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Hi all! This is my rendition of the Panzer IV F2. Unlike Nenad, who did an awesome job bringing that panzer 215 from the Pz.Rgt. 5 of the 21st Panzer Division to life (see more on the link below), my intention was to build a generic vehicle from the 15th Panzer Division, somewhere in North Africa. The model is by Dragon and their Panzer IV series are remarkable and very detailed, so I built it out of the box and only addition was the metal barrel. I played a bit with various mixes of MiG and AMMO acrylics and tried to get the paint to look as close as possible (at least to my eye) to the RAL 8020 paint, used in the later stages in North Africa. As usual, model is weathered with enamels and oils. Hope you like it and please feel free to comment. Cheers!

The idea behind this diorama/collection started with the Chevy 1533 as a stand alone model but then as I got into researching the old photos, etc. I saw that I could create a Ford F30 by converting the IBG Models Chevrolet C30A CMP Steel Body. Then I needed some extra jerry cans as the F30 was apparently a thirsty beast, so I decided the best (cheapest) way to get some was the Tamiya SAS Jeep model. Of course this then became the pilot car for the patrol. So here we are in a wadi in the Western Desert with the F30, dragged out of retirement due to vehicle shortages of the newer Chevrolets, needing some attention on the engine to keep it running. The driver of the Chevy (carrying the Boys AT gun) is chatting with the driver of the F30 as the gunner in the Chevy takes the Lewis gun off and waits for the Boys. Then we have the patrol commander and the pilot car driver discussing the plan for the day ahead. Hope you enjoy these images. Then I had a bit of a play in Photoshop to age some photos in black and white to try and replicate originals. Thanks for looking.

This is the kit I was trying to find before I bought and built all the LRDG stuff. That was a costly misplaced birthday present. Anyway, this was only a quickie build whilst waiting for bits to arrive for the Toyota build. 1/76 is a bit fiddly for me these days, think I'll stick to 1/35th. This was however the truck and gun my Grandad was a team leader on in North Africa at El Alamein and then up to Monte Cassino, Italy. The only one of three brothers to be called up. He never spoke about it to us, but from our Nan we believe sadly half his gun crew was wiped out in a direct hit at some point. A lovely man whom my son is now named after. Enjoy. Thanks for looking.

Hello everyone, First of all, this vehicle was never called Sturmpanzer II. It was also never called Bison II either, as it is sometimes referred to by model kit producers. Its official name was: 15 cm sIG 33 auf Fahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen II (Sf). It was developed as a response to the need to provide heavy artillery support in the environment of highly mobile warfare. Panzer II was selected to fit the 15cm sIG 33 heavy artillery gun. This proved to be a big challenge, never to be solved completely and adequately. The prototype was first tested at Kummersdorf on 13 June 1940. Panzer II chassis was modified, by lengthening and adding one more axel (which helped to absorb recoil forces better and reduce the chance of tipping over) and widened by 40cm, which made more space for the crew. It was still very crowded and hard to operate, and only 10 rounds could be stored inside. The engine was not adequate for the increased weight and engine cooling was not adjusted for desert conditions. Alkett completed seven 15 cm sIG 33 auf Fahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen II (Sf) in December 1941 and five in January 1942. They were all sent to Africa and assigned to 707.schwere Infanteriegeschütze-Kompanien. and 708. schwere Infanteriegeschütze-Kompanien. Both of these regiments were part of Rommel’s 90. Leichte Afrika-Division and fought until the Axis surrender in Tunisia in May 1943. Vehicles were arriving in Libyia between February and April 1942 and were plagued by all kinds of problems. The engine could only run for very short periods of time without overheating, sand was thrown by the tracks into the engine air intake and the engine would constantly break. And there were no spare parts delivered. Basically, the vehicle was a disaster, they just added additional weight to the gun so it was hard to move it around. All 12 vehicles were present in the El Alamain battles, where half of them were lost, and the remaining 6 fought until the end of the war, surrendering in Tunisian in May 1943. Ark Model kit is the same disaster as the vehicle itself I will not grudge about it here... you can check my WIP thread if you are interested to see all the problems with the kit, but basically, it is really hard to build it into something decent without a fair amount of fixing, scratch-building, and AM parts. However, I must say that I enjoyed building it and fixing all the issues on some strange level Accuracy-wise, I can not comment much, I didn't want to check the dimensions, because I couldn't do much about it anyway. I used plenty of AM parts of this one. Friul tracks, Eduard PE set, Aber barrel and aerials, AFV Club ammo, and some additional Panzer Art, TMD, and Value Gear stuff. So basically I turned cheapest model I ever bought into the most expensive build The model is painted with a combination of Gunze, MRP, Tamiya, and Vallejo paints and weathered with Mig's pigments. The Interior and sIG 33 gun are a bit better detailed compared to the rest of the vehicle. Here are some shots: And here are some detailed shots, mostly of the stowage: Thank you all for watching and for your support in my WIP thread. Cheers, Nenad

