Steyr 1500A - Ardennes

This is the second of my Tamiya Steyr 1500A's, this time using some Mantis Miniatures schwimmwagen crew as figures. They fitted extremely well, without modification. The resin stowage and wheels are by Black Dog, and like the figures, are top notch!

 

 

Opel Blitz mit Sonderaufbau - Ardennes 1944

This is the Tamiya Opel Blitz with a CMK resin "Sonderaufbau" (loosely -- "Special Body") conversion. It sits on a resin base by Reality in Scale, which was painted by my good friend from the Netherlands, Jerry Plettenberg. Thanks Jerry!

Anyway, here it is:

Ardennes Schwimmwagen part deux

Here's my latest Schwimmer. It's the old but good Tamiya kit, with a few minor additions. AFV Club has brought out a new version of the schwimmwagen, so it will be interesting to see how that one builds. I'm waiting on the crew to be delivered - more pics once they are done. I'll also add some clutter on the rear seats...

Wirbelwind Progress #2

Construction has finished on the Wirbelwind. Changes to the turret were limited to removing the basic and clunky flash eliminators from the ends of the barrels and replacing them with ends from the Tristar 20mm Flak accessory kit barrels. The rest of the turret and flakvierling assembly are pretty good, and up to crisp modern Tamiya standards.  

First up is a base coat of 50/50 Tamiya acrylic black and hull red:

Next is a well diluted mix of Tamiya Desert Yellow and Dark Yellow, again, around 50/50 with a splash of white to lighten it. The top half of the turret is not attached at this point as I have a lot of detail painting to do in the turret before I can button it up:

Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind

I thought I'd post some progress pictures of my latest project. It's the Tamiya Wirbelwind with a few tweaks and improvements. I've added zimmerit as the chassis is from a Pz IV Ausf H. I've also replaced the "rubber band" tracks with indy-links from Dragon. Tools have had etched brass clamps added, and I've placed a 100 round 2cm ammo box from Tristar's 2cm Flak accessory set on the right hand side. I'll be using quite a few bits from this set as the project progresses - especially the spare 2cm barrels to replace the Tamiya ones.

It will be finished as a vehicle of the 1st SS Panzer Division during the Ardennes offensive, so I'll be adding a few crew figures dressed suitably warm...

The green finish to the surface? I always stipple on a dilute mix of liquid poly and squadron green putty to add a slight texture to the surface of the armour/steel plate. Otherwise the surface would be too smooth, too uniform, too unrealistic.

Tiger 1 (Early) - "Totenkopf"

This is an early Tiger 1 depicted as "931" of 3.SS Panzer Grenadier Division Totenkopf during the battle of Kursk in summer 1943.  The base kit is Tamiya, with a few bits of photo-etch and scratch built cleaning rods, lighting cables for the headlights etc. The tow cable is soft metal by Karaya. The crewman, in SS pea-pattern overalls is by Tristar with Archer collar patches and shouder boards. I like the simple two-colour paint scheme of red-brown over dunkelgelb.

SdKfz 139 Marder III

I have added the excellent Tamiya SdKfz 139 Marder to a simple base to create a compact but effective diorama scene. The Marder represents one photographed in Fulda in 1945 (Panzerwrecks) and is another "last ditch" use of older equipment by the Germans. 

The SdKfz 139 utilised the excellent captured Russian 76.2mm anti-tank gun, chambered to fire the German 75mm Pak round. Based on the Czech 38t chassis, the little tank killer is a great example of German ingenuity. This old veteran would still give a T-34 a nasty surprise...