Search the Community

Hi, This is a 1:35 model of the Jagdpanther late version, a German tank destroyer. This is Tamiya KIT no. 35203. I made it as a movable model, of course The additional parts are - the Friulmodel tracks, couple of small accessories like grilles, towing cables, jerry cans, supply and ammo boxes. I hope you like it. I applied some correction on the model - polishing track horns and little stronger metal edges appearance. Models finished in 2021/2022 - "Sturmgeschutz III ausf G (1:35 vintage Tamiya)", "Matilda MK II (1:35 vintage Tamiya)" I invite you to see the rest of works on my site "about me"

Very straightforward build, I used Value Gears' kit-specific stowage plus other 'stuff' scrounged from the spares box. Tamiya lacquer paints mixed & lightened by eye. One of my fave WWII vehicles and a huge step-up from the old Academy kit (which did sacrifice some bits & pieces to make this one). Please feel free to make any comments, ask any questions or criticisms. Belated HNY all from the other side of the planet. Cheers from a very sunny and warm New Plymouth. Ian.

7.5cm PaK40 Ammo Boxes with Shells Part 1 (35398) 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd We reviewed MiniArt’s fabulous new Pak.40 75mm Anti-Tank Gun in here, and it contained a few sprues of shells and boxes to scatter some ready rounds nearby, but you can always use more if you plan on depicting a well-stocked battery that’s prepared for a long battle. This set includes six sprues, three box sprues, two shell sprues, and one spent shell casing sprue that have hollow necks thanks to some slide moulding magic. It also includes a sheet of decals to stencil the shells and their boxes once they’re painted and before you begin the weathering process. A set of twenty ready rounds are included, with another four empty brass casings, plus six shell boxes that have slots for three shells each, and are made from individual sides, bottom and lid plus handles, and can be posed open or closed if you wish. The back of the box has instructions, sprue diagrams and colour information printed on it, including a chart that gives codes for Vallejo, Mr Color, AK Real Color, Mission Models, AMMO, Tamiya, as well as colour swatches and generic colour names. Conclusion If you have a PaK.40 from any manufacturer at this scale, this set will add a healthy stack of shells in super detail with all the stencils you could need to complete the task to the best of your ability. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi, This is a 1:35 model, the Elefant, German tank destroyer. This is Italeri KIT no. 0211. I made it as movable model. Additional parts are the Friulmodel tracks, towing cable and small accessories. I little modified the front fenders and replaced the shackles for a bigger one. At the bottom I added a short video how does the model ride. P.S. I just bought photo light tent and pictures of this model was taken in the my light tent for the first time. I forgot install an antenna in the model so I took couple pictures with it after I folded in my light tent models riding...

Hi Pals. Considering this model finished, here is the final result that I have obtained. A nice kit, without a multitude of hyper-fractionated parts, but that maintains a very good level of detail, more than enough for me, I don't forget that at least I do this to enjoy it, and to get something that is nice to see. , not something that is frustrating due to its added difficulty, on the other hand nonsense, because not because of many little pieces, a kit is necessarily better. I don't remember big problems with it, if anything the front adjustment, nothing that can't be fixed by any average modeller. It includes a jig for assembling the tracks, but I haven't used it, the tracks are large and easy to manipulate, plus the saggy is "one line", as it does not have central rollers, it is very easy to finish them. Includes a small set of PEs, more than enough for me. Copper wire for tug cables. The decals are somewhat thick and tend to cause silvering, so you have to keep this in mind. The initial idea was to do something similar to the boxart of the model, a tritone camo, but after trying it, I didn't like how it was turning out, so plan B was a sand color, thinking of a vehicle that had little use. With a primary red primer (Plan C...lol), I dressed the beast, with sand, and modulating it, then, the typical weathering processes, with layers of acrylic, oils, and pigments. I have added vegetation on the lower sides of the hull, on the tracks, although I don't know if it will be seen, and some fallen leaves at random points on the model. Some helmets also on the spare tracks, from different sources, hence the somewhat different size and color, because my idea is that if all the soldiers are different, why not their helmet size and a different tone...? . In the end, I have not added the skirts, because when I put them on, the silhouette of the model changes a lot, and I like it better without them, after all, with the Kingtiger Henschel (published) that I did some time before, the same thing happened to me, more pieces for the box of spare parts...lol. Thank all those who have commented, supported, and been interested in the model, much appreciated, hoping that they have enjoyed it as much as possible and find it useful and inspiring for any future planned project. Many thanks for watching and comments as always. Cheers and TC Francis.👍 A couple of black and white photos... And one of the model (the one above) with artistic composition "What if..." Somewhere in Europe. final days of the confict....

