Hotchkiss H39 – Help friends

A much-read story of a French armored vehicle detached from its formation to cover a withdrawal or rescue a group of infantry in battles of 40. A bad use of course, but we don’t leave our friends in trouble.
The Hotchkiss is an Ironside kit in incomplete German version. 90% of the kit is the Heller base which remains quite good although not always super fine (tools and fixings) and Ironside/Azymut just put metal tracks per link and resin toothed wheels. On the kit, I just added bolts to the rear and a trunnion system on each side of the barrel. I had a lot of trouble installing the tracks because their width does not fit the Heller kit and I have to cut certain pieces and do a lot of blank testing.
The kit is painted in XF68 and a mix of XF58+grey and the markings are a bit invented based on leftover decals.
The figurines are an old Azimut reference mounted without modification except for the Hotchkiss machine gun whose exact origin I do not know. The uniforms are painted in Canvas vallejo…
The dio that I wanted to be a little dynamic in its orientation is an insulating base. The stairs and the wall from blue styrene cut with hot wire. The whole thing is painted and then loaded with rubble made from pieces of broken plaster, tile joint powder, and 3D elements. The floor lamp is a Miniart reference.

Mine clearance operation – IDF Puma

I did not assemble the model since it is a project to repeat a kit already assembled and painted for a friend. I just had to make a dio. I took the liberty of adding a lick of paint after pre-shading. I used the Sinaï Gray color from Mig and I brushed over the details, including the glass parts which had not stood up well to certain stages, including stripping the original paint.
The dio is a simple plate of insulation on which I stuck earth, rubble mixing plaster, painted insulation and different layers of powder plaster, tile joint, pigments, juices, brushing and some 3D printed elements in a fairly random and improvised order.
I wanted to give dynamism to the dio with an explosion. I found LEDs and a battery box in a small electronic component store during my vacation, I soldered the elements, dug cable passages and for the ignition box, I glued foam / polyurethane fiber air-painted in yellow and black for smoke and added pieces of plaster maintained to imitate projections. The rendering can still be improved and the LED is almost invisible in the end but it was a first attempt on my part on this type of staging

Olympic Auf1

Auf1 at the Winter Olympics
The Hobby Boss Auf1 is correct and has no assembly defects. Its interior detail is very limited because only the storage of the shells is present and it is very basic. For the color, I stuck with the Tamiya references XF68, 69 and 67 but I cut the green with a slightly flashier reference. The dirt is with pigments and I realize that in the photos I could have used more.
The figs are from BLast and KMT without modification. They are very nice to paint and well proportioned.
The dio is an insulating board covered with plaster and flocking. The Winter Olympics building, the podium and the paving stones are made from pieces of insulation and foam board, the inscriptions are homemade decals and the projectors are 3D prints.

Liban 82

A little trip to the 80s with an IDF Sho’t Kal in Lebanon.
The AFV Sho’t kal model is a decent kit. The level of detail is good, the quantity of parts manageable and not excessive, but I am always disappointed with AFV because the adjustments are bad and you have to use tinkering to make it work. In this kit, I had trouble with the left wing, the wheel protection plates and the turret insertion without really knowing why. Some parts do not fit well and remain fragile. The paint is IDF Sinaï gray 82 ref 71142 from Vallejo and the finish is quite nice.
The figurines are from Italeri, ADV, Verlinden for the infantry with some head, weapon and posture adaptations and Walkiri for the crew. The crew is really good in terms of quality, finesse and adaptation to the tank. The infantry is more delicate but the availability of IDF figs from this period is limited. The Italeri/dragon figs are frankly of low quality. The poses are crude and, aside from the faces, the finesse is poor. The ADV fig is prettier and finer but the face is ugly and twisted. The fig verlinden is of good quality despite a somewhat rigid posture. They are painted in Vallejo 881 (Yellow green) for the uniform after trying lots of colors and mixes.
The dio is homemade with the road in…, a house made of featherboard, some personal 3D prints for the furniture and decorative elements, a resin pylon whose origin I don’t know and miniart electrical wiring.

Reich tourisme

The Dragon JS2 is a basic model without interior details and which has no defects and is assembled without surprises and quite quickly. The link tracks are always a little tricky to assemble because they have to be glued and I had a bit of trouble painting the white stripes because masking on rounded surfaces is complicated. The Wagon Dragon is of the same order, the difficulty was to cut it cleanly and make it fit but it is easy to assemble. The Das Werkt anti-aircraft gun is also easy and quick to assemble except for the alignment of the tubes and muzzle brakes. The different colorings are classic, pre-shading, washing, brushing, chipping and dusting with pigment and brick dust.

The figurines come from dragons for the Germans, from Tamiya, Stalingrad and D-Day for the Russians. Given the quantity of figures to paint, I didn’t have fun modifying them too much.

The real challenge is the dio which combines a factory base found on the internet and modified including the door, the roof and part of the wall that I mixed with scratched and engraved elements based on feather board, insulating foam , evergreen, Swiss petis pots, real brick rubble, elements of the rabiot box. Once painted, we sprinkle pigments, brick dust and plaster to thoroughly dirty and homogenize the atmosphere.

Romania Tank

The Bronco model is complicated, the assembly generally precise and made difficult by the number of parts and their small size and instructions that are not always very clear on the exact position. It’s quite delicate in this type of assembly where the slightest error shifts the whole thing. I admit that I have sometimes deliberately omitted or removed invisible parts to ensure the alignment of larger elements. This was particularly the case for the final bonding of the mudguards and the turret support part. However, Bonco remains a brand that challenges the editor, which remains well detailed and with a little know-how produces beautiful models. It is painted in XF58 and the decals come from a star decals board. The installation of the tracks by link was complicated because the links which clip are not always good and they unclip during installation. Fortunately there are too many links and the defective ones can easily be replaced. The smart guy will notice that I did not put the same number of links on each side, the installation of the tracks having been delicate, I lost my count a little…

No hassle for the dio, a piece of quickly cut insulation, 3 branches of thyme, tufts of dry grass and a layer of baking soda.

The figurines from D-Day are very nice, assembled without modification and painted trying to respect the photos of the uniforms more than the illustration of the boxes. The Romanian uniform is neither green nor khaki but frankly brown. I cobbled together a tank commander based on a German fig in a jacket, putty, new arms, 3D hands and an ICM head I think.

Tank carrier Bernard truck

The Bernard tank truck is a Blitz reference in resin. There is little molding residue and appreciable mounting lugs and marks for such a large part. There is a large core at the level of the roof of the cabin which is difficult to remove and damages the area and cores at the level of each wheel which are sanded and which will be hidden because they are in contact with the ground. A large carrot along the plateau did not cause any problems. There are casting defects on certain wheels and especially on the openings (windows and doors) of the cabin which need to be sanded and corrected. The big hiccup is the molding of two elements on the roof of the cabin whose origin I do not know and for which I have not found a photo for correction. The wheels and hubcap remain a little deformed and require attention for adjustments and you even have to perforate them to insert them. I replaced the wheel mounting posts in the kit with stronger metal paper clip posts.

Assembly is done without difficulty or fault and is ultimately quite quick despite the size of the kit. It took a few corrections as follows: shorten 12 of the 20 parts No. 50 in 3D printing which are installed under the plate, remove central bolts on parts No. 1 and 2 to install the Slat No. 8 shock absorbers, drill into parts No. 30 (rear wheel support) to insert supports 25 and 10 and move the positioning of part No. 24 to align it with uprights No. 67 of the plate. I worked in 3 sub-assemblies: Chassis, Platform and Cabin/Hood with an additional 1 sub-assembly for the interior, I painted the sub-assemblies separately and only permanently glued them at the end. The paint is in XF28 and XF5 on a fairly simple black and white base. I poured resin into the headlights and used the board for the registration, taking inspiration from the number taken from a magazine.

