Minis Like Dust

Project: 1/35 Tamiya SdKfz.251C/10 Part 2

2011-12-11T19:53:00.000-05:00

Occasionally in the build process you come to a point where you have to wonder about the effort of moving on, and what is needed.

The Tamiya kit stands here, half completed. The roadblock is that the interior looks more challennging than I had first estimated. I'm not thinking that I will need to pick up the Eduard set for this kit, if for no other reason than it provides seat backs for the fighting compartment interior. Of course this will be more money too...

Project: 1/35 Aer ASU-57

2011-12-11T19:35:00.000-05:00

Accepted into service in 1951, the ASU-57 was an attempt by the Soviets to develop an airborne, air-droppable light AFV to support Soviet Airborne forces. While the 57mm Ch-51 cannon was more effective in the anti-tank role than the 76.2 D-56T cannon then arming the PT-76 tanks, it would stilll have had trouble dealing with heavier tanks and the like. In addition the armor protection was barely worthy of the term. Still, in an air-landing operation any tank is usually better than no tank, and the ASU-57 was successful for a number of years until replaced by the ASU-85 and ultimately the BMD-series of vehicles.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Warsaw Pact dissolved, there was a lot of hope from modelers of seeing what the model hobby was like in the East. What had been a trickle of kits in the Glastnost era became more common. Aer of Moldova was one of the first companies marketing kits in the west. Unfortunately I have no idea what the status of this manufacturer is anymore, lacking a web page, and not much in years in terms of new releases. Still, the kits can be found from time to time, and this is certainly an unusual subject...

When one gets a new kit, the range of emotions one can go through ranges from "Cool!" to "Hmmm...." and finally "Can I live with this thing?" Usually this range of emotions happen during the actual build process, but in the case of Aer's ASU-57 kit, you'll get there just from opening the box.

In a word, the kit is terrible! Fit is overall sloppy, with the hull sides "spiderwebbed" with what looks like the result of insufficiently hot styrene during the injection process. Also the gun barrel was riddled with sinkmarks, and actually shattered while I was trying to construct it. You absolutely must invest in aftermarket parts just to complete the model. This is a real shame, but I can't complain as I got the model for a mere $3 several years ago from Ebay.

Into the mix I added Eduard's 35734 ASU-57 1/35 photo-etch kit, from Modelpoint MP3550 ASU-57 return roller set, and MP3529 Ch-51 57mm barrel. The entire Modelpoint line may be OOP as their website no longer registers and most stocklists seem to be out of product. I'm also thinking about picking up Miniart's 35064 Soviet 57mm & 76mm Shells w/Ammo Boxes. The Ch-51 cannon could fire the range of ZiS-2 ammo as well as more modern rounds, so this set will work if not specifically accurate.

Construction starts naturally with the lower hull. This is where problems began. Lacking the technology (at the time, or perhaps capital investment for better molds), the lower hull does not benefit from multi-part molds like found with Asian manufacturers, and instead is built up from several flat parts. Fit was sloppy, and required a lot of filler (the white spots in the photograph are the results of this. I have attached a handful of photo-etch details as well. I have also begun modifying the upper hull to accept the photo-etch parts.

Project: 1/35 Tamiya SdKfz.251C/10

2011-09-19T22:02:00.001-04:00

The SdKfz.251 was the standard armored personnel carrier for the German Army in WWII. Compared to its closest competitor (the US M3 half-track), it had better armor protection, but poorer cross-country mobility. Interestingly, while many countries experimented with the APC concept -- such as Italy and Japan -- none deployed them in the numbers the US or Germany did, unless they were supplied via Lend-Lease (such as in the case of the British, and to a lesser extent the Soviets).

The 37mm PAK 35/36 was the standard anti-tank cannon of the German army in the pre-war and early war period. When it was developed in the mid-30s, it possessed adequate anti-tank performance for the era, but quickly grew obsolete, especially when Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Although able to deal with older tanks like the T-26, it was completely inadequate when fighting T-34s or KV-1s (dubiously referred to as the "Doorknocker" when combating these tanks, indicating it's paltry performance against the armor of these tanks).

Early on, the decision was made to combine this anti-tank gun with the chassis of the standard German APC, to develop a platoon commander's vehicle, able to support dismounts with direct fire from its 37mm cannon (firing High Explosive shells), or provide limited anti-tank capability at the platoon level. While inadequate when combating tanks, the 37mm would still have been effective fighting lighter armored vehicles, such as other APCs, armored cars, and even light tanks in some circumstances.

Both Tamiya kits -- the SdKfz.251C (#35020) and the PAK 35/36 (#35035) are what you might call "Golden Oldies." Both kits were issued in the mid '70s (1973 and 1974 respectively), at a time when Tamiya had very little competition in the 1/35 scale, and only a bit more competition from the likes of Revell and Monogram in the US (some kits were allegedly 1/35 -- particularly from Monogram, but many were actually 1/32), Airfix in the UK (again 1/32), and domestically in Japan from the likes of Bandai (1/48 mostly) and Nichimo (1/35). Later in the 1970s the field would be joined by Italeri, who had interited their first kits from Peerless Max.

For a long time both kits were the only game in town if you wanted either one. That changed in the '00s when Dragon began to release its series of half-tracks (also joined by AFV Club from Taiwan, and even Zvezda from Russia). Unfortunately these kits did not age well when compared to the competition. The 251 is a scale foot too narrow (though it certainly looks the part, and the scale issue is not as apparent to me), and the interior is very sparse, to say the least, lacking many interior parts, such as the seat backs for the infantry benches! The PAK comes off a bit better, and has lots of nice detail. Still not up to current standards (the gun shield is molded as a solid plate, when it should be 2 spaced armor plates), but the PAK retails at $7.50, and it's hard to get anything in this scale anymore that cheap. Similarly, the half track goes for $17 retail, again rather cheap in this era. These are great kits for kids to get into the hobby, while still being cheap enough for experienced modelers that want a challenge.

One of the nice things about the PAK 35/36 kit is that it comes with mounting parts to convert the Tamiya SdKfz.251C/1 into a /10. As this came out in 1974, this might be the very first commercial conversion kit!

I've had both of these kits in my "stash" for some time, long enough for Dragon to release these very kits and make them obsolete. As can be seen in the photograph above, the SdKfz.251 box has weathered quite a bit in the years of sitting around on store shelves and in my basement. Not liking to waste anything, I've determined to actually put these kits together, perhaps scratchbuilding the seat backs, adding racks for the 37mm ammo, and a few other details here and there.

Noble Armada: A Call to Arms

2011-07-11T22:43:00.000-04:00

Some long-time RPGers may remember the Fading Suns RPG from Holistic Designs. A side project by some of the people writing for the popular Vampire RPGs, while the rules were a bit clunky, the setting was fantastic, very evocative and as dark as you want it to be. There weren't too many supporting games for the RPG, but one of the ones that came out was Noble Armada, a ship based game that could either be integrated into the RPG, or played as a stand alone.

Unfortunately Fading Suns never got the recognition I think it deserved, and has been floating in "edition limbo" for the past few years (work is being done on the 3rd edition, to be published through Print on Demand). That's why when Mongoose announced it was going to team up its A Call to Arms starship combat engine with the Noble Armada concept, it was quite a surprise.

The rules, published in a practical (and inexpensive - $30 at the time of this writing) hardback format, comprise a mere 28 pages. This includes standard, advanced, terrain, and special rules, making for a very economical usage of space. Following that is background material ("fluff") which comprises a whopping 28 pages as well. For most gamers, the Fading Suns universe is probably fairly obscure, so all this fluff is probably necessary in order to give enough background to care about the factions.The next 17 pages are scenarios (quite a few!), followed by 12 pages of campaign rules, a page on unusual situations, and a page on minor houses (more fluff, a bit strange including it here).

Much of the rest of the book is in color, and is taken up by some starter fleet lists, some terrain building tips, and the requisite (for a minis game) pages showing off the minis themselves (which I like to call "figure porn..."). The latter portion of the book is a bit of a letdown. While the ships themselves are well painted and shown off to good regard in the fleet lists, the "in-action" photos leave a bit to be desired. Say what you will about GW games, but their figure porn pages are always excellent, with a high level of modeling not just in the figures, but the terrain itself. As the point to these games is to collect and game with the figures, I think a little more attention could be spent here.

I have yet to play the game, but there are already plans for it to go off later this week. I hope to post some reflections on the game at that time.

A note about pricing. If you're looking at a new minis game to get into, Noble Armada is fairly cheap as they come. The rulebook itself is only $30, and you can get fleet boxes (usually with a light carrier, 2 destroyers, 4 frigates, 2 galliots, 2 scout ships, and 8 fighters of 2 different types) for around the same price. Usually these boxed sets come in at around 1370-90 points, enough for a small to mid-sized game. A beginner could easily drop around $100 to $150 and never have to purchase anything else; that includes the rules, 2 fleet boxes, and around $60 of blisters to round out the fleet, making this a pretty inexpensive game to get a good variety of forces and minis for (you could just get the rules and a fleet box for $60, though, and have a decently rounded force for smaller games). Of course there is plenty of incentive to go beyond this (new ships, and any serious minis gamer will want to tweak his list from time to time -- or even overhaul it completely), but with the most vocal concerns about minis gaming being the entry costs, this isn't too bad at all...

Plastic Soldier Company Panzer IV

2011-07-08T22:29:00.000-04:00

In the last year or so there has been a very real explosion of plastic kits available on the market, creating a boon for wargamers.

One of the first to the market (besides some plastic upgrade parts offered in Battlefront kits) is from Plastic Soldier Company. While these kits are simplified, they are nonetheless designed for wargamers, simple to construct, but still offering sufficient details for a good appearance.

The kit offers a whopping 4 different versions to construct: F1, F2, G, and H. While this is of obvious benefit to the modeler, unfortunately out of the box only one variant can be made accurately: the short-barreled F. To make any of the other variants, you will need to modify the kit parts in several ways. Most are easy to accomplish.

Panzer IVF2: This variant is a bit more challenging to build compared to the others, and requires additional materials to do it well. The primary problem is that the muzzle brake depicted in the kit is the incorrect type, being a double baffle type, when it should be a single baffle type. To make more accurate, remove the muzze brake and use a plastic bead as a replacement. When glued on, drill a single hole through the bead fro the side to produce the muzzle brake. You can also model a late version by removing the circular flare hatches from the driver's comparment hatches, and the vision hatches on the turret front-sides.

Panzer IVG: This is the second easiest build in the kit. Simply remove the left-hand vision hatch next to the main armament, the 2 vision hatches on the turret front-sides, and the flare hatches from the driver hatches. You can also model this tank with skirt armor, as some Gs (especially late) receive this upgrade.

Panzer IVH: This version is a bit more challenging than the G, but can be done in much the same way. Do all the modifications for the G, with the addition of a single-piece circular hatch hinged to the side (opens to the left, if you view the tank from the front). Although some of the early production Hs were bare, many received Zimmerit, and this is a real challenge to add to this kit. The manufacturer can't be faulted, as this would have made a kit with excessive parts, and thus made it much more expensive as well as challenging to build.

Mantic's Warpath

2011-07-07T14:04:00.000-04:00

I have to admit I don't have a whole lot of respect for Mantic. They seem to be a company that base their business model on cheap plastic minis (which is good) designed to pluck away at Games Workshop's market share by duplicating everything the big company does, and give disaffected GW gamers something GW decided wasn't profitable enough anyway (chaos dwarfs -- though back thanks to Forgeworld, and not-Squats).

When Mantic announced their new SF game, I had my predictions, but nonetheless let out a small groan when it was announced the first two races would be Space Dwarfs and Space Orks, just re-treading old ground. Still, the Warpath rules might be adaptable to use 40K figures and play a different game. I downloaded the game rules (only 16 pages!) and the two army lists for Space Orks (Marauders) and Space Dwarfs (Forgefathers) with the idea of giving it a fair shake...

Now I should state this is not a playtest review, but rather my reaction to reading the rules. Reading what I have to say should be done with that bias in mind.

