Featured Work - Carsten's 'Object 704'

It's been a while since I posted a 'featured work' and I think that's possibly because I've been working in 1/100 scale recently. There are some terrific examples of beautifully painted 1/100 scale armour around if you Google them, but not so many tutorial examples (at least, not as many as - say - 1/72 scale tutorials anyway).

So, it was great to come across this wonderful example of what can be done at this diminutive scale. Particularly so as the modeller - Carsten - uses a lot of techniques and medium that are more usually associated with larger scales...

Another delightful aspect of this video is that Carsten's subject if the 'Object 704', which is a late WW2 prototype Soviet tank destroyer. I'm quite familiar with this monster as it's a tank which is available in the PC game 'World of Tanks'. Indeed, it's one of my favourite tanks to play in this game...

Computer games aside, though, this is a very useful tutorial on with some very interesting pointers about advanced painting techniques for 1/100 armour. I'll undoubtedly be trying out some of these tips in the various tanks I'm just producing.

Featured work - Great minds, or fools?

"Great minds think alike and fools seldom differ!"

It's been a while since I did a 'featured work' post, mainly because I have weird tastes and I like 'odd' and unusual examples of modelling. So, it was really exciting for me to stumble across another modeller who was undertaking a very similar project to myself.

Back in 2013, Fred Konynenburg - over on the Braille Scale Discussion Group - posted up some fantastic shots of his take on 'accurising' a PSC T-34/85! And what a superb job he has made of it too!

Model: 1/72 PSC T-34/85 by Fred Konynenburg

Spookily, this must have been undertaken at almost exactly the same time as I started off my PSC T-34/85 project. But, being clearly a better modeller than I am, Fred took the concept of improving the wargame quality kit even further than I did and has added loads more detail...

He went quite mad with the PE (photo etched) brass accessories and styrene scratch-built upgrades. In this, he has assembled something more akin to the second of my T-34/85 'accurisation' (I know that's possibly not a real word) projects, my Armourfast T-34/85 project...

My Armourfast upgrade project.

It's really cool to see that someone else finds this sort of concept interesting and worth doing. It's certainly a challenge and - in my humble opinion - is more of a test of the modellers skill than making an expensive display quality kit 'out the box' (where all the accurate detail has already been done for you). But, I understand that this is - as I say - just my opinion.

Fred's completed model displays a standard of painting that matches his modelling talent and looks fantastic...

I especially like the inclusion of the tank loader, peeping out his small hatch! I hope my T-34/85s turn out as good as this. Very well done, Fred!

Featured work - East Neuk Model Club 1/72 Airfix 'Hawks'

Been a while since I did a featured work post but this one has particular relevance to my main current project - the Airfix 1/72 Curtiss Hawk (in Tomahawk IIA guise). I have been following the excellent 'MakingModelsAgain' YouTube channel (highly recommended) and was very excited to find that he was involved with a club build of the Airfix Hawk.

Well, his club - who are obviously far more committed modellers than I am - finished their group project and a video of the results has been duly posted...

A little depressing as they ALL put my meagre effects to shame (even though mine is not fully completed yet) and they all show some wonderfully creative weathering effects for this aircraft.

Still, has given me some ideas! :)

Featured work - Zvezda's new 1/72 IS-2 tank

Zvezda's new 1/72 IS-2, made and painted by Denis Kurov.

I do like Soviet heavy armour - though I can't say exactly why (maybe it's because there's something malevolent, course and almost robotic about them, like they are an alien iron species). Anyhoo, flights of fantasy aside, they are superbly monstrous mountains of metal.

Zvezda is gaining a really impressive reputation for display quality kits - I bought their T-34 and it was very nice indeed, if a little expensive - and this series of publicity photos really does show off their IS-2 very well. It was made by Denis Kurov.

Link to Zvezda website (English): www.zvezda.org.ru

Link to Zvezda on Facebook

Featured work - 1/72 M60 Bulldozer

It's been a while since I did a featured work post, perhaps because I'm starting to look for particular effects that impress me rather than simply going 'oh, that's a pretty kit' which I was apt to do when I started blogging (not that there's anything wrong with that and I will still do that occasionally I'm sure).