German Sd.Kfz.186 Jagdtiger Henschel (84562) 1:35 Hobby Boss via Creative Models Ltd The King Tiger was a development of the original Tiger that itself terrified Allied troops, but its fatal weakness was further stressing the over-stretched drivetrain by piling on yet more weight without significant improvements to the capabilities in these important areas. While it worked, the King Tiger was a formidable foe, but too often it was to be found broken-down and abandoned, often because of something trivial, but impossible to fix in the field. This was of no use to the Germans, who were already short of tanks due to their complexity and losses on both fronts, and if the vehicle was abandoned in battle, the crew were more than likely to scuttle it if they were able, or the Allies would put a few rounds into it just to be sure. Adding yet more weight to the King Tiger by creating a heavy tank killer would not seem to be a bright idea without radical improvements to the running gear, but this is exactly what the German engineers did. They stripped off the upper hull, discarded the turret and installed a fixed casemate with a huge Krupp 128mm main gun that could defeat any tank of the day with a single shot from outside the range of most if not all Allied armour. The gun had some lateral travel for fine-tuning its aim, but any significant change in direction of its prey required the driver to reposition the vehicle, needing firm cooperation between driver and gunner to achieve good results. The usual two contenders for the project were Porsche and Henschel, although these differed mainly in the suspension area, with the Porsche suspension using eight wheel stations while the eventual successful bid from Henschel had nine, helping to spread the immense ground pressure a little wider. Only eleven of the Porsche design were made early on, the rest built by Henschel to their specification. With 250mm rolled-steel armour on the casemate that was almost invulnerable at the time, the added weight caused extreme stress on the Maybach engine, with a range of only 50 miles at low speed over rough ground on a full tank of fuel. As fuel supply was becoming difficult at that point in the war, this later became a more serious problem when the two recipient units of the type lost a fifth of their strength due to fuel-shortage related issues. The seemingly perennial issue with Nazi tanks was the complexity of their designs, which meant that fewer than 100 were produced before the end of the war, although there is some uncertainty on those numbers due to the breakdown of record keeping toward the end. After the war three intact vehicles were reserved for evaluation, and one of those still resides in the Tank Museum at Bovington. It is only after you have seen the vehicle from close range that you realise what a monster it is, and how terrifying its presence must have been to tankers and infantry alike. The Kit This is a reboxing with new parts from Hobby Boss, based upon their Porsche production variant from 2022 and sharing some parts with their King Tiger kits, so it’s a very modern kit. It arrives in a large but shallow top-opening box with eleven sprues in sand-coloured styrene plus two hull halves, six sprues of brown track links, a clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) parts, decal sheet, instruction booklet in greyscale, and a separate A3 glossy sheet printed in colour on both sides that details the colour schemes and decal locations. Detail is good, and it has a subtle but appropriate rolled steel armour texture over the surface, sand cast texture on armoured exhaust covers and the mantlet, and torch-cut ends to the upper hull armour, with weld-lines included where they intersect and overlap. The torch-cut texture on the ends of the lower hull side panels is absent though, as we’ll discuss later. Construction begins with the lower hull, adding the armour covers to the front of the final drive housings, then threading the swing-arms and torsion bars through the hull from both sides, followed by the road wheels, which must be applied in the correct order to achieve the interleaved effect. The four-part idler wheels and two-part drive sprockets with the final drive bell-housing incorporated are made up in a confusing flurry with arrows everywhere, then they too are installed along with long and short caps to the centres of the road wheel stacks. The tracks come next, and they’re an interesting part of the model as they have good detail. Each track run is handed, and every link is made from two parts with twin guide horns as additional separate parts, and have the tread detail moulded-in, adding the next link, a process that continues until you have a run of 48 double links per side. The two link parts have four sprue gates on the hinge-points, while the guide-horns each have one sprue gate on the edge that is easily sliced away, so shouldn’t take long to prepare. There are two tiny, faintly recessed ejector-pin marks on the recessed parts of the exterior face that you could easily miss without magnification, but with paint and a little bit of mud they probably won’t be noticed, so ignore them at your leisure. Attention shifts to the rear bulkhead, which is detailed with twin exhausts in armoured shrouds, adding two track tools, Notek convoy light, jack-block and a large shackle between the exhausts that requires the removal of the inner bolts on the armoured shrouds. The bulkhead is slotted into the rear of the lower hull and has a pair of small PE loops added to the flat rear mud guards. The upper hull has the domed kugelblende armour fitted to the glacis from the outside, adding the pivot and socket from inside, taking care with the glue. To fill the hole in the ball-mount, the machine gun is made up with sighting and grip mechanisms, plus a domed cap on the left that allows the top of the gunner’s head to take some of the weight of the breech and assist with precise movement, sliding a clear periscope from inside into the roof above. The rear of the upper hull is open at this stage, with just two rails joining the front to the back, which will help support the engine deck insert when it is completed. Work starts on this by adding the large maintenance hatch in the centre with two mushroom vents mounted on top, then detailing it with lifting hooks, more mushroom vents and hinge-covers, applying PE meshes over the grilles to prevent debris and grenades getting into the engine bay, followed by mounting it on the hull. The front hatches are usually moulded in an insert on most King Tiger and Jagdtiger kits, but Hobby Boss have elected to mould it into the upper hull with both, having a small insert with a clear periscope in front of the driver’s hatch, fitting armoured covers over it and the other periscope that was installed earlier, plus simple hatches and a mushroom vent on the right edge. As we don’t have a turret to build, the open rear of the casemate is made next, layering it up from two panels, fitting enormous armoured hinge covers each side, and the two clamshell doors that are also made from two layers to avoid sink-marks. Once in place without glue, the four hinges are clipped into position without glue, and a pair of grab-handles are installed to allow them to open and close, running a bar across the very bottom of the bulkhead before it is glued into position. The pioneer tools are installed all over the deck and side of the upper hull, the hand-tools having PE clasps, while the styrene towing cables with moulded-in barrel-cleaning rods are mounted on pegs on the sloped hull sides, surrounded by more pioneer tools with PE clasps. At the front, a cyclopean headlight is mounted on a central bracket on the glacis, with the wiring snaking away aft, adding some PE details for effect. The instructions diverge here into two options, allowing you to choose whether to have spare track links all along the side of the casemate, or just at the ends. If opting for the latter, you should remove the very fine positioning lines from the surface of the casemate, which should be simple enough, using either a sharp blade to scrape them off, or very careful sanding. It also applies to the aerial base at the top middle of the sidewall. Returning to the lower hull, a large insert is placed upon the floor, locating it on two turrets that stand higher than the torsion bars in the floor, adding a curved raised section that guides the gun’s limited rotation. There is a depiction of the breech and block made up and mated to the first barrel portion that has the recoil tubes moulded-in, and an insert placed between them, fitting thirty-two small PE lugs around the circumference of the barrel, and a flat plate to the other end, onto which the breech assembly is glued. A protective frame around the breech is made from two parts, then it is pinned between two trunnions and mounted on the base that now resides in the lower hull, adding a periscope as you finish. The upper hull is placed over the gun onto the lower, gluing it in place and adding the frontal armour over the barrel stub. A gaggle of small parts are fixed to the front deck along with a pair of towing shackles that just clip onto the torch-cut ends of the lower side armour. The texture of torch-cut armour isn’t replicated here, so check your references and have a go at recreating that if you wish. It’s not too difficult, and can be achieved with a file or sharp blade. Between the two shackles is the travel lock A-frame for the main gun, which is built from five parts plus a pair of mounting pivots on each side that have markers on the glacis to help with locating them. The casemate roof is shown separately for both versions, consisting of the installation of periscopes with armoured protectors, the main hatch with hinged smaller forward portion, lifting eyes, and for one version, a small part on the edge of the roof. The fenders are moulded as single lengths on each side, and these have been tapered at the edges to give a more realistic look. The small rectangular mounting blocks are moulded into the hull, with corresponding recesses in the fenders so that you don’t have to remove them if using the fenders. If you cut sections of the fenders out to depict lost portions, you can leave the blocks in the missing area, and depending on whether you think that the area behind the fenders would be left in red primer, that gives some leeway for a little bit of fun painting. In action, these fenders were often casualties of incautious or hurried manoeuvring, and were bent, mangled, or even torn from their mounts, as evidenced by many photos of the type. A pair of front mudguards of the later type are pushed onto rectangular holes at the front of the hull, adding separate sloped sides and PE brackets to complete them. A mass of brackets are fitted to the sides of the casemate, enough for two or three rows of track links two deep, the links for which have small portions removed to depict them as individual links that are ready for action. The mantlet for the big gun is made from three layers, and completed by inserting the barrel, which is moulded in halves, so take care when joining them to minimise clean-up afterwards. Another pair of towing shackles are fixed on the rear, with a choice of two locations for the anti-aircraft MG42 machine gun on the rear deck. Markings Surprisingly, there are four decal options on the small sheet, but unsurprisingly there is no information given regarding the where or when, or even if these schemes were documented. There is a varied choice of late-war schemes however, and all look at least plausible, so you have a choice to check your references, or just plough on and have fun with your model. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are well-printed and suitable for the task, consisting of ‘balkenkreuz’ standard crosses, and four different vehicle numbers. The paint call-outs are given in Gunze Sangyo Mr Color codes, with conversion suggestions for their alternative Acrysion brand, plus Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya and Humbrol codes to help you if Mr Color isn’t available or your preferred brand. Conclusion It’s a well-detailed exterior model of Nazi Germany’s Hail Mary tank design, ignoring the Maus that may or may not have seen action in the last days of WWII. It should build up into a respectable replica of this type. Highly recommended. At time of writing, this kit is available from Creative at a healthy 30% over their standard price. Review sample courtesy of

