Joachim Marseille’s Bf 109 Refueling at Quotaifiya Airfield, Egypt — I. Introduction

October 1, 1942, Quotaifiya, Egypt — 78 years ago today.

The disconsolate, careworn faces of the attendees contrasted sharply with the upbeat cadence of the Cuban Rumba Azul playing on the wind-up gramophone. The pilots and ground crews of Luftwaffe Fighter Wing JG 27 paid their final respects before the remains of their fallen comrade were to be flown to Derna, Libya, 300 miles west, where the body would be interred at the Heroes’ Cemetery that same day. Once in Derna, Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, the Wehrmacht’s Commander in Chief in the Mediterranean, delivered an emotional paean, recalling the deceased’s legendary aerial exploits.

Marseille’s body lies in state in Derna, Libya, on October 1, 1942.

Clearly, this was no ordinary funeral. This final farewell was for a highly decorated hero of the Third Reich, a man who had earned oak leaves, swords, and diamonds to his Knight’s Cross, the Luftwaffe’s youngest captain, and one of the greatest pilots of World War II. His unparalleled technical skills had earned the respect of comrades and foes alike, and his rebellious, yet kind, nature had won their admiration. The newly departed was a maverick – an iconoclast who, eschewing Nazi ideology, counted a black German-speaking South African POW as one of his closest friends and enjoyed “degenerate” American jazz and Latin music — Rumba Azul his favorite melody.

Marseille (left) with South African friend Matthew “Matthias” Letuku (right).

Hans Joachim Marseille, the 22-year-old “Star of Africa,” had shot down 158 enemy aircraft when the engine of his new Messerschmitt Bf 109G malfunctioned over the Egyptian desert on September 30, 1942. When the smoke from the engine filled the cockpit, entirely clouding visibility, Marseille baled out of his Gustav, accidentally hitting his head against the rudder that heralded his many victories. He was rendered unconscious immediately, before he could deploy his parachute, and plummeted thousands of feet to his death.

Members of JG 27 survey the wreckage of Marseille’s Bf 109.

Marseille was a legend even in life. In his eulogy, just one day after Marseille’s passing, Kesselring summed up Marseille thus: “Hauptmann Marseille is fallen. Unbeaten. With his passing, a heroic individual, a marvelous colleague, an artist in the air and the best fighter pilot in the world is gone from our ranks forever.” Adolf Galland, a Luftwaffe legend himself, called him “the unrivaled virtuoso among fighter pilots of the Second World War” in his memoirs.

Marseille was a man who clearly understood that each of his victories meant the loss of a son, father, brother, or husband. In a letter to his mother after his very first victory on August 24, 1940, during the Battle of Britain, Marseille wrote: “Today I shot down my first opponent. It does not set well with me. I keep thinking about how the mother of this young man must feel when she gets the news of her son’s death. And I am to blame for this death. I am sad, instead of being happy about the first victory. I always see the face of the Englishman in front of me and think about his crying mother.”

It is a tragic irony that following Marseille’s last seven victories — 152-158 — Erwin Rommel, the vaunted “Desert Fox,” called September 28 to request that Marseille accompany him to Berlin to attend a ceremony on September 30 — the day Marseille met his fate — where Marseille and Rommel were programmed to sit on either side of Adolf Hitler. Not fond of the Führer, Marseille declined, arguing that he would rather save his leave for December, when he intended to travel to Berlin to marry his fiancée. One can only wonder what destiny had in store had Marseille accepted Rommel’s invitation.

Marseille with Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel.

Marseille’s career as a pilot spanned barely two years – from his first victory in August 1940 to his last in September 1942. Yet he is the subject of several books, countless articles, numerous documentaries, and a full feature German-Spanish film — Der Stern von Afrika (The Star of Africa). The reader is referred to those sources for an account of his aerial accomplishments and a sense of his extraordinary character. 

This post is but an introduction to a 1/72 scale diorama depicting Marseille’s aircraft refueling in Quotaifiya, Egypt, circa late September 1942, just days before his death. The diorama will comprise several components, each the subject of a separate post as follows:

I. Introduction – The foregoing post provides a brief sketch of Marseille and outlines the components of the project.

JG 27 engineers and ground crew, stripped from the waist up and wearing shorts and pith helmets due to the extreme heat in the desert, refuel a Messerschmitt Bf 109.

II. Marseille’s Messerschmitt Bf 109s – Marseille flew a number of different Messerschmitt Bf 109s throughout his career. To my knowledge, four different manufacturers – Atlas, Corgi, Easy Model, and Gemini – have produced a total of six prebuilt 1/72 diecast models of Marseille’s various aircraft spanning the two years from his first victory in August 1940 to his last in September 1942. I will be using one of these six for the diorama. This post will provide photos and observations of these models.

Marseille with his Messerschmitt Bf 109 “Yellow 14.”

III. Marseille’s “OTTO” Kubelwagen – Upon Marseille’s downing of eight RAF P-40 Tomahawks in a 10-minute sortie on September 1, 1942, the Italians in the camp “borrowed” Marseille’s kubelwagen and painted “OTTO” – “eight” in Italian – on its sides, adorning the four letters with desert fauna. This post will describe the kubelwagen I intend to use for this diorama.

Marseille’s kubelwagen “OTTO.” Note the distinct balloon tires made specially for desert cross-country driving and the pennant on the driver’s side — characteristics often missed by model manufacturers.

IV. Luftwaffe Opel Blitz Tankwagen – The Luftwaffe used the Opel Blitz tankwagen Kfz. 385 to refuel their aircraft throughout the conflict, including in North Africa. As far as I know, three manufacturers have produced 1/72 model kits of the Kfz. 385 – two in plastic by Roden and MAC Distribution and one in resin by FM Detail Sets. This post will briefly discuss the tankwagen I intend to use for this diorama.

An Opel Blitz tankwagen refuels a Bf 109 of JG 27.

V. Neumanns bunte Bühne – JG 27 Commander Eduard Neumann’s trailer, known as “Neumanns bunte Bühne” (Neumann’s colorful stage), served as the headquarters of JG 27, Marseille’s fighter wing. There is no available model of this trailer in any scale so I will be creating it with plastic card mostly from scratch. Given that, to my knowledge, only a handful of photos of the trailer exist, information on dimensions and details is lacking. Of necessity, a significant portion of this effort will be educated guesswork. This post will describe this most challenging part of the project.

The headquarters of JG 27, a trailer Commander Eduard Neumann had appropriated in France.

VI. The Figures and other details – No diorama is complete without the figures to bring it to life and provide a sense of scale. We may not know the wingspan of a Messerschmitt Bf 109, but a human figure next to it provides immediate perspective. I am aware of two figures in 1/72 scale – one from Preiser and one from Dragon – clearly intended to represent Marseille. This post will cover these two figures as well as the approximately 60 other figures (plastic, resin, and metal) from many figure sets that I will use in the diorama. The challenge is that there are currently no shirtless figures wearing shorts and pith helmets. Thus, the project will involve many conversions using torsos, heads, and limbs from different figure sets.

Engineers of JG 27 enjoy a break. Again, note the pith helmets, shorts, and lack of shirts.

Lagniappe: Rumba Azul, by the Lecuona Cuban Boys

Finally, for those curious about Rumba Azul, here’s a YouTube video. Music begins at about the 30-second mark and lyrics at about the 90-second mark.

As is probably clear, this is an extremely ambitious project, at least for me, and it will likely take months to complete. Please bear with me and visit the site often.

Thank you for your indulgence and I hope you enjoyed the post. If something looks amiss, please let me know. I would be delighted to correct inaccurate information so that this may be useful to other 1/72 scale collectors and wargamers. As always, comments, questions, corrections, and observations are welcome. 

Der Kommissar’s in Town: The Soviet Politruk in 1/72

I. Kombat

II. The Red Army Politruk in WWII

III. The Kombat Figure in 1/72

A. ESCI 203 Russian Soldiers (1982)
B. Revell 02510 Soviet Infantry (1994)
C. Zvezda 8077 Soviet Infantry Platoon (2012)
D. Other Box Covers
E. The Figures

IV. The NKVD Commissars in 1/72

A. The Commissar from A to Z (Atlantic to Zvezda)
B. Other Soviet Officers
C. CP & TQD White Metal Officers
D. Painting the Figures

V. The Political Officer in Russian Cinema

VI. Lagniappe: Der Kommissar’s in Town by After the Fire


I. Kombat

Possibly the most iconic Soviet image of World War II is this photo of a political officer exhorting his comrades to battle on the Eastern Front. Entitled Kombat (a portmanteau of komandir and batal’on, literally “battalion commander”), war correspondent Max Alpert’s timeless photo depicts Alexey Yeremenko just minutes before his death during fighting in Voroshilovgrad Province, Ukraine, on July 12, 1942. Yeremenko, of the Soviet 220th Infantry Regiment, was not a battalion commander but a politruk (political officer).  

Alpert’s image holds a special place in the Russian imagination and has been immortalized in monuments in the former Soviet Union.The bronze statue at left is in Stepove; the stone monument at right is in Zaporizhia, both in southern Ukraine, where Yeremenko, who was Ukrainian, was killed. 

Yeremenko’s image has also appeared on postage stamps and commemorative coins.

