Misc: Current Armour, on the go...

Oldies and newbies.

With a nice kind of symmetry, here's a bunch of older models, and my current crop. Amongst the older ones, the first WWII mini-military model I made on returning to these ol' hobbies, the 1/76 Airfix Panther, in late-war 'ambush' type camo'. This remains one of very few completed models, thus far. The vast bulk of my kits require varying degrees of painting/finishing.

The latest bits of building, today and yesterday, were the rear bins on the newer Airfix Panther, and a second go at the mortar crane/winch, on the B&P Sturmtiger. Whilst I was at it, I also changed the Sturmtiger's upper casemate access hatch handles to wire ones. Looks nicer, methinks.

Rear stowage bins on ye olde Panther, one open.

I really took my time and had a look at a load of ref for the second attempt at the winch. And I think it's come out okay. Nicer, indeed, than the one on the ACM Sturmtiger. I also roughed up the 'fenders' a little, and added some dings and hits to give the ol' beast a more worn in look. I'm looking forward to painting the Sturmtigers. I think I'll go for one of those late war funky three colour disc camo' patterns.

Winch deployed inboard this time.

Suitably chunky for this rather oversize model.

From behind...

Kit Build/Review: Airfix 1/76 Panther #2

White Milliput zimmerit goes on to the hull.

On this second build of an Airfix 1/76 Panther I haven't bothered detailing the box contents or initial build. Instead I've just jumped in at the point where things get more interesting (to me, at any rate!), with detailing the kit. This is part of a current series of 'panzer wrecks' for the battlefields of my putative 20mm WWII wargaming collection.

Rear turret access hatch open.

Chipped zimm...

Zimmerit on the turret as well.

After applying the white Milliput zimmerit to the major areas, I decided to detail a number of other aspects of the kit. Mostly this meant opening a number of hatches; in addition to the easy commander's cupola hatch. In fact nearly all the crew hatches are open. I suspect they all baled out - and sharp-ish, as they haven't destroyed the tank, as per reg's - after hitting a mine and coming under fire once immobilised. The driver's vision hatch and the rear turret hatch (is this the 'loader's hatch'?) both required rather more effort! But I think the results are worth it. 

Both main turret hatches are open.

Driver's hatch also open, as are the two upper hull hatches.

Note different zimm' patterns on turret and hull.

Zooming in on the turret a bit.

Hull glacis up close.

Keen observers might spot that the turret and hull zimm' patterns are different. I've seen this often enough on photos of actual WWII German tanks. But I didn't follow specific reference. I also removed the turret lifting eyes and replaced them with bent stretched sprue, which I think looks a helluva lot better. In addition I scratch-built towing clevises (clevii???), a tow-cable, and added some tools and spare track.

Note missing rear road wheel.

I've scored the kit itself just two and a half 'kreuz this time. Maybe that's a bit harsh? But it is pretty poor. The tracks, for example, are so bad as to be unusable, f-f-f-frankly. Still, it does make a usable base kit for having fun like this with, albeit in the slightly smaller 1/76 scale, as opposed to my preferred 1/72.

Added details: tools, tow-cable, turret lifting eyes, etc.

Am I therefore wasting my time polishing a turd? Perhaps... I've even ordered several OKB Grigorov 1/72 resin Panther track sets. They look amazing online. I want the tracks on this to look nicer than is possible using the awful rubber band jobs that come with the kit. I also took the trouble to make sure the wheels went on without recourse to the oversized 'cap' type doodads that Airfix supply. 

I'm quite keen to add a jack and maybe a bucket at rear. And I may well add the rear stowage bins. Or perhaps jus one? And have the other 'missing in action', with no zimm' where it was... hmmm!?

Kit Build/Review: Revell 1/76 T-34/76, 1940

This is my second 'panzer wreck' build, after the FoV 1/72 Pz III. Only this time it's a Russian tank. It's  also 1/76, for starters, so smaller than my other 1/72 T-34s. But as a battlefield wreck? And a thing in itself? Well... whatever! As they say these days.  

Sprues... inc. ol' Matchbox diorama base.

And the rest.

Vinyl tracks... eugh!

Lacking internal detailing, other than teeth.

Didn't document much of this build.

Gorilla gel superglue sorts vinyl tracks.