In the end, it's a little bit good, a little bit bad, and a little bit why???

For all intents and purposes this is Mantic's Kings of War ported into an SF setting.

If you're familiar with GW's core games (and apparently Warmaster, as I am told this was an inspiration), the statblock format of the army lists will be familiar; Type (unit type), Speed (movement), To Hit (dice roll needed to score a "hit"), Firepower (how effective ranged combat is), Attacks (number of melee attacks), Defence (how hard it is to score a "hit"), Nerve (catch all for morale and unit size). Each has a value, and like GW games might have a special rule or two.

One of the good aspects to the rules is how heavy weapons are handled. Comparisons with 40K is natural (since Mantic seems bent on being a GW clone), but one aspect I dislike about 40K (as of this writing 7-7-11) is the fact heavy weapons cannot fire at a different target, unless there are special rules specifically allowing it. Mantic defines all heavy weapons (Called BFGs in the game: Ballistic Fire Guarantors, not Big F%$*ing Guns, a bit silly here) as being able to split fire with another target. In 40K you could destroy a transport with a lascannon for example, causing the occupants to forcibly dismount. Yet you cannot then fire at this unit with small arms -- the troops are required to fire at the transport instead. In Warpath this is not a problem, and makes for a more realistic aspect.

Another is how difficult terrain is handled. Again, comparisons to 40K are natural. In that game, difficult terrain is handled by a die roll for how far you can move -- maybe you get lucky and can move 6", or unlucky and move only 1". In Warpath you simply count movement as double in difficult terrain; a much more elegant and simple solution.

Another is a nice set of simple modifiers to shooting, especially for long range targets. Whereas in 40K there are no such modifiers (cover is handled by a "cover save" which may or may not take precedence over your normal armor save), in Warpath there are around 6. Especially useful and interesting is a penalty for firing at more than half range.

Yet another is aircraft rules core. This allows aircraft to be integrated from the start of the game, whereas in 40K aircraft rules are presented in Apocalypse (for very large games, probably where these rules belong anyway).

Finally another is that allies rules are core. On the surface this may seem to be a great feature (again in 40K there are no allies rules; allies can only be taken in the Apocalypse expansion), but as presented they are horribly generic. Simply stated, you can take any race as an ally, as long as you adhere to the army list restrictions (basically for every core troop you have you can add a special troop; so long as in your allied force you have a core, you can add then an allied special troop). There is a note that "some alliances are unrealistic, so don't do it!" For some this wide ranging freedom allows for a lot of list tailoring, but I would have liked some concrete rules on allies, such as is done for Warhammer Fantasy (basically if you take a cross-type allied force, they might turn out to be unreliable for you!).

But there are some bad aspects to be sure.

Like 40K , Warpath uses true line of sight. For those not familiar with this, especially for non-minis gamers, this basically means, what your model sees, he can shoot. In 40K this requires a lot of crouching down to "see" what your models can see at eye level. I personally prefer area terrain that blocks line of sight, as it is less fiddly, and prevents the feeling of fighting on a "compressed" battlefield (if anyone thinks that in 38,000 years small arms weapons fire can only go 112' when a Mauser G98 of First World War vintage can hit an area target out to 1400 yards...). Personally I could do without this in either ruleset.

Furthermore, iindividual models are further de-emphasised. Gameplay assumes combat from the perspective of the unit. This is borne out in the stats (no need to roll individual weapons fire) and in unit choices (which, as the game is a marketing tool for the minis line, happen to exactly coincide with the box deals you get from the manufacturer). One complaint I've seen from Warhammer detractors is that often models are nothing more than casualty markers. While this is true (but unavoidable if you want company level games, such as 40K presents), Warpath takes it one step further an miniatures are mere decorations within the unit. This works (and is desirable) in smaller scale games, such at 15mm. But if I'm going to invest in a 28mm game, I would want a bit more detail in how my minis perform on the table. In the end, you might as well base squads together on a movement tray, rather than fiddle with individual movement.

Riding along with the point above, there is no casualty removal but you must track unit damage, creating paperwork that must be tracked. You can use a die to represent unit damage, or other methods familiar to long-time gamers (like casualty rings). In the end, it probably doesn't matter much and you can house-rule casualty removal as long as you remember the original starting unit size, since individual figures are mostly decorative.

Yet another detraction from the game are horribly generic vehicle rules. Essentially, vehicles "act" like a squad armed with a certain number of BFGs, and modified movement rules. They have the same exact stats as a squad, and act sort of like an independent character. Furthermore, shooting at vehicles is handled the same way, but only weapons with the piercing special rule can actually harm them. While there is something to be said in terms of economy of rules and elegance of a unified mechanic, you run into problems in that the rules are too generic. Since vehicles do not have varying protection depending on what side is being hit (this is modified by a bonus when firing into the side or rear arcs). This creates problems in terms of both verisimilitude and realism, assuming that all armored vehicles are better armored in front, and less armored on the sides and rear. Take for example early versions of the WWII German Panzer III, which had 30mm of armor all around (it was designed for offensive operations, so it was thought it would need good armor all around to resist surprise fire from concealed anti-tank guns). In Warpath such a tank could not exist, and similarly something like a 40K Land Raider would also not exist. Of course this can be modified by special rules, but a better way could have been devised making such a thing unnecessary.

Finally, I think the worst aspect of this game is how it handles charges and melee combat, in the form of a "melee bounce back." According to the rules, if you charge an enemy unit, after you resolve your close combat attacks, you are required to make an mandatory move: "If, on the other hand, your unit did not manage to destroy its enemies and is still in contact with them, you must pull back, executing a D6" move..." (p.8). The only question I have is why? As a rule this makes absolutely no sense: why would an assaulting force that has not destroyed its enemy pull back, and not engage in another round of melee if its morale is intact? Since the move is only D6", this means that the defending unit can now execute a counter charge. While admittedly this makes combat a bit more bloody, it absolutely makes no sense. It would have been much better if either unit could make a Nerve test to disengage from combat and fall back (something 40K does not allow either, alas). But if we look at real-world assaults, the assaulting unit would not "bounce back" if it failed to take the enemy in the charge, but would find itself stuck in until either the enemy unit breaks, or the assaulting unit does, though occasionally a unit might be able to disengage if it has good leadership and discipline. In Warpath this happens every time. In my opinion this is a terrible aspect to the rules, and for me is a huge detraction.

In the end, the rules are free, and technically they are beta rules (so they may change). I wasn't impressed with Kings of War either (if I was going to play a "unit" or element based game, there are better ones out there), and I'm not particularly impressed with these. Warhammer 40K has its rusty bits, to be sure, and if you want to play a different Company level SF skirmish game, there are plenty of other good rulesets out there (like Stargrunt, or the free Fast and Dirty rules, or 5150). Personally I'm going to give these a pass...

Download at: http://www.manticgames.com/Sci-fi.html

Project: 1/48 Panzer III Ausf. M Progress IV

2011-01-20T22:34:00.000-05:00

Haven't posted a while, but here's the latest progress on this model. It is almost done! Really, just need to finish painting a few details (like tools), perhaps use a wash or two, and add a little weathering...

Here's a rear shot of the vehicle. I use Micromark's RustAll to rust up the muffler. It's basically a very thin alcohol based wash, and you have to add quite a few coats to get a good depth of color. But the results are worth it.

Chaos Space Marine World Eaters Terminators

2010-06-12T19:43:00.000-04:00

Terminators are probably some of the coolest figures in GW's catalog. This represents a few months of work, doing a little bit at a time. I think the results are well worth it.

The technique I used on these involved a base-coat of Testors Model Master Gold Leaf spraypaint. Some artists use Testors metallics as a base primer to expose flaws in their work, and it works well; both the Gold and Silver spraypaints are quite thin and have very good coverage. The advantage here is that I get a very good gold base (for the trim on the armor), while at the same time providing a basecoat with very good bonding properties to plastic.

Next I hand-painted the red areas using GW Red Gore paint. I applied this a little thicker than normal, in order to get sufficient coverage over the glossy gold paint (too thin and it just beads up), with subsequent coats thinned to 50% paint/water.

The only modification I did was on the unit sergeant. Rather than use a kit provided head, I replaced it with the "fanged" head from the Khorne Berzerkers set, customizing my models slightly and tying it more into my World Eaters Army.

Forgeworld World Eaters Chaos Space Marine Dreadnaught

2010-06-12T19:28:00.000-04:00

The Dreadnaught has always been an iconic unit within the Space Marine armies of Warhammer 40,000. Available to both the loyalist Space Marine chapters, as well as the Chaos Space Marines, the latter has been saddled for years with a very dated, all metal dreadnaught model with few options.

Forgeworld, a subsidiary of Games Workshop/Citadel, fills a niche in the colletion, aiming at producing products Games Workshop either doesn't cover, feels is not profitable enough, or provides customized and high end products for the enthusiast.

One important series is its collection of Chaos Dreadnaughts. For the most part these are unique units with their own iconography or imagery, and many are specific to sub-factions within the setting.

As I have finally settled on World Eaters as my Chaos legion of choice, it was only inevitable that I pick up the Forgeworld model, particularly as the UK Pound to US Dollar exchange rate is the most favorable it has been in years. In order to keep initial costs down, I ordered just the body, and will order the arms at a later date. This also gives me more time to consider the exact load-out I should use.

Over the years Forgeworld has been criticized for poor casting quality (or, at least, quality not equal to their price). To be frank, I have yet to get a bad cast from Forgeworld, and this Dreadnaught continues that trend. With only one flake of flash on the leg, the casting of this piece is flawless.

The purpose of this blog is to document the building and painting process of this guy. Although I have come up with some efficient techniques, I'm going to push this up another notch and see what I come up with.

Project: 1/48 Marder IIIM

2010-05-17T09:34:00.000-04:00

The Marder series of armored vehicles were a German effort to self-propel their anti-tank artillery. The very first vehicle in the series, the Marder I, mounted a Czech 47mm anti-tank gun on a Panzer I chassis, and would set the stage for the shape these vehicles would take. The Marder II series mounted the captured 76.2mm (rebored for 75mm) Soviet field gun, while the Marder III series mounted the reliable 75mm PAK 40 anti-tank gun. A variety of chassis were used for both the Marder II and III, but mostly consisting of the Panzer II and the Panzer 38(t). The "M" variant was the final form these vehicles would take, with the engine mounted in the middle of the vehicle, and the fighting compartment moved to the rear. This allowed for a much larger fighting compartment and thus better "fightability."

Tamiya's model depicts the Marder IIIM, the final type of this vehicle series. Overall the kit moldings are nothing short of spectacular, with a great amount of detail. More importantly, however, is the hull. Gone are the clunky cast metal hull tubs, and instead this area is depicted in multi-part plastic instead, with a commensurate increase in detail. There are metal weights supplied to give the model "heft," but in my opinion this feature is absolutely useless and adds nothing to the kit (an artifact of the "collectibles" market were "heft" is perceived as having better quality, despite the fact this has no basis in reality).

Also of note is the very nice PAK 40 75mm L/46. This also has loads of detail, and would make a nice basis for towed PAK 40 (which would only need a carriage -- hint to Tamiya). Finally, the kit includes a single figure, which like many Tamiya figures is a bit on the small side. I will most likely assemble it, but depending on final measurements I may or may not actually use it.

Project: M-8 Greyhound Armored Car Progress I

2010-05-08T10:25:00.000-04:00

Like any OOB (Out Of the Box) build, construction is fast, especially in 1/48 scale. The entire build time took perhaps 3 hours spread over the course of a few evenings. One of the techniques I have been using is building in "micro-sessions" of perhaps 15min or so spread out over an entire night. I found that when I had longer sessions, I spent an inordinate amount of time staring at the directions or waiting for things to dry. But spending only 15 minutes or so building meant that there was less wasted time.

Here essentially construction is complete. The only details that must be added are the wheels (left off for painting) and the fenders (for the same reason. This vehicle will get a primer coat of Testors Enamel in a spray can, before airbrushing with Polly Scale Olive Drab (my preferred brand for this color).

