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Hello everyone, I wanted to make a little break from my "build all WW2 vehicles in North Africa" mission and I wanted something completely different. I chose King Tiger because I never build one. And I chose Battle of the Bulge because it's a different period and different theatre. The model I built should represent Tiger II "332" of 501st Schwere Panzer Abteilung, part of the infamous Kampfgruppe Peiper. It was completed on 11/9/44 with chassis number Fgst 280043. It was originally issued to Wehrmacht s.Pz.Abt.509, and then passed on to s.SS-Pz.Abt.501 in early December 1944. It was captured in the Ardennes on 26/12/1944 and there are several different accounts of its capture, but most agree about the following: It was captured by a 3rd Platoon of D Company of the 740th Tank Battalion when a leading Sherman commanded by Sgt. Glenn D. George, while patrolling on the road near La Gleize noticed a single King Tiger. They stopped and waited but the tank was silent. They fired a star shell, and to their surprise, the crew, probably sleeping at the time, quickly bailed out to the nearby forest. Now there are different accounts, some of them claiming that tanks were taken by US crew and driven along the road until they ran out of fuel, others claiming it was left there until morning. Anyway, it was recovered the next day by the 463rd Ordnance Evacuation Company with their M 19 tractor-trailer combination, nicknamed 'Tank Taxi', which is the combination of M20 Prime Mover (Diamond T 981) and M9 45-ton Trailer. Accompanying it were two T5 (M32) ARVs and an M1A1 Heavy Wrecker. The tank was then moved to the Stavelot Railway Station in Belgium where it was loaded on the captured railcar, and moved to Antwerp, from where it was shipped to the US and transferred to US Army Ordnance proving grounds at Aberdeen. While at Aberdeen, the vehicle was extensively tested until the mid-1950s and then moved to the Ordnance Museum. It was exhibited there until the 1990s when it was moved to Patton Museum, and after that, in 2011, to the National Armor and Cavalry Museum workshops in Fort Benning, where it is now, but not in public display. The model should represent a vehicle as it looked after being captured (hence the white markings added by the 463rd Ordnance Evacuation Company). The model is based on the Revell kit, which is not bad, but the detailing is quite weak, so a lot of AM extras were used. For details, you can check the WIP thread here. Painted with a combination of MRP, Hataka, and Vallejo paints. There's no definitive conclusion about how it was painted, except that it was factory painted in 3-tone camouflage. Looking at the photos, I decided to go with the soft-edge camo. And some detailed shots here. There are many photos of the real tank, so a lot of reference material. Here are some of these. Thanks for watching, for following my WIP thread, and thanks for your comments. Cheers, Nenad

Ardennes 1944 - The Battle Of The Bulge ISBN : 9781612006697 Casemate Illustrated - Casemate UK By late 1944 the western front was all but stationary in the 85 mile area of the Ardennes. It was here on the "ghost" front that Hitler would stage his final gamble to halt the Allies push into Germany. In what was a risky plan carefully hoarded reserves of men and equipment would be thrown through the heavily forested Ardennes into weak allied positions with the aim to be at Antwerp within a week. Through almost total secrecy the attack came as a great shock to the allies but in the end they were able to rally their troops, and a combination of this, the weather, and poor German logistics saw this last hurrah defeated; and then the way into Germany was more open than it was before. This book in the Casemate Illustrated series combines text, pictures, and maps to bring us the Germans Assault, and the Allied defence. The book goes into details of the planning, and execution of their mission, and subsequent actions until they the Germans were stopped. There are profiles of the tanks, vehicles and aircraft which took part. The book is A5 in format, 128 pages long and contains many contemporary photographs. Conclusion If you're interested in the war in the last hurrah of the Germany Army on the western front and how/where the Germans counteroffensive failed this is a good read. There are plenty of photos and profiles for the modeller. Highly Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

So to go with the build of my 1/72 Academy Schwimmagen I tried my hand at a simple diorama to try and mimic this famous photo. I haven't really done many dioramas so this could be a bit of hit and miss. A piece of insulating foam cut to shape with the sides painted dark acrylic grey Base 1 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Ground work was a mix of white glue, wall filler and some sand. Base 2 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr I then painted it acrylic black to help with shadow and texture but I felt the groundwork was just too deep for a road going through a forest.. Base 5 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr So sliced it off and a lot less wall filler and white glue and hardly any sand...much happier. Base 4 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr At this stage, i forgot to take pictures of the groundwork but it was a stone gray for the road with dark earth & mud brown for detail in places. I also started on the road signs. These were printed on paper, scaled to about the right size and then glued to plastic card. Base 6 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Mounted onto a wooden skewer which was painted white and then the edges picked out in black. Base 7 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Final details were to add the photo to the front of the base and a 1/72 rifle hanging off the sign...you can see it here in a German newsreel at about 1:18 Base 8 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr And with that, it's done! Will add some more pics in the RFI and thanks for looking. Base 9 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Cheers, Dermot