The ICM FCM 36 was mounted directly from the box and I found it not bad and pleasant to assemble. I just changed the channel. It is painted in XF68, 57, 58, 76 and light blue according to a scheme taken from GBM. The motorcycle is a 3D print of only two parts and which mainly requires time to dismantle and ultimately serves as a decorative element. It is painted with the green reference LPM 1011 from “Petit Matos”. 6 figurines accompany the truck, a biker, 2 crew members, a mechanic, a DIY driver and a civilian. There is blitz, nemrod, ICM and east-model.

The building is from Diodump and the large resin parts require a bit of work to be adjusted because they are slightly deformed and you have to put them in boiling water and sand to adjust everything. The building remains very beautiful and bucolic. The diorama is cut from insulation. The wall is made with broken pieces of plaster.

Djebel sécurité patrol

The EBR 11 comes from Hobby boss and I apologize if it is not the version used in Algeria, I am not an expert in this period, I had the details during assembly. It assembles without difficulty and a small detailing or version correction set would have been welcome. Hobby boss made some mistak which are explained on the site http://olivier.carneau.free.fr/ and I corrected a few points. My only concern was the installation of certain photoetched elements. The vehicle is painted in XF58 with some touch-ups with a lighter green.

The figurines are of 3 origins: a bravo 6 figurine with a new blitz head, a MAS Heller rifle and a puty chèche, a US metal fig in Vietnam of unknown origin in metal with a new blitz head, a chèche, arms different, a MAT49 Heller and a 3D radio and finally an unmodified figurine of the Legion 2 REI in metal (re-released from Nemrod) I then added a MAT49 in 3D and a DIY bag.

The dio is based on a piece of insulation. The floor is made with real pebble cat litter from my vacation. It’s painted by instinct and I glued commercial vegetation elements.

80ies gun on wheels

This is a command of a old soldier, friend of mine and it’s a Meng AMX30B at the end of the eighties. Kit is pretty nice with no default built directly from the box. Just tracks are delicate to build. Color is XF69, XF68 and XF67 mixed with XF5 for a french flashy green. Figurines from blast and KMt are painted with vallejo 823, 967 and 979. Building is home made with isolating and plastic parts. Roads and vegetation are commercial products arranged and re-paint. Sign and pound are miniart references.

No retreat spirit

June 1940 an old and little Renault ACG1 tank tried to slow down German troops between Seine and Loire with no retreat spirit.

ACG 1 was a Renault try to carry tank for French cavalry in 1935 but production problems, insufficient armor and weapons despite an interesting 2 seat turret made it less performante in front of other tanks. It was no longer used in may 1940 but reused in june…The Resin ACG1 kit is from Azymut and really pleasant to build with a motor, an interior and separated metal track. I just add part of the turret interior details and move boogies from a couple mm to align them with the tracks. Paint is XF 10 – XF 68 – XF 71 – X16/XF4 – XF58 – Mig 0062.
75 mm gun, is a poor kit from TOM, very basic and only used as a decor building.
Sdkfz is a kit from Dragon, complete and quite hard to build because of little pieces and PE parts. Notice is sometimes strange and wrong.
Figurines are from Tamiya and Dragon with some adaptation to enter in the Sdkfz. Sorry if some uniforms are maybe wrong.
Diorama is home made with crystal resin, commercial vegetation and road coated, Blitz, Heller and Deskit equipment, scratch building.

Autocanon Peugeot – Grandpa’s car

This is a ww1 Peugeot “Auto-canon” from Blitz kit. The kit is a mix of resin an 3D print with 40 pieces. The two resin pieces are the same quality as usual for this company with no mold and building problem. 3D pieces are new for me. They were good prints and look stronger than resin. I had to change wheels with the manufacturer and I had to used dremel on all 3D part to erase a kind of streak left by 3D print process. This was a long job. Building was not really hard for an experienced builder, this is not a beginner kit. Paint is a mix of XF19 and XF82 added with blue X14. Figurines from Blitz, Tank and Nemrod had no change except some heads. I used a vallejo 943 as the color base and I added vallejo 965 and/or 904 for having different kinds of blue and different worn aspects on clothes. Building is a really bad market product that needs a lot of work to be corrected. Ground is natural dry earth, base is isolating foam, vegetation a mix of homemade and market products.

BARKHANE

All both kit are built from the box and painted with XF67, XF68 and XF69. AMX from Tiger is a nice kit not really easy but complex, attractive and without default. VBL from Hobby bos is a middle quality model, retail level is low, adjustment perfectable and it made it hard to build and fragile. I used pigment and aerographe for dirt. Figurines are from Blast model and Valkyrie. They are painted with Vallejo 876 or 819, 880 and Mig 0069. I home made Famas French gun with 3D print. Diorama in made with plaster, sand and liter. Vegetation are dry grass flocage for train and from mininatur. Trees are made with zeechium reinforced with metal string and putty, sheet are grass or special flocage.

Lancia 1ZM – Spain 1938

This is a one of the 8 Italian Lancia 1ZM from CTV (Corpo Truppe Volontare) during the Spanish Civil war. The kit from Copper State model is pretty cool but not easy. Instructions are really clear, number of pieces within reason and detailing nice. But there are still mouldeds defaults and some assemblies are not perfect. Paint scheme is from a Spanish book done with XF59, H64 and XF71 with aerograph and Vallejo 979 and Mig 0139 with pencil to correct lots of masking problems I had. Figurine from Model Victoria and Alarmi are just perfect. Uniforms are Vallejo 888 and mix 965/943 for the blue. Diorama is home made with balsa, isolating polystyrene, plaster, 3D pieces and different object from my own excess pieces stock.

Strange goat

This vehicle was developed by the US army for Vietnam and Asian operations but never used for this war. This is a transportation and amphibian vehicle with a very special articulation for the trailer that gives it facilities for driving on rough terrain. Tamiya kit is really clean and easy to build in only a couple of hours. MERC camouflage was made with … Figurines are the tamiya box original driver and a vietnam war soldier from bravo6 with new arms, 3D print new helmet and M16 gun. Uniform is vallejo 877, Mig 0061 and prince August 895. Diorama is home made with isolating pieces, Epodex bicomponent resin and natural or commercial plants. Epodex resin is colored with some XF 59 and acrylic gel are used for tightness guarantee.

Berlin 45

This is a Berlin fight diorama with Zvezda T-34 kit and Dragons figurines.

The Zvezda kit is clearly bad with poor plastic quality, twisted pieces, and very basic details. I changed vinyl tracks by individual Dragon tracks to make them easier to modify for a wreck tank. Paint is Vallejo 71017 on black/white effect.

Figurines are from dragon with no modification because they clearly do the job for the staging. Paints are Vallejo 830, 823, 988, 892 and 981 for uniforms.

Building and diorama are personal work with isolating polystyrene, cupboard, balsa and platers.

Hungarian dance

Tiger II kit from Hobby boss is pretty clean to build with no default except track which are the wrong version and had been replaced by tamiya tracks. Schwimmwagen et Sdkfz from Tamiya are clean and easy to build. sdkfz is not the best version compared to the end of war and the kit starts to be old compared to the actuel kit. The Colors are XF60, XF67 and XF68 with white camouflage. Figurines are a mix from several origin with a couple of modifications. Diorama is made with dirt, acrylic gel, flocage and white paint. Building is home made with balsa foam.

