No. 35535

ICM has been busy with some new 1:35 scale WWII cars lately. Andy King examines Stalin’s Packard Twelve limousine.

UNCLE JOE’S RIDE T

he Packard Twelve was a top of the range luxury car built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan. First appearing in 1932 as the Packard Twin Six it was renamed the Packard Twelve until the end of its production run in 1939. As well as being a popular choice for US government officials (and quite probably famous gangsters of the time), according to the info on the side of the box several of these cars were purchased by the Soviet Special Purpose Garage to transport government officials and ‘Uncle Joe’ himself around and about The Motherland of Russia during WWII. The contents of the box include four sprues moulded in a tan styrene, one clear sprue, a small decal sheet plus a set of five figures from the ICM set ‘Stalin and Co’, in which Stalin features as well as Nikita Khrushchev (Political Commissar then Soviet leader from 19551964), Lavrenty Beria (that nice chap who was head of the NKVD), Vyacheslav Molotov (diplomat and First Deputy Premier in Stalin’s cabinet); and General Nikolai Vlasik (Head of Stalin’s personal security). All parts are well moulded with only minor bits of flash here and

Guess who?

there. Pin marks are confined to interior parts and the undersides of fenders and the only sink mark I could find was a shallow one on the front left fender. A reasonably detailed V-12 engine is included although some chopping of the bonnet side panels will be required to see it. The same goes for the main body interior as the doors are moulded closed. The body is moulded in two halves and I can see problems trying to eliminate a seam that goes across the front, roof and rear. Obviously ICM has their reasons for doing it this way but a one piece body would have been preferable as getting rid of a joint line on a part that needs a flawless paint finish will be tricky, especially as the gluing surfaces are small and most likely very prone to flexing. The tyres are made up of five parts each and care will be needed to not get any glue oozing out from between them as removing it will destroy the very fine tread pattern. The clear parts for the windows are good and free from any blemishes (and fortunately packed in a separate bag) but as the car was armoured I’d be tempted to tint them with a hint of blue-green as I’d bet the glass was armoured on the real vehicle. The Packard Swan emblem or

The front grille is solid but should look convincing when painted.

hood ornament that sits on the radiator is also on the clear sprue and is a nice detail, although the wings are moulded in one piece and you need to cut them in two before attachment. The five figures are well moulded and detail is good although the uniform insignia will be tricky to paint. ICM have done well to capture the likeness of the characters involved facially and to depict Stalin’s withered left arm (in case you were wondering why one arm was a bit shorter than the other). The figures are all posed either standing or walking so putting them in a diorama with the car may prove interesting and ideally you’d need them to put some context to the vehicle. Painting Stalin’s Packard is, as you might imagine, limited to black with a brown interior and a few areas of chrome thrown in and of course those white-walled tyres. The car would have been kept spotless too so no going berserk with weathering powders and washes either. Regarding the chrome trim possibly the best solution would be paint from the Alclad range rather than the Model Master Chrome Silver recommended in the instructions, as it would be highly polished. The only other solution would be to ask around on model car forums for advice. If you are into ‘Dictator Stars and Their Cars’ then this is an ideal model to place alongside Hitler’s six-wheeled Mercedes that you may have on your shelf. Actually, it makes an interesting subject in the fact that it may be a challenge to pull off a finish that is glossy but realistically in scale, and of course without the aid of weathering products. ■

The lower body part incorporates the wheel arches.

The body is split lengthwise in half – an interesting moulding decision!

Doors are moulded separately and may be posed open.

Nice upholstery detail.

The wheels are made up from five parts each.

Side engine cover detail.

Thanks to ICM for the review sample www.icm.com.ua The kit-supplies decal sheet.

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17/10/2013 17:31

SHOW REPORT

QUEENSLAND MODEL AND HOBBY EXPO 2013

QUEENSLAND MODEL AN

N

ow in its 18th year at the same location, the 2013 Queensland Model and Hobby Expo was held at the Brisbane Table Tennis Centre on the weekend of 7 and 8 September. QMHE is a co-operative annual venture between local Queensland model clubs, but entries are open to members and the public alike. This year, the tables boasted nearly 350 quality entries, but numbers were boosted by many more models on club display tables. In addition to the aircraft models present, there were plenty of cars, trucks, military vehicles, figures and even a working small scale railroad. The show was well attended by modellers and members of the public, including families and young people. Plenty of traders were on hand, amongst them OzMods, Modelnerds, Firestorm Models, Fold iT Models, Creative Models Australia, Ronnel’s Hobbies and many more. The canteen, serving hoot food, was doing a roaring trade too. If you’re in Australia anywhere near sunny Queensland in September next year, drop by – it’s well worth the visit! ■

The Editor heads to sunny Brisbane to visit the 2013 Queensland Model and Hobby Expo.

Visitors lining up for entry on a sunny Brisbane weekend.

Plenty of traders were on hand to relieve modellers of their cash.

Greg Anderson from OzMods with their latest releases.

Creative Models Australia.

It was also a good chance to stock up on tools.

Club displays were impressive. Here is IPMS Queensland.

RAAF Amberley, home of the late great F-111, and a model club.

A good variety of subjects from Darling Downs Scale Modellers.

Some of the impressive military models on display by AMMS Queensland Branch.

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L AND HOBBY EXPO 2013

Gregg Greinke’s remarkable 1:35 scale Trumpeter Dampflokomotive BR86.

Don Moore’s 1:35 scale Bronco Sd.Kfz. 6-3 Diana.

Dragon 1:35 scale M2 Halftrack by Michael Walsh.

Trumpeter’s 1:35 scale ASLAV-25 Phase 3 by Graham McNamara. December 2013 - Model Military International 35

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SHOW REPORT

QUEENSLAND MODEL AND HOBBY EXPO 2013

Trumpeter’s 1:35 scale KV-1S by Ian Cousens.

Paul Ryall’s 1:35 scale Tamiya KV-1B.

1:35 scale Trumpeter AS90 Howitzer by Wayne Geoffrey Huston.

The venerable Italeri 1:35 scale Dodge Ambulance by Mark Crees.

David McKinley built this clever and very original 1:24 scale T Model Ford.

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Andy Reid’s 1:35 scale Tamiya Iraqi T-55 Enigma.

Burnt out vehicles were popular this year. Here is BlackDog’s 1:35 Destroyed VW by David McKinley.

Emhar’s 1:35 scale Mark IV Tank by David Scorer.

A burnt out 1:35 scale Italeri RSO by Bob Depeau.

Tamiya’s 1:35 scale German Panther Type G by Ralph Riese.

Darrly Slight’s 1:72 scale Cromwell resin Shot Kal 1982.

Vietnam diorama by Jonathan Dillon featuring the Dragon 1:35 scale Huey and Master Box figures.

Hasegawa’s 1:72 scale Churchill Mk. by Shane Weier.

Chris Bond’s diorama entitled “It’s Cactus Mate!” December 2013 - Model Military International 37

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17/10/2013 18:35

KIT PREVIEW

HobbyBoss 1:35 Meng Shi 1.5ton Military Light Utility Vehicle - Convertible Version for Special Forces • Kit No. 82469

The one-piece lower body.

THE GREATEST FORM OF FLATTERY

The colourful camouflage scheme.

Andy King reviews the HobbyBoss 1:35 scale kit of the Meng Shi 1.5ton Military Light Utility Vehicle, the PLA knock-off of the American Special Forces ‘Dumvee’.

T

he EQ2050 Meng Shi is a 1.5 ton four wheel drive troop carrier developed from the American AM General ‘Humvee’ by the Dongfeng Motor Corporation. Civilian Humvees were used by Chinese oil companies in the 1990s and a small number were taken back to China where they were examined closely by the indigenous automotive companies. In 2003 a prototype was put on show by Dongfeng, closely followed by the other Humvee copy which was the SFQ2040 built by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. Around this time, the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army of China) were looking for a vehicle of the Humvee class and both Dongfeng and Shenyang lobbied hard to secure the contract. By 2004 the Dongfeng version was chosen and after further trials it entered service around 2006-07. In an earlier issue of Model Military International I reviewed the Hobbyboss Meng-Shi Utility

Vinyl tyres.

Vehicle and as that was a direct copy of the American ‘Humvee’ I suppose this particular vehicle could be considered a copy of the Special Forces ‘Dumvee’ as it features a similar style tubular steel roll cage with a roofmounted machine gun. The kit contains six sprues in a tan colour with one clear sprue, a sheet of photo-etched metal, five vinyl tyres and a small decal sheet for the instrument panel. The moulding is up to HobbyBoss’ usual standard with minimal flash although mould seams are present on some parts. It shares a few parts with the earlier vehicle such as the chassis, bonnet and wheels but the rest are specific to this version like the cut down doors, roll cage and MG. Detail is pretty good with a busy looking chassis although no engine is included. One thing I did notice is the moulded towing eyes on the front and rear bumpers, which would look much better scraped off and replaced with ones made from fuse wire. The cable drum behind the front bumper is poor and really needs some nylon thread wrapped around to improve the look. The dashboard looks very much like a civilian version with what looks like a radio/ cassette player moulded in and I would have expected military radios of some description here instead although it would be understandable if the PLA were a bit touchy about sensitive communications equipment.

The supplied photo-etched sheet is mainly for the rear cargo bed and engine grilles but there is a large rectangular piece marked as PE12 which is not mentioned in the instructions. I suspect that this may go on the cargo bed floor directly under the roof mounted MG position, although check your references first. The roof itself has a twopiece hatch which seems odd considering the vehicle is open to the elements but I suppose it gives a certain amount of protection to the gunners upper body. The painting instructions are for one vehicle in a three tone camouflage scheme and it is printed in colour on a glossy sheet of A4 with paint numbers quoted from Mr Hobby, Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya and Humbrol. The four-view drawing is an aspect I like about HobbyBoss kits as other manufacturers can keep you guessing as to what the camouflage scheme looks like on the other side of the vehicle. With the chunky nature of this Humvee ‘wannabe’ and the rather cool camouflage scheme on the box, this kit should be more popular than the earlier version in the plain green or white UN scheme. This is another welcome addition to the growing PLA collection and comes highly recommended just for the camo scheme alone. ■

Moulding is up to HobbyBoss’ usual high standards.

The top hatch for this open topped vehicle!

Crisp raised detail on the tailgate.

The dashboard with plain instrument dials. Decals will be applied here.

The chassis and basic engine block.

Many thanks to Creative Models Ltd for the sample www.creativemodels.co.uk

The kit-supplied photo-etched fret.

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KIT PREVIEW

Bronco 1:35 Infantry Tank Mk.III “Valentine” Mk.IX • Kit No. CB35144

The one-piece lower hull.

Al Bowie reviews the latest addition to Bronco’s Valentine tank family, the upgunned Mk.IX.

The all-new two-man 6 pdr turret.