As recently as 2017, a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Alpert’s photo took place in Sloviansk, Ukraine.

Our hobby — ideally a miniaturized reflection of actual historical events — has not been immune to the photo’s allure, with three manufacturers offering a 1/72 scale plastic model of Yeremenko. However, before delving into the 1/72 world, a short description of the politruk (a Russian portmanteau of  politicheskiy and rukovoditel, literally “political leader”) is in order.

II. The Red Army Politruk in WWII

In broad terms, the politruk, commonly referred to as “political officer” or “political commissar,” was a military official appointed specifically to ensure civilian control of the military — at least in theory. In practice, the politruk ensured the Soviet military remained under the Bolshevik Party’s control. To become a political officer, an individual must have been registered as a communist and attended special political training. Units from company to division had two officers — a military officer in charge of military decisions, and a political officer of coequal rank and authority who ensured those decisions were carried out in accordance with Communist ideology. Although most lower-level political commissars had little or no military training, they had the authority to countermand the unit’s commander if in their estimation an order undermined party dogma.

The politruk position came and went, abolished and restored as circumstances dictated, and its role morphed as necessary, with slightly different roles at different times during the war. At the outset of the conflict, the politruk’s primary function was to ensure that soldiers did not retreat in the face of the German onslaught and had authority to shoot transgressors on sight. Following the Red Army’s heavy losses in 1941 and 1942, the dual-command system was deemed unworkable. Politruks were removed from direct command and charged with improving morale, ensuring regulations were followed, indoctrinating troops, and spreading communist propaganda. Thus, distilled to its essence, the politruk’s function was to interpret everything he saw through a political lens and ensure all actions were in accordance with party ideology. Many a Soviet soldier lost his life because a politruk informed on him. The cartoon at left by Knottipine, from the instabusters website, aptly captures what most Red Army soldiers likely thought of the omnipresent politruk [instabusters website].

The Germans so feared political commissars that on June 6, 1941, just prior to the invasion of the Soviet Union, the German High Command issued the “Guidelines for the Treatment of Political Commissars,” commonly known as Kommissarbefehl (Commissar Order), directing the German army to summarily execute any captured political commissars as enforcers of “Judeo-Bolshevism.” Predictably, the Commissar Order resulted in an unwillingness to surrender by Soviet forces and the upshot was increased Soviet resistance to the Werhmacht. Nonetheless, thousands of commissars are believed to have been executed before Hitler cancelled the Commissar Order exactly a year after it was issued.

III. The Kombat Figure in 1/72

Three plastic soldier manufacturers have tried their hand at sculpting Yeremenko’s distinctive pose — ESCI, Revell, and Zvezda — and all three feature the pose on their Soviet soldiers box covers, as can be seen below. There’s little sense in providing thoughts on these three sets as the terrific Plastic Soldier Review (PSR) website has done a thorough review of each. Click on each title to access the PSR review.

A. ESCI 203 Russian Soldiers (1982)

B. Revell 02510 Soviet Infantry (1994)

C. Zvezda 8077 Soviet Infantry Platoon (2012)

D. Other Box Covers

ESCI re-released their 203 Russian Soldiers set in a diorama pack entitled Berlin: Die Götterdämmerung (“Berlin: Twilight of the Gods”). A-Toys 1103 also released the ESCI set in a combination pack with the ESCI 201 German Soldiers. Finally, Revell re-released their 02510 Soviet Infantry with new box art. Note that all three boxes have a depiction of Yeremenko’s image somewhere on the cover. 

E. The Figures

As is readily apparent from the photo below, the three sculpts vary significantly, with the ESCI figure being the smallest and the Revell figure being the tallest. I found that under high magnification all three sculpts hold up fairly well, with the Zvezda figure having the greatest detail and the Revell figure the least — the Revell figure’s facial features are particularly poorly defined. To my eye, the ESCI figure has the best anatomical proportions as I find the head on the Zvezda a smidgen oversized. On the whole, however, the Zvezda figure most closely resembles Yeremenko’s pose, though the sculptor gave him a closed left hand, probably to make the sculpting easier. 

IV. The NKVD Commissars in 1/72

Yeremenko’s uniform notwithstanding, the typical Red Army commissar belonged to the NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) and was characterized by a different and distinctive uniform: olive green gymnastiorka shirt-tunic (same as the three figures above), blue sharovari trousers, high black leather boots, Sam Browne brown leather belt with its distinctive strap passing diagonally over the right shoulder, holster for the Tokarev TT-33 pistol, brown webbing, and a royal blue peaked cap with a red band and a black visor. Like all Red Army headgear, the cap bore on the forehead a red star on a gold background. Some officers also carried a brown dispatch or map case and, in the field, a brown case for their black binoculars. However, a surefire way to recognize a political officer was the distinctive red worsted star with gold hammer and sickle on the sleeves, about two inches in diameter and three inches from the cuff.

This photo of a painted Evolution Miniatures EM-35122 NKVD 1/35 figure portrays the typical uniform of an NKVD officer.

A. The Commissar from A to Z (Atlantic to Zvezda)

The photo below shows Soviet officers from the various plastic soldier manufacturers painted in the typical commissar uniform. While there’s loss of detail with a photograph of the whole lot, comparison of relative sizes is possible. Click the photo to enlarge.

To provide higher resolution and better appreciate the figures, I also photographed five at a time. Below is the first tranche.

1. Atlantic 84 Red Army
This is possibly the scrawniest officer in the history of 1/72 scale plastic soldier models. PSR called this set no more than a poorly sculpted “toy.” However, I find the sculpting, at least on this particular figure, considerably better than the miserly 3 out of 10 for sculpting the set received on PSR and, in fact, the facial features are fairly well defined.

2. Hat 8263 Russian Tank Riders
At first blush, these Hat soldiers are, as PSR put it, “not particularly appealing figures.”  Surprisingly, however, though admittedly a bit clunky, they paint fairly well. PSR called this “[n]ot a great sculpt but a very worthwhile set.” I found the detail to be not too bad and, while the PPSh-41 is not particularly well detailed, it is easily recognizable. However, the Sam Browne belt on this officer goes over the left shoulder, which is incorrect. This is one of four figures wearing the traditional gymnastiorka shirt-tunic (Plastic Soldier, Revell, and Zvezda are the other three). The figures in this set come without bases as they are intended to sit on a tank. I added the base to ensure consistency in comparing height.

3. Italeri 6131 Anti Tank Teams
The first thing that strikes you about this officer is his huge size. The head and hands are particularly large when compared to the other figures. While PSR rated these figures as being of average size, I’m fairly certain the entire set is well overscaled. Still, I don’t mind using one soldier from the set as there were, in fact, men in WWII who were considerably larger than the average. Known as the “Gargoyle,” Japanese Vice-Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa, for example, was 6’7”. The other notable feature about this officer is that he looks to be wearing the fur lined polaschubuk sheepskin coat.

4. Pegasus 7269 Russian Infantry Winter Dress 1
This was Pegasus’ first attempt at this advancing officer pose. This figure and its twin in 7272 (No. 5 below) are the only ones wearing the telogreika quilted jacket and trousers. While it is not a bad sculpt, the photo hides the excess plastic between the PPS-43 submachine gun and the body, where the area is blind to the mold. Although an officer, he does not carry a pistol as there is no holster on the figure. Finally, his submachine gun has no shoulder sling to carry it. It bears noting that PSR gave this set a perfect 10 for sculpting.

5. Pegasus 7272 Russian Infantry Winter Dress 2
Initially indistinguishable from its twin in 7269 (No. 4 above), this was Pegasus’ second attempt at the pose. By molding the figure in two parts — the right arm and submachine gun are a separate piece — Pegasus solved the excess plastic problem and produced a significantly improved figure. Note that making this a two-part figure also allowed Pegasus to add a shoulder sling to the submachine gun. This being an officer, Pegasus correctly added a gun holster and, upon closer inspection, shoulder boards. 

Below is the second tranche. (Yes, alphabetically the Plastic Soldier figure should have come before Preiser as in the photo above showing all ten figures. Sorry, senior moment. 😳 )

6. Preiser 72522 Soviet Infantry Riflemen and Partisans
Despite an 8 score for sculpting from PSR, to my mind this Preiser hard plastic figure is the best sculpt in the lot. Proportions are perfect and facial features and hands are well defined (even at this scale you can count all five fingers on his left hand). However, I do have my doubts about the peaked cap, which looks suspiciously like a German peaked cap. Soviet peaked caps tended to be completely round, like the other nine in the group. Akin to the second Pegasus figure (No. 5 above), this is a two-part sculpt comprising the body and two options for the left arm. Like the Hat figures, the soldiers in this set have no bases. I added the base to ensure consistency in comparing height. 

7. Plastic Soldier 20001 Russian Infantry in Summer Uniform
Generally speaking, I’m not partial to Plastic Soldier sculpting as the figures tend to be rather short and chunky. Because Plastic Soldier figures are intended for wargaming, which requires constant handling, these hard plastic figures must be robust, like their 28mm metal counterparts. This particular figure, however, is oddly pleasing and passes for a rather rotund, well-fed commissar. Like the Preiser and second Pegasus figures, this officer is made up of two parts, with the left arm being a separate piece. PSR noted that the “extra parts make some of these poses particularly deep and natural,” and gave the set a 10 for sculpting. My only quibble with this officer is that he’s carrying his right hand gun holster cross draw, i.e., on his left hip as Hollywood tells us was done in the Wild West, but something WWII officers would be unlikely to do. 