Amphibious walk

Here is the LARC amphibious truck from Gecko Model. It’s a complete and good kit with a very well done instruction book. It’s not a kit for beginners because there are a lot of pieces and PE but it’s precise without any building problem Just a couple of mistakes on instructions for seats and machine gun. I started building the cabine to quickly include figurines and closed it. Figurines are from Bravo 6. There are some decals for detailing the driving cabine. I think I paint it in XF19 but I’m not sure.
Diorama is a round base of isolating polystyrene, ground is made with sand covered by acrylic gel. Rock is a piece of wood dried by an oven, covered by glue to make it waterproof and paint. I built a formwork and flowed 6 or 8 water resins colorized with a little bite of blue crystal color. It works pretty well but i had bubbles, resin waste because it was an old pot and some default after taking off the formwork. I had to sand contour to make it better.

Persian sun

Here is a TAKOM Chieftain during war between Iran and Iraq that I build for a “desert” challenge on a french scale model forum.
Takom kit is really nice with no default or surprise and no absurd over detailing. Kit is good for all kind of modelers. The only problem I had was to manage the connection between pieces and cluster , because it’s so thick and it can damage the piece when cutting. I recommend to saw those jonction. There is a couple of bonding joint hard to make disappear.
I start building and painting wheels and tracks before protecting them and build the rest of the kit. Paint is a mix of XF55 and XF57.
Figurines are miniart reference. They need work to clean plastic and to be adapted to the tank. I forgot the color I had used.
Building is a home made construction with insulating. I was inspired by real photo of persian palaces and mosques. Islamic tile are home made decals. sculpture are made with greenstuff roll on Fimo paste or feather board. Road is made with commercial coated from AK , ground and rubble are AK sand coated with painted sand, litter and plaster pieces.

US AND SNOW

This diorama shows a very classical US team during buggle battle. I used basic Tamiya jeep and add resin chained-wheels. Sherman is directly from the AZUKA box and was really nice to build but not for beginners. This kit is precise, complete with just enough complexity. Motorbike, from Miniart was a hell to build, too many littles pieces and hard photo-edge parts. They are all painted with olive drab tamiya XF62 or Mig 0926 with a white camouflage on the sherman and covered with pigments for the budd.

Figurines are from differents origin and nd have not been modified. Paint are …

Diorama is a piece of isolating polystyren cover with real dirt and dry coffee for the mudd, natrium bi carbonate for the snow and crytal resin for the ice. Snow is complete on the road and on the kit woith a special snow product from an unknow product. Building is home made with balsa, plastic, molded parts and foam board.

This is a M11/39 tank lost in the Egyptian desert during Italian offensif over English in 1940. Kit from Brach is really good, piece’s preparation is reduced, and assembly is easy with no mistakes. Individual tracks are good despite some jonction staying brittle. Only piece… show 3 moulte defaut that need to be corrected. Paint is XF60 and mix XF67/26 with classical drybrush, spalling with vallejo 847 and 822 and dusting.
Figurines from Allarmi and Royal Model don’t need any modification and are really gret quality. Uniforme is Vallejo 965/943 for blue et 977 or … or a mix for sand color closes.
Diorama is an isolating piece, sand is a commercial product from AK used with or without water and paint with XF59 after a black and white effect

Rescue from battle

This is resin kit From Deskit of a French Renault TRC 36 (Tank Refueling Tractor) rescue wounded soldiers in may 1940. Kit is pretty good without modification from myself. I first built inside to place the driver with new steering levers. Tracks are done by section and are not hard to manage with boiling water and a hair dryer as soon as you fix the first section on the biggest wheels. You just have to cut the last section that’s touching the ground. Trailer is from bronco. Peint is XF58.
Figurines were the biggest work of this project. Driver is an ADVM resin Lorraine 37L crew with curved legs and modified arms. In the back there is a verlinden tank crew, a French motorized Dragon from ADVM Lorraine 37L crew with a new wounded hornet head and a Blitz Zouave with a new head and wounded arm. In a trailer there is a senegalese soldier made with modified Japanese figurine and hornet head and a scratch wounded man lying down under a blanket made with an aluminum piece.
Diorama is made with insulating polystyrene, with acrylic asphalt product for the road which did a really nice effect, classical vegetation, verlinden Chapel, paint, pigment and dust.

Crossing Mass Belgium.may 1940

Here are elements of the 7st panzer division crossing the Mass river around the village of Houx in Belgium in may 1940 inspired by this photo.
Barges and pontoons are all scratch made using an internet tutorial from Diether Ezel. I spent several months building them because it was my first real strong scratch experience and had to adapt the building compared to the evergreen references I can get and missing part of the tutorial. I had a real problem of final fixing color and waterproof because of the quality of plastic and glue in the time but the result look good enough for me.
Kit of the 15 cm sIG 33 auf Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf B is from Dragon with usual quality and building level and too many pieces. Tracks are separated pieces and are always boring to build. But global building and results are good.
Horch 15 is an easy, basic and cheap italeri kit. I only scratch the hood. A lot of sets, weapons and equipment are added to furnish vehicules.
Sturmboat is a Dragon’s kit too with the figurines, very easy to build. All boats and vehicles are painted with Tamiya XF63.
Figurines are from several origins and all from my rest-box with some new heads or arms to adapt them to the staging.
Diorama was the harder part of this project because I missed it a couple of times and tried new techniques that finally didn’t work. I used a 50×40 cm insulating polystyrene, I dig on it the boat and barges site on 1cm deep and paint it un XF49. Then I built a formwork to sink 4mm of colored inclusion resine. Waves are made with acrylique gel at the end.

Scratch build tutorial is https://miniscaping.com/guide/28/pic/view

AMR 33 – 2d RDP – Belgium 1940

This is an french Renault AMR 33 from 2sd RDP in Belgium in may 1940. Kit is resin from Blitz without any mould defect, pretty simple to build because there is not a lot of pieces and some parts are mould in bloc. pieces are pretty clean and doesn’t ask a lot of preparation.
The real problem are the tracks because there are bad mould and it’s always delicate to fold them. I used hot water and had to cut some tracks part and partially glue them on the wheels.. Otherwise alignment of wheels has to be done carefully and sometimes corrected : cut some tooth on the cogwheel, change the support of return wheels and add a part on the central bogie.
Paint is XF 68, XF71, XF60 and XF58 with a strong work of masking and inspired from a magasine. Decals are from Peddinhouse.
Figurines are from Blitz kit and Deskit. the diorama is competellyhome made, even the trunk that is sculpted in putty.

Morris CS9 from 12th Lancier – 1940

this is the British Morris CS9 from the 12th lancier with the BEF somewhere in France in 1940. This vehicle is a commercial C9 truck with Bren and Antitank Boys rifles.
The kit is resin from Resicats with a detailed interior and really nice PE. Cleaning and preparing pieces is pretty easy but the note is sometimes mysterious.
Building is not hard if you take time and try. The only delicate part is building, aligning the block of principal pieces : floor B10, hood A3, cockpit A2 and lateral and behind pieces A5, A7, A13 and A14. All this part must be made with effort, precaution and peace. Rest of the building has to be glued on this block.
Pieces “O”, “P”, “Q” et “R” are not indicated on the grappe and there is a photo at the end of the note to understand how to fix them, because it’s a big mystery . Piece XX must be piece 29.I replace Bren and the Antichar Boy rifle with a plastic version from my stock because they look fragile.
Paint is Dark green 4 (mix 3/2 of XF62 and XF59 with some Gunze H65) and Khaki green 3 (mix 3/2 XF61 and XF58).
Figurines are Miniart with hornet head paint with Vallejo 921.
Diorama is home made with Miniart, resin and Tamiya stuff, balsa, foam and Green stuff roof.

