Fieseler Storch in 1/72 from Academy

In my last post, about the LRDG test-game, you saw an unfinished Caproni-bomber on the airfield, belonging to Laffe.

A couple of mails, initially about who would get, and not get, what from the Winter War Kickstarter, got the snowball rolling. No one wanted the Finnish bicyclists, and by the way, I had started on my Fieseler Storch.

One thing led to another, and a competition was on.

The rules:

The one (me or Laffe) to e-mail a picture of the finished plane to the others was the winner of the competition.

The quality of the paintjob should be good enough to post on our blogs

To avoid a decisive victory the looser has 24 hours to finish his model. If he achieves that, the victory is deemed a minor victory.

Prizes:

Decisive Victory: The looser gets the bicyclists and must paint them within 3 months. Bragging rights for the winner, and he also gets to choose the next competition.

Minor Victory: The winner gets a limited bragging right. Thomas gets the bicyclists and can choose the next competition.

Well, I’m going to brag now. Guess who won. Yep, I don’t have to paint bicycle troops, and I will decide the in-group Painting Challenge II. That challenge will see Thomas participating also.

This turned out to be a great way to finish a prioritized model in record-time. Within 24 hours of me posting my picture, Laffe sent a mail of his Caproni. Newly painted. He took the advice from Thomas, and took a pic of what was ready. Turned out the underside wasn’t finished yet, so he swallowed the shame and admitted humiliating defeat.

A, sweeeeeeet.

Anyway. The winning model, from Academy, is a Fieseler Fi. 156 Storch (which can also be built as a Morane Saulnier MS 500/502 Criquet, used in Vietnam for example) in 1/72.

A straight-forward build. Some of the smaller details are on the thick side, which is good for our wargaming uses. The canopy is a bit tricky, as it is made from five clear-plastics pieces. I didn’t get a perfect fit and had to use some green-stuff.

Paints used (Vallejo):

Inside cockpit – 973 Light Sea Grey

Top – 929 Light Brown

Underside – 971 Green Grey

White band – 883 Silver Grey

Propeller – black

A dusting of sand-coloured pigment overall, and some black pigment from the exhaust.

Good enough, but won’t win any prizes… well, actually, it did J

Pz I in 1/72 from Minairons Miniatures

Got one Pz I A from Minairons from Thomas of Learning by Doing. I've been interested in this company for a while, so this little gift was most welcome.
A box comes with three tanks, each comprising of 9 parts (and an alternate turret). This is obviously a fast-build and as such it is somewhat simplified, as you can see. With the kit is a sheet of decals – early German, Koumintang Chinese and Spanish Nationalist. The crosses on this one comes from my own stash. 

The kit went together easily, and I painted it, as usual, as an early war tank. Checking my references I norticed that many Pz I:s were without numbers on their turrets, and being lazy I skipped them on this one - I concentrated on fast in fast-build...

All in all a very useful kit. Strongly recommended if you’re interested in early war Pz I:s for your wargaming and isn’t bothered by it being a bit simplified.

An variant with a 20mm Breda anti-tank gun, used very sparingly in the Spanish Civil War. Four made, I think.

German motorcycles with sidecars, a 1/72 comparison

A short comparison between the different sidecar combinations I have

- Zvezda BMW R12

- Hät/Armourcast BMW R75

- Revell BMW from the SdKfz 11 set I think

 

Hät vs Zvezda

As you can see the Hät model is crude, huge and the figures are rather…apelike….

Zvezda vs Revell

The Revell model is smaller and less details than Zvezda.

The winner: Zvezda! No real competition here.

There is an Italeri-set that would be interesting as a comparison, but it’s not very high up on my to-buy list at the moment.

German BMW R12 in 1/72 from Zvezda

Another very nice kit from Zvezdas’ Art of Tactic series.

The motorcycle is in four pieces and six parts for the sidecar. Nice and well detailed, but I had to hide a very visible gap with tarps (from Reiver Castings).

Forgot to finish the BMW logo. Done now and not a complete success. It is sooooo small.

I strongly suggest that you paint the motorcycle and the sidecar as separate pieces. Trust me, it’s fiddly to paint the assembled model…

The driver comes in four pieces, and I found that the gaps where his arms connect to his body needed some green-stuff. The passenger is also 4 pieces, and comes integral with his MG.