Picture source: Miniafv.blogspot.co.uk - Modeller: Murad Özer

Anyway, what caught my eye about this model - from over at the terrific Miniafv blog - was how Murad Özer (the modeller) captured the bare, exposed and slightly rusty metal of the dozer blade. It's superb and I really hope to be able to practise this effect myself at some point (I have a theory that every AFV modeller will inevitably try a 'burnt out' rusty wreck diorama at some point).

I'm somewhat in awe of this model and - aside from the dozer blade - it's nice to see the American M60 modelled as I feel it's a somewhat overlooked Cold War tank.

Link to full post on the MiniAFV blog: Revell 1/72 M60 A3 & M9 Bulldozer Kit (by Murad Özer)

1/300 Aircraft - Featured work

As I'm new to this 'micro-scale' modelling stuff I thought it a good idea to look around and see if I can find good examples of what can be achieved in this scale so I have a 'bar' to aspire to. It didn't take me long to find some excellently painted 1/300 aircraft models and to realise that I have a lot to learn about painting in this tiny scale!

Featured 1/300 aircraft 1 - 'Matchstick Fleet' by Phil Warren

Incredibly all these planes have been scratch-build out of carved
matchsticks and painted by Phil.

Phil Warren's work is an extreme example of what's possible, but here's another example that's done using commercially available models...

Featured 1/300 aircraft 2 - 'Fitzkrieg!' by Fitz

Yikes! Well, this is a very high bar indeed with some superb painting - and they are even doing the aircraft markings and identification lettering as well!

I'm not sure I am up to that but we'll see how my LAGG-3 turns out in comparison - oh my poor eyes!

Links to featured work:
> 'Matchstick Fleet' by Phil Warren
> 'Fitzkrieg!' by Fitz

Featured work - WWII British Para

I'm afraid I haven't been able to discover the name of the young lady who does this awesome painting tutorial but I just had to feature this. Here she is painting a figure from the popular Bolt Action 28mm British Para range...

Quite apart from her impressive painting talent she is also obviously knowledgeable in military uniform history as she correctly identifies - and uses the correct terminology - for WW2 British equipment that a lot of Americans are not normally familiar with.

My only criticism - aside from the bayonet issue which she mentions - is that she falls into the trap of making the 'Red Beret' too bright (it should be maroon). But - as I am discovering about painting for tabletop war games - this may be exaggeration for effect (but I'd still prefer it a tad darker).

Incidentally, I have been looking at 28mm Bolt Action - mulling over whether I fancy having a go at a small army in the larger 'intended' scale - and I was impressed by their 'Polish Airborne' range (same British uniform as the Para featured in the video but with Polish berets).

Anyhoo...Very nice tips and some stuff which reinforces what I am starting to learn myself. Excellent stuff.

Featured work - Dave Reasoner's Finnish Lahti L-39 rifle

With the vehicles side for my Finnish project starting to gain some momentum it is time that I started to put some more thought to the infantry element of my army. Key to this will be incorporating some of the unique weapons that the Finns deployed and there can be few as 'unique' as the Lahti L-39!

Picture source: Wikipeadia

I've been having some discussions on several model and wargame forums about how I might construct my little troops - given there are no 1/72 Finns in late war summer uniforms on the market. And while having these conversations David Reasoner - of Moonlite Modelwerkes fame no less - posted up some lovely images of his Finnish force and an excellent scratch build Lahti L-39!

Picture source: David Reasoner - more examples >here<

This 20mm elephant gun was used in counter-sniping as well as a light anti-armour weapon. The Finns were noted snipers and used this beast against bunkers, Soviet snipers and even against tank crews - sniping them through hatches and viewing ports.

I have to have a couple of these in my army - though I do not think that the Rapid Fire! rules on which I am basing my army incorporates any special guidelines for it's deployment or use.

Luckily there are plenty of reference photos and diagrams of this gun as well as several videos (very useful for gauging scale). Making a couple shouldn't be too much of a problem, I just hope I can make as good a job of mine as Dave has made of his!

Featured work - Mr. Dyzio's Berlin diorama

I seldom get a chance to feature a piece of work that is so relevant to a project that I am working on as - here - with Mr. Dyzio's 'city scene'. Mr Dyzio very kindly offered me so very useful advice about my own 'Battle of Berlin' vignette, but his own examples speak volumes about just how to go about tackling such a scenario...

Mr Dyzio's attention to detail is fantastic

Interestingly, the section of his scene that put's my novice efforts most to shame is the area of my back-drop which I knew from the start that I was skimping on with regards to planning and detail - the street.

