Kit Builds/Reviews: Various 1/72 T-34

After enjoying the T-34 Tank Craft book, I decided to try and build a few more, and work towards finishing a batch of Russian armour. The models in question are all T-34s, some are the earlier 76 variants, others the later 85 type. The makes are Trumpeter (one T-34/85), Armourfast (two T-34/76 and two T-34/85), Italeri (two T-34/76), and Zvezda (two T-34/85). I also got a SU-100 tank destroyer, by Zvezda. The Zvezdas are the snap-fit variety, but I'll be gluing them up anyway. 

My tank factory, inc. several T-34s.

So far I've been detailing the kits I've already got in hand. Although I did also build the two Italeri 'fast assembly' kits, which are very well designed, and, as they proclaim themselves, perfect for wargamers. They're better detailed and nicer than the Armourfast models which, whilst robust and easy to assemble, are just too clunky and lacking in detail.

These are great, far superior to Armourfast.

So, first thing for this post, a quick look at building the fast assembly Italeri kits. The colour of the styrene is gorgeous, a near perfect Russian WWII green. If you wanted to go super basic, you could simply apply decals, paint the parts that aren't green and there you have it. But that wouldn't satisfy me, nor, I suspect, most of us modellers/wargamers. In fact I want to use these tanks as practice at weathering and making monochromatic colour schemes look good.

Got to dig that green styrene!

Laying out the kits for cleaning up.

Tank number one cleaned and ready for assembly.

The turret mounting clip is a really great bit of design.

First tank assembled. I'll attach the turret after basic painting.

Adding stowage and little bits of detailing.

As well as detailing the models a little, e.g. with wire handles, lamps, boxes, blankets, and so on, I had to reattach an idler wheel on the Trumpeter T-34, which snapped off when I was supergluing the tracks in position. I'm also drilling out the barrels on a pair of Italeri (old Esci) Nebelwerfers, as they were ludicrously thick. You can see before and after above.

Not a great photo, but I'm pleased with my scratch-built saw and headlamps.

In the photo above you can see, albeit not very well, my scratch-built saw and headlamp, on the left. At right you can see how basic the rear engine-deck of the Armourfast kits are; no grill detail. I've also made a boo-boo with the towing cable, tying it off as if it's just strong, as opposed to steel cable. That's it for tonight. I'll do further detailing tomorrow, and then get them all undercoated and base coated, ready for detailed painting, decals, and weathering, etc.

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And now it's tomorrow... today! Decided I'd try a bit of silk purse from a sow's ear, and replace the Armourfast rear deck grill panels, with some mesh and plastic card. Got the mesh from Ely City Cycle Centre's model department, along with some more Vallejo acrylics and some (new to me) Tamiya liquid cement.

Rear deck grill panel removed.

New wire-mesh replacement fabricated, with added storage.

Is this overkill on an Armourfast kit? Hmmm!? It certainly improves the tank, in my view. But it also makes me feel the need to do similarly for hand rails, lifting eye-hooks and tracks. Can I be bothered? It remains to be seen. I've already cut out mesh for the other three Armourfast T-34s. But one of them is going to be very difficult to do on account of stowage I've already added. Unless I remove it...

Adding more detailing to the various T-34s...

Book Review: The Battle for Arnhem, Anthony Tucker-Jones

Anthony Tucker-Jones bookends his account of The Battle for Arnhem with references to Cornelius Ryan's book about it, A Bridge Too Far, and the subsequent film of the same name, directed by Richard Attenborough. Whereas the author first read the book and later saw the film, for me it was the reverse. But I suspect for many, including a lot of us modellers and wargamers, either the book, the film, or both, will figure in our past.

I recall enjoying the book, which Tucker-Jones says remains ... But the film, was 'not a commercial or critical success', at the time. Personally I really like the movie, because, despite its top heavy cast of A-list actors, it is, in my view, as or perhaps more historically accurate as most WWII films. Yes, the poorly faked German armour/vehicles leave much to be desired, and yes, some of the actors' luvvy performances are irritating (Dirk Bogarde and Gene Hackman in particular*).

This was the edition I had/read, as a kid. [1]

Anyway, both book and film remain valuable entry points to the subject. But now to this particular subject. Another very handy title from the ever-growing Images of War series, this book comprises over 150 black and white photographs, mostly archival, but some more contemporary, and some illustrating stuff slightly off-topic, but all combining very nicely to give a fairly full picture of Operation Market Garden.