SIX POUNDS OF VALENTINE

T

he Valentine was the most produced British Tank of WWII and came about as a private venture cheaper alternative to the Matilda Infantry tank. The Vickers produced tank, whilst built on the flawed Infantry Tank concept, was a very reliable mount that went on to be produced in many marks in both the UK and Canada and was used by the Commonwealth forces as well as being supplied to the USSR. It was also the pilot vehicle that proved the DD Swimming tank concept. The Mk.IX was the first of the upgunned variants carrying the excellent 6 pdr Mk.IV or V in a new two-man turret. Interestingly the turret was not fitted with a coaxial machine gun, which proved to be a handicap in service. This variant entered service with the 8th Army in the summer of 1942 and was well liked and popular with its crews having good reliability, armament and armour for the day. Bronco surprised a lot of people when they announced a kit of the Valentine Mk.IX after tooling a family of Valentines for Miniart. It was speculated that these would form the base for this kit but like other reviewers I was pleased to see that Bronco has retooled almost the entire kit and included their excellent individual track links. The kit is extensive and the

Markings for four vehicles are included.

vehicle is made up from 512 parts plus 216 for the track links and a large photo-etched fret. It is moulded in Bronco’s familiar light grey styrene with the track links being in a darker brown. The detail and moulding is fine and absolutely state of the art. The kit features extensive interior detailing including a fully equipped engine bay with the option of displaying the radiators in their raised position for engine access. This will be particularly useful for the diorama builder wanting something different. Additionally the driver’s compartment is also detailed and a turret interior is provided with a detailed radio and gun mount. The gun supplied is a Mk.V 6 pdr with options of a counterweighted barrel or one threaded for the counterweight. Clear styrene periscope assemblies are provided for all periscope positions and are multi part assembly that capture this complex device well. Also included are side skirts and a pair of 25 pdr Ammunition boxes of different types These were frequently used on British AFVs as storage bins although no further external stowage is supplied. Four marking options are supplied. These are: • Red Army Eastern Front 1944 (Unknown Unit) in overall green • “Buccaneer” B Sqn 50 RTR

Stencil decals are supplied too.

North Africa Feb 43in a Green and Brown scheme described as OD & Wood Brown. My references have this vehicle in Desert Pink and Dark Olive Green. This is illustrated in Armor Photo History #3 Valentine Pt. 2 • Red Army Eastern Front 1944 (Unknown Unit) in overall green • Polish 2 Armoured Brigade Gaza Palestine also illustrated in the Armor Photo History title. This has limited markings (an Engine overhaul stencil) and has a turret in what is probably Light Mud with Blue Black and a hull in Light Stone with Blue Black disruptor. This is big step up from the excellent MiniArt kits, addressing all the minor problems. I could find little out of place with this kit from the references at hand. It has the usual high level of detail one expects from Bronco and will build into a stunning example of a Valentine IX. The amount of fine photo-etch and complex assemblies are not beyond the skills of most modellers but this is not a kit for the beginner or those inexperienced with PE. Unused parts indicate later marks are on their way. Highly Recommended. ■

Thanks to Bronco for the sample www.bronco-model.com

The photo-etched fret.

Hatches are separate and may be posed open if desired.

Nice sprocket detail on the turret ring.

Bronco’s individual link tracks are included.

Detail is excellent and assembly should be simple, with one part per link.

Clear parts are included for lenses and scopes. December 2013 - Model Military International 39

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17/10/2013 18:36

FEATURE ARTICLE

Revell 1:72 T-72M1 • Kit No. 03149

SMALL SCAL

BIG TURRE T

he T-72 tank has been in production for several decades. During that time it has given rise to many variants. The best small-scale kit currently available is Revell's T-72M1 export version, equivalent in most respects to the Russian T-72A but with some small internal and external differences. Over the last couple of years I have converted several of these kits to different versions but hadn't built a T-72B1.

This version has the third main type of turret, accepted for production in 1984. It is noticeably larger than the earlier turrets those found on the initial T-72 and then on the subsequent T-72A. It also has a layer of anti-radiation cladding covering the turret top. From 1985 onwards these vehicles were fitted with first generation 'explosive reactive armour' (ERA) called Kontakt-1. It's one of these vehicles described in this article.

THE KIT

Overall the Revell kit is good, but there are some issues with the turret shape. Although the general appearance may be quite simple, Russian tank turrets have a lot of subtle variations in shape and it is clear from studying photos that Revell’s isn't correct around the front and rear. One very useful feature of the kit is that it includes two styles of road-wheels, the earlier type with eight indents

and the later style with six. This gives a lot of scope for conversion possibilities across the different T-72 variants. As this particular version is almost always seen with the later style wheel, I used these for my model.

LOWER HULL The lower hull is well done, but as it is for an export variant it only features four engineering attachments on the bow plate

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I created a new bow plate, cutting the engineering blade from the kit. Russian versions, in contrast with export ones, have eight engineering attachments rather than two as on the kit. The ones that are present on the kit are also undersized.

A resin copy of the bow plate can be seen here fitted to the lower hull. Note also the four white plastic linkage rods that connect the engineering blade to the hull. The kit inner road wheel is shown on the left and is completely smooth. I modified one of the outer wheels by removing the hub and adding a short section of plastic tube that fits snugly around the axle. A resin copy of this is shown to the right. The kit’s link and length track is reasonably accurate, but there are some issues. The main problem with them is that the guide teeth are much too short. I improved the detail of a kit link by replacing the guide tooth, thinning the track edges and drilling out the track pin ends. I then cast a set of these in resin – a little tedious!. Doing this also improved the relief between the links as the kit length sections don’t represent this particularly well.

The air intakes situated at the hull rear are moulded with a solid mesh pattern. I cut these off and built up the part again with plastic strip to leave the interior hollow. I used a photo-etched frame for the mesh from the Extratech details set for the kit. This would later be covered with fine mesh.

ALE,

RET

Alex Clark converts Revell’s 1:72 scale T-72M1 to a T-72B1 model 1985

(Russian versions have eight). I created a completely new replacement plate to include all eight of these and to also give better definition to the engineering blade fitted underneath them. The outer road-wheels are well done, but the inner ones are completely smooth with no detail whatsoever. To improve them I took an outer wheel, modified it to fit the suspension axles and cast twelve copies in resin.

The hard plastic link and length tracks are reasonable representations of the real thing, but the guide teeth are far too short. I took a single link from the kit and replaced the guide tooth. I also took the opportunity to make a few more improvements - I drilled the track pin ends out and thinned / reshaped the overly thick edges. It was a challenge trying to cast the track but I felt the end result would be worth it. To speed things A

The turret is a heavily modified version of the kit’s M1 turret, featuring additional armour around the front and sides. I also corrected some other issues with the shape of the turret rear, which should be more pointed than the kit piece. The cast texture is Mr Surfacer stippled on with an old brush.

The turret roof appliqué was created with thinly rolled sheets of Magic Sculp putty draped over it. Once set, I trimmed it to fit and added the bolts by drilling small holes and inserting sections of plastic rod. I cast a few copies of the turret for myself but also provided the master to Armory of Ukraine. It is now marketed by them as an upgrade for the Revell kit. December 2013 - Model Military International 41

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Revell 1:72 T-72M1 • Kit No. 03149

I improved the cupola front by creating the sight frame in the centre - missing from the kit part - and drilling out the 2 visions slot on either side.

B up a little I cast them as a mix of

single links and four link sections. Following this I carried out the tedious job of cleaning them up and assembling them.

Upper Hull The Revell upper hull is provided as a single piece and has a lot of good detail in many places. There are some small areas that I felt could still be improved though. I removed the fenders from both sides and rounded off the upper edges of the fuel cells that sit along the right side fender. I also improved the strap detail that hold both the fuel cells and the zip tool boxes to the fenders and opened out the area behind the exhaust outlet on the left side. After this I cast some copies for both this and future builds. The air intakes located at the rear of the engine deck are solid with moulded on mesh detail. Rather than attempting to hollow these out, I rebuilt the frame for the mesh from plastic strip and cast a resin copy. I then used fine photo-etched mesh for the grills themselves. To recreate the ERA bricks, I took one from a Revell T-80BV kit and reshaped it slightly (it's a little on the wide side). I cast

The gunner’s hatch on the B variant has additional appliqué on the outer face. I also created the inner face detail, although for this model I left the hatch shut.

multiple copies and fitted them to the hull front and sides. For a bit of variety I left a couple of bricks missing and attached a few at different angles as they can often be seen damaged in this way and partly torn from the vehicle.

I improved the kit’s NSVT machine gun by scratch-building a new body and mount. I also created the small fabric pouch that catches the spent ammo cases.

The completed model just prior to painting. The gun barrel is a turned brass item from Zedval.

Turret The turret requires the most attention due to a mix of inaccuracies in its shape and the fact that this version was considerably up-armoured. The rear should be more pointed in both plan and profile view and this applies to all turret types. There is also a slight incline down towards the turret ring, rather than it being completely vertical as in the kit. As well as fixing this, I reshaped the turret front by beefing it up with Milliput two-part epoxy putty and reshaping it to match photos. I also made some other improvements, including opening up the gunner's sight and various periscopes. The kit gun barrel is a bit fiddly to clean up due to the presence of several thermal sleeve straps and the strips running along the top of the barrel. More importantly it's slightly too short and too thin in diameter. I used a turned metal replacement that from Zedval and A

The grey resin turret is a resin copy of my master from the Ukrainian company Armory.

Although mostly resin and original kit plastic, there were a few items I added using other materials. These included the front mud flap retaining wires and the headlight guards taken from a small photo-etched set from Extratech.

Note the auxiliary fuel drum pipes and hoses, added from copper wire, that connect them to the hull fuel tank system.

The outer road wheels are seen test fitted here as I left them separate to make painting them a bit easier.

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The green base colour is a mix of Tamiya acrylics: Buff, Olive Green and Field Grey. I kept the markings to a minimum, just plain white 3-digit numbers on the 3 turret stowage boxes. These were from a generic Archer Dry Transfer set. A single sprayed coat of Klear acrylic floor varnish acts as a tough surface for the later weathering steps. It also protects the dry transfers.

I mixed a dark wash from Humbrol Forest Green and Satin Black. I applied this to sections of the model at a time, allowing it to get touch dry and then using a clean brush dipped in thinners I loosened and worked the colour further around the surface. Tamiya Soil Effect diorama texture paint has a very in-scale gritty appearance to it and I applied this to both the lower hull and running gear.

Humbrol Pale Stone mixed with varying amounts of Dark Earth gives good mud, dust and grime shades. I airbrushed this lightly up the hull sides, over some of the horizontal areas and around the running gear. I then worked some thinners over these areas to break up the uniformity of the effect.

I mixed Satin Black enamel with some thinners and applied this as a pin-wash around the various nooks and crannies. I kept a small clean brush to hand and used it to wipe away any excess paint.

A sharp black pencil is good for creating small scuffs and scratches. I concentrated these around the crew hatches and other areas of most wear and tear. It’s easy to overdo this effect so I kept it to a minimum.

I flicked several pale shades of mud and dust lightly over the model using a flat brush against a cocktail stick. This step needs quite a lot of practice, but if the effect gets too heavy it’s easy to clean it off and try again.

Small areas of leaked fuel and oil can be made using a mix of Gloss Varnish, Black enamel, Burnt Umber oil paint and thinners. This is a translucent mix with a nice oily sheen to it. I applied it around the wheel hubs and fuel filler caps. December 2013 - Model Military International 43

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Revell 1:72 T-72M1 • Kit No. 03149

B this is spot on in both these areas.

As with the hull, I cast a number of ERA bricks and fitted them around the front, sides and top of the turret.

FINAL DETAILS Finally, I completed the numerous smaller items such as the IR turret light, stowage boxes, machine gun / mount and other details. I modified and improved many of the kit parts and so cast copies of them in resin. I also used a few items from a photo-etched fret, notably the glacis headlight guards from an Extratech set. These would be fiddly to make from scratch and the etched parts are well done. I did find that they sit slightly too tall so I trimmed them a little to reduce the height. The tow cable at the hull rear is from Eureka XXL.