Hi Pals, Again taking up the hobby, this time I have opted for something a priori simple. It is about the JAGDTIGER Early from TAKOM, from their "Blitz" range, which seems to be somewhat simplified compared to other kits, but I see that it is a very complete kit (without interiors), with many small details and some beautiful moulds. It also includes a jig for the tracks, which I think will make my always tedious work easier... In principle, I hope it is OOB, perhaps add an antenna, and some handle that due to position/fragility is a candidate for breakage in the handling process... Soon I will be adding progress. Thanks for the interest. Cheers and TC Francis,👍

As the title suggests, I have decided to venture over to the Dark Side. My interest has always been aircraft but the projects I've been working on the last couple years are long terms ones and I had trouble keeping interest so I've decided to shelve my aircraft projects for the time being and decided to try out armorsince tanks tend to build up a bit faster than 2 or 4 engine bombers. Having committed to the M3/M4 Sherman Group Build in a few months, I figured I'd get a couple other builds done first so I don't embarrass myself. So, I've started a couple of the 1/48 Tamiya kits in my stash that I'm using as stepping stones before moving to 1/35 in the future. First up is the excellent little M10 (along with the T26E3 in the background but that will be a different thread). The M10 has always been one of my favorite AFVs and this kit has been a joy to build so far. I'm waiting on a couple packages of paint to arrive before I start that so I've done a quick mockup to show my work so far. The bogeys it is sitting on were "rescued" from a M4 that turned into a paint mule and test build for cast texture techniques so those are not the ones I will be using....last night was spent cleaning up all the suspension pieces I will be using. I decided to add a Legend stowage set (not cemented yet) which is looking really good. I'm also using metal main gun and .50 cal barrels from RB Model and some photoetch bits from Hauler (most of which have yet to be applied). And then the rest of the improvements I decided to try my hand at were shaving off the hatch handles and replacing with wire, stippling Ammo extra thin cement with a stiff brush to create cast metal texture on the transmission cover, gun mantlet and turret counterweights, and then adding an Archer casting number to the mantlet. I'm liking the results so far and can't wait to start getting some paint on it! (also, nevermind the glue marks on the hull....I glued on the grouser racks before remembering I'll need to apply decals before attaching them, so that will get cleaned up)

Hello everyone, I wanted to build Hellcat for quite some time, but for some reason, this kit was in my stash for years. Finally I managed to build it. It's an AFV Club No. AF35015 kit, but it turned out to be a Frankenstein build. Many AM items were used: Royal Model detailing set and mufflers, Legend accessory set, Fruil tracks, many stowage bits and pieces from different AM kits (Miniart, Value Gear, Black Fog, etc.), leftovers from other kits and some amount of scratch building. I must say that it was not a very pleasant build. Mostly because of the fitting issues of so many different components (if built out of the box, I am quite sure it would not be the case). For example, fitting that !#%@# canvas mantled cover took more time than building the rest of the model. I regret for not making WIP thread from this one to share my pain with you guys This model represents one of the vehicles of 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion, as seen on many photos and videos taken during September, 1944 fighting in Brest. Building mostly desert tanks recently, I wanted to make this one very dirty, for a change. Maybe I went a bit too far. Decals are a bit of a letdown, being very thick so I had to sand them a bit. Also, marking options provided in this kit are mostly wrong, so if you are bothered by this, ignore them and use reference photos and external resources instead. Model is painted with Gunze and Vallejo (for detail painting). Weathering is different Mig's stuff (Nature Effects and lots of pigments). You may notice that road wheels are not aligned. They do not fit very well (they are a bit loose) so it's really hard to align them perfectly. Unfortunately, noticed this after taking photos. Kit provides very nice interior, especially turret interior. Royal Model detailing set is a very nice addition as well. Unfortunately, not much of the interior can be seen on photos. I tried to capture some details, but I'm not very happy with the result, maybe I'll try to add few better shots later. Reference vehicle had this custom made hedge cutter. It's quite different from the usual designs, so I had to scratch build it. And here's the real thing: There's also a video of this particular vehicle, taken during Brest fighting, and it was very useful to see how it looked from different angles. Especially useful in order to build rhino device and to understand the stowage layout. Thanks for watching and thanks for feedback! Cheers, Nenad

Recently a relative gifted me an Airfix 1/35 M10 tank destroyer. Since I am home on acation now, I decided to get right into it. Photos to follow. Any ideas??

Another model I rescued off my shelf of doom, one of Dragon's older models, the Hetzer. It started life as a flame thrower but I bought it second hand from someone who had used that part for something else and included a resin conversion and metal barrel for a conventionally armed machine. I initially put this on the shelf of doom as it was before magic tracks, so I had to cut out and clean up about 200 track pieces. I guess I burned out on the model after doing that and it sat in the stash for years until I pulled it out again a week ago. Other than the tedious track link clean up, the kit is pretty good. The colours and markings represent no machine in particular. I kept the weathering fairly light, a grubby wash and some dirt here and there, enough to make it look used.