I particularly like the Images of War titles that give at least some sort of narrative context, as this does, each of the nine major chapters starting with a brief synopsis of events, before moving on to the pictures and their captions. We start out with Monty formulating his plans with an eye to rehabilitating his reputation after Normandy, in light of accusations of torpor re taking Caen. Where D-Day is planned over a very long time frame, and the wait for the right moment, whilst painful, is crucial, Market Garden is rushed into headlong.

Yep, this ol' chestnut is there... how could you not include it!? [2]

Before the attack on Arnhem, 1st Battalion paras dug in near Wolfheze.

Towards the end, defending the Oosterberk 'pocket''.

Pz IV wreck, in the Arnhem area.

Tucker Jones states that he tries here to give broader account of events - covering both the Market (airborne) and Garden (land) facets of the operations - balancing the successes of certain elements, such as the US Airbornes' attaining of their objectives, against the more usually retold 'heroic failure' narrative (a British speciality, to be added to such battle honours as the charge of the Light Brigade and Dunkirk!) of events in Arnhem itself.

There are a few nicer than usual maps, which look very much like they've been taken from another older source, the informative but concise text, and of course the main attraction, lots of very nice photos. A useful, interesting, inspiring and easy read (I read it in one afternoon, today), that might well prompt you to read Beevor's fuller more recent account, or perhaps even send you back to Ryan's book, or Dickie Attenborough's movie? I'm planning to watch A Bridge Too Far this evening!

An older/original promo poster for the movie.

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NOTES:

* In contrast, Sean Connery and Michael Caine are great.

[1] Wonder if I've still got it?

[2] As Tucker-Jones notes, this was probably a posed shot, taken in a lull during fighting. But, as he is quick to add, it's also a great photo that depicts very well the fighting conditions at the time.

Book Review: T-34, Robert Jackson (Tank Craft series)

This is my second Tank Craft book. And I have to say that, so far, I really love them. Although I mostly make 1/72 German WWII models, I do have several T-34s, and a few other Russian vehicles. This book provides inspiration and information, in turn giving motivation, to finish those kits. 

As Tank Museum curator David Willey notes in his excellent 'Tank Chat' on the T-34, this vehicle has become an icon of Russia's Patriotic War, as a result becoming - as with many German Panzers - wrapped in layers of myth (check out the bizarre Russian film White Tiger, if you're in any doubt about this!). 

Author Robert Jackson gives what I believe is a balanced account of the facts as we know them: like many of the fabled German Panzers, Russia's T-34 had a bumpy genesis, and was beset by problems throughout its evolution. But, as this book's subtitle - 'Russia's Armoured Spearhed' - suggests, it was undoubtedly essential, as was the Sherman for the Western Allies, to eventual victory.

My current clutch of Russian WWII armour, all T-34s.

The first two chapters, Development and Design and The T-34 in Detail, address this historical situation with admirable concision and brevity, before chapters on Camouflage and Markings, Model Showcases, and Modelling Products address the modelmaking aspects. Into Service and Into Action and Enter the T-34/85 flesh out the campaigns of WWII on the Eastern Front, examining the performance of the t-34 and its variants in context, before the book concludes with a brief look at the postwar use of the T-34, in theatres from the Middle East to Asia and the Balkans. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this slim but info-rich and superbly illustrated book. I'm no expert on the T-34. But I feel I know it much better now. And this book has prompted me to order several more kits of both the 76 and 85 variants, which I look forward to making. The models in the showcase are all very well done. Most are 1/35. My only real gripe re this book (and the series as a whole, insofar as I'm getting to know it) is that I'd like to have seen at least one 1/72 build.

Richardson's exquisitely realised 1/16 T-34/76.

The most impressive model is Brian Richardson's 1/16 Trumpeter T-34/76, which has been completed to a stunning level of realism, with an amazing paint job topped off with terrific weathering. 

At £15 a pop (RRP being £14.99 at the time I'm posting my review) these slim Tank Craft titles are reasonably dear. But I think they nonetheless represent decent VFM (value for moolah), as they combine a lot of useful info with copiously rich visual reference. The colour profiles section is terrific, with nine pages of well executed illustrations to inform and inspire. 

I look forward to more titles from this series, which admirably meets its stated brief of providing modellers with 'a new standard of primarily visual reference of both full-size tanks and their scale models'.