Although the kit comes with a figure, it looks like it falls short like many Tamiya kit figures in this scale, literally. Many Tamiya figures scale in at around 5'4", making them a little short. While soldiers of this size were not unknown in WWII, it would have been nice to get a figure with a little more height. What I may do is pose him standing in the vehicle while looking off in the distance with his binoculars. This should make his height deficiency less apparent. I'll have to come up with a gunner from somewhere, perhaps aftermarket.

Project: 1/48 M8 Greyhound Armored Car

2010-05-05T18:21:00.000-04:00

The M8 Armored Car was the standard of its type used by the US Army during WWII. Developed from a family of different armored car designs, the US Army selected the 6-wheeled vehicle as the best compromise between mobility, weight, and protection. Although there were larger armored cars (with armor approaching that of a medium tank), for the selected role of reconnaisance and cavalry duties, the vehicle was potent enough for the job.

The M8 mounts a 37mm anti-tank cannon, the same as fitted to the M3/M5 Stuart family, and could fire AP, HE, and Cannister rounds. Backing this up was a .30 (7.62mm) M1919 machine gun, and a .50 (12.7mm) M2HB machine gun. Early models had the heavy machine gun mounted on a simple pintle mount at the back of the turret, but later designs replaced this with a ring mount for improved 360^o coverage.

Like the SU-122, this kit is another OOB (Out Of the Box) build, and there is not much needed to improve it on the outside. That being said, the interior is very sparse, with only the turret floor and crew seats in the turret (thus lacking things like the ready-rack for the 37mm cannon), and having absolutely no detail in the driver's compartment. This is less of an issue with a vehicle like this, since not much of the interior can be seen anyway, but the turret details are sparse enough as it is, and could have used a few more details in this area.

Project: 1/48 SU-122 Progress I

2010-05-03T18:48:00.000-04:00

As I had mentioned in the last installment of this project blog, I intend to build this kit mostly OOB. This consequently means a fast build, so here is the progress so far.

Construction on this kit is essentially done. There were no real hang-ups in the construction process, and it (like most Tamiya kits) went together almost flawlessly. Especially nice were the auxiliary fuel tanks on the hull rear, which had the seams cunningly hidden via the construction process. It still pays to clean up the seams, but this method goes a long way to improving the look of the kit.

Also of note is that the kit possesses adjustable idler mounts. This means that the modeler can adjust track tension to make sure the tracks fit perfectly. While this is a good idea, I still managed to have a gap in the tracks (though I hid it for the most part under a fender). If I adjust the idler back anymore, it will rub against the first road wheel (these tanks had rear-mounted transmissions, and thus were rear wheel drive). In the future, it might be better to simply add a link to the tracks (the kit gives you a few spares) and see how that works.

The kit in the photo has been primed using Testors Enamel Light Gull Gray in the spray can. This will provide a nice, neutral base for further coats of paint. Also because it is an enamel (and using an organic solvent it is slightly "hot," producing a better chemical bond to the plastic) it will better hold the paint for follow-up coats. Also the tracks as can be seen are constructed to be removed, and have been primed black, to give it a good foundation for producing a steel metallic color.

Project: Grenadier Dragon Lords Red Dragon Progress I

2010-04-21T14:38:00.000-04:00

Here is the old girl fully assembled with its first coat of primer.

One of the interesting points about this project was the construction sequence. As can be seen in the photo, this dragon has very large wings. And, being molded in lead alloy, they are also consequently heavy. Therefore, it took quite a bit more work to assemble this model than I had initially expected.

As usual I used 5-minute epoxy during the assembly process. Unfortunately, I did not have anything appropriate to prop up the wings while the epoxy cured, so I physically had to sit and hold the wings together while the epoxy cured. I had attempted to time the process, so I wouldn't have to hold them together for the whole 5 minutes, but even after the epoxy's "working time" expired, I had to continue to hold the wings for an extended period of time until the epoxy cured enough on its own. After that, the rest of the assembly process was trivial.

The figure was mounted on a plastic 50mm round base sourced from EM-4. They come in a bag of 5 for £1.50, not bad in this era of eCommerce and cheap shipping from the UK Royal Post. This base roughly coincides with a Large-sized Red Dragon by D&D 3/3.5/Pathfinder rules.

Next up will be the first basecoat. Thanks to the white primer, a coat of Citadel's Blood Red should produce a brilliant red color.

Project: 1/48 SU-122

2010-04-20T13:24:00.000-04:00

The SU-122 was designed in response to the use of self-propelled assault guns by the German Army in WWII. Vehicles like the StuG III were designed to provide direct-fire artillery support to infantry troops on the battlefield, and be able to resist anti-tank weapons of the time. Based on the proven T-34 chassis the SU-122 (designation refers to the caliber of cannon used, in this case a 122mm howitzer) was more powerful than its German counterparts, able to throw a much larger shell.

Tamiya has followed up on their T-34 kit with this SU-122, and it's definitely a nice model. After working on a number of complex builds using after-market parts. I intend for this to be an "Out of the Box" build: simple and not encumbered by large numbers of after-market parts (in fact, I'll be building the model unmodified, with perhaps a bit of stowage). Expect some updates soon.

Project: 1/48 ACE ZU-23-2

2010-04-17T17:20:00.002-04:00

One of the results of the thawing of the Cold War and liberalization of the economies of Eastern Europe is it allowed a lot of entrepreneurial-ism, which has been nothing but good for model builders. Hailing out of Kiev, Ukraine, ACE models has for several years concentrated on manufacturing small scale (1/72) armor kits and the like. Using limited run plastic injection molding technology, the ACE kits were always for more experienced modelers, and a little on the rough side. That being said, they also manufactured kits not produced anywhere else before or since, mainly concentrating on Eastern European designs, with a smattering of western designs as well.

The ZU-23-2 (kit # 48101) is ACE's first foray into the world of 1/48 scale modeling. I have to say, its a pretty nice kit, and much better than my memories of their older 1/72 scale kits.

The ZU-23-2 was one of the standard Soviet light anti-aircraft cannons, and is still in use today with a number of operators. Firing a 23mm shell, it is designed to be a more potent successor to the ZPU system (which mounted 14.5mm machine guns). Although lacking many of the modern aiming aids such as radar direction, it is simple, easy to use, and useful against both aerial targets (especially helicopters) and ground targets.

As can be seen from the sprue shots (these are taken from ACE's website, by the way), the kit includes 4 sprues, with 2 identical. The quality of the moldings are very good, and while some of the parts still have thick gates to be removed, the quality and finesse of the parts are better than older kits.

I have to admit, one of the reasons I bought this kit was to encourage ACE to do more in this scale. With a grand total of 2 different model kits of modern molding quality currently in plastic (unless you include the old Tamiya/Academy/Arii battery powered carpet crawlers, or the equally dreadful and not especially accurate Kitech/Zhengdefu kits), there's not a lot that can go with this kit, unless you resort to resin. But still, it's a very nice kit, and looks like it will be a fun project.

Project: Grenadier Dragon Lords Red Dragon

2010-04-12T18:25:00.000-04:00

Over the course of this blog, I've come to the realization that it's mostly about model building, and not much about minis. So on that note I offer the first project focused on minis. And it is a classic.

Grenadier was one of the older, more venerable figure manufacturers in the realm of fantasy and SF gaming. Although they had a historical line, they are much more well known for the fantasy and licensed properties they produced miniatures for. Although now gone, for many gamers of D&D and AD&D in the late '70s and '80s, Grenadier was an important foundation to any collection (at least here in the US).

Around 1984, Grenadier started the "Dragon of the Month" series, producing a single dragon every month for a year. This included the 5 Chromatic dragons (White, Red, Blue, Green, Black), the 5 Metallic Dragons (Brass, Bronze, Copper, Gold, Silver), the Platinum Dragon, and the Spectral Dragon (aka Tiamat of AD&D fame). Each boxed set came with the dragon in question, as well as a small pedistal with a plastic gem. When complete, the pedestals formed a ring of gems, one for each color. It was a fun and cool accessory, and created a reason to collect them all.

The Dragons of the Month series, by modern standards, is a little primitive in sculpting. There are certainly better, more detailed dragons on the market (including Grenadier's second series: "Dragons of the Month II"), but in my opinion, a lot of the old Grenadier miniatures have a certain charm, and I've taken it upon myself to collect a lot of these old dragons, for use in either D&D or just to simply have.

Here is the dragon before assembly. This model was molded in lead, rather than the pewter alloys a lot of fantasy figures are currently manufactured in. This means the figure is rather heavy but fairly soft and malleable. That being said, epoxy will be used exclusively in the construction of this figure.

Another property of Grenadier's alloys is that they tend to have a fair bit of flash. With lead alloys this is not as much a problem as with pewter, as the alloy files much easier, but nonetheless it will require quite a bit more clean-up compared to many modern figures. Looking at the pedestal, there is quite a bit of flash around it (indeed, all of the figures I've acquired so far have flash issues).

One interesting note: the Grenadier molds are now the property of Mirliton Miniatures of Italy. As far as I know, only one dragon from the orginal Dragon Lords line has been released by them: the Brass. However, most of the Dragon Lords II line is available, though of course without the accessories in the original Grenadier boxes.

Project: 1/48 Panzer III Ausf.M Progress III

2010-04-06T17:06:00.000-04:00

The Panzer IIIM is nearing completion. Here not only have I applied the basecoat of paint, but also the camouflage scheme. This was done using the fine tip and needle in my Paasche VLS double action airbrush. With thinned Tamiya Olive Green XF-58 paint (the basecoat was again Tamiya Dark Yellow XF-60). With the needle pulled back only slightly, and with the paint thinned to a skim milk-like consistency, it is possible to get pencil thin lines with some skill and precision. Unfortunately, I think I needed to thin the paint a bit more, as there was a slight bit of splatter, but given these tanks were painted by the crew with whatever skills they were able to bring, neatness was not always the norm either.

The Echelon Fine Decals have been applied, and these are definitely some of the finest on the market. The decals were silk screened, rather than printed via a lithograph process or on a color printer. This means they are not only very rich and dense in colors (such as they are, here only 2 -- black and white), but also a pleasure to work with. They are also very thin, meaning there is less work I need to do to make them look like something other than a decal! I used my standard process for applying these decals: the model was first airbrushed in Future Floor Acrylic Finish (using the coarse tip and needle, and the Future unthinned), then the decals applied with a little Solvaset to make sure they snuggle down onto the model. Afterward, a second coat of Future seals the work.

The suspension components on the tracks have also been painted, again using the fine tip in my airbrush. This can be a tedious process, but the results speak for themselves. I still need to paint the front half of the road wheels and return rollers, but so far I am pleased with how they came out. Interestingly, when highly thinned, Tamiya paints take on a semi-gloss aspect. Not that it really matters all that much...

The next step in this process is to allow the clearcoat to dry thoroughly (usually a process of several days; for Future I use the old technique of waiting until it doesn't smell of Future anymore!), and a dullcoat likely using Polly Scale Acrylic clear flat, with a little Tamiya Flat Base X-21 mixed in (note: it always bears repeating that X-21 is not a clear flat, but a paint additive to make dull paints!).

"The Stash"

2010-03-26T17:13:00.001-04:00

One of the curious things about being a hobbyist (such as a model builder or a wargamer) is that over time one tends to collect a "stash" (or in wargaming circles, a lead pile). This is mainly due to the phenomenon of having more money than time to build, coupled with ambition. Thus I thought it would be fun to document my "stash" and see if it grows smaller over time, or larger (far more likely).

The picture above is of an old bookcase stuffed with kits. It has become such that the overflow is now resting on the shade of a lamp! This is all in my basement, where level of clutter is irrelevant to the rest of the family (except perhaps as a fire hazard). This is for the most part the "1/35" stash, as the main constituents are 1/35 scale models. There a a few ship models that managed to get in there somehow. As can be seen my stash has a fairly diverse subject matter, spanning from WWII to modern.

