Anniversary Special issue

100
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Battle of Kursk
The world’s greatest tank battle, July 5 – August 23, 1943
‘Tigger’ at Kursk Lost Panther Panzer III
Tamiya’s Early production German big cat makes a debut Building Dragon Models 1/35 scale
Tiger Tank in 1/48 scale performance at Kursk Kampfwagen 3 Ausf. M
30th March 2018
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Features
EDITORIAL 10 The Battle of Kursk
Contributing Editor: Martyn Chorlton A very brief introduction to the ‘The world’s largest tank battle’
Enterprise House, Enterprise Way,
Edenbridge, Kent TN8 6HF 14 Battle Trap
Email: contribeditor@militarymodelling.com Trumpeter KV-1 diorama by Konstantinos Tsiompris

PRODUCTION 22 30
Designer: Richard Dyer
Illustrator: Grahame Chambers
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22 Lost Panther
Group Advertising Manager: Rhona Bolger Johan Augustsson appropriately presents a vignette depicting an
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30 No place for a T-70
The MiniArt 1/35 T-70M Soviet light tank by Mark Chisholm

36 44
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36 Dirty ‘Tigger’ at Kursk
cannot be held legally responsible for errors in the contents of this The 1/48 Tamiya Tiger I Early Production by Wouter Vrints
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52
52
 Vol.48 No.4 2018

60

64
60 Aleksandra
Grigoryevna
Samusenko
Life Miniatures 1/10 bust
Stand Easy...
by Peter Day

W
elcome to Military Modelling
64 Panzer Marsch! Magazine, Volume 48, Number
Panzer Kampfwagen 3 4, which is our annual 100-Page
Ausf. M by Alexander Wegner ‘Special’. This year we take a look at The
Battle of Kursk, infamously known as the
71 ‘The Grave of world’s largest tank battle, which took place
Seven Brothers’ 75 years ago this summer. In this issue we
A TAKOM M3 Lee 71 have focussed on the tank but we should
‘M3sredni’ in Soviet also remember the hundreds of thousands
hands with an of troops, artillery pieces, general support
Academy interior equipment and aircraft which took part in
by Ivan Cocker the long battle for a patch of land 150 miles
long and 100 miles deep. Even with 100
pages to play with we can barely scratch
the surface of this subject and other Kursk-
related articles will appear later in the year
in addition to these twelve articles.
77 While we have included some familiar
contributors to you, I am pleased to
introduce no less than five new ones (to me
at least) in the shape of Johan Augustsson,
77 Kursk Bail Out Sven Frisch, Kimmo Happonen, Alexander
Tristar’s Kursk ‘Bailout Wegner and Konstantinos Tsiompris. All of
from the Pocket’ figure set them are high class modellers and I hope
by Kimmo Happonen that they will continue to produce work for
Military Modelling in the future.
82 T-34 ‘Hero of
80 the Soviet Union’ As always, we are interested in ‘military’
To commemorate contributions, however ‘outside the box’
the Battle of Kursk you think they may be but please remember
Richard Dyer builds we are looking for articles which have not
and enhances the be published before, either in another
Warlord Games T-34/76 magazine or on social media such as
Facebook. With the latter in mind, if you
have been commissioned to carry out a
piece of work for this magazine, please
don’t put the finished article (or images from
Regular Features that article) onto social media before the
magazine has been released and yes, that
includes our own forum.
5 ‘Stand Easy’
A message from the Contributing Editor Keep the contributions coming for
Reader’s Showcase, I know a number of
96 Next Issue people who have been over the moon
What’s coming up in your favourite modelling magazine! about their ‘pride and joy’ appearing in the
magazine; a number of those models were
more than worthy of a full article.

Cover Story... ‘Carry On!’

MAIN IMAGE: KV-1 diorama by Konstantinos Tsiompris Martyn Chorlton

Contributing Editor
UPPER LEFT INSET: Lovely Life Miniatures bust by Peter Day
contribeditor@militarymodelling.com
LEFT INSET: Lost Panther by Johan Augustsson

CENTRE INSET: Panzer III by Alexander Wegner

RIGHT INSET: Imposing 1/48 Tiger by Wouter Vrints

www.militarymodelling.com 5
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 History
The Battle of
KURSK
The world’s largest tank battle
ABOVE: A Soviet machine gun crew
make haste before taking up position
during the Battle of Kursk.
RIGHT: Generalfeldmarschall Eric
Von Manstein, the primary German
commander during the Battle of Kursk.
BELOW: A German soldier uses a
colleague to steady the aim of his
MG 42 machine gun during the battle.
10
Build-up
When the long drawn out Battle of Stalingrad finally
came to a conclusion in February 1943, the German
forces found themselves in an unfamiliar position. They
had suffered a defeat which finally indicated to the
Soviets that this huge, efficient, well-equipped fighting
machine was not unbeatable. On a high and with
forces growing in ever increasing numbers, the Soviets
kept the pressure up by opening a new offensive to the
south which threatened to leave German forces cut off
south of the River Don, which included Army Group A
in the Caucasus and Army Group Centre.
The industrial city of Kursk, which had been in
German hands since November 1941 was back in
Soviet hands in February 1943. The surrounding
area to the west of the city was also under Soviet
control and this giant salient was 150 miles long
and 100 miles deep, almost like a ‘bulge’ pushing
into German-held territory. This unassuming piece of
land would be the venue for the German’s last major
offensive of the Second World War and the largest
tank battle the world had ever seen.
Operation Citadel
The Battle of Kursk can be divided up into several
operations and battles, but the main thrust was
initiated by the German forces under the codename
Operation Citadel. Under the command of Field
Marshall Erich von Manstein, the plan was to perform
a classic pincer move which penetrated from the north
and sound of the salient, simultaneously recapturing
the city of Kursk and all Soviet forces trapped inside
the salient. Still licking their wounds from Stalingrad,
the German forces could only rely on its panzer forces
for this operation. It was this humiliating defeat which
drove Manstein on, the general, firmly believing that a
victory at Kursk would provide a much needed morale
booster for the German forces.
For the first time since his rise to power in 1933,
Adolf Hitler was actually hesitant as to whether the
operation could succeed and would not give the go
ahead until a new generation of tanks was available,
including the Panther and increased numbers of Tigers.
Hitler delayed the start of Citadel three times and it
was not launched until July 4, 1943. From the Soviet
perspective, the German offensive was no surprise
and thanks, in part, to information provided by British
intelligence, the defenders were able to prepare
months in advance. So much so that the Soviet
defensive line was an incredible 200 miles deep and in
total, stretched over 3,800 miles. Hundreds of anti-tank
guns were dug in and at least one trench line alone had
been sown with half a million mines which equated
Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

to a nearly a pair for each German soldier. With regard
to numbers, the Germans committed 780,900 men,
2,928 tanks and 9,966 guns and mortars to Citadel,
while the defenders had 1,910,361 men, 5,128 tanks
ad 25,103 guns and mortars at their disposal, which put
the Soviets at a clear advantage.
The German assault began on the evening of
July 4 from the south, beginning with the seizure
of some high ground which would be used for
artillery observation positions. Early successes for
the Germans included the capture of the villages
of Butovo and Gertsovka by the 3rd and 11th Panzer
Divisions. However, the Soviet reply came early
and General Nikolai Vatutin, the commander of the
southern face of the salient, also known as the
Voronezh Front, let rip with 600 guns, mortars and
Katyusha rocket launchers. In the north, intelligence
reports began arriving at Stavka co-ordinator Georgy
Zhukov’s Central Front headquarters at Kursk from
0200hrs on July 5 and immediately a well-prepared
intense artillery bombardment began. However, these
initial bombardments did little to slow the attackers
and the Germans began their own bombardment
from 0500hrs. The VVS (Russian Air Force) launched a
number of large air raids against Luftwaffe airfields, the
aircraft of the 2nd Air Army suffering much higher losses
in the south compared to the 16th Air Army in the north.
However, the Luftwaffe would retain air superiority
in the north until July 7 and would only cling on for a
further four days in the south.
www.militarymodelling.com
History
The Northern face ABOVE: The Soviets most effective
main battle tank during the
Under the command of General Walter Model, the Battle of Kursk was the T-34.
XLVII Panzer Corps, with 45 Tiger tanks attached
to the 505th Heavy Tank Battalion, delivered the
LEFT: General Georgy Zhukov, the
Germans initial main attack on the northern face Stavka co-ordinator during the
of the salient. On their left, cover was provided by Battle of Kursk.
the XLI Panzer Corps complete with an attachment
of 83 Ferdinand tank destroyers and on the right
was the XLVI Panzer Corps made up of four infantry
‘‘
divisions, only with nine tanks and 31 assault guns.
One the left flank of the XLI Panzer Corps was
the XXIII Army Corp which was reinforced by the
78th Assault Infantry Division and a pair of regular
infantry divisions. In front of this German force was
the Soviet’s Central Front which was spread across This apparent
a trio of fortified belts.
Using his infantry divisions to spearhead
Soviet defeat
the attack, Model used his armour carefully by actually bought
”
employing the assault guns and heavy tanks as
reinforcements which in turn were supported by valuable time for
artillery and the Luftwaffe. This would enable the
heavy armour to exploit any breach made by the the defenders to
infantry which Model confidently predicted would
not take long to achieve. However, the heavily
reseal the breach...
mined terrain and the many fortified positions
reduced the German advance to a snail’s pace.
Eventually a path clear of mines was punched
through the first line of defence and a gap in the
Soviet line was exploited by two companies of Tiger
tanks. The latter were greeted by 90 T-34 tanks and
a battle which lasted three hours ensued which
resulted in the loss of 42 T-34s and just a pair of
Tigers and five more stranded because of track
damage. This apparent Soviet defeat actually bought
valuable time for the defenders to reseal the breach
caused by the German advance and by the end of
the first day the XLVIII Panzer Corps had only gained
six miles for the cost of 1,287 men killed and nearly BELOW: A typical symbol of the
German defeat is this knocked out
6,000 wounded. Panther; a superb tank which was not
July 6 saw a Soviet counterattack by General operationally ready for Kursk.
Konstantin Rokossovsky’s 17th and 18th Guards
Rifle Corps, along with the 2nd Tank Army and the
 History

The Southern face

TOP: Soldiers of the 5th Guards Army
purposefully march through a village
not far from Prokhorovka.
ABOVE: A German Marder III tank
destroyer is concealed just enough to
disrupt its outline in the open terrain
of the Kursk salient.
19th Tank Corps, plus close air support. Poor co-
ordination resulted in only the 16th Tank Corp with
200 tanks of the 2nd Tank Army coming up against
the Tigers of the 505th Heavy Tank Battalion. The
Tigers despatched 69 Soviet tanks forcing a Soviet
withdrawal and later during the morning of July 6,
the XLVII Panzer Corps quickly responded with its
Manstein’s attack on the southern face began at
0400hrs on July 5 with a bombardment followed
by an attack by the 4th Panzer Army, under the
command of General Herman Hoth. The opposing
force was the Soviet 6th Guards Army made up of
the 22nd and 23rd Guards Rifle Corps, dug into three
defensive belts.
Lead by General Walter Hörnlein, the Panzer
Division Großdeutschland was the strongest of
its kind in the 4th panzer Army. The 3rd and 11th
Panzer Divisions flanked the Großdeutschland’s
Panzer IIIs, IVs and a company of 15 Tigers, which
spearheaded the attack at dawn on July 5. With
heavy artillery in support, the Panzers attacked the
67th Guards Rifle Division of the 22nd Guards Rifle
Corps, but a well-laid minefield quickly immobilized
36 tanks. The stranded German tanks were then
subjected to a fierce barrage and despite the
efforts of German engineers, the mines, mud
and mechanical breakdowns stalled the advance.
However, the Germans pressed on and by the end
of day the 3rd Panzer Division had captured the

‘‘
own counterattack on the 17th Guards Rifle Corps
at Olhovatka, part of the second defensive belt.
Fronted by an artillery barrage, only 24 Tigers of
the 505th took part in the attack which failed to
breach the defences at Olhovatka and very heavy
The fierce fighting casualties were inflicted upon the Germans. The
village of Gertsovka and reached the outskirts of
Mikhailovka, while the 167th Infantry Division had
reached Tirechnoe; the first belt of Soviet defence
had been breached.
For the II SS Panzer Corps, located further to
the east, from late on July 4 through to 5th they

did see a steady

30th Rifle Division of the 29th Rifle Corps, tasked
with defending Ponyri, also managed to repel an
Soviet withdrawal, attack by the German 86th and 292nd Infantry, 78th
Assault Infantry and 9th Panzer Divisions.
but by the time Between July 7 and 10, Model continued to
try and dislodge the Soviet defenders from the
these battles ended, villages of Olhovatka and Ponyri. The fighting at
successfully advanced, succeeding in breaking a
large section of the Soviet first belt of defence. The
fierce fighting did see a steady Soviet withdrawal,
but by the time these battles ended, they had
given the Soviets time to reinforce the second belt.
The 1st and 2nd SS Panzer Divisions achieved their
objectives, while the 3rd SS Panzer Division made

they had given

Ponyri was house-to-house and following multiple slow progress, but did manage to cut off the 115th

”
counterattacks by both sides, Rokossovsky
the Soviets time managed to redirect his defensive forces to
the area. By July 10 it had already dawned on
to reinforce the the Germans that there would be little hope of
dislodging the defenders and their advance had
second belt. stalled. In reply, the Soviets began Operation
Kutuzov on July 12; a large counter offensive on
the Orel salient which had the potential to threaten
the flank and rear of Model’s 9th Army. As a result,
the 12th Panzer Division being held in reserve was
redeployed in company with the 36th Motorized, 18th
and 20th Panzer Divisions.
Guards Regiment, 52nd Guards Rifle Division, but
failed to eliminate the Soviet unit before it was
reinforced by the 96th Tank Brigade. This failure
by the 3rd Division to push as deep as its sister
divisions would prove to be the undoing of this
particular German assault.
III Panzer Corps and Corps Raus (Army Det
Kempf) were tasked with assaulting the 7th Guards
Army located on high ground on the eastern
side of the Northern Donets River. Eight infantry
battalions of the 6th Panzer Division and a section
of a company of Tigers of the 503rd Heavy Tank

12 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018


Battalion were able to cross the river at Milkhailovka
before the bridge was destroyed. Those units that
did manage to get across attacked Stary Gorod,
but could not push on any further because of a
ferocious defence.
Total commitment
By late July 6, Zhukov had committed all of his
reserves to the Voronezh Front, apart from a trio
of rifle divisions of the 69th Army. The attacking
4th Panzer Army was proving to be a tough unit to
contain and the XLVIII Panzer Corps alone was on
the verge of breaking through the Soviet second
defensive belt, which would have meant complete
access to the Soviet rear as the third belt was
now unmanned. In response, the 5th Guards and
5th Guards Tanks from the Steppe Front and the
2nd Tank Corps from the Southwestern Front were
moved to the Voronezh Front. On July 7, the 17th Air
Army was called in to support, the 2nd Army already
engaged in operations over the Voronezh. The same
day the 5th Guards Tank Army began its advance
towards Prokhorovka. The 10th Tank Corps also
headed for Prokhorovka at speed arriving late on
July 7, while the 2nd Tank Corps arrived at Korocha,
25 miles southeast of Prokhorovka by early on July
8. It was at this point that Vatutin ordered a massive
counterattack with 593 tanks and self-propelled
guns fielded by the 2nd, 5th Guards and the 2nd and
10th Tank Corps. Complete with air support, the
counterattack was uncoordinated and the Soviet
losses were very high, including the 10th Tank Corp
which lost most of its strength to anti-tank fire from
the 2nd and 3rd SS Divisions. The 3rd SS Division
managed to keep the 5th Guards Tank Corps and
the 2nd Tank Corps at bay. The latter was completely
decimated by Luftwaffe ground attack aircraft,
infamously becoming the first tank formation to be
despatched in such a manner.
Despite the high losses suffered by the
Soviets, the advance of the II SS Panzer Corps
had been stalled by late July 8; the German unit
could only claim a total advance of 18 miles since
the beginning of Operation Citadel. The first
and second defensive belts had been breached
but the slow progress of the XVIII Panzer Corps
resulted in the II SS Panzer Corps being shifted
to support the corps and some momentum was
lost. By July 10, the Germans were advancing
towards Oboyan, north east of Prokhorovka,
however the Soviets were ready with the 2nd
Tank Corps backed-up by the 9th Guards Airborne
Division and 301st Artillery Regiment.
Prokhorovka
With the Germans at the point of breaking through
into open country, at 0800hrs on July 10, a huge
Soviet barrage was ordered. 30 minutes later five
Soviet tank brigades of the 18th and 29th Tank Corps
of the 5th Guards Army, carrying infantry of the 9th
Guards Airborne Division, surged down the western
slopes in front of Prokhorovka. Simultaneously the
Soviet 33rd Guard Rifle Corps engaged the 3rd SS
Panzer Division whose intention was to outflank
the Soviet defence. The 3rd SS Panzer Division
managed to deflect a number of assaults before
they could begin their own offensive, which suffered
www.militarymodelling.com
History
large losses at the hands of concealed Soviet TOP: The Ilyushin IL-2 caused mayhem
against German armour and likewise,
anti-tank guns. The 3rd SS did manage to reach the the Luftwaffe made easy work of the
Karteschewka/Prokhorovka Road but having lost half Soviet counter offensives when given
of its armour it did not hold this position for long. free range over the battlefield.
Further south, the Soviet 18th and 29th Tank Corps
had been deflected by the 1st SS Panzer division
ABOVE: Despite be well known as
while the 2nd SS Panzer Division kept the 2nd Tank a tank battle there was a great deal
Corps and 2nd Guards Tank Corps at bay. By the of close quarter fighting; note the
bayonet on this Soviet soldier’s rifle.
end of the Battle of Prokhorovka, neither side had
‘‘
achieved what they set out to do, but even though
the Soviet losses were high, they had prevented the
Germans from breaking through.
Late on July 12, Operation Citadel came to a
premature end as two days earlier the Allies invaded
Sicily forcing Hitler to divert a proportion of his ...neither side had
achieved what
forces to Italy. The German offensive continued
momentarily with Operation Roland from July 14,
but three days later, the II SS Panzer Corps were
ordered to withdraw. The Soviet counter offensive
they set out to do,
continued with Operation Kutuzov on July 12 which but even though
inflicted heavy losses on the German forces in
the Orel salient. Operation Rumyantsev began on the Soviet losses
were high, they
August 3, later than planned because of losses
”
suffered on the Voronezh Front. Focus of the attack
was the Northern Wing of the German Army Group
South and within two days the Soviets had liberated
had prevented the
Belgorod. The city of Kharkov was next and fighting Germans from
took place between 12-23 August before this city
was liberated and the lengthy period known as the breaking through.
Battle Kursk finally came to an end.
Despite the horrendous losses which equated
to 177,847 men during Citadel alone and a total of
254,470 during the whole of Battle of Kursk, the
Soviet’s achieved a strategic victory and this was
the first time a major German offensive had not
achieved its objective. From this point onwards,
backed up by huge ever-growing resources, the
Soviet machine would not stop pushing until it
arrived in Berlin in April 1945.
13
Diorama

Battle
Trap
Trumpeter KV-1, Dragon ‘Eastern Front Tank Hunters’,
MiniArt ‘Soviet Soldier Riders’ and MiG ‘Soviet
Soldiers’ 1/35 diorama by Konstantinos Tsiompris
1 a small group of German soldiers waiting in a big
I
always wanted to make a diorama that depicts
the Battle of Kursk complete with the grassy
terrain, big shell holes and dust. So my main
thought was to pick a Soviet tank and some good
figures with great action poses, to fit them into the
scene. In my mind, the concept of the diorama was
to have a tank in an uneven grassy field with shell
holes and corrosion and some troops around it and
shell hole to hit the tank with a Panzerschreck. It’s a
pretty convincing story of a typical battle in the
Kursk region that summer in 1943.
I will break down the diorama in sections
in order to make the things clearer
and I will start with the KV-1 tank.