Kit Build/Review: 1/72 PSC German Trucks

Although they're very basic, I do really like these PSC kits. Sure, they're not exhibition quality. But that's not the idea. They're simple, robust wargame models. And they do the job superbly, in my view. I already plundered this box to help me finish my Zebrano Einheitsdiesel, covered in the previous post. 

Now, with the remainder of the contents of the box sitting about getting in my way, I figured why not start building them? Well, one argument against would be the enormous backlog of unfinished models that's accumulating on my workbench. But, ah, the feck wi' it, as they might say on Craggy Island. 

Painting the interior of the cab, and the figures.

I've decided to make the first one up as a Mercedes, as I already have a few Opel Blitz models built. I'm really loving working on rear-echelon materiel. Today I've put most of the truck together, and painted the inside of the cab and the two figures, albeit the latter is a quite basic paint job.

Teresa watched a godawful sci-if movie as I beavered away. I then watched another, sort of, whilst working on my models. The one Teresa watched was called The Predator, or poss Predator II, but didn't seem all that related to the original Arnie movie. I didn't find out what my one was till the very end, Extinction. Although I didn't pay it close attention, it seemed alright to me. Certainly a lot better than the Predator one.

Tigger's not interested or impressed!

Tiggy remained unmoved by Sci-Fi horror, or my modelmaking efforts! Now I'm chilling with snooker on YouTube, and getting ready to climb the wooden hill to Bedfordshire. Tomorrow we visit Patrick on his boat. But I hope to get some modelling in as well.

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The next day...

I have three German trucks at present: Airfix, Zebrano and PSC.

Sunday evening we got back from visiting our pal Patrick, on his narrowboat. I assembled the painted interior and figures for the cab of the PSC Opel Blitz truck, at right in the above picture. At left is an Airfix Opel Blitz, from the set that also includes a Pak-40 gun and crew. And in the middle is my recent Einheitsdiesel with Flak-37.

I have two more unbuilt PSC trucks, and numerous others in the pending pile, including several ambulances, a fuel tanker, and a whole heap of various staff cars. I also harbour a strong desire to scratch-build a few trucks (some partially, using the PSC left-overs, etc, some completely), using resources like the Nuts And Bolts [1] title, issue 32, on German 6-ton lorries, and other reference materials.

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NOTES:

[1] You can find the complete inventory of Nuts & Bolts titles here.

Kit Review: 1/72 Einheitsdiesel & 37mm Flak, Zebrano

I bought this kit from TAS Models at On Track in Folkestone, earlier this year. I chose to use it as the kit I take to the Wisbech IPMS, on their fortnightly get together. Progress has been painfully slow. Chiefly on account of the appalling almost illegible instructions, and the missing or damaged parts.

Such issues can actually make a build quite fun, in a perverse sado-masochistic way, by creating challenges to be overcome. And that's really been the best thing about this kit; overcoming the arseache of each new problem, as it arose.

The kit itself looks like it's one that's been issued by other companies in the past. And it also looks like it's one of those Eastern European short-run jobbies, in the Ace Models type line. For example, moulding is a little coarse, with plenty o' flash, malformed parts, and several different colours of styrene.

Making mudguards from plastic card.

I put little 'tabs' on the cab wheel arches, for attaching the mudguards.

Early in the build I had to fabricate part of a malformed suspension element. I discovered fairly late in the build that one rather major/essential component, a section that includes both front mudguards, was missing entirely. I tried to fabricate my own from plastic card, but they looked pretty shite, and weren't quite large enough. So I pillaged some from a PSC set of German trucks (a Mercedes variant). 

Amongst the many issues that plagued this build were problems getting the final three major components of the truck properly aligned. By this point the model as a whole really doesn't look too bad, in fairness. I'm not sure how the flak gun is supposed to be mounted, as it won't sit in the rear as supplied; the two-footed part of the guns' tripod sits up on the benches, whilst the single leg wants to rest on the floor... Hmmm!?

Ok, so my scratch-built mudguards were a bit crap.

So I cut some off a PSC Mercedes truck.

I guess they're a bit high. But they do look better.

Pretty much everything in place. Looking quite good.

Totally unpainted. Why the black rear wheels!?