Frensh M10 – road to Rome – Italy 1944

This is a frensh M10 from 7th dragon scadron during fight in Italy in 1944.
M10 is AFV kit really nice to build with metal gun, good details and not too much pieces. Tracks are to short and it’s really hard to fix them. Paint is olive drab. Equipment are from miniart and resin stuff.
Steyr is from Tamiya, really nice kit too. I work for increased detailing, created destroyed elements and engine, replace class, modified sit and roof parts. Paint is F59/60, XF65 et XF68.
Figurines are Mk35 resin FrenCh Goumier with new head because I loose the first one. Tank crew are verlinden and dragon figurines with new hornet and Alpines heads.
Diorama is all home made with plaster, balsa, resin, plastic scratch build and miniart elements.

enjoy picture

THUIS back to belgium sept 44

This diorama is showing Belgium brigade Piron back in Belgium on 4th septembre 1944 by Rongy Village. I live in the region and it’s a local historical event with commemoration every year.
Daimler in Accured Armour resin kit with no problem for building except notice understanding. It was painted in Mig 0926 and Tamiya XF51. Decals are from DACO. Moto Triumph is Bronco kit and was hard to build because of a lot of very little pieces. It was painted in Mif 0926.
Figurines are a big mix with a lot of modification (heads, hands, arms). I used : Miniart, Prieser, Mk 35, Staligrad and Resicast and they are not the same quality. I can’t remember every color I used, only for warriors who are in Vallejo 9821.
Street, wall and pavement are sculpted and painted plum cardboard, roof is resin product from Greenstuff, windows and doors are balsa and plastic homemade, curtain is woman lingerie.
Enjoy picture

Flying over lybia at your own risk

Hurricane is a kit from FLY and was bad, plastic mould quality and détailling are poor even if there are resin pieces for cockpit and wheels. Building miss of precision, plan are not clear and except decalques nothing was nice and pleasant in this kit. I really don’t recommend it. Paint is XF60 and XF52 and a blue mix. I try to engrave details and I used aluminium pieces to figure impacts.
CWT15 is a British truck re-used and armed with a Breda 20 mm gun by italians. Kit was hard because there is too much pieces, building lacks of references, cutting pieces from the cluster is delicate. I succeeded with a lot of arrangement. Paint is XF59 and XF78 with green spot XF5 with a lot of dusting effect. I used british, german and italian accessories from ICM, Miniart, or resin stuff. flag is made with aluminium, paint and homemade decals.
Motorbike is from Model victoria and was pleasant to build and paint. It’s a really nice anc precis resin kit. Only wheels were pretty hard to manage with photoedge part. Figurine adapts perfectly on it.
Figurines are differents origin (Wolf, Allarmi, Model Victoria) but all in resin and all really nice. Uniforms are vallejo 881,914 or 886, helmet is 819.
Diorama is juste a polystyren piece covert bu plaster , sand and cat litter.

Singapoor Highway

Malaysian jungle 1941, japan infantry crossing a mud river. This staging idea was inspired from an internet picture and I only change thema.
Figurines are MB 03542 and old 1-32 scale airfix. Uniform is Vallejo 821 and 888. I only change arm of the guys in the water.
Set i polystyren piece cover with real dry dirt and tea rest. Vegetation is a mix of natural product : roots, wood stick, lichens, persel and commercial product from JOEFIX, J.S Models, miniatur or green stuff repaint. I mix size, color and kind of product to give bushy and lush tropical forest aspect. water is resin and I had a couple of problem with impermeability work

Poland 1939

Little travel in 1939 with a 7TP tank from Mirage. The kit is bassis and archaic, a few number of piece, low detail, some bad molding and problems when you must cut off pieces from the cluster. But building is really easy with this kind of very basic old kit. Paint are XF57, XF65 and XF68. Tracks are from modelkasten, really better than original tracks but long to build and breakable when you manipulate them.
Figurines are from Wolf, Toromodel, modified tamiya with hornet head and unknow resin tank crew with a modified ICM head and helmet. Uniforms are painted with Vallejo 921 and

AMR35 – Belgium 1940

Here is a diorama about may 40 retirment that I try to do dynamic and dramatic.

AMR-35 is a resin kit from Bltiz that have a couple of default with the wheels size and tracks but I knew it from a magazine and I managed them pretty correctly. I add a machine gun support that I saw on photo of AMR-35 ZT1 version and I’m not sure that it was used on ZT2 version but I did it nevertheless.

Color are XF58 green, mix of XF21 and XF5 for light green, humbrol 124 for grey, Ammo mig 061 for yellow and Ammo mig 064 for brown.

Decals are a home made mix from different origin but I inspired myself with the book of Erik Barbanson about history and battle of 2d and 3rd DLM.

Figurines are from ICM and Heller with a couple of new head, arms and equipment.

Rebel machine gun is in 3D printing from Shapewa, anti-tank gun is an old and basic Heller kit stray from the box.

Diorama is made with polystyrene, plaster, sculpted card board, dry earth and floking.

Accessories are from ICM, Blitz, Miniart and from my stand up box.

Greek adventure

Here is my new diorama in Greece in 1941 with an out or order A10 tank and Greek soldiers. British operation to help Greek army again Italian first then again German when they attack on april 1941 and to protect Suez Canal access was a disaster. Germans were in Athen on 27 th april and a lot of tanks, flys, equipments and prisonniers were abandon by the 58000 men of the British forces.

A10 is a Bronco kit. It’s a realy nice kit a little bit hard to build. There is no interior, pity form this kind of presentation. Paints are mix XF59/XF60 and XF59 with classical dusting and brybrushing effect.

Figurines are ICM out from the box except for one man that I changed arms position. They are pretty nice for plastic mould. Uniform is Canvas Panzer Ace 314.

Diorama is home made with plaster, balsa, balsafoam, plactic and sand.

French way to victory.

FT kit is from MENG and is nearly perfect with complet interior and nice individual tracks. Only problems were the number of pieces and some bad adjustments on the engine who prevent to close the tank. Colors are Mig 060 and 064, Tamiya XF57 and black pen. I used a lot of different pigments texture and color for dusting kit after a classical dry brush.

FP is a resin kit from U-models and was hard to build. I buy it to another guy on internet and I don’t know exactly what he already build or do on the kit. Otherwise mine FP had missing and broken pieces that I correct with plastic, it has some bad moulds part and weels and tracks are hard to build. Instruction manual is pretty poor of explanation. Paint is Mig blue 063 on a black and white effect.

I used Stalingrad figurines without any modification, a modified German resin figurine and modified old Heller figurine for the driver. French blue is a mix of Vallejo 943 and 904 lightning with panzer aces 323 and shadow in black glaze 855 or drak grey 944. I try to changed proportion of color for each figurine to try to have different blue aspect.

Black leather is made with mix of 961 and 994.

Officier pant is Vallejo 909, blazer is 930 and 950.

Diorama is sculpt in polystyrene. Building are sculpted and balsafoam or cardboard. Rubble are plaster, balsafoam and balsa pieces paint and cover by pigment. Railling is in plastic. A lot os elements in resin or from minimart or ICM are used for adding equipments.

Type 94 In China

Here is a Japan Type 94 from fines Models somewhere in China. Kit was pretty clean and nice to build even I was surprise by is very little size. Only tracks are bad because to short. Kit is paint with Tamiya XF49, XF13 and XF59.

Diorama is home made with plastic, balsa, modeling pasta and other common product.

Figurine is from DYNASTY with hornet head because I loose the original head. Paint is panzermodel 320 and skin is a mix of 876 and 927 for asian color.