Modelspec Revell 1:72 T-72M1

PAINTING AND WEATHERING I applied a couple of sprayed undercoats of Humbrol Light Grey enamel (64). Over this I sprayed a mix of Tamiya acrylics, Buff (XF-57), Olive Green (XF-58) and Field Grey (XF-65) in a 2 : 1 : 1 ratio. I immediately lightened this mixture with more Buff and gave a further more diluted overspray of this on the horizontal surfaces only. I used generic white numerals from Archer dry transfers for the turret numbers and to protect these and the base colour from the weathering steps I sprayed Klear acrylic floor varnish over the entire model. I broke up the uniform colour and created some depth to the finish by applying a wash of Humbrol Forest Green (150) darkened with Satin Black (85). I applied this to small areas at a time with a flat brush and, once touch dry, I used a clean brush dipped in thinners to remove the excess and work the wash more into the corners and edges. Once done, the rather light initial colour was slightly darkened and had better contrast. I set this to one side to thoroughly dry before moving on. Next I liberally applied Tamiya Soil Effect diorama texture paint around the lower hull and wheels. This has a very pleasing and in-scale gritty appearance to it. Although already a brown colour, I mixed Humbrol Pale Stone (121) with Dark Earth (29) and sprayed this in controlled amounts over both these areas and over the upper surfaces of the hull and turret. Almost immediately I flooded the areas with pure thinner, causing the paint to be

Kit No. 03149

Paints & Finishing Products: drawn more to the details. At this stage the model still looks quite flat so I mixed a wash of Humbrol Satin Black and applied this as a pin-wash around all the small details. This really helps to create depth and shadow and bring more life to the model. I enhanced the dusty and muddy finish by flicking various mud coloured enamel mixes around the lower areas of the vehicle, starting with lighter colours first. Next I added small scratches and scuffs using a sharpened black pencil. The weathering was nearly

complete by the end of this stage but I do tend to revisit certain steps over again, particularly applying further pin-washes and flicking more mud colours onto the model. Damp areas on the vehicle and the mud can be reproduced using a wash of gloss varnish with a small amount of black. I used the same mix for oil and fuel stains by adding Burnt Umber oil paint to it, which gives a very realistic oily sheen. After this I painted up all the small details and glued the sub-assemblies to complete the model. ■

Humbrol Enamels Tamiya Acrylics Klear Floor Polish Tamiya Soil Effect diorama texture paint Burnt Umber Oil Paint Black Pencil ✓ Generally quite a good kit, especially the upper hull; good base for additional detailing and conversions. ✗ Smooth inner road wheels; inaccurately shaped turret; some problems with the tracks. Available from Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit www.revell.eu

Rating

The diminutive size of the completed model may be appreciated here.

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KIT PREVIEW

Panda 1:35 Soviet Heavy Tank Object 279 • Kit No.35005

Chris Leeman examines Panda’s 1:35 scale model of one of the most bizarre tanks ever to be built – the Soviet Heavy Tank Object 279.

COLD WAR MONSTER T

he Object 279 tank must get the nod as one of the most bizarre looking tanks ever created. Born out of a requirement for a heavy tank with good firepower that could traverse the extremes of weather and ground conditions found in Russia as well as survive a nuclear blast, design work commenced in 1957 and the preproduction vehicle was completed in 1959. Panda’s 1:35 Object 279 comprises 244 parts moulded in olive coloured plastic, 348 light brown plastic individual track links and 32 etched parts. Quality of the moulding is quite good although there is a small amount of flash here are there (especially on the tracks) and some parts do have some prominent seam lines to clean up. Detail is a bit soft in places and has a 1970’s / 1980’s feel. The instructions are well done and construction is called out in 15 steps. The hull comes with texturing which is nice, but it is uniform and even in its appearance. The top hull has a couple of plastic pips right in the middle of the textured areas that will require sanding off which then means you’ll need to redo the texture to keep it all looking the same. The engine deck is okay, but there are lines of large Phillips head screws missing from the top and bottom edges of the engine access hatch. Tools and other details you have

A photo-etched fret is included.

to add are all reasonably well done but some suffer from soft detail like the rear convoy lights for example. The etched mesh for the intakes on the rear deck is nice as are the other etched parts included. One slightly strange thing is tow cable ends are given in the parts sprues but are not called out in the instructions. They do appear on the tank in step 15 and also show the cable itself fitted. The wire cable itself is shown in the parts breakdown but was missing in my kit. Hopefully this is simply a case that it was forgotten to be put in the box. The rear fuel cells are quite well done and include the separate fuel lines leading into the hull. These though, when compared to the real thing, appear a bit under done in size and lack detail. Also the retaining straps for the fuel cells are moulded on and lack a bit of definition, as do the fastening points to the hull. The main gun comes in two halves (including the multi-baffled muzzle brake) and although well moulded, cleaning up the join seam especially around the muzzle brake will be a time consuming job. Once again, some of the detail is a bit simplified or simply not present when compared to the Kubinka vehicle. Hopefully the various aftermarket guys will release a new barrel for this to save some extra work. The turret is also textured like the hull and suffers the same problems with regards to its uniform appearance. There are a lot of those big sloppy Russian weld seams missing from the turret, especially around areas like the cupola and the optics

openings, which are clearly visible on the Kubinka vehicle. One of the few pictures that I could find of this vehicle in service show a canvas mantlet cover fitted. This option is not given in the kit. Also missing are the tie downs around the gun opening for fixing this cover on as well as other tie down loops situated around the turret itself. The running gear is nicely done. The road wheels are well detailed on both sides and the drive sprockets well represented. The hydro-pneumatic suspension arms are “keyed “to allow them to all sit even but removing the tab would allow these to articulate if you wanted. Each suspension arm (all 24 of them) come in two parts so a bit of cleaning up of the seams will be required. The individual links are well moulded although there is an injector pin mark right in the middle of the outer face of each link that will be next to impossible to fill and clean given the detail around it. Why they didn’t put this on the flat inner face of the track is a strange decision. The wheels and track sections are designed in a way that you can fit them separately with a set of duel tracks and wheels fitted per side. This will definitely be a big help since you need to make 4 sets of tracks. So summing up, this is quite a nice model but detail that is very obvious on the real thing is missing from the kit. This is a shame as other areas, like the wheels, are well rendered. It looks a reasonable simple build (apart from the running gear) and the only real gripe I have with this area is the injector pin marks in the middle of the links. ■

The large turret part.

The weld beads and the texture is a bit too uniform.

Detail on the rear hull deck.

Moulding quality is generally good.

Wheels are really nicely done.

The keyed locating holes for the suspension arms.

Thanks to Kitty Hawk Models for the review sample www.kittyhawkmodel.com The individual links are well moulded although there is an injector pin mark right in the middle of the outer face of each link December 2013 - Model Military International 45

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Scratch Built 1:35 Vignette and Figures – Bulge 1944

BULGE 1944 Patrick Dorn from Germany scratch builds a 1:35 scale scene from the Battle of the Bulge during the winter of 1944; adding Dragon’s special edition M4A3(76)W

A

long time ago I bought Dragon’s special 1:35 scale 'Battle of the Bulge' edition VVSS Sherman. After sitting for too long in my stash, I finally decided to build it. Not only am I interested in Sherman tanks in particular, but it is also interesting and challenging because it was the backbone of

US Army in WWII and plenty of versions saw battle. My vignette is about a combat team of US Infantry regaining territory that was lost some weeks earlier during the German offensive in the Battle of the Bulge. The G.I.s are under fire, yelling and moving hastily to take cover behind a KO'ed Sherman M4A3(76)W in a small destroyed Belgian village.

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This is Dragon’s “Battle of the Bulge” special edition M4A3(76)W Sherman.

Making a knocked out vehicle is something special because you need to be “constructive destructive”, for want of a better description. This means that you have to work on several different aspects simultaneously in order to achieve realistic damage. Structures and colours are very important as well.

SHERMAN TANK, LIGHTLY TOASTED My Battle of the Bulge project started with the Sherman. The assembly work was nearly straight from the box. The main exception was the right side, which I modified to depict the damage caused by a hit from a German 88mm gun. For this, I bent the suspension, the tracks, and added some extra parts like springs made from drilled copper wire. Some plastic sheet plates were also added. Rivets, screws and some putty were applied around the chassis to simulate different surface structures. In burnet areas I applied some super glue onto which I immediately added flour, which results in a porous surface that looks like heated damaged steel after some time. I reworked the turret sides by brushing on plastic glue and then stippling the surface with an old stiff brush. Because the glue partially dissolves the surface of the plastic, the brush creates an irregular surface into the plastic that looks like cast steel. The same technique was applied to the front engine cover. A gentle sanding completed this chapter. I totally scratch built the tank’s interior, although in the end there is not much to see. Painting was done in several steps starting with a base coat using acrylic car primer direct from the aerosol can. This delivers a

fine matt surface and blends in the various different materials. This was followed by a coat of Tamiya acrylic XF-62 Olive Drab mixed with 20% clear varnish and thinned with isopropyl alcohol in a ratio of 50/50. I like to use Tamiya colours because afterwards the weathering is done easily by using turpentine. I simulated faded areas by adding some white to the olive drab, more intensively on the chassis. The markings were applied using an airbrush and stencils from Eduard. The weathering was done using oils mixed with turpentine. Several washes with Lamp Black, Van Dyke Brown and Sienna were applied. I repeat the washes up to seven times and more intensively on the chassis and the lower hull, depending on the scene. Dry brushing was done the usual way - rain stains and mud were made with oils from Lucas. The rusty areas of the turret, the chassis and some burned patches were also simulated with oils, applied with a fine brush. Some scratches were added using a knife, plus some extra dry brushing with Vallejo’s acrylic Oily Steel. The most enjoyable part was painting and weathering the damaged areas on the right sight. Using my airbrush, I applied several thin layers of black, brown, blue and red, simulating the damage that blazing flames might have caused. This was more intense at the ground area and less and lighter at the upper areas of the tank. Some pastel chalks were also used to simulate ash. A

You need to be “constructive destructive” when building a knocked out vehicle!

The interior was totally scratch built, but all that work is completely hidden when the model was finished.

The base colour is Tamiya acrylic XF-62 Olive Drab mixed with 20% clear varnish and thinned with isopropyl alcohol in a ratio of 50/50.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Scratch Built 1:35 Vignette and Figures – Bulge 1944

B FIGURE SCULPTING STEP BY STEP I really like making my own figures because it makes it possible to adapt the characters to the scene and not vice versa. And, of course, it is a lot of fun. When making your own figures anything is possible so I have tried to create a dynamic scene mostly by the active body postures. I put lot of time into realistic poses starting with a wire skeleton. This part is very important to avoid making crooked figures that look like zombies. It is particularly important, as you cannot correct this later when the putty has set. You can achieve this by using your references, the Internet or by taking photos of yourself in nearly the same position. This ay sound a bit strange but sometimes it can be the best reference you may have. Fleshing is the next step, which is adding some bulk to the figure. This stage does not have to be completely accurate because out aim is really only to add some volume to the skeleton. I check my references during every step so that I am looking at the figure from some distance to keep the correct proportions of the figure. This is followed by making the clothes. This takes more time because I do it in several steps starting usually with the trousers. I use Aves 2K and several other brands of putty. After the final layer has been applied I press in

I simulated faded areas by adding some white to the olive drab, more intensively on the chassis.

the folds, wrinkles and seams using different tools. This stage demands a great deal of attention because the fall of clothes should look as realistic as possible. Once the basic jacket has been made, it is followed by extra details including the collar, pockets and buttons, gun belt, ammunition bags etc. The equipment should be attached before the putty has set but not finally fixed. The equipment may then be blended with the clothes depending on the figure’s posture so that everything fits

Vehicle weathering was done using oils mixed with turpentine.

perfectly and looks realistic. The heads are mostly from Hornet range. Hands and equipment came from the spare box. All the figures were painted using acrylics from Vallejo. I normally vary the colour shades a bit to avoid monotony and in real life there were a lot of variations as well. Lots of outstanding modellers out there have already described the painting technique using acrylics so I will skip the description of this step! After a thin priming coat of

black applied with my airbrush, a coat of olive green followed. I partially mixed this with some Khaki. I painted some of the trousers and some of the tunics US Field Drab, mixed up with some white. I repeated this for all the figures, more or less. Some colours are a bit darker, some others are a bit brighter. The faces were painted using oils and acrylics. Starting with a priming coat of Tamiya's Matt Flesh, I brushed a layer of brown oils over the face. A

The markings were applied using an airbrush and stencils from Eduard.

