Kit Build/Review: 1/72 Roden SdKfz 234/4, pt. I.

Despite the Coronavirus lockdown, I’ve hardly done any mini-military stuff for ages. 

I thought being forced to stay home would mean a massive bonanza of model making and figure painting. But no, instead I’ve been either resting, reading, working (from home) or doing household stuff, from the quotidian chores, to building a shed and a greenhouse. 

And as a result, I’ve not had the time or energy to model or paint. I even had a bit of a break from the reading. But now I’m making a conscious effort to get back in the saddle. And in that vein, here’s my first 1/72 kit build and review since, well... poss before Xmas!?

The latest kit to go on the production line is this lovely Roden 1/72 SdKfz 234/4. I do love Roden’s box art! Very colourful and evocative. David Willey of Tank Museum curatorial fame does a great Tank Chat on the German 8-rad’ line of AFVs. I include a link to it here, for reference/interest. 

I started the build out of sequence, with the Pak-40 type gun. It’s a very detailed little sub-construction. Very fiddly and intricate, but great. Unfortunately I didn't photograph the building of the gun. So construction pics start with the running-gear.

The somewhat open cab design of this vehicle also required that I paint the interior. Willey notes in his chat how the Bovington example is painted incorrectly, the vehicle itself only came into series production in the later part of the war, the dunkelgelb as opposed to dunkelgrau era! The interior is also similarly incorrect. I decided to give mine an elfenbein interior, such as was sported by German tanks.

After I’d built the gun, I went back to the ‘proper order of things’, which meant running-gear. And boy is the Roden’s 234 style eight-wheeler assembly complex and fiddly! I think it’s designed such that, in theory, the wheels can be aligned at differing angles, and even, possibly, rotate! But in reality this doesn’t work. Or at least it didn’t for me. This is my second Roden 234. My first was a Puma variant (see the build of that here). And it was the same story, re the wheels. 

My version of an elfenbein interior, blocked in.

Washes and weathering, early stages.

Washes and weathering, pretty much done.

Painting and weathering the interior, and the gun, which I decided to attach (another out of sequence improvisation of my own choosing) was kind of fun, and yet also kind of frustrating. I’ve learned that I’m really bad at the ‘pin-wash’/panel line type stuff.

Anyway, I did the best I could, and after a while, I achieved a result I decided was good enough. I was thinking of putting driver figures into the fore and aft driving seats. But I haven’t. I definitely will on the next 234 with a similarly open fighting compartment. 

Basically finished, assembly wise.

I'll prob' add a few bits of extra stowage. But not much.

At the time of posting, this 234/4 variant is now basically built. But before I paint the exterior, some gaps need filling. And I’ll probably add a little detailing, such as stowage. 

I noticed in many wartime images online that there appear to be rods - barrel-cleaning stuff, perhaps? - on the left side of the vehicle, that are not a feature included in this kit. They should be a fun and easy scratch-build addition!

Part two will be painting and decals. To follow soon, I hope!

Book Review: JagdPanther Tank Destroyer, Dennis Oliver

Another highly detailed and very specific Tank Craft title from the prolific Dennis Oliver, utilising his signature approach, with maps, timelines, unit histories, organisational schematics and so on. This particular publication covers one of my favourite German tanks, the Jagdpanther tank destroyer.

I remember buying some of these in 1/300, from Heroics & Ros, as a kid, and painting the tiny little blighters in the tri-colour ambush camouflage scheme. The 6mm scale is not one I've ever seen featured in these Tank Craft titles. There are three 1/35, one 1/48 and one 1/72 example in the Model Showcase section here. 

A fabulous 1/72 winter whitewashed Dragon Jagdpanther, by Jaroslaw Witkowksi, aka Gulumik.

This tank is featured in the Model Showcase chapter.

Another of Gulumik's 1/72 meisterwerks, above, appears in the Modelling Products chapter.

This is the old Esci kit, plus scratch-built detailing.

In keeping with both the stated aims of this series and the standards set so far, this book is a treasure trove of info and imagery. I have one relatively minor gripe on the latter front, however (and this is why I dock half a balkenkreuz); regarding the archival pictures, the vast majority show captured or destroyed Jagdpanthers. They're all very interesting photos. But it would have been great to see more either being built - there are a couple of great pictures of the MNH factory production line - or in active German service.

As usual with Oliver's contributions to this ever-expanding and very useful series, he's very time/theatre specific. On this occasion addressing the late-war Western Front, of 1944-45. Perhaps another volume will appear on the Eestern and Southern fronts? And perhaps that'll have more 'in action' photos and less wrecks?

Unfinished Jagdpanthers at the MNH factory, Hanover,  1945.*

I love this pic of Panthers in the rain. Note the brollys deployed by the crew!*

This abondoned Jagdpanther, Reichswald, March '45, appears a couple of times

The colour profiles, or Camouflage And Markings illustrations are, as usual, excellent. My only gripe regarding this last feature being that the green used in the three-colour schemes appears rather too bright. Anyway, all told, another great instalment in this excellent series.

* Neither of these specific photos are in this book.

Book Review: Images of War, The Armour of Rommel's Africa Korps, Ian Baxter

Author Ian Baxter's CV, as given in the front of this book, looks impressively diverse and prolific. I initially thought this might be my first book by him, but then realised I've got and have read his book from the same series about Hitler's various HQs.

