Panzer Aces No.29

The Tiger I have chosen to model, represents one of the 5 remaining vehicles in February 1943 of schwere Panzerabteilung 502 (heavy tank battalion) primarily fighting in the Leningrad sector, during the battle of lake Ladoga. I have always been fascinated by the early Tigers and the divergence in camouflage in particular the winter/snow camo schemes; therefore it was an easy choice to depict this vehicle in this period, the Tigers of 502 having a very distinctive pattern during this time. The vehicles were very stark white in order to blend in with the snow (the idea behind snow camo) also very little if any dirt or mud as they were running on frozen ground, snow and ice. using primarily the images on pages 16 6 17 from the book "Tiger I sur le Front de I'Est" for reference, also the art work on page 19. This kit builds into a nice model out of the box, but with the addition of a few minor additions and corrections, it can be turned into a real show piece. Even though the model was only picked at sporadically over a two year period. I had all construction done and ready for paint in about 16 hours.

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Panzer Aces No.28

The "star" of this review is a vehicle on the Kalinin front scenario during the winter of 1942-1943. The book: "The Soviet armor camouflage and insignia 1930-1945 (see bibliography) contains a picture of the vehicle, and you can see the additional fuel reservoirs that we'll have to build out of tin sheet or steal from another mode: kit. On the other hand, the brand (Trumpeter) offers the decoration option that we need for this particular vehicle. The decal sheet already includes the numerals that should be affixed to the turret.  As we stated on issue 23 of this magazine on another review on the KV-1 (the 1941 version), the Trumpeter kit is really we made, and has an unbeatable price/quality relation. When we compare the KV's this manufacturer makes with the old Tamiya kits on the same vehicles, we can truly admire their greatness. The trumpeter kits when assembled right out of the box are already outstanding.
 

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Panzer Aces No.25

When the Nazi party took power in Germany, the rearmament started to take place openly, and in 1933 the Wehrmacht requested several types of half-tracked vehicles that were classified by their towing capacity in tons. In 1936. Krauss-Maffei designed a tractor that was able to carry artillery pieces of 8 tons (150 and 88mm guns) and carry a total of 8 passengers plus ammo storage space. An improved model was built in 1938 with the official designation of Sd.Kfz. 7. Fitted with a Maybach HL 62. 6 cylinder. 140 HP petrol engine, it had an on-road speed of 50 km/h and a range of 250 km. The cross country performance was outstanding, having a transversal spring on the front wheel axle and a torsion bar suspension on the tracked road wheels. Several projects were developed after 1940 to install anti-aircraft guns on the platform of this vehicle, such as the Flakvierling Flak 38 with four 20mm guns and the Flak 36 with 37 mm guns, especially made against the soviet Sturmovik fighter bomber, capable of sustaining 20mm projectiles with little damage.

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