Kit - Academy 13288 (2014 reissue) Paint - Mig acrylic OD modulation set, Tamiya acrylics. Decals - Kit (Designed by DEF Models, printed by Cartograph) Extras - DEF Model mantlet & barrel, Italeri, Tamiya & Masterbox accessories. M10 GMC Régiment Blindé de Fusiliers-Marins, French 2nd Armd Div. Outside Paris, August 1944. ...and with it's 'brother in arms' the Tamiya M4A3E8. It's hard to explain, the M10 is just one of those subjects that has a very definite appeal to me, but I would never commit to building one until recently because I knew my 'skills' (such as they are), would never come close to building what I saw in my head. It's only in the last two or three years that my AFV 'skills' have started to coalesce, so in 2018 I took a deep-breath, bought the kit and then left it alone... still nervous of it y'see. Started work finally on it just before Christmas and have been grabbing a few sessions here and there for the last eight weeks or so. The Academy kit is NOT a straightforward build, a lot of planning is needed especially in the early stages where building-up, masking and painting the interior sub-assemblies has to be done in such a way as to minimise re-painting and re-masking over and over again. The fit of the turret halves was a nightmare as they seemed to be entirely different sizes, but with some good super-glue, some pulling and twisting and a fair chunk of swearing it did work-out. The kit-supplied gun-barrel is terrible and best consigned to the bin in my opinion - the kit-specific barrel & mantlet set from DEF Model is a massive improvement and highly recommended. I decided before I began that the finished model would have very little in the way of stowage as historically the RBFM vehicles that took part in the Paris Liberation skirmishes drove only short distances from their lager areas, fought then retreated for the evening to start all over again the following day !. Also I recently finished an Easy 8 in 'road march' configuration and fancied something a little more 'minimalist'. As ever thanks for taking the time to look and / or comment, please feel free to ask any questions or suggest any improvements. Next for me is a Eurofighter and then an M41 Walker Bulldog, both for GB's elsewhere on t'interweb. Have a great weekend, folks, best from NZ. Ian.