Forget about painting the logo on this side when the kit is assembled...

The number plates were written with a Staedtler pigment liner 0.05 pen. I've had the pen for ages, but this was the first time I've tried it, and the result is okay I think. I need some practise though. 

As you can see it is a well detailed kit, and I’m very happy with it, but there are some things that could have been better.

Sidecar – the way the upper part of the carriage connects to the rest is less than ideal. Also the way the MG is attached to the sidecar is rather crude.

The wheels are… well…okay I guess. But they could have been better.

The chest of the figures are rather lacking detail. Can’t really figure out why. Seems to be a rather common with the Art of Tactic figures unfortunately.

They don’t wear goggles. Probably a bad idea in real life.

Coming up, a comparison of this model and the Hät/Armourfast set of motorcycles with sidecars.

Welcome follower Dan with his blog Gunners Wargaming where you will find 15mm to 1/35, ancients to WWII to fantasy to SF. A bit of this and that. Check it out.

German Medical Personnel in 1/72 by Zvezda

Another offering from Zvezda’s Art of Tactic series, this time German medical personnel. The kit consists of just two times two figures.

The first set is a medic leading a wounded friend and consisting of five separate pieces. The pieces fit together easily, and, even though it is not strictly necessary, I recommend gluing with ordinary polystyrene glue. The fit was not perfect and I found some obvious gaps needing green stuff.

The second set is one soldier carrying another. Also five pieces, and also here you might need some green stuff.

The figures can be mounted either on separate bases or on one base to get more of a diorama. I used the separate bases, and glued them on washers.

These figs are really very nicely detailed, as can be seen, and will get you some unusual poses. I’m not sure what I will use them for in our games, but we’ll find something out.

I believe they are rather overpriced, being only four men, and for what I paid I do think another pair of figures would have been nice.

Anyway, on the cover of the box you see what you get, and if that is what you want and you’re willing to pay the price, I think you will be satisfied with the result.

Pz IV D in 20mm by Armourfast compared to Plastic Soldier Company

Another Pz IV, this time an early war version, the Ausf D, from Armourfast.

You will get two models in the box, and they are fast build, meaning few individual parts, in this case less than 30 per model. The instructions on how to assemble the kit is on the back of the box, and it is somewhat lacking. I would strongly advise you to have some photos of the real thing handy, as some of the details are rather vague, and check the look of a real commander’s cupola, as the instructions seem to be faulty.

 As always, click on the photos to get a larger image

The detailing is decent, but lacks for example tools. The biggest faults in my opinion is the lack of even rudimentary boogies and the tracks are rather flat without details, see photos. So much could have been improved with very little effort. Disappointing.

There was no hull MG, so I fixed one with brass wire, and gun and exhaust hade to be drilled out.

The result is two decent early war Pz IV D, perfectly all right for wargames. They could have been better, and if you’re primarily a modeller you will probably be disappointing.

I might buy another box sometime in the future, just to get the right France 1940-feel.

 Armourfast Ausf D vs PSC Ausf F1

To give you all an indication of how it compares to another fast build Pz IV, this time Ausf F1, you’ll get a couple of comparison shots of Armourfast vs Plastic Soldier Company.

Look here if you’re interested in my prior article comparing the Pz IV:s from PSC, Airfix and Hasegawa.

German Big Men in 20mm for IABSM

The first batch of new big men for I Aint Been Shot Mom. The idea is to represent a level 1 man with one figure, a level 2 with two, etc up to four men for the highest ranking Big Men.

I have already converted some old figures into level 1 Big Men, simply by placing them on square bases, as opposed to circular ones for ordinary men.

These guys are newly painted.

First of the level 2 Big Men. Figures from Caesar German Army

Another level 2. Airfix German Infantry and Revell German Infantry 

A level 3 Big Man. Figures from Airfix Reconnaissance Set, unknown and Ceasar German Army.

Level 4 Big Man. The officer is a metal one I got from friend Daniel, and he was part of a group build. Great figure. Periscope from Revell German Armoured Infantry. The man with rifle is Caesar German Army, and the one with a SMG is from the Airfix Reconnaissance Set. The man with the back towards us is unknown.

More Pak 36 from Zvezda in 1/72

Another Pak 36 from Zvezda, this time with the diorama base and crew (se my review of the gun here).

The two crew memebers have good details and are appropriate for early war. It’s just a pity there are only two. For me that is not a problem, as I have lots of other crew that I can use, but it is a pity.

The diorama base is simple but effective. It is detailed with two ammo-boxes and a couple of spent cartridges, and it is of a size that works well in a game.

All in all a great little kit.

Pak 36 in 1/72 – Comparison Italeri, ICM, Zvezda + 2 more

The final Pak 36 post (for this time at least).

 Italeri, ICM and Zvezda

Here is a comparison of the guns from my previous posts, from Italeri, ICM and Zvezda.

I let the photos speak for themselves.

 Zvezda, ICM and Italeri

As a bonus, the ICM gun next to Revell’s (from the old Matchbox 1/76 Krupp Protze kit, noticeably smaller) and a metal monstrosity from Brittania. I will not even paint the metal one as it is simply too bad. What a horrible thing!

Brittania, ICM and Revell/Matchbox

 

 

There will actually be one more Pak 36 post. I bought two Zvezda kits, and I’m finishing one on the base with crew members. Sooner or later.

3xPak 36 in 1/72 – no 3 Zvezda

The third of my Pak 36’s comes from Zvezda, and their Art of Tactic series. The gun is made up of 7 pieces and in the box are two crew members and a small base. Also, you have two variants of the gun carriage, either emplaced or in limbered position.

It is made of soft plastic and is supposed to snap together, but I’m not happy with that, as it gave some very weak joints that didn’t hold together. The plastic didn’t take ordinary polystyrene glue, and my liquid superglue didn’t do much good at all. I tried with superglue gel, and that held, but it isn’t a strong joint.

As can be seen, this is a rather simplified model, but with decent detailing and it looks OK. The Art of Tactic series is made for gaming, and that is of course positive.

This is a kit that does what it is supposed to do. Recommended for wargaming.

In my next post I will compare the guns next to each other. Italeri, ICM, Zvezda and a bonus 1/76 Revell and a metal monstrosity from Brittania.

3xPak 36 in 1/72 – no 2 ICM

After building the Italeri Pak 36 I stumbled on this model from ICM. A very detailed kit, and as such it is certainly not a model for wargamers primarily.

So, you’ve got 34 pieces to fit together. It is a small gun, and with that many pieces it is inevitable that some of them are tiny. If you know what you are getting yourself into that is not a problem in itself, but it demands very clear instructions on how to put the pieces together, and that was sadly missing. The drawing is small and not at all clear on where to put the different tiny pieces. I had to go back to my own photos of a Pak 36 to see where everything should be glued, and got it mostly right I think.

The result is a gun that is the most life-like of the ones I have made. It is fragile though, so I guess it won’t hit the gaming table at one of our convention games. I might base it to give it some protection, but I haven’t decided yet.

A great looking model, but maybe not the best for wargaming. It contains no crew-members.

3xPak 36 in 1/72 – no 1 Italeri

Do you see something strange in this picture?

Maybe you noticed part of the subtitle? 3.7 cm Pak 37….. Pak 37?

The real name of the 37mm German anti-tank gun is Pak 36 (or 35/36). So, Italeri didn’t get the facts right on the box. Embarrassing I should say. By the way, the kit is originally from ESCI.

This should have had me somewhat sceptical, but I really needed a Pak 36.

Opening the box and checking the stuff I became more and more sceptical.

-- There is a Flakvierling AA-gun. On the cover it deployed, but the kit is on its trailer in towed mode. That is quite a difference in my book, and makes it less useful

- The 75mm Pak 40 is in full recoil…. Really, it is moulded in full recoil. How useful is that? That makes its use quite more limiting than it should have been.

- The Pak 36 – well, that gun is what this review is all about.

As you can see from the photos this is a crude model. Made of 15 pieces, it is chunky, lacks details and is really not a very good representation of the original at all. 

The box also contains four crewmembers for all three guns, and a further four men pointing, looking in binoculars or firing a LMG. The figures are OK but I would have liked some more interacting with the guns.

I’m not happy with this gun, and considering the other two models in the box, this was a real bad buy.

It will be used on the gaming board though, as it will withstand rough handling rather well, and from a meter away it will pass as a small door-knocker.

But don’t buy it.

There are other manufacturers of this mainstay of early war, so next one to be reviewed is from ICM and then Zvezda. Stay tuned.