Sitting on the couch watching Lethal Weapon 2. The model is more or less finished, assembly wise. The 37mm AA gun is done as well. But I don't know how I'm young to combine the two models. In fact I might not bother, and simply use this as a truck. I've ended up enjoying the build, overall. And it's a decent enough looking model of a great vehicle.

But I couldn't really recommend this kit as it came to me in such a ooor state. There were damaged and missing pieces, and the instructions are utter rubbish, printed almost illegibly and nigh on impossible to decipher.

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I'm thinking I'll paint this in early/mid-war grey, and try my hand at improving my  shading/weathering, etc.

Misc: Tank Museum Tank Chats, Pz III, Inspiration, etc.

On my workbench at present I have a couple of PSC Pz III models. I decided they needed doing as they were out of their box (one having been built some while back), just generally getting in the way. Rather than keep moving them around, I thought why not build the buggers?

After a late night sesh gluin' them together, I dug out all my similar looking models from my display shelving. I have what I believe is an old Fujimi kit, which I've built with lots of open hatches, partly on account of it having pretty cool internal detailing (rare in this scale), the rest are far more basic Armourfast or PSC kits. What I realised was that I can't actually tell, at a glance, which are Pz III or IV, let alone which variants each might be.

My production line of Pz III, Pz IV and sundry other tanks.

Quite by accident, whilst relaxing watching some snooker on YouTube, I saw a link to a Tank Museum Tank Chat on the Pz III (see above). Even more serendipitously, I'd chosen to do mine as Ausf L, which happens to be the very version curator David Willey stands in front of in the Bovington museum, whilst delivering his superb sermon. 

Willey says in the Tank Chat that the Pz III and IV were so similar, many wonder why the Germans bothered making two different tanks that were so alike. That made me feel a little less like a dunce for not knowing which is which. I decided to go through all my models and work out what was what. Turns out I only have two Pz IV, the rest being various Pz III variants.

I started working on a spare turret. Drilled out the turret hole.

Also cut out the doors, and fabricated new ones, to have open.

The PSC kits are great 'cause they have beacoup de bits, allowing you to build numerous variants. These can go in the spares box, for potential use in other builds. It was too late to use them in these builds, as I've already made these models. But I've decided to prepare a turret in a manner akin to the Bovington Pz III, Ausf L, only with numerous hatches open.

Hatches glued on, MG42 and commander at the ready.

In the picture above the two strange circles with sticks attached are two layers of plastic card glued together, and then stuck on the end of a thick bit of sprue. I can then chuck these up in a drill, and sand them into circular cupola components, by running the drill in one hand, and applying sandpaper to the discs with the other. They actually started out square. I cut them down a bit with the trusty scalpel. But, as shown above, they've already been sanded to close to the final size.

Also visible are an MG42 and mount. I had to remove the bipod stand from the front of the MG barrel. A second unaltered MG42 is visible above, as is the cupola MG-mount. The tanks own internal MGs were MG34s. Pictured below are some of the cupola components, such as the circular bit I crafted from a double layer of plastic card, using a drill and sandpaper. I also cut away the ring on the open cupola/hatch component from the kit (an unedited version is shown nearby for comparison).

No spare/complete cupolas, so I had to partially scratch-build one.

Fabricating the bottom of the turret, with a paper template.

Everything thus far glued together. 

I've enjoyed making this new Pz III turret. It'll await another model of the tank itself. I still need to add the little triangular plates at the lower front of the turret. And I may also want to further sand down the flammpanzer barrel that I've already sanded down a fair bit to turn it into an ordinary 50mm gun.

This post is also about inspiration and information. As well as David Willey's excellent video on the Pz III, I also watched and thoroughly enjoyed a similar presentation by Lindybiege, also filmed in front of the Bovington Pz III, Ausf L. Both these videos informed and inspired me, re the modelling work I've been engaged in.

Thanks to the videos and other research for these Pz III models I now also know an easy way to tell if a tank's a Pz III or IV at a glance: the Pz III has six sets of road wheels, and the Pz IV eight. And to finish, a final thought re my turret conversion... the commander figure is a bit Wallace-ish, as in a Wallace and Gromit, with his fat arms and oversized mitts. I may attempt to slim him down a little bit.

But that's all for tonight... time for bed!

Book Review: German Destroyers, Robert Brown

Despite being a long-term 'dyed in the wool' 1/72 military modelmaker I'm currently flirting with the idea of making model ships (I have kits for a U-boat and the battleship Bismarck). I was offered this book for review, by the publishers (Pen & Sword, on their nautical imprint Seaforth), and thought 'why not?' 