8. Revell 02510 Soviet Infantry
As PSR points out, this Revell set was generally overscaled, with most figures 26mm tall, well above the average 25mm for 1/72 scale soldiers. However, this particular chap is about the right size, though, to my eye, he has an odd feminine shape with pronounced hips and a very small head compared to the rest of the figures — particularly the Plastic Soldier figure, whose head is twice as large. This officer is the prototypical commissar who does not engage in combat, as he is lacking a pistol holster or any webbing at all.

9. Ultima Ratio UR003 Soviet and Polish Infantry
In addition to the typical accoutrements of an officer — peaked cap, pistol holster, and binoculars — this commissar also carries a map and is armed with a PPS-43 submachine gun. This is an attractive figure, though his ears are so large — just take a gander from the back — that he would be completely at home in the Caesar 105 Goblins set. There are four officer poses in this set — three Poles, identifiable by their traditional Polish four-pointed rogatywka peaked cap, and this Soviet officer.

10. Zvezda 6179 Soviet Regular Infantry
To my mind, this is probably the second best figure in the group and is basically a peaked cap version of the Kombat pose that spawned this article. He wears a dispatch case over the left hip and a pistol holster over the right. The detail is crisp as is typical of Zvezda figures. PSR described this set as “perfectly well done and very natural” and “the sculpting . . . of the usual high Zvezda standard.” 

B. Other Soviet Officers

Below are a few other figures that can be used as Soviet officers, purely for the sake of completeness.

1. Zvezda 6161 Soviet Cavalry

2. Zvezda 6144 Soviet Frontier Guards
Click on the photo to enlarge.

As was pointed out by a commenter, these four are not all officers. The peaked cap was an element of the NKVD uniform — of which the Frontier Guards was a part — for all ranks. However, any of these figures could be used as officers.

To my knowledge, these are all the Soviet officers — or those with a peaked cap that can be used as officers — available in plastic in 1/72, with two exceptions: Preiser 72526 Soviet Tank Crewmen and Zvezda 6132 Soviet Headquarters, both of which include an officer, and neither of which I could get in time for this post.

C. CP & TQD White Metal Officers

After I had finished painting and photographing the plastic commissars and writing this post, I discovered that CP Models and TQD Castings have a diverse assortment of 1/72 scale Soviet sets in white metal. I ordered the sets that included officers and got them just in time to include below. Note that I only photographed the ones with officers or with a peaked cap, though some sets include several non-peaked cap figures. 

1. CP-SOV01 Red Army Infantry with Officer
2. CP-SOV04 Red Army Banner Party
3-5. TQD-RI10 Red Army Officers
6-10. TQD-RK02 NKVD Riflemen I
11. TQD-RK04 NKVD Interrogators
12. TQD-RK05 NKVD Mortar and Anti-Tank Rifle
13-15. TQD-RK06 NKVD Maxim Heavy Machine Gun

As far as I know, these are all the Soviet officers or those with peaked cap available in the CP/TQD line except for TQD-RK03 NKVD Riflemen II, which I could not find.

D. Painting the Figures

In painting these figures, I used Vallejo acrylic colors almost exclusively as listed below. However, I used Testors enamel gold on the peaked caps, buttons, and buckles as I find metallic colors look more realistic in enamel. The Soviet uniform varied somewhat in the shade of green during the war, depending on what fabric was available, so modelers have some latitude in choice of color.

The photos below show four figures undergoing the painting process: The first photo shows them unpainted out of the box; the second photo shows them primed with surface primer; and the third photo shows them fully painted. These four figures are my first serious attempt at painting using various shades of the same base color — a technique most noticeable on the trousers. While the result may not reflect it, I actually spent considerable time painting the faces using various shades of Vallejo’s flat flesh. If anyone is wondering, I fully recognize that going into battle with a bright blue peaked cap is asking for it.

For those interested, I used the following Vallejo Model Color acrylic paints, going from head to toe:

70.963 Medium Blue – top of caps;
70.957 Flat Red – band on caps;
70.861 Glossy Black – peak on caps
70.955 Flat Flesh – faces and hands;
70.921 English Uniform – tunic on Preiser and gymnastiorka on Zvezda;
70.983 Flat Earth – coats on Italeri and Ultima Ratio;
70.918 Ivory – sheepskin trim on Italeri coat;
70.963 Medium Blue – trousers;

70.950 Black – boots;
70.940 Saddle Brown – Sam Browne belts and webbing;

70.863 Gunmetal Grey – pistols and submachine gun on Ultima Ratio;
70.950 Black – binoculars;
70.912 Tan Yellow – bases;
74.601 Grey Surface Primer – all figures; and
1144    Testors Enamel Gold – buttons, buckles, and star on caps.

V. The Political Officer in Russian Cinema

Politruks are ubiquitous in contemporary Russian cinema and television and, at least for this non-Russian-speaking outsider, hint at an apparent love-hate relationship with them on the part of the Russian public. Often portrayed as petty obstructionists, a quick survey of recent Russian shows on Amazon Prime will reveal that the politruk has become a popular staple of Russian films, which are often based on older Soviet literature. An outstanding series currently on Amazon Prime, Night Swallows, about Soviet female pilots in WWII, depicts a pesky political commissar whose mission in life appears to be to make life miserable for the pilots. A similar portrayal can be seen in Stalin’s Tanks, about the legendary T-34 tank. However, in both films the politruk displays some positive traits, including falling in love with one of his victims. A much more positive characterization can be found in Spies, a lavish series about Soviet female spies in WWII.

For a downright chilling portrayal that likely hews closest to reality, the reader is directed to Life and Faith, a series based on Vasily Grossman’s 1960 book that was banned in the Soviet Union due to its brass-knuckled depiction of Stalinism and Soviet culture. The book was considered so detrimental to the Soviet state that it was not published until 1980, when a copy of the manuscript was smuggled out of the Soviet Union. Finally, the summary execution of a political officer under the aforementioned Commissar Order can be seen in the Belorussian film Fortress of War, a harrowing account of the siege of Brest Fortress in Belarus, in June 1941. Yefim Fomin, who commands the defense of the fortress, is ultimately captured and summarily executed after declaring, “I’m a commissar, a communist, and a Jew.”

The politruk was also the subject of a compelling scene in Hollywood’s 2001 Enemy at the Gates. Starring Joseph Fiennes as political officer Danilov and Bob Hoskins making a cameo appearance as Stalingrad’s chief political officer Nikita Khrushchev, the scene captures the essence of what a political officer is supposed to do. Khrushchev eventually succeeded Stalin as Premier of the Soviet Union. Tellingly, Volume I of his memoirs is entitled “Commissar.” For those interested, I’ve pasted below a clip of that scene from YouTube. Unfortunately, the clip comes with YouTube advertisements. Please close the ad when it pops up.

VI. Lagniappe: Der Kommissar’s in Town by After the Fire

For those not familiar with the reference in the title of this post, Der Kommissar was a Billboard Top 10 song recorded by After the Fire in 1982 — actually a cover of Falco’s 1981 German language song of the same title. On the surface, the song is about a reckless young woman living in the fast lane, high on cocaine. However, Der Kommissar is in reality a protest song about the state security police in the socialist Eastern Bloc countries before the fall of the Soviet Union, whose role was essentially unchanged from that of the Soviet political commissars of WWII. By the early 80’s, citizens were increasingly resentful of the secret police who watched their every move and kept surveillance files on them, though it was still uncommon for individuals to air these grievances. The song, with its Don’t turn around, Der Kommissar’s in town refrain, was groundbreaking and reflects the transformation in the social conscience that was beginning to take place. To conclude this post, I’ve pasted below the official video of the song from YouTube.

Thank you for your indulgence and I hope you enjoyed the post. If something looks amiss, please let me know. I would be delighted to correct inaccurate information so that this may be useful to other 1/72 scale collectors and wargamers. As always, comments, questions, corrections, and observations are welcome. 

The A6M Zero in 1/72: Akagi’s Zeros Prepare for Pearl Harbor – Finished Diorama

At long last, below are photos of the finished diorama depicting the Zeros of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Akagi aircraft carrier preparing to take off as part of the first wave attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. I finished this project back in June 2017 but, as often happens, life got in the way of the hobby and I never posted the finished piece.

Below is a photo of my first attempt at this diorama from 2017, taken by the side of the pool.

For a variety of reasons, I was not satisfied with it:

  • The diorama was too small to take good photos;
  • The Zeros came from different die-cast companies and looked odd as the shades were slightly different and the Akagi’s red recognition bands at the rear of the fuselage were different widths;
  • The tail numbers on three of the Zeros were not decaled and looked shoddy;
  • One Kate — even if that Kate was Fuchida’s famous AI-301 — seemed insufficient for the occasion since there were 27 Kates but only nine Zeros on the Akagi’s deck that day;
  • The flags were significantly underscaled and I had inadvertently switched the ones on the inside for the ones on the outside;
  • The island, which was scratchbuilt, lacked some details, including voice tubes, proper staircases, and, notably, the rolled futons used during the Pearl Harbor attack to guard against shrapnel from the expected counterattack that never came;
  • The 4.5 meter rangefinder on the deck just fore of the island was missing, as were the two antennas fore and aft of the rangefinder;
  • The deck needed more figures to simulate the beehive of activity seen in actual photos; and
  • The diorama needed a more appropriate backdrop.