T13 – Belgian beast

This is a Belgium T13 in may 1940. Rare and original subject for my passion of secondary belligerent.

T13 is a 47mm antitanky gun on a Vickers carden-loyd. There is 3 models, B1, B2 and B3. B1and B2 are nearly the same are improvised editing, B3 version is more an official vehicule. My diorama show a B1, weigth 4.5T, 6 to 12mm of armor, 240km drive and browning or Bar machine gun. 47mm gun, shoot is rearward facing and combat post are a little protected. This vehicule is vulnerable, unreliable and without any radio, but its 47mm gun is one of the best in 1940.

This resin kit is from retrokit, it’s pretty but there is a lot of work for removing the mould excess. Some piece are deformed but molding defect are correctable. Building is clean and quiet precise expect for a couple of pipe in the motor and exhaust. Level of detail really nice but I’ve done bolt out of the vehicule and modified the turret hatch for an open position during the fight. The notice is not always precis and photos are needed to help understand some placement.

I did a very bad first job on building and alignment of wheels with panzer I tracks from MB and I had to rebuild them with news wheels set and panzer friul tracks that look really better.

I used a mix of 2/35 FX62 and 1/3 XF9 add with XF60 for lighten. This Belgian armor mix was advise by a friend ho already work on Belgian AFV.

The T13 crew are from resicast with hornet head, german tamiya figurine with new shoes and resicast head and modified French soldier with hornet head for the driver. All have modified equipment. Infantry soldier and officier are modified ICM 1914 french team with new head, new equipment and putty work. Color are Vallejo 924, 921,884 and 628.

Compact, detailed and efficient were the goals for the decor. It took something of reasonable size to stay consistent with the size of the T13 and I choose typical architecture at the country. The base is made of polystyene, pavers is engraved modeling clay, plaster + wood glue for earth, cardboard for walls, balsa for framing and flooring and diopark resin roof for tiles . I had a hard time adjusting and ainting the walls.

LVT4 – crossing Rhin

Crossing the Rhin

This diorama was a command from a friend who is passionate by amphibious vehicle and I selected to show Rhin crossing operation because I already did a LVT in pacific a couple of years ago.

Italeri kit ask some work because adjustment are not perfect and mastic must be used for a lot of correction. I used a PE set who bring more finesse and detail, I build a new trap avec add equipment. It was pain with Tamiya Olive drab XF74 and XF62. Classical was and drybrush was applied and dust was only used inside. Then I used bathroom mastic for waterproofed he kit

Tamiya jeep was nice, clean and easy to build. I only used a rest of PE from another jeep but it was not really essential. Pain and dust were the same than for the LVT.

Figurines are Miniart, Tamiya, Dragon and Bronco with hornet head pain with Vallejo 888, 873, 821 and 881.

Diorama is a polystyrene plate in a wooden frame, ground is a mix of tile glue and plaster, wall is cardboard.

Then I used crystal resin for the water, acrylic gel for the wave, gloss varnish for wet effect and cotton for foam. I meet a lot of problem with the resin, because of leak, drying and mixing problem and I’ll not explain all problem I had and all step I need to obtain a correct results. The big wave was made with a cellophane formwork hardened with acrylic gel and filled with resin.

M13/40 Bir Hakeim 42

Here is a M13/40 from 132th tank regment of italian army destry in the defensiv area of Bir Hakeim. Little, easy but dynamic diorama.

Kit is the oldest iltaerei from 1973 and was not so bad that I tought. Detailing is enough and building is accurate (more than most recent italeri kit). I add putty bagg on the front and scratch or add equipment in the bagg. Tracks are Model Victoriareally clean and easy to used.

Tank is paint with mix of XF60, XF67 and Mig 136 airbrush sail. Green sports are XF67. Classicals drybrush, lavis, shipping, juices and pigment are used for dusting the kit.

Figurines are MB with some hornet head, frensh equipement and some modification. Quality of those figurine is uneven, some part really fine and detailed, other part really poor. Uniform is paint in Vallejo Kaki 899.

Diorama is a simply mix or plaster, glue and cat litter.

M29C Indochina

Here is a French army diorama in Indochina with a M29C from LZ model.

Kit scared me at the beginning, a lot of pieces, lot of instruction and a lot of PE. But after more serious analyses, it’s look like a complet, good but hard kit … a challenge for me.

Instructions are clean with a lot of photos and only 3 or 4 part by step. PE works fine for those who have experience. Building spent good except for piecesB7 and B8 who are not at the same cut than A1 and need hot water or sanding to be built. The hardest part is all tracks and wheels part, really hard and fragile. This is the hardest and more complex kit I ever build, not for beginners.

For respecting French version of the M29C that we can see on historical photos, I Install a Browning machine gun with homemade support, add antenna and radio, scratch a kind of roof, delete all mudguard and windows.

Paints are mix of XF62 and XF74, decals are not from the kit and provided by a friend.

Figurines are from minimart 35141 with new hats and helmet and arms modifications. Skin is Vallejo 876, shadow in 928 and light with 815 and 928, hats are yellow green 811, short are olive grey 888.

Water is inclusion resin flow in 2 step with 48h for drying. Vegetation are papier PE and real pla,ts than I forget origine.

Passchendaele 1917

Here is my Passchendaele project only with figurines and horses. I had this idea after see a photo in the Passhendaele or Ypre Museums.

Figurines is from ICM with a more expressive hornet head. I didn’t use all equipment from the ICM figurines. Uniform is paint in 921

Horses are from tamiya or somewhere else, I used putty to try to have a more realistic mane and scratch shells and shells older. I paint them with aerograph with different brown on a black and white effect because what I did with paint brushes was pretty bad.

Diorama is real earth with glue. Tree is real wood piece, sheet metal is white cheese packaging. Excess resin pieces, ICM equipments and Eduard wires are used for the décors. Water is resin.

D2 & Lorraine 37L – Somme 1940

This is a French D2 from the 19 BCC during a refueling operation on the road of Amiens in may 1940. D2 is an infantry tank development from Renaut model D in the beginning of 30ies but quickly replaced by infantry tank B1 and B1bis. Obviously, a first command of 100 D2 was done in 1936 (tank of the fist market) then a new command of 38 (tank of second market) done in 1940. Shield was 20 to 40mm, speed between 16 and 23 km/h and initial short gun SA34 were replaced by long SA35gun for a part of fist market and all second market. This tank was known in the French history because it was the tank of the Colonel Charle De Gaule’s battalion before the war and because it made the serious counterattack of Moncornet. It took part of other less known operations again Abbeville or Amiens bridgeheads and should participate at Norway expedition.

D2 tank is resin kit from blitz, pretty easy to build because moulding is good, there is a few number of pieces and building well organized. Only the tracks building, who need a little bit of experience and my personal defect of assembly for the alignment of wheels, there is no special problem with this kit.

I used to represent the tank “Lutzen” N°2014 from the third company and made a typical Renault camouflage sheme with XF10, XF62, XF71, XF18+XF23for blue, H337 for grey, H337+XF18 for other grey, XF16+XF18 for purple and a forgotten mix with XF4 for the sand yellow. Black line was made with a POSCA pen.

This typical french tractor is a resin kit too from Albi, pretty nice and easy to build except for the wheels. I had to used Friul tracks because those of the kit were too old and unworkable and the result is really nice.

The fuel trailer was a complete scratch build and it’s easier to show you pictures than try to explain all my work and reflection in an understandable enough English. Tractor and trailer were paint with a mix of green XF58, XF81 and XF74.