Lavishly illustrated throughout, the book starts with a chapter on design. It's interesting to learn, given the German reputation for design and building excellence, that this class of ship fared pretty poorly. Many ideas that were good on paper failed to translate into real benefits. Indeed, a number of clever ideas wound up working against seaworthiness. The exposition on design is followed by a detailed look at Z39, which is done via images derived from its period of postwar American ownership.

But it's pages 17-45 that really form the core of the book, comprising two chunky, informative and well illustrated chapters, the first on available model products (both full kits and partial aftermarket detailing sets), and the second showcasing some very impressive modelmakers' works. Chris Flodberg's 1/350 Z30 (also pictured on the cover) is particularly impressive, in no small part due to the amazing rendering of a heavy sea.

Three further chapters - colour schemes, appearance and plans - add to the wealth of useful visual reference this slim but info-packed book offers. And the whole is finished with a small bibliography. I always think specialist books such as this should, as a matter of course, have a glossary (inc. any abbreviations, etc.). That's the only real omission here that a landlubbin' armour modeller like me really notices.

Anyway, all told, a very attractive and useful publication. Further grist to my mill of nautical modelmaking fantasies. Perhaps I will actually build a small Operation Sea-Lion flotilla one day... hmm!?

Book Review: Focke-Wulf 190, Chris Goss

Author Chris Goss mentions in his Preface that he's indebted to Alfred Price for many of the images in this book. Both Goss and the late Price are or were Ex-RAF themselves, and appear to have shared a fascination - as do I - with the Luftwaffe in WWII. Goss states further that he dedicates this volume to his friend/mentor, and that the plan is for two such books, each of about 200 images, of which this is the first.

The subtitle of this book is The Early Years - Operations In The West, so I guess there should be that other volume in due course. Whilst this belongs to the Air War Archives series, from Frontline Books, it's very much in the same style or vein as Images of War, from Pen & Sword. And, like the latter, it is very decidedly more visual than textual. The bulk of the text, indeed, pretty much all of it, aside from the brief introduction, being the captions to the images, as opposed to the contextual info some other books in these two series provide. 

The Pembrey 190, 1942.

It's very good to see a glossary has been included. After that and the Intro, the chapters are as follows: Training, The Pembrey 190, Jagdgeschwader 2, Other Jagdgeschwader in NW Europe, Jabo, Reconaissance, The Med'. These chapter headings are kind of self-explanatory, and give a good idea as to the content you might expect. 'The Pembrey 190' is the only rather more obscure chapter heading, and is given on account of an Oberleutnant Armin Faber landing his Fw-190 at Pembrey airfield, in Southern Wales, thereby delivering the first intact plane of this sort into British hands, for examination and evaluation.

It seems to me that despite the Luftwaffe's intentions that the Fw-190 replace the Me-109, it is to the latter what the Hurricane has long been to the Spitfire, the less known or celebrated second-cousin. Just as the Hurricane is now being touted as superior to most Spitfire types, the Fw-190 is often described as superior to both the Me-109, and the Allied planes it met, when introduced into service. It's also alleged to have been more versatile, performing as fighter, fighter-bomber (or Jabo) and in reconnaissance and night-flying roles.

In 'Jabo' mode, carrying a 250lb bomb (fuselage) and drop-tanks (wings).

The pictures are fascinating, and great resources for modellers and wargamers, etc. It's also interesting to see and read about the fates of the men who flew in them, and all too often died in them. Some of those deaths may have been pretty mercifully instantaneous, but others, for example that of Oberfeldwebel Georg Schott - seen to bale out and get into his dinghy - may have been awfully protracted; Schott was shot down 27 Sept', '43, his dead body being recovered from his dinghy, washed ashore on the island of Sylt, 11 Oct', roughly a fortnight later.

I have a few 1/72 Fw-190 kits, and I may model them on individual planes mentioned here. One thing obviously lacking, however, from an entirely black and white book such as this, are the colour schemes a modeller will obviously want and need. But Therese are readily and plentifully available elsewhere. 

I'm not certain, but I think this is one of the kits in my Fw-190 stash.

Not the greatest or most exciting of titles from the Air War Archives or Images of War series. But still a solid and useful contribution to the enthusiasts library.