So I kept at it, as time permitted, slowly correcting all the aforementioned problems. I doubled the length of the deck, used nine identical Witty Zeros all with appropriately decaled tail numbers, included seven Kates, recreated the flags at the right scale and placed them on the proper side, added more details to the island, included the range finder just fore of the island, painted more figures (for a total of 85), and added a backdrop that showed the horizon at sea.

I finally finished the improved diorama this week, just in time to post these photos today, on the anniversary of the attack. Nonetheless, I will continue to detail how I constructed each piece of the diorama in future posts. 

Starboard Shots

View from the Front

Portside Shots

View from the Rear

Overhead Views

Detail Shots

Lagniappe 360 Degree Video of Island

Below is a 360 degree video of the Akagi island without the futons used at Pearl Harbor to protect from shrapnel from the expected American counterattack that never materialized. 

Thank you for your indulgence and I hope you enjoyed the photos and video. As always, comments, questions, corrections, and observations are welcome. 


Once again I want to thank my friend and fellow collector Joe Buccellato, of NY, who painted all the best figures in this diorama. I also want to thank Tim Lau, of Maryland, who created the decals for the Zeros and gave me solid advice when I was stuck, and Chris Pflueger, of California, who gave me some great tips on photographing the diorama. I also want to acknowledge Sidnei Maneta, of Brazil, who took the time to provide great information on the Kate tail numbers, which will be covered in a future post. I’d also like to thank Sasa Drobac of Serbia, who designed the incredibly detailed 3D printed binoculars, searchlights, and rangefinders used on the island. Finally, I want to thank Ara Hagopian, of Massachusetts, whose constant encouragement provided the push I needed to actually turn my ideas into these 1/72 scale scenes.

The A6M Zero in 1/72: Akagi’s Zeros Prepare for Pearl Harbor, Part 3.3 – Japanese Pilots and Crew in 1/72 Scale

This is Part 3.3 of a series of posts on the construction of a diorama depicting the Zeros of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Akagi aircraft carrier preparing to take off as part of the first wave attack on Pearl Harbor. This post concerns only the 1/72 pilots and crew to be used in the diorama. To view the finished diorama, please click here.

I. Plastic 1/72 Japanese Pilot Sets

As recently as five years ago, modelers would have been hard-pressed to build a diorama using 1/72 plastic Japanese pilots. The only figures available were the two pilots included in the 1998 Hasegawa WWII Pilot Figures set. Fortunately, with the explosion of 1/72 plastic figure manufacturing in recent years, modelers have significantly more choices. Below is a brief survey of the various plastic Japanese pilot sets. Resin and metal figures are covered in a separate section.  

Although I generally paint my own figures, my skills are mediocre at best. As I’ve said before, I’m a dilettante — I dabble in everything and master nothing. Thus, as I have in the past, I turned to a genuine hobbyist with real expertise for help. The results of his skill and patience follow. These are the figures I intend to use in the diorama, obviously clipping the bases.

A. The Hasegawa Set: The Two Lone Japanese Pilots

Issued in 1998, the only Japanese pilots available to modelers until 2013 were the two figures in the Hasegawa 35008 WWII Pilot Figures, a hard plastic set that included two Allied, two German, and two Japanese pilots. Plastic Soldier Review (PSR) described these figures as “realistic” with “fair but not particularly sharp” detail. As can be seen in the photo below, the two Japanese poses are traditional fare and, being made of hard plastic, are easy to clean up the seams and take paint very well. I intend to use the two painted figures in the bottom right of the composite photo below.

Hasegawa 35008 WWII Pilot Figures

B. RedBox Fills the Vacuum

The vacuum was finally filled in 2013, when RedBox, a Ukrainian company, released three sets of Japanese WWII pilots: 72048 Japanese Kamikaze; 72052 Japanese Army Aviation Pilots and Ground Crew; and 72053 IJN Pilots and Ground Crew. Modelers could not have asked for more to end the 15-year famine as RedBox produced three superb sets, each with 6 to 8 different pilots. PSR gave all three sets 10/10 for historical accuracy and 10/10 for sculpting — quite an achievement given PSR’s notoriously exacting standards. PSR described the sculpting of the three sets, respectively, as having “good proportions and excellent detail,” “completely natural look throughout, expressive faces and good detail,” and “excellent [with] good detail in all the areas where it is needed.” Below are side-by-side photos of the three sets with the PSR unpainted figures on the left and my painted figures on the right (photos used with permission from PSR). 

RedBox 72048 Japanese Kamikaze

RedBox 72052 Japanese Army Aviation Pilots and Ground Crew

RedBox 72053 IJN Pilots and Ground Crew

C. The Modelkasten Tainan Pilots

A superb but not widely available Japanese pilot set is the Modelkasten 1800 JNAF Aircrew “Rabaul Zero Fighter,” a hard plastic set depicting a wartime photo of the famous Tainan Air Group. Released in Japan in 2016, the seven-figure set, which was previously released in 2013 by Modelkasten in 1/48 scale, is considerably more expensive and offers far fewer figures than other sets. The figures are standing or squatting, apparently posing for a photo. Saburo Sakai, arguably Japan’s most famous ace, is presumably in the group. While there are seven figures in the box, there are only six poses in the set as one of the seated figures is duplicated. Note that the box photo is of the 1/48 figures. For some unknown reason, the set is not listed on the PSR website. 

Modelkasten 1800 JNAF Aircrew

D. Hasegawa Returns

In 2018, modelers were treated to yet another Japanese aviation set, the Hasegawa 35116 Japanese Navy Airmen set, a hard plastic kit of bomber plane crews that requires assembly of body parts. PSR rated this set 10/10 in every single category, describing it as “a terrific set which delivers everything it promises . . . all are very well sculpted and can be posed in a variety of useful and realistic positions.”

Like Modelkasten, Hasegawa appears to have scaled down the figures to take advantage of the ever-growing 1/72 scale market. The photo on the box cover below is almost certainly of a scale larger than 1/72. My guess given the “35116” stock number is that they were originally sculpted in 1/35 scale but this is merely speculation. The PSR photo below of the actual assembled figures shows that an interesting characteristic of the set is the distinctly Asian features of the figures.

Hasegawa 35116 Japanese Navy Airmen 

The kit contains four identical sprues, each with four different torsos, four different heads, and four different sets of arms that, as mentioned, require assembly. See photo of sprue below. Thus, it is possible to mix and match and create up to 16 different figures — 12 slightly different seated figures and four different standing figures. I assembled the four standing figures to give a sense of the flexibility afforded in creating different poses. See photo of standing figures below. While the four torsos are the same, they have four different heads and four different sets of arms, resulting in four very different figures. 

I found the figures quite pleasing, with great proportions and no overscaled heads — a common problem in 1/72 scale. Being made of hard plastic, I also found it easy to clean up the seams. (Note that I didn’t assemble the sitting figures as I couldn’t think of a use for the Akagi diorama. Note also that the four standing figures will be painted for the diorama but I didn’t want to delay the post.)

II. Resin and Metal 1/72 Japanese Pilots

A. CMK Figures

There are several small resin sets available to modelers, primarily from Czech Master Kits (CMK), a Czech company that makes resin figures and accessories in various scales. I know of five CMK Japanese aviation-related sets — three that I will use for the diorama. The other two sets have pilots wearing two-piece uniforms inappropriate for Pearl Harbor. The photo below shows the three relevant sets: CMK F72077 Ki 21 Japanese Crew; CMK F72043 Japan Navy Pilots and Mechanic; and CMK F72290 Japanese Army AF Mechanics. Though the Ki 21 was a Japanese Army bomber plane, the three pilots in the F72077 are dressed like naval pilots, including the kapok life vests, clearly indicating they’re flying above water. As can be seen on the right side of the composite photo below, the three army mechanics wear essentially the same uniform as the navy mechanic to the left. (Note: Again the third figure will be painted for the diorama but I didn’t want to delay this post.)

CMK Japanese Aviation Figures

CMK also produced at least a couple of Japanese Army sets: F72042 Japan Army Pilots and F72113 Japanese Kamikaze Pilots. I couldn’t use these for the Akagi diorama because their two-piece uniform is noticeably different from the naval uniform used at Pearl Harbor.

B. RedBox Resin Figures

RedBox had previously released its plastic Japanese aviation sets in resin three-figure packages. Because the plastic sets are already pictured above, there is no reason to cover the resin sets here. However, to give a sense for the quality of the resin figures, below is a side-by-side picture of one of the Kamikaze resin sets and its plastic counterparts. While the appreciably more expensive resin figures are generally more realistic and have crisper, better-defined detail, that is not the case here. RedBox’s plastic figures are virtually identical to the resin ones. If anything, one of the shortcomings of resin — its brittleness — is shown here, with the geisha’s handheld flower bouquet being broken off.