You may remember, if you have had the endurance to have followed the progress of my project, that I mentioned how this first diorama was just an experiment with techniques and I wasn't going to get caught up with the fine detailing. Unfortunately it is exactly this attention to detail - the type of cobbles used, the manhole covers and drain gratings and the tram lines - that marks the level of quality between myself and an expert modeller like Mr Dyzio.

I'm being self-deprecating or negative when I say that, we are just at different stages in our modelling careers so it's actually interesting to compare how we both tackled a similar subject. It's very useful for me to acknowledge how I could have 'done things better' and have such a good example of how I might have improved my diorama - I will take these lessons forward to my next project.

Mr Dyzio'z completed 'Mouse' vignette - wonderful!

So, many thanks to Mr Dyzio for the constructive assistance, it is very gratefully received. Please do check out his completed 'Cat & Mouse' diorama over at his blog: Dyzio Scale Models - 1/72 MAUS Dragon - Completed

Featured work - 'Colditz Cock' by S. Bathy

I just had to feature this model as it's such a novel theme. The Colditz Cock was the glider built in secret by the British POWs held in Colditz Castle during WW2...

Click to enlarge

Another wonderful model by S. Bathy who's work I watch on Flickr.

You can read about the history of this fabulous glider on Wikipedia: Colditz Cock

Even the Germans must have admired this ambitious escape attempt!

Featured work - Erhan's WoT Hertzer

Now I have mentioned World of Tanks and World of Warplanes recently on Kitnoob as sources of inspiration for kit (in fact watch out for my ISU-152 project with regards to this) and as it happens I found a perfect representation of how this might work over at the MiniAFV blog.

Erhan has featured a wonderful facsimile by Cenker Olur of his in-game Hertzer tank destroyer in 1/72...

MiniAFV Blog

Featured work - Mr Dyzio's Polish Stug

This 1/72 Revell build by Dyzio is a topper! I like the Stug for some reason (I've been playing it a lot in 'World of Tanks' recently) and it has a bearing on my current project as the Finns made very good use of them during the Continuation War (25 June 1941 – 19 September 1944).

Anyway, this is a very fine build...

This is kind of funny really as this is the second example of the Stug in Allied use that I've seen over the past few days - the first being an interesting example of an American Stug - and it does illustrate what a handy little thing this tank was, even by the later stages of the war.

You can see more wonderful photos of this lovely diorama here: Dyzio Scale Models - 1/72 StuG 40 Ausf.G - T-3 (75mm) Polish Army - Revell - Completed

Featured work - Neil Lyall's Gaz 42 & 120mm mortor

Military Wheels Kit 7250 GAZ-42 Truck & 120mm Mortar.

Photography is a wonderful thing, with good photography you can make a mediocre model look good, or with bad photography you can make a good model look mediocre. Neither my model making or my photography is anything to shout about so I really appreciate it when I see a nicely presented diorama.

Neil Lyall - over at the Braillebuilder blog - made a wonderful Gaz 42 truck in 1/72 scale along with an accompanying 120mm mortar. He has done minimal panel lining or highlighting on his models preferring a ultra realistic look helped out by some excellent photography...

I did a double take - the natural lighting helps the realistic effect and his subtle 'dust' layer gives it that weathered look without going over the top.

Neil choses some really nice scenics to create his dioramas and his train sequence is very well put together. And again you have to look twice to realize that it is indeed a scale model.

See more over at the the BrailleBulder blog.

Featured work - Early War Miniatures

Of course I usually feature the work of other modellers, but let's take a moment to appreciate the modelling done at the model makers end of things. I was particularly charmed by the 20mm figures and vehicles made by Early War Miniatures.

Belgian FN Tri-car, can be used as gun carrier

What I like is the range of models and figures for the smaller nations. 'Why?' I hear you say: 'They got trounced by the Germans!' Well, yes aside from 'what if?" scenarios the real history of the early war performance of nations like much-maligned France and particularly Holland was not in fact as bad as we commonly believe today. The Dutch especially gave the Germans a bit of a bloody nose for their size.

Dutch 75mm NM10 Krupp Siderius field gun and 6 crew men

I am a big fan of the underdog - hence my interest in the Finns - and it is often a cause of wonder 'what if?' other smaller armies (or larger armies like the French and Poles) had been organised, deployed or utilised in slightly more flexible and modern ways. It was - after all - the 'new' tactics used by the Germans as much as their equipment that won them their stunning victories. Or at least that's how I perceive things.