This second picture represents the other half of the stash. Here we have my collection of 1/48 scale models, as well as a couple aircraft kits and some SF stuff. The top shelf is mostly dedicated to wargames figures: in the collection you should be able to see both Warhammer Fantasy/40K items, some historicals, as well as a few figures where the primer is still curing. In the tool trays at the very back are plastic and metal bases, as well as my collection of unfinished 15mm figures. It's a large collection because 15mm is (for the most part) cheap. One thing to note is that the shelves with my model kits are double depth!

I cannot imagine how much money this investment represents, and I would probably be better of not calculating its worth. That being said, it is a hobby, and it brings me a certain measure of happiness. Thankfully I have a big basement (aka "The Man Cave"), and plenty of other corners to stash my stuff.

Project: 1/48 Panzer III Ausf.M Progress II

2010-03-19T17:23:00.000-04:00

Made a little progress on the Panzer IIIM project. As can be seen here, the turret is complete in terms of construction. When mounting the main armament to the turret, Hauler fails to provide much of a mounting area, just a blank space behind where the mantlet goes. I can only assume that Hauler intends the builder to simply butt-glue the mantlet to the turret, but this creates unsightly gaps either on the top of the mounting, or below (depending on what elevation you desire). I resolved this by cutting the plastic mounting piece from the kit in half, and then gluing it into the space provided. Although not called out in the conversion's instructions, I assume this is what Hauler intended. Nonetheless, cutting the component along the seam lines means the cannon is super-elevated. Not really much of a problem as I rarely depict models in the act of an actual engagement, but I would have at least liked a choice.

The Panzer IIIM moved the headlights from the hull front to the fenders, as I had mentioned in my previous post. Hauler provides new mounts and headlights, but unfortunately, while removing one of the headlights, it promptly fell on the floor and disappeared! I can rarely get through a project without losing a piece or two, and for this one it was a headlight. Luckily Hauler provides the correct types as a separate set, so I promptly ordered a new set (which has not arrived yet).

The smoke grenade launchers on the side of the turret are also offered as a seperate upgrade kit for people building the Panzer IIIN (Tamiya doesn't provide these), or upgrading the IIIL for a Kursk era machine. Given that, I have some experience with these components, and I while I think Hauler puts out an excellent product, these components are not one of their best efforts in my opinion. The set does give you some variety, providing both loaded and expended launchers. Unfortunately, however, you only get 8 mortars, (you need to use 6), with 4 loaded, and 4 expended mortars. Again, it would have been nice to have a total of 12 mortars to depict a vehicle at full load out, or perhaps one that has already expended all of it's smoke grenades.

That, however, is a minor complaint compared to the photo-etch mounting brackets.The big problem here is that each smoke grenade is supposed to be angled slightly in order to clear it's neighbor. The photo-etch mounting bracket unfortunately lacks relief-etch fold lines to aid the modeler. This means that without special tools it is very hard to get a good fold, and really a special PE folding device is recommended. I don't have one of these, so I instead scribed the brass to provide a "weak" point to fold at. It wasn't entirely successful, and as a result, the bend is a little more sloppy than I would like. I'm going to have to live with it, but if Hauler happens to be reading, I highly reccomend adding relief-etch fold lines to these components!

The suspension has already been spray-painted black in preparation for further painting. Normally, I weather the tracks and then hand-paint the wheels. This time, however, I think I'll do things a little different and use the fine needle in my airbrush to spray them instead. Hopefully, with enough patience and skill, I can minimize over-spray on the tracks themselves.

Finally, with the suspension components fully assembled, I joined the lower and upper hulls permanently. On the Tamiya kits with metal hulls, this is usually facilitated by a pair of screws. I personally dislike this as again it reduced the number of options one can do with the kit. In the case of the Panzer III series kits, the mounting holes are covered by one of the transmission access hatch and one of the engine access hatches in the rear. Some other kits, however, have the mounting points through crew hatches and such. In many ways this reminds me of the early DML 1/72 scale kits, which similarly had cast metal components and screw together assembly. These compromises were made because the true purpose of the kits were for the collectible, pre-constructed and pre-painted market. This market for whatever reason values weight and metal as equaling quality, despite the fact that metal cannot hold fine detail as well as plastic. Unfortunately, it is one of the things we must live with, as the actual model-building market is of secondary importance.

I'm actually planning on painting the turret in short order, mainly so I can start applying decals. For some people, the decalling stage is a chore; for me, a good set of quality silk-screened decals are a pleasure, and one of my favorite aspects of this project.

Project: 1/48 Panzer III Ausf. M Progress I

2010-03-06T17:19:00.000-05:00

Here is the progress on this model so far. I am approximately half-way through the construction phase. The conversion from an Ausf.L to an Ausf.M requires a little bit of modification to the base kit, as well as a brand new turret. The white spots on the front of the hull are where I filled the mounts for the headlights -- the M model moved these to the fenders. Although it cannot be seen in this photo, the rear mounts for the mufflers were also filled as the Ausf. M has a new deep wading muffler. Also not seen here is the rear hull muffler mount. Installation of this component required cutting down the lower rear hull piece just above the idler mounts.

Also seen here is the right side suspension components, fully assembled. There was a gap of approximately half a link, which I partially hid by stretching the track components, and also hiding under one of the fenders. I have had similar problems with all of Tamiya's Panzer III based kits, so I can only assume this is a flaw in the kit.

When assembling the tracks on kits with hard plastic components, I will often glue them together before painting (if possible) for a stronger assembly. In the past I had tried assembling the tracks after painting, but the bond with super glue never held well (you are, after all, bonding one paint layer to another), and epoxy was both more messy and more time intensive. After the tracks are fully assembled, I remove the entire assembly, complete with wheels, and then paint the components as necessary. This both creates a strong assembly as well as a more neat appearance.

One thing that is always tricky to do -- but very important when working on a conversion -- is coordinating the two sets of instructions, both the kit's and the conversion's. I accidentially jumped ahead and mounted the engine intakes without adding the photo-etch frames (the gray parts on the upper rear hull -- on the real tank these were hinged so that the intakes can be sealed for deep wading). This is going to require me to modify the parts in order to fit them on the kit, requiring extra work. On the other hand, it has to be said that the photo etch parts might interfere with a good bond to the hull, so in the end this mistake might be for the better.

Still to be done is completion of the left side suspension components, completion of the turret (still needs the door stops installed, the barrel contoured, stowage bin latches installed, and the turret hatch installed), and of course the finishing touches on the upper hull (tools, headlights and bow machine gun) then it's off to paint. Discussing with the publisher of the decals, I will paint this vehicle in a scheme of dark yellow for a basecoat, and a splotchy pattern of dark green, similar to many of the tanks serving at Kursk.

Project: 1/48 Panzer III Ausf. M Conversion

2010-03-04T18:59:00.000-05:00

By 1943, the Panzer III was starting to show it's obsolescence. Although the 50mm KwK 39 L/60 was still capable of knocking out a T-34, it was outclassed by many of the newer and heavier tanks then coming into service (such as the older KV-1 and the much more effective KV-85, not to mention the JS-II coming into service in the spring of 1944). Nonetheless, the Panzer III continued to serve into 1943 in a frontline role, and till the end of the war in peripheral theaters.

The Ausführung (model) M, produced between 1942 and 1943, was a minor upgrade of the Ausf. L model, equipped with deep wading gear. Only 250 vehicles were produced, with some incomplete chassis being redirected to StuG III manufacture, due to the obsolescence of the model.

Tamiya has produced a very nice kit of the Ausf. L version of the tank, but no such parts exist currently to make an Ausf. M. to the rescue comes Hauler. Long a very firm supporter of the 1/48 scale, Hauler produced two conversion kits for this model: both an "early" variant as well as a "late" variant. I chose the latter as it incorporated some of the features I wanted on my model.

Originally, I had intended to use the skirt armor from Tamiya's Panzer IIIN (many of which were not equipped on vehicles serving in North Africa), but unfortunately, the decal sheet I selected for this project (from Echelon Fine Details) only had markings for an M without skirt armor (in this case, the Regimental Command tank 2.SS-Pz.Rgt "Das Reich") serving in the Battle of Kursk in 1943 (note: on the Wikipedia article site, another Regimental command tank for "Das Reich" can be seen, this model being a short-barreled Ausf. J variant). So be it: the decal sheet also has markings for an Ausf. L "Das Reich" machine with skirt armor, so that'll go to a future project!

The summary of parts I'm using for this project include: Tamiya's Panzer III Ausf. L kit; Hauler's Panzer IIIM "Late" conversion kit; Hauler's Panzer III stowage bin, and the Echelon Fine Details decal sheet.

Project: 1/48 M4A1 Sherman Progress II

2010-03-03T11:29:00.000-05:00

The model is starting to shape up. As can be seen in the photo, tracks have been assembled and applied to the model. There are still a few odds and ends that need to be finished up (such as painting the hull machine gun and final assembly on the aftermarket Verlinden .50 caliber machine gun) and then it is on to weathering.

The tank represents a vehicle used in France during the summer of 1944 by the 7th Armored Division. As the division first entered combat on 13 August 1944, this would place it in the vicinity of Chartres, Dreux and Melun, later Verdun. Being high summer, and after the heavy rains of the initial Normandy landings, this tank would be most suitable in a dusty weathering scheme, which is what I intend to go with.

For a diorama, I'm thinking something a little more urban. As the division was a central figure in the liberation of Chartres, something with this subject matter might be a good choice. Chartres was heavily damaged in the fighting, so ruined buildings would create an interesting modeling opportunity. Unfortunately I am unable to find many photos of the period for the city so I'm at a loss as to how to proceed. More research is clearly needed...

Project: 1/1000 Refit Enterprise

2010-02-28T14:19:00.000-05:00

The Enterprise has been an iconic image within the Science Fiction genre for decades. There have been many variants of the ship, from toys to model kits, and while all these attempts have been worthy in one form or another, the new Polar Lights (a sub brand of Round 2, specializing in Sci-fi, monster kits and the like, in the tradition of the old Aurora model company) goes into a league of its own. There really hasn't been a good quality mid-scale kit of the refit version of the ship in styrene, with Polar Lights 1/350 scale kit clearly on the large end, while a small scale (1/2500) version was included in the 3-ship Enterprise set (including the Original version, as well as the -D version from Next Generation). There was of course the old AMT/Ertl 1/537 scale kit, but it was in an odd scale ("box" scale, or scaled to be of sufficient size to fit in a standard sized box), as well as having a lot of questionable details.

Polar Lights had put out a snap-tite kit of the Original series Enterprise, as well as a Klingon D-7, and launched the new 1/1000 scale (a nice compromise between size and detail). Both were received positively, not just because of their quality, but also because of their abandonment of the dreaded box scale. This gave SF modelers the feeling that they were finally a "respected" branch of the hobby (military, naval, and auto modeling branches had abandoned "box" scale sometime in the early '60s). Alas there were road blocks in the way: Polar Lights, which had aquired Ertl/AMT along with their collectable car lines, was aquired by Racing Champions, which had little interest in the injection molded SF kit industry, so the lines were cancelled and all of the classic Trek kits (along with a fair number of classic Star Wars kits as well) languished while RC concentrated on NASCAR collectable toys.

Hope emerged from Round2, aquiring a lot of the classic AMT and PL molds, and now producing kits of their own.

And it was worth the wait.

The new Polar Lights kit has been much anticipated, and not just by me. 1/1000 is close to being a "perfect" scale: big enough to hold good detail, but small enough that you can have an actual collection.

Comparisons to the old Original fit of the Enterprise that had been released previously is natural. Although the Refit kit is a "snap-tite" kit, there has been no real compromise in detail, and in terms of construction is significantly better than the old kit, but with a similar number of options. Like the original kit, it uses an extensive amount of transparent parts, a nod to those that with to light up their kits. In addition construction is logical and almost effortless. This is the single best kit of the Enterprise on the market today in the "mid-range" scale, and far better than the old AMT kit.

Surface detail remains very good, and a respectable representation can be made from the kit.