M10 GMC Tank Destroyer (A1360) 1:35 Airfix The M10 Tank Destroyer was produced due to a US Army requirement for a Tank Destroyer force after their entry to WWII in 1941. They needed a suitable tracked vehicle with a fully rotating turret. The prototype was delivered in early 1942 and after a few tweaks production was authorised in June 1942. The official name would be the 3 Inch Gun Motor Carriage M10 due to its 3 inch or 76.2mm M7 Gun. This was placed in an open turret on a modified M4A2 Sherman tank chassis. An alternative M10A would use the M4A3 chassis. The M10 combined thin sloped armour with the reliability of the Sherman design to produce a reasonably good tank killing platform. Despite later and better Tank Destroyers becoming available to deal with the more potent Tiger & Panther tanks the M10 in its larger numbers would continue to serve until the end of WWII. Even though it as a good platform the design had its weaknesses. Though the armour was sloped it was still thin, the turret was open and thus exposed crews to shell and mortar fire, as well as small arms fire. While the turret could traverse 360 degrees the traverse was by hand and thus slow. As well as service with the US Army units were supplied to the UK, Free French & Soviet forces under lease lend, Following WWI the US Would supply them to many countries under the Mutual Defence Assistance Act. The M10 was never assigned a name unlike other tanks/tank destroyers. The Kit This is one of Airfix's new range of 1:35 AFV models, which is a scale that they have not entered until now due to previous management apparently? the current management are much more switched-on to the hobby, so have reached an agreement to rebox some Academy AFV kits with the Airfix touch, and we should eventually see new tools from them in due course with a little luck. Construction starts with the wheels. The drive sprockets and idler wheels are built up then 12 wheels are made which are for the pairs in Sherman type bogies. Both solid and spoked wheels are provided (Early & late type) for this with no guidance on which ones to use? The bogie units are then built up 3 for each side. Again for these units two types of top for these are included in the kit, with again no indication of which needs to be used! Next up we move to the main hull. The mounting points for the front and rear axles are added to the lower hull. Next up all the wheels can be added in. work can now be done on the nearly full interior (minus the engine compartment. Onto the lower plate the front bulkhead is mounted and then the transmission housing. The drivers position and controls are added as is a second crew position on the right. This lower plate is then fitted into the hull, and the front of the vehicle added complete with its towing hooks and shackles. For the main interior fighting compartments a raised floor is then added complete with the rear bulkhead. many internal fittings such as ammo storage are added inside. The rear of the vehicle is then built up. This now completes the lower hull. Construction now moves to the upper hull. The crew hatches for the front are made up and added, these can be open or closed. The engine deck is added as is the front armour. Headlights, their guards, grab handles and other assorted fittings are then added to the outside, with tools being added to the rear. The upper and lower hulls can then be joined and the flexible track added. We now move to the turret. As this is open again a complete interior is provided. First the back end of the gun, its breech and recoil mechanism is built up and added into the lower turret section. Crew seating and controls are added along with ready use ammo. To the top of the turret stowage bins and exterior fittings are added. The two sections of the turret can then be joined. The gun mantlet and barrel can then be added. The last thing to do is add the machine guns to the turret. A 30 cal is provided for the front and a 50 cal for the rear. The turret can then be added to the hull. Markings There are two decal options in the box utilising the small decal sheet, and from the box you can build one of the following: 813th Tank Destroyer Battalion, US Third Army, France 1944 4e Escadron, Regiment Blinde de Fusillers-Marins, St Denis, France, August 1944. Conclusion The M10 is a well known Tank Destroyer from WWII, and the Academy kit under Airfix's auspices is a good compromise between ease of construction and detail. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Sd.Kfz.173 Jagdpanther Ausf.G1 (TS-039) 1:35 Meng Model via Creative Models After the Nazis encountered the formiddable Russian T-34, their medium tank project took a new turn to become the Panther, which proved to be one of their more successful designs and is still admired today for its technical prowess and abilities. The need for tank killers took the chassis of the Panther, removed the turret and superstructure, replacing it with a casemate and powerful high-velocity gun in a new mount with elevation and limited side to side movement that was used for fine-tuning targeting. The heavily sloped glacis extended to the roofline, giving the vehicle a sleek look that was echoed at the sides, with a step down from the roof at the rear onto the engine deck. The G1 variant used the Panther A as a base, while the later models designated G2 were based up on the Panther G chassis. The same Pak 43 88mm gun was mounted, in an internally fixed mantlet initially, and later externally bolted in the G2. As with all WWII German tanks, the design was complex by comparison with the enemy's, so production was slower, which was probably just as well as it was a capable tank, just like is turreted progenitor. The gun was unstoppable by armour at the time, the engine had enough power for the task in hand, and it wasn't overweight, so the transmission could handle the power easily. If there had been more of them, they could well have had an impact, certainly slowing down the Allied advances (providing they could have fuelled them, and making gains more costly in men and materiel. The Kit Given that Meng have now tooled a Panther in 1:35, it makes sense for them to add a Jagdpanther to their line due to the overlap in parts and research. We reviewed the Ausf.A here and the later D here, so it looks like a Panther G and a Jagdpanther G2 will hopefully be on the list soon enough. Meng have a well-earned reputation for producing good, well-detailed models, mainly because that's what they keep on doing. I'm a fan of Meng, and I also love the Jagdpanther for no reason that I can divine, so I apologise in advance if I come across a bit giddy at times. The kit arrives in a standard classy Meng box with effective artwork and that satin finish I like so much. Inside are nine sprues in sand coloured styrene, a small clear sprue, two sheets of Photo-Etch (PE) in varying thicknesses, a length of polycaps, two thicknesses of braided metal wire a small decal sheet, turned aluminium barrel, instruction booklet and separate colour painting guide on folded A3 glossy paper. First impressions. There are very few common sprues, extending as far as the two road wheel sprues, but there are a lot of common parts that have been re-allocated to the new sprues in substantial numbers as you