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The first step to scratch building a figure is the wire skeleton.

The next step is making the clothes.

You can see the layers being added to this figure. Soon, the jacket will be detailed by pressing in the folds, wrinkles and seams using different tools.

In fact, the poses are limited only by your imagination.

I put lot of time into ensuring the skeletons have realistic poses.

I use Aves 2K and several other brands of putty.

A completed figure for the vignette.

Plastic parts have been used for equipment, weapons and helmets.

Fleshing is the next step, which is adding some bulk to the figure.

Different poses require different shapes for the skeletons.

The biggest advantage of making your own figures is that it makes it possible to adapt the figures to the scene and not vice versa.

Note the fur collar and trim on this figure’s jacket.

This stage does not have to be completely accurate because our aim is really only to add some volume to the skeleton.

I do the clothing in several stages, usually starting with the trousers.

Very dynamic poses may be achieved.

The equipment may be blended with the clothes depending on the figure’s posture so that everything fits perfectly and looks realistic.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Scratch Built 1:35 Vignette and Figures – Bulge 1944

B This was followed by dry

brushing the face using a mixture of flesh oil colour and Tamiya's XF-2 Flat White. Finally, I lightened the face using pure acrylics from Vallejo to highlight the final details, to smooth out the face and take down remaining excess colour. I followed the same process with the hands and all the other visible skin areas.

GROUNDWORK The ruin and all groundwork were completely scratch built. For the house ruin, I used styrofoam, styrene sheets, wooden sticks and my imagination. The debris consists of some real earth, dirt, spare parts from other kits, some plants, broken wooden sticks and and sand. The snow is salt, which is normally used for heartburn. Partially covered with clear varnish, it results in realistic looking melted-frozen-snow. Some more details here and some debris and roots there; some different colours and some washes were added; and that’s it! Finally the all components were positioned in such a way as to convey a story to the viewer.

The figures are test-fitted on the base and against the vehicle to check for pose and for fit.

The most enjoyable part was painting and weathering the damaged areas on the right sight. Using my airbrush, I applied several thin layers of black, brown, blue and red, simulating the damage that blazing flames might have caused.

CONCLUSION Once again, it was a lot of fun to make this hopefully special little scene. Working on US armour and infantry was something new for me, but it was very interesting. ■

For the house ruin, I used styrofoam, styrene sheets, wooden sticks and my imagination.

If adjustments are necessary, they must be made while the wire skeleton is still exposed. It is too late once the putty is on!

Modelspec Scratch Built 1:35 Vignette and Figures – Bulge 1944 Tools & Modelling Products: The ruin and all groundwork were completely scratch built.

Aves 2k Putty, Sharp knife, Styrofoam, Styrodur, Steel wire, Styrene sheet, Pieces of plastic, Soldering wire, Brass wire, Metallic foil, Plastic rod, Wooden stirring stick from McDonalds, Real earth, Sand, Broken wooden frames Paints and Finishing Products: Tamiya XF-62 Olive Drab Winsor & Newton Oil Paints – Lamp Black, Burnt Umber and Sienna Vallejo acrylics - Various Reference: The Battle of The Bulge, Stephen W. Sears Armored Victory 1945: U.S. Army Tank Combat in the European Theater from the Battle of the Bulge to Germany’s Surrender, Steven J. Zaloga Available from Dragon kits are distributed in the UK by The Hobby Company Limited www.hobbyco.net

The snow is salt, which is normally used for heartburn. Partially covered with clear varnish, it results in realistic looking melted-frozen-snow.

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Incoming Book Reviews NUTS AND BOLTS

VOLUME 30 NEBEL-, PANZER-AND VIELFACHWERFER ISBN: NOT QUOTED

SQUADRON SIGNAL PUBLICATIONS M3 GUN MOTOR CARRIAGE BY DAVID DOYLE DETAIL IN ACTION SERIES NO. 39002 ISBN: 978-0-89747-728-4

The M3 GMC was an early WWII stop gap tank destroyer developed in 1941 utilising the old WWI vintage M1897 75mm Gun and the M3 Half Track Personnel carrier. Over 2000 were produced and they served in North Africa with the US Army and Italy, Philippines and the USMC in the Pacific. The British received them under Lend-Lease and issued them as Fire Support vehicles in the HQ Squadrons of Armoured car Regiments in Italy and North West Europe. They were quickly replaced in US Army service by more modern Tank Destroyer designs such as the M10 and M18 and declared Limited Standard in 1944 being declared obsolete in August 1944. A number of these vehicles were converted back to M3A1 half track personnel carriers as early as late 1943, but USMC examples served as GMCs until their withdrawal from service. The title, written by the prolific David Doyle, is presented in typical Squadron format has full-page artwork of vehicles in action on the front and rear covers by well known Squadron Artist Don Greer. The format follows the usual for this series and gives a very brief history of the vehicle followed by the photographic section of approximately 30 pages showing the vehicle from development and throughout its service life with the US Army, USMC and British. These are all B&W photographs and have some smallish supporting colour plates. The second part and majority of the book is devoted to an in detail walk around of restored example covering the myriad of details that modellers like to see. There is very little published reference on these vehicles and as such this book is very welcome for modellers looking for references for the DML kit. The photos within should give modellers some good ideas for posing their M3 GMCs and ensuring the details are correct. I thought the in action shots were a bit light on but this may be due to the scarcity of actual surviving images. All users are covered with only a single shot of the vehicle in Commonwealth service although an additional one of these is reproduced as a vehicle of the Kings Dragoon Guards “Acorn Inn” in Italy on the rear cover although it is not identified as such in the caption. I had to laugh at the interpretation of this vehicle where for some bizarre reason it has a Tricolour rather than the actual RAC (red- white- red) flash. I recommend this title to modellers and historians of Military vehicles as it covers a little written about version of the venerable and versatile M3 half track family. Highly Recommended. Thanks to Squadron / MMD for the sample www.squadron.com Al Bowie

This new Nuts & Bolts book covers the Nebel-, Panzer-and Vielfachwerfer, and has some 208 pages. Prepared, with the aid of restored examples it offers a rare example of a complete history of the Nebelwaerfer and its many variations, together with purpose built Panzewerfer vehicles. This reference work is broken down into logical sections. The first 129 pages are devoted to the development and history of the weapon’s use in German service. Within this section selected, chapters discuss the development and technical description, followed by the differences between the prototype and production vehicles. A very useful chart describes these changes and modifications and is aimed at the modeller. The next subsection covers all the units that operated this vehicle. The book is jammed packed with details like the firing sequences of the tubes, the variations of the weapon itself and how they were set up in the field. This first section is lavishly illustrated with a little over 256 black and white war time photos. The following 25 pages are devoted to very well drawn 1:35 scale plans of all the known versions of the weapon system and its purpose built Panzewerfer 42. John Rue has again really captured the essence of the vehicle in these drawings. 19 colour profile drawings come next over the next nine pages and are wonderfully executed and presented. What I like about these profiles is within the profile itself is a small black and white photo it is based on. I believe this really should be the industry standard. Then follows 39 pages of walk around photos included from the various restored examples. Almost the entire vehicle is covered from the interior and engine through to a detailed study of the running gear. The last 8 pages are devoted to a number of model builds and are generally to a high standard. In my opinion, this is the best reference source I have come across for this weapon type. It strikes the right balance between historical fact, photo coverage and high quality colour profiles. For me, it is all I would ever need (reference wise) to detail and finish a model. It includes information that was both easy to digest and presented in a logical manner. Reference doesn’t come much better than this. Highly Recommended. Thanks to Nuts & Bolts for the sample http://www.nuts-bolts.de Luke Pitt

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BUILD PREVIEW

ICM 1:35 Typ 770K (W150) Tourenwagen • Kit No. 35533

Graham Tetley builds ICM’s 1:35 scale ‘WWII German Leader’s Car’.

The Fuhrer’s Flivver N

ewly arrived from ICM is this 1:35 scale model which is marked as ‘WWII German Leader’s Car – you know, the guy with the strange moustache and haircut whose surname began with ‘H’. This version is very plush as you would expect for Adolf’s car and, as far as I am aware, it is the only one currently available in plastic. We are presented with approximately 235 parts moulded in tan coloured plastic. These

Top: Front wheels drilled & pinned. Above: Front suspension & engine.

Here’s the engine fixed to the chassis.

are spread over five sprues with one being clear plastic. Moulding quality is good with no imperfections on my sample. In style and level of detail, it reminds of an Italeri kit from the 1970s, but what we have here is quite nice. A set of decals is provided that includes various pennants but, you have guessed it, we have no swastikas. Just as you cannot use ‘H’s name on the box top, nor can you now include swastikas for historical accuracy. You will

have to raid your spare decals unfortunately. Not so long ago I had in my kit collection a Tokyo Marui kit from the 1970s of ‘Hitler’s Staff Car’ that came with a saluting Hitler figure and swastikas. How times have changed. The instructions are very clearly drawn with construction is split over 27 steps. For painting, we have Testor’s Model Master numbers quoted, but there is nothing unusual that cannot be replicated from anyone else’s range.

Completed chassis.

Just add plumbing.

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A Thousand Year Kit? So, let’s see how it goes together. We kick off with the engine, which is adequately detailed, but it would benefit from some plumbing. This fixes to the one-piece chassis that thankfully keeps everything straight and level. Moving on to the suspension, this is moulded in one position only but seeing as what the kit is representing this isn’t too much of a problem. The front suspension is added in Step 5 and here is the main problem. The sprue attachment points are really heavy and it is almost impossible to remove parts like the steering rod from the sprue without having them shatter. The front steering however will require a lot of surgery if you want the wheels turned. The main reason for this is that the all the tie-rods are moulded in one position and the all the holes for the parts to position in are square, not round. Also, the method of attaching the front wheels to parts C32 and C33 is poor and, as you can see from the photos, I had to drill and pin the parts. We finish the lower chassis by assembling the exhaust, rear axle and fuel tank. The way that the rear axle joins to the chassis is not too brilliant so make sure that Part C19 is firmly glued in place to give it some rigidity.