RedBox R72011 Japanese Kamikaze

C. Orion Resin Figures

Orion, another Ukrainian company that is somehow affiliated with RedBox, released at least one Japanese aviation three-figure resin set, the 72010R WII Japanese Army Aviation Tropical Set 1. Very likely the only Orion Japanese resin set, it was never released in their plastic line. I will not be using these figures in the Akagi diorama since, as the photo below shows, two of the figures are in tropical short sleeve uniform. They’re included here simply to alert the reader to their existence. Perhaps Orion will release these figures in plastic in the future.

Orion 72010R WII Japanese Army Aviation Tropical Set 1

D. Hecker & Goros Metal Figures

The only metal Japanese aviation set I’m aware of is the Hecker & Goros 226 Japanische Luftwaffe 1941-45, which includes one crewmember, one pilot, and one mechanic. Although the figures may be just slightly overscaled, the detail is rather fine and, being metal, paints quite well. The photo below of the painted figures does not show the mechanic figure, which I will not use in the diorama.

Hecker & Goros 226 Japanische Luftwaffe

III. Relative Pilot Sizes

The relative size of the figures from different companies is important to many readers. The best way to get a sense for those differences is by displaying the figures from different companies side by side. See photo below. The white figures in the top row are from the RedBox Kamikaze set. The figures in the middle row, from left to right, are CMK (2), Hecker & Goros (1), and Hasegawa (2). Finally, the figures in the third row are from the RedBox Army Aviation set.

As the photo below shows, the CMK figures (second row, far left) have tiny heads but look realistic. The Hecker & Goros figures (second row, middle) are larger but, as the final diorama will show, look just fine when displayed separately from their counterparts from other companies. In my opinion, the Hasegawa figures (second row, far right) are spot-on in terms of proportions. Anyhow, I leave it to readers to come to their own conclusions.

IV. Japanese Cockpit Pilots

Though I don’t intend to use seated cockpit pilots in the diorama, included here for the sake of completeness are two such sets: HobbyMaster HP0004 WWII Pilots Set; and JP Productions 721114 Japanese Pilots. The HM set includes two Japanese, two German, and two British pilots that have been factory painted. While there was very likely a difference in the size of real German and Japanese pilots, HM has greatly exaggerated that difference, as the left half of the photo below clearly shows. The PJ pilots, on the other hand, are beautiful little figures with realistic proportions. Of course, they’re correspondingly more expensive and require painting. Nonetheless, the PJ figures make their HM counterparts look like trolls.

HobbyMaster HP0004 & PJ Productions 721114
Japanese Cockpit Pilots

V. Deck Crew

It is impossible to build a diorama of the Akagi deck without crew. While pilot figures were scarce, deck crew figures were even more so. As the sections on RedBox and CMK above show, there is now a decent number of options. However, I still needed more deck crew for my project, so I scrounged around and eventually found that Spanish company Barcelona Universal Models (BUM), which releases kits under various labels, had included Japanese crew figures in several of its Sword tank and vehicle kits. They’re made of an awful spongy plastic-like material that breaks easily but, in the end, they paint well. As mentioned, they’re included in at least five different Sword sets: Sword 172179 Isuzu Truck Workshop (pictured below); 172130 Chi-Ro Tank; 172131 Sumida Armored Car; 172138 Isuzu Fuel Truck; and 172211 Chiyoda Staff Car.

Sword 172179 Isuzu Truck Workshop

To be sure, modelers can never have enough support figures. But, as the photo below hopefully shows, diorama builders now have a fair number of Japanese crew figure options.  

VI. Japanese Naval Uniforms

The basic question every modeler faces when painting soldiers is what colors to use on their uniforms and other accoutrements. Alas, the subject of WWII Japanese naval uniforms is expansive enough that several books have been written specifically on it. I found Gary Nila’s Japanese Naval Aviation Uniforms and Equipment (Osprey, 2002) and Osamu Tagaya’s Imperial Japanese Naval Aviator (Osprey, 1988) particularly useful. The reader is directed to those sources as it is beyond the scope of this article to try to cover such a broad topic.

However, I do want to offer some brief but possibly useful observations. Descriptions of the colors of any uniform and kit are generally helpful but rarely specific. When it comes to painting guides, illustrations are inarguably more effective than descriptions. The composite photo below shows several illustrations of Japanese navy pilots that I gathered from various sources. I chose these because they were the most representative of a Japanese naval pilot around the time of Pearl Harbor. It is immediately evident that interpretations of the colors of the uniform and kit vary considerably. Thus, modelers have a certain degree of latitude in the tint of the colors that they use.

Japanese Naval Pilot Uniforms

Source of each illustration:
1. Sakaida, Henry. Imperial Japanese Navy Aces 1937-45. Osprey, 1998, p.76 (artist Mike Chappell);
2. Tagaya, Osamu. Imperial Japanese Naval Aviator. Osprey, 1988, p.35 (artist John White);
3. Sakaida, p.76 (artist Mike Chappell);
4. Healy, Mark. Midway 1942: Turning Point in the Pacific. Osprey, 1993, p.14 (artist Chris Warner); and
5. Tamiya box art for its 1/16 Japanese Navy Fighter Pilot (artist unknown).
All are used under the Fair Use exception to the copyright laws.

Below are a few more brief observations on some common characteristics of naval aviators that I believe merit attention and readers may find useful:

Helmet – Although there were three types of helmets used by Japanese aviators during WWII, the differences between them are indiscernible at this scale. Suffice it to say that they were made of dark brown leather, fur-lined, usually with rabbit fur. It was fashionable for the right flap to be turned upwards. 

Headband – In a tradition that dated back to the samurai, many IJN pilots used a white or red headband called Hachimaki — literally “helmet scarf” — both for good luck and to keep the sweat off their eyes. These were often adorned with inspirational slogans or mottoes. The hachimaki given to Commander Mitsuo Fuchida just before the Pearl Harbor attack, for example, bore the motto “Certain Victory.” See illustration 3 above. 

Scarf – It was also common for pilots to wear a white scarf usually made from parachute silk around the neck. A white wool muffler was also used. See illustrations 3 and 4 above.

Uniform – The Japanese naval uniform is most often described as “brown gabardine.” Tagaya, for example, states that “all IJN airmen, regardless of rank, wore a one-piece dark brown gabardine flight suit with a large breast pocket located on the left side of the chest, as well as pockets on both trouser legs.” Nila is slightly more helpful with regards to color, describing the uniform as “a heavy, tight-weave wool gabardine material that ranged in color from a dark-chocolate brown to dark brown with a dark green tint.” Again, the description is helpful but not specific enough without an accompanying illustration.

Life Vest – When flying over water, Japanese pilots — Army and Navy — wore life jackets filled with kapok, a light cotton-like fiber from the pods of the tropical Ceiba tree that is inherently buoyant and resistant to water. The kapok life vest was flexible and comfortable and also provided a certain degree of protection from shrapnel. Note that all the pilots in the illustrations wear kapok life vests, essentially a hallmark of IJN pilots.

Gloves – Japanese pilots wore gauntlets with long loose wrists made of deerskin leather thin enough that it afforded freedom of finger movement to use instruments. Note that four of the five pilots in the illustrations have their gauntlets in hand.

Parachute – It has become conventional wisdom that IJN pilots did not use parachutes. The notion probably originated with Gordon W. Prange’s incomparable Tora! Tora! Tora! (Readers Digest, 1963) (p. 85), where he writes: “Like all the fliers, Takahashi carried a map of Oahu, a pistol, a knife, and waterproof cork jacket, the latter to give a slim chance of survival in case he had to ditch at sea, for these men wore no parachutes(emphasis mine). Professor Prange was most probably right about the pilots at Pearl Harbor. However, many post-Pearl Harbor photographs show IJN pilots using their parachutes. 

In an interview with Military History (December 2002), Saburo Sakai, Japan’s legendary Zero ace, was asked whether it was true that Japanese pilots were not allowed to carry parachutes. He responded: “That was never true. Some commanders ordered pilots to take them, although most of our battles were over enemy territory, and we would never have considered being captured. I flew with the thing as a seat cushion, if at all, since the straps reduced range of motion in the cockpit.” See illustrations 1, 2, and 4 above.

Boots – Early in the war, IJN pilots wore brown boots made of cowhide leather taken from China with a lambskin lining and black rubber heels and soles. However, as the war continued and the Japanese empire expanded, the need to produce equipment faster meant that boots were only made in black leather with a white canvas lining. By war’s end, as materials became progressively more scarce, naval flight boots were made of natural untanned pigskin. Thus, the modeling guideline is straightforward. For the early part of the war, such as Pearl Harbor, only brown boots are appropriate. From 1943 on, either black or brown boots will work. See illustrations 4 and 5 above.

Map – Naval aviators flew over vast distances and often carried a map that they sometimes tucked into the boot or into a trouser pocket. See illustration 4 above.

Sword – Naval pilots above the rank of lieutenant commander or higher were allowed to carry their swords into action. However, most declined to do so as they flew vast distances over the ocean where there were no landmarks and the metal sword could throw off their navigational instruments. See illustration 4 above.

Gun – IJN pilots often carried a side arm, though it was not intended for self defense but to commit suicide rather than be captured. Probably the most popular pistol was the Nambu, whose appearance closely resembled the German-made Luger. The pistol was tied to a lanyard that hung from the pilot’s neck, and was then tucked into the flight suit or one of the trouser pockets. See illustrations 2 and 3 above. 