Felt pen 'print' template on plastic card, for inner turret hatch detailing.

Added the gun breech, so the open hatch view isn't utterly bare.*

I've built it to look it took a hit or two, conked out and was abandoned. So apart from the shell penetrations and minor wear and tear, it's not in too bad shape. The surviving crew baled out, hence the open hatches, and someone's taken a few bits - the hull m.g. and two fuel tanks are missing - but it's mostly in pretty good shape. 

* Doubtless extending too far into the turret space, but I think it'll look better than empty space.

Hull MG has been removed. Commander's hatch open.

Missing rear mudguard and both fuel barrels, port side.

I did it in this manner on account of the model leading me this way. I thought about having the rear engine access hatch and the engine grill covers open as well. But that presented too any tricky challenges. I'd like to build a real humdinger of a wreck, but, ironically perhaps, a better base/donor kit would make that easier. 

I have a third model on this particular pending pile (I have terrible piles!), that I'd considered either doing as a wreck, or maybe even as a tank being built, which is an Airfix 1/76 Panther. I have the Nürnberg Panther factory book, and quite fancy doing a diorama of a hull under construction in a workshop. But I might entirely scratch-build that, and use the Airfix kit for a battlefield casualty.

Anyroad, re the T-34... TBC...

Book Reviews: Tank Craft, various WWII German armour, Dennis Oliver

In this post I'm looking at a batch of four Pen & Sword Tank Craft titles, all on WWII German armour, and all by Dennis Oliver. I've reviewed numerous other titles by Oliver here before, and I've grown to really enjoy them. Indeed, to love them. Textually they can be a little heavy going; not due to poor writing, thankfully [1], but simply because there's just so much factual detail. If you're a proper Panzer Nut, however, you soon get a taste for that. 

Obviously these are aimed at modellers, so the 'camouflage and markings' sections, what used to be termed the 'colour plates', are a particular attraction. And in the Dennis Oliver titles the illustrations - for which I can find no credits, which is a pity - are of an excellent quality [2]. The model showcase sections also give the reader ideas and inspiration, re what can be done. A minor quibble here, and I've said this before, is that 1/35 dominates. I'd like to see a greater variety of scales represented, including the 1/76 and most especially 1/72 that are my favoured scales.

Panther 222, or the Overloon Panther, featured in Tank Craft 24.

Oliver has a particular m.o. which means frequently his titles follow or share a series of familiar paths, in terms of structure adopted and info given. This said, there are exceptions, the Panther Tanks book in this batch being a particularly good example, in that - apart from the ever present parts (colour plates, model showcase, modelling products, etc.) - it's mostly structured around the consecutive generations of brigades.

Several of the recurring features that give Oliver's contributions to this series their particular flavour, and which you'll find in some of these titles, are such things as timelines, unit histories, schematic diagrams illustrating unit composition, and more generally a sense of thoroughness and detail that is equal parts awe-inspiring and intimidating, to the more laid back buff such as me. But as I said above, the more I study this stuff, the more I too become addicted to the detail of it all.

A different but very similar picture to this graces p. 57 of the Tiger book.

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Panzer III, German Army Light Tank, Operation Barbarossa, 1941 (Tank Craft 27) - Dennis Oliver 

Focussing on the Pz III, a key piece of the German armoured thrust into Mother Russia, this excellent addition to this ever-growing series is chock-full of great reference material for the modeller.

It's kind of ironic that in the Tank Craft series as a whole there are already, so far, three titles on the Tigers I and II, and only one apiece on the Panzers III and IV. In truth the latter far outnumbered the former. But popular interest has generally favoured the later and larger tanks, and the coverage in this series, so far, conspicuously confirms that.

This very evocative photo appears, albeit small and cropped.

Many of Oliver's trademark features are here: timelines, unit compositions with diagrams, unit histories, and info on technical details and modifications. Then there are the showcase, model products, and colour profiles. Re the latter, these are of the usual high standard found in Oliver's titles. But as they're almost all in the earlier war German dark grey, they might not be the most exciting.

Not a tank that generates the same buzz as the 'big cats', the Panzer III is still an interesting weapon/vehicle. It'd have been nice to see a few more and perhaps more interesting period photos. And similarly, it's a bit of a shame that all the showcase models, as impressive as they may be, are 1/35, except a lone 1/48 example. Surely rather than having four 1/35 models, they could've had at least one in 1/72?