The narrative element of the text is very minimal, being confined to three short year-themed chapters: Desert Blitzkrieg, 1941; Attack & Retreat, 1942; Destruction in Tunisia, 1943. A larger portion of text, by volume, is given over to the captions to the 161 or so black and white photos.

The Pz III, along with Pz IV, formed the backbone of DAK's armour. [1]

Titles in the Images Of War series pretty much always make the bold claim, as is the case here, that they feature 'rare and unpublished photographs'. Unlike Baxter, 'an avid collector of WW2 photographs' (according to the back cover blurb), I'm not expert enough to pass judgement on the truth or otherwise of this bold claim. But I will say that the more of these books I collect and read, I am impressed with how rarely I recognise pics from other sources.

As no picture sources are credited (they normally are in other titles from the Images of War series), I imagine these must all be from Baxter's personal collection. Sometimes being sourced this way can mean some of the pictures aren't of the highest quality. And there are a few here so blurred I'd have left them out myself. But by and large picture quality is acceptable through to very good. And there's an awful lot here for the military buff, modeller or wargamer to chew over, digest and enjoy.

The Sturmpanzer II Bison, mounting the 15cm sIG 33 gun.

I think the use of the word armour in the title is possibly a little misleading because, as Baxter says in his intro, he covers everything from halftracks and wheeled reconnaissance vehicles to armoured cars, SPGs and tanks. To my mind the word armour conjures up tanks, and little else. On the other hand, whilst the vehicles pictured do include some motorcycles and softskins (cars and trucks, etc.), mostly it is armoured vehicles.

These range all the way through, from the early light Pz Is and IIs, to the medium IIIs and IVs, even including Tiger Is. Although, re the latter (and like so often with German tech), it was too little too late. Most of the vehicles here are very familiar. Less well known to me, and therefore more interesting, were the pics of Bison II SPGs. That's one I'm going to have to build in 1/72!

North Africa and the campaigns there have never drawn my interest as much as other theatres of WWII. And this book, as interesting and useful as it is, hasn't really changed that. But I do now feel I know a little more about the materiel Rommel and his fellow Germans (and to a much lesser degree the Italians) had to work with.

A really great picture! [2]

One of my favourite photographs shows a Me 323 Gigant disgorging an Opel Maultier towing an artillery piece. I like it because both the plane and the tracked truck are somewhat unusual, and both are quite striking looking. Another particularly good spread is a series of four photos showing a Tiger crew servicing/replacing an engine, and then having a well earned tuck break!

There's no index, glossary or bibliography, all of which would be useful. But there are three appendices, the first giving DAK OOB, and the second and third listing vehicle types and variants. Sadly this is one of these special interest books slightly marrred by lack of editorial finesse, with quite a lot of information in the captions being repeated, and a few too many spelling errors or questionable relations between captions and descriptions.

I read this in its entirety in just a couple of hours. There really isn't that much text. It's not the best written or most exciting WWII book I've read, by a long stretch. But it's still a good addition to the WWII history nut's book collection, mainly thanks to the images.

There are quite a lot of pictures of Rommel and other DAK (and even Italian) staff. [3]

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NOTES:

[1] This is one of a number of pictures where the captioning seemed a bit off the mark. Described as having 'halted at the side of the road', the projectile clouds of dust and sand being fed through the the tracks on the right/starboard sides of the first two tanks suggests they're in fact in fairly rapid motion!

[2] This is an example of a picture that was easy to find online, being a Wikimedia Commons/Bundesarchiv image.

[3] Given the title of this book I thought there were a few too many shots of Rommel and/or brass in conference or reading maps. And again, the one shown above, which appears in the book, was relatively easy to find online. 

1/72 Elefants...

So here is my Elefantine trio, left to right: Trumpeter (unfinished), Zvezda, and Fujimi. The Fujimi is allegedly 1/76. But it looks as big as the other two. The Zvezda model appears to be an older variant, with a rectangular commander's hatch, and no front-mounted machine-gun. I added zimmerit to the Fujimi. I think I might also add some to the Trumpeter, as I really like the effect.

I'm not sure whether to go with this camo' scheme, pictured above, in three colours, or something more like these two below, which are both in just two colours:

I have to confess my original preference was for the Zvezda two-colour, dunkelgelb and green, as pictured above. And I think that remains my favourite. Although I have to say the Bovington Elefant does get me thinking about going three-colour. Hmmm!!?

I'm also tempted to get more crew members visible. Still, first I need to finish the recent Trumoeter build. Then it's time to paint the suckers.

Bovington Tigers, Tiger II (Henschel)

The next in my Bovington Tiger Collection series, the Henschel turreted Tiger II. A particularly handsome beast, this one, in ambush three colour camo' scheme, with zimmerit, and very attractive markings.

 

This particular tank is done out in the livery of what was do rmerly the 101st SS Heavy Pz battalion, which, on the issue of Tiger II tanks in 1944, was redesignated the 501st. Their cross-keys in a shield over oak leaves is a particularly attractive unit insignia. 

Beautiful!

Sooo sexy!

Peek-a-boo! What's inside this hole?

What a magnificent machine.

Below is a video that I enjoyed filming; even if it's not great quality, at least it gives an interesting and unusual view of the 'royal' Tiger.