I especially feel sorry for the French who did make the Germans pay a price for taking their country...But anyway, back to the point...

Belgian SA FRC 47mm AT gun & crew

EWM make a lovely selection of models from:


French Army 1939 to 1943
British Empire 1930 till 1943
Dutch Army of 1940
Belgian Army of 1940
Norwegian Army of 1940
Polish Army of 1939
German Army Early War 1938 1942
Italian Army 1936 till 1943
Japanese Imperial Army
Other nations & export arms
Greek Army 1938 till 1941

(Thanks to Eastern Funker's 'Panzerfaust: Armoured Fist' blog for bringing this to my attention.)

If I *ever* finish my Finnish 1/72 army I would like to have a go at a 20mm Dutch or Belgian army from this period, and I would be happy to start with the work of Early War Miniatures.

Link: http://earlywarminiatures.com/ 

Featured work - Squad Painter's GAZ AAA paint job

Usually I feature finished work, but I couldn't resist this work in progress by Squad Painter and his airbrush technique for Braille Scale models. Additionally his subject is a really nice looking Soviet Gaz AAA truck by UM...

He starts with a black undercoat and then builds up increasingly lighter layers of greens. It has a nice depth to it which I would like to try when I get my new work area and mt airbrush up and running.

Link: The Squad Painter Blog - UM Models GAZ-AAA - Airbrushed!

Featured work - Florin David's mobile FLAK 43

Sometimes I think that I shouldn't look at other peoples' work. Today is one of those days. You know it's going to depress you when you start out by thinking 'that's a nice 1/35th model' and then - with horror - you realize it's a 1/72 model!

Simply beautiful.

If you have a masochistic streak you can go and see more of Florin's wonderful SPAA project here: Braille Scale Enthusiast - sWS with 3.7cm FlaK43

Featured work - Panzerguy's Finnish BA-20

No prizes for the reason that I'm featuring this particular model! And although this is a 1/35 scale version of a vehicle I'm making next myself it's very interesting for me to look at how the painting has been handled. Panzerguy's has taken a series of very nice photos that give me some useful reference...

The BA-20 reminds me a little of the contemporary British Rolls Royce armoured car, although while the Roller was deemed obsolete early in World War 2 the Finns continued to use the BA-20 well into 1944.

You can see more of Panzerguy's lovely model here: Finnish Army Ba 20 Armored Car 1/35 Alan kit.

Featured work - Darkbirk's KV-1

Wonderful Trumpeter KV-1 over at the 'Are We Not Men?' blog. By complete co-incidence I was at the point of buying this model yesterday for my Finnish army's heavy tank company, but at the last minute purchased something else...Now I'm kicking myself, the KV-1 is such a terrific looking beast.

As usual Darkbirk has done a lovely little photo vignette of this tank - the flamethrower version - tackling an enemy bunker (which is similarly excellent). There are more photos of this little diorama here: AWNM? - The guild - build up 2012 (9)

Featured work - Paul's Super Tweet

I love ground attack aircraft, I always have, and one day I will no doubt start a project based on my favourites. So I was really excited when Paul over at the Plastic Warriors blog posted up his Cessna A-37 Dragonfly build...

What I especially like about Paul's Dragonfly is his chipping. Weathering an aircraft model is something that has only recently occurred to me (during my 1/144 Me 109 build) as when I was a kid I always built and painted my aircraft kits pristine, without even panel lining.

The other thing about Paul's project that interested me was it reminded me of my old infatuation with the Vietnam air war. When I was young I built an Airfix AC 47 Gunship - or 'Spooky' - and I always wanted to have a go at my favourite aircraft of this conflict, the Douglas A-1 Skyraider.

Anyway, lovely model and a really nice paint job.

You can see more on Paul's blog: A-37 'Super Tweet' Complete

Featured work - 15mm USS Covington

I'm a bit of a Steampunk fan, and it's something I want to explore with models when I get a bit more proficient, so I was really impressed with this beautiful model of this steam gunboat in 15mm scale...

This was featured in - rather aptly - the Society of Gentleman Gamers forum and was crafted by Malc Taylor of the Grimsby War Game Society.

I would love to do something like this - maybe a British colonial gun boat - and you can see more photos of this amazing build here: Society of Gentleman Gamers Projects - USS Covington in 15mm