Figurines are Miniart, Deskit and Mk35 with no modification except new hornet head for the Miniart. I still used Vallejo reference :

Leather jacket in 871, shadow in glaze black 855 and lightning in cavalery brown 982 and bright orange 851,
Pants in 873, lightning in 928, shadow in 855
Belt and roll of the helmet in buff 976 with juices in 981, 983 and 871
Bag is 976 shadow in green brown 879
Helmet are Russian uniform 924
Officier boots is 981; shadow in 984 and 971
Officier pant is stone grey 884, lightning in 986, shadow in 855
Officier jacket is brown violet 887, lightning in 928, shadow in 955, belt in 976, 983 and 871, button in old gold 878, helmet in olive green 888.

Diorama is home made with “carton plume” for road, street, pavement, curb and walls, plastic and balsa scratch for door, flap and metallic roof, plaster for the dirt ground, and 3D impression for the tile roof.

M20 Nimrod – Magyar army – 1942

Here is a Hungarian 40M Nimrod during fight of 1942. This anti-tank and antiaircraft armoured vehicule, inspired by Suedish Landverk, is a mix of boford gun and L-60 tank used by Honved army during ww2.

In 1942 during Caucasian offensive, Honved army had to occupy Don River between German and Italian army. Russian kept 4 bridges heads around towns of Urvy and Karotyak that Magyard and Germans try to destroy during summer. My diorama takes place during those operations.

Kit is from Hobby boss it’s a nice kit but not the best. Mould is good but delicacy of details can be better. Building has no mistake, PE is workable, there is a lot of mark of assembly and notice is clear, only adjustment of the turret raises problems. I used Friul tracks and take freedom for assembly inside of the turret to adapted with the crew.

Inside is paint in XF5 and FX28 a little bit flashy, outside is XF81.

I modified german minimart 35040 and alod tamiya for the Nimrod crew and disappointing dragon infantryman …. I changed two head with “The Bodi” heads, change and sculpt arms, leather vest, pant cuff and pockets. Uniform is Vallejo 921, Helmet is Vallejo 924, leather jacket …

Diorama is pretty simple, volume is done with polytyren, grown with a mix of glue, plaster and water, paint in XF49, vegetation is a mix of flocage, isba is done in balsa foam, window and fences in balsa, roff in plastic.

FCM36 – 7BCC – Sedan Counter attack 1940

Let me show you the FCM 36 French tank. This infantery tank had a 40 mm armor in a front, diesel motor with big autonomy but low speed and not efficient 37mm gun. It was the first tank who counter attack Sedan Bridge head on 14th may with 4 BCC and my diorama is inspired by this battle who’s happening close from Bulson Village.

Kit is in resin from blitz and not easy to build. Adjustments of the two pieces for the frame are really hard to do and need a lot of putty and grinding. Tracks and hugger need grinding too. I had to dig into the turret for figurine installation, add plastic part under the turret, understand how bent resin tracks with hot water and modified trapdoor. Otherwise, mould is pretty good, lateral armor and wheels without assembly problem. There is not a lot of pieces and alignement of wheels and tracks is clean on both side.

Color is a mix of magazine and internet pictures with XF71, XF58, XF68 and mix XF57+55+… Marking and decoration are homemade decals.

As there is not commercial figurine for my staging, I modified Russian rescue crew by changing head (hornet), helmet (minimart), legs (Heller) and cut and modified glue, pockets and handles. Paint are : vallejo 887 for helmet, 888 for the pants, mix 855+981 lighting in 851 and 888 for jacket and successive layer of 927 – 981 and 983 for leather part.

8 Inch from your majesty

This is the british 8 inch howitzer from ww1, a hudge and beautifull baby. Kit from resiscast is nearly perfect, adjustment, precision, moulding, building, nothing wrong only a couple of missing step in the note. A real pleasure to build. It is paint in XF49 with a XF59 base and zenithal black and white effect.

Figurines are germans soldiers (Resin and minimart) that I modified with new head, replacement of boots and improvement of starps with putty. They are paint in Vallejo 921 for pants and hat, 873 for moltières, mix of 943 + 884 + 986 for shirt. I try a new technique for skin … but I was not really happy by the results.

Diorama is made with polystyrene cover by mix of plaster, glue and sand. Rails are real HO rails, worked and wall done with balsa. Then a few elements like resin box, minimart bottle, shell and a Scratch built trolley came to complet the diorama.

Mader & Jeep – French Forces – Italy 1944

This diorama was directly inspired by the photo edited in time’s magazine about German convoy destroy by French Artillery in Italy in 1944.

Marder III H is an Italeri kit and is really basic with very poor details and a lot of moulding correction to do. I used Eduard PE to increase details. I had a lot of work on this kit and to adapte PE but I obtain a nice result at the end. Marder is paint in XF60, XF65 and XF64 with dusting effect to give it a wreck aspect.

Jeep is Heller kit and was very basic too with the same problem than Marder : moulting default, and poor details. I still used eduard PE and scratch to upgrade the kit. It was painted with TAMIYA XF62.

Figurines are mix of Tamiya, minimart and bronco with new hornet and blitz head and from “Eastern esast” They are paint in Vallejo 988, 921 or 881 for jacket and 968, 833 for pants.

Diorama is made with polystyrene for the volume, a mix of plaster + cat litter + glue + sand for the ground, paint in XF49 with different paint effect. Tree and vegetation are root and I used black aerogaphe spray and black and white pigment to give them burning aspect. A lot of plastic or PE parts of other kit, jerricans, helmet, tracks elements, shell and pieces of plating or engine are used to made scrap around the Marder.

AB41 – Balkan 1942

We are with Italo-German troops during an operation again resistance in Balkan in 1942. All along world war II, Balkans rest a place of fight and civil war between occupations forces, resistances and ethnics groups. It’s a political delicate subject but my interest about AB41, mediterranean ambiance motive this project.

AB41 kit is very easy with few parts. Quality is correct but adjustment and level of details can really be inprove. Tools are not very good mould and there is some empties between a couple of part that must be corrected by putty.

Figurines are from Alpine, Royal model and dragon and except a new head for dragon, there is no modification. I paint them with Vallejo 930 for german pants, 826, 979 and 833 for german jacket, mix of blues 943 and 965 for driver blouse, mix of 930 and 866 for Italian uniform and shining black 861 for leather jacket and helmet of Italian officier.

I try to give Mediterranean atmosphere to the scenery because action spent along Adriatic coast. Base is polystyrene, wall is grave in balsa foam, ground is plaster and litter, vegetation is mininatur set, mousses from my garden and trees are zeechium glue on metal string, flocage and putty for the “tronc” .

BTR80 – UKRAINE 2015

This is an actual and sensitive topic directly inspired by resent events in Ukraine. My original idea was to do a very dark and post-apocalypse atmosphere but at least I smooth it. We stay in an urban and soviet ambience with a kind of industrial wasteland.

Trumpeter kit is pretty good, any building defaults were finds and adjustments are correct. Inside detail is good enough to show it and keep open hatch with no excessive complexity for build it. Wheels and suspension system are clean to build. Problems are: missing instruction on notice and photo-edge part and little piece hard to manage: There is no instruction for building piece number F29 for door and gun fixation. Photo-edge part PE-B4 are hard to bend and glue and there is a lot of little pieces as lights and projectors who make kit fragile for all stage of painting. Dust bagg are made in putty.

I used this painting session to try several techniques: First, I do a zenithal effect with XF21 and XF61, than a shadow effect with black and a modulation effect with white. Colors are one veil of paint of H64, several veil of XF5 and a modulation effect with clear green.