Wheels and Windows The tyres are nicely done, apart from the sprue attachment points filling in some of the tread detail. Each one is made of five separate parts that replicate the tyre tread. Bear in mind that this is not the type of car that would have worn tyres so go easy when you are carving away the attachment scars. Moving onto the body and chassis pan, we have some very basic and clunky clutch and accelerator pedals. Thankfully you can’t see much when assembled. The dashboard comes with decals for the various dials that brighten

it up somewhat. I encountered some fit issues when building the bodywork so here are a few construction tips: 1) When building the windscreen & body parts in Step 12, be mindful that the small tabs on parts B7 & B8 are designed to fit into the holes on the chassis. I found it best to remove them. 2) Fit the body panels assembled in Step 13 to the chassis pan before you do anything else. Their fit and locating points are very good and act as a great key for everything else. 3) You can also see from the photos that the fit of the front wheel arch part B18 to the running board parts B12 & B13 is not good. To be fair to ICM it is probably better if you don’t intend to leave the upper & lower body separate as I did. 4) There is also, I believe, a little design flaw in the way that the windscreen wipers have been tooled. You get location holes, but the wipers themselves have no corresponding pin. As you can see from the photos, I had to fill the holes with some plastic rod and the wipers will be fixed to these. The outer side doors are not separate pieces, but the inner ones are, so you will have to undertake surgery if you want them open. The inner doors have some rather basic detail so you may want to improve on these areas. Fit generally is very good and I managed to build my kit in sub-assemblies that can be easily broken down. A nice touch is that you can depict the windows wound up or down in any position you choose. On the underside you have to add the rest of the rear suspension. There are two springs, Parts C3 and C14 that affix to small holes in the chassis pan. Unfortunately, the fit is poor and also the location to part A21 is very vague. I clipped the chassis & body together then fixed the springs in place by gluing them to Part A21 as best as possible. A

Completed chassis underside.

Rear axle and fuel tank.

Here you can make out the scars from sprue removal.

A dashboard fit for a Fuhrer.

Starting to take shape.

Bonnet parts left seperate for painting.

The wiper holes had to be filled with plastic rod.

Front seat sub-assembly.

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BUILD PREVIEW

ICM 1:35 Typ 770K (W150) Tourenwagen • Kit No. 35533

B Chrome. But Not By Google.

of the bumper, bodywork and the Because a large part of this kit taillights will have to be masked. needs to be in chrome (if you want If you don’t want that, a painting the 1940 option), I have left the option for the vehicle in 1941 has it upper body separate from the all in gloss black. chassis. Full marks to ICM here The only option for the cover as the fit is perfect. If you want is to have it folded and the to do this for painting, you can representation of this isn’t very leave the front bumper separate convincing in my opinion. Judge from the body but attach all of for yourself by the photos, but I the chromed light assembly to it. will probably fashion a replacement ICM provide the option to fit either now that the photos are taken. a Notek light or a headlight – I Goering, Goering, Gone went for the headlight. The fit is As you can see from the overall not bad. My only criticism is that photographs, this builds up into the attachment points for the a tidy little vehicle. The only bits headlights to the mounts are a missing from the photographs are simple ‘indentation to pin’ method. the connections You could drill and from the engine to pin, but if you like the exhaust as they your clear headlights cannot be added as provided you will until the chassis see the pin inside. and upper body My headlights are joined. Whilst are only lightly there are some fit tacked in place, challenges, overall but I recommend a it goes together blob of superglue well. I liked the fact underneath to keep An example of the heavy sprue attachments. that the fit is good them fixed. enough to leave a There are two lot of it separate for painting and, smaller lights attached to the sides as such, there is room for super of the windscreen but the mounts detailing if you wish. There are (parts A32 & A33) I found too big some assembly niggles but nothing to fit into the corresponding holes. that ruins the overall build. They had to be filed down quite a For its asking price you do get bit to be fixed to the windscreen. your money’s worth. Now all we For all of these headlights we get need is a Leader figure to go with clear plastic lenses and, as you can it. Recommended. n see, I have left mine off pending painting. A lot of the parts to be chromed Thanks to ICM for the sample are separate, but areas such as www.icm.com.ua the windscreen, windows, parts

Front bumper and headlights ready for chrome.

These side parts are the key for the other body panels.

This is what makes a wheel.

Close up of the body panel.

Inner Door detail.

Any Beastie Boys in the house?

Make sure you fit the exhaust before the rear axle.

Nice decals. Shame about the missing swastikas.

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A round-up of the latest news and releases in 1:72 and 1:76 ZVEZDA

1:72 SCALE SOVIET HEAVY TANK IS-2 KIT NO. 5011

Zvezda has expanded their range of 1:72 scale ‘Snap Fit’ tanks with the Soviet IS-2, one of the most powerful tanks of its time and more than a match for German Tiger tanks in the closing stages of WWII. The kit consists of two large sprues of grey styrene, a sprue of tracks in black styrene, a separate lower hull tub, a decal sheet of white numbers and ID stripes, an instruction sheet and an Art of Tactic wargamimg card. The quality of the moulding is excellent with a high level of detail and no flash or sink marks in evidence. On the lower hull all the suspension arms are separate, with the correct offset for the torsion bars, and good bump stop detail. The running gear assembly follows the previous system of bending the styrene tracks around one half of the road wheel pairs and fixed in place by the return roller axels. The outer road wheels are then added to complete the track work. This is an ingenious if fiddly solution to the usual problems fitting tracks successfully. The upper hull is very nicely modelled with the engine cooling louvers correctly angled and moulded through. All the tools and stowage are moulded separately and well detailed, even down to the tow rope. The turret is equally well produced with all the appropriate detail around the main gun, mantlet, rear machinegun port and cupola. The best part of the kit for me is the superb DshK 12.5 mm AA machine gun fitted to the cupola. This is the finest representation of the type of gun I have seen in this scale. For all its good points, there are some negative aspects to the kit, such as the hatches all moulded shut and the lack of cast texture on the turret and hull. For the purists, the muzzle brake is not quite the right shape and the periscopes are slightly on the small side. However, with a little work I am sure this kit can be transformed into a superb display model. Highly Recommended. Thanks to The Hobby Company Limited for the sample www.hobbyco.net Steve Shrimpton

ZVEZDA

1:72 SCALE BRITISH BOFORS 40MM MK1:2 AA GUN • KIT NO. 6170

This is another 1:72 scale kit in the Zvezda Snap-Together wargaming range, and is one that I am sure will prove very popular. It is the ubiquitous Bofors Gun of WWII with a crew of four. The gun was used throughout the war but the crew are modelled in early war uniforms and kit, particularly the chest worn gasmask cases. Inside the box are four sprues of tan styrene, an instruction sheet and two Art of Tactic wargaming cards. The gun is moulded to the usual high Zvezda standard with good detail and well-designed parts layout, and may be built on a base for wargame use or as a standalone model using alternate parts. There is no flash or sink marks in evidence and mould lines are minimal and easily removed. Unfortunately, the gun can only be built in firing mode out of the box and would require some surgery to convert it to towed mode, such as folding in the stabiliser arms and removing the rounds moulded over the breech. The crew is very well moulded, as with all Zvezda kits, but as stated can only be used in early war scenarios. No painting guide is supplied, but the excellent box art should provide suitable reference. With a little work, such as drilling out the barrel and replacing some items with photo-etched accessories (the open sights being a prime example), a fine display model can be produced. Highly Recommended. Thanks to The Hobby Company Limited for the sample www.hobbyco.net Steve Shrimpton December 2013 - Model Military International 55

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Incoming DIOPARK

1:35 SCALE WWII BRITISH MILITARY BICYCLE ITEM NO. 35010

Who would have thought we would ever see an injected moulded kit of British military bicycles? This kit is one of those releases that just appeared out of the blue from new Taiwanese Company DIOPARK, who have released some imaginative and very useful subjects to date. This set is of the British Military Folding Bicycle issued in the later part of WWII, most notably to Airborne & Assault troops on D Day and at Arnhem. The actual bike was an ingenious design by BSA and used from 1942 to 1945. The kit has parts for two complete bicycles and may be modelled folded or opened out for use. It provides a very nice set of photo-etched spoked wheels and detail parts, but also offers a very delicate injection moulded alternative for those who are challenged by PE. The parts are very finely moulded and care must be observed when removing them from the sprues otherwise breakage and loss will occur (ask me how I know). Construction does not look to difficult and I followed Terry Ashley’s advice regarding the assembly of the photo-etched Spokes using the jigs provided, which may be seen in his excellent review on the PMMS website at www.perthmilitarymodelling.com The kit is accurate to the real thing according to online photos, however the complex sprocket of the real bicycle has been simplified in kit form, which is understandable in this scale. There are some very sensible and thoughtful additions in the kit particularly the inclusion of two spare wheel hubs for the photo-etched spoke options. Given their small size, this is a great idea as they will be easy to lose. DIOPARK even include two miniscule photo-etched tools and a holder to hang under the saddle. There are two options; folded or unfolded and the only thing missing is the cable for the brakes, for which DIOPARK recommends melted stretched sprue. I’d recommend very fine solder or copper wire as the shaping will be hard with stretched sprue. The kit also includes two small one piece scooters that are not referenced and a few photo-etched parts that are not used, being part of a shared photo-etched fret for the Asian Bicycle set that DIOPARK offers separately. This is an excellent kit that may be used in D-Day and Airborne dioramas featuring Commonwealth troops. With two complete bicycles and the entire photo-etched fret they offer excellent value for money too. Highly Recommended. Thanks to Diopark for the sample. Al Bowie

DEF. MODEL

1:35 SCALE DEF MODERN WHEEL UPDATES

Def Models has sent along some wheel updates for review this month: • German Lkw 2t Wheel Set for the Revell kit. Item No. DW30046: , 5 wheels and masks are included • Italian Puma Wheel Set for the Trumpeter kit. Item No. DW30047: 6 wheels and masks are included • Soviet UAZ-469 Wheel Set for the Trumpeter kit. Item No. DW35048: 5 wheels and masks are included • US MK.23 MTVR Wheel Set for the Trumpeter kit. Item No. DW35049: 7 wheels and masks are included All of the wheels sets are sagged and flattened. The effect is subtle and very well done. The casting is flawless with no visible porosity or deforming in evidence. The casting plugs are quite small with some just breaking away with little or no effort. The tread pattern on all the wheels is the most outstanding aspect of these updates; all are different and all highly accurate. Every time I review Def Model product I am left with a feeling that these guys know what they’re doing. Their product is presented well, accurate and include wheel masks in each set. If you’re after replacement wheels I really don’t thing you can go past these. Highly Recommended. Thanks to DEF Model for the samples defmodel.com Luke Pitt

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HUMBROL

WASHES AND WEATHERING POWDERS

PRECISION ICE AND SNOW ICE AND SNOW MEDIUM

Weathering products for military models and dioramas have experienced a massive boom over the last few years. It seems not long ago that generic household and hardware products such as coloured grout and caustic soda were adapted for modelling and landscape uses, but now there is a wide range of choices for most specific tasks. One of the latest weathering effects is Precision Ice and Snow. This is supplied in an elegant black box, and contains two bottles of Ice and Snow Medium, one precision 700 micron stainless steel sieve (no household should be without one…) and full instructions. The Ice and Snow Medium is a very fine-grained, non-toxic, off-white powder. Application is quite simple. First, spray some aerosol hair lacquer onto the area to be snowed and iced, then sprinkle the powder through the provided sieve over the top of the hairspray before it dries. This may be done in several layers to customise the effect, depending on whether you want a light dusting or solid coverage. The solid coverage looks good, but I think the lighter dusting looks even better, as the layered appearance – the icing above and the ground below – is very effective. As an alternative, specialist adhesives such as 3M’s photo mount (also available in a spray can) will permit subtler effects due to its finer layers and longer working time. Between coats, excess ice and snow may be brushed from the surface using a stiff brush until your desired effect is obtained. Precision Ice and Snow looks to be a high quality product, and very easy to use. All you need to add is a can of hairspray, and you’re ready to snow! Highly Recommended. Thanks to Precision Ice and Snow for the sample www.precisioniceandsnow.com Brett Green