The biggest surprise -- a welcome one -- is the extensive decal sheet. Aimed at aiding modelers in portraying the correct "aztec" pattern of hull paneling, it represents these patterns as conventional water-transfer decals. While not an original method (aftermarket manufacturers have done something similar in the past), this is the first commercal kit to my knowledge that adds this feature. All of this comes on a set of three decal sheets!

If you could buy only one Trek model, this definitely should be it!

Project: 1/48 Jagdpanzer 38(t) "Hetzer" Progress.

2010-02-24T00:53:00.000-05:00

Here's the progress on the Hetzer. As can be seen, major assembly is mostly done, and I've applied the first basecoat of Dark Yellow. In the background can be seen one of the camouflage schemes, a pattern often referred to as "Ambush." It consisted of alternating bands of Dark Yellow, Red-brown and Green, with dots of the other two colors on each segment (thus, the dark yellow segments would have dots of red-brown and green). This scheme was factory applied, and while it is very popular among modelers and wargamers, it was also fairly short lived, only applied during the Autumn of 1944, per all of my references.

As can be seen, the tracks and suspension have been fully assembled and "primed" black. I normally do not prime the model (or, if I do -- such as if the plastic is very dissimilar from the final vehicle color -- I usually use a neutral gray tone), tracks require a great deal of weathering. What I will do is paint and weather the tracks, then hand paint the wheels.

Project: KV-1 w/Applique Armor Progress

2010-02-09T15:59:00.000-05:00

As can be seen, this model is almost done! Not much more needs to be done, except attach the return rollers above the suspension, paint the machine guns (2, one in the hull seen in the foreground, as well as a second in the rear of the turret), and finally the exhausts. On tanks like the KV-1, the exhausts quickly weathered due to engine heat and the fact that they are constructed of less durable sheet metal. Although there are a lot of different rust effects you can do with paint, I'm planning on picking up a set of Rustall, to get an authentic rust effect on the exhuasts. It will be the first time using this product, and I look forward to it.

Project: 1/48 KV-1 w/Applique Armor

2010-02-07T13:40:00.000-05:00

When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, despite the massive successes and battles-of-encirclement that occurred, there were nonetheless a few nasty surprises for them. One of which was the KV-1, a tank (along with the T-34) the Germans had no knowledge of before Operation Barbarossa.

A heavy tank, the KV-1 featured very heavy armor and a 76.2mm cannon in a fully rotating turret. Initial versions, like the T-34, mounted the 76.2mm L/35 L-11 cannon, with poor performance, but was later fitted with the 76.2mm L/40 F-34 cannon of much better performance.

This model depicts the latter, also with the addition of "Applique" supplemental armor around the turret and hull sides. A brutal weapon system, engage-able only through air-power or heavy anti-tank guns (such as the dual-role 88mm FlaK-18 or FlaK-36), this tank as well as its stablemate were ineffectively employed by a Soviet Army that had been gutted by Stalin's purges of the 1930's. Through superior tactics, the Germans managed to cope with this weapon.

Tamiya continues with it's 1/48 line, and like many of the other kits in this range, the KV-1 continues to feature a die-cast hull. This time, it is a bit better than many of the others, with decent detail. However, it still suffers from fixed torsion bars, limiting detail and modeler choices. As usual the tracks are of the "link-n-length" style, and are well molded.

I don't have a lot of Soviet tanks, and this is the first KV-1 in my collection. Nonetheless, it should look suitably impressive next to its German contemporaries, such as the early Panzer IIIs or IVs, or the Panzer 38(t)!

Project: 1/48 Jagdpanzer 38(t) "Hetzer"

2010-02-04T17:55:00.000-05:00

As the war began to turn against Germany in 1943, a number of new weapon systems were developed by the Germans. One of these was the Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer, a lightweight assault gun/tank destroyer on the proven and reliable Panzer (38(t) chassis (in fact, a pre-war Czech design). It mounted the 75mm L/48 PaK 39 cannon in a limited traverse mounting, supplemented with a remote-control MG-34 machine gun. Although lightly armored for the standards of the day (50mm sloped), it was a rugged, successful design that survived post-war in Swiss service as the G-13.

Tamiya released the Hetzer kit early on, and still remains one of the better kits in the range. While still saddled with the cast metal lower hull, the detail is overall good, and at the time was the only Hetzer you could buy from Tamiya (later they would release a 1/35 scale version). Like most Tamiya 1/48 scale kits, it also has very well rendered "link-n-length) tracks in hard plastic. For some models, this is unneccessary (particularly US tanks which use "live" tracks), but on vehicles such as the ones used by the Germans, there should be a lot of sag, and that is well molded in this kit.

Although this is labeled as a "mid-production" variant, there are already after-market vendors offering conversions to later or earlier variants.

While the Germans manufactured a lot of equipment of questionable efficiency, the Hetzer is not one of them, and remained an effective vehicle throughout the war.

Project: 1/48 Panther Ausf. G Late Progress

2010-01-31T13:47:00.000-05:00

Here is the Panther as it stand now. As can be seen major assembly has been completed as well as painting and decaling. Seen in the forground is one of the Friul tracks, and behind it are a few segments I haven't assembled yet. Missing still are the suspension wheels (still need paint) and machine guns.

For this project I also picked up a set of Hauler engine screens. This is an excellent product, well molded and adds quite a bit to the appearance of the model. They're also quite cheap.

Overall construction of this kit -- despite the metal hull -- was very good, and the level of detail is a notch better than some of the other kits. For example, Tamiya often molds things like small grab handles as a solid component. But on this kit, they're often seperate and thus look much better. Despite all this, the lower hull still suffers from fixed torsion bars and a general lack of detail.

I am also very pleased about how the paint job came out. The photo unfortunately doesn't do it justice, in my opinion, with the colors looking a little off (the green in particular). That being said, I plan on using the same technique on another project (a Tamiya Hetzer) in the near future.

Project: 1/48 Panther Ausf.G Late

2010-01-27T17:05:00.000-05:00

The Panther has always been one of my favorite tanks from WWII. Modern, powerful, and mobile, it would have been the best medium tank of the war if it wasn't for the reliability issues it had. The very first production models had numerous problems, including a weak fuel line that caused the engine to spontaneously catch fire! While most issues were resolved as the vehicle matured, one that never really was resolved was the fact that the transmission and final drives were designed for a vehicle some 15 tons lighter, and often failed after an average of 150 miles! Still, the strong armor, powerful cannon, and the fact that Germany was moving to a defensive war rather than offensive offset -- at least somewhat -- these issues.

When Tamiya released its Panther series in 1/35 scale a decade and more ago, they were some of the finest kits in 1/35 scale. With the advent of the 1/48 scale line, they shrunk it down to produce this kit.

Like many of Tamiya's 1/48 scale models, the Panther Ausf. G "Spät" kit has a die-cast lower hull. Ostensibly it is to "enhance realism by adding weight," I more strongly suspect this is to cater to the collectible market, which irrationally associates quality with metal (and perhaps so they can claim their collections are not, in fact, toys). The result is that the lower hull again lacks detail due to the limitations of steel molding technology.

One feature of the Panther tank was its use of interleaved road wheels. This helped reduce wear on the tracks and wheels by distributing the weight over a greater area, as well as helping flotation in boggy ground. The downside was that damage to one road wheel often meant that its neighboring wheels had to be removed as well. For the modeller, it makes consruction of the tracks more problematic. I plan on using Friul individual, workable tracks for this project. The Friul tracks are cast metal (pewter this time instead of steel!) and are articulated by means of a wire inserted through all the links. This is in my opinion superior to the "clickable" tracks, as the wire pivots are much more robust. Additionally, the weight of the pewter helps to produce a realistic sag, an area where the weight of metal is indeed superior to that of plastic.

Finally, as the model tank I wish to produce will have the reinforced mantlet armor, as well as crew heater, I plan to hand-paint the camouflage. By the time this specific version of the tank was introduced, the German Army had switched from camouflaging in the field, to factory applied schemes. Thus, the schemes were often with a "hard edge," and hand painting simulates this style very well.

One day, I'd like to revisit this model and produce an early ("frühe") version, with zimmerit anti-magnetic paste.

Project: 1/48 M4A1 Progress

2010-01-26T10:45:00.000-05:00

The Tamiya kit as it stands now. Assembly of this model is mostly complete, with just a few bits to finish. As can be seen in the photo, I've started assembly of the tracks, molded in link-and-length assembly. Unfortunately, when painting this model, I forgot to paint the idler and drive sprockets, so assembly of the tracks will have to wait until those get sprayed. Additionally, the M2 .50CAL machine gun provided in the kit is fairly poor, lacking separate grips for the weapon as well as simplified detail. This will get replaced with a Verlinden after-market machine gun. Also, I ordered a Legends after-market stowage set to give the tank that "lived in" look...

Overall assembly is straight forward. Although it cannot be seen well in the photo, I enhanced the cast texture on the hull, transmission cover, and turret by stippling with liquid cement. Also fit of the transmission cover to the hull is not very good, and you can tell Tamiya cut some corners with it. It required a bit of filler on the hull sides to get rid of a pair of unsightly gaps. I suspect this job would've been easier if the lower hull was plastic instead of metal, but for some reason Tamiya decided to mold the lower hulls in die-cast metal, which is inferior in detail to a conventional plastic item. Newer kits no longer have this "feature," but we must suffer through it with the older kits...

Final steps will be track assembly, mounting the machine gun, and weathering.

Project: 1/35 M4A3(75)W Sherman Progress

2010-01-25T17:02:00.000-05:00

Here's the M4A3 as it stands now. Most major assembly has been completed, and all that needs to be done is mount the stowage rack and spare track links on the rear hull, as well as the tank commander's hatches. One negative point about this kit is that the loader's hatch is molded close, and requires surgery in order to model it open. So I understand, newer issues of this kit modified the mold so the loader's hatch can be posed open.

Paint jobs on these tanks were pretty standard Olive Drab, like most US Army equipment during WWII. While plain OD is often used as a point in the detriment for modeling US Army equipment in WWII, it can actually weather in interesting ways, something I'd like to really bring out on this kit.

Another modeling point I'd like to explore is stowage. Many period pictures of these vehicles in service showed vehicles loaded down with lots of crew stowage. These vehicles were designed for extended operations in the field, so the crew tended to acquire a lot of equipment to make their home on wheels more livable. Much of the stowage for this vehicle will probably come from the after-market, though I have yet to decide on what exactly that will be.

Project: 1/35 M4A3(75)W Sherman

2010-01-24T10:21:00.000-05:00

The M4 Sherman was the standard battle tank of the US Army and Marines in WWII. When it came out it was reasonably powerful and armored, able to tackle German tanks of the era on close to an even footing. Although advances in gun technology on the German side would reflect poorly on the Sherman, it was reliable, available in large numbers, and able to get to where it was going.

The M4A3 was an effort to utilize the US industrial capacity to its fullest extent. It replaced the Wright radial engine with paired Ford truck engines, giving it a boost in horsepower as well as reliability (acceleration was smoother, for example, when compared to the Wright engine which "hesitated" when the accelerator was depressed all the way). The hull was later upgraded as well, eliminating the bulges for the driver and co-driver (thus enhancing protection) as well as containing the cannon stores in "wet" tanks filled with anti-freeze. This effectively reduced the tendency of the Sherman to burn when penetrated, and helped with crew survival.

When Tamiya came out with their M4A3 kit, the market was pretty thin on Shermans. The Tamiya kit was then a big leap forward, providing a reasonably detailed kit of an important tank. Over the years, other Shermans have been released that potentially supplant or exceed the Tamiya kit. But the nice thing about it is that it is available and easy to aquire. Out of the box it can be built into a reasonable replica.

For this project, I'm keeping it fairly simple: no aftermarket parts to speak of and just a few details added that are missing. The biggest detail missing on this kit are the 3 bolts on the bottom of the suspension bogies, an easy fix with some Grandt Line bolts. Other than that, however, I want to keep it simple.