Figurines came from “Evolution” model and I just change arm position of the sitting guy. Uniform from this conflict is an interesting mix of Russian, Ukrainian, German and NATO equipment who give me nice possibility of uniform color. I did German pants in Vallejo 885, 822, 979, 874 and 950, NATO pants Vallejo 833, black and brown, Ukrainian TSKO helmet and jacket: mix 855/822, 887 and 979 and Russian Pants and jacket in Vallejo 924 or 888

Diorama:

Road is etched board mousse paint in Humbrol 28, 64 and juice black or blue, drybruch and pigment dust.

Building is board mousse cover with coating, cinderblock wall is etched board mousse, windows, door and ventilation system are scratch build in plastic. Others elements are scratch or extra pieces, balsa for palette, 3D print for cinder block and toilette. Graffiti’s are decals or painting.

Laffly W15TCC – June 1940

Laffly W15TCC is an association between antitank gun 47mm SA37 and laffly W15T truck. It was a late try of French army to create mobile anti-tank material. First prototype from march 1940 was refused but with urgent situation of may 1940, 70 Laffly W15TCC were produced between 25th may and end of franch battle and to fight in the Somme battle of june1940 with pretty nice results.

Blitzkit resin kit need work but the final results is good. The preparation of pieces must be done carefully because there are fragile. The package leaflet is bad and pieces positions are sometime hard to see. It need blank test and photo to be sure of the assembly. It’s necessary to pay attention in the alignment of hood, cabin and quaterdeck and of the 6 wheels. I scratch news front suspension. Paint is mix of XF58, XF5 and XF74 and XF10+black.

Figurines are from Tamiya, Dragon, Blitzkit and a japan resin soldier. New hornet heads, new equipment and new arms position allow us to adapt them. Uniforms are Vallejo 873+871, strips are in vallejo 873, choose with 872, belt and suspenders with 981 and 983, helmet with 888 and 924, bag with 821, skin with 879, 955 and 928

M19 and M3 – Egypte 1942

This is the tank loader M19 composed with a M20 Diamond T truck and a M9 trailer. It appears in 1941 and was used by British army. I didn’t have any historical revelation for this diorama, I only thought it can be a big baby. I asked my father to choose which tank must be carried by the trailer, he chooses M3 Grant.

M19 – Merrit
Kit is f*** udge with a lot of details and who need time and work. There is not major error or building problems but adjustment can be delicate for axles and wheels parts.
I work by elements : back, trailer, cabin and winch as they ask on notice and every part adjusted them together well.
I first build the cabin, because I had to paint it inside and add figurines. I had a lot of work to adjust figurines, I cut and move, seat, arms, legg. There is a decal for gauge in the dashboard. Rest of building is pretty conventional and don’t need more explanation if you can read a notice.

The paint consists to a base XF59, zenithal effect and pre-shadow in black and white and diluted layers of XF59, XF60 and XF57. Decals are home made because there is no british marking in the box.

All things on the back of the truck : jerricans, tools, wheels are from my extra box and scratch build for cover, blanket and net of camouflage. Homemade decals helped me to do label on jerricans.

M3 TAMIYA
It’s nearly build out from the box. I just covert turret with “mister surfacer” to obtain a steel foundry effect and used a resin panzer art set for things on the back. Mud guard of the kit are wrong but I’m to lazy to build news.
Paint was a mix of humbrol ocher that I forget with blue/black area and black-blue area.
To fix the tank on the trailer I build fixation system with scratch and chains, that I paint in steel and rust effect.

Diorama
Diorama is 52cm / 34cm pieces big, it was done with polystyrene, wood, cork pieces and cat litter and plaster. I do a zenithal black and white effect and used different color with juice and dry brushing for painting. Grass and vegetation are roots and mininatur flocage.

Bren TAMIYA
This udge diorama present some empty space that I need to bridge with an old Tamiya Bren that I build and paint 20 years ago. Paint was deleted with “decap-four”, some pieces are removed and/or replaced by scratch build to destroy the kit and give it a wreck look. Paint sheme is the same that my Matilda with : Ligth stone 7x XF2 + 2 x XF59 + 2 x XF8 – Dark grey 50/50 XF24 et XF4 et Slate 7x XF21 + 1 x H306 + 1XF4.

Figurines
Figurines are, Hornet HB1, Alpine 35079, miniart 35051, dragon 6380 and MB 3594 with some new hornet head. Hornet and Alpine quality is great, dragon and MB just good, minimart can be improve.
Uniforms are Vallejo mix of 914/921 (30/70%) or 921/884 (50/50). Choose are paint in black, sox in green 924, helmet in 914.

More pictures

Renault R35 from 1st BCC after battle of Tilancourt – June 1940

I have a big interest for materials, battles and kit of the French 1940’s army and I read a lot of book to find inspiration. This “passion” gave me chance to meet Silvère Bastien, an amateur historian who had written a book about 1^st Tank battalion. To thanks him to help me I decide to build him a diorama with a Renault R35 tank of the 1^st battalion. We choose to do the Tank N° 50576 of the Lieutnant Boulmer rescue in Fretoy-Le-Château’forest after battle of Tilancourt on 7st June 1940.

Kit is the old Heller reference older than me, it’s not a bad kit but it’s far away from actual quality and I had to scratch and update it a lot:

Tool support, rivets, cables, trunk lid, towing cable are scratch build with aluminum and photo edge part grapes
Gun and machine gun are done with aluminum tube
Tracks are trumpeter kit N° 02061quite nice to build and who make more realistic than vinyl tracks.
Tail of crossing behind the tank is SHAPEWAY 3D print ref TES35022. There is no plan for this upgrade but there are not a lot of pieces. It need to defuse the towing hook and try position before glue it because adjustment are not prefect
Inside is home made with part of other kit. I did it more to give illusion than to respect real inside tank disposition

Silvère and I nearly need 6 months to be ok on the camouflage. We study black and white photo of the original tank, speculate theories, compare with other kit, other photos and magazine color proposition, try color disposition on photoshop … to conclude on this color scheme made with Tamiya: XF68 for brown, XF81 for olive green, XF17 for clear green, mix XF60/59 for yellow, XF25 for blue, XF83 for grey, X16 and white for clear purple. Black lines are made with a pen and tracks are paint with humbrol 173, oil juice and humbrol 11 dry brush.

Marking are made by myself with special decals paper and rest of decals from other kit (AMD 80, Somua …)

Kit is dusting with classic oil paint juice, Humbrol 72 juice, pigments and XF55veil of paint. I try to be soft to keep camouflage visible because I work a lot and well on the camouflage.

Figurines are resin from Blast-model for lieutnent Boulmer and modified miniart for technician Marcel Bonneau sitting on the front. My Friend Silvère Bastien gave me a lot of instruction and original pictures for uniform’s color, everything is paint with Vallejo: Jacket is leather brown 871, shadow with 861, lighting with 988; pants is US filed drab 873, helmet is brown violet 887 mix with English uniform 921, belt and roll of the helmet is brown sand 876, shadow with 984 and lighting with 988; bag is yellow green 881, chooses are 984 shadow with 871.

To respect history I had to a forest where survival tank are rescue. Diorama in the wood is difficult because you have to do a lot of vegetation without hide models. Grown is mix of glue, dirt, roots. Trees are zeechium cover with parsil. Other plants are lichens or mininatur flocking.

Laffly White 80 – Tunisia 1943

This is a French Laffly withe 80 in Tunisia in 1943. Those armoured car were produced between the two words wars and were obsolete as soon as they were produced. They were sent in Africa for colonial police in the 30st and still equipped local French regiment (12ième RCA) during Tunisia battle in 1943.

Kit is a resin kit from DesKit, very nice stuff to do, I only had problem with bended gun, positioning counter shocks and traps. There is a big default on wheels that I hide with dust. It was paint in XF58 and XF60 marking are home made decals.