can imagine. Even the track sprues have been redesigned with the links horizontally and with an extra sprue gate added, presumably to cope with dangers of short-shot sprues coming hot off the presses. Detail is excellent throughout, and I really like and appreciate the inclusion of things such as a turned barrel and realistic braided wire for the towing cables, as it's just one less thing to have to add to your model. The more that’s in the box and used by the modeller, the better the eventual value is. Construction begins in the same manner as the Panther with the paired road wheels with a polycap between each one, plus the idler and drive sprockets. The lower hull is built from floor and two side panels, with two t-shaped braces holding them to the correct angles, so that when you fit the rear bulkhead it should fit perfectly in place. Various bits of suspension and drive train are added to the sides, as are the stub axles through the holes in the hull sides. These have a small additional peg at the end of the swing arm to allow the modeller to set them at the correct (stationary) ride height, and before installation the small hole in the back that is there to prevent sink marks is filled with small inserts, even though they mostly won't be seen. The lower hull with the engine deck and radiator bath sections are then made up, and glued on the lower hull, with the overhang closed in by adding the bottoms of the fenders once in place. The road wheels are interleaved in the same manner as the Tiger, so must be put in place in the correct order to prevent complications, so take care here to put types A and B in the correct places, after which the tracks are needed. The links are individual, with twin guidehorns that are supplied as separate parts and must be added into the small square holes in the links before you can glue the links together. The new position of the sprue gates on the links are on curved surfaces, which makes removing that last fraction of a millimetre that much harder, requiring a circular diamond file to do a good job. This slows the task down quite a bit initially, although as with all things you'll probably speed up near the end, which is exactly what I did on my short run, electing to add the horns dry to the links, and glue them in place. The links fit together snuggly, and hide all the seamlines as well as any less-than-perfect sprue gate removal, so it's not the end of the world, but the task will be a fairly long one, and as the guidehorns are small and tapered, they love to ping out of your tweezers at the slightest increase in pressure. Once all the links have their horns in place, a relatively swift gluing of links should leave them flexible enough to drape around the wheels, and taping or chocking them in place will give you the realistic slight sag behind the drive wheels that you need to the top run. The upper hull that was installed earlier is merely the liner, but the front panel is exterior armoured surface, and this needs some holes opened up depending on which decal option you are going to use for your model. The side armour panels are similarly in need of holes for the same reason, at which point you have a vehicle that looks more like a tank. Small PE are added to the exterior along with other fixtures such as the lights, towing shackles and pioneer tools that are a must for any AFV. The rear bulkhead is fitted with armoured access panels and either two or the later three-plus-one exhausts, which have cast armoured lowers and are surrounded by the angular stowage boxes that usually fare badly in reversing incidents. The later tubular Notek convoy/number plate light is hidden away on the left lower , with a scrap diagram showing the correct colours and its location on the stowage bin, which is a new one on me. The engine deck has three louvers, two of which are rectangular and have PE mesh covers, the other a raised cast circle that has its own PE insert, while on the sides a run of narrow PE fenders are fitted with styrene brackets, which later also act as hangers for the schurtzen side skirts. A rack of spare track links and tools are added above on the right, with more tools on the left, plus a choice of three barrel cleaning tubes either on the side or at the rear of the engine deck. The central lift-off cover to the engine deck was a source for some variance, so holes are flashed over and drilled out as needed for the various decal options. Even the jack block was moved to the engine deck on some examples, so the option is provided here as well. The rear is finished off with the crew hatch, spent shell-ejection port, and aerial base, with an alternative stowage box, blanking plate or antenna base on the left of the crew door, just to confuse things. Speaking of variations, there are a few on the roof of the fighting compartment, with a simple flat mushroom vent, or a higher domed one, as well as being able to leave the commander's hatch open or closed. The rotating sighting periscope is made up and dropped into the roof, being secured by a ring to allow it to rotate if you wish it. The roof can be installed before the main gun at this point. The bow mounted machine gun was surrounded by a domed armour panel called a Kugelblende, which came in two flavours with a stepped aperture and a smooth one. The gun barrel is fitted to the ball mount and trapped in place by the installation of this part, or it can be left off and covered by a plug with PE chain that was fitted during deep wading for example. The gun breech is surprisingly detailed considering this is a "no interior" kit, and this is built up over a number of steps before being pushed through a choice of three mantlets, one of which has no external fixtures, the other two with large bolts top and bottom as befits their decal option. The Saukopf (literally "pig head" due to how it looks) that protects the vulnerable gap between mantlet and breech is slid on next, with PE lifting eyes added for two decal options, presumably after they realised these things were REALLY heavy. The completed assembly slides into the glacis and can be glued in place to accept the turned barrel once it has been top & tailed with the three-piece flash hider, and four part gun sleeve. The barrel is keyed, so there's little change of it going in upside down unless you are very determined and brutal with it, and again there's a choice of styles of flash hider between decal options. With the barrel glued in and the nickel-plated Schurzen put in place, that's construction over with. Markings There are four markings options in the box, and a small decal sheet covers them all, as with most AFV models. Everything is camouflaged in weird and wonderful ways, as the Germans were at this point in the war running scared of an increasingly overwhelming aerial supremacy by the Allied after years of chipping away at the Luftwaffe til there was very little left, and almost no experienced pilots to pull things back. Decals are printed in China in black and white, and have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion I'm in love with this kit, and will put up with the slightly fiddly tracks for the sake of the rest of it. Awesome detail, simple enough construction, and it's a Jagdpanther. By Meng. Review sample courtesy of