An excellent and highly useful book, but not quite as good as the other three under review here.

JagdPanzer IV, German Army & Waffen-SS Tank Destroyers, Western Front, 1944-5 (Tank Craft 26) - Dennis Oliver 

I only have one JagdPanzer IV in my German WWII arsenal, at present. Thanks to this book I now know that mine is a IV/70(V), as opposed to a IV/70(A). In all honesty I hadn't realised there were two such similar yet different looking variants. I definitely prefer the lower-profiled A type. And this book has given me a fabulous example - well, numerous, actually - of camouflage and markings to use as a basis for finally painting and finishing a tank model that I built aeons ago.

Another view of this vehicle appears on p. 59.

I don't quite know exactly why, but I love this vehicle, and I love this book. Maybe in part it's because it's a great example of how the German war machine of WWII took a tank that'd become obsolete in its original role, and successfully repurposed it? I like the Pz IV, and it's kind of nice [3] that instead of binning it, it got a new lease of life [4] as a tank destroyer. But I think it's simpler than that: it just looks so damn cool! As a friend of mine (not a modeller) likes to joke; the Germans may have lost WWII morally and militarily, but aesthetically? No question, they won.

A fabulous 1/76 Matchbox Jagdpanzer IV, by Theodoros Kalamatas.*

I also love that this book features a smaller scale model in the showcase section. And not only is it smaller - it's a Matchbox 1/76 kit - but it's also simply built 'out of the box'. None of your intimidatingly good/unaffordably expensive 1/35 trickery or wizardry, with after-market parts, conversions, and whatnot. Anyway, a great book. Love it. Highly recommended. 

* View more of Kalamatas' superb work here.

Tiger I & II Tanks, German Army & Waffen-SS, Normandy Campaign, 1944 (Tank Craft 25)

- Dennis Oliver 

Another quality instalment in this growing library of highly useful publications. This one I love not just for all the usual excellent info and illuminating imagery, but for featuring not just one, but two 1/72 models, in the showcase section. Bravo! There's also a 1/48 example as well. Amongst many other things, one inspiration this particular volume has determined me on is adding more zimmerit to my Tiger models, both the Is and IIs. 

Patrick Lapalu's impressive 1/72 Tiger II

One of the themes developed in the text is very interesting, re the small number of Tigers vs their perceived advantage/threat. The Germans making much of what really was, as a percentage of their materiel, a little, and the Allies fearing that behind every bocage hedge a dreaded Tiger lay in wait, ready to pounce. Taken alone or in conjunction with Oliver's other Tiger titles in this series, this is a very useful book. One I'm very chuffed to have.

Panther Tanks, German Army Panzer Brigades, Western & Eastern Fronts, 1944-5 (Tank Craft 24) - Dennis Oliver 

Initially when I read these books, I'll actually be surfing through the images, and only actually reading some of the picture captions. The text itself, being so densely packed with info', is something I generally get into later. But I feel it's worth noting that Dennis Oliver's contributions to this highly useful and ever-growing series are of a uniformly high, nay, superb quality, in all areas. 

The level of detail is on the cusp of mind-numbing. But, if you're anything like me, you'll find yourself strangely excited by all the minutiae. And as its mercifully well-written, as hard work as it might be to digest (never mind retain) such a great deal of info', it is at least pleasingly clear and concise.

That Overloon Panther again!

In this instance Oliver gives over the bulk of his text to brief histories of the numerous Panzer 'Brigades' equipped with Panthers, noting that in the latter half of WWII Germany excelled at this kind of near ad hoc firefighting type m.o. Then there's all the usual stuff: colour profiles, model showcase and products, etc. In conjunction with the other Panther titles in the series this all adds up to some seriously useful stuff.

The colour profiles are terrific, as ever. And the quality of the showcase models is jaw-dropping. But there are only three, all 1/35. I'm docking half a star on account of this, as it'd have been nice to have had one or two more showcase examples, preferably in other scales.

In conclusion, all of these books are excellent, and well worth having. And I look forward to more useful titles as the series continues to grow.

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NOTES:

[1] I won't mention names, but I have struggled with some P&S modeller's titles where the writing itself has left rather a lot to be desired.

[2] As good as the illustrations are. And I love them. I do have one quibble: the dunkelgelb and rotbraun seem fine to me. But the Olivgrun seems a little odd, perhaps a bit too lime-ish? Kind of too zingy, for my tastes. But the images are so good overall this isn't a deal-breaker at all.

[3] Hardly an appropriate term, I know.

[4] Dealing out death, see above note!

Airfix 1/76 Panther

This is, so far, my only finished WWII AFV model!

Airfix 1/76 Panther.

Whilst reading an old thread of mine on TMP (here) I realised that, despite all my WWII German armour posts, I hadn't posted - except perhaps for some incidental pics in which a completed Kettenkrad might be visible - a single finished tank kit! 

To remedy this I decided to post these pics, of the first model I built in this recent spate of model-making. This one was made alongside my father, who built an Airfix 1/76 King Tiger. Building these first models proved immensely enjoyable for both of us - mission accomplished! - despite them not being particularly great kits. I mean, a Panther with missing rear stowage boxes? I don't think I've ever seen a picture of a Panther without those funny looking rear boxes, with the kind of 'X' shapes on them. 

A Panther in Paris. You can just faintly see

the X-shape thought the zimm.

Of course, as soon as I said I'd never seen a Panther without those stowage bins, I thought I'd better have a look online for documentary evidence. What did I find? These (and plenty more in a similar similar vein!):

Hey-ho! Never mind, eh? It was probably from such a survivor of the war as one of the above that Airfix designed their kit. And not only did I find plenty of pics of Panther sans stowage boxes, but most of the Panther tanks that did show them have so much zimm you can hardly see the 'X'-shape anyway, as with the rather cool pic below, showing some Rooskies ,ankle-deep in mud gloating over a knocked-out vehicle. It's nice to see the box lid open as well:

Despite not being issued with feet, Russian soldiers 

still knock out a Panther, with pure Stalinist glee, by

the looks of this lot.

But I did find this pic:

X marks the spot.

... which is allegedly a genuine Panther Stowage bin, with original camo paint scheme. In this instance the 'X' is clearly visible.

Despite the fact that it's like putting silk slippers on a club-foot, I bought a set of five turned-brass machine guns, substituting one for the plastic monstrosity that came with the Airfix kit (dad took one for his King Tiger).

The model was undercoated with a can of matt black Army Painter spray paint, after which a base-coat of dunkelgelb, using a  Humbrol enamel mix of my own concoction, was sprayed over that, with a single-action Badger airbrush. The final paint job, inc. camo and detailing etc, was also done using Humbrol enamels, but finished using brushes, as opposed to an airbrush. And it shows! 

Decals were added. Not very well. So badly on the left side in fact that I had to add even more extras. I can't recall exactly what I did now, but I think I might've tried to soften the decal and shape it over the turret detail using white spirit, which just melted it from red and white areas into a pink mess. I decided a Schmeiser machine gun, hanging off a fixture on the turret, might make a plausible and interestingly different/unexpected detail. So I went with that. I had intended to add some track-holding brackets, and a strap for the gun, but never got round to it, simply slapping the gun on with some superglue.

Some bits and bobs in white metal from Sergeant's Mess - spare track, rolled cable, a jerry-can, a spare road-wheel on the turret (I got the odd looking turret position for this from a Bundesarchiv pic), a rolled tarp, etc. - were painted, and then the whole lot given a coat or Army Painter Quickshade and, finally, the whole model was sprayed in Testors Dullcote.

Panther, Panther, pointing right, on my table of delight...

I recently made a new model-making buddy, rather unexpectedly, at a friend's Yuletide/New Years party, and discovered from him that what I should've used for the decals is a specific liquid designed especially to shape them over irregular surfaces. By this time I had also realised that, to achieve the kind of fancy German camo-patterns I want to paint, such as the famous and popular 'ambush' scheme, I really needed to invest in a dual-action airbrush.

Still, this tank will, I hope, always have a place in my heart, it being the first model I completed upon returning to this aspect of the miniature warfare hobbies of my youth. And, truth be told, whilst the perfectionist in me is perhaps somewhat disappointed with it, the rest of me is quite content. Perhaps even, dare I say it, a little proud?