Hello everyone, This is my take on a workhorse of Axis in North African theater, Carro Armato M13/40. It should represent a Series 3 tank belonging to the Ariete division, sometime around the battle of Bir el Gubi, November 1941, during the opening engagements of Operation Crusader. The particular vehicle belongs to the VIII battalion, 1st Company, 2nd Platoon. The Ariete's first units disembarked in Tripoli on 24 January 1941. Battle at Bir el Gubi was the first engagement where Ariete fought as a division. Also, it was the first armored engagement in the conflict that was successful for the Italians, and it was the battle that earned Ariete division respect among both Axis and Allies. After this event, the narrative directed toward Italian armored forces changes to: "they fought valiantly, despite being ill-equipped". The model is based on Tamiya kit No. 35296 with some changes in order to accurately represent the Series 3 vehicle (Tamiya kit is a mix of features of Series 1, 2, and 3 vehicles, as well as M14/41). I also used a few AM Royal Model sets. You can see the whole build here. And here's the result: Kit is painted with Hataka's version of Khaki Sahariano. Weathered with MIG's nature effects and MIG's and VMS pigments. I enjoyed building this kit. Even though it has some issues regarding accuracy, changes required to make it accurate (if that's your thing) are quite easy to do. Thanks for watching and thanks for the feedback. Cheers, Nenad

Hi guys, Here's my take on Sturmgeschutz Ausf D, one of three Stugs of Sonderverband 288 special purpose unit. Unit arrived in North Africa between November 1941 and May 1942. Three Stugs were part of No. 5 Company, that most likely arrived to North Africa in May 1942 on Thessalia. The unit participated in Gazala battle, where one Stug was lost (captured after doing some scouting). Second Stug was lost during retreat after second battle of El Alamein after it ran out of fuel and third one was captured at Cape Bon in Tunis after being hit and abandoned. Two of these vehicles (I think one captured after retreat from El Alamain and one captured at Cape Bon) were taken to UK for examination, where one was scrapped and the other used for target practice. The one used for target practice was recently restored to running condition. All three vehicles are very similar, so one I built could be any of them. Bronco kit No. CB35117 is quite nice and there are just a few accuracy and construction issues worth mentioning: There are 4 single link track holders on the right fender and 2 on the left fender that do not exist in the kit. I scrap build them, although I built only right fender ones (I found the photo of the left fender too late). The pipes taking air from tropical air filters to engine deck are missing, scrap built as well. Lights protection on the left fender is incorrect, so I had to modify it. Return rollers are to tight and track horns do not fit. I added 0.5mm styrene sheet between two parts to make them a bit wider. Tracks are very well molded but there are fit issues with drive sprocket. It simple does not fit well. I am not sure is it a problem with drive sprocket or tracks though. There's also a question about tropical air filters and were they mounted to these Stugs at all. While these filters were cylindrical, some images show boxes where these filters should be mounted. However, some images clearly show the cylindrical filter support with straps used to attach them. The most probable explanation is that at some point filters were replaced by additional stowage boxes. However, were they replaced on all vehicles, before sending to NA or after, it remains unknown. The build you can see here is my guess on how they looked like. Vehicle is painted RAL 8000 (Gunze H402) over RAL 7021 (MRP) and weathered with AK and MIG pigments and nature effects. I added few Value Gear stowage bits. Thanks for looking and thanks for any feedback! And few shots on black background: Cheers, Nenad

Hello all Today I would like to introduce you to my latest vignette. Some of you already know the project from WIP, so I won't say too much. I hope you like the model, so have fun with the pictures! MD See you!