Hi Pals, I finally end the model, because I have not had much time to dedicate myself to the hobby. This kit, I have not been very happy to work, maybe someone with more skill than I do not think the same, I think it is quite difficult for average modelers, not for anything in particular, just because IMHO is not very well designed, what which causes "unnecessary" assembly problems, but anyway if it has been a good subject to test techniques. I would have loved to have done Zimmerit, but with how difficult it has been for me, along with the PEs, I've been overcome, after all it's about enjoying ... lol, maybe later. I'm not totally satisfied with the color of the model, but I have not managed to find the color combination I was looking for. Mostly because with the weathering it has become darker than I would have liked, and it is an issue that I have to improve ... weathering is a process that "always" will overshadow the final aspect of the model ... I think that for the next model (also of the same series), I will be more prepared to face the problems that arise, and obtain an optimal result. As always, thanks for watching and commenting Link to WIP section.

Hi all, So first proper post in ready for inspection so feeling a bit nervous actually. Since getting back into modelling I have been working through the available kits at Hobbycraft and was delighted to find the M10 in stock on my last visit (I don't go alone, Mrs Yetifan is a big time cake decorator hence how this all started). So my builds so far have been working through the available Tamiya kits they stock. All my builds so far have been entirely out of the box (OOB) and I have been using materials that have been available in Hobbycraft. So Tamiya paints and Tamiya Weathering Powders, Rowney oil paints, X20 thinners, tap water, a bit of Revell Plasto filler, cocktail sticks, bluetak and a bit of PVA. This is the first time I've used the Humbrol rattle can Matt Varnish and I'm much happier with it than the Tamiya Matt Clear. So I haven't got into using any of the myriad products some of you experts use but I will start to look into some of them for the next build. Especially some of the mud effect products that I really want to try and would suit this model perfectly. I painted the model using a soft wide brush with Tamiya Olive Drab watered down with warm tap water and it took 4 coats in total. I paint as I go so usually apply 1 or 2 coats before assembly and then the final 2 coats once the main build is complete. I think it works well and leaves a nice smooth finish. I do have an airbrush but find that i'm not happy with the finish, it is usually too Matt if that makes sense and I find the brush method leaves the paint smoother (probably my skills not the airbrush). Decals applied over gloss varnish and then sprayed with Humbrol Matt Varnish. Weathering is all oil paints and powders done in layers with the darkest powder first ending with the lightest. Overall a really fun build, having the interior adds something to this kit and makes it a bit more interesting than the Easy 8. I have tried doing some chipping but only in a small way with a small piece of old washing up sponge. I think I will practice more on one of my previous builds. I had a go at the figures and they came out ok(ish) but I still seem to fail when it comes to painting the faces. I'm getting the hang of flickr now so will start to photograph and upload some of my other completed builds. Thanks for looking.