Figurines and animals are minimart and Heller with new head and new equipment. Goumier is paind in Vallejo 873, tank driver with leather brown 871.

Decor is a simple djebel road, grown is plaster, water and glue cover with cat-litter. It was paint with XF59, XF79 and XF55 and each cat-litter were paint on pencil with a large nuance of rock color. Tower is from minimart and mininatur flocking and natural dry mosses are use for vegetation.

T20 Konsomoletz defending Odessa 1941.

Let me show you my T20 Konsomoletz and Russians marines defending Odessa in 1941 against German and Romanian army.

T20 is from Mirror Model and is not easy to manage. There are a lot of pieces (too much for the final so small model), sometime fragile and hard to cut from the grapes, assembly is not precis with no mark, molding is sometime rude, track position is wrong and must be remote 1 mm far away from the rest of the vehicle. Inside is full with engine and driver place but we didn’t see anything at the end and I take the liberty to don’t build engine. I don’t remember what color I used to paint; I think it was a mix of XF81 and other green apply on a black and white technique pre-effect. My control of this technique is not really good and we didn’t see this effect at the end.

Russian marines are from MB 35153 build out from the box except for the driver who need a couple of modification to be adapted to his position. Their posture are dynamic and they are pretty good mould except for ammunition on shoulder and side. Gunner is from tamiya with new arms. Maxims Machine Gun is from ICM, it’s pretty nice but one more time there is too many piece for a so small kit.

I try a lot of color combination before finding my way:

Gunner is in Vallejo 688 for the pants, Vallejo 881 for the jacket and Vallejo 924 for helmet.
Driver is mix of black 950, dark blues 995 and blue 943, lighting in 943, shadow with black.
Other marines are a mix 995/899, lighting with add of 943, shadow with 995; belt and stapes in khaki 988; neck is blue 943.

Diorama is home made with glue and dirt for the ground, balsa and putty for the trench, grass flocking for vegetation.

Renault EG and Albatross Dr – 1916

I was inspirited by pictures; it was so original for this period that I couldn’t try something. But I had to find models …and to study the how to carried the plane.

EG Renault truck: This is a resin kit from blitz-kit, French artisan who explored French army material from ww1 and 1940. It’s a good kit without too much pieces, good molding and no major default. It was no free of problems as:

Axle look like deformed but it find normal bend as soon as it was glue on the back piece number 26.
It looks like the piece for exhaust pipe was missing and I scratch one.
Pieces 23 for transmission axis were shorter and I change them with pieces Q-tip
The Cover doesn’t fit perfectly with the back and must be corrected with putty and glue.
There is zone molding hole cover by glue
I break a piece of hood.
I do a new cable of towing

It was paint in Gunze 303 mix with XF23 and XF25, lighting effect in XF23 and shadow in XF18. The back was paint in wood effect with XF59 and umber oil before been cover by air spray for scratching blue Gunze 303 coat.

Trolley is a resin kit part from the Schneider 155C Gun from Blitz-kit that I already done. It was very easy to build with only 5 or 6 part and paint with the same way than truck.

Albatross is a Rodden 1/32 scale kit and it could be really better molded and have better detail. I can’t say it was a good model. Kit needs a big work and care to be build properly and to over-retail engine with pipe and cable. Some pieces must be cut or release to fix the engine. Rudder is scratch build.

Wood effect inside and outside is made by wiped umber oil on XF59 (or XF57) color coat then cover by a mix of X24/ X26/ X22. I find this technique on internet. Green color is XF65 (shadow in XF61), red Gunze H13, metal part in Humbrol 56 with black oil juice, leather roll around pilot is Vallejo 873.

Decals from the kit was a dirty shit!!! I ask a college “Ayrtsen “to send me some decals from an other kit.

Figurines are from very old box of “mountain infantryman” by Heller and resin ww1 tank driver from Deskit. Both have new hornet head. They are paint in with Vallejo 943 for uniform and Vallejo 816 for helmet and kepi.

Decor is pretty simple board cover with a mix of tile glue and cat litter. Some paint spray and oil juice modulate the tint and flocking grass complete the scene.

Sturmi – Tali Ihantala – summer 1944

I delete picture for data saturation on the web site but all.picture can be find on pinterest with www.war-models.com

Tali Ihantal is the name of two villages in Finland and one of the biggest battle in Scandinavia. In summer 1944, this strong battle stops Russian army after their powerful attack of Finland. Finland winds this battle but had to negotiate end of war with Russia.

STURMI is the name of Stug III G that German gave to equipped Finland in 1943. There are some modifications that are explains on website www.andreaslarka.net.

I used the Dragon Kit, pretty easy and nice to build but, without any kind of problem and who don’t need specific building explains. I only had to scratch specificity of STURMI like wheels side support, tail box in the back and I change MG42 by Miniart DT28 machine gun as you can this on pictures.

The typical “Hard-edge” camouflage scheme was made with a mix of Tamiya XF55 and XF57 for “Light grey”, Humbrol 31 for “Moss Green” and XF10 for “Sand Brown” and I must admit that there is a part of personal feeling in this color choice. I used bison decals for marking.

Finland army figurine doesn’t exist and I had to use Russian and German figurine from tamiya, dragon and jaguar. Pocket and badge must be cut from German’s uniforms and putty help me to dress the tank leader. I change head and used German, Russian and Italian hap and helmet. I mix grey and blue for painting jacket and used Vallejo 966 for pants.

Diorama is a polystyrene piece cover by a mix of plaster, glue and pigments.
Birches are zeechium paint, leaf are hashed parsley fixed with glue in spray and paint with aerograph.
Conifers are dry stick cover with sculpted putty and asparagus branch.
Ground is cover by mix of roots, dry plants and flocking.

First Freedon for Siddi Barani

Here is my new project that I kept in mind since a long time ago because I waited to have a better level and all kit to start. It‘s showing British forces again Italian army during “Compass” operation at the end of 1940 after the fight for Sidi Barani. It’s one of my biggest diorama with 3 kits and all DIY building and decor.

Matilda is the old but still fine model from TAMIYA. It’s easy to build and details level was increase by Eduard PE; metallic gun and scratch. Tracks are fine for a so old kit. It was paint in Gaunted British sheme with “light stone” : done with 7 pts XF2 + 2 pts XF59 + 2 pts XF3, “Silver grey” done with mix of 7pts XF21 + 1pt XF19 +1pt XF4 and “Slate” 1prt XF24 + 1 prt XF4 .. or something very close because à didn’t have all references.

Italian CV33 is from BRONCO and was not really easy. This kit had so much and so little pieces that make it delicate to build and fragile during painting operations. It needs a lot of reflections, try and adjustment to build it and tracks are hard to glue correctly. It was a hard kit !!! It was pains in XF 60 and green XF65 spot with a failed zenithal effect J

Motorbike is from BRONCO too and I really like built this one. It was not easy too with a lot of very small pieces but building process is clear and I’m very proud of my final work. It was paint with the same “light stone” than matilda on a black and white zenital effect who is nearly invisible at the end.

Figurines are from Ultracast for Matilda’s crew, Bronco for motor biker and minimart and MB for others. I adjust arm and change some head by hornet. They are paint with a base of Vallejo Iraqi sand 819 and Khali 988.

Diorama is made with a piece of polystyrene circle with skinny balsa. Ground is made with stone-flor glue, pigments, sand and kitty litter paint un humbrol 93 and other washes and filter.

Buildings are plaster mould paint with air-spray technique in sand and white. Doors are balsa. Moucharabia is build with plastic, balsa and plaster-strip. Little walls is kitty-litter glue with stone flor.