My latest project with figures in preparation for a North Africa diorama. Modified and unmodified Miniart figures. One more figure to come when built.

Just finished the IBG Lancia 3 Ro this afternoon. Not a bad kit but the instructions leave one wondering at times and the attachment point for the sprues to the parts are oversized.

My next build is Airfix's 1:72 Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV, which I was lucky enough to receive for Mother's Day. The box contains a detailed set of instructions, small decal sheet and glass sprue. There are five grey sprues, all with little to no flash and a nice amount of detailing. I have decided to build the aircraft in the markings of Groups Dr Bombardement 1 (Lorraine), Armed de l'Air, North Africa, 1941. I plan to build it straight as it comes from the box, using Vallejo acrylics (because I prefer airbrushing with them). The kit has been washed and is drying, and I'm looking forward to my next challenge.

I'm interested in painting some of the Twin Engine aircraft I have in the North Africa Desert Campaign 1941-1943 and I would like some help in getting the colour scheme right for some of the kits I have. I don't appear to be looking in the right places as I can't seem to find the right colour schemes for my kits as they all have the European Theater Camouflage Pattern as standard, would they be the same as the Airfix P-40 Curtiss Tomahawk IIB Starter Set (which just had the Desert Colours) which was Humbrol Colours No 29 (Dark Earth) 93 (Desert Yellow) for the top and 157 (Azure Blue) for underneath. The allied kits I have are North American B-25 Mitchell II the Vickers Wellington Mk X / XIV the Douglas Boston III (A-20 Havoc) and the Bristol Blenheim Mk 1. The Axis kits I have are the Heinkel He III the Junkers Ju 88 A-4/D-1 the Messerschmitt Bf 110 C/D and the Dornier Do 217 N-1 along with the following fighters the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-10 the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-8 and the Aer. Macchi C. 205 Veltro. All of the above kits are in 1:72 Scale.

Ready for your inspection is my Airfix 1:72 Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV. I have built the aircraft as it comes from the box, using Vallejo acrylics in place of Humbrol paints, purely because I find them easier to airbrush. The kit went together really well, with no major issues, and has a nice amount of detailing. I hope I have done the aircraft justice, thanks for looking.

I'm interested in doing a few figures in 1/48 scale from the North Africa theatre in WWII, but aside from the Tamiya Afrika Korps set, I'm not finding too much out there. Anyone have any suggestions for nice Afrika Korps and/or 8th Army infantry figures in this scale? Metal would be great, but resin or plastic works, too. 40mm scale wargaming figures would probably also work. Any ideas? Thanks.

Airframe Extra No.9 The North African Campaign ISBN: 9780995777323 Valiant Wings Publishing Many modellers these days seem to like building subjects based on a theme, which can often be historical events. This series of books from Valiant Wings will look at specific areas, and events in the history of aerial warfare with this in mind. Each title will cover the history and details details of these event. This volume contains period photographs, and colour artwork from Richard J Caruana. More importantly to the modeller each will contain kit builds; this one has builds in 1/144, 1/72, 1/48 & !/32. These are from modellers; Steve A. Evans and Libor Jekl. The book is A4 soft cover format, very well printed with clear text, good artwork and clear build photographs. The ninthbook in this series covers the North African Campaign June 1940 to May 1943. The period of Italy's declaration of War through to the surrender of Axis forces in Tunisia 1943. All sides had specific camoflage for the desert and these lend to some interesting models. The colour artwork features many aircraft taking part from both sides. The six models featured in this volume are; 1/72nd Heinkel He 111 (Hasegawa). 1/72nd Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk Ia (Special Hobby). 1/72nd Dewoitine D.520 (RS Models). 1/144th Junkers Ju 52/3m (Eduard). 1/48th Bf 110C-2/Trop (Eduard). 1/32nd Hawker Hurricane Mk IId (Fly). Conclusion This is a great ninth book in the series from Valiant Wings. They are to be conratulated for producing this series of books with the modeller directly in mind. Highly Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Am wanting to finish a Tamiya Valentine as in the photo below named 'Black Knight' in North Africa. Photo was taken in late 1941 or early 1942. Believe Light Stone would be correct for this time period but the dark sand shields are throwing me off as to how this tank was painted. I can see the white/red/white markings on the front of the hull and turret used during Operation Crusader. Any thoughts/comments/educated guesses on the camouflage? Thanks, Charlie

