Military Miniatures in Review No.18

1941! Situation seemed to be favorable for Germany. Western Europe was defeated and largely conquered The "fortress England," however, held out. After "Operation Seelöwe" had to be dropped, Hitler turned towards new aims. In late 1940 the German general staff evaluated its own inventory of armored vehicles. Since "super heavy" British and American tanks were expected to appear on the battle field in the near future, this evaluation brought only poor results. Neither the Panzer III nor the Panzer IV seemed equal to this scenario. Ironically, the army intelligence (Fremde Heere Ost) was unaware of the most modern Soviet tanks like the KV and T-34 at this time. However, after confronting them, the German "medium" tanks were obsolete over night Stop gap solutions (SP guns) had to be developed in emergency programs. Only the high degree of training and a generally superior tactical leadership prevented the total collapse of the eastern front in the winter of 1941/42.

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FineScale Modeler Supplement - Essential Finishing Techniques

I love Luftwaffe aircraft, but as a modeler, they drive me crazy - the machines are interesting and great to model, but most of them have horribly complicated, seemingly impossible-to-airbrush camouflage schemes. More often than not, I find myself taking the easy way out and applying the simplest (and usually boring) scheme to whatever I've picked to build. When I bought Tamiya's 1/48 scale Focke-Wulf Fw 190F-8 (No. 61039) I started to rethink things. The kit includes markings for a 190 stationed in Italy in 1944; its unusual tropical scheme was field-applied over the aircraft's factory finish. The upper-fuselage markings were completely painted out, and what markings remained were covered with bits of overspray. I was hooked. I knew I had to model that scheme, but how would I apply the pattern? As I plotted my plan of attack, I wondered if I could take things one step further - could I apply a complicated finish without breaking out one of my tricky-to-clean double-action airbrushes? The challenge was worth the effort.

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FineScale Modeler Supplement - Best of Questions & Answers

A combination of painting interior detail before assembly and exterior finishes after assembly is the best way. Painting after assembly allows you to cover filled seams and gaps. For an airplane, build and paint the interior (cockpit) first, then paint the interior walls of the fuselage halves. When the paint is dry, glue the cockpit in place and glue the fuselage together. Fill seams with super glue, add a touch of accelerator to harden the glue, then sand it smooth. Then glue on the wings and stabilizers, filling seams along the way if needed. Now you're ready to paint the outside of the model. You can stick a brass tube up the tailpipe or into a hole for a propeller to hold the model while you paint. Find a way to mount the brass tube (with the model on it) to keep from touching the paint before it dries.

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AFV Modeller Issue 23

The release of AFV Club's 10.5cm field howitzer and ammunition caught my imagination (the pressed steel wheels did it for me!) and fills a big void in artillery of the period. The kit can be built straight from the box and builds into a little gem. Care must be taken to follow the instructions as it is not as obvious where many of the parts belong, as is the case when building an armour model and some of the parts are very fragile. The ubiquitous 10.5 cm field howitzer was seen on all fronts during the war. I wanted to depict the gun in action in the summer of 1942 during the push towards Stalingrad and chose 3rd (mot) Artillery regiment of the 3rd motorised infantry division. These units were reinforced infantry divisions, which as the name suggests had at least partial motorisation.

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Scale Military Modeller International 09/2012

For those not familiar with this region of the globe, well the South Ossetians declared independence from Georgia in 1990 calling themselves the Republic of South Ossetia. The Georgian government responded by abolishing South Ossetia's autonomy and tried to retake the region by force, leading to the 1991-1992 South Ossetian War Georgian fighting against those controlling South Ossetia occurred on two other occasions, in both 2004 and 2008, and the last conflict also referred to as the 2008 Ossetian war, saw Ossetian forces, backed by Russian troops and armour, gain full control of the territory. The South Ossetian Army has a number of main battle tanks including the T-72, T-55, and T-62. The Russian Army also sent the T-62 to South ossetia during the 2008 war and some examples had added slat armour, especially those involved in urban fighting. Despite its limitations the T-62 remains a potent weapon and this model represents a Russian example as seen during the so-called 'Five Days war'.

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