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Feldküche – Field Kitchen with Cooks (35618) 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd The idiom “an army marches on its stomach” was attributed to Napolean amongst others over the centuries, and its meaning is that without food, an army will be unable to advance after a relatively short period of time, a situation that Napoleon’s army found themselves in when they invaded Russia in 1812. Sustenance is crucial for the ongoing wellness of any person, and for a soldier that is expected to fight when they reach their destination, it is doubly important. With the industrialisation of warfare, the provision of food to keep soldiers fit, healthy and ready to fight was similarly modernised, creating “field kitchens” that were highly mobile, and could be set up quickly at any sensible location, often a field as the name suggests. Once halted, the wood-fired ovens were lit, and a meal was either cooked from scratch or pre-prepared repasts such as stews or soup could be warmed up for expediency and to keep the soldiers warm during winter campaigns. Germany’s WWII Feldküche was sometimes referred to as the Gulaschkanone, due to the way in which its chimney folded horizontally for transport, giving it the look of an artillery piece from some angles if you squinted. The Kit The main sprues of this kit were seen earlier in a boxing that came with a truck to transport the kitchen, so while ICM’s statement of being 100% new tooling might be slightly optimistic, the main sprues are only a couple of months old. It has now been re-released without a vehicle, but with a set of figures to cook up the food for the soldiers, and it arrives in a shallow top-opening box with a captive flap on the lower tray. Inside are four sprues, although in this boxing the two outriggers of one of the sprues have been nipped off in order to fit within the smaller box. A decal sheet and instruction booklet complete the package, printed in colour with profiles on the rear pages for the two decal options. Detail is good, and as usual ICM’s figures are excellent, with realistic poses and sensible parts breakdown. Construction begins with the body of the kitchen that has a large circular cooking area for mixing and keeping the Goulash warm, which is first evidenced by a circular depression in the floor, fitting the rear of the box to it, then adding the sides, and an internal divide, finishing off with the front of the body. The top has a raised edge to a circular cut-out, and this has a large pan with curved bottom edges glued underneath before it too is fitted to the top of the body, creating two raised areas by doing so, which have their own tops that have bases of other storage areas, adding the lids to each one and the central circular lid to keep the goulash warm. The chimney is made from two halves, with a rib around the lower end that shows where it folds, but it is moulded as one length for this boxing at least. It mates to the top of the kitchen on a raised rim, then work begins on the kitchen’s chassis, which is more akin to that of a horse-drawn carriage, which is appropriate, as it was sometimes pulled by horses when vehicles weren’t available. The axle is fitted to the leaf-springs moulded into the curved chassis rails, adding a cross-brace and triangular web toward the towing eye. The finished frame is then glued under the body of the kitchen, fitting three covers to vents under the fireboxes, one having a short ladder that could be folded down or out to add extra working space, or to hang cloths to dry next to the warm ovens. Two one-piece cart wheels are fitted to the ends of the axle, fixing a front rail under the kitchen, which has a V-shaped support to add strength. The final part is a support pole that is used to keep the kitchen level when unhitched, stopping the whole thing from pitching forward due to the weight of the A-frame, or back due to the weight of the goulash. There are several accessories to be made that can be used to create a scene around the kitchen, which includes a metal jug with conical top; two jerry cans with prototypical triple handles; two buckets with separate handles; two wooden crates made from six parts each; four large sacks, six smaller sacks of ingredients with tied tops, and four oval metal storage containers with separate lids. Figures The new sprue contains parts for four figures, consisting of a standing chef, a seated potato-peeler, a man chopping wood on a stump to fuel the fire, and a final figure bringing a Jerry can of water to use during cooking. The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the sprue for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from ICM’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model. Various accessories are included on the sprue, from open bags of potatoes, logs of various sizes for the axeman to chop, a work table, cutting board and several sausages ready for chopping by the chef’s moulded-in knife. He also wears a chef’s hat and apron in case anyone wondered. Markings There are two colour options as you might already expect, either early war Panzer Grey, or later war Dark Yellow (Dunkelgelb). The decals include stencils for the kitchen, and the accessories, plus battalion markings, and on the grey option, a little nose art on the sides of the kitchen. From the box you can build one of the following: Pre-1943 Colour Scheme Post-1943 Colour Scheme Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion A field kitchen without figures is simply a piece of equipment. Once you add figures, it becomes alive with humanity and a sense of purpose, which is furthered by the quality of figures, and the detail of the kitchen itself. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

Hello, I'm relatively new to modelling and I have a Iwata Neo and I am looking to get the Italeri 1/9 Kettenkrad but I have a slight issue trying to find some paints to use that are airbrush ready (I have NOTHING paint wise and I don’t know what I will need as basics (like normal black for primer etc) and what I will need for main paints to use on the model, I will be painting it as the scheme in the middle of this image. Thanks in advance https://images.app.goo.gl/nCqr1jz779K21zp96

Panzer Crew Figures Acrylic Paint Set (A.MIG-7024) AMMO of Mig Jiménez During WWII German Panzer crews wore a dark grey/black uniform to differentiate them from the Field Grey of the Wehrmacht troops, and probably with an eye on soot and grease too! Black is one of the more taxing colours to paint on a figure, or any model for that matter, so any help is good help. This four-paint set arrives in a clear clamshell box with a card header and some colour use suggestions on the rear. Inside are four bottles that are best described as shades of grey and black. Each bottle contains 17ml of paint that is dispensed by a dropper that is found under the white screw-top cap. Inside each bottle is a little stirring ball that rattles when agitated aggressively. AMMO paints separate quite readily as you can see from the box photo, so having a ball in the bottle makes mixing them a lot easier, as does my electric paint shaker. We’re probably all familiar with the quality of AMMO paints by now, and they have a pretty good reputation amongst us modellers, and as they dry a little slower than some of the competition it's a useful feature when you’re talking about painting figures. The paints are as follows: AMMO.F-502 Outlining Black AMMO.F-521 Grey Light Brown AMMO.F-522 Slate Grey AMMO.F-530 Bluish Grey The shades should be pretty useful for creating a good range of tones to your figure’s uniform, and if you use a wet palette (have a Google - they're quite cheap), you should be able to get a myriad of shades between each one to help your figure look more realistic. I brushed out a few patches of the paint onto my paint hulk Fw.190 fuselage (I’m a bit short of spare figures post workshop refit), and can report that they cover well, the colours are good, with the slate grey making a good backdrop to base your scheme on, and the black adding extra depth where needed. While the Slate Grey and Black shades look similar when separated by another colour, when used adjacent they have enough difference in tone to be noticeable as you can see below. My amateur paint test If you’re crewing your WWII German tank and you don’t have the right colours, you could certainly save yourself some time and head-scratching by picking up this set. Review sample courtesy of