Timepiece – Some INJ pilots often wore a pocket watch suspended from their necks with a silk parachute cord. The timepieces, usually made by Seikosha (Seiko’s predecessor), were luxury items bought by the pilots themselves. See illustration 4 above. Note that several of the RedBox IJN Pilots wear just such a watch. See inset thumbnail at right.

VII. List of 1/72 Japanese Pilots and Crew

Below is a list of all the 1/72 Japanese aviation figures I could find. Although I included PSR photos above, I’m also including links, where available, for anyone who wants to read the PSR reviews.

As the list makes clear, there are plenty of options for anyone wanting to create a diorama involving Japanese Navy pilots. Hasegawa has the distinction of making excellent figures and being the first and — to date — the last company to produce 1/72 scale Japanese pilots. 

Lagniappe Photos

While working on the diorama, I realized I would need more deck crew than I had anticipated. While painting is not my forte, I resigned myself and began preparing 25 figures. The photo below shows the deck figures from various companies in plastic, resin, and metal with their bases clipped off, seams cleaned up, glued to bottle caps, and ready for priming.

The photo below shows the figures after they had been primed using a brush with Tamiya Surface Primer.

And finally, the photo below shows the figures after painting with Vallejo acrylic paints. I apologize again for my meager painting skills but I hope these figures will at least look the part.

As I had mentioned in a recent post, my intention going forward was to include more photos and less text. With over 20 photos and a lot less text than previous posts, I hope I succeeded.

Thank you for your indulgence and I hope you enjoyed the post. If something looks amiss, please let me know. I would be delighted to correct inaccurate information so that this may be useful to other 1/72 scale collectors and wargamers. As always, comments, questions, corrections, and observations are welcome. Following the plan for this diorama that I set nearly two years ago, stay tuned for the construction of a section of the deck of the Akagi in 1/72 scale in the next post.


Once again I want to thank my friend and fellow collector Joe Buccellato, of NY, whose workmanship and patience far exceed mine. He again enthusiastically painted most of these figures and to the extent they succeed the credit is all his.

The Sherman in 1/72: A Firefly Named “Carole” in Normandy, Part 2 – “Brewing Up”

This is Part 2 of A Firefly Named “Carole” in Normandy. For a description of the actual tank and a review of the Dragon model, please refer to the previous post here.

The Crew of the “Carole” in Normandy

I was intrigued by the photo of the four young members of “Carole’s” crew in front of their vehicle “brewing up” at Gosport just before leaving England on their way to Normandy. The human interest value of the photo is immense, as we know the fate of at least two of these young men — Commander Fred Scamp perished soon thereafter, while Gunner Douglas Kay survived into old age. This type of photo where you look into the faces of men who will soon face their fate is always touching to me, whether the soldiers are American, British, Russian, German, Japanese, or any other nationality.

At any rate, I wanted to recreate the aforementioned photo, or something that evinced its feel. However, the fact that the photo was taken while “Carole” still had the wading trunk made it a non-starter as the Dragon model is of “Carole” after the trunk was removed. In addition, recreating anything that even looked like the background in the scene was beyond my meager modeling capabilities. The only avenue available to me was to depict the scene after “Carole” and its crew arrived in Normandy.

The aforementioned photo is on the left in the triptych below. (See previous post for a larger, uncropped view of this photo.) The middle photo shows “Carole” in Normandy. Note the high grass, the stone wall behind the tank, and the destroyed buildings behind that wall. The photo on the right shows a similar scene of a British tank crew with their Sherman. An interesting feature of the photo is that it includes tankers wearing different clothing. Click on the photo to enlarge it.carole-triptych-blue-lineThe Diorama

The diorama below is a composite of those three photos. The modest effort depicts the crew taking a break in front of their tank somewhere in Normandy. Note the tall grass and stone fence present in some photos taken during the Normandy campaign. I’m not unaware that the stone fence is inexplicably intact while the building is in ruins and the tree next to it is completely charred. Still, I concluded that carving rocks out of the wall to simulate damage would not be worthwhile as it could not match the picture in my head anyway.1-008-best-bwBelow is the same photo in color. Ever the philistine, I’m convinced that color photos are infinitely better than black & white photos. To me, continuing to film in B&W in this day and age, as was done in The Good German, which is actually an excellent film, is as silly as would be continuing to film silent movies even though we’ve mastered sound.

Note that the six tankers sport different uniforms, with the 1st, 4th, and 6th (from left) wearing standard British battledress serge while the 2nd and 3rd figures wear denim overalls. The 5th figure is dressed more casually, reflecting the motley nature of clothing in units throughout the war. These Milicast figures are nothing short of cromulent*. Click on the photo to embiggen* it.1-008-bestNote that all the men wear a black beret, the hallmark of a WWII British tanker. According to Military Modelling Vol.30 No.11, the design of the distinctive black beret was inspired by French berets used during WWI. The unstiffened crown allowed it to be easily stowed in the tight spaces within the tank while the dark color helped hide grime and stains inherent in working inside a tank.

This is not an idle observation as knowing that Brit tankers wore a black beret and Brit paras a red one would greatly enhance the casual viewer’s enjoyment of a A Bridge Too Far, as a red beret would immediately signal that the action is taking place at Arnhem. 🙂 By the same token, recognizing the “Screaming Eagles” patch versus the “All American” patch immediately reveals whether the action is taking place at Eindhoven or Nijmegen.3-032Note that the animals move from photo to photo. The tan horse with a white blaze, in particular, had trouble staying on its four legs so every time it tipped over I placed it somewhere else. 🙂 The photo below is my favorite out of the dozens I took of this diorama, though I’m uncertain why.4-030

“Everyone has a backstory and deserves a guess in the absence of facts,” Ara Hagopian.

For the first time in writing these posts I had an urge to create a backstory for the cat I whimsically placed just behind the turret number. Do my fellow German bloggers, who seem to be cat lovers, or any other readers have any ideas? 5-015The cattle and horses are Preiser HO scale prepainted figures, which at first blush appeared to me to be the same size as the horses and cattle in the unpainted Preiser 1/72 scale 72511 Horses, Cows, and Sheep set. 

An indolent man at heart, I opted for the prepainted figures to avoid: 1) clipping the 72511 figures from the sprue; 2) cleaning the flash and seams; 3) gluing the two halves of each figure together; 4) priming them to ensure the paint adheres; 5) painting them; 6) detailing them; and 7) being disappointed with the results. I learned afterwards, upon actually placing the two sets side by side, that the 1/72 scale figures were proportionately larger than the HO scale figures. Alas, Preiser is a German company, after all.6-066Note the tarps and blanket rolls on the rear hull of the tank. These are Value Gear pieces and they are superb. The stone fence is a Pegasus product that surprisingly looked the part with a simple black wash. 7-060Below is a fairly clear shot of the ruined building, which I had trouble bringing into focus at the same time as the tank and crew. Again, a photographer I am not. The realistic building is from the PMA Stalingrad set. PMA diorama pieces are really quite nice, though difficult to find.8-067“Brewing Up”

Much has been written about the British soldier’s expectation of regular tea breaks to the detriment of achieving the objective. Some have offered explanations of this phenomenon cloaked in scholarly terms. Nonsense. The Brits may love their tea, but as their opponents have found out throughout history, they certainly achieve their objectives.british-drinking-teaFor those of us non-British subjects, the 1977 film A Bridge Too Far was in some respects a formative reference on the peculiarly British affinity for drinking tea. The star-studded film has two important tea-related scenes that left an indelible impression on this blogger. 

The first scene, with Sean Connery, perfectly encapsulates how the British perceive drinking tea:

Major General Urquhart:

“Hancock, I’ve got lunatics laughing at me from the woods. My original plan has been scuppered now that the jeeps haven’t arrived. My communications are completely broken down. Do you really believe any of that can be helped by a cup of tea?

Corporal Hancock:

“Couldn’t hurt, sir,” as he hands Urquhart a cup of tea.

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKr9eja-1cw

The second — this time heated — exchange features Robert Redford, and is more a reflection of how Americans perceive the British love affair with tea:

American Officer:

“I don’t understand, why aren’t you moving, what’s the matter with you guys? Those are British troops at Arnhem. They’re hurt, bad. You’re not going to stop, not now.”

British Tank Officer:

“I’m sorry, we have our orders.”

American Officer:

“We busted our asses getting here. Half my men are killed. And you’re just gonna stop . . .  and . . . drink tea? “

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1EsDkm_r3o

At the risk of belaboring the point, I believe ABTF was simply propagating an incorrect — yet widely held — belief among American soldiers that tea time was fairly important to the British. Still, at least in this case, let’s not blame Hollywood as this was a joint British/American production. ABTF was written by Cornelius Ryan, an Irishman; the screenplay was written by William Goldman, an American; and the film was directed by Richard Attenborough, an Englishman.

(Incidentally, what a cast! Laurence Olivier, Sean Connery, Ryan O’Neal, Anthony Hopkins, Robert Redford, Michael Caine, Gene Hackman, Dirk Bogarde, Edward Fox, Elliot Gould, and James Caan, just to name the Allies. Only Is Paris Burning?, Tora, Tora, Tora, and Midway come close. Also, those were real C-47 Skytrains/Dakotas in the film — eleven of them in total, borrowed from various countries, including Denmark, Djibouti, Finland, and Portugal. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. 🙂 )

a-bridge-too-far-2-big

Irrespective of how it came to be, or whether it’s a fair or accurate characterization, it is undeniable that tankers-teaBritish tankers are now firmly entrenched in the modeler’s psyche as soldiers with a strong love affair with tea. Thus, regardless of the scale, they are often depicted “brewing up” with a “cuppa” in hand. The photo triptych at left, showing tanker figures in different scales, makes the point clearly. At left is the Milicast 1/76 figure used in the diorama; at center is a Dartmoor 1/48 figure; and at right is a Dragon 1/6 figure. The first two photos are from their respective manufacturer’s websites; the third I scanned from an article in the French magazine Steel Masters #58.

List of Diorama Pieces

For those interested, below is the source of each piece:

  • Tank: Dragon 60250 Firefly Vc, 13th/18th Royal Hussars, 27th Armoured Brigade, Normandy 1944;
  • Tarp and Blanket rolls on hull: Value Gear Allied Tents, Tarps, and Crates;
  • Crew: Milicast 061 British Squaddies and Milicast 054 British Troops;
  • Animals: Various Preiser HO and 1/72 sets;
  • Trees: Various Woodland Scenics;
  • Building: Precision Model Art PMA P0204 Stalingrad;
  • Stone Fence: Pegasus Hobbies 5202 Stone Walls;
  • Spoked Wheel: Hat 8260 WWI German Field Wagon;
  • Meadow: Woodland Scenics Grass Mat;
  • Tufts of Grass: Noch Scenemaster, Spring Grass Tufts; and
  • Backdrop: Silk poster ordered on Amazon from China.

I hope you enjoyed this simple diorama of “Carole” and its crew. Again, if something looks amiss, please let me know. I would be delighted to correct inaccurate information so that this may be useful for other 1/72 scale collectors and wargamers. As always, comments, questions, corrections, observations, and backstories for the cat are welcome.

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Once again, I’d like to thank my friend and fellow collector J. Buccellato of NY for his incredible skill and patience in painting the Milicast figures. He’s the sine qua non in creating these dioramas. His “therapy” is my joy. *For those not familiar with the two neologisms in this post, I highly recommend Season 7, Episode 16 of the Simpsons on the episode’s 20th anniversary. 🙂

The Filthy Thirteen of the 101st Airborne Division, Part 5: Preboarding Diorama

This is the fifth and final post of the Filthy Thirteen five-part series. For a synopsis of these colorful characters, creating the figures in 1/72 scale, selecting their weapons, and a look at the finished figures, please refer to the previous four posts, The Filthy Thirteen, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4, respectively.

The Group Photo

As previously mentioned, our 1/72 scale Filthy Thirteen are bareheaded — clearly not in combat as they’re not wearing a helmet. Thus, one of the few plausible diorama options was a scene taking place just prior to boarding the aircraft. Before embarking on a mission, it was customary for a stick of paratroopers to pose for a group photo with the pilot and crew of the aircraft. (A paratrooper stick typically numbered 15-18 men.) The reader is directed to the History Channel’s Dangerous Missions: Pathfinders episode, for example, wherein a paratrooper recalls sitting for the group photo. “They must be taking a photo for our obituary,” he quips wryly. The photo below, for example, is of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment just before boarding for a mission. pathfinder-photo-506-pirThe Diorama

The diorama below depicting such a photo shoot at Upottery Airfield in East Devon, England, just before the Filthy Thirteen board their aircraft, is loosely based on this concept. A kneeling paratrooper, a sergeant, and a pilot stand directly facing the photographer, with the rest of the stick arranged in a semicircle in front of a Douglas C-47 Skytrain. A brief discussion and additional photos of the Skytrain appear in a separate section below.z-039-2Below is a close-up photo of the scene. The paratroopers have been discussed extensively in previous posts so I will not belabor them further. However, I point the reader’s attention to the pilot, who is also covered in a separate section below.014-2Below is a view from the right side. I was unable to locate a 1/72 scale U.S. photographer so I ended up using a Preiser HO scale figure. Note the three Jeeps, which were ubiquitous at Upottery Airfield.016-2Below is a view from the left side. Note the markings on the front bumper of the Willys Jeep on the right, which clearly identify it as belonging to the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. (Click on the photo to zoom in on the bumper.)020-3Below is an overhead shot. Note the drybrushing on the pilot’s leather jacket, which came out better than I expected, once again proving the adage, particularly applicable to me, that “even a stopped clock is right twice a day.” 034-2For those skeptical that paratroopers would actually pose for photos, I direct you to the photo below of Jake McNiece, taken just before the Filthy Thirteen boarded their C-47 on D-Day.posed-photo

The Pilot

Given that group photos often included the aircraft crew, the scene cried out for a pilot. As shown in the composite photo below, there are several U.S. pilot options in 1/72 scale.

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From left to right: Airfix 1748; CMK 72039; CMK 72221; Hasegawa 35008; and TQD-AA9.

While I considered the pilots from the Airfix 1748 U.S.A.F. Personnel, CMK 72039 US Army Pilots (resin), CMK 72221 USAAF Pilots (resin), and Hasegawa 35008 WWII Pilots sets, I ultimately opted for the pilot included in the white metal TQD-AA9 US Airborne Infantry & Pilot set, as I found it to have the quintessential WWII U.S. pilot “look.”

The TQD pilot sports the A-2 leather flying jacket so characteristic of WWII U.S. pilots. a-2-flying-leather-jacket-2The backs of these brown leather jackets were often decorated with squadron insignia, victory slogans, or pinup art, as seen in the illustration at left by Francis Chin taken from Osprey Publishing US Army Air Force. The TQD figure also wears the popular officer’s peaked cap that was often worn with the crown stiffener removed, both to get the stylish “crushed” look and, more importantly, to allow the headset to fit over the cap. Note also that these pilots are almost invariably depicted either smoking a cigarette, as in the illustration, or chomping on a cigar, as in the TQD figure. I rejected the Airfix and CMK figures because they appear to be wearing the winter B-3 jacket with fur collar. I note, however, that CMK resin figures are generally some of the most realistic 1/72 scale figures on the market. Similarly, I passed over the Hasegawa figure because it’s wearing the garrison side cap with earflaps, rather than the more distinctive peaked cap.

The Willys Jeep

Numerous sources of information on the jeep are readily available and the reader is directed to them. However, for the sake of completeness, below are several photos of the jeeps used in the diorama. To my knowledge, there are only two 1/72 scale jeeps that specifically represent the 101st Airborne Division. First, below is the Hobby Master HG4203, US Willys Jeep, 101st Airborne Div., 506th A.B. Regiment, Company “C,” Normandy, 6 June 1944 (2010).081-2Made of diecast, the Hobby Master’s heft is pleasing to the hand. Below is a portside view.094-2Below is a front view shot of the Hobby Master model. The markings of the 101st Airborne Division 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment are clearly visible on the bumper.099-2Pictured below is the only other 1/72 scale jeep specifically representing the 101st Infantry Division, the Dragon 60505, 1/4 Ton 4×4 Truck, U.S. Army Western Front 1944, 101st Airborne Division, 401st Glider Infantry Regiment, France 1944 (2011). 082-2Unlike the Hobby Master, the Dragon 60505 is all plastic and, like other Dragon jeep releases, comes bundled in a package of two. Below is a portside view.083-2Finally, below is a side-by-side photo of the Hobby Master and Dragon pieces. As is readily apparent from the photo, the Hobby Master (left) is slightly larger than the Dragon (right). I note that the proportions of the Hobby Master are identical to those of the Cararama and Zylmex 1/72 scale jeeps and it’s probably at scale. In addition, there are reports that the Dragon jeep is underscaled — probably at 1/76 scale. While the Hobby Master model is diecast and the Dragon piece is plastic, a quick glance at the radiator grilles in the photo below immediately attests to Dragon’s redeeming quality — realism.079-3The C-47 Skytrain

The first thing one notices in the diorama is the fabulous Douglass C-47 Skytrain behind the paratroopers. While the versatile “Gooney Bird,” as the Skytrain was known to Air Force personnel, had various military uses, its primary role was as a transport plane, ferrying paratroopers to its targets and becoming the most widely used transport of World War II. Douglas built 10,700 C-47s and more than 1,000 of these participated in the D-Day invasion alone. Below is a portside view of the diecast Corgi  AA38207 used in the diorama.018-2Band of Brothers, the highly acclaimed TV Mini-Series (2001) depicting the travails of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, brought international fame to the 506th PIR and spawned a number of products specifically depicting that unit. The Corgi AA38207, for example, represents the transport for Richard “Dick” Winters, the leader of the first platoon of the 2nd Battalion, 506th PIR of the 101st AD. Below is a starboard shot.031-2Below is a shot taken from the front. The 95 ft. 6 in. wingspan of the Douglass C-47 Skytrain was virtually identical to its German counterpart, the Junkers Ju52 “Tante Ju,” which had a wingspan of 95 ft. 11 in. Note the realistic transparent lens of the landing lights on the leading edge of the wings.022-2As can be readily appreciated in the photo below, the Corgi AA38207 is a magnificent piece of diecast. It’s unfortunate that the model disappeared from the shelves long ago. Note the pilot and co-pilot figures through the windows.027-2Below is shot of the portside fuselage. I almost wish Corgi had designed the model with an opening cargo door but such features often come at the expense of accuracy, making the models look toyish. Still, an opening cargo door would provide additional diorama opportunities.025-2The Terrain 

Because of their small size, creating realistic braille scale dioramas is inherently challenging — at least for a novice like me. In addition, the bases of the figures significantly detract from any setting, no matter how realistic it is. Thus, I had two options to try to improve the diorama: Either clip the bases of the figures as I have done for previous posts, or find a way to hide them. I opted for the latter.