So to go with the build of my 1/72 Academy Schwimmagen I tried my hand at a simple diorama to try and mimic this famous photo. The very brief build thread is here if you're interested. I'm normally a wings & rotors builder so for my first diorama in a while, am reasonably happy how it turned out. Base 15 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Thanks for looking! Cheers, Dermot

The Ardennes Battlefields ISBN : 9781612005348 Casemate UK I think I like a lot of people know about the Battle of the Bulge, but only generally from watching a few films and the excellent Band Of Brothers min series. However like a lot of things there is much more to it once start to get under the surface. By late 1944 the front was all but stationary in the 85 mile area of the Ardennes. It was here on the "ghost" front that Hitler would stage his final gamble to halt the Allies push into Germany. In what was a risky plan carefully hoarded reserves of men and equipment would be thrown through the heavily forested Ardennes into weak allied positions with the aim to be at Antwerp within a week. Through almost total secrecy the attack came as a great shock to the allies but in the end they were able to rally their troops, and a combination of this, the weather, and poor German logistics saw this last hurrah defeated; and then the way into Germany was more open than it was before. This book from Casemate looks at the complete battlefield. It is A4 hardback with 192 pages. It is lavishly printed through out with Black and white contemporary photos, complemented by colour photos of the areas today; and many colour maps of the battles which took place. The authors have looked at all aspect of the battles; the original German plan, the units on all sides, the attacks and counter attacks. The photos also look at the many memorials which litter the towns in the area, and which are still kept in excellent condition to this day. Conclusion This is very much a complete look at the Ardennes Battles fields, the photos and maps show how the battle panned out, and the modern photos show in some cases how little things have changed. If you are interested in WWII history then this book is a must. For the military modeller the wealth of contemporary photos give a very good idea of how the vehicles and troops looked at this time. Highly Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

I occationally build some panzer also recently finished this old Tamiya kit, only added tracks. Cheers Jes

Ardennes Building MiniArt 1:35 MiniArt seems to be on a production role at the moment and this is their latest release, the Ardennes House. Arriving in quite a large, deep box with a picture of the completed house on the front, it is full almost to the brim with parts. As usual the majority of the parts are vacuum formed, although in this case there are also a lot of injection moulded parts. As with other vacform kits, it’s not necessary to cut all the way through the styrene to remove the parts, just score with a sharp blade and snap apart. Care should be taken when scoring the corner parts of the building as these make up prominent joins. Once the parts have been removed from the backing sheets they will require a good sanding on the mating surfaces to ensure a tight join, care and patience prevail here as it will mean a lot less work with filling and sanding later on. Once all the vac parts have been prepared they can be glued together and onto the base. It is up to the modeller how they proceed with this but I generally build the building first, fill any gaps as required, and give it a coat of primer before painting it in the basic colours. When this is done, then the injected parts can be built up, painted and attached to their relevant positions. The injected parts in this kit, comprise of the entrance door, which is raised off the ground and accessed by a set of stairs and a landing area, each surrounded by hand rails, barn like double door with a smaller door within one side, drain pipes, lanterns and their brackets. The majority of the parts are generic and used in many MiniArt kits, and by the very nature of being generic means that you are left with quite a few spares which can be used as debris for the completed diorama. The front, two side walls and an internal wall are glued together, followed by the roof and chimney. The step assembly to the front door is fitted into position and the railings added. The injection moulded window frames, windows, doors and door frames are then added, followed by the gutter and drain pipe. Most of these parts are best painted before fitting as should the main parts for the building be painted before these parts. Having made quite a few of these buildings I have found that the plastic is readily melted by liquid glue, which, whilst making gluing parts together easier, care must be taken to prevent glue getting over the surfaces of parts as it will show. Since this kit doesn’t come with a base, it is up to the modeller how they wish to present the completed model so is only limited by the extent of their imagination. Conclusion This is a great looking building and quite an extensive kit. Yet again you will be left with a lot of spare parts which no doubt will be used in other builds. But it will look great on the right base and suitable weathered and of course can be used for dioramas depicting a whole range of eras. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of