I came upon two photographs of Morane Saulnier 406s in Algeria in the spring of 1939. These are screen-caps to preserve the captioned information, and were taken from this site: https://www.traditions-air.fr/unit/photo/012.htm#5 Also from this site, another Morane with a low serial number, location unknown, and a table showing station of the units at various times. It seems an interesting and out of the usual way subject for a model. I do not know much about the type, however. What are good, available references for the 406 (preferably in English, though I can muddle a little in French)? Is there any reference with a table matching series numbers (on the rudder) with serial numbers (under the wings)? I have monographs on the Ni-D 62 family, and on the Dewoitine 500 series, which have such tables. These are early production machines, given the low series numbers. I know French camouflage varied a great deal, but it seems to me machines built about the same time at the same factory ought to be at least similar. The tight wavy line and hard edges seem distinctive. Has anyone got full views of an early production MS 406?

And at last it's time for this much awaited group build. My contribution will be a SAAF 16 Squadron Martin Maryland based at Addis Ababa, Abyssinia in mid 1941, which isn't exactly North Africa, but I got approval to build it. I'm 99% sure I'll be building a Maryland with serial 1604 for which I have a nice color profile as well as b/w photo (along with a/c log details and plenty "stories") in Graeme Gibson's excellent book Path of Duty about 16 Squadron's journey from 1939 to 1943. Off course I cannot post the profile and photo because of copyright. There were two Marylands active with 16 Sqn at the time (1603 & 1604) and was used for recce, bombing, strafing and also for dropping propaganda leaflets on the Italian's. 1604 was written of on 20 June after crashing on the aerodrome. As far as I understand these were Maryland Mk.I's originally intended for the French before the armistice, which means I have to make some slight modifications to the Mk.II kit. The props of these Mk.I's were Hamilton Standard's with diagnostic cuffed blades, which means I will have to try put cuffs on the props (already having nightmares because if that ). There's less aerials on the Mk.I, but that's an easy fix, and the paint scheme is a bit of a mystery. As far as I can figure out these were still in the French scheme when delivered to the SAAF - olive drab over light blue grey - vs. the one's intended for the British which were dark green / dark brown over sky. Apparently the SAAF *may* have applied a "chocolate brown" to the Maryland's uppers in the theatre, but I don't think there's solid proof of this. I chose to paint my subject olive drab over light blue grey like the profile of 1604 in Path of Duty. Hopefully that's enough info to peak your interest in this subject. And with that's here's the kit I'll be building. And here are some sprue shots (suprisingly low part number for a bigger kit) The clear parts And some resin bits These are the decals I'll be using. Since I'm not aware of any decals for the subject I'm building, I have sourced all the necessary markings from different sheets. These sheets provide me all the decals I'll need. And I received these for the fuselage numbers. These Maryland's didn't carry fuselage codes apart from serials. And here is the instruction sheet. Not the best but I'm sure I'll figure it out. Can't wait to get started. Cheers Jimmy