I began by cutting out the flat part of styrofoam paper plate. I proceeded to draw the outline of the bases of the figures on the plate and carefully carved them out. When I inserted the figures into the recessed slots in the flat base, I found to my surprise that they fit snugly and were neatly flush with the base. The photo below shows the figures already embedded in the base. (Click on the photo to zoom in on the base.)z-004-2I then enlarged the base with additional styrofoam plates, covered it with hydrocal plaster to create contoured terrain, and painted it with acrylic paints. Finally, I flocked it with Woodland Scenics green and yellow grass to resemble Upottery Airfield in East Devon, England, whence the flights for D-Day originated. The photo below shows the countours of the terrain.001-2The Meltdown

While taking photos of the diorama in my backyard, I realized that the sky backdrop had warped, completely ruining the photos — and an entire morning. 🙁 Following a couple of hours of frustration attempting to salvage the photos by digitally cutting out the background, I decided to photograph the scene again. I was fairly certain that when I glued the silk poster to the cardboard backing I had achieved a good bond and there had been no warping. Still, I carefully unglued the poster and reglued it, using Elmer’s spray adhesive.

Despite diligent efforts and newly acquired photographic lights, indoor illumination continues to confound me, resulting in my strong preference for outdoor photography with natural light. Thus, after ensuring that there was no warping and the glue had set, I again moved the pieces outside and began to photograph. Alas, within ten minutes, the poster began to warp again. I suddenly realized that the 90 degree heat outdoors was melting the glue. As with the warped deck of an aircraft carrier in a previous project, I was once again paying the price of my incompetence and inability to take adequate photos indoors. Nonetheless, the few photos I managed to take before the meltdown were sufficient for this post. The side-by-side photo below is worth a thousand words.contrast-5

List of Diorama Pieces

For those interested, below is the source of each piece:

  • Photographer: Preiser 28069, Photographer (HO Scale);
  • Pilot: TQD Castings, TQD-AA9, US Airborne Infantry & Pilot Boarding Aircraft;
  • Paratroopers: Various sets (see previous four posts);
  • Jeep (far right): Hobby Master HG4203, US Willys Jeep, 101st Airborne Div., 506th A.B. Regiment, Company “C,” Normandy, 6 June 1944 (2010);
  • Other Jeeps: Dragon 60505, 1/4 Ton 4×4 Truck, U.S. Army Western Front 1944, 101st Airborne Div., 401st Glider Infantry Rgt., France 1944 (2011);
  • Aircraft: Corgi AA38207, Douglas C-47 Skytrain, USAAF 439th TCG, 50th TCW, June 5th, Upottery, England (2014);
  • Meadow: Styrofoam plates painted with acrylic colors and flocked with Woodland Scenics grasses;
  • Backdrop: Silk poster ordered on Amazon from China.

Lagniappe

This series of posts began with a wonderful painting of the Filthy Thirteen by Joel Iskowitz. It is only fitting, therefore, that it end with another beautiful painting. The lagniappe painting below, entitled We Were a Band of Brothers, is by John D. Shaw. It is reproduced here for discussion purposes under the fair use exception to the copyright laws. z-john-d-shaw-we-were-a-band-of-brothersI hope you enjoyed this simple diorama and the Filthy Thirteen series of posts. Again, if something looks amiss, please let me know. I would be delighted to correct inaccurate information so that this may be useful for other 1/72 scale collectors and wargamers. As always, comments, questions, corrections, and observations are welcome.

The Filthy Thirteen of the 101st Airborne Division, Part 4: The Finished Figures

This is the fourth of a five-part series on the Filthy Thirteen. For a synopsis of these colorful characters, creating the figures in 1/72 scale, and selecting their weapons, please refer to the three previous posts, The Filthy Thirteen, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3, respectively.

Although I generally paint my own figures, my skills are mediocre at best, and I was too excited about this particular set to ruin it with my efforts. I freely concede: I’m a dilettante — I dabble in everything and master nothing. Thus, I turned to a genuine hobbyist with real expertise for help. The awesome results of his skill, dedication, and patience follow.  

Before we start, let’s put things in perspective. I fully understand that most people reading this post are z 007 - Copy (2)familiar with 1/72 scale and know the height of a typical figure. However, for those casual internet browsers who happen upon this site, the average 1/72 scale figure is approximately 1 inch or 25 mm tall. Borrowing a practice from the terrific WW2 Germans in 1/72 website, the photo at left provides perspective to help us understand the significant painting challenges posed by this scale. I know hobbyists who use a one-bristle paint brush for detail work. In addition, anyone who has painted 1/72 scale figures will understand the severe eye strain and occasional headache that results from concentrating on a figure — there’s a reason 1/72 is known as braille scale. And yet, those of us who engage in this activity know the nirvana with which we’re rewarded. 🙂 Yes, I love doing it; I just stink at it.

The Painted Figures

The following pictures follow the order established in the Figure Chart of the two previous posts. Unless otherwise specified, comments always refer to the photo below the comments.

BELOW: Here are the first four figures. Note the warpaint on their mugs, bearing in mind that the width of their faces is about 2 mm. Note the patches used to reinforce the elbows and knees on the jackets and trousers, a distinct characteristic of paratrooper uniforms. The Revell BAR gunner (second from left) is wearing the BAR belt with six pockets, each for two 20-round magazines, giving him a total of 240 rounds. Note the magazine pouches on the belt of the ESCI figure with the M1A1 Thompson submachine gun (third from left).

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From left to right: Revell, Revell, ESCI, and ESCI.

BELOW: Note the hand-painted U.S. flag patches on the right shoulder. Astute observers will immediately notice that the flag is seemingly facing in the wrong direction as the applicable U.S. Army regulation requires that the “star field face forward,” like a flag flying in the breeze as it is carried forward. In other words, the regulation requires the flag to be backwards when on the right shoulder.

However, U.S. paratroopers were allowed to use the regular U.S. flag patch, probably because they were dropped behind enemy lines and needed to be easily identified by advancing U.S. forces. (I found at least a dozen photos of WWII U.S. paratroopers wearing the regular U.S. flag patch on their right shoulders before I was convinced.) 025BELOW: Note the famed Screaming Eagle shoulder patches of the 101st Airborne Division on the left shoulder. Only the painter knows how much eye strain these patches are worth. Another U.S. Airborne characteristic is the M3 trench knife and scabbard attached to the lower leg, as can be seen in the picture above on the right leg of the two ESCI figures on the right. A peculiarity of the ESCI set is that 13 of the 14 figures in the set sport the knife in the same fashion — the prone machine gunner being the only exception. The other sets only have two or three figures carrying the trench knife.027BELOW: The ESCI figure on the far right has the 10-inch M1 Bayonet attached to the folding stock M1A1 Carbine. The M1 Bayonet became standard in 1943, replacing the earlier 16-inch bayonet. Note the “U.S.” designation on the covers of the entrenching tool and canteen on the same ESCI figure. 026BELOW: Here are the second four figures. Note that the head on the Caesar figure on the far left is disproportionately large — a melonhead if I ever saw one. Although the Revell figure (second from left) appeared to lack facial detail, paint really brought it out. Note the 10-inch bayonet attached to the M1 Garand rifle on the Caesar figure on the far right. 

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From left to right: Caesar, Revell, ESCI, and Caesar.

BELOW: Note that the first three figures — the three original Pathfinders with Mohawk haircuts — have the M3 trench knife attached to the lower right leg, making them honest paratroopers. Created by three different sculptors, note the difference in the heads. This variety in heads is realistic and the welcome result of mixing figures from different companies. Note the first aid pouch on the right leg of the walking Caesar figure (far right), who also sports one of the Caesar melonheads. These first aid kits typically contained field dressing and morphine.

030BELOW: ESCI’s attention to detail is evident in the inclusion of a helmet attached to the back of its Pathfinder figure (third from left). Neither the Caesar nor the Revell bareheaded Pathfinders with Mohawk haircuts (first and second from left) thought to include a helmet.032BELOW: Note the M1936 Musette Field bag on the back of the Caesar figure on the far right. Though usually associated with paratroopers, this lightweight canvas backpack was also available to officers in the regular infantry.031BELOW: Here are the last four figures. Note the Imex figure (second from left) is tall but slim, lending greater variety to the figures. Note the yellow gloves on the Italeri figure holding the M9 Bazooka (far right), recommended to protect the hands in case of back-flash when the rocket left the muzzle.

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From left to right: Caesar, Imex, Imex, and Italeri.

BELOW: Note that the Italeri bazooka gunner (far right) has the M3 trