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This is my second (relatively) big dio project made in the «economy class» technique (no aftermarket accessories, no photoetched parts, more foil, tissue paper, and other household trash!). Depicted is Tiger I tank from 501st Heavy Battalion moving towards the frontline in Tunisia. As the road seems to be too narrow (the idea inspired by the size of the frame, and place on the shelf), the German Kubelwagen staff car, as well as a couple of locals (two Arabs with their donkey) have to give the way.
The Tiger
Italeri/Zvezda kit is well known for its numerous inaccuracies, though it’s the most available Tiger on the market, and costs almost 5 times cheaper than the Tamiya offer. I could do nothing with the wrong (symmetrical) shape of the turret. All visible tracks were corrected to the early version style (the most boring but not the most difficult part of work). Referring the photos, I removed the rear track fenders completely (Zvezda offers the mid-war version). Wires (brass and plastic rod) were added to the headlights, which were also modified. I kept the original kit left towing cable, and made the right one from the nylon cord. Hooks and brackets on the left board are of aluminum foil. Grille screens on the upper hull were cut from thin cooper mesh. More hanging crew stowage had to add realism, as well as the air identification Nazi flag on the turret (tissue paper). Painting scheme: Olive Grun sprayed over the basic DAK Dark Yellow. I used the Italeri decals, but did not applied the third «122» number to the rear side of the turret.
Kubelwagen type 82 Afrika Korps
Tamiya kit almost straight from the box. I just filled the cab with jerry-cans, helmets, flasks and weapon to represent the staff (or communication) car. Tamiya decals for the 501 Battalion over the simple Dunkel Gelb scheme. Both vehicles got heavy weathering (wash with oils and black acrylic, and pastel chalks of at least 8 colors).
Figures
The Tiger crew and the smoking officer (I could not justify his pose so I made this lefty guy a smoker) are resin Verlinden moulds, which I got via SK Models from Penza, Russia. I kept Tamiya Kubelwagen driver figure without any reconstruction. The Arab boy is from Verlinden, though the one I bought had no donkey: the latter was kindly sent to me by Alexander Ivanov (see his Barbarossa and Red Army figures in the gallery!). The animal (from DML Gebirgsjager kit) got a plastic surgery, as the ears and the tail were brutally bitten off by Alexander’s kid! After that, the donkey was loaded (cargo made of spare sandbags). The old Arab is almost totally scratchbuilt from tissue over a clumsy Russian artillerist from Zvezda. All figures were painted with enamels and oils, the pastel chalks were also used.
The Landscape
The rocks made from alabaster (cast in aluminum foil forms). The grass is meshed green foam and dried moss. The phoenix palm tree was made in a couple of hours: my lovely hamp string was winded around the plastic rod (the barrel is done!), then the leafs were made from the green fabric taken from the artificial flowers. All painted with enamels and oils. A good cover of «dust» (tan enamel, heavily thinned) was sprayed over the whole composition after assembly. Photo by Andrey Vasilyev and Gennadiy Seldukov.
All comments welcome.
Alexey Fominykh,
Yoshkar-Ola, Russia
alexfom@marsu.ru
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