On Agust 4, 1940, four 80 Sqdn Gladiators were assigned to escort a Lysander of 208 Sqdn on a reconnaisance. YK*I/L8009, flown by F.O. Wykeham-Barnes, was one them. They encountered a group of Italian Breda 65 attack planes, escorted by a larger formation Fiat CR-32 fighters, biplanes of an older vintage than the Gladiators. Wykeham-Barnes shot down one of the Bredas, then was attacked by the escorting Fiats; he was creditted with downing one of them before his own machine was shot up so badly he took to his parachute. One other 80 Sqdn pilot claimed a Breda and a Fiat, before also being forced to bail out; another Gladiator was shot down with its pilot killed, and the one which remained crashed in attempting to land. Wykeham-Barnes' Breda was reckoned the first victory by an 80 Sqdn Gladiator. This model represents YK*I/L8009 as it may have appeared shortly before its destruction. There is some uncertainty regarding its appearance at that time. This owes to photographs of 80 Sqdn. Gladiators taken early in 1940 showing upper surfaces in two dark grey tones without much contrast, and photographs of 80 Sqdn. Gladiators taken later in the year showing uppersurfacs in two highly contrasted grey tones, one dark and one light. Further, photographs which show the upper surface of the upper wing of an 80 Sqdn. Gladiator show at least two seperate patterns employed, one matching well with the standard, the other not. Some have taken the later, high contrast photographs to indicate employment of a local scheme of Dark Green and Light Earth. The Osprey 'Gladiator Aces' monograph depicts several 80 Sqdn. Gladiators, including YK*I, in these colors, and so does 'Britain Alone' by Paul Lucas. The Warpaint Series number on the Gladiator does not, sticking with Dark Green and Dark Earth throughout for wartime Middle East Gladiators. The standard Temperate Land Scheme of Dark Green and Dark Earth was the official standard for camouflaged aircraft in the Near East at this time. There had been official trials of other schemes in the area recently, and also some local experimentation (this being permitted to an extent). At least one bomber squadron in Middle East Command had, for much of 1939, flown planes on which the Dark Green had been over-painted with something matching Light Earth. One of the trial schemes tested was a 'Modified' Temperate Land scheme, in which Dark Earth was replaced by Dark Sand (as near as can be told a sort of grey-brown with a yellow tinge), while the lower wings and sides of biplanes were still in Light Earth and Light Green. This scheme was considered to have wide applicability, but was dropped at the outbreak of the war for the standard Temperate Land on all overseas commands. Interestingly enough, this Modified Temperate Land scheme employed a different pattern on the upper wing, which matches well the 'non-standard' pattern some 80 Sqdn. Gladiators display on their upper wings. There is no record of a 'green and tan' scheme being employed in 1940, but most early-war records of 80 Sqdn. were lost in Greece. There is some evidence that later, some aircraft operating in Palestine and the Nile Delta were given a 'green and tan' scheme. One further possibility is simply that paint applied early in the year had deteriorated. Dark Earth, if over-thinned, is reported to have dried lighter than standard. Dark Earth in some formulations was especially prone to fading to a lighter shade under sunlight. This seems to me the most likely explanation for the different appearance between early and late photographs of 80 Sqdn. Gladiators; it is certainly the most parsimonious. The process of 'fading' in Dark Earth was formation of a white layer near the surface. I do not know if this would have greatly increased the reflectivity of the paint. Light Earth reflected much more light than either Dark Green or Dark Earth, and since the high contrast appears in photographs using both ortho and pan stock, reflectivity, and not color, must account for the 'brighter' areas. The kit is the 1/72 Airfix Gladiator. I added secondary bracings in the cowling, the radio mast on the wing, and the damper rods in the rigging. Identity decals mostly from the XtraDecals Gladiator sheet, but I damaged one serial run, and had to reconstruct from an old Modeldecals serial sheet. Roundels are from an old Pavla Gladiator sheet, as I liked their color better, and they had a yellow ring for the fuselage roundel. I finished this model to a color-spread in 'Britain Alone', and tried in my mixing colors to get something that could pass as faded Dark Earth or Light Earth, taking as my mark the rather light-ish Dark Earth in color photographs of the Shuttleworth Gladiator on the cover of the Warpaint Series Gladiator number. If I had known all I know now, I do not think I would have followed that profile, because I suspect it does not have the upper wing pattern right. It should probably have been either standard, or the 'center vee and parallel swathes' pattern of the Modified Temperate Land scheme. Building this was was a sort of recce in force to discover possible difficulties ahead of future Gladiator builds, which I want to be especially certain I get right. I like the kit a great deal. It does need attention, but if this is given, it goes together beautifully. Most mating surfaces have a bit of a 'lip' at their edges, and need to be sanded down flat; this is particularly important in regard to putting the lower wing on, and i fitting the strut ends into their sockets. Small parts need to be carefully sawn off; you really do have to follow instructions in assembling the motor and cowling (though you can treat this as a separate assembly, rather than starting with the engine fastened to the nose). The fit of the motor itself to the nose was the only really poor fit in the kit. As someone who does mostly open-cockpit subjects, and is not too comfortable with canopies and such, I appreciate the fit of the canopy in this kit. If you are careful in initial fitting in regards to the roll-over structure, and take just a hair off the front and rear of the canopy, it will be practically a snap-fit. The best way to deal with the 'X' between the interplane struts is to score it a bit with a saw before you assemble the wings, and then to heat an old X-acto blade and melt through the scored point. You can the nip off the rest and clean any remnant with no trouble at all. If you try to saw all the way though you will find it extemely tedious, and might slip; if you try to break it with a nipper you will pop joints.