Project: 1/48 M4A1 Sherman

2010-01-23T19:12:00.000-05:00

1/48 scale has always been a siren's call for me. In my opinion it is the "perfect" scale: capable of holding similar detail levels as 1/35 scale, with the added advantage of a more compact size. This makes it especially ideal for making dioramas and the like, with a realistic footprint for display purposes in the home.

That being said, 1/48 scale armor models are also not nearly as popular as their larger scale stablemates. The first forays into the scale came from the likes of Aurora, with a handful of 1/48 scale kits (including some very interesting subjects, like the never-realized MBT-70, or the Swedish "S" Tank). A major player stepped into the scale in the 1970's, in the form of Bandai. At the time, Bandai was going head-to-head with Tamiya, both companies virtually inventing their respective scales (Tamiya "invented" 1/35 scale as a "metric" alternative to 1/32). In the end, however, Bandai lost for a number of reasons, and today 1/35 is the king of armor modelling scales.

Things began to change, however, in the new millenia. In the '00s, Tamiya in an effort to reinvent itself, revisited the 1/48 scale, releasing a flood of kits in a short period of time. That flood has now dried to a trickle, but a new kit is released a couple times a year. While 1/48 may never rise to challenge 1/35 scale, it is here, and so far looks like its staying.

The Tamiya kit represents a fairly standard mid-production M4A1 Sherman with a cast hull, with a few options. The modeler can leave off the applique armor and/or use the 3-piece bolted transmission cover, along with the open spoked road wheels for a fairly early vehicle. Or on the other hand the modeler can use the one-piece transmission cover and stamped road wheels along with applique armor for a later version. Of course the Sherman was seen with a number of different features so one can mix and match too. Also included is the narrow M-34 gun mantlet, but the suspension is the later type with the off-set return rollers. Nor is there provisions for modeling direct vision slots in the hull, so a very early M4A1 cannot be modeled. That being said, there's lots of room in the kit and a lot of options.

Project: 1/35 M1 Abrams

2010-01-14T17:34:00.001-05:00

One of the unfortunate aspects of modelling now is the tendency of modern equipment to go through upgrades, and the manufacturers of kits to do the same to the molds. While this is understandable -- current equipment often sells better than older equipment -- it does have the negative aspect that a segment of a vehicle's development history is lost.

The Abrams is a chief contender for this unfortunate practice. Back when the tank was relatively new, both Tamiya and Esci released kits of the vehicle.When the real tank was upgraded to M1A1 status, Tamiya modified the molds to reflect the modifications in the new tank (although it is also possible Tamiya just doesn't want to release it again).

Esci on the other hand folded as a company, and many of its molds went into limbo. While Italeri has recently acquired the molds (re-releasing the M60 series tanks -- the best representation of this tank on the market currently), the M1 was not one that was re-released (perhaps so it wouldn't compete with Italeri's already very good M1A1/A2 kit series).

When I came across this kit, I knew I had to jump at the chance to get this kit, model acquisition moratorium or not. While the Esci kit is inferior to the Tamiya kit, the latter is very difficult to find for some reason, and this kit isn't so bad to be unbuildable.

But it is far from perfect. Fit is adequate, but there is a general sense of sparseness in details. The real tank had its fair share of nuts, bolts, and the like, all of which are missing from this kit. The Esci kit was the first to market, so much of this detail may have been missed due to inadequate resources and references (Esci's T-72/74 and BMP series has the same problems). Also the kit represents the weld lines as recessed when in fact they should be raised. Finally, the stowage racks don't fit well (and one was shattered for that matter).

All of these detractions are easy to fix (Grandt Line makes nuts and bolts, weld beads can be reproduced with thin plastic rod, and the stowage rack can be reproduced with brass wire). Finally, I was able to salvage the correct style of tracks from an old Tamiya M1A1 to replace the questionable link-and-length tracks (which unfortunately do not have a curvature for the end connectors molded).

I am definitely looking forward to getting this kit together!

Project: 1/35 M41G Walker Bulldog

2010-01-05T16:50:00.001-05:00

The mailwoman just dropped this one off for me.As I purchased it before the model buying moratorium, it still fits within my plans. Plus I got it on sale!

The M41 was the standard light tank of the US Army between Korea and Vietnam, out of service before it could see any action with US troops (though there was some limited testing under combat conditions in Korea). However, it was widely exported to a number of countries in NATO as well as other US allies. Indeed, I recently spotted the vehicle still in service during the Thai coup in 2006!

The M41 was selected as the primary light tank by the newly constituted Federal Republic of Germany's Army, where it served alongside US M47 and M48 tanks, retiring in 1969.

When AFV Club announced this kit a few years ago, it was pretty exciting for me. Although by itself the M41 is an interesting tank, in West German livery it becomes that much more interesting. With the big German crosses on the side, as well as vehicle numbers and registration codes, it's probably the most colorful "stock" version of the tank as well, and allows me to add something fairly unique to my Cold War collection.

Project: 1/35 ASU-57 Progress

2010-01-04T15:58:00.002-05:00

I've had this model for some time, but haven't made much progress on it in over a year. As can be seen in the previous post on this subject, the Eduard photo-etch set is very extensive, and will require a lot of work to bring it about. The picture below shows a few pieces already in place, as well as basic construction on the hull. The metal pieces are the photo-etch parts, the gray pieces are the kit plastic, and finally all the white bits is where filler was required. Pretty much every joint required filler, the fit was so bad. Furthermore, as can be seen in the photo, the upper hull has been modified to accept the better detailed Eduard parts.

Still yet to be acquired are the turned brass return rollers from Modelpoint, as well as a supply of ammo for the 57mm cannon.

Project: 1/35 ASU-57

2010-01-03T20:32:00.002-05:00

The ASU-57 was the Soviet Union's first post-war attempt at an airborne tank. Less a tank and more an assault gun, it mounted a 57mm cannon, which by the standards of the day (early '50s) was already obsolete as a tank-killing armament. Still, a tank is a tank, and in an airborne operation, the ability of the vehicle to toss HE shells or kill light armored vehicles must have been appreciated. Lightly armored, it had an open topped crew compartment, making it very vulnerable to indirect fire and airburst weapons (not to mention "fightability" in an NBC environment).

When the Cold War finally ended, and there was a thawing of relations between the former Warsaw Pact states and the West, we started to get a trickle of kits from the former Soviet Union as well as Eastern Europe. A lot of times this showed the abysmal nature of manufacturing in these countries, with most kits being toy-like or otherwise poorly molded or detailed. Still, in those early days, for many subjects they were the only game in town, and welcomed if you wanted a kit of an unusual or rarely seen subject.

Over time, Eastern Europe benefited from contact with the West, and kits steadily improved. While modern kits from this region are still not up to the level of kits coming out of Japan, China, Italy and the like, they can still put out decent quality kits at an affordable price.

The AER kit originates from Moldova, and was a post-Cold War product. While many kits benefited from modern molding and construction practices, the AER kit is not one of those. Just about ever component of this kit is either poorly molded, poorly detailed, or both. Still, if you want an ASU-57 in your collection, it's really the only game in town, and I'm not even sure the manufacturer exists anymore (I got mine off ebay). Along with this kit you MUST also get the Eduard photo-etch set, which adds considerably to the level of detail of the kit (fortunately the Eduard set is very cheap according to the manufacturer's website). Along with this it is reccommended you use the cannon barrel from Modelpoint (if you look closely at the pictures on the Eduard site, you can see the massive sink marks in the barrel; while trying to fix this problem, my barrel shattered, so I must get the Modelpoint piece to complete the model!). They also make a set of return rollers too, which should be useful. All these latter goodies are available from Modelpoint's US website.

While we're at it, the shells should be replaced as well, since the kit ones are barely detailed blobs. There are no shells on the market for the Ch-51 cannon, though this was a development of the WWII era ZiS-2, and used much of the same ammunition. Modelpoint comes to the rescue again with a full range of 57mm ZiS-2 ammo.

This kit is going to be a real challenge to build. But when done will be a pretty unique subject. Now if only there was an affordable ASU-85...

This kit is a big challenge

Project: 1/35 T-64B Progress III

2010-01-01T14:02:00.002-05:00

Here's how the T-64B as it stands now. Most construction of the turret components has been completed, with the only remaining components needed are wire grab-handles on the turret sides, wiring for the smoke grenades, commanders hatch (to be added after painting and decaling, so I can get everywhere), NSVT machine gun (to be painted and weathered separately), and a little bit I have no idea how it goes (instructions not very helpful) so it will require some research on my part to see how it goes.

Construction of the turret was pretty smooth. That being said, I did make a mistake. The sight for the AT-8 "Songster" anti-tank missiles has a plate on the bottom of it. I had assumed this was the way the mount worked, but unfortunately it was an artifact of casting. I didn't have sufficient photo references to catch it, and I realized this after gluing it on, so there is no way I can get it off again. Well, live and learn...

Unfortunately, the kit was missing the cannon breach. However, as I constructed it, I realized my initial idea of showing the vehicle on a road march wouldn't work. The 125mm main cannon is at a fixed elevation, which is too low and will interfere with the driver if I model him with the driver's hatch open. This required me to scale back the number of figures I was to use on it. Since the driver's hatch must be modeled closed, the tank is likely no longer on a road march, but perhaps on an alert readying for action.

With this scenario in mind, I could no longer have the gunner's hatch open with a figure; unlike western tanks, Soviet tanks from the T-64 on have an autoloader and 3-man crew. In a situation where combat is possible, the job of the gunner is to man the cannon. Thus, I closed his hatch, and the lack of a breech isn't as significant.

The more I look at the tracks on the kit, the more unsure I am that I want to use them. There are three options available: Miniarm makes a set of workable tracks as see here. While from all appearances (and experience with other track sets they make), they're very nicely detailed and cast. The problem? If you notice how the tracks go over and around the drive sprockets, you'll notice there is a gap between the end connectors and the sprocket teeth, particularly at the top. The real tracks were at least 3 pieces, with separate pivoting end connectors. The Miniarm tracks typically cast them as a single link with end connectors already attached. Thus the tracks do not articulate correctly.

The second option is from a company called MasterClub and can be seen (top of page) here. Again, while nice, they have the same limitations as the Miniarm set.

The last option is the set of tracks from Skif itself, as seen here. The advantages are that the tracks are cheap, if a little tricky to use. Fortunately there is a review of them here, and the word is, not good. So I'm faced with a conundrum: either use the kit supplied tracks (which for some reason have lightening holes on every other link), spend big bucks for the Miniarm set and live with the detail issues, or save (lots) of money and wrestle the bear useing Skif's set. Not a lot of great choices here. In the end I might just slap some mud on the tracks and call it a day. We'll see...

New Years Resolutions

2009-12-31T10:53:00.000-05:00

With the new year coming at midnight tonight, it is always traditional to make a resolution of what one wishes to change or accomplish in the new year. Traditionally this usually had to do with weight loss, or other mundane ambitions.

As a modeler and minis painter, have bigger ambitions. While losing a few pounds might be a prudent thing to do, I've got lead to paint! Thus, here are my "new years resolutions." Let's see how well I keep to them!

1). Finish building and painting my Normans from Gripping Beast. I have an ambition to finally go to Historicon for the first time this upcoming year. Part of that is because Historicon will, for the first time, be in Valley Forge, which is around an hour from me. This means no need to arrange a flight, get a hotel, and the like. Plus I can simply drive home and sleep in my own bed while the Con is on. To that end, I need an army to play in the WAB tournament, and the Normans were one I had been working on previously. Due date for this is a bit earlier, by necessity the beginning of July 2010.

2). Finish building and painting my High Elves from Games Workshop. Well, technically the building phase is done, and has been for some time. But definitely not the painting phase. There are rumors of a new edition of Fantasy Battle coming out this summer, and that would be a perfect time to wrap up this army. Now I haven't played WHFB since maybe 4th edition, and there has been some changes, but I've managed to keep up with the High Elves specifically, collecting army books as they come out, and buying figures here and there. Although I have a lot of classics (including some 40 classic plastic spearmen), I've also bought some new stuff for this army as well. Much of the army is already either started or done, so this should be a relatively easy goal to achieve, just like the Normans. Due date again is July 2010, the rumored release date of WHFB 8th Edition.