Humbrol is well known as a long-time manufacturer of model paints. In fact, I can recall regularly using their enamel paint tins in the 1960s when I first started building Airfix, Frog and Matchbox kits. Now under the Hornby Group, Humbrol is experiencing the same resurgence as its stablemate Airfix. Part of this expansion includes new ranges of enamel washes and weathering powders. Four enamel washes have arrived for review – Sand, Dark Brown, Rust and Gloss Oil Stain. Each is provided in a 28 ml glass bottle with a plastic childproof screw cap. In common with other brands of wash, these will be idea for recreating streaking, dirt, dust and oil effects. The instructions advise that these should be thinned with Humbrol Enamel Thinners, but really any generic enamel thinner will do the job equally well. Six coloured Humbrol Weathering Powders are also available to examine. Three of these are fairly predictable – White, Dark Earth and Black; but we also have Sand (really quite a bright yellow), Iron Oxide (a bright orangered) and home Oxide (a bright grass green shade). The latter three bright shades will offer some unique effects for imaginative modellers. The grain appears to be somewhat coarser than some others on the market, so this will be another point for those looking for some variety. The Weathering Powders are each also packed in a 28ml glass jar, this time with a smaller black screw cap. All Recommended. Thanks to Humbrol for the samples www.humbrol.com Brett Green

EASY LINE (PLUS MODEL)

1:35 SCALE GERMAN POT FOR MESS. ITEM NO. EL038 SKIS. ITEM NO. EL40

Plus Model’s accessory line is rapidly expanding. Here are two of the smaller sets that have been released recently. Item No. EL038 is two German mess pots presented in grey resin. Detail is very good on the two larger resin pot castings, and the handles are supplied as two separate resin parts for each pot. Next up is a set of skis. Two sets of skis are offered, each ski being presented as one resin piece including the foot holds. Four resin poles are also supplied, with the round “baskets” included on a small photo-etched fret. There will be plenty of interesting diorama and vignette possibilities for both of these accessory sets. Both Recommended. Thanks to Plus Model for the sample www.plusmodel.cz Plus Model are available in the UK from Creative Models Limited www.creativemodels.co.uk Brett Green December 2013 - Model Military International 57

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1:48 Scale – A round-up of the latest news and releases

THETHEINCIDENT HOLLYWOOD VERSION ! I

have been watching a few short films of late, some on YouTube and others on DVD. As this is the magazine’s Christmas edition I thought I would do something a little different. You will no doubt be aware I have finally completed my 1:48 scale Steyr build that appears elsewhere in this publication. Near the end of the project, with the model almost complete, I dropped it, breaking it into what seemed like a thousand pieces. After I had it all back together, I wondered, how this incident would be played out on film. I’ll try to describe this in typical Hollywood fashion. I have cast American actor Ed Harris as the lead as he has a vague resemblance to my good self. He will be called the “modeller”. The Hollywood Jerry Bruckheimer version goes a little like this. The camera pans down from above on a typical suburban street. The camera then zooms in on the

second floor window of one of the houses in that street. In the frame we see a middle aged modeller working on something seated at a well ordered desk. The camera then pans around the room noting how neat and tidy it is. This is helped by a calming soundtrack playing in the background. The camera then zooms in on a bead of sweat running down the modeller’s balding head. The bead of sweat drops onto what the modeller is doing with his hands. This has inadvertently distracted the modeller and he loses grip on the model he is working on. The camera then zooms in on the model in free fall, losing,parts on its way down, until it hits the polished wooden floor boards. All this is done in slow motion with the modeller’s voice heard in the background (again in slow motion) screaming “noooo”! The camera zooms in on the model hitting the floor

and braking into a thousand pieces from several angles, again in “slow motion”. It then zooms in on a single teardrop sliding down the modeller’s cheek, and pans in on the modeller’s daughter rushing into the room embracing the modeller and offering words of comfort. In reality, I dropped the model in my really messy work area, and my daughter walked past saying something like “bummer Dad”; to which I replied “yep”. I probably don’t look that much like Ed Harris either! I could now go on to describe the black and white “Twilight Zone” version but I think we will revert to our normal programming. Have a save and happy Christmas everybody! And build a 48th masterpiece over the holiday period.

Unit next time Luke Pitt

COMPLECT ZIP

1:48 SCALE REPLACEMENT WHEELS SETS FOR THE UM RANGE OF GAZ TRUCKS ITEM NOS. 48001/48007 This little hobby of ours spans the globe and manufacturers seem to pop up all over the place. The one thing I have noted recently, though, is the very high standards most have managed to achieve. Complect Zip from Russia is just such an example. When I first saw these on the web it was in connection to a build and the builder incorrectly identified the wheels as these, but in fact they were Hauler’s GAZ wheels. The Complect Zip examples that I have in my possession are completely different and I would also suggest that they are much better. Each set has a slightly different tread pattern and the set for the BA series features a slight narrower tyre width as well. Each tyre has the manufacturer’s mark on the sidewall and both include separate drum brake housings for each wheel. I can’t stress how good these wheel sets are. They are almost perfect for their intended vehicles. Given the low purchase price for these updates, you really can’t go wrong. They are streets ahead of the kit provided parts and anything else available today in terms of detail. Highly Recommended. Thanks to Complect zip for the samples [email protected] Luke Pitt

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Luke Pitt hosts MMI’s examination of the growing world of 1:48 scale military models, figures and accessories. TORO MODELS

1:48 SCALE WZ.34-II POLISH ARMOURED CAR KIT NO. 48019

The Polish WZ.34 was the basic armoured car used by the Polish armed forces at the outbreak of World War II. It was unique in that it was the only vehicle type that started life as a half-track only to be re-engineered back to a fully wheeled combat vehicle. This new addition to from Toro Models is quite a nice little model. Cast in just 23 finely rendered resin pieces, it measures around 7.5cm long. The main armoured body is cast as one piece and is both crisp and very well detailed. The turret is cast as a solid piece but like the main body has some very fine details present. The wheels exhibit some fine hub detail but lack any tread in the cross section of the tyre itself. A small 16 part photo-etched fret and a well printed decal sheet are included. The four page instruction sheet is well done and consists of 12 construction photographs; a parts layout, history of the vehicle and a colour side profile drawing of the colour scheme. This a fantastic addition to the Toro range of kits. It is small, unusual and highly detailed, just the way I like them! Highly Recommended. Thanks to Toro Models for the sample. www.toro-model.com.pl Luke Pitt

BALATON MODEL

1:48 SCALE URAL-4320/ATZ-5 FUEL TANKER KIT NO. BM4801

The Ural-4320 is a general-purpose off-road 6x6 truck, produced by the Ural Automotive Plant in Miass, Russia. Introduced in 1976, the wheel arrangement is designed for transporting cargo, people and trailers on all types of roads and terrain. By all accounts the Ural4320 trucks are reliable and easy to maintain. It is also used for water carrying, oil and gas drilling and, in this instance, as a fuel tanker. This new addition from Balaton Model is, in a word, superb. The model comprises 109 extremely well cast resin pieces, 44 photo etch, one small acetate sheet for the windscreen and windows and a medium size decals sheet. The model surprised me with it sheer quality and attention to detail. The real Ural-4320 is a huge vehicle and in 1:48 it measures well over 16cm long when complete! The wheels, for example, each measure over three and a bit centimetres in diameter. The attention to detail on this model is nothing short of amazing. The chassis is a modeller’s delight. It has detail on both the inner and outer frame assemblies and is straight and true. The wheels are another highlight as they are the most detailed and accurate renditions I have ever seen in a mainstream resin kit, they have outstanding tread, sidewall and hub details. The seven page instruction sheet is well thought out and even includes a mini colour “walk round” of the real vehicle. As you have guessed I think this may be the best complete 1:48 scale resin kit that I have reviewed this year and to be honest is in the top 5 (in my mind) of the best 1:48 scale military resin kits I have ever seen. If you want to experience how good a 1:48 scale resin kit can be, go out and buy this, you will not be disappointed. It is my hope is that this kit will sell well as I would dearly love to see anything (and I do mean that) from this manufacturer in the future. Highly Recommended. Thanks to Balaton Model for the sample www.balatonmodel.hu Luke Pitt

ICM

1:48 SCALE GERMAN PILOTS AND GROUND PERSONNEL ITEM NO. 48086

I will make this perfectly clear. Nobody does better 1:48 scale injection moulded plastic figures than ICM. Tamiya has even seen fit to include and market sets produced by them. This new set consists of just one sprue containing five of the very best 1:48 plastic figures money can buy. The five figures are two German pilots, two ground crewmen and one sentry. All are in cold weather gear. All of these could be used from the 1942-45 time frame but with slight modification could be used in any time period. The subtle fabric creases and folds are beautifully done. The facial details are noteworthy as they capture both detail and character at the same time, which is rarely seen in any scale. The posing of the figures is also outstanding as they offer endless applications. Take for example the ground crewman with the spray gun. He could be used for any and all spraying applications, be they aircraft or AFV. All of these figures scale out well and would be outstanding additions to any vehicle or diorama. It is my sincere hope that ICM will release more full 1:48 scale figure sets in the future. I recommend each and every one of us who read this column send them an e-mail requesting more 1:48 scale figures. Their e-mail address is [email protected] . The more e-mails we send, the louder we will be heard. It can only help! Highly Recommended. Thanks to ICM for the sample www.icm.com.ua Luke Pitt December 2013 - Model Military International 59

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Figures

- A round-up of the latest figure sets on release...

MASTERBOX

1:35 SCALE GERMAN INFANTRY DEFENCE, EASTERN FRONT BATTLE SERIES KIT NUMBER 1 • ITEM NO. MB35102 GERMAN INFANTRY “OFF TO THE FRONT” VEHICLE RIDERS • ITEM NO. MB35137 These are two new sets of German WWII figures from Ukrainian The second set is called “German Infantry Off to the Front” and features six manufacturer Masterbox. seated figures for use in vehicles. Again, the standard of moulding is very Starting with the first one, ‘German Infantry Defence’, we are presented high along with the sculpting and the comments for the previous set can be applied to this one. A nice feature of this set is the inclusion of extra arms so with a set of five figures all in action poses. You have one sprue for the that when combined with another set of these figures you can populate a figures moulded in light grey styrene and another in dark grey for weapons larger vehicle and have some variation to the poses. Great idea! and personal equipment. All parts are virtually flash free with just the usual mould seams, although some of the rifles have a mould-pin mark present. The weapons and personal kit are as before so you can throw them all in the The figures are well sculpted including the facial features but to be really back of your halftrack along with your figures, however with both sets it is worth noting that the time frame depicted for them may be a bit early for picky some of the uniform details like the belt buckles could be sharper and the MG 42 and MP 44 included. Even so, the uniforms were seen right up I would replace them with aftermarket photo-etched items. I would also until the war’s end. scrape off the moulded helmet chinstraps on the heads and replace them There are no part numbers on the sprues so you need the rear panel of the with thin lead foil. box as reference for what goes where - don’t throw it away! The painting The machine gunner is posed in such a way that the weapon he is firing guide is also to be found here with colours quoted from Vallejo and rests on a barrel (according to the box art) but this is not included in the set. Lifecolour. The figures are all wearing the typical M1936 pattern tunic and trousers with These are two great sets of figures and the vehicle riders will be particularly two featuring marching boots and the others with the smaller ankle boots useful for those empty truck and half-track benches. Masterbox are doing and webbing gaiters. some good things at the moment and I like them a lot. There is a good selection of weapons and kit on the second sprue (which is also available separately as kit number MB 35115) and as well as the usual Highly recommended. assortment of German items you get a couple of Russian PPsH submachine Thanks to Creative Models Ltd for the samples www.creativemodels.co.uk guns, it’s nice to see some of the rifles fitted with telescopic sights as well. Andy King

TORO MODEL

1:10 SCALE POLISH TANK CREWMAN ITALY 1944-45 • ITEM NO. 10F01 I look forward to seeing what the post person delivers these days, as I never know what is likely to show up. This morning it was a 1:10 scale bust of a Polish tank crewman. Packed in a strong cardboard box and filled with foam chips to protect the contents, the bust comes as three parts; beret, head, and main body section. Also included is a colour sheet with a potted history of the Ulans, and a couple of photos of re-enactors dressed up for the occasion, and having a bit of fun on horseback with lances etc. Some information about the Polish tank crews would have been useful, but it didn’t take long to find what I needed on the net. The bust depicts a tanker wearing the standard British tank suit and beret, and is beautifully cast in grey resin. The surface detail is gorgeous and a dream to paint. The resin is very soft, and you need to take care when cleaning up the parts to avoid scratching the surface. Removal of the pouring plugs was easy, and there were no flash or other blemishes to deal with. Well done Toro. Painting was straightforward, as the parts can be painted separately and assembled on completion. There is no base included, so you’ll have to source this elsewhere. All in all, this was a very satisfying project and a painter’s dream. It was an easy couple of days to build and paint, and looks very good when finished. If only more models were like this. Highly recommended. Thanks to Toro Model for the sample www.toro-model.home.pl Andrew Judson

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EVOLUTION MINIATURES

ICM

1:35 SCALE WWII SOVIET PARTISANS ITEM NO. 35631 This set of figures from the other Ukrainian manufacturer, ICM, arrived for review recently and depicts a small group of Soviet Partisans during WWII. The set comprises a single sprue with four figures moulded in tan styrene and very nice they are too. You have the usual mould seams and some minor flash but the detail and sculpting is very good, particularly the facial features and the older guy with the beard as he certainly has a lot of character. As you would expect with Partisans, the outfits are a mix and match of civilian and Soviet military clothing with headgear limited to flat caps and fur hats. Personal equipment and weapons are confined to what is on the single sprue and included are a German MP40 machine gun and Kar98 rifle plus a Soviet PPsH and Degtyaryev DP machine guns, the only items of personal gear are a couple of haversacks, a pistol holster and a small pouch. One of the standing figures is carrying what looks to be two boxes either end of two sticks, quite what this is I have no idea unless it’s some sort of improvised explosive device (and not a kite as it would appear at first glance) but it wouldn’t be hard to substitute for a rifle or ammo box should you wish. As with Masterbox, there are no part numbers on the sprue so during construction you’ll need to find them on one side of the enclosed printed sheet then turn it over to find where it goes which can be a bit tedious but not a huge deal. The sheet also has an illustrated painting guide in black and white and only references the Model Master paint range. Well I have to say this is a quality set of figures from ICM as the sculpting and detail is first rate plus it’s a bit different from the purely military figures available, as they are Partisans there’s nothing to stop you from changing weaponry or following the painting guide closely either. This set comes with a ‘Highly Recommended’ seal of approval and I look forward to seeing what ICM do next. Highly Recommended. Thanks to ICM for the review sample www.icm.com.ua Andy King

1:35 SCALE SOVIET SOLDIER ON REST WW2. SET 3 ITEM NO. EM-35073 Evolution Miniatures has recently released a resin 1:35 scale figure entitled Soviet Soldier on Rest WW2. Set 3. The soldier is seated cross-legged, bandaging his foot. A separate boot is provided to pose alongside the figure, as is a PPSH41 sub machine gun with round drum ammo container. Casting quality is perfect, and the sculpting is stunning. The pose is really convincing too, telling a little story in its own right. This figure will be perfect on its own in a vignette, or as an accessory to a vehicle or larger diorama. Highly Recommended. Thanks to High Calibre Miniatures for the sample www.highcalibreminiatures.com Brett Green

ALPINE MINIATURES

1:35 SCALE WSS NCO NORMANDY • ITEM NO. 35158 Alpine Miniatures has added a new 1:35 scale Waffen SS NCO figure to its growing range. This figure is dressed in a greatcoat over his uniform. Two heads are offered with alternate headgear – one side cap and one officer-style cap. It is made up from five resin pieces, including the alternate heads. As you would expect from Alpine, the figure is perfectly cast and the sculpting is first rate. There are almost unlimited possibilities for using this versatile figure alongside a vehicle, in a vignette or diorama. The attractive box art will be a good guide (and inspiration) for painting in both cases. Alpine Miniatures has built a strong reputation for its high quality sculpting and casting. This excellent new figure will be warmly welcomed by Axis figure and diorama fans. Highly Recommended. Thanks to High Calibre Miniatures for the sample www.highcalibreminiatures.com Brett Green December 2013 - Model Military International 61

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BUYERS GUIDE>>>>>>>>> AVID READER

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HALIFAX MODELLERS WORLD

Tel: 01422 349157

Halifax Modellers World , 29 Union Street, Halifax, HX1 1PR

email: sales@ parabellum.co.uk

MASTERCARD/VISA

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Contact Details - for companies featured in MMI... ACCURATE ARMOUR/ ARMOUR DISTRIBUTION

Units 15-16 Kingston Industrial Estate, Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, PA14 5DG Scotland. Tel; 01475 743 955 Fax; 01475 743746 www.accurate-armour.com

ADALBERTUS

Iberyjska 7/49, 02-764 , Warsaw,Poland [email protected] www.adalbertus.com.pl

THE AIRBRUSH COMPANY Ltd

Unit 7 Marlborough Road, Lancing Business Park, Lancing, West Sussex, BN15 8UF. Tel; 08700 660 445 www.airbrushes.com

ALCLAD II LACQUER

5 St Georges Close, Bacton, Norfolk. NR12 0LL Tel; 01962 65216 Fax; 01692 652334

ALPINE, ROYAL MODEL, ARTISAN MORI, YOSCI; SMARTMODELLING No.7 Gordons Way, Oxted, Surrey RH8 0LN. UK Tel; 01883 734746 [email protected]

AMPERSAND PUBLISHING (via Historex Agents in UK)

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ARCHER

(Historex in UK)

PO Box 1277 Youngsville, NC 27596-1277, USA www.archertransfers.co

BADGER AIR-BRUSH COMPANY 9128W Belmont Ave, Franklin Park, IL 60131 Tel; 847/678-3104 www.badgerairbrush.com email [email protected] (In the UK from www.shesto.co.uk)

BISON DECALS

Available from www.hannants.co.uk and www.pdi-model-supplies.com

DELUXE MATERIALS www.deluxematerials.co.uk [email protected] Tel; 01529 455 0340

DRAGON MODELS

(The Hobby Company in UK)

Dragon Models Ltd, Kong Nam Ind. Building B1-10F, 603-609 Castle Peak Road, Tsuen Wan NT, Hong Kong Fax; (HK) 4110587 www.dragonmodelsltd.com (For 1:6 Action Figures, please contact Amerang in UK)

ECHELON FINE DETAILS

Available from; wwwaccurate-armour.com & http://pachome1.pacific.net.sg/~kriegsketten/

FRIENDSHIP MODELS

12 Delta Drive, Musselburgh, East Lothian, EH21 8HR Tel; 0131 665 0866 Mobile; 07877166225 www.friendshipmodels.com

GREAT NORTH ROADS

9a Marcombe Road, Torquay, South Devon, TQ2 6LL Tel; 01803 400436 www.greatnorthroads.co.uk email [email protected]

HANNANTS

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HISTOREX AGENTS

Wellington House, 157 Snargate Street, Dover, Kent, CT17 9BZ, UK Tel; 01304 206720 Fax; 01304 204528. www.historex-agents.co.uk [email protected]

HOBBYLINK JAPAN

CAMMETT

(Lifecolour, Scale Caliber)

Unit 5 Greenfield Industrial Estate, Forest Road, Hay on Wye, Powys, HR3 5FA Tel; 01497 822757 Email; [email protected] www.cammett.co.uk

CLASSIC PUBLICATIONS

Midland Counties Publications, 4 Watling Drive, Sketchley Lane Industrial Estate, Hinckley, Leics UK. LE10 1YF Tel; 01455 233 747, Fax; 01455 233 737 [email protected] www.classic-publications.com

CREATIVE MODELS LTD

(Mig Productions, Vallejo, Accurate Miniatures)

Unit 6-10, Honeysome Industrial Estate, Honeysome Road, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire. PE16 6TG Tel; 01354 760022 www.creativemodels.co.uk [email protected]

DARTMOOR MILITARY MODELS Haylis cottage, Budlake, Broadclyst Exeter, EX5 3LJ, England Tel; 01392 881271 www.dartmoormilitarymodels.com

C/ Santiago Rusinol 7, Pral 2a, 08750 Molins de Rei, Barcelona, Spain www.migproductions.com

MILICAST MODEL CO.,

9 Rannoch St., Battlefield, Glasgow G44 4DF, Scotland Tel/Fax; 0141 633 1400 [email protected] www.milicast.com

MISSION MODELS

(ETCHMATE, GRABHANDLER, MICRO CHISEL)

www.etchmate.com www.missionmodels.com Tel; 818 842 1885 Fax; 818 842 1886 [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

THE ARMORY; M&MODELS

9329 S. Cicero Ave, Oak Lawn, IL 60453, USA http://home.earthlink.net/~mmodels/

www.airconnection.on.ca

www.ianallanpublishing.com Mail Order Dept 01455 254450 Kiev 02099, Ukraine, Borispolskaya 9 building 64. Tel/fax; (+38044) 369-54-12 [email protected] www.icm.com.ua

ITALERI

(The Hobby Company in UK)

Via Pradazzo, 6, I-40012 Calderara Di Reno, Bologna, Italy, Tel; 051 726037 www.italeri.com

JUST BASES

21 Graham Road, Paignton TQ3 1BB Tel; 01803 558520 www.just-bases.co.uk

JUST KITS

Schiffer Publishing, 4880 Lower Valley Rd, Atglen, PA, 19310 USA www.schifferbooks.com

SCHIFFER BOOKS in UK

Bushwood Books, No.6 Marksbury Avenue, Kew Gardens, Surrey TW9 4JF, UK. Tel; 020 8392 8585, 020 8392 9876, email; [email protected]

SCHUMO KITS

www.schumo-kits.com

SDV MODEL www.sdvmodel.cz

SIMPLE 2 TRADE

No 2 Hollywood Lane, Hollywood, Birmingham, B47 5PP Tel; 0121 474 3030 www.simple2trade.com

SMARTMODELLING

No.7 Gordons Way, Oxted, Surrey RH8 0LN UK Tel; 01883 734746 [email protected]

MONROE PERDU

SQUADRON

Monroe Perdu Designs, 3168 Renee Court, Simi Valley, CA 93065, USA. www.monroeperdu.com

ORDNANCE MODELS Via; www.steelmodels.com

PACIFIC COAST MODELS Tel; 001 707 538 4850 [email protected] www.pacmodels.com

PO Box 164, Heathfield, Sussex TN21 8WA, UK www.panzerwrecks.com (Creative Models in UK)

Jizni 56, 370 10 C. Budejovice, Czech Republic. [email protected] www.plusmodel.cz

POCKETBOND LTD

(Trumpeter & AFV Club in UK)

PO Box 80, Welwyn, Hertfordshire, England, AL6 0ND Tel; 01707 391509 Fax; 01707 327 466 [email protected]

PSP MODELS LTD (Mission Models in USA)

Unit 19B, Applin’s Farm, Farrington, Dorset DT11 8RA, UK Tel/Fax; 01747 811 817 www.psp-models.com

QUICKBOOST

www.quickboost.net

REVELL GmbH & Co. KG

LSA MODELS

SB MODELS

Model Design Construction, Victoria Place, Victoria Road, Ripley, Derbyshire DE5 3FW Fax; 01773 513344 [email protected] www.modeldesignconstruction.com

SCHIFFER BOOKS

(Swash, Tasca, Gap, Yosci, Royal Model)

4 High Street, Botley, Southampton, SO30 2EA Tel; 01489 781177 www.justkitsandmodels.co.uk

MDC

Industriestrasse 6, 94347 Ascha, Germany Fax; 09961 910 7826

Tel; 01892 533036 www.modelwholesaleuk.com

Orchard Mews, 18C High Street, Tring, Herts, HP23 5AH Tel; +44 (0) 1442 890285 www.revell.eu

(TASCA, MASTER BOX) Retail; 151 Sackville Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 3HD, England. Tel/Fax; 01273 705420 [email protected] www.lsamodels.co.uk

SCHATTON BARRELS

MODEL WHOLESALE UK LTD

PLUS MODEL

ICM

Via Hannants in UK

(Creative Models in UK)

HUSSAR PRODUCTIONS, CANADA

BOOKWORLD WHOLESALE

CALIBRE 35

MIG PRODUCTIONS

PANZERWRECKS

IAN ALLAN

Unit 10 Hodfar Road, Sandy Lane Ind Est Stourport, Worcs, DY13 9QB Tel; 01299 823330 Fax; 01299 829970 [email protected]

http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~m.a.mori/index_eng.html

Sano-shi, Kurohakama-cho 162-1, Tochigi 327-0813, Japan www.hlj.com

BLAST MODELS

Via AFV Modeller or www.blast-models.com

MODELING ARTISAN MORI

UK distributor for Model Victoria and Royal Model

P.O. Box 114, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, LA13 0WY. Tel/Fax; 01229 430 749 [email protected] www.sbmodels.net

1115 Crowley Drive, Carrollton, TX 75006-1312 U.S.A

SWANN-MORTON

Owlerton Green, Sheffield, S6 2BJ Tel; +44 (0)114 234 4231 Fax; +44 (0)114 231 4966 General: [email protected] www.craftknives.com

TAMIYA JAPAN

Tamiya, Inc., 3-7 Ondawara Suruga-ku, Shizuoka 422-8610 JAPAN www.tamiya.com

TAMIYA UK;

THE HOBBY COMPANY LIMITED Garforth Place, Knowlhill, Milton Keynes, MK5 8PG, UK Tel; 01908 605686 Fax; 01908 605666 [email protected] www.hobbyco.net

TRUMPETER

www.trumpeter-china.com Pocketbond in the UK

VERLINDEN PRODUCTIONS (Historex in UK)

811 Lone Star Drive, O’Fallon, Missouri 63366, USA www.verlinden-productions.com

VALLEJO

(Creative Models in UK)

Acrylicos Vallejo, SL Apartado 337 - 08800 Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona, Spain Tel; (34) 93 893 60 12 Fax; (34) 93 893 11 54 www.acrylicosvallejo.com

VLS CORPORATION (LSA in UK)

(TRAKZ, WINGZ, CUSTOM DIORAMICS, WARRIORS); Lincoln County Industrial Park, 1011 Industrial Court, Moscow Mills, Missouri 63362, USA www.modelmecca.com

WHITE ENSIGN

Unit 5, Cobnash Industrial Estate, HR6 9RW Tel; 0844 415 0914 [email protected] www.whiteensignmodels.com

WWII PRODUCTIONS, AUSTRALIA

PO Box 794, Cheltenham GL52 3ZW, UK [email protected]

12 Prince Street, Waratah, 2298, NSW, Australia Tel; +61 (0)2 4967 3205 Fax; +61 (0)2 4967 3207 [email protected]

SBX MODEL SHOP

ZVEZDA

SBLC

Norwich Road, Ipswich. IP1 5DN Tel; 01473 464311 www.sbxmodelshop.co.uk

(The Hobby Company in UK)

Promishlennaia Str.,2, Lobnya, Moscow Region, 141730 Russia [email protected] www.zvezda.org.ru

n Please mention ‘Model Military International’ if you make contact with any of the companies listed above - thanks! 64 Model Military International - December 2013

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Next Issue On sale 5th December 2013 SMALL PACKAGES Pt. 2 Thomas Morgan describes the painting and weathering of his Trumpeter’s 1:35 scale 8.8 cm Pak 43 auf Leichte Waffentraeger (Ardelt).

ISSUE No.92 December 2013, Published November 7th 2013 Editor;

Brett Green

Group Editor;

Marcus Nicholls

Publisher;

Alan Harman

Graphic Design;

Alex Hall

Advertising Manager;

Colin Spinner

Advertising Sales;

Claire Alley Mark Peacock

Advertising Assistant;

Joe Brown

Office Manager;

Paula Gray

Administration Manager; Hannah McLaurie MMI Website;

ADH Web Team

Printed by; Symbian Print Intelligence, Hertfordshire, UK Distributed by; Seymour Distribution 2 East Poultry Avenue, London, EC1A 9PT Tel; 020 7429 4000 Newstrade; Select Publisher Services 3 East Avenue, Bournemouth, BH3 7BW Tel; 01202 586848 Email; [email protected] Model Military International is published on the first Thursday of each month by; ADH Publishing, Doolittle Mill, Doolittle Lane, Totternhoe, Bedfordshire, LU6 1QX UK www.modelmilitary.com Tel; +44 (0)1525 222573 Fax; +44 (0)1525 222574 Editorial enquiries; Email; [email protected] Advertising enquiries; Tel; +44 (0)1525 222573 Email; [email protected]

Brett Green builds Acaemy’s new 1:35 scale Panzer 35(t), while Bruce Culver provides accompanying reference in a Think Tank piece.

FOR YOUR SAFETY

BRITISH INFANTRY SOMME

A new large scale bust from Matt Wellhouser.

Don’t forget, when using solvents such as glues, paints, thinners and cleaning agents, always ventilate your work area thoroughly and wear a face mask. When using power tools, side cutters or any tool that can suddenly break or create high-speed airborne particles, wear approved eye protectors with hard, clear lenses. Please always model in safety!

...and much more! Due to many influencing factors, we cannot guarantee the appearance of the above projects, but we’ll try our best!

Subscription enquiries; Tel; +44 (0)1525 222573 Fax; +44 (0)1525 222574 Email; [email protected] Reproduction in part of any text, photograph, or illustration without written consent from the publisher is strictly prohibited. While due care is taken to ensure the contents of Model Military International is accurate, the publishers and printers can not accept responsibility for errors and omissions. Advertisements are accepted for publication in Model Military International only on ADH Publishing’s standard terms of acceptance of advertising, copies of which are available from the advertising department. Please write to the address above. All advertising, circulation and subscription enquiries should also be directed to the UK address above. Subscription rates are; 1 year (12 issues); £44 UK £56 Europe £69 Worldwide (Airmail) Binders; £8.50 plus postage (UK £2.45, Euro £4.45, World £6.45) For all orders, please call; (UK) +44(0)1525 222573 or visit www.modelmilitary.com Back Issues; Back Issues are available at the current cover price. See the latest back issues advert or visit www.modelmilitary.com

GAS-AAA

MiniArt GAZ-AAA Model 1943 Cargo truck in a new diorama by José Brito.

The paper used in this magazine is manufactured at the Leipa Georg Mill and is 100% recycled using de-inked pulp. The mill conforms fully with the requirements of both FSC and PEFC and carries the full accreditations for their environmental policies. www.fsc.org www.pefc.org © ADH Publishing 2013

Order online now at; www.modelmilitary.com

CZECH PANZER

December 2013 - Model Military International 65

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The Last Post..

2013 IN REVIEW T

his being the December issue of Model Military International magazine, it might be a good time to take a look back at 2013. We have seen an enormous amount of new kit activity, especially from the Far East and in particular from the newer players. Trumpeter, HobbyBoss, Bronco and Kinetic all continue their prolific release schedules, while Meng Model has further refined their offerings, the most recent being their 1:35 scale FT-17 with full interior detail. New players including Panda and Amusing Models have increased the modellers’ choice even further. The traditional model companies have been busy too. It has been my pleasure this year to build three of Tamiya’s new military releases – their 1:48 scale Sd.Kfz.232, and 1:35 scale Tiran 5 and Japanese Type 10 tanks. Each of these has featured a high level of detail and perfect fit for fast and easy builds. It is especially pleasing to see Tamiya continuing with their commitment to 1:48 scale military models. Their 1:35 scale Gama Goat released just recently was a pleasant surprise too. Dragon’s 1:35 scale highlight for 2013 would have to be their new-tool M48A3 Mod B Patton medium tank, covered by Steve Zaloga in Issue 90 of MMI. Europe has not been completely left behind either, with Italeri, MiniArt, Masterbox and a resurgent ICM all boasting some interesting releases for 2013. Several modern 1:48 scale British subject releases by Airfix have been very welcome as well. The cottage industry has been busy with resin kits and accessories. It was great to see some of Cromwell’s classic releases revitalised and made widely available again by Inside the Armour; while Accurate Armour continued its steady programme of high quality and ambitious multi-media kits and conversions. I have also been very impressed with Kit Form Services’ 1:24 scale offerings, the latest of which is an FV432 Armoured Personnel Carrier (I really must get around to finishing that KFS Ferret some day too!) Any magazine is an ensemble effort and this title is no exception. I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to all of Model Military International’s contributors, whose wonderful models and research have appeared in these pages over 2013 and previous years. Thanks to all of you for your efforts. Our Think Tank articles, usually related to a modelling subject in the same issue, are an important part of the character of the magazine. I would particularly like to thank Bruce Culver for his remarkable ability to turn around high quality and original reference articles at amazingly short notice. Stuart Ransley has done a great job with modern subjects, and it has been a pleasure to welcome Peter Brown and Dennis Oliver as contributors to this year’s Think Tanks too. MMI is fortunate to boast a team of reviewers with expertise in a number of specialist area, including (but not limited to) Andy King, Graham Tetley, Al Bowie, Steve Shrimpton and Andrew Judson. Not only do they know their stuff, but they also understand the importance of providing a balanced review pointing out both the high points and the potential problems with new release kits and accessories. I am very grateful to our ensemble of reviewers. Alex Hall continued his MMI design duties this year. Alex has once again done a fantastic job converting basic photographs and words into attractive flowing visual stories. Thanks Alex!

Despite the extra duties imposed by MIM’s AFV Edition, ADH Publishing's Group Editor Marcus Nicholls continues to be an essential part of the creative process with his feedback, suggestions and support. Luke Pitt’s monthly 1:48 scale section has become a fixture of the magazine, and he has also found time to build models, as evidenced by several entertaining and informative articles this year. There is a surprising amount of administrative work associated with any magazine, such as dealing with correspondence and distributing samples. Thanks to Paula, Hannah, Colin and Joe for managing much of the backoffice burden of MMI. We launched our new-look MMI website this year at www.modelmilitary. com too. Thanks to Justin Noble for his hard work in this area. I am also grateful to our Publisher Alan Harman to, for having the faith to give me this wonderful job nearly five years ago, and for letting me keep it! And lastly but certainly not least, thank you, MMI reader, for your ongoing support of the magazine. We hope that you will enjoy the models, research and news that we have lined up for 2014. ■ See you then!

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D6746 Dragon Kits are distributed in the UK by The Hobby Company Limited, Knowlhill, Milton Keynes, MK5 8PG See the full Dragon range at www.hobbyco.net Find us on facebook Dragon models are available from all good model shops search Plastic Kits UK

p 67 Dragon 092.indd 8

www.hobbyco.net

17/10/2013 17:37