Hi all, My entry for this Group Build is going to be the Revell boxing of the excellent Hasegawa F4U-7 Corsair in 1/48 scale. These aircraft were used extensively by the Aeronavale during this bitter conflict and were operated from both shore bases and carrier decks, their good range and ability to carry a large amount of just about anything you could possibly want to drop on or fire at people making them very popular (with the French at least, probably less so the Algerians). Here are the usual "kit in bits" shots. Striking box art of the usual Suez marked aircraft. The contents and decals sheet laid out. A closer shot of the excellent Revell decal sheet. And now a couple of shots of the real thing to give some idea of the finish I am going to try and achieve, and to prove that they were also shore based, and very, very dirty! I hope that this choice of topic meets with the approval of the other group builders (there are some great topics on the go already). Any help and advice (and criticism) is always welcome. Thanks for looking. Craig.

Hyperscale.com, Currently page 2 on Plane Talking Look for this thread Some unusual RAF subject matter (well for me anyway) - Greg Taylor on Nov 12 Some nice WW2 pictures including one of a Halifax modified to carry Spitfire fuselages. I've never seen this before. I Imagine not many have? Enjoy Pete My computer failed to copy the link, Maybe someone else can try.

I'm building an Academy Tomahawk IIb in the African Aces scheme, and putting a very strongly faded look into the paintwork. The decals, of course, look factory-fresh... I've got two thoughts at the moment about toning them down: a. A misted coat of white/very light grey paint over everything - bit concerned about this as the potential to ruin the whole plane could be quite high... b. White pastel/Tamiya weathering stuff on the decals - which would give, I think, a more uneven 'fading' Or, of course, both... Any thoughts on which has worked best for you at any point, or other suggestions? Cheers!

A tiny tank made even smaller by the fact that it is 1/76. I had been a long time after this tank as it was one of the most important tanks I was missing in my collection. I refused to buy the JB Models for 13 €, and bought it eventually the Airfix reissue for just 6 GBP or so. More pics here; http://toysoldierchest.blogspot.com/2013/06/airfix-jb-models-vickers-light-tank-mk.html

This is most probably my best 1/35 model, as I haven't build many, painted less and nearly everything a long time ago. I am basically a 1/72 guy. But sometimes for a change I make something, and I was quite inspired (if I may say so myself) when I built this one, in just two intensive days with the help of my brother. Usually I am not either a fan of making very worned out vehicles (I normally like vehicles just arrived from the factory), but this clearly cried for all the weatherings one can think of and then more. Here is the result (more pics here; http://toysoldierchest.blogspot.com/2013/05/tamiya-british-special-air-service-sas.html);