3). Build and Paint a Dark Elf Army from Games Workshop. One of the frustrations I often run into is that none of my friends collect minis for gaming, or at least for the games I want to play. In historical circles, often gamers will build two parallel armies that conceivably would have fought (i.e. Early Imperial Romans and Britons). Dark Elves and High Elves are a classic match up, and who knows, maybe I'll convince someone in my game group to actually get a game in. Due date end of the year 2010.

4). Finish Eldar Army from Games Workshop. Eldar were the first army I started collecting for Warhammer 40K, but for various reasons not the one I ever really finished. I already have a lot of stuff for them, much of which is not finished: 12 Jetbikes (including 3 Shriekers), a bunch of Fire Dragons, and a load of Guardians. Although I can supplement the collection by additional purchases (some of the Aspects I need to "max out" as I only have 5 for some), with what I have I should be able to form a pretty rounded army. And maybe I can convice someone to have a game with me too. Due date end of the year 2010.

5). Collect remaining figures for a Sisters of Battle army from Games Workshop. I really wasn't expecting this to make the list, but there are rumors that they might get redone by Games Workshop. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, one of the negative aspects to this is that if the core figures go plastic, there is a chance they won't mix well with the current metal figures I already have (which amount to a command squad and a single combat squad). That being said, the closer to release date we get, the more information we should get. Part of the rumors I've seen so far have to do with vehicles, and a vehicle update might be worth waiting for. Due date end of yea 2010.

6). Start and Finish a Late Roman army for Fall in. Late Romans have always been a fascination for me. Still retaining their classical trappings to a certain extent, the Roman Empire by this time was also very troubled, from succession crises, Sassanian Persians, and German Wanderlust, to economic failures and a decline in authority. This combines to make a compelling story. Part of this will depend on where Fall In will be this year, but considering that the 3 largest conventions on the East Coast US are in eastern Pennsylvania, I really don't have a lot of excuses.

7). Finish a few models from my "stash." Model Building was my "first" real hobby, and the one that gives the most satisfaction. Over the years I've built a massive collection of kits I haven't finished yet. In my defense I always start a model, but finishing has been a challenge. Because of that, I plan on focusing my efforts on finishing a few kits in my collection. I also plan on having a "moratorium" on kit buying, with only the M-41(G) Walker Bulldog in German colors and the German Jagdpanzer Kanone as my only purchases. Special concentration will be focused on my two most expensive projects: the Chieftain Mk.11 and the T-64B (expect to see some updates in the near future). Unless something comes out that completely wows me of course. Due date end of year 2010.

That's it for the list, and it breaks down fairly well into 2-month projects, so it should also be do-able. I'm sure that I'll pick up other projects along the way, and interests will wane and grow as go along. But I think it's a do-able list, and we'll see how well I can stick to it...

Project: 1/35 T-64B Progress II

2009-12-17T12:29:00.001-05:00

I finally got the Miniarm turret today, well packed from Historica Hobbies. It was an expensive turret, but it also is chocked full of parts, including a 2 piece turned aluminum cannon!

Of particular note is the delicate casting of the NSVT machine gun, and some of the interior parts that can be seen through the turret hatches! Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a cannon breach, but for what is there, and the size of the actual hatches, simply placing a figure in the hatches should obscure any further detail anyway.

I'm probably going to start laying into this conversion tonight. The nice thing about the turret is that it is modular, so I don't need to wait for tracks or a detail set before I can slap it together, paint it, and call it finished.

Project: 1/35 T-64B Progress

2009-12-11T14:22:00.002-05:00

I'll have to admit, I already started working on the hull of this model. As the aftermarket parts are mainly focused on adding details -- and replacing the turret outright -- I could feel safe in progressing in this project.

One of the generalities about Eastern European model manufacture is that the level of technology and finesse is not on par with the West (including Japan and China). That being said, ofttimes it isn't necessarily bad, but may require more work. For example, in the West, the lower hull is often a single piece, using multi-part molds and slide molds (that is, multi-part molds that use sliding sections to de-mold the components, and allowing details on more than two sides). However, the Skif kit like a lot of Eastern European kits has the hull built up from multiple components. Usually this isn't a problem, just a bit more work...

Well except in the case of this kit.

Upon construction, I discovered that both the hull floor as well as both hull sides were warped, with the floor bowed upward, and the hull sides bowed outward. It took a lot of patience and gluing to get the lower hull to assemble correctly. What I did was remove the locating pins on both sides of the lower hull, and used liquid cement to glue the forward and rear portions of the hull sides first. Once the glue had cured sufficiently, I started gluing the hull floor, going a bit at a time. Nonetheless, the plastic still had a tendency to pull away, so I ended up reinforcing the glue join with a dab of cyanocrylate glue instantly cured with accelerator (you can see where I did this in the top-down photo below).

The rest of the construction was much less painless. The upper hull was slightly warped as well, but fortunately rubber bands came to the rescue here.

Much of the detail on this kit is a little soft, so I am awaiting a set of Eduard photo-etch to add general details on the kit. Sadly, the model is missing the light guards on the forward hull, and the Eduard set is necessary to recitfy this, either on their own, or as patterns for styrene rod or metal. Finally, the Eduard set adds important details to the spare fuel drums (not shown in the photos).

The next phase of this build will be either the turret or the Eduard details, whichever comes first!

Project: 1/35 T-64B

2009-12-11T13:52:00.001-05:00

When the West first learned of the existence of the T-64, it caused quite a stir. Abandoning the evolution started with the late-WWII T-44, the T-64 was a radical departure for the time. Featuring a small, 2 man turret and a low profile hull, it incorporated advanced tank design features like an auto-loader for the main cannon, hydro-pneumatic suspension, and an advanced fire control system. The T-64 seemed to herald a new "tank gap" for which the West had to catch up.

With the fall of the Soviet Union and thawing of relations, much more information has come to light. The T-64 was not quite the threat the West believed it was, and the initial designs were nearly a turkey. Produced alongside to the T-72 , which was intended for Motor Rifle Divisions (rather than the T-64, for frontline Armored divisions), if the baloon had gone up in the '70s, the West would more likely had to face hordes of T-62s and T-55s, since the value of the T-64 was questionable.

Although many of the issues that plagued the T-64 were mostly resolved, and it still serves with the Ukranian Army, it was never exported, and still has issues to this day (such as reliability in very cold weather -- ironic considering its country of origin).

Over the years, I have built my fair share of Soviet Cold War era tanks, but the T-64 was always elusive. Lacking good photos or captured examples, the T-64 remained a garage kit until Skif (of the Ukraine) came along and produced a kit in styrene.

While one would think that a model manufacturer producing a kit of their country's tank would ensure a very accurate model. Unfortunately not. The kit I selected (T-64B) has a reasonable hull, but a very inaccurate turret. While the kit could be built out-of-the box with modification, to get a real show-winner requires quite a bit of work.

Luckily, Miniarm comes to the rescue with a very fine (if expensive!) turret for the T-64B, which I still have on order. Add to this the Eduard photo etch set (for general details -- though the picture shown is for the T-64BV, the set is suitable for the earlier variant) , and possibly the Miniarm track set, and you can have a very nice model. The last part I'm not sold on, beause the end connectors are attached to one track shoe, and thus do not bend realistically, but in the end it really depends on how well I can get the kit tracks to work. There is also a styrene set of tracks from Skif as well, and that might be a good, cheaper alternative.

All in all, I am very excited about getting this kit going, and should be a unique addition to my collection, especially next to the Chieftain.

Project: 1/35 Chieftain Mk.11 Progress

2009-11-08T17:14:00.005-05:00

A short update on the progress I'm making on this kit.

The first two pictures show the replacement upper hull glued to the Tamiya lower hull. I haven't put on the suspension units yet.

The second picture shows the model at a higher angle, showing off the Accurate Armour hull to better effect. So far I've only glued on a pair of stowage bins.

This next picture shows the turret. So far I've assembled the TOGS unit (the forwardmost component in this shot) as well as the auxiliary power unit on the turret rear, as well as a few stowage bins.

So far the kit is coming together nicely. Some of the pour stubs for the resin components were put in some pretty awkward positions. The TOGS sight in particular was a bear to seperate from its frame. Also, both of the stowage bins on the hull had a sub-surface air bubble right at the pour stub, and removing it caused a corner (on each!) to shatter. Luckily, I recovered the fragment for one and repaired it, and the other stowage bin's flaw is hidden by the hull. Nonetheless, it was a fairly painful process getting these pieces cut out.

Quick comment about assembly. Due to the weight of the parts, I'm using mostly epoxy to assemble the kit, and superglue where it doesn't really matter. For example, the TOGS sight was epoxied onto the turret, but all the stowage bins I simply used super glue.

Project: 1/35 Chieftain Mk.11

2009-11-05T13:54:00.003-05:00

One of the great things about model building is ripping open the box and lovingly looking at the parts. It's even better when the parts in question are aftermarket, and you dream about how this will dress up a tired old model kit.

The Tamiya Chieftain Mk.5 tank is one of those. Although a decent kit from an assembly standpoint, unfortunately it is not particularly accurate for a Mk.5 Chieftain (I've heard it better represents a Mk.3, but that is academic for this discussion). This is a real shame, as I have serious doubts another company is going to revisit this subject in injected molded styrene, especially for a "modern" tank that is now out of service, and has never seen any high profile conflicts (the only ones that come to mind are Iranian Chieftains, and Kuwaiti Mk.5s during Gulf War I).

I've always loved the Chieftain; it was a real beast of a tank, and mounted a 120mm cannon during a time when most other NATO forces were still using the 105mm (or in some cases the smaller 90mm or 20lber cannon). During the 1970s it was probably, on paper, the most powerful and capable battle tank in the NATO inventory, at a time when the US Army had been gutted by the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Despite this, the British had chosen to use a multi-fuel engine in compliance with new NATO requirements (that would largely not be met again until the introduction of the US M1 Abrams). While the Leyland L60 engine offered a lot of strategic advantages, it had a large number of teething problems that directly affected reliability of the British tank. Later these reliability issues were resolved for the most part, but the bad reputation prevented the tank from getting large scale overseas purchases (mostly from Iran, Jordan, and Kuwait).

While the only game in town is the old Tamiya kit from the early '70s, Accurate Armour comes to the rescue with a number of conversion kits to accurize the Tamiya kit. For my project I chose the Mk.11 set, which is essentially a Mk.5 with improved ammo storage for APFSDS ammunition, "Stillbrew" enhanced armor package and TOGS (Thermal Observation and Gunnery Sight). This was the last variant of this tank, and was used into the '90s. Accurate Armour produces the resin and photo-etch metal kit as CO27K.

One thing is evident in this kit is its sheer size and heft! It includes a complete upper hull and turret with "Stillbrew" armor modifications, as well as a large number of other parts that generally improve the detail over the Tamiya original parts. Casting is near flawless, with only a couple air bubbles, either in areas that will not be seen, or under the surface and just visible through the transparent resin. I test fitted the resin upper hull to the plastic lower and fit was near perfect, requiring only a little filing of the front lower hull.

I can't wait to start slapping this kit together!

Wrestling with a Bear, Pt. 1 Vol. I

2009-10-25T19:22:00.000-04:00

One of the great things about building models is the sense of satisfaction one gets from completing a challenging project. Nearing completion, my M4A4 Sherman (Dragon kit #6035) is such a subject, and it turned out to be a lot more challenging than I had initially thought.

When Dragon came out with this kit back in the '90s, the market was not yet well served with Shermans, with only a few kits from Tamiya and Italeri. When Dragon came out with this kit, is was in many ways a godsend, the first time this specific model tank was done in plastic. I had built one soon after it was released (getting French markings; something more colorful than the comparatively rather subdued British version) and it builds well.

I had originally bought the kit as a response to Tasca's M4A4 series. While response to the kit has been fabulous, at between $70 to $80 for a plastic kit, it basically prices me out of the market. I bought the Dragon kit knowing its flaws for cheap, and it isn't a bad kit. That being said, the kit had a number of issues that need to be corrected, 2 of them major.

As it is, the kit's lower hull is much too long, creating an incorrect "profile" for the tracks and requiring more links than the prototype.
The suspension was originally from Italeri, and while a well detailed suspension for the time, it is an unlikely one as applied to the M4A4; it was of a later type using upswept return roller arms, entering production after the M4A4 manufacture ceased.

Neither of these problems are insurmountable, but does require a bit of work to correct.

I solved the suspension problem by investing in AFV Club's FV35029 M4 Sherman Vertical Volute Spring Suspension Unit, not a bad set, and a real godsend as it also includes the bolted pads the suspension units mounted to (also missing from the Dragon kit). Unfortunately the road wheels are open in the back, which I resolved by using a set of FO41 metal stamped road wheels from Formations Models. During the build process, I forgot that the hull was too long, and in the process completely destroyed the idler mounts. Easily solved by another Formations kit, FO52. The hull itself was simply cut behind the engine plate details, however it is more accurate to completely cut off the plate and move it an equal distance forward. This would require a lot of work most people would not see, so I took the easy route.

The rest of the kit was built mostly as it is out of the box. The turret contours were subtly altered to make it more like the prototype, and I replaced the cannon rotor with a spare item from Tamiya (better detail and profile) and the M34A1 rotor shield was a resin piece from an unknown source. The cannon was replaced with an aluminum item from my spares box (manufacturer unknown). All this was mounted in an altered port, lowering it slightly to make it match the profiles better.

The kit originally came with individual link tracks. However, the Sherman series used a type of track called "live" track. This style track had a property that when laid out with the track pads facing up, it would tend to curl back on itself. The purpose was to reduce the chances of a thrown track, allowing it to "grip" the idler more securely. From a modeling perspective, this means the track should have no sag.

One of the big advantages of individual links is that they make modeling track sag much easier and realistic (they mimic the actual properties of tracks, or otherwise can be manipulated to do so). That is however unneccessary on a tank with live track, so I opted to use AFV Club's flexible T-62 tracks instead, which are for the "long" body Shermans of the M4A4 series.

That's it for the build process. Next time, as I continue the series, I'll discuss painting the beast, hopefully with some pictures!

What rules to use?

2009-09-22T14:01:00.000-04:00

So you've decided to start the rewarding hobby of miniatures wargames. Now that you have the figures, the natural question is what do I do with them? Obviously the intent is to game battles, but what rules should one use?

Depending on the period you focus on, there are a plethora of rules available currently. In many ways wargaming is in the "Silver Age" (to borrow a comics reference), with a resurgence in rulesets, quality figures and interest (as opposed to the "Golden Age" of the '60s to the '80s, when the industry was dominated by rules from Featherstone and Bath, with figures from Minifigs, Scruby and others).

I use a variety of rulesets, depending on the era I wish to play:

For Ancients (and here we'll use the "wargamer" definition and limit Ancients to the periods between 3000bc to 1500ad), I am currently enamored with (in 15mm) Might of Arms and Fields of Glory. Both use "element" basing (that is, multipe figures on a single base or element), and try not to simulate combat from a loss basis but from an effects basis (it is top-down rather than bottom-up). While I vastly prefer MoA for its "psychological" approach to armies, FoG is currently very well supported, with its own line of army books and a very slick website. Other rules that exist include De Bellis Magister Militum, De Bellis Multitudinous, De Bellis Antiqitas, and others.

For 25mm Ancients I vastly prefer Warhammer Ancient Battles. The advantages of this ruleset is that the Warhammer rules are well known outside the historicals arena (making recruitment a bit easier), the rulebooks are very well published with lots of good photos of minis, and the army books tend to be very informative besides being a simple list. In this way, the game very much is inspired by its fantasy counterpart. For someone that does not know anything about the history involved, the books can be a very good introduction to the period.

On the downside, Games Workshop recently dropped the Warhammer Historicals imprint and will be devolving game support to Forgeworld. How this will pan out no one really knows. The hope that with the new edition of the game, it will continue. However, if the game collapses due to Forgeworld's mismanagement, the game that almost single-handedly created the 25mm figure rennaisance in historicals will be a sad loss...

Finally, in the historicals arena, I tolerate Flames of War. Again, basing itself on the commercial model of the Warhammer game, Flames of War tends to be very pretty, and the rules easy to pick up. The downsides are that the game sometimes plays a-historically, and of course there is always the occasional German player with maxed out King Tigers.

On the Fantasy/SF front, I also enjoy the well known games Warhammer Fantasy Battle as well as Warhammer 40,000.

Finally, no blog of mine is complete without a plug for Battletech. A game that has been going for 25 years, and has arisen from its supposed death more popular than before, Battletech is a game that has stood the test of time. While not strictly a miniatures game, it is very well supported with a minis line, and so I include it here for that reason.

Old School Minis Rennaisance

2009-09-18T12:26:00.000-04:00

With a plethora of minis manufacturers, both current and in the past, a D&D gamer would presumably be well served with minis to use in the game. Unfortunately, with the plastic collectable minis game still in-market, there is no official unpainted metal minis for the D&D game.

While over the years several companies have held the license (Minifigs first, then Grenadier, then Citadel, then TSR directly, then Ral Partha, and finally WotC directly) and a lot of minis have been made in that time, some are hopelessly obsolete (Minifigs), very hard to find (Citadel), or out of scale (Grenadier, first TSR line, and Ral partha) with the current ranges of figures on the market. And while the DDM collectible pre-painted miniatures are good for either casual gamers (or those that do not want to paint), they lack detail, the paint is sometimes overly thick, and cannot be stripped easily.

Otherworld miniatures burst on the scene a few years ago. Using a loophole in the OGL contract from D&D 3e era, they have been producing miniatures using the old artwork from first edition AD&D. I have a few, and in general really like them. Not only are they very well sculpted, but are dead ringers for the old AD&D artwork.

Recently, I was excited to see new releases of the venerable Hook Horror and the Owlbear (set to release on 30 September 2009). Both of these minis are very welcome; there has not been a Hook Horror on the market for decades, and the closest substitute from 3d party manufacturers is less than stellar, while the Owlbear is always welcome (again, with all 3rd party substitutes being sub-standard). While I already have the old Chainmail metal Owlbear (which is fantastic), a current and in-production version is very welcome!

The Hundred Years War: A Conundrum

2009-09-17T17:05:00.000-04:00

Of all historical periods, perhaps my favorite is the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). This conflict between England and France was never a simple war of succession, indeed never really ending (the Kings of England only struck the French blazon from their heraldry in the 19th C). It was also characterized by tremendous changes in equipment (this was the transitional period, where knights changed from being equipped primarily with mail armor, supplemented with plates, to wholly plate armor), social change, as well as changes in recruitment and the status of the army (in England, a system of indenture -- or contract service -- while with the French Ordonnance of the mid 15th C saw the establishment of a permanent army of a sorts).

One would think there would be a lot of lines of miniatures for this period in 15mm, and you would be right. The problem is that many of them are just not that good. My two "go-to" manufacturers (Old Glory 15s and Essex Miniatures) are both problematic: Old Glory's range is of questionable accuracy, is all over the place in armor styles (remember this was a conflict that lasted over 100 years!) and generally are poorly sculpted. This is a real shame as I like OG15s a lot for other ranges (though any range can have its duds). Essex has a different problem: while sculpting is adequate, the range is all over the place, and difficult to zero into. They sell by packs in a generic "Medieval" range, and it is up to the consumer to select the figures they need. This is problematic as the figures often do not have good descriptions, and worse the website is neither fully illustrated, or often the picture link is broken.

There are a few other ranges, such as venerable Minifigs, Lancashire Games, Black Hat (ex-Gladiator), and a host of others The problems with these ranges are usually either very old (i.e. Minifigs), or just poorly sculpted (Black Hat ex-Gladiator, some of the worst figures I've ever had the displeasure to see). So the situation is that there are no really good Hundred Years War ranges on the market.

Enter Corvus Belli.

Now, I have to admit I am a huge fan of the Infinity range: anime inspired and some of the finest cast miniatures I've ever seen. For multi-part metal figures, fit was as good as a plastic kit! Amazing!

I'm less enthusiastic about their HYW figures. I had originally bought some of their 25mm figures (Bowmen specifically, now sold by Crusader), and while cleanly cast, they were not very well detailed, with little variety or interesting equipment, and had a disturbing resemblance to Gerard Depardeu. Their 15mm figures are somewhat better, however, but suffer from a bit of hypercephalism.

Here the figures pictured are the from packs Billmen Standing and Billmen Attacking. These represent the best figures of this era on the market right now, in my opinion. I find this dissappointing, especially considering all the high quality 25mm figures there are (chiefly Front Rank, Perry Miniatures, and Foundry). I bought a few packs of these, and have been laying around for some time. I'm going to go ahead and paint them, but should there ever be a good, high quality range for this period, I'll buy!

Starting Another Army...

2009-09-16T22:55:00.000-04:00

One of the things about historical wargaming is that you can never truly be done with it. With games like Warhammer and other fantasy/sci-fi systems where the figures are very closely tied to the rules, there is only a finite number of armies you can build before you have built them all. With historicals, however, it is impossible to ever complete every army, so diverse is the field. Alone in Ancients typical rulesets span between 3000bc to 1500. Even a game like Might of Arms boast 200 unique armies.

I've been selling old toys on Ebay, and made quite a tidy sum. My financial situation right now is stable, but doesn't encourage reckless spending. Nonetheless, I just had to buy a few packs (especially since that paypal account has been burning a hole in my pocket).

One of my long-term objectives has been to build the entire Roman army through history. Roughly this translates into Early Republic (army of the Tarquinian Reforms, i.e. the classic Roman Hoplite Army approx 509bc to 280bc), Middle Republic (that of the Camillan Reforms, i.e. the 4 classes or approx 280bc to 100bc), Late Republican (i.e that of the Marian reforms or approx 100bc to 27ad), Early Imperial (approx 27ad to 200ad), Middle Imperial (200ad to 300ad) and finally Late Imperial (300ad to 476ad). Certainly a lot of work to be done...

So it was that I was recently inspired to pick up a few packs to further this goal. From Old Glory 15 I decided to pick up RR03 and RR07. After the Camillan Reforms, in which the Roman army was reorganized into the triple lines (i.e. Hastatii, Principes, and Triarii), the Hastatii were made up of the younger inductees to the legion. Equipped with a large shield called a Scutum, and armed with a sword and two throwing spears called Pila. They formed the first main line of the legion.

Nice thing about Romans is that they're nice and easy to paint. Tunic white, shield red, and bronze parts, well, bronze, and that's it. Hopefully I can get these guys into action shortly...

A beginning...

2009-09-15T21:46:00.000-04:00

If you're a wargamer, and anything like me, then you probably have a lot of projects underway. Burnout, changing interests, and perhaps The Family can derail a project faster than a sarissa in a Persian. And thus the proverbial "lead pile" continues to grow, insuring immortality for thousands of wargamers worldwide (because you can't possibly die before all your lead is painted!).

The purpose of this blog, just like my book blog, is to catalog my minis related projects. However, this isn't a simple review. Instead it will serve as a project log, tracking progress on various projects. It is also my intention to use pictures of my projects to further track progress, and provide a painting record as well.

Most of my interest in wargaming lies with historicals; however, I do have an interest in fantasy/Sci-Fi as well, so that should feature here as well. Specifically, on the SF side, I'm a big fan of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 game and setting. I'm also a huge fan of FASA/Fanpro/Catalyst Games Battletech game and setting. Hopefully I'll be able to feature projects from these game systems. To start things off, I've already mail ordered a bunch of knights and spearmen from both QRF/Feudal Castings, as well as a few from Black Hat (ex-Gladiator). Also I intend to pick up from the FLGS another Chaos Space Marines Bike to finish off a 1500pts World Eaters army, so watch this space!