KV-1 tank
Photo 1. Here is the 1/35 KV-1 Soviet tank from
Trumpeter (00360). This is a very detailed kit with great
plastic tracks and all at a reasonable price. There were
no construction problems and within two days the
whole tank was built, except the tracks.

14 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

 Diorama

2 3

Photo 2. In order to enhance the detail on the turret

and to give the feeling of the casting, I used
some Humbrol classic filler and a little
glue. I used an old brush and with stippling
4
movements, I created this harsh texture
on the turret.

Photo 3. Because the tank is

operative, it carries and some
‘wounds’. I used pliers to bend the
plastic fenders in certain spots.

Photo 4. Finally, the smaller

components of the kit such
as wheels, towing cables
and hatches are ready to
receive the first coat of
primer.

www.militarymodelling.com 15
Diorama

Photo 5. The whole kit was sprayed with the Ammo

of Mig Jimenez Grey Primer and I let dry for a
couple of hours.

Photo 6. This step is very important because

many modellers get confused with Russian
Green. I chose Lifecolor paints for this task
using Green (LC 06) as a base and then with a
few drops of white and black paint to the mix, I
airbrushed some highlights and shadows to the
model. The final result may seem a bit white but
with the weathering stages it will be more dark
and greener.

Photo 7. Then, the model received a coat of gloss

6
varnish from Lifecolor and I attached the decals.
To make the decals adhere better and take the
shape of the casting of the turret, I used some
Mr. Setter solution on them. After that, a general
brownish filter was brushed on the whole model.
I made the filter using some of Ammo’s streaking
grime and a lot of thinner.

Photo 8. Now I switched to oils and the ORP (Oil

Rendering Process). I used the new oil brushes
from Ammo and some black and white oil colours.
I painted small dots of these colours and with the
help of the odourless thinner, I blended them with
a flat brush.
7
Photo 9. This process was time consuming as
always, because the pin-washes should be carried
out with great attention to detail. I used the brown
wash for green vehicles and the dark wash from the
Ammo range. This step gives a sense of depth and
starts to bring the vehicle ‘alive’.

Photo 10. Back to the acrylics so I can start

chipping the tank. With a piece of sponge and a
fine pointed brush, I started to make some chipping
spots on the tank. I used a light green and a dark
brown from Lifecolor and AMMO.

Photo 11. With the same brown paint, I dry-brushed

some angles and spots of the model. This dry-
brushing will give us some different chips from the
previous ones.

Photo 12. In order to make some vertical streaks

of dirt, I used Ammo’s streaking grime and painted
8 some fine lines on the sides of the tank. Then with
a flat brush moistened with thinner and with vertical
movements, I blended the lines, making a nice effect.

Photo 13. On the previous chips I added some rust

to add a little corrosion to the metal. I used the light
rust wash from the Ammo range and I blended it
with some thinner.

Photo 14. Now I will concentrate on the exhausts. I

used some brownish and reddish from Ammo Rust
set and painted the two exhausts of the tank.

Photo 15. Some chipping fluid followed over the

previous step and it was left to dry. After that, I
painted the base green colour and scratched with
some warm water in order to reveal the brown that
represents the burnt metal.

16 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

 9 10
Diorama

11 12

Photo 16. The final touch for the exhausts is a little

black pigment from Ammo applied to certain spots.
13 14
Photo 17. Now it’s the time to take care of the
lower parts of the tank. I wanted the KV-1 to be
dusty as it was operated in summer and in dry
conditions, so there will not be any wet and dark
mud. First step is to airbrush some earth tones from
Ammo acrylics as a good base for the weathering.

Photo 18. As the previous paints are still wet, I

placed earth tone pigments on them to add a little
volume to the dirt and let them dry completely.

15

16

17

18

www.militarymodelling.com 17
Diorama

19 20

21 22

23

24

25 26 27

29 30

28

18
 Diorama
31

Photo 19. Continuing with the dust effects, I now use

my airbrush. I picked some enamel earth from Ammo
and sprayed it on the vertical and angled portions of
the model and leave to dry. Then with a flat brush and a
little thinner, I began to wipe the paint out slowly with
downwards movements of the brush.

Photo 20. Now it’s time to treat the horizontal

surfaces. Again earth tone pigments are the key for this
task. The pigments are fixed with some thinner.

Photo 21.Because the tank operated on a dry grassy

field, I placed some dry strands of grass (from the
Joefix Company) onto the surfaces of the tank to 32
match with the environment and fixed with Ammo’s
Sand and Gravel glue.

Photo 22. I wanted to show the black smoke that

exhausts leave on the tank so I used my airbrush
with a bit of black paint and sprayed some thin lines,
following the direction of the gasses and fumes.

Photo 23.] To make some streaks of dirt and leaks

from oils, I used some Black Oil and Fuel Stains from
Ammo and placed them in logical positions.

Photo 24. Now the tracks come under the spotlight.

First of all, the tracks received a coat of Ammo Dark
Tracks paint.
33
Photo 25. To make the tracks dusty and filled with
soil and dirt I again use the pigments. The key for this
step is to use many shades of pigments to make them
interesting and not dull. These pigments were fixed
with Ammo Sand and Gravel glue.

Photo 26. In order to show the polished metal finish

due to the constant touch of the metal wheels and
the tracks. I used some Dark Steel pigment and I dry
brushed it on the inner side of the tracks.

Photo 27. The outside part of the tracks, due to the

constant touch with the ground, must have polished
parts. I used the same dark steel pigment and a
graphite pencil for a more polished look.

Photo 28. Also, I attached some more dry strands of
grass onto the tracks to match the environment.
Photo 29. At the time of the battle, many crews hid
their tanks in large grassy shrubs in order to avoid air
attacks. Often, they used large branches attached onto
the tanks as camouflage. I wanted to show this, so
I used the flower/shrubs product from Joefix. Also, I
painted these small branches with Lifecolor paints.
Photo 30. The final detail to the KV-1 was to add a
large piece of wood to side of the model, as this would
help the tank get out of muddy ground. I used balsa
wood and some thread to secure it.
Photo 31. The finished tank.
Figures for the diorama
Photo 32. From my point of view, the figures in a
diorama play the most important role, because they
bring an element of life to the scene. When I plan
to make a diorama, I first consider the poses of the
figures and then the type of tank or vehicle. For this 34
diorama, I made a selection of German and Russian
soldiers and tankers. The Germans are Dragon (Gen2)
(6279), the Soviet tanker and the soldier on the tank
are from Miniart (35055) (with a head from Hornet
Company) and the two tankers on the ground are from
MiG Productions Company (MP35279). The latter two
figures are a very rare set with excellent detail and
dramatic pose. In this picture the figures have been
constructed and I’m putted each figure onto a plastic
cup of water with a metal rod in order to hold the
figure during the painting process.
Photo 33. After a coat of grey primer I started to paint
the figures with acrylics from the Lifecolor range.
Usually I don’t paint a general base coat to a figure but I
started with shadow base colour sprayed with an angle
of 45˚ from the bottom to the top of the figure.
Photo 34. Also, the equipment of the figures plays
an important role as to how the figure looks. I give
great attention to painting and weathering the
equipment with acrylics and enamel products.

www.militarymodelling.com 19
Diorama

36

35

Photo 41. I used a very detailed grass mat from

the Model Scene Company. With the help of a pair
of scissors, I cut the grass mat to desired shape to
fit the base.
37
Photo 42. I added to the ‘bare’ spots some acrylic
mud from the AMMO range. For this task I chose
the Light Earth Ground.

Photo 43. Before the paste dries, I sprinkled some

real soil and dirt into the wet paste.

38 Photo 44 As the paste begins to dry, this is a good

opportunity to check the spots where the figures
will be placed. I used some nylon for food-packaging
to press the figures without ruin the paintwork.
Also, I pressed the tracks of the tank into the soil.
39
Photo 45. Also, in order to give some emphasis and
the sense of depth to the ground, I made a thinned
wash from Ammo enamel products and placed it to
the ground with a large brush.

Photo 46. To reduce the synthetic shine of the

Photo 35. I used some dry transfers from Archer to
add some badges to the German figures.
Photo 36 to Photo 39. The finished figures.
grass mat, I painted some portions of grass with
a mix of brown and yellow paints to achieve the
desired look.
Photo 47. Again, I added some strands of dry
grass to the ‘bare’ ground spots of the diorama
for visual interest.

Photo 48. To break the monotony of the soil, I used

Construction of the base
Photo 40. An easy way to start a base for a diorama
or a vignette is to use a picture frame and some
polystyrene. I cut the polystyrene with a knife to
make an uneven surface for the groundwork.
some Ammo Light Earth pigments.
Photo 49. Finally, I added some small shrubs and taller
plant life from Joefix studios and natural weeds to the
base, to increase the variety of the vegetation.

40 41

42 43
 Diorama

Acknowledgements
44 The Trumpeter KV-1 kit was purchased from ‘lottonsfr2’
(E-Bay); Dragon ‘Eastern Front Tank Hunters’ from
‘quirkyvintageandbooks’ (E-Bay) and MiniArt ‘Soviet
Solder Riders’ from G-B Models (E-Bay).

45

46 47

48 49
Vignette

Lost Panther
Making its debut at
C
omplete books have been written about the high losses due to mechanical failure. Most design
Panther tank, so I will just briefly describe flaws were rectified by late 1943 and the spring of
the Battle of Kursk, its development and history in this article. 1944, though the bombing of production plants,
Johan Augustsson The Panther was intended to counter the Soviet
T-34 and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV and
increasing shortages of high quality alloys for critical
components, shortage of fuel and training space
appropriately despite its initial mechanical reliability problems, and the declining quality of crews all impacted the
presents a vignette it is still considered one of the best tanks of the
Second World War for its excellent firepower and
tank’s effectiveness.

depicting an protection. The Panther proved to be effective in

Sd.Kfz.171 open country and long-range engagements, but its
weak side armour made it vulnerable to flanking
Panzer V Panther fire. The Panther was rushed into combat at Kursk
under investigation despite numerous unresolved
technical problems, leading to
by the Red Army.

22 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

 Vignette

It was officially classified as a medium tank, even

though its weight of 44.8 tons put it into the same
category as the American M26 Pershing (41.7 tons),
British Churchill (40.7 tons) and the Soviet IS-2 (46
tons) heavies. However, the Panther had a very high
power to weight ratio, making it extremely mobile
regardless of its weight.
Why the first model entering service was
designated ‘Ausf. D’ followed by ‘A’ and later ‘G’ is
another story too long to tell here!

The vignette and developing the idea

As I firmly believe that any model looks better if it
is placed on a piece of modelled ground than on
a plain slab of wood and I also like the idea that
storytelling puts a model in a context, I seldom
build anything without a diorama idea. Ever since
childhood and my first glimpse of the dioramas
in this magazine and the Tamiya catalogue in the
1970s, the diorama artform has been my main
modelling focus. A vignette is to me just a smaller
diorama with less space, lower number of figures
and a simple story.
When I was approached by Ivan Cooker to
contribute my work to Military Modelling and later
asked by the Editor if I had anything regarding
Kursk to show, I had just started on Tamiya’s newly
released Panther Ausf. D (MM35 345) and got a,
‘OK, go ahead’. Initially and despite what I declared
above, I had no clear plan for it and now I had to
come up with something I was sure to accomplish
before the dead line.
Much of the Battle of Kursk took place on the vast
grassy steppes of southern Russia and occasionally
in villages and towns, but time constraint didn’t
allow for any elaborate diorama. The Panther D
suffered from many mechanical problems, so I
decided to use the Tamiya Panther engine (MM180)
and show a vehicle which the crew was trying to
repair. Further pondering on this, while constructing
the model and how to augment the idea, I decided
to show some Red Army soldiers checking this
new but abandoned beast out, instead of the ABOVE: The model sub-assemblies
more mainstream German crew and by doing so ready for painting, with the metal
barrel and screens primed Black.
emphasis the story of a lost Panther. Please note that the gun breech,
engine compartment and the fans
were painted during construction.
Model construction and painting
Tamiya is known for their easy-to-build kits and the
Panther was no exception. Excellent moulding,
instructions and building sequences made the
construction a walk in the park. I won’t go into any
step-by-step description of the construction, but
instead describe the deviations made. Firstly, I added
Tamiya’s own metal barrel and gun breech (12664),
Mission Models ventilator screens (P35-114) and
Master Club metal tracks (MTL35002). I added
the weld seams around the front and aft armour
using thin styrene strips melted with Tamiya Extra
Thin cement and also drilled out the tool clasps. I
also fixed the suspension for the tank to stand on
slightly uneven ground, as any deviation from straight

www.militarymodelling.com 23
 Vignette
RIGHT: Four layers of different
hues of Dark Yellow were then
applied using Tamiya acrylics,
with the colour modulation
technique in mind. All wheels
were painted separately.
ABOVE: The first failed
try with the camouflage
stripes and as you can
see the lines ended
up rather uneven. I
removed all of it with
window cleaner and
started all over again!
ABOVE: This time it looked better and
I decided to add the decals. MicroSol
and MicroSet was utilised and Future
floor polish was applied both before
and after decaling.
RIGHT: Some light chipping
was added using a sponge,
before a first light neutral
filter was applied to all
areas. A metal shine on
the sprocket and idlers and
Tamiya Rubber Black on
the road wheels has been
painted here too.
24
lines tend to make a model more interesting. I also
decided to place the jack on the engine deck, with
clasps added to the aft plate brackets and further
left the front end of the fenders and a knocked off
headlight. For some reason Tamiya produces the
towing wire loops not hollowed out but just
half cut through for a string to be attached.
I can’t understand why, as it takes lots of work to
make this solution respectable. I therefore replaced
the wires completely with Dragon loops and steel
wire. The shurtzen were also cut to depict some of
them being lost and the spare track links were hung
in a more hap-hazard way. Please note that the tracks
were assembled and painted later in the project and
described further on in the text.
After construction comes painting, right? Yet,
the gun breech was painted accordingly during the
turret construction, as was the fans and engine.
Unfortunately, Tamiya didn’t include any other
interior, so everything but the gun was kept in
the dark. The shurtzen, jack, wheels and spare
track links were all painted separately over a black
primer. I really like the ‘colour modulation’ way of
enhancing light and dark areas, but some modelers
take this too far in my opinion. I’ve seen models on
various medias painted with this technique that look
fabulous, but in real life they would look like circus
chariots, so I’ve tried to develop my own style and
use a subtler form of modulation.
For the paint scheme I first thought of some of
the suggested ones in the instructions, but then I
remembered that Tamiya decals tend to be quite
thick, making the edges hard to disguise, so I
ordered the Star Decals sheet of ‘Panthers at Kursk
1943’ (35-876). I followed the scheme for ‘642’ of
Pz. Abt. 52 to the most extent, exclusively using
Tamiya acrylics. I started with a shadow colour of
Flat Brown in all recesses and shaded areas. After
this, I airbrushed coats of Dark Yellow progressively
lightened with Deck Tan. I was very happy with
the result; I got on with the camouflage stripes of
Red Brown and Olive Green... with a disastrous
result! In my attempt to apply a very thin mixture
I had for some obscure reason turned down the
compressor pressure too much, causing the paint
to hit the model with a speckled result. When trying
to redeem this with another Dark Yellow run, this
coat turned out too thick, obscuring all fine details.
Admitting the mistake, I reached for the window
cleaner and started all over again.
Lastly, the decals were applied over a coat
of Pledge Floor Polish (Johnsons Clear in some
countries) using MicroSoft and MicroSet solutions
and all equipment and other details were picked
out by brush painting using Vallejo acrylics. The road
wheels were then lined up on a double-adhesive-
sided-taped board; painted with Tamiya Rubber
Black and then Dark Yellow through an ordinary
circle template.
As this model depicts a new tank, I took it easy
with the scratching and chipping, just covering the
most exposed areas, using a sponge and Vallejo
Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018
 Vignette

German Camouflage Black Brown and Black paint

mix. Rusting was kept to the exhaust pipes and
wires; all primed with either Hull Red or Ammo MIG
Track Primer and then dusted with MIG Productions
Standard and Bright Rust pigments.
Perhaps not too obvious in the picture, but
here the heavier dot-and-streak filtering
Playing in the mud! technique has been executed. By dragging
the paint downwards on vertical areas, a
Being a retired (not retarded!) rugby player, I like streaking effect is achieved.
it when it’s muddy and the weathering stage, is
for me, the most fun part. Still, the Battle of Kursk
occurred during high summer in a dry and dusty
climate, so I had to restrain myself not to overdo
this stage. After another coat of Pledge, I refrained
with making tonal differences known as ‘filtering’
using the technique sometimes called ‘dot-and-
streak’. You add many different colours (oils or
enamels tend to be best suited for this) and with a
flat brush moistened in appropriate thinner and drag
the paints downwards; or mess them around on
vertical areas. This was followed by a first pin wash
using MIG Productions Dark Wash.
When the pin wash had dried overnight, I took out
some bottles of AK Interactive weathering products,
namely ‘Streaking Grime Dark’ and ‘Earth Effects’
and applied these randomly over the whole model,
but mostly to the lower parts. When this in turn had
dried, a coat of Vallejo Matt Varnish was airbrushed
to seal these first effect applications. Next came
my first try with AK’s acrylic ‘Dry Mud’ Splatter
Effects around the bottom half of the body. This
was followed by a light splattering of Ammo MIG
Splashes ‘Loose Ground’, to break up the uniform
colour. Yet another coat of varnish was airbrushed,
before the final dusting and dirtying commenced,
using more AK Interactive ‘Streaking Grime Dark’ and
‘Earth Effects’ together with ‘Summer Kursk Earth’
(of course!), ‘Africa Dust’ and ‘Dust Effects’. A darker
pin wash consisting of MIG Productions Dark Wash
and Black oil paint was deployed in areas where
details had been obscured by the weathering and
then I added some MIG Productions pigments here ABOVE: After all details were brush
painted, a heavier weathering followed,
and there, secured with their own pigment fixer. with mud layers and streaking effects. A
I primed the finished tracks with Ammo MIG dark pin wash has also been applied to
all nooks and crannies.
Track Primer which didn’t adhere too well, not even
Caterpillars after a second coat, so missed areas were brush BELOW: Spare track links were painted
The Master Club separate link tracks were very easy painted with the same primer after the tracks were a rusty tone, which came out a bit too
bright here, but was toned down later.
to construct, even if it took nearly four hours to put installed on the model. Weathering was then done Some rust streaks were added just
both sides together, but I noted no real problems. with layers of thinned ‘Dry Mud’ applied with an old below them as well and all the wheels
have been added. The model was
They were crisply moulded and the tiny sprints brush and the same pigments as earlier, added in ready for the tracks and then secured
to lock them with (two per link) were even more the still-wet effects. to the base.
exquisite. Using fine tipped pliers or tweezer for the
sprints, keeping a suitable drill bit at the ready to
remove eventual edges in the mating holes and a
metal file, you’ll be alright.

ABOVE: The construction of the Master Club tracks was time

consuming but otherwise very easy, due to the first-rate
quality. Note one of the two bags filled with the tiny sprints,
the amount was more than required for the build.

www.militarymodelling.com 25
Vignette
LEFT: Here the figure has been
primed Black and the first base
colour and shadows has been
added to the face and hands.
RIGHT: Basic highlights have
been added. The face painting
process usually continues all
the way up until the whole
figure is completed, constantly
touching up mistakes.
26
ABOVE LEFT: The first step on the Frankenstein figure; parts
from Tamiya and MiniArt together with a Hornet resin head.
Note that the latter hasn’t been fixed here!
ABOVE RIGHT: Equipment added and gaps filled. I made the
collar from ‘Knead-a-tite’ and widened the boot feet with
Magic Sculp. Not visible here, but a gun sling was fabricated
from a styrene strip.
Military investigators
My thoughts on figures and the painting of these
could form an article of its own, so let’s keep it
simple; figures add value if done properly. ‘Properly’
in this case means painted to the same standard as
the vehicle and making sense to the story by means
of interaction between them and the environment.
In short, I tend to paint with acrylics and use
zenithally light method in most cases, using 4-10
nuances of each colour.
Two Stalingrad figures (S-3123 & S-3124) were
found to fit this vignette and a third figure was put
together using parts from MiniArt and Tamiya. I use
Magic Sculpt for gap filling and scratch-built areas
and Hornet heads were used for all three figures.
Please refer to the images for construction and
painting steps!
So! Over a black primer I used a mix of Vallejo
Khaki and Flat Earth as a base colour for the
uniforms, shaded with Nuln Oil ink from Games
Workshop. Highlights were done with German
Camouflage Beige, Basic Skintone and Iraqi Sand.
The Commissar’s leather jacket was painted with
a base of Leather Brown and German Camouflage
Black Brown and highlighted with Sunny Skintone
mixed into the base. Boots, pistol holster and belts
were painted with mixes of Leather Brown, Saddle
Brown, Black and German Camouflage Black Brown,
magazine pouch with Khaki and the water flask with
different Greys. The ppSh submachine guns were
LEFT: The uniform was
painted with a brownish
Khaki tone, highlighted with
German Camouflage Beige
and Iraqi Sand and the helmet
received a mix of Green Grey
and Olive Drab.
RIGHT: The finished figure,
minus weathering, which
was done on all three figures
in the same sitting. I usually
weather my figures using
the same effects used on the
model they will accompany.
Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018
 Vignette

‘‘
...every figure
painter has their
own paint mixes for

”
painted dark Grey using Black and Flat Flesh, with skin tones and I have
one’s stock painted with Burnt Umber and Sunny
Skintone added for the wood grain.
used several...
Speaking of skin tones, every figure painter has
their own paint mixes for skin tones and I have used
several before coming up with the one used here
(which I do by no means follow every time!). I usually
start with a coat of Brown Sand, which gets a wash

LEFT: The basic base build-up, using

cork sheets, low dense Styrofoam and
wood glue. A sharp craftsman’s blade
is handy too.

www.militarymodelling.com 27
 Vignette
ABOVE: Halfway through the base
construction. Grass turfs has been
added over layers of household filler
and Brown base paint.
28
of Burnt Cadmium Red and/or Royal Purple for the
shadows. I then mix the Brown Sand with more and
more Basic Skin Tone for the highlights and then
add either Salmon Rose or Light Flesh (or both) until
the very last highlight with pure Light Flesh/Salmon
Rose. Unless the face expression is of fear or lunacy
or I’m painting Homer Simpson licking a toxic frog,
I never paint the whites of the eyes in this scale.
Instead I try to add some light tone to the lower eye
lid, which tends to be sufficient. Sometimes I add
veins on the hands using thin Green Grey as shade
and pure Light Flesh as highlight and as a last step I
add a pinkish tone to the lower lip.
A basic base
As mentioned earlier, I had four months of hobby
time for this project, so a more modest vignette base
was constructed. I selected a base board from a pile
of bases given to me by a friend, which suited the
tank size without looking crammed. I built up height
with sheets of cork and low dense Styrofoam. Some
edges were softened by angular cutting and the rest
were covered with household filler and later AK’s
‘Neutral Texture for Earth’ into which fine sand was
strewn. The little, dry streamlet or ditch was carved
out in the cork and some fine gravel was added.
The edges where filed and sprayed black from
a can and then the surface was painted with
Burnt Umber placard paint and Black were the
model would be placed. Grass turfs from JoeFix
and Fredericus Rex were then glued in place,
as well as ‘general natural litter’ spread into the
uncovered areas between the grass turfs. After
this was done the base was airbrushed with
mixes of thinned Tamiya Flat Earth and Khaki. I
added some low vegetation by means of laser
cut paper plants from Kamizukuri and Fredericus
Rex, as well as dried plants from Dio Dump.
When this had dried, longer grass was made
of plumber’s seal, secured with white glue.
Then the flattened oil drum and the loose tow
wires were fixed to the ground with white glue
and some ‘Dry Mud’; this was also thinned and
spread over the road bed. Some passes with the
same effects used on the tank was made to link
it to the ground and when this had dried and the
model was attached, a final misting of Tamiya
buff and matte varnish was made.
Lastly, I fiddled around with the figure placement,
with the two Stalingrad ones first placed on the
ground in front of or beside the Panther. I also
consulted modelling friends for suggestions until
the final placement was decided.
Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018
 Vignette

Final touches and conclusion

There were some tools and tool boxes in the Tamiya
engine kit, which I utilized together with some more
Aber photo etched ones and Diopark spare tools. I
placed these around the engine deck like the crew left
in a hurry when they realized that the Soviet troops
were approaching. I also found an already completed
bucket; a must-have for any German tank model! Views of the finished vignette!
My first thought when I sat back and looked
at the completed vignette was ‘why don’t I skip
all other brands and just build Tamiya?’ The only
good answer is that Tamiya doesn’t release all cool
vehicles in model form. Tamiya has been my first
choice since the seventies and will
probably continue to be for a long
time. I haven’t tried newer brands like
Meng, Thunder Models or TAKOM
yet, but just wait and see; I might be
surprised!
This was a rather hurried project
timewise, which reduced the
complexity of the vignette, but I hope
you can find some inspiration from it
and especially to dare adding some
figures to accompany your vehicle!

29
AFV
No place for a T-70!
The MiniArt 1/35 T-70M Soviet light tank by Mark Chisholm
T
he most produced T-70 tank was actually called the T-70M. The original T-70 featured
two GAZ-202 engines, one powering each track. This was found totally impractical
and was dispensed with very early on during production. The engines were instead
mounted on the right-hand side of the vehicle and a normal transmission was fitted. The
original turret was also conical, but this was replaced with a welded turret that was offset
to the left of the hull. Conical turrets were replaced with welded turrets in April 1942.
Despite technically being the T-70M, it was simply referred to as the T-70.
The T-70 series also had a very long lifespan in service life; it was very much a
product of necessity and a stop gap during the struggle on the Eastern front. The
prototype was first run in December 1941 and entered service with the red army in
January 1942. The T-70 featured sharp angled hull construction of the glacis plates,
the crew consisted of two personnel the driver and commander/gunner. The T-70s
turret housed a 45mm model 1938 main gun and a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun.
Despite criticism, the T-70 proved a reliable gunnery platform against the lighter
German and Italian tanks and even the medium classes.
The T-70 was generally as poor as the T-60. Major-General M.E. Katukov complained
to Stalin about both the T-60 and T-70 in 1942. He was cautious of the new T-70 but
still noted that, ‘It has not shown us anything special.’
Soviet General Vatutin had a total of 1,537 tanks under his command in the
Voronezh Front, including 946 T-34 medium tanks and 277 T-70 light tanks. Since
Soviet industry was still not able to provide enough T-34 tanks to completely equip
tank brigades, the Red Army was forced to continue using the T-70 in all its tank
brigades, even in Guards units at Kursk.
Some of the more dramatic engagements that the T-70 took part in was in July
1943 at Kursk. On July 12, the Soviet Fifth Guards Tank Army clashed with the
German II SS Panzer and III Panzer Corps on a 32km wide front near Prokhorovka.
During the heavy fighting, 429 German tanks engaged the 870 Soviet tanks, 261
of which were T-70s. Soviet tank losses were much greater than Germans, but the
battle swung in favour of the Red Army. The Red Army’s 31st Tank Brigade was
successful in penetrating rear elements of the 1st SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler
Panzer-Grenadier Division. However, the 1st SS Divisional history recorded that: ‘The
three remaining Panzers … Could fire at the Russians from a distance of 10 to 30
metres and make every shell a direct hit because the Russians could not see through
the dust and smoke created by the German tanks that were rolling along with them
in the same direction. There were already 19 Russian tanks standing ablaze on the
battlefield when the Abteilung [2nd Panzer Regiment] opened fire for the first time …
destroying 62 T-70s and T-34s in a three hour-long battle that could almost be termed
hand-to-hand combat.’
Credit ‘Tank Encyclopedia’ www.tanks-encyclopedia.com
30
Introduction
The origins of the T-70m Soviet light tank lay firmly
with its predecessor the T-60; the T-60 itself harking
back to origins with Astrovs tank designs of the
1930s. These early designs could not foresee the
rapid development of armoured fighting technology
in the course of the Second World War and had
serious shortcomings. The light scout tank class
were lightly armoured and firepower initially was
limited to heavy machine guns of 12.7mm.
These lighter and smaller vehicles are very
much overshadowed by the ‘hero tanks’ of the
Great Patriotic War (in Soviet parlance) such as the
legendary T-34 and KV classes. However, the T-70
class and similar were produced in huge quantities;
8,226 units for the T-70m alone.
Construction
I chose the MiniArt rendition of the T-70m light
tank for this project to honour the memory of the
Battle of Kursk. The kit itself is rather old but this
does not distract from it as a model kit. Assembly
is entirely straightforward and the kit only consists
of about 300 parts or so. The only builder’s notes
are to be aware of the rather fragile connections
of the stub axles to the hull of the tank. The tracks
are individual links and again they are delicate, I
entirely formed the tracks working as rapidly as I
could to construct an entire track link and formed
it around the road wheels, idler and drive sprocket.
The fit of the tracks is quite good; I used some liquid
cement to bond them to the road wheels etc. for a
strong construction. I found that I did not have one
single spare link left from the sprues due to some
deformed moulds or I had damaged them when
clipping them from the sprues. So my advice here
is just to be careful and avoid damaging or losing
track links.
The model has no photoetch and only some
clear parts for periscopes and the front light. I
remember also that the top of hull was very slightly
Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018
 AFV

ABOVE: The view of the completed kit in bare plastic.

A very straightforward build; the turret is loose to
ease the painting process.

ABOVE: I started painting by applying an overall coat of RAL 9021 a very dark grey/black. This layer is
both a primer and is a method of applying the dark shadow areas.

BELOW: The first camouflage colour. I used the Mr Color set for modern Bundeswehr vehicles but the
RAL 6031 colour Bronze Grun provided an excellent match to the Soviet 4BO green.

ABOVE: A close up photo of the completed camouflage paint

colour 4BO Green, the smooth finish is achieved by diluting the
Mr Color paints with about 80% Mr Hobby levelling thinner.

ABOVE: The tracks received a light coating of the dark

grey colour by carefully airbrushing at low pressure.

LEFT: To provide visual interest and highlighting the

Mr Hobby colour Russian Green is carefully and selectively
airbrushed to the highlight upper surfaces. Keep this
application light and subtle for best results.

BELOW: Detail painting was carried out using Vallejo acrylics

and applied with a Winsor and Newton Srs.7 brush. I use the
colour Cam Black Brown as a base coat for all the metallic parts
of the pioneer tools and the exhaust system.

www.militarymodelling.com 31
 AFV

ABOVE: The tracks received a diluted coat of Shadow Rust acrylic paint. I used water and
made a dilute wash and applied liberally with a large round brush.

BELOW: I used the most basic oil paints that I could muster on this project as I was away from
home. The light tones are applied first.

BELOW: The oils are applied as small dots on a section

of the model. They were applied using a small brush.

warped, however to overcome this I just used some

pressure when joining the upper to lower hull. In
summary a very straightforward and quite enjoyable
build it only took a week working every evening to
complete the entire construction.

Painting and Weathering

I primed the model using a dark grey nearly
black paint; this product achieves two goals in
one application. A primer coat that will reveal all
inconsistencies in the completed plastic model
and it also provides the shadow and depth to the
darkest areas of the model. The painting was very
straightforward, a typical soviet green was provided
somewhat ironically a colour intended for modern
German Bundeswehr vehicles.

32 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

 AFV

LEFT: Now using enamel thinner and

a clean brush the oils are streaked
downwards on vertical surfaces. This
technique adds fading and variation to
the appearance of the model.

BELOW: Pigments are my typical

method of reproducing earth and
mud onto the tracks and lower hull of
armoured subjects. A mixture of earth
tones to depict some Kursk battlefield
mud is first applied dry to the areas.

I chose to depict the model in a realistically

weathered state consistent with how the Soviet
forces may have appeared at Kursk. Such vehicles
will have endured hard fighting and exposure to
the elements. The vehicles would be covered by
dust and the crew will have brought mud and dirt
onto and into the vehicle. I decided to depict these
effects in context to the battle choosing tones that
would complement the Kursk soil.

A rather old brush

is used to blend and
move the pigments on
and around the tracks.

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 AFV

ABOVE: Using some dark oil paints in

this case Industrial Earth and Vandyke
Brown, mixed with some enamel
thinner a dark wash is made up.

RIGHT: The dark wash is applied using a

fine brush to the panel lines and recessed
detail areas of the model. The so called
‘pin wash’ technique gives depth to the
details of the subject.

RIGHT: A view of the nearly completed hull. The various

tones from the oil paint fading add a battlefield appearance
to the model and the dark wash has drawn out the details.

BELOW: Excess dark wash is blended using a clean flat brush

just damp with some thinners. This will naturally blend the
dark stains and create some streaking effects.

34 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

 AFV

LEFT: The final step was to add very

subtle paint scratch effects to the most
exposed areas of the tanks surface. To
do this, a very light green ochre shade
is applied using a piece of packing
foam. It is essential most of the paint
is blotted off the foam in order to keep
the effect very subtle and realistic.

LEFT & BELOW: Views of the

completed model.

Conclusion
The MiniArt kit is very straightforward and does
not absorb a lot of time in both construction and
painting. It is interesting that we are able to portray
these unsung heroes of the Battle of Kursk so often
overshadowed by the legendary T-34s.

www.militarymodelling.com 35
 AFV

Dirty ‘Tigger’
at Kursk
The 1/48 Tamiya Tiger I Early Production
by Wouter Vrints
ABOVE: The author’s completed Tiger
tank is placed on the road to Kursk
courtesy of Photoshop.
RIGHT: The box art for Tamiya’s 1/48
scale early production Tiger I kit.
Continuous combat
During Unternehmen Zitadelle (Operation Citadel –
or the Battle of Kursk) the German army deployed
two of their Heavy Tank Battallions: Schwere
Panzer Abteilung 505 was attached to the Northern
sector of the offensive, while s.Pz.Abt. 503 were
attached to Army Group South in the Southern
sector. Army Group South were attached the 503
to the III. Panzer Corps, which consisted of three
panzer divisions and one infantry division. During
the ten days of almost continuous combat (4th July
4-14, 1943) the Tigers of s.Pz.Abt. 503 destroyed
approximately 72 Soviet tanks and only lost four; all
of the latter could be recovered. Thus the Battalion
reached a kill ratio of 18 to 1. It’s a Tiger from this
battalion I was going to depict.

1
The kit
The kit I used for this build was the Tamiya 1/48
Tiger I Early Production. As quite often, it’s a nice
example of Tamiya’s effective way to produce easy
to build kits. The lower part of the hull is made
out of metal (coated in primer) which adds some
weight to this small scale Tiger. The fit of most parts
is excellent. Decals are provided for four different
Tiger I’s; Tiger 213 of the s.Pz.Abt. 502 in Russia
during summer 1944 (which was commanded by
Otto Carius); Tank 332 of the s.Pz.Abt. 503 during
summer 1943 in Russia; Tiger 214 of the s.Pz.Abt.
505 in summer 1943/Russia and probably the most
famous tank of the offensive at Kursk, S33 Das
Reich/ Pz.Reg.2 1943 in Russia.
However, although this is a great piece of kit, Tamiya
didn’t get it quite right for an early Tiger I in some
areas. Especially the omission of five anti-personnel
mine (S-Mine) dischargers on the upper hull is quite

36 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018


2 3
4 5
incomprehensible since these were a key feature of
an early production Tiger I which were installed in the
factory from January 1943 and onwards.
Basically you can build a great Tiger out of the
box, unless you want it to be accurate. In that case
you need to scratchbuild some additional details or
buy aftermarket sets.
Building the Tiger
I chose Tiger 332 of the s.Pz.Abt. 503 because this
one survived Zitadelle. There are plenty of photos
of this tank undergoing trials to recover Tiger I’s out
of the mud in August 1943. The fact that the front
armour plate and gun mantlet had impact marks,
gave it a lot of character as well. I decided to use a
Voyager Models aftermarket etch set, RB model gun
barrel and Friulmodel Tiger Early tracks.
In March/April 1943 the 3. Zug (Platoon) of the
3./503 (3rd Company of the 503) received ten Tiger
I’s. Tiger ‘332’ was one of them and this means
that this Tiger was produced in March or April 1943.
Some of its features were the simplified Feifel filters
on the rear of the hull and five S-Mine dischargers.
Construction began by gluing the upper hull
together with the lower hull. Prior to this I had
painted the interior black in order to prevent
reflections showing through the engine deck vent
gratings. German tanks are well known for having
roadwheels and these were removed from the
sprues and cleaned up.
The fact that Tamiya kits can be built very fast,
means that there are some simplifications of some
parts. For instance all the handles of the engine deck
hatch and the hatches of the turret roof are moulded
solid. I decided to remove these and replaced them
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AFV
by scratchbuilding handles made out of brass wire.
The commander’s cupola had two hollow rods 6
attached on top to fit a rain shield. These were
absent in the kit and were easily added by drilling
two small holes on top of the cupola and inserting
short pieces of wire. An important weld seam on the
turret was also lacking, so I used Magic Sculp putty
to recreate the weld mark (Photo 1).
The engine hatch also has an error; Tamiya has
moulded two support legs. These were a May 1943
production item so had to be removed (Photo 2).
Impact marks on the front armour plate and gun
mantlet were drilled out (Photo 3). Edges were
trimmed a bit using a scalpel and afterwards I added
a small amount of putty into the impact holes to
make the edges smoother (Photo 4).
Tamiya also forgot to add the two lifting lugs on
each side of the armoured exhaust covers. These
were easily produced. I took a piece of plastic rod
and held it 1cm or so away from the flame of a
lighter. When the plastic heats up it retracts a bit
and forms a small broad domed area. After that
I just drilled a hole into the armoured covers and
glued the plastic rod in place (Photo 5).
Tiger I’s of the 503 had a specific feature on the
right side of their hull: hollow tubes were welded to
the hull. These were used to attach L-shaped brackets
which could hold wooden unditching beams in place.
To simulate this I used a thin piece of hollow tube
and cut it in appropriate lengths. I glued five of them
on the side and to finish things off very little pieces
of rolled Magic Sculp were added to each side of the
rod and shaped using the sharp point of a modelling
knife (Photo 6).
When the Tiger was nearing completion I found
out that the Voyager models etch set didn’t include
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AFV
the S-Mine dischargers. It seems there’s only one
aftermarket company which provides the bases and
supports for the S-Mines in 1/48; Hauler from the
Czech Republic. So I ordered the Hauler aftermarket
set and used the S-Mine bases. The discharger tubes
themselves weren’t provided either and had to be
scratchbuilt. Metal tube by Albion Alloys was used.
8 this on and let it dry for about 24 hours. When
9 catch the light like the turret roof, hull roof and
38
The Friul model track assembly was the last thing
to be done and after that the Tiger was ready to be
painted (Photo 7).
Smash the colour on!
Before I could start painting, a good primer was
needed on this multimedia kit. For the metal barrel
and metal rods I used Mr. Metal Primer. I brushed
the Mr. Metal Primer had dried, I airbrushed Mr.
Surfacer 1500 thinned with Mr. Levelling Thinner.
Although you can immediately continue with the
basecoat, I decided to let the Tiger rest for another
24 hours; you can never be sure enough!
Both the Tamiya instructions, as some models of
332 seen on the internet suggest, this particular Tiger
should be Panzer Grey; however, this is incorrect.
Dark Yellow was introduced at the end of 1942 and
since Tiger 332 was a March/April 43 production
vehicle it had to be DunkelGelb (Dark Yellow).
I mixed Tamiya Buff with some small amounts of
Flat White and Mr. Hobby Yellow. A tiny bit of Tamiya
X-22 Clear was added as well. I thinned down the
paint with Mr. Color Levelling Thinner and sprayed
on multiple layers of the Dark Yellow mixture until
the whole model was covered (Photo 8). Next I
added some more Flat White to the paint mix and
sprayed the highlights on those areas that would
upper sides of the hull (Photo 9).
It’s quite possible that the maintenance
department of the 503 sprayed camouflage colours
Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

10
11
on the Tiger as was common during that period, but
photos don’t show it clearly so I decided to leave
this one plain Dark Yellow.
Decal mayhem
After the paint, it was time to put the decals in
place. I added the Tamiya decals on the hull sides,
turret sides and rear of the turret bin. The turret
numbers are white with a red centre (Photo 10).
Recent discussions on several internet forums
suggest that the turret numbers of the 503 should
be black on the inside instead of red. The plan was
to overpaint the turret numbers in black with a very
fine brush. A quite scary idea to say the least!
However, the carrier film of the Tamiya decals
is on the thick side and this showed clearly on the
model. Several applications of Micro Sol setting
solution didn’t make any difference. I didn’t like the
look of it one bit because it looked more like the
model had thick stickers on it instead of painted
turret numbers and balkenkreuze. This was a
serious setback.
I decided to remove the decals. Since I already
sealed the decals with Tamiya X-22 the only option
was to sand them gently down and repaint the areas.
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AFV
12
Archer Fine Transfers have a set of turret numbers 13
for Tiger ‘323’ of the 503 in their ‘Tiger Mix 4’ set. I
swapped the numbers three and two in order to obtain
number 332 rather than 323. Since these are transfers
and not decals they would sit nice and flush on the
model. The only negative point was that I found out
that the type of font used on Tiger ‘323’ was more
narrow and less round than the numbers on ‘332’. It
is what it is though and I decided to keep the Archer
transfers and not replace them a second time.
The alert reader might have noticed on Photo 10
that the two German crosses on the turret bin aren’t
the same height as one another. This was done on
purpose because this was the case on the actual
vehicle. After the application of the decals/transfers I
sealed them by spraying several thin layers of Tamiya
X-22 clear.
The Friulmodel metal tracks weren’t primed but
I gave them a bath of Burnishing Fluid of Ammo
by MIG (which is basically the same as Ushi van
der Rostens’ burnishing fluid) (Photo 11). The fluid
needs to be thinned with an equal amount of water
and then the tracks are put in the fluid. Using an old
toothbrush I rubbed in all the nooks and crannies
(Photo 12). After about ten minutes the tracks got a
nice dark base colour (Photo 13).
39
AFV

14 15

16

Slap on the initial dirtiness! sides using a flat brush until pretty much no oil paint
Hold on! Before I slapped on the dust and mud I was visible. On the flat surfaces the paint was blended
needed to do some weathering first. All the tools where in by gently stabbing with a brush slightly moistened
painted in appropriate colours; I used Vallejo paints for with thinner. This step tinted the basecoat and created
this. Weathering started with a filter. I slightly wetted subtle differences in colour tone (Photo 15).
the surface (I worked one small area at a time, don’t
wet the whole model!) with odourless thinner and
then added small dots of oil paint in place. I used ochre,
yellow and white paint here and there,
mainly on the upper surfaces
(Photo 14). Next I dragged
the dots down on the

17

40 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018


18
19
After that I added a pinwash to emphasize all
the details. With a fine pointed brush I painted AK
Interactive Streaking Grime around all the details and
in all the recesses and crevices. If I used too much
Streaking Grime I blended it in, or in case of the hull
and turret sides, I dragged the excess downwards
using a flat brush slightly moistened with odourless
thinner (almost no thinner should be on the brush).
This created initial streaking (Photo 16). With the
pinwash in place, this provides you with a good base
for further weathering steps.
Chipping was next. Since this Tiger was a recent
vehicle which didn’t see too much action, I didn’t want
to go too heavy on paint wear and tear. I kept the paint
chips to a minimum and added them only in places
where the crew would frequent, like around hatches
and on the engine deck. I used a piece of sponge and
dipped it in the paint and removed most of it on a piece
of paper towel. Then I dabbed the piece of sponge
on the tank, leaving small marks simulating chipped
paint. I used two colours for this; Vallejo Iraqi Sand
for superficial paint chips and for the heavier ones,
Camouflage Black Brown (Photo 17).
Period photos of Tigers show discoloration of the
paint on the upper half because of the heat of the
exhausts. I simulated this by stippling a range of paint
colours on top of each other onto the upper part. I
mainly used rust tones, going from light to dark and
I added dark browns as well. I kept going back and
forth until I was happy with the result (Photo 18).
Weathering continued with oil paints. I added
more streaking on the hull and turret sides, as well
on the sloped part of the turret roof; predominantly
Burnt and Raw Umber were used. Also I added
initial dust layers using ochre and light grey coloured
oil paints (Photo 19).
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AFV
Before I continued the weathering, I wanted
to add further detail to the model; an aerial
identification flag. The flag was made by adding two
transfers (as with the turret numbers courtesy of
Archer Fine Transfers) to both sides of a piece of
aluminium foil. This was then trimmed and folded
and eventually glued to the turret roof and bin with
Microscale Kristal Klear. It adds a bit of a different
colour to the tank. The flag was sealed with Vallejo
Matt varnish, brushed on in several thin layers. I
must admit though that their Matt varnish seems to
dry more like a satin finish instead of matt.
Getting really dirty now!
After that I started with the pigments. This Tiger
was getting quite dusty on the upper parts of the
hull and turret. The lower parts and some of the
road wheels would receive thicker mud applications.
For the thicker mud I put the tank on its side
and dropped pigments liberally into place. I used a
mix of dark brown pigments. Then I fixed them by
adding drops of AK Interactive pigment fixer using a
pipette. While the mix was still wet, I dropped some
more dry pigments on top. I did the same with the
rear of the hull, as well as the road wheels. When
41
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‘‘
this was dry I dropped some more pigment fixer on
top of the mud and applied more dry pigments, but
Initially the plan
this time a lighter tone was used to create maximal
variety in shade. The right rear side of the hull was
was to restrain treated as well, simulating mud splatter because
of the lacking rear fender (Photo 20). The same
myself and make technique was applied on the tracks (Photo 21).
The exhaust guards were glued in place
the Tiger not too using Microscale Kristal Klear and weathered
dirty, but it seems
subsequently with oils. The lower half received
”
some mud as well. I mixed a light batch of pigment
that I can’t stick to with Tamiya X-20. I then brushed this slurry on the
lower part of the covers with an old brush. After it
the plan to create a had dried for about five minutes I stabbed the mix
with an old stiff brush.
‘clean’ tank. The dust required a different application method;
the light pigment mix was brushed in very small
amounts onto the surfaces and rubbed in with a
stiff brush. To fix them in place I used an airbrush
42
(the fixing agent I used both AK Interactive pigment
fixer as well as Tamiya X-20 thinner). At a very low
pressure (less than 1bar/14psi) I held the airbrush
about ten centimetres from the model and in very
short bursts I released some fixer. Tiny droplets of
fixer fell in place and I put the pigments firmly in
place, making sure not to soak the pigments because
it will create a different finish which is less appealing!
This method also makes the fixer dries instantly and
you can continue adding new layers of dust until you
are happy with the result. These steps were repeated
several times with even lighter shades.
Pigments can cover the pinwash and previous
weathering. To counter this I applied some more
oil paints in small amounts and well thinned on the
wheels and parts of the hull.
After that I thinned down Burnt Umber and
Raw Umber oil paint and loaded a brush with the
mixture and flicked the brush at a short distance
Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018
 AFV

20 21

against the rear of a pair of tweezers. Tiny drops

of the thinned mix splattered on the hull, turret
and wheels to add a different effect, creating
more visual interest. It’s hardly visible, but it’s
sure worth the effort.
The drive sprockets and idlers where finally
finished by adding AK Dark Steel pigment to the
areas which contact the tracks. This pigment can
be buffed to a shiny finish by rubbing the pigment
with cotton buds.
Some spilled oil stains were added to the
engine deck to finish things. I used thinned dark
oils as well as the Ammo by MIG Fuel and Oil
stains mixture - and that was that. Initially the
plan was to restrain myself and make the Tiger
not too dirty, but it seems that I can’t stick to the
plan to create a ‘clean’ tank. I do like my portion
of mud and dirt!
I would like to thank Martyn Chorlton for
supplying this kit.

www.militarymodelling.com 43
 Aviation
Sergey’s Flying Tank
HobbyBoss 1/32 IL-2M ‘Sturmovik’ Ground Attack Aircraft by Gary Radford
TOP: The author’s completed
Sturmovik model takes to the air with
a little help from Photoshop.
ABOVE: The HobbyBoss box artwork
depicting IL-2M “white 24” flying over
a snow covered town.
RIGHT: Sergey Vladimirovich Ilyushin,
who was the Soviet aircraft designer
that founded the Ilyushin aircraft
design bureau.
44
T
he Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik was a ground-
attack aircraft designed by Sergey Ilyushin
(March 30, 1894 – February 9, 1977). It was
produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers
during the Second World War and has the rightful
place as one of the most prominent weapons in
the Russian victory over Axis forces on the Eastern
Front. To the pilots and ground crew the aircraft was
simply known as the ‘Ilyusha’ but to the soldiers
in the field it was the ‘Hunchback’, the ‘Flying Tank’
or the ‘Flying Infantryman’. Soviet leader Joseph
Stalin paid the IL-2 a great tribute in his own unique
manner when a particular production factory fell
behind on its deliveries he sent an angrily worded
message to the factory manager stating;-“You
have let down our country and our Red Army. You
have the nerve not to manufacture IL-2s until now.
Our Red Army now needs IL-2 aircraft like the air it
breathes, like the bread it eats. Shenkman produces
one IL-2 a day and Tretyakov builds one or two MiG-
3s daily. It is a mockery of our country and the Red
Army. I ask you not to try the government’s patience
and demand that you manufacture more ILs. This is
my final warning”.
In nearly all the Russian offensives the IL-2
provided vital air support to the infantry on the
ground while the war forged ahead, so Soviet
tactics improved as aircrews became used to the
IL-2’s strengths. At the same time as these tactics
improved so did the weaponry, one such weapon
was the PTAB shaped charge bomblets (anti-tank
aviation bomb). PTABs were first used on a large
scale during Operation Citadel, the Battle of Kursk
in 1943.
At the Battle of Kursk, General Vasily Ryazanov,
who later became commander of the 1st Assault
Aviation Corps, was a master in the use of attack
aircraft as a unit rather than individuals. He developed
and improved the tactics of IL-2 operations in co-
ordination with infantry, artillery and armoured
troops. IL-2s at Kursk used what became known as
‘the circle of death’ this tactic involved up to eight
IL-2s forming a defensive circle with each aircraft
protecting the one ahead of it with its forward
machine guns. The aircraft were spaced 150-200
Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018
 Aviation

meters apart at an altitude of at least 300 meters.

Each individual IL-2 took turns leaving the circle,
attacking the target and then re-joining the loop. Such
formations would remain over a ground target for up
to 20 minutes at a time or up until all ammunition and
ordinance was exhausted after which time the IL-2s
would re-group and return to base.
Like all air tactics the circle of death did have its
drawbacks as the attacking aircraft was vulnerable
to anti-aircraft fire. German pilots soon realised The cockpit floor, fuel tank, seat
and completed instrument panel.
once the circle disbanded and the formation began
returning to their base the last aircraft was the most
susceptible to attack. As IL-2 pilot Yuri Afanasev
recalled:-“The most difficult moment is getting out
of the circle because here someone is last and will
not be covered.”
In the wake of the devastating early stages of
the war the Russian military learned the value and
strategic importance of acting in unity in the skies
and on the ground. Such combined actions proved
to be a major turning point on the Eastern Front ABOVE: Liquid masking fluid produced
by Vallejo was used to mask out the
enabling the Russian Army to defeat the Germans instrument bezels.
at Kursk and in every other major battle afterwards.
BELOW: All the parts have now been
painted and assembled to the floor pan.

Assembly
Before any construction could take place the
instrument panel needs to be painted. The panel
comes as a clear item with the dials represented
on the decal sheet. I masked off the bezels using
a liquid mask produced by Vallejo. The rear of the
panel was then sprayed with Tamiya Clear ready
for the decal while the front was sprayed Tamiya
XF-82. The instructions state it be painted flat black
but references show they were a shade of grey
not necessarily the same colour as the rest of the
cockpit interior with only certain instrument faces
being picked out in flat black. The large fuel tank
that sits behind the pilot was assembled and the
joint cleaned up before being sprayed flat black.
The metal bindings that hold it in place were then
masked off before being sprayed with Alclad white
aluminium. While I had the airbrush loaded with
Alclad I sprayed the remainder of the cockpit parts
which had previously been undercoated. All these
parts were then given a coat of cheap hair lacquer
before being sprayed with Tamiya XF-22 with a touch
of white added. When this had dried I applied warm
water to the surface and began to remove the top picture) on them the fit is so good there is no need
coat using a stiff brush the result of this is a more to use any glue at all.
realistic chipping effect especially on the floor of the HobbyBoss provide a reasonable rendition of the
gunner’s compartment. Once I was happy with the Mikulin AM-38 engine that leaves itself wide open
effect I applied a pin wash to the recess areas and to super detailing. Unfortunately none of the engine
then added additional weathering using various oil panels are removable however for those who wish
paints which were gradually worked in to the area. to show the engine then the front section of the
Any excess paint can be removed by either a brush engine bay is moulded in clear plastic. I am not a
moistened with thinners or a moistened cotton bud. great lover of this method as I think it presents its
The starboard side of the fuselage has very own problems in cleaning up joints, removing mould
little detail moulded into it given that the cockpit seams and defects such as ejector pin marks etc.
of the Sturmovik was sparse anyway this came For these reasons I will not be leaving these parts
as no surprise but I did feel that something was clear. I have read reviews were folks only built up
needed to improve the appearance. I found a very the engine to a bare minimum so they can fix the
small picture in a magazine which did show there exhaust and propeller, but I have decided to build
was a small amount of detail so using plastic rod the engine in full so you can see what you actually
and strip I added the detail and the accompanying get in the box. The engine consist of four major
wires. The areas were then given the same paint parts the two V cylinder blocks, the crank case and
treatment as the remainder of the cockpit and set the turbo charger. These parts fit together well but
aside to dry. The cockpit floor fits snugly into the you may need to add a touch of filler here and there
fuselage sides using tabs with small tapers (see if you choose to display the engine. The two engine

www.militarymodelling.com 45
 Aviation
RIGHT: The rear gunner’s floor
and armour plating added to
protect the pilot and fuel tank.
ABOVE: Extra internal detail
added to the side wall of the
starboard fuselage half.
ABOVE: Basic paint layer
applied to the fuselage halves.
RIGHT & BELOW: The cockpit
is a nice snug fit in the
fuselage being held in
place with the tapered
mouldings just
visible at the front
and rear of the
pilot’s floor.
46
support brackets fix to the firewall and in turn locate
on moulded pegs inside the fuselage. I sprayed the
engine with Halford’s Matt Black Primer and when
dry I gave it a dry-brushing with Humbrol Dark Sea
Grey. The reason I painted it was I didn’t know if any
of the engine would be visible through the exhaust
outlets or the air-intake. All the components that
make up the fuselage of the IL-2 have now been
assembled and ready to be installed, one small
mistake I found in the instructions is regarding
the small heart shaped bulkhead at the rear of
the fuselage that supports the tail wheel. The
instructions state it as being part A8 but it is in
fact part F8. Having sorted that little issue out the
fuselage halves were joined together to my surprise
everything dropped in place leaving only a small
joint seam to clean up when set.
While I was waiting for the fuselage to set I
prepared the parts for the wing. The wing itself is
made up of a centre section, which I assembled first
and the two outer wing sections. There are four small
internal bomb bays and the two main undercarriage
(U/C) recesses featured in this section. If you choose
to leave the bomb bay doors open the inside of each
bay is fitted with photo-etched sidewalls. These were
removed from the fret and after carefully removing
the attachment tab they were held in place with
super glue. The finished bays were then fixed to
the inside of the lower wing along with the two U/C
recesses when dry the upper sections of the wing
were fixed in place. Like the fuselage there were no
fit issues with the parts. HobbyBoss provide both
moulded and white metal main U/C legs I decided to
use the white metal ones, using the location holes in
the lower wing as a jig the main U/C was assembled
using thin super glue.
The assembly now moved on to the outer wing
sections before the halves are joined there are
ABOVE: Although the engine will not be seen I
decided to build it anyway.
BELOW: Here we have the assembled engine
no need to add extra detail as it cannot be seen
when the aircraft is assembled.
Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018
 Aviation

a number of holes that need drilling out in the

lower sections. These holes are for the various
armament configurations that can be applied the
two holes near the wing spar mountings are for
the Nudelman-Suranov NS-37 37mm (1.5in) aircraft
cannons that fit in gun pods under the wings. Most
of the aircraft that carried these weapons were
ABOVE: The engine placed on its
built at Zavod (Factory) 30 the aircraft depicted supports and mounted inside the
here was built at Zavod 18 as it features all metal fuselage. Also the large air intake has
been added but not fitted in place.
wings as Zavod 18 was not equipped with wood
working facilities also the Red Stars have a thin
White outline both these features were indicative
of aircraft built at Zavod 18. A total of 1,175 IL-2’s
were armed with these weapons by late 1943; the
use of the 37mm cannons on the Sturmovik’s was
largely being phased out with the introduction of
anti-tank bomblets, which proved to be extremely
effective against the German ground forces. Finally
Sturmovik’s were fitted with a Volkov-Yartsev VYa- ABOVE: Here I have sprayed
23 autocannon in each wing; if unavailable then the engine in flat black and
two shorter barrelled ShVAK 20mm guns would be dry-brushed a coat of dark sea
grey to enhance the detail.
installed which this aircraft is fitted with.
The Pitot tube was then fixed into position, as
it was delicate I decided to replace it with thin RIGHT: The IL-2 was
aluminium tube, and the wing halves joined. Having equipped with four
small bomb bays
joined the wings together the centre section was in the centre section
fitted to the fuselage and when dry the outer of the wing. Each of
these bays is lined with
sections were added. There were a number of gaps photo-etched wall detail.
that needed filling and smoothing before any
additional work was carried out. When this had
been completed the clear engine cowling was
attached to the airframe and again any resulting
gaps were filled.
I decided to show the aircraft with its flaps
deployed to make sure the actuating mechanism
lined up I dry fitted the flap in place and added
the actuators, this was done solely to help at the
painting stage. While working on the underside I
added the two undercarriage nacelles in order to
get them to fit correct a small amount of plastic ABOVE: The bomb bays attach to
the inside of the lower section
needed to be removed from inside the wing joint. of the wing alongside the main
After this had been done the nacelles slipped in to undercarriage compartment.
place. In order to make sure they stayed lined up I
taped them in position while the glue set.

Painting
Before painting the IL-2 I masked off the clear parts,
including the landing light and fitted them in place.
The sliding part of the canopy was fixed using PVA
glue so it could be later removed and fixed in the

ABOVE: The two upper section of the

inner wing have been attached.

LEFT: I used the lower wing

section as a jig to fabricate the
undercarriage legs.

www.militarymodelling.com 47
 Aviation
RIGHT: The rudder and stabilisers attached to the fuselage you will notice
I have removed the rugby ball shaped counter balance from the top of the
rudder. This will be replaced with copper wire later.
ABOVE: The holes that need drilling
out depending on which armament
configuration you choose to use.
BELOW: The wing spars along with
the ShVAK 20 mm guns and Pitot
tube are added prior to the wings
being assembled.
ABOVE: The fuselage halves together with no fit issues at all.
48
open position. When I was happy with the fit of the
parts and the joints had been dealt with I sprayed the
canopy using the interior colour. I then masked off
the remainder of the cavities in the airframe using a
mixture of masking tape and sponge for the more
difficult places. As usual the entire aircraft was given
several light coats of grey primer and when dry any
defects on the aircraft were corrected. The underside
was then given a number of light coats of Tamiya
Light Blue (XF-23) gradually building the layers up to
archive a nice solid colour. The following day I set about
masking the underside using Tamiya masking tape
and paper. The entire upper surface was then sprayed
using Tamiya Olive Green (XF-59). At first I thought
this looked to light but after checking on the internet
it was found to be about the correct shade of green
used on certain Russian aircraft during WWII. The
camouflage pattern applied to this particular Sturmovik
is blue underside with a green and black disruptive
pattern upper surface as the aircraft was built at Zavod
18 it also features characteristic longitudinal green/
black bands on the left wing. The areas to be sprayed
black were marked out using Blu-tac which had been
rolled out in to long sausages before being applied. The
ABOVE: Wings and clear nose section added all the joints have
been filled with Deluxe Perfect Plastic Putty and smoothed off
although there are a few places which need refining.
Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018
 Aviation

RIGHT: It wasn’t until I had assembled the

wings that I got a true indication as to
just how big the Sturmovik was.

I have chosen to build the aircraft

with the flaps deployed here you can
see the internal detail.

remainder of the area to be left green was masked to

prevent any overspray. However I did still get a slight
bit of overspray but this was touched up later. When
I was happy with the masking I sprayed the black
areas with Mission Models NATO Black (MMP-035)
as I thought normal black would be too stark in this
scale. I recently purchased one of these large
plastic storage boxes with the intent of using
ABOVE: Undercarriage and nacelles fitted to wings, note the
amount of filler needed in the joints.

ABOVE: Cockpit canopy in place and

sprayed the same colour as the interior.

RIGHT: Undercoated in Halford’s Grey

primer, any defects were cleaned up
at this stage.

www.militarymodelling.com 49
 Aviation

35. Note the slight over spray on the

nacelle this will be touched up prior to
the decals being added.

ABOVE: Here the camouflage has been applied and a coat of Gloss Varnish applied.

BELOW: The decals have been added and a further coat of Gloss Varnish applied.

it to transport kits to and from shows but it was large

ABOVE: The Pro-Modeller weathering wash
is applied as a slurry and left to dry.
BELOW: The excess is then removed with a damp piece of
kitchen towel the result is very pleasing as can be seen.
enough to accommodate the IL-2 while it dried thus
preventing dust settling on the surface. Later I applied
several coats of Tamiya Clear to give it a smooth gloss
surface ready for the decals and weathering. I applied
the decals using the Micro Set and Sol method; I was
really surprised how well the decals conformed to the
surface taking in all the rivet detail as they settled. 24
hours later the residue of the solutions was cleaned
off of the decals and another coat of the clear varnish
was applied to seal them in place. To enhance the
delicate mouldings on the surfaces I used a product by
the name of Pro Modeller Weathering Wash (Black). I
picked up a bottle of this from the Telford Show some
time ago and it’s been sat in my paint draws since then
so I thought I would give it a go. I understand that the
fluid is clay based and contains no harmful substances
so it is very user friendly. After giving the bottle a good
shake it is simply applied over the surface as slurry
using a brush. If you do use this product try and make
sure you don’t allow it to form pools as it can take quite
a bit of getting off which I found to my cost. When the
wash has dried you take a piece of damp kitchen towel
and working in a circular motion remove the excess

50 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

 Aviation

RIGHT: Chips added using

the sponge technic.

wash, the result can be seen in the accompanying

pictures. Further weathering was carried out using
various oil paints gradually blending then into the
surface. Chips and scratches were applied around
areas were crew and ground crew would be most
active before the entire aircraft was given a coat of
Vallejo Acrylic Matte Varnish to finish it off.
The masking was finally removed from the clear
part hoping that the paint of weathering fluids had
not managed to creep underneath fortunately all
was good. To finish off the wheel hubs were painted
in an emerald green colour typical of Russian
aircraft and when dry the wheels themselves were
fitted to the undercarriage. Incidentally the two
main tyres come as moulded rubber items while
the tail wheel is all plastic. I then added the two
37mm gun pods under the wings and the radio
mast to the top of the canopy. The aerial wire was
made from fine E-Z Line with the insulator beads
being drops of super glue applied with a cocktail
stick. With that the IL-2M ‘Sturmovik’ was complete.
I would once again like to thank Martyn Chorlton
for supplying this HobbyBoss kit and for allowing ABOVE: Work in progress
me to build it for Military Modelling on the underside.
Magazine, thank you.

The propeller has been added along with the canopy,

mast and aerial wire. The model was now complete.

www.militarymodelling.com 51
 Diorama
‘A Steppe Too Far’
Sturmpanzer IV in the trenches of Kursk by Sven Frisch
BELOW: A look into the interior gives us
an idea of the amount of photo etched
details used. All of these sets came from
Griffon Models. The fenders are also
photo etched replacements.
52
Smouldering on the Steppes
The Sturmpanzer IV was one of the new tank
designs which should have turned the tide on
the Eastern Front in 1943. The German attack at
the Kursk salient has been postponed multiple
times until the new Ferdinand, Panther and the
Sturmpanzer IV reached the front lines. The
Sturmpanzer IV was rushed into action with the
newly formed Sturmpanzer Abt.216 and the new
tank performed rather well. The German Wehrmacht
however, failed to achieve a major breakthrough in
the area and had to withdraw after days of fierce
fighting, leaving behind many of their new tank
designs smouldering on the Russian Steppes.
The model featured in this article was actually
a so called ‘shelf queen’, collecting dust. I started
working on this model back in 2009, but gave it up
after facing some greater problems with the fitting
of the kit and the lack of detail in general on this
Tristar model. The Tristar Sturmpanzer IV was an
eagerly awaited model back then, while the soon to
follow Dragon model was not announced yet, which
would have been in most aspects a better choice.
However the Tristar model had its pluses as well,
because it featured in-scale armour plates with the
right thickness. Also the entire casemate was not
a solid piece, but instead had separate plates. This
made the process of ‘damaging’ the steel plates
much easier. On the other hand the detail on some
parts was very soft. Years later I decided to finally
finish this model. The solution was to buy another
Dragon Sturmpanzer IV, providing the correct road
wheels and other small details which looked much
better than the items provided by Tristar.
Construction
Depicting a wrecked vehicle always requires much
more planning in advance and lots of aftermarket
items and references. Another challenge is the
fact that during the construction you can’t just
simply follow the instructions, instead you spend
a considerable amount of time planning the
construction stages. In most cases it is therefore
best to build sub assembly elements and to put
Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018
 Diorama

ABOVE: The author’s completed

diorama placed into a scenic setting
courtesy of Photoshop.

LEFT: The lower hull areas received a

treatment with Mr. Surfacer. Here a
mix of static grass and soda powder
was used to create dirt accumulations.
This is somewhat of an old-school
technique, but I find it very effective.

BELOW: The prominent exhaust

muffler was taken from the Dragon kit.
Dents have been created with a round
file; this is a very quick and easy task
and adds lots of realism.

everything together once the interior areas are

completely painted. In this case I had the chassis,
the casemate and the elements of the fighting
compartment which have been painted in advance,
before subsequently gluing them into place.
As I have already pointed out, it is essential
to provide interior detail. In this case I used two
resin interior sets from CMK which were originally
designed for the Panzer IV, ‘PzKpfw IV Driver’s Set’
(3012) and PzKpfw IV Engine Set (3017). Both resin
sets are very nice and contain all the details we
need for the said areas. Even though they were
originally designed for the Tamiya Panzer IV kit,
the parts fit just fine into the Tristar hull. Of course
some adjustments needed to be made, but this
part of the construction went rather smooth. The
fighting compartment was a different story. There
is already a decent gun cradle and breech included
in the Tristar kit and I added a metal barrel from
Lionroar ‘Barrel for 150mm - StuH43 L/12’ (LB3524).

www.militarymodelling.com 53
 Diorama

ABOVE LEFT: Before the interior can be painted, all components need to be primed, in this case Mr. Surfacer 1000 was used. It needs to be thinned with Mr. Hobby
Thinner so it can be applied through the airbrush. ABOVE RIGHT: Most areas received the common German interior ‘Elfenbein’ colour, which was mixed from Tamiya XF-2
and a drop of XF-60. The burnt areas received a rusty base tone.

ABOVE LEFT: A layer of hairspray followed. Back in 2009 when I started working on this model, no Chipping effects or products were available. ABOVE RIGHT: Again the
‘Elfenbein’ tone was airbrushed onto the rusted areas.

ABOVE LEFT: With a brush and some
water, large portions of the paint were
removed again, resulting in such effects.
ABOVE RIGHT: The whole process can
be repeated again. The more layers
you apply, the more striking the result
can be.
For the rest I used a photo etched set from Griffon
Model, ‘Brummbär fighting compartment interior’
(GML35022). The Griffon Model set contains details
such as the 150mm shell projectiles storage bins,
the FuG2+FuG5 radio sets and the gas mask
holders. Apart from various smaller details, the set
also provides the fighting compartment floor. Most
of these metal parts had to be soldered. With the
strong bonds achieved by soldering, these parts
can be bent to simulate damage, without breaking
the pieces apart. This has been a time consuming
process, especially because I wasn’t very familiar
with the soldering process at the time.
If you chose to build a wrecked or heavily
damaged vehicle, I strongly advise you to follow a
war time picture as close as possible. In this case
I found a suitable picture of a heavily damaged
Sturmpanzer IV and tried to create the same
damage on my model, by cutting pieces out of
the plastic, drilling holes of missing bolts and by
bending the pieces of plastic. In the interior area I
tried to create a chaotic appearance caused by the

54 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

 Diorama

ABOVE LEFT: Some of the internal elements will be permanently fixed with PVA glue, diluted in tap water. It takes a few hours to dry, but once the water has evaporated,
the components with be firmly fixed onto their places. ABOVE RIGHT: Again another layer of hairspray followed. This may seem boring, but your workshop smells nice!

ABOVE LEFT: Finally, a rust coloured wash will blend all the previous effects together, resulting in realistic burnt areas. ABOVE RIGHT: Ashes were added; you can either
mix white and black pigments or simply steal some cigarette ashes from an ashtray somewhere.

impact of a direct hit of an artillery shell. As you can
imagine the effect of such a hit can be devastating.
The present ammunition shells and cartridges were
taken from a Voyager set (German 150mm StuH
43 Ammunition). Wires, foil and plastic card were
used to contribute to the chaotic appearance in the
fighting compartment.
In the next phase the interior had to be
completely painted and weathered, before
moving on to the exterior. When it comes
to burnt and damaged paint effects, the by
now widely known ‘Hairspray’ Technique was
intensively used. With the interior paintwork
finished, it was time to move to the exterior
areas of our model. The armour plates of the
casemate were fixed in place and detailed
with prominent weld seams made of Milliput.
Beforehand the armour plates received a
treatment with Mr. Surfacer and a stiff brush
to create a more realistic steel texture. The
fenders have already been replaced at an earlier
stage with another set from Griffon Models,
ABOVE LEFT: This close up photo
reveals the effects achieved when
working in multiple layers.
ABOVE RIGHT: When all of the exterior
parts are attached a primer can be
applied again. The movable hatches
were closed and the open areas were
masked with a sponge to protect the
work done on the interior already.

www.militarymodelling.com 55
 Diorama

ABOVE LEFT: I follow the same approach as the inside of the vehicle and apply a rusty base with various rust tones. ABOVE RIGHT: After some ‘Heavy Chipping’ was
applied, the yellow base coat followed; both can be applied with the airbrush.

ABOVE LEFT: Again, good portions of the yellow paint were removed with a brush and water. ABOVE RIGHT: After a layer of ‘Worn Effects’ the green camouflage was
airbrushed onto the model. Again the paint was partially removed with a damp brush, resulting in an (you may have guessed it) worn effect of the green camouflage.

ABOVE LEFT: Then the decals followed.
The markings were taken from the
Tristar kit and worked just fine. As
always on my models, I used the Set &
Sol solutions to achieve a good effect.
ABOVE RIGHT: A light general wash
followed to tone down the dark yellow.
This will also enhance the details, such
as the weld seams and bolts.
‘Brummbär fenders’ (GML 35021). Many other
details like the tools, road wheels and smaller
items were taken from the Dragon Kit ‘Brummbär
early/with Zimmerit’ (6569), because their level
of detail was much more pleasing. Also the
entire running gear was taken from this kit. The
tracks used were the offerings from Friulmodel
(ATL-03) and the rails for the side skirts were
also a photoetched set from Aber, ‘Side skirts for
PzKpfw IV, Ausf.G, early’ (A72A04). All in all there
has been quite an investment in aftermarket
items, but the more delicate result appears to be
worth both the money and the efforts.
Painting
As said before, the painting of at least some areas
start at a much earlier stage compared to a model
of a widely intact model, except if you choose
to build it with an interior. Apart from the basic
painting of these areas, also intensive weathering
needs to be applied. A brief but intense fire burnt
off a considerable amount of the paintwork and
the heat created a variety of burnt rust effects.
The hairspray technique is the perfect approach
for such effects. When looking at the step by step
pictures of the painting process you will notice
that there has been the traditional hairspray in

56 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018


ABOVE LEFT: The tracks were borrowed from an older model. This saved me time and money. Only some more pigments were applied with a brush and permanently fixed with
the Pigment Fixer. ABOVE RIGHT: Then the running gear and the tracks can be attached. At a later point, oil and grease stains were added to the hubs for more tonal variation.
use. The reason is that in 2009 no such things like
AK Interactive’s Chipping Fluids were available.
Nowadays there is the ‘Worn Effects’ and the
‘Heavy Chipping’ fluid, each with a different
mixture, which makes it easier for us to anticipate
and to actually obtain the desired result. However
it is always recommended to make some tests on
an old model beforehand, because the result also
depends on the paint and the kind of thinner you
use. So make yourself familiar with the products to
avoid any unwanted results.
Another important technique which has been
used to finish this model was the ‘Speckling
www.militarymodelling.com
Diorama
LEFT: Like the previously applied
dirt accumulations, by adding soda
powder and static grass, it is very easy
to achieve good effects. After a coat
of pigments various washes followed
resulting in such an effect.
BELOW: The elements of the running
gear received a similar treatment with
pigments and washes.
Technique’ introduced by Adam Wilder. By flicking ABOVE LEFT: More subtle streaking
effects followed. You may want to
the bristles of a brush loaded with paint towards repeat this step a couple of times to
the model, tiny dots of paint create a multitude avoid a result being too strong.
of effects. Actually it sounds more complicated ABOVE RIGHT: Dark Steel pigments
than it is. The only thing you really want to avoid were added to the inside of the barrel
is not to load too much paint onto your brush. of the gun.
It is therefore important to remove the excess
of paint before flicking the mixture onto your
model. With this technique I created most of
the additional rust effects, as well as some dirt
effects on the lower hull. The paints I used came
from the variety of Rust and Earth-Toned Washes
from AK Interactive.
57
 Diorama

ABOVE LEFT: The diorama had a rather basic yet effective lay out. Styrofoam was glued on a wooden base. Each side was closed with plastic card and the trench has
been created with various pieces of wood. The first layer of groundwork was applied with Tamiya’s texture paint. ABOVE RIGHT: Stones of various shapes and sizes were
collected to be placed on the diorama.

ABOVE LEFT: Various tuffs of grass

from the company ‘Joefix’ from
Belgium were placed onto the desired
areas. In this first attempt I overdid it
a little and removed good portions of
grass later again.
ABOVE RIGHT: Starting with brown
tones, I airbrushed the groundwork.
The plants also received successive
layers of green tones. Beginning with
a darker tone I gradually work my way
up to the lighter tones.
Diorama
The idea was to create a suitable base depicting a
trench in the Kursk area. Since the Russians were
very well informed about the German offensive in
this section, the whole area was heavily fortified.
With few exceptions, the expected forward thrust
of the German troops with their new panzers ebbed
down as a result of relentless Russian defensive
fire. Our model depicts one of those vehicles. Being
hit by an artillery shell on the roof, it lies immobilized
in front of a trench system, being inspected by
Russian troops after the fight is over.
The layout was simple, but effective. A slightly
sloping landscape was created with Styrofoam and
the trench section was cut out. Various groundwork
materials of natural origin served as a base for the
plants. I glued tuffs of grass into place with PVA
glue and painted the whole base with the airbrush
afterwards. Individual stones were picked out by
painting them in a slightly different tone to provide
colour variation. Smaller items from the vehicle

58
 Diorama

ABOVE: Finally, successive brown washes followed; note that good portions of the grass disappeared again and have been
somewhat rearranged. The scattered Russian equipment suggests that the trench had been hastily abandoned as the vehicle
approached. RIGHT: The figures used came from the Russian company Stalingrad, and were painted with acrylic paints.

were placed around the vehicle and in the trench Conclusion

there are various Russian helmets, weapons and
boxes. The barbed wire used was from RMG, which
is a bit on the expensive side, but simply excellent.
Figures
The set ‘Army Anti-Tank Team 1943-45’ seemed just
perfect for this little diorama. The sculpting is very good,
which eased the painting even for an inexperienced
figure painter like me. The figures were exclusively
painted with acrylic paints from AK Interactive and
Vallejo in the typical light from above approach.
Building wrecked vehicles can be very complex
and sometimes also very expensive, but it will
keep you busy for months and the outcome can
be something very unique. With the multitude of
aftermarket products available nowadays, there
seems to be no limit and impressive results can be
achieved. However the paintjob will contribute most
to the final result. In this case a combination of the
‘Hairspray’ and ‘Speckling’ Techniques led to a very
satisfying result.

59
 Figures

Aleksandra
Grigoryevna
Samusenko
Life Miniatures 1/10 bust by Peter Day

Order of the Red Star

ABOVE: Image reproduced with kind
permission of Ira & Larry Goldberg
Coins & Collectibles, Inc.
‘Maybe you’ve fallen in love?’ such was the retort
of Aleksandra Samusenko, a Soviet tank officer,
when asked to stop drinking and smoking by
a besotted male colleague named Mindin.
She kissed him on the head and did indeed
become teetotal thereafter. This is one of
very few personal facts known about the
young Russian who became the only female
tank officer in the 1st Guards Tank Army during
WW2. Photographs of Samusenko certainly
seem to indicate a lively sense of humour -
she has a definite glint in her eye and a very
winning smile.
Samusenko started her army service as a
private in an infantry regiment. After having fought
in the Winter War against Finland, she went to the
Soviet Tank Academy and from there went to serve

60

with the 1st Guards. She commanded a T-34 during
the Battle of Kursk and was awarded the Order of
the Red Star after she and her crew destroyed three
German Tigers Is. She was later said to have taken
over command of her brigade during an offensive
when all of the senior officers had been killed.
Sadly, Samusenko was killed during the East
Pomeranian Offensive on March 3, 1945. The details
of her death are somewhat sketchy, some saying
that she was crushed by a Soviet tank whose driver
failed to see her in the dark, others saying that the
vehicle involved was a German Stug.
Figures
Life Miniatures
WWII Soviet Female Tanker
Korean firm, Life Miniature’s 1/10 bust is almost
certainly a portrait of Samusenko though not
titled as such. No other woman achieved her
rank or awards during service with the tanks and
the uniform details exactly match those seen in
photographs of our subject.
The bust has been sculpted by Sang-Eon Lee and
a very beautiful job he’s made of it. It’s marketed as
a ‘beginner’s kit and compared to the others in the
range, it is a lot less complicated, but the quality
61
Figures

still goes way beyond what is usual at this scale.

It consists of six parts, which are very cleanly cast
and which require a minimum of clean-up before
construction. I decided to add the two cheek flaps
to the head before painting, but kept the other parts
separate, as I prefer.

Painting
The sculptor has also painted the box art and
it’s one of the best bits of painting I’ve seen –
impossible to better and not even worth trying
to imitate. Usefully, he’s provided a PDF painting
tutorial for the bust which is accessible via
the company’s web site, though having been
intimidated enough already, I decided not to visit it.
So with my heart in my mouth I started by
painting the face. I was determined not to look too
much at the box art for fear of being put off by a
standard I couldn’t hope to achieve, though it was
useful to see how the features of the face were
revealed and of course as a colour guide.
As usual, I exclusively used Vallejo Model Colour
acrylic paints. The flesh colours were based on
Matt Flesh, mixed with combinations of Dark Red,
Amarantha Red and Flat Red. The mix was further
darkened with German Camo Black Brown for

62

the darkest shadows and Flat White to build up
the highlights. Modulating the tonal changes was
a process of using every method in the book to
achieve the appearance of a smooth transition and
as such was the most time consuming part of the
process. I tend not to thin the paint too much, but
rather add tiny amounts with a feathered brush to
blend adjacent tones.
The helmet was first painted with Matt Black
then the highlights were built up with German Grey
and Luftwaffe Blue. Song Eon-Lee has painted the
glass of the goggles to suggest reflected light, but
though it’s masterfully done, I felt it looked a bit
artificial. For that reason I painted the glass with
Matt Black and then gave it several coats of gloss
varnish. The only disadvantage I found here was
that, though it works very well ‘in the round’, it is
quite hard to photograph; lesson learned.
The base for the tunic was Russian Uniform
darkened again with German Camo Black Brown
and highlighted with Flat Flesh to keep the tones
warm. The main colour for the shoulder boards was
a mix of Flat Yellow and Old Gold, and took many
coats to achieve an opaque finish.
Next I painted the awards. I found the best way
to tackle them was to coat them entirely in Black
Brown, then pick out the details in the relevant
www.militarymodelling.com
Figures
colours – Dark Red and Amarantha, Old Gold and Flat
White; a fiddly process which took some time, but
they are well defined and fairly easy to get at. The
final stage was to add and paint the chin strap and
the cord for the headphones; an easy enough job.
The torso tapers down to a neat stand, so I
decided to mount it on a couple of stacked bases
from the spares box. I prefer something simple that
doesn’t distract from the bust itself.
The main challenge was to keep the face looking
feminine, without trying to prettify it and although
Song-Eon has sculpted a handsome face, he’s done
so in a way that avoids the glamour clichés that spoil
so many other busts and figures. On that point,
it would be nice to see more busts and figures
depicting ordinary, ‘real’ women rather than the sort
of stuff that abounds these days – subjects that
I’d be ashamed to show my wife and daughters.
Women have always been involved in warfare
throughout the ages and have often donned uniform,
so it would be good to see a fairer representation – it
might even attract more women to the hobby.
I very much enjoyed this one, and will definitely be
looking to do more busts from the range. With aging
eyes I find that I have to keep moving up in scale
anyway, so this makes moving away from the smaller
stuff seem like less of a disappointment.
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Panzer H
i, this is my first article for Military Modelling
magazine. I’m thankful that the editor gave
me the chance to be a part of this Kursk
special issue. I had the choice between an Elefant

Marsch!
Panzer Kampfwagen 3 Ausf. M
by Alexander Wegner
or a Panzer 3. It took me just a few seconds to pick
the Panzer 3, because since I saw one of these
tanks in the Panzermuseum in Munster, I was
shocked about its size and look. It was the first time
I saw a Panzer 3 for real and it made me want to
build one. Also, the Panzer 3 was still an MBT at
the time of Kursk in mid-1943 and in these current
times of new Panther kits, I preferred to build
something different.
The editor gave me a huge timeline to build
this model and I was happy with my choice and
being able to proceed with no looming deadline.
However, because of two trips to the surgery and
five weeks of illness, I fell behind and had to hasten
my workflow; which was not the plan! Sadly I didn’t
take all photographs I wanted, but I hope
you like the progress anyway - have fun.

64 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018


Construction
OK let’s start. My subject here is the Dragon (6604)
1/35 Panzer Kampfwagen 3 Ausf. M. My first idea
was to build it out-of-the-box because some metal
skirts are included and the usual Dragon quality is
guaranteed. So the kit arrived and I took a look inside.
I looked at the tools, barrel, antenna, machine gun
and tracks. I decided replace these parts and quickly
learned that I was unable to build a serious model
out-of-the-box. Quickly I purchased some metal tracks
by Master Club, which are the best on the market in
my opinion and a barrel from ABER, which was cheap
but adequate for this project. Also I acquired a 2m
Stabantenne (ABER), MG34 Panzermantel (Schatton)
and some PE tool clips from my own storage. I
started the construction with the wheels, tracks and
lower hull. The Master Club tracks were assembled
within 80 minutes and without stress. After the lower
hull rolled off my desk, I started the turret.
Beside a small rework of the exterior with Mr.
Surfacer 500 and 1000, I added the barrel and
some clips for the storage box. Now I thought that
as I had done most of the work and I would have
plenty of time to finish the remainder; Yeh, right!
Christmas passed, then New Year and then I fell ill.
Seven weeks without modelling and the clock was
ticking. I decided to ask my friend Thomas Yoshitaka
if he could help me to finish the assembly. He said
yes and we had a great day working together on
my little Panzer 3. Thanks Thomas! Now I was in
the zone again! We added the brass machine gun,
antenna, some cables for the lights made of wire
and all the tool clips. Some filling, sanding and Mr.
Surfacer for followed to finish the job. (Photo 1)
7
AFV
5
The paint job
My personal favourite part of this project is about
to begin. At first I used a brass burnisher by Uschi
van der Rosten to ‘paint’ the antenna and the MG34
barrel. It is easy, fast, only takes about five minutes
and the result is very realistic; I love it! (Photo 2)
Then I painted the wheels. Painting the wheels of
a Panzer 3 means to painting rubber on both sides
of the rims of each wheel and the polished inner
ring. In a combination of my usual, ‘red primer/ 6
chipping fluid/base colour method’ I added four
colours and more chipping fluid. Thanks goodness
I’m able to create my own paint masks. I took the
measurements of the rims, created a set of Pz3
wheels masks and began. (Photo 3)
At first, I painted all the wheels in matt black using
the new ‘REAL’ colours by AK. These are a big plus, as
they are ultra matt and dry very fast, which is important
when working with masking films. (Photo 4)
I then used Mr. Redoxid by Gunze and painted the
primer. Oh I forgot, because of some problems in the
past, I decided to add a matt varnish on top of the
primer; I used a Tamiya product here. (Photo 5).
I added the chipping fluid, used a hair-drier to fasten
the waiting time and the base colour followed; again
I used REAL ‘Dunkelgelb nach Muster’. (Photo 6)
The final step was to add the polished metal; I
always use AKS polishing pastes here. I especially
like the shiny result after polishing with a paper
towel, but in the end I would do it again on Pz3 or
Pz4 wheels. The investment of time is too huge here,
because only a small part of the metal is visible. A
normal silver colour should be enough in
this case. Anyway my masks helped
me a lot, even when I added the
metal! (Photo 7)
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8 9

10

12

Next the tracks

I’m proud to show you
the result of my own
burnishing fluid for metal
tracks called SOLID TRACK.
SOLID TRACK is a fast reaction fluid; after I seconds the metal turns black and is ready for use
cleaned the tracks with oven cleaner all in just a few seconds. It took me more time to
I added the fluid and after a few make the pictures! The result is a deep black track
with grey resin pins, which I painted black with a
fine brush; again REAL was used. (Photo 8, 9 & 10)
Primer time! After
11
endless mixing and
buying of red oxide primers I ended up with
Gunze Mr. Red Oxide. The only problem is that
I’m unable to use it straight out of the
can, because it’s a 1000 primer
and a bit too thick. So, I refill
it into the airbrush and primed
the model. Again, I used a Tamiya
varnish to avoid a bad reaction with
chipping fluid and other paints. I
always do this to follow the original
process. (Photo 11)
I applied the chipping fluid with a brush in
two coats, leaving it to dry completely (Photo 12). I
then added the base colour using REAL Dunkelgelb
again. (Photo 13)

66 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

 AFV

13

14

15
Camo and weathering
I now had to choose a camouflage pattern. To
make it easy I just followed a variant in the kit
instructions. 3. Pz. Gren. Division ‘Totenkopf’ was
my choice with a good camouflage pattern and
nice decals which I changed to home-made
painting masks. I now had to add
another layer of chipping fluid before I
began applying the first colour of the camouflage.
I carried out some Airbrush setting adjustments on
my test sheet and began to paint. I started with
thin and random lines all over the vehicle keeping
the airbrush on a low pressure setting. Once again
REAL colours by AK were used. (Photo 14 & 15).
Before I finished the airbrushing and further
detailed painting, I made some scratches with a
toothpick, brush and a pair of sharp tweezers. I
carried out a little more than was needed because
of the following weathering stage which would 16
cover most of the chipping and scratches. Now you
can see the result of the red primer which is
visible through the scratches. (Photo 16)

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17 18

The painted of all of the wood, lamps, cables,

19 exhaust and metal parts of the gear followed. I
mainly used AMMO of Mig acrylics for that, but
also a wood set by Lifecolor, which is very useful; I
always use it on my models. (Photo 17 & 18)
It is now the final stage of this build;
weathering. You will notice that I reworked the
chipping during the next steps. I added a soft
sponge chipping with a mix of black and dark
brown acrylics, also I used a brush and a pair
of tweezers again to refine the chipping. But at
first, I put my usual oil paints onto a piece of
paper to get the oily stuff out of it. That’s very
important with regard to drying time and to
prevent a glossy effect on the surface after using
oil paints. (Photo 19)
Before I would add any filters and washes I
applied the decals. I don’t like decals; I’m a mask
man! I made a close up of the original decal
sheet by Dragon and created a paint mask. It
was a bit difficult because the turret number is
just a thin outline and hard to cut in masking
film. But it worked and I glued the film to the
model. (Photo 20)
The film is slightly sticky but at the same time I
20 won’t let get paint under the film. Nevertheless it is
very important to press the film onto the surface.
Don’t panic, you won’t rub off the paint; it’s a special
material. I used a silicon brush here. (Photo 21)
Masking around the mask is important to avoid
a paint dust. Using REAL black, I sprayed several
thin layers. (Photo 22)

22

21

68 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018


23
24
Balkenkreuze and Division markings on the front
and rear were made with the same processes. To
paint three numbers on the turret, two Balkenkreuze
and two Division markings took me just ten
minutes. The benefit is, now I’m able to weather
it like I want, without being careful, like I would be
with decals. (Photo 23)
Oils
It was now time to apply a dark brown mix for the
pin wash and filtering, an even darker brown for
grease on hatches. I also carried out micro chipping
on scratched areas and finally a soft layer of bright
dust over the whole model. I also reworked the
exhaust and blended the acrylics. (Photo 24 & 25)
25
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AFV
For streaking dry mud, dirt and more dust, I used
pigments. This was first time I tested the range of
Vallejo, which my friend Özgür Güner gave me at
the SMC model show. I played around and was
more than satisfied with the characteristics of
these pigments. I added a layer of dry pigment to
the lower hull (all sides) and then I applied a larger
amount of pigment to these areas. Some pigment
fixer was used to get it into position. (Photo 26)
The fixer was still wet when I sprinkled dry
and wet pigment onto it. The
result is a more variable and
interesting look.
26
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27 28

On the wheels I used a mix of pigment and water

29 applied with a brush. After everything was dry I rubbed
off the pigment with a cosmetic sponge and added
some diluted Fresh Engine Oil from the Ammo of Mig
range. A combination of both techniques was used on
the tracks. I used a diluted pigment and a dry pigment
fixed with water this time. (Photo 27)
The last use of pigments was on the side skirts. At
first I added a thin layer of dust with dry pigment and a
brush (Photo 28). I then added the usual mixture with
water to create streaks (Photo 29) and the same mix
for splashes, which I applied with a brush and finger.
Later I reworked everything a little including blending
the splashes and streaks with a dry pigment and
adding some more variations of splashes with different
pigment mixes.
Last but not least, I blended my chipping with
a graphic pencil. I do this to get a highlight on the
30 edges and corners; also I’m not a fan of huge rust on
tanks which were in use for a short period of time.
I don’t think that is very realistic as the crews were
very careful with their expensive and highly modern
machines. (Photo 30). Two images of the finished
model.(Photo 31 & 32)

32

31

70 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

 AFV

‘The Grave of
Seven Brothers’
A TAKOM M3 Lee ‘M3sredni’ in Soviet hands with an Academy interior by Ivan Cocker
General Lee at Kursk
When we mention the great tank Battle of Kursk,
what immediately comes to mind are wave after
wave of T-34s confronting the mighty Panthers
and Tigers, but little we wonder that behind the
mythical T-34 the Soviets still relied on many Lend-
Lease tanks, including the veteran M3sredni, as the
Russians called them.
Strangely enough, though not a popular tank ABOVE: The author’s completed model
is placed into the Kursk countryside
and outdated by 1943, the U.S. Medium Tank M3 courtesy of Photoshop.
General Lee was still being seen in the Orel/Kursk
sector. A lot of respect has to be given to the Soviet
crews that, with such a vintage machine, still went
out to pick a fight with the mighty panzers and for
many, was their last ride.

ABOVE LEFT: Before inserting the interior I added strips of plastic card with Archer Raised Dot decals to replicate the rivets seen from the interior.
ABOVE RIGHT: The Academy floor interior fits perfectly into the Takom Hull. BELOW LEFT: Some accessories were constructed separately to ease painting and fitting.
BELOW RIGHT: The major surgery needed, is to make the turret ring larger so that it can take the turret basket underneath. But as the roof was kept apart, it was easily
done with a Dremel power tool; all it now needed was some sanding.

www.militarymodelling.com 71
 AFV

ABOVE LEFT: The interior started with several base coats of cream colour highlighting, with more white on each step. With the help of a sponge, I added some scratches
in areas of high use. Using different tones of dark browns and rusty and orange colours would create some interest. ABOVE RIGHT: The interior was filtered to tie in the
contrasts and harshness of different colours and washes and oil stains added.

ABOVE LEFT: The gun breech needed a similar approach and was weathered accordingly. ABOVE RIGHT: The roof and gun breech fitted in place. BELOW LEFT: An area needing
some attention was the front housing, though certain parts are already roughened to show casting, it still needs some more work. Some filling was required and after drying, I
added some surface texture with paint and stippled with an overused brush. BELOW RIGHT: One error the model has is that the front machine gun cover comes with the blocked
version, normally seen on the later production model. As mine was an early type and all Lend-Lease versions always had machine guns, I drilled the holes out and insert two
Brownings. I choose to use the RB metal barrels fitted to the Academy donor’s hull.

LEFT: The tracks rubber pads were dented and roughened

to create a used effect. RIGHT: The turret basket was painted
separately. To create further interest I added some spent
cartridges on the floor. For the rounds, I experimented by
painting them by adopting the ‘Non Metal’ Metal painting
technique.

The first M3s, which were the early type, arrived

in the Northern ports in late 1941. Though equipped
with an M2 75mm and an M5 36mm gun, this tank
did not create much enthusiasm with the Russian
crews. Apart from being tall and the silhouette
easily targeted by German gunners, the M3s had

72
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LEFT: On the engine

deck I added some
Archer brackets
and others from
plastic card and
added some belts
for the tools which
I made from thin
aluminium foil. The
engine intake mesh
is in PE and comes
with the kit.

RIGHT: The tracks

installed in place;
notice the dents in
the rubber parts of
some of the wheels.

other issues. Aiming on a target meant the whole

tank had to be moved around, the rubber tracks
eventually caught fire in combat and weren’t
suitable on sandy or icy ground, thinly armoured
and if hit by a shell, even without penetration,
rivets easily popped off into the interior causing
high crew casualties. Hence, because of these
drawbacks, the Lees were given the nickname
‘Grave of Seven Brothers’.

Takom offering
The M3 Lee has been released by various
manufacturers in the past but all had their issues
and all needed hard work to rectify them so as to
get a decent version. But last year, the modelling
gods answered our plea when to everyone’s
surprise they released an early version and it seems
a family of M3 versions in the making! As usual,
on the net, the critics started giving their verdict
on Takom’s offering and there was a mixed feeling
about it, so I had to see into it myself. ABOVE: For that extra detail RB barrels
I decided to take the plunge and go were used both for the main guns and
the machine guns. I chose the short
for it. Always fancied this tank’s design, barrelled version and managed to fit
though looking archaic, it gives an idea of pre- the counter weight supplied in the kit.
The kit barrels are decent, but I opted
war developments and it looked different to other to change for the simple reason that
more modern tanks. the M2 75mm comes with rifling.

The finished model before painting.

www.militarymodelling.com 73
 AFV

RIGHT: The model was undercoated in Black,

as this M3 would be in Olive Drab. I always
prefer a dark coat as undercoat.

On opening the Takom box and scrutinizing the

sprues, one might get a strange feel for the type of
plastic used; it looks a bit soft and different
from other brands. I cleaned the frets in
soapy water and began building. Personally I had
no issues, it is easily cut from the fret, also sanding
and gluing was neither an issue.
The model is very well engineered for a pleasant
ABOVE: Seems that most
M3s in Russia remained construction; the most time consuming part were
in their original Olive the suspension boogies, but these were little
Drab colour, same even
still had US registration masterpieces. In fact, these can be built in
numbers on the hull. ‘working condition’ which is a good
Perhaps models that choice for those opting for an
remained around
might have received articulated wheel setup moving
a recoat of ‘4B0’ but over rough groundwork. But
this is a guess! So
to play safe I choose if you choose that road, the
to stay with Olive Drab, tracks supplied in the box
but weathered a bit as this
veteran has been in Russia
since 1941. The model was base
coated with a mix of Olive Drab and
Dark Yellow.

RIGHT & BELOW: I personally like an overhead lighting

effect on my models, adding more black on the lower side to
create shadows and highlighting the mix with more yellow for
highlights. When adding more contrast this was done in glazes,
the mix would be very watery and pressure very low.

More contrast and highlights were added

after it was dry. One has to be patient and add
step by step. It is time consuming and never
try to make it in one go, better let it dry and
add more or tone down the next day.

74 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

 AFV

need to be changed, as these are the length and

link type. By the way, if using the tracks provided,
I suggest following the guide book and build
them before the top hull is ready. I left them
to the last and this was a big mistake, as it
was a bit tricky afterwards! As I decided
to build a well-used veteran, the track
pads and wheel rubber was distressed
with a scalpel, roughed with course
sandpaper and smoothed back.

ABOVE: The tank rivets done.

ABOVE: A good number of Soviet Lee tanks were decorated with patriotic slogans
or numerals. I found a series of photos showing a number of them in the Orel/
Kursk sector with huge numerals and letters on the turret and sides.

ABOVE: The numerals were placed on the model and masked around the area just
in case to avoid any overspray.

BELOW: Kursk happened in the summer and when you study most of the original
photos, especially those fighting in the Steppes, most vehicles look dusty. I added
some streaking in ochre and light colours on the side and top.

ABOVE: After filters the most demanding step is pin washing, for colours like Olive Drab
you had better choose a very dark one, but to create contrast, use different mixes for
different areas, like top and sides. BELOW: Some chipping first with a light green colour
and then with dark brown and rust were added; some parts with the sponge painting
technique, others parts by stippling with a fine tipped brush. Final touch was some
splattering of very diluted washes. This was done by dipping a course paint brush. After
dry these can be toned down with filters just in case the contrast is harsh.

75
 AFV

Perhaps the most demanding part of the

construction was the hull, as this is not the usual
tub type, but instead has to be made from single
parts and they need to be aligned at the correct
angle. On a dedicated FaceBook page covering the
Lee, some modellers did not follow the process as
guided, but found it better to attach the sides and
roof first and then attach this to the hull. It seems
that this method will avoid some minor filling if you
Views of the finished
follow the guide steps, but not anything drastic.
model. The tools were This was an early version model with large
painted in acrylics and hatches in the hull and it cried out for an interior. In
some chipping and
weathering added. my stash I had the old Academy Lee and this had a
basic interior with issues, but it still looked the part.
So I tried to see how to go about it and yes, it fitted
in perfectly. So before adding the roof, I decided to
start detailing the interior. I used most of the items
provided by Academy but just added some wiring
where needed by following some references I had
in hand.

Conclusion
Closing down this project I have been very satisfied
with this Takom offering, I recommend it even for a
straight ‘out of the box’ build without any additional
details. As for the fun part of the project, today we
are lucky to have a vast selection of paint, finish and
weathering products to facilitate our projects but I
still recommend you research even simple things
like the scenario, climate and background of the
vehicle, so that the final project will have a story to
tell, like this veteran in Kursk.
Thanks very much to Pocketbond/Bachmann
Europe PLC for supplying this excellent kit.

76 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018


Kursk Bail Out
Tristar’s Kursk ‘Bailout from the Pocket’ figure set by Kimmo Happonen
Wounded comrade
I was looking for a simple project to get the mojo
flowing and happened across Tristar’s Kursk ‘Bailout
from the Pocket’ figure set in the stash. This
particular set is rather evocative and at the time of
release was rather unique in that we had an honest
vignette out of the box rather than a collection of
figures in various poses that may or may not really
fit well together. Two German soldiers carrying a
wounded comrade out of harm’s way, resplendent
in camouflaged smocks, certainly makes for
an interesting setting and will present some
challenges. A quick look at the contents showed the
figures to be quite nicely done. My main concern
was how the three figures would fit together. I’m
not entirely sure why Tristar felt that Kursk needed
to be included in the title, as far as I can determine,
the uniforms are good for any period and theatre.
An encouraging fit
As I do with all figure builds, I removed the main
parts (torsos, legs and arms) and did a cursory
clean-up of attachment points and Blu-Tacked the
parts together to test their fit and to see if there
were going to be any other issues in terms of
pose. Encouraged by the initial fit, I started a more
thorough clean up removing moulding seams,
re-scribing any seams in the clothing that were
closed over by moulding or the clean-up process,
sharpening details around belts, straps and so on.
I also removed the moulded on collar patches and
embossed belt buckles. The patches are terribly over
scale and not that crisp; the belt insignia is rather
cartoonish and will be replaced with Aber photoetch.
At this early stage, a quick mock-up of the base is
also done to see how things will get laid out.
The next step is to address undercuts. The
injection moulding process means that it is
essentially impossible to get undercuts due to
the nature of the moulds. The most obvious areas
www.militarymodelling.com
Vignette
that should be improved are the hems, collars and TOP: The author’s figures seek some
shelter somewhere in the countryside
sleeves. I use a No.15 scalpel blade for most part. near Kursk courtesy of Photoshop.
I also use a sewing needle chucked into a pin vice,
diamond burrs, files and sandpaper. It can take ABOVE: Box art for Tristar’s Kursk
‘Bailout from the Pocket’ figure set.
‘‘
some time as you might only be removing a small
sliver of plastic with each cut or scrape, but it is
really worth the extra effort. Any rough areas that
can’t be smoothed out with tools or sandpaper get
a brushing of liquid cement, Tamiya extra thin works
really well. Minor blemishes can also be burnished I’m not entirely
with a chiselled cocktail stick.
With the majority of the clean-up work done, I sure why
Tristar felt that
could now glue the legs and torsos together and I
”
have another Blu-Tack session to see how things
are shaping up before gluing the arms in place. The
middle figure is basically supported by the chaps on
Kursk needed
either side, so you want as tight as fit as possible to to be included
give a sense of weight and you want the bookends
to be stable so the whole ensemble doesn’t fall in the title...
over. Minor gaps can be filled in with putty. The
collars are also drilled out at this stage. The kit
supplied heads are hit and miss. The wounded chap
is fine (adding a bandage helps), the other two are
passable but should be replaced if possible.
77
 Vignette

RIGHT: The initial Blu-Tack dry fit of parts.

ABOVE: Undercuts have been added to two of the three figures.

RIGHT: The figures Blu-Tacked onto the mocked up base.

The house and fence are made of cardboard to help
determine dimensions and angles.

Going light
Now we start getting to the fun stuff. Having had
a good look at references to see what a typical
German soldier’s equipment load looked like and
to see how all of it is actually carried, I set to work
removing the moulded on straps along with the
various clasps and flaps on the belts. Having had
a better look at the various bits of equipment
provided in the kit, I decided to replace some items
with either Dragon or Tamiya offerings for a little
better detail and easier clean up. The kit provided
entrenching tools, for example, while nice are rather
tricky to clean up. A good spares box and personal
taste go a long way in deciding what to replace
and what to keep. I ended up deciding that
these chaps would be going light and left
off the gas mask, mess tin and zeltbahn.
Trying to fit all these items would
make a challenging paint job all the
more difficult, and the pose of
the figures would also mean a
lot more work in repositioning
the arms of our book ends
supporting the wounded chap.
I went for a bit of variety and
gave the left hand figure an MP

ABOVE: The house under construction.

RIGHT: The house and fence test fitted to the base.

78 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

 Vignette

overnight. Once the glue had fully set, I puttied the The figures ready for primer
and painting.
minor gaps and turned my attention to the trickiest

40 and pouches; this meant a bit of carving and
putty to get the pouches to sit properly. I made
slings for the weapons from thin styrene sheet
and front clasps from thin wire twisted into loops,
then I flattened and glued into holes drilled in the
weapons. They aren’t 100% accurate, but look
the part. The pouches needed a couple of small
straps and D rings were fashioned from thin wire.
‘‘
part of the exercise, the hands. Hands (and heads)
can make or break a figure, they need to look natural
and proportionate, as well as having enough detail.
Gripping hands can be a real pain in the backside. Most
injection moulded offerings need some work to get the
fingers to actually grip whatever it is they are gripping.
In this case, we have hands gripping hands, so the
Satisfied with the
pose and fit need to look convincing. overall details, I
glued the arms to
The sleeves were hollowed out slightly and the

”
The boots needed some attention, the lace detail cuffs thinned, then I cleaned up the seams on the
was ill-defined and the bend crease was much too
deep; a spot of putty fixed that particular issue. I
hands and started to dry fit the pairings. The right
side pair went together fairly easily with only a minor
our wounded chap
sanded down the lace detail, scribed new grooves bit of repositioning for a thumb needed, a careful and then started to
and added laces from bits of lead wire. Speaking of cut and twist, some putty and voila. The left side
laces, I also redid the lacing on the smocks where was a lot more difficult, both hands need some assemble the group...
needed and added bows with stretched sprue. work and necessitated the removal of one thumb
Satisfied with the overall details, I glued the arms entirely and some sanding.
to our wounded chap and then started to assemble Once everything was lined
the group with the right hand figure, the fit and ‘sit’ up properly, putty was again
seemed better with this pair. Some minor sanding used to eliminate gaps. The
was needed to help eliminate gaps. Once the glue had arms were now tacked in
part set, I added the supporting arm to the right hand place and the alignment
figure and constantly checked the sit, making sure the checked; all looked
arms were all snug and that the feet were more or promising so the hands
less level and touching the ground. The dynamic pose were glued into place on
means that the feet are all over the place and getting the loose arms, then to
the balance right takes a bit of wiggling. Fortunately, the respective figure pair.
everything fitted reasonably well and I didn’t have Another round of minor
to resort to any corrective surgery. I repeated the puttying and our grouping
process for the left hand figure and let the glue dry is ready for priming.

ABOVE: The base is now complete.

LEFT: The almost completed base with figures pressed in to mark

their position. The groundwork is still in progress.

79
 Vignette
BELOW: The stages of painting the smocks.
ABOVE LEFT & RIGHT: The trousers and hands getting painted.
BELOW LEFT & RIGHT: The completed figures.
Ukrainian village house
Now that the figures are more or less done up, we
can turn our attention to making a base. A scene
such as this, cries out for something a little more
involved than a plain plinth, so I decided on a typical
Ukrainian village house, a short section of fence and
a road. The house was made from foam board with
Celluclay to represent the stone wall and then Vallejo
putty was smeared on with a small spatula for the
stucco. I left a small section of engraved stonework
exposed for some variety; the window was boxed
in and framed with styrene strip, the glass is clear
styrene sheet cut to size. I settled on using .25
mm nylon line for the thatch and spent quite a few
sessions gluing sections of tuft onto foam board that
was shaped to fit into the roof opening. The tufts
were periodically trimmed to shape and the strands
straightened out and lightly sanded to give them a
slightly rough feel. Once the roof was covered, a final
trimming and shaping. The fence is made from strips
of styrene sheet cut to size and the surface given a
wood grain using sandpaper and a sewing needle
chucked in a pin vice. The base is a picture frame
with a raised lip from thick styrene strip. The road is
Celluclay with pigment added to make painting a bit
easier, and ground up plaster for the dirt and stones.
I have a stash of plaster chunks that have been pre-
coloured with pigments that I smash and grind up
to make field stones, gravel and so on, very handy
stuff. The figures are lightly pressed into the damp
groundwork to mark their position and the base is left
RIGHT: The stages of painting the heads.
80
to dry. Everything was brush painted with a range of
Vallejo paints and primers, including the wood grain
on the frame. I used various lengths and shades of
static grass, a bit of foam scatter, MP Scenery foliage
for the vine and the flowering shrubs from shredded
scatter foam glued to my thatching material. I also
used pigments to blend the ground work and to add
some weathering to the house and to tie everything
together. Even the vines got a dusting.
Complex pattern
With the base done, we can now get back to the
issue of painting a complex pattern onto our three
figures. A little digging was needed to get some
idea of what needs to be done with patterns and
colours. I found a few excellent reproduction
examples to base my work on. As far as I can
tell, the pattern should be of the earlier type, so
that left me with the choice of either oak or plane
tree. The colour scheme would be the summer
pattern. Interpreting colours from black and white
photos is sometimes a bit dicey and either autumn
or summer patterns could be used. I found the
summer a little more interesting so that was settled.
We start off with a primer coat of Scale 75 black,
this will give some nice depth to layers to come.
Next, the base coats are blocked in, varying the
colours and then a quick highlight and wash of dark
brown. There’s no point going overboard with the
shading just yet as the camo needs to go on first.
 Vignette

Learning from my first attempt, I decided to get

the patterns blocked in first and start to refine as I
went. I used two patterns of plain tree and to avoid
them looking identical, I simply flipped the front and
back for one pattern. I also used slightly different
shades of every colour as the real smocks and
pattern types varied somewhat from batch to batch,
not to mention fading and wear.
Once I was happy with the basic patterns, the
equipment was painted up, making sure to vary
tones and everything sealed with a clear coat. Once
dry, I picked out highlights and shadows and applied
pin washes to sharpen detail and seams and then
the smocks received tinted matte coats to simulate
fading and dust. The leather bits were given satin
coats for a bit of contrast. The collars, trousers and
boots were then done, again with varying shades.
I used Tamiya decals for the collar patches. A lot
easier than painting, although the ink is metallic and
much too shiny; a matte coat on top of a grey filter
tones things down nicely. I added some dirt staining
to the knees and the lower half of the figures were
then given a tinted matte coat to tie in with the
ground work. The boots start off a few shades of
brown, then black brown filters and washes are
added to produce a worn effect. I will add some
pigments to the boots for a little dirtier appearance
once they’re attached to the base.
Turning back to the heads, I went with the kit
supplied head for our wounded chap and added
a neck from sprue and a bandage from masking
tape. I also redid the hair with stretched sprue for
a slight overhang over the bandage and did some
scribing to add detail to the hair overall. The other
two chaps are Hornet offerings. Painting faces with
acrylics at this scale is a very dark art and I’m still
getting to grips with it. One thing I do to make life
a little easier is to not add whites to the eyes if the
figure is wearing a peaked cap or helmet. The eyes
will be in deep shadow and any light shade will,
look too stark and out of place. I use a wet palette
and Vallejo Glaze medium to provide a little more
working time. The helmets are from the kit and
Dragon, happily they have two different patterns
for the covers so we get more variety. They were
painted up the same way as the smocks and lastly,
chin straps were fashioned from tape and a faux
buckle made from thin card and a slice of stretched
sprue cut half round. I glued the heads in place with Views of the completed scene.
matte medium and then added the weapons. The
MP 40 went on alright, but the
rifle and sling gave me a
devil of a time. In the end,
I think they both look fine
and have a slight sense of
movement as if they are
slipping, while the helpers
catch their falling comrade.
The trio can now be glued to
our base with matte medium,
a final dusting of pigments, and
there we have it.
Thank you to Military Modelling
Magazine for this opportunity and to
the MilMod community at large for
being a smashing bunch.

81
 AFV

T-34
‘Hero of The Soviet Union’

To commemorate the Battle of Kursk Richard Dyer

I
have to confess that if you were to ask me to name
some tanks that fought at Kursk, I probably would
builds and enhances the Warlord Games T-34/76 kit have said ‘Tiger’, ‘Panther’ and ‘Ferdinand’. All three
obviously German, which I guess gives away my
preference. So when Martyn asked if I would like to
contribute an article to our Kursk Special issue I was
flattered, more than a little nervous, but definitely
intrigued to find out what I would be building. The
answer was a T-34, specifically Warlord Games rendition
of the T34/76 medium tank in 1/56 (28mm) scale.

The kit
The model is an all plastic, injection moulded
construction kit primarily aimed at the wargamer. With
this in mind, compared to a model intended for static
display, the number of separate parts is much reduced
and construction is simplified for a quicker build.
The kit’s single page sheet of instructions shows
seven separate stages of construction (‘A’ to ‘G’)
as follows: Stage A; If you build this kit in the
recommended order of construction you start by joining
the two-piece track run to the wheels; Stage B Adding
the left and right main drive transmission housings in
preparation to receive wheel and track subassemblies.
Take care to look carefully at the drawing to make
certain of the correct location of these parts; Stage C
The third sage of construction is joining the one-piece
upper hull to the lower hull/chassis. Joining the track
Minus the instruction and wheel subassemblies from Stage A completes
sheet this is what Stage C; Stage D Adding the two exhaust pipes. The
you get in the kit.
characteristic down facing exhaust pipes of the T-34 are
further improved in this kit by opening up the ends of
the pipes; Stage E (1,2 & 3) Here we have the stage
were the modeller has to decide which of the three
BELOW LEFT: Box art for the Warlord Games T-34/76 kit. Note the cylindrical type external fuel tanks are different turret options to choose from. These are:
a feature of the box art painting but are not provided in the kit. BELOW RIGHT: The bottom of the box
has a potted history of the T-34 tank and shows examples of the completed model illustrating the three E1 T34/76 OBR. 1941, E2 T34/76 OBR. 1942, and
turret options available in the kit. E3 T34/76 OBR. 1943. All three turrets share the

82 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

 AFV

ABOVE: Diagrams from the kits instruction sheet show how the three turret options go together, however there are only enough parts to build one of the three.

same gun barrel and base. The 1942/43 turrets

also share the same gun mantlet and round hatch
covers; Stage F This is the penultimate stage, addition
(or not) of the two-part commander figure. There is an
extra of the round hatch covers provided with its hinge
in an opened position if you opt to use the commander
figure; Stage G The final stage of the build, addition
of the two box style external fuel tanks, optional
rectangular toolboxes, a single headlight, spare track,
and the choice of either a hull mounted flamethrower
or machine gun.

Decisions, decisions… ABOVE: Components for the 1943 option turret next to Rubicon Models T-34/85 turret roof.

I always like to see options in a kit and this one has
several, not least the choice of three different turret
designs (see Stage E). Not being a T-34 aficionado
I wasn’t sure if all three turret options would be
correct for the Kursk. I decided that some reference
was needed for inspiration so I purchased a copy of
‘Images of Kursk, History’s Greatest Tank Battle - July
1943’ by Nik Cornish for under £6 including p&p. Sure
enough there are plenty of contemporary photographs
in the book and I was pleased to discover several
useful images of T34/76s. From what I could tell all
three of the turret options available in the kit would
be appropriate. One image in particular caught my
interest. The photo is on page 162 of the book and
shows a column of five tanks. The caption for this
image reads as follows: ‘T-34 tanks and infantry of
Rotmistrov’s Fifth Guards Tank Army make their way
towards the Prokhorovka region. Made up of V Guards
Mechanized Corps and XXIX Tank Corps, its 170 tanks
and 21 self-propelled guns would prove crucial in
defeating the southern wing of the German offensive.’
Two things stood out to me in this image, firstly at
least the first three tanks in the column were missing
both front track guards, which I liked the look of.
Second, the tank in the foreground seemed to have
a variant of the 1943 turret but with an extended
commander’s cupola. To my eyes this made the
T-34/76 turret in the photo look more like the
T-34/85 and this gave me an idea.
In my kit stash I happened to
have the 1/56 T-34/85 by Rubicon
Models (280021). As luck would
have it, the kit comes with
two different turret roof options, both featuring the
commander’s cupola. One version has a split hatch
cover; the other has a single larger semi-circular
cover. The design shape and size of the cupola
looked to be the same as those used on the earlier
T-34/76 variant seen in the photo. From what I could
see in my reference photos, it looked like the hatch
covers were the split type. Rubicon’s kit instructions
note that the first option is ‘D-5T (Model 43)’, so
1943 which would fit with the Kursk time line. So I ABOVE: Part of the instruction sheet
decided to cannibalise the Rubicon T-34/85 roof (part from Rubicon Models T-34/85 kit
showing turret roof incorporating
A11) for its cupola. I was happy to do this as the commander’s cupola.
Rubicon kit could still be completed at a later date
using the second turret roof option.
Ground and out
The first job was to carefully remove the cupola
from the turret roof. It was immediately obvious that
trying to cut it off was not going to be easy or even
the best way to separate it from the roof. I decided
that if I were to grind down the turret roof from
underneath, then eventually the cupola should pop BELOW: Box art from Robicon Models
free. Well that was the theory anyway. 1/56 scale Mid & Late War T-34/85 kit.

The Rubicon turret roof.

www.militarymodelling.com 83
 AFV

The moulded tow cables being removed from the hull.

ABOVE: The one-piece upper hull moulding, note the moulded on towing cables and the simplified handrails.

BELOW: Drive, road and idler wheels are all moulded as together as one large part making construction quick Close up of a cable being cut away from the track guards.
and simple for the less experienced modeller.

A grinding bit was attached to my Dremel and I

started to remove unwanted plastic from under the
Rubicon turret roof. At first I found that even set to
its slowest speed setting the Dremel melted the
plastic rather than removing it. The solution was
to grind tiny sections away at a time, moving the
grinding bit away from the plastic allowing time for
it to cool down before moving on. Eventually this
technique worked and the cylindrical cupola popped
free from the turret roof. A quick tidy up with a file
levelled the base off and the cupola was ready for
its new home on top of the Warlord kit turret.

On with the build

Armed with the donor commander’s cupola I started
the build at Stage E (3) with assembly of the turret.
The gun barrel was drilled out for added realism and
the mantlet was assembled. I put the gun and mantlet
to one side to set while I glued the base of the turret
in place. I test fitted the cupola to the turret roof. I
found that there was some moulded-on hinge detail
that needed to be removed first before the cupola
would sit flat on the roof. This was easily cut away and
the cupola was glued in place. I did not want to use
the commander figure provided (Stage F) so the split
hatch doors for the Rubicon cupola (B03 & B04) were
attached in the closed position.
Views of the turret with cupola and
brass hand-rails in place.
The replacement tow cable from Karaya.
While working on the turret, I noticed that the grab
rails had been represented as a solid moulded bar. This
is like a sort of 2D shorthand way of representing grab/
hand rails on models; ok for smaller scales, but I didn’t
want this for mine. I carved them off and replaced
them with some brass rod.
Turret complete, I turned my attention to the
upper hull. Unfortunately Warlord has represented
the tank’s towing cables as moulded on detail.
These run over the track guards and attach to
shackles on the front of tank. These would need to
be removed from the model and replaced with a
more realistic alternative. A search on the Internet
gleaned a company new to me called ‘Karaya’
from Poland. Part of Karaya’s range of aftermarket
products includes several different gauges of scale
metal cable; perfect! Hannants here in the UK are
a Karaya stockist and I purchased a set of 0.70mm
diameter tow cables (TCM02) from them.

84 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

 AFV

While waiting for the replacement cable to arrive RIGHT: Both track guards
have now been removed
I began to prep the hull by carefully carving off from the front of the tank.
both moulded cables. On the moulded part you The wheel/track runs were
temporarily placed to check
can clearly see where the cable fits into a sleeve their fit.
behind each eye and this is where I made my first
cut. I found it best to lightly score one side of the BELOW: Views of the upper hull
and turret with most the addition
cable first, taking care to keep my scalpel blade components added. The aerial mount
horizontal and level with the surface beneath. Taking and external fuel tanks are
yet to be added.
it slowly, multiple light but accurate cuts were much
safer than attempting to complete the task in one
go. While the kit plastic is hard, it’s not as brittle
as some other manufacturer’s kits and cutting the
cables off the model was less arduous than I had
first thought.
Once both moulded cables were removed from
the model, I scraped the surface where they had
been smooth. Then I used my pin vice to drill
a small hole behind each of the towing eyes to
accommodate the Karaya cable. Before adding
the new cable, I cut away both of the front track
guards. As before, accurate shallow cuts were
made first, then once the correct cutting lines had
been established it was simply a case of scoring
repeatedly until the guards could be snapped free.
Compared with cutting the cables, removal of the
track guards was a breeze!
It was now time to add things to the model. ABOVE: The external fuel tanks
I reasoned that it would make more sense to with plastic card added to
attach any separate components like the toolboxes blank off the backs.

and headlight to the model before adding the

aftermarket cables. So I began by replacing all the
handrails found on the hull with brass rod. Then
most of the detail parts from Stage G were added.
The instructions show the two toolboxes as options,
implying that you add one or other. I believe that
you should use both, the deeper of the two is
mounted on top the track guard front left-hand-side
and the other box clearly has locating points for it at
the rear right-hand-side. In fact the moulded on tow
cable is bent back on itself to avoid the box. I added
both tool boxes making sure to have the catch detail
facing outward. I also added the single headlight to
the left of the vehicle.
The artist’s impression of the T-34 on the box top
shows the tank with a wooden crate as stowage.
I liked the way the cable was bent over the crate
holding it in place. Rubicon’s Allied Stowage Set 1
(280033) has several wooden crates and one was
selected for use on the model.
The last item to be added before attaching the
cables was the aerial mount. Both are provided, but
strangely it is not mentioned in the instructions.
The Warlord part was crude and the actual aerial
itself is best replaced with some stretched sprue.
I plundered my Rubicon spares box for the aerial
mount that I had neglected to add to my SU-85/SU-
122 project (see MM4703). I drilled a small hole to
accept a finer stretched sprue aerial, which would be
added later. I consulted the box art image as a guide
to locate the mount on the model. The Rubicon part
was a great improvement and fitted perfectly.
Now I was ready to add my realistic looking
cable. I had already determined that the length of
cable needed for each side was about 80mm, so
two equal lengths of wire cable were cut. I allowed
a bit extra for the ends that would disappear into
the holes drilled behind the towing eyes. The Karaya
cable was a joy to work with and gives a realistic
look. I used super glue to fix it in place.
Final construction
Due to its relatively low part count,
the rest of the kits construction was easy
to do. All the wheels and tracks are made up of just
three parts, (Stage A). I have seen reviews of this
kit where people have complained that the tracks
don’t fit very well, but I had little issue. I found it
best to glue the top runs on first, leave them to dry
thoroughly. The lower run can then be offered up,
test fitted and filed until a good fit is achieved.
I then glued the two transmission covers in place
(Stage B). At Stage C I decided not to glue the
completed track runs to the hull sides to better aid
How the track
painting, but the lower and upper hull were glued attaches to
together. The two exhaust pipes were added to the the wheels.
rear of the tank (Stage D).
With the turret and most of the upper hull already
constructed, the only components left to add
were the hull mounted machinegun and the
two external fuel tanks. It is obvious
where the machinegun fits, but
not so easy to see where
the fuel tanks go. I used
images of the real tank
and 1/35 scale models as a
reference for their location. I

www.militarymodelling.com 85
 AFV
ABOVE: A hole was drilled in each
transmission housing to allow a wooden
skewer to pass through. This was then
used to hold the hull while painting.
RIGHT: Subassemblies
attached to a cardboard
box. Here they have just
been undercoated in
Tankovy Green 240.
BELOW: The first two
colours from the Vallejo
Russian Green 4BO set
applied to the model.
BELOW: Vallejo’s 017 Russian green and 223 (the product code came off the
bottle!) were the final colours applied to the model. I chose not to use
225 Light Green, the final shade in the set.
86
ABOVE: The fuel tanks attached. ABOVE RIGHT: The decal sheet provided with the Warlord kit. It is interesting to note the
annotation on the sheet sates ‘Soviet T34/85 Decals’.
also blanked the back of them off with some plastic
card to make sure that they did not look hollow on
the finished model.
War paint & decals
It was now time to put some colour on the model. I
had been impressed with the ‘Tankovy Green 240’
spray paint from Battlefront Miniatures, so as I had
most of the can leftover from my SU-85/SU-122
I decided to use this as a combined primmer/
undercoat. As this paint is applied via an aerosol it
is impossible to direct the colour to specific areas
of the model, so several light passes were used to
build up one uniform coat of the colour. The paint
performed very well and I was pleased to see that
none of the surface detail had been obscured. At
this stage I had planned to finish this model in the
same way as my SU-85/SU-122, by simply adding
thin dark washes over the Tankovy Green base
colour. On this occasion however, I decided to
have a go with my airbrush, an Azetk A4809T. This
would also give me a good excuse to try out one of
Vallejo’s six colour AFV paint sets. So I purchased
Vallejo’s ‘Russian Green 4BO’ set (78.403).
The six plastic bottles in the set contain acrylics,
five colours and one varnish. They are ready to
spray straight from the bottle. There is a good guide
showcasing the use of the set on YouTube by Todd
Michalak. I watched this several times before I was
confident enough to give it a go myself. There are
also step-by-step instructions printed on the back of
the Vallejo box set too. Keeping in mind what I had
seen demonstrated on YouTube I followed Vallejo’s
own guide.
As noted the model had already been fully
undercoated with Battlefront‘s Tankovy Green, so
I just used a small amount of Vallejo’s dark primer
(609 Russian Green), trying to get this colour into
the areas where there would be the most shadow.
Once this was dry I carried on using the rest of the
colours in the set.
I found the colours sprayed really well and dried
quickly, in fact by the time I had cleaned one colour
from my airbrush I was able to spray the next. I kept
to Vallejo’s painting order, but I didn’t apply any of
the satin varnish until after I had placed the decals.
The water slide decal sheet provided has plenty
of turret numbers and soviet insignia and several
others besides, so well worth tucking away in a safe
place for future use. At first glance the carrier film
looked a little thick and I was worried that this would
still be obvious once applied. As it turned out, the
decals went on without any problem.
I used Micro Sol and Micro Set* products; I chose
‘104’ for my vehicles turret number, but the Soviet
stars looked too large compared with my reference
photo, so I used two from a Rubicon sheet.
I left the decals to dry for 24 hours and then
sprayed the whole model with thin coats of the
Vallejo satin varnish, making sure that the decals
were covered. Once dry there was no evidence of
any ‘silvering’ or obvious sign of carrier film on the
decals. They really did have a ‘painted on’ look to
them, which was great, but they also looked far too
clean. A little more wreathing to blend them in was
in order, so I made my own mix of acrylic colour
from Vallejo 225 Light Green and Citadel’s Nuln Oil
wash. This mix was further thinned and randomly
Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018
 AFV

applied to the model making sure to tone down the Views of the completed model.
The colour used to represent the
decals. Once I was happy with the result I applied dust and mud on the model was
a final coat of varnish to tie everything together and AK Interactive’s ‘Summer Kursk Earth’,
the model was finished. well what else would it be!

Conclusion
Firstly I should like to say thank you to Martyn for
talking me into writing this article and providing me
with the kit. This kit can be purchased direct from
Warlord Games (www.warlordgames.com).
The AK Interactive, Citadel (Games Workshop),
Microscale decal products and Vallejo paints are
also all readily available online and from most good
model shops. I purchased the Vallejo paint set from
eModels Ltd (www.emodels.co.uk), and the Karaya
tow cable from Hannants (www.hannants.co.uk).
Believe it or not, I fully intended to build this kit
straight from the box, using only Warlord parts and
decals, however as you will have read this didn’t
end up being the case! While what I have done
with the kit may look challenging to the beginner, I
honestly believe that someone relatively new to the
hobby could do it.
I have learnt a lot from this little project, tried
some new products for the first time and got
reacquainted with my airbrush too. Most of all
I have had fun building this model of a vehicle
that I think some might consider a ‘hero of
the Soviet Union’, if not Kursk!

*Micro Sol and Micro Set are manufactured

by Microscale Industries, Inc.

ABOVE: Images of Kursk, History’s

Greatest Tank Battle - July 1943’
by Nik Cornish. ISBN 1-84044-112-7

87
 Magach 6b Gal and Gal Batash
Both author & editor are avid and
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Merkava Siman 3D
Both author & editor are avid and
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Doobi D9 Variants
Both author & editor are avid and
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Achzarit Heavy APC
Both author & editor are avid and
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Rochev and Doher
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Merkava Siman 1
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Nuts and Bolts 33
Leichte Feldhaubitze 18, GW II f¸r
le.F.H. 18/2 Wespe and Hummel-
Wespe written by Heiner F.Duske, Tony
Greenland, Detlev Terlisten 184 Pages
Black/white and colour photos and Line
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Nuts and Bolts 34
One of the most interesting military
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Black/White and colours photos and
line Drawings £26.50
Nuts and Bolts 35
192 pages A4, glue-bound, approx.
300 photos, of these 140 contemporary
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Nuts and Bolts 36
We were very reticent initially as there were no surviving Sd.Kfz.233
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Nuts and bolts 37
180 pages A4, glue-bound, approx. 368 photos,
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Nuts and Bolts 38
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Nuts and Bolts 39
24 pages A4, glue-bound, approx. 430 photos, of
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Combat and war fronts in b/w, most of them
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Panther and Jagdpanther Units.
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Damaged 3.
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Images of War Challenger 2
For much of the Cold War, the British
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T-34 Tank Owners workshop
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The Weathering Magazine 22.
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Photosniper 26 Hungarian Armored
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modeling plans Since 1699, Hungary had
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Israeli Sherman-based self
propelled weapons.
This is the first volume of two giving a
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Camouflage and Markings of the
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Published as the first part of Armor
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Abrams Squad 23.
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Army Wheels in Detail 18
Scammell Pioneer
This publication contains detailed
historical photos, scale drawings,
detailed drawings from the instruction
manual and colour profiles. English and
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 WWI German Officer and Seated Infantry

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My name is John Hunton and I have been making and selling figures on and off
for the past forty years. I learnt my trade from John Braithwaite of Greenwood
& Ball and plantagenet fame. My partner and I have decided to start a small
start-up business selling and making model figures/toy soldiers.
We are a business set in the North East of England producing bespoke
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poses with alternative heads and in kit form. We also produce a full
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present, as assembling and soldering them together is a tricky process.
40mm pieces consist of Napoleonics in Great Coat, these come in packs of
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Caesar and the Celts. These are still being finished off on the workbench and
should be available on our website in the next few weeks.
The chess sets at present consist of Culloden 1746 and represents the
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Anybody wishing to put their family clan name on one or all off the
Jacobite pieces this can be arranged at no extra cost.
The government army can represent any of the regiments taking part at
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You will have a chance to see and chat with us as we will be attending The
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For further information and prices please visit our website

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Or call us on
01642 355677
or just drop us an email checkmatemilitaryminiatures@gmail.com
and we will respond as soon as we can.
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 Briefing

Volume 48 No.5 will be on sale 27 April 2018

Next issue www.militarymodelling.com

l Voltaire
HobbyBoss Danton-class battleship
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Schurzenschnellzugwagenen

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Ageing and decaying railings in large scale Alexandros Models 200mm bust converted AARV

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96 Military Modelling Vol.48 No.4 2018

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