M10/Achilles A visual history of the US Army’s Tank Destroyer Ampersand Group via Casemate UK The M10 was developed on the chassis of the M4A2 Sherman chassis with a rotating open turret carrying a 76.2mm gun, with the name 3-inch Gun Motor Carriage M10. It was lightly armoured, had a poor turret motor which resulted in a very slow 80 seconds to turn completely around, which gave it a disadvantage in rapidly evolving battles, which the crew tried to reduce by hand-cranking it themselves. The open top made it a tempting target for a carefully thrown grenade in close combat, and the crew casualties from air-burst shells were frequent and plentiful. It reached service in 1942 after a redesign of the turret to remove the initial shot-traps that extended all the way around it, and production ceased in 1943, although it soldiered on in dwindling numbers through the rest of WWII. The Achilles is the name given to the 17-pounder equipped variant, which was much more successful against the then-new Panther with its improved armour, which the British used to good effect with their lend-lease vehicles. The extra punch of the bigger gun that went on to equip the Sherman Firefly was a godsend that helped avoid close-in engagements that put the Achilles at a disadvantage due to its relatively light armour. Even so, the driver appears to have been the safest member of the crew, despite being positioned out front in the glacis plate area. After WWII the surplus examples found their way to other countries, and were used by liberated Allies until they could restore their own armed forces after years of living under Nazi rule. The Book This book from Ampersand by the prolific David Doyle carries on the format of the Visual History series, with 128 pages of great photos from sources both contemporary and from preserved or restored vehicles that are now in the hands of collectors. The book contains over 450 photos in total, with many of them large and highly detailed. The pages are split between the A10 and the Achilles with a useful potted history given on both types in the introduction, although the larger part of the book is given over to the more numerous A10, which acquired the nickname “Wolverine” at some point in its career. While the contemporary photos are in black and white, the preserved examples are photographed in full colour, and the detail in which they are depicted would be an absolute boon to any modeller, especially those wishing to go for ultimate realism. The quality of the restorations is exemplary, and the author has documented the post-war additions where practical, such as rear-view mirrors and so forth. Conclusion Whether you have the models that you intend to use this book for reference, or have an interest in the subject, this book will give you all the reference pictures and some besides, as well as some inspiration for dioramas. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hello, here's my UM (Unimodels) Achilles IIc Tank Destroyer. I believe this vehicle was also called 'Wolverine'. It's basically an American M-10 with a british gun. The vehicle belongs to 11th Armoured Division, 75th Anti-Tank Regiment, operating in NW Europe, Winter 1944/45. Painted with Mr.Hobby acrylics. Thanks for your interest! All pictures: Wolfgang Rabel, IGM Cars & Bikes. Although I did fare better with the tracks on this model, one of the links on the left back side opened (this was only discovered when I looked at the pictures and might have happened during transport to my photographer!). This will be fixed .... but is present on the photograph, unfortunately... Here's shots of the interior before closing it up. The interior hull was painted 'Off-White'. Cheers from Vienna! Roman

As the title says, I've gotten bored with the sanding involved in my main build. So I started something new. Isn't that always the way? It started with a plastic ski pass... Then it turned into this: Blocked out turret and gun mount. The it morphed into this long-gunned monster. That was the end if the first build day. Today things got started on the body. It's upside down in this picture. It ended the night like this: It's eating into my plastic card supply... Turret detailing got started, This is a hatch and a ring under some tape. I also boxed in the gun cavity. This took ages! Anyway, here's how she sits at the end of. Work tonight. Rather menacing isn't it? Cheers, K

Any gamers on here? World of Tanks has a lot to answer for... This should be pretty recognisable. It's a Christmas pressie for my 'toon mate, who's rather handy with one of these wee beasties. The build was a bit rushed. I had the devils own job sourcing the kit- I think there are only two on the market? I could have done with another week to tone down the weathering and source some proper decals. Still, it is what it is. It's my first large scale tank, (only my second tank this century!) so although it's too late for this one, I could do with some pointers for the next one. If you've got any advice or tips, they'd be much appreciated, peeps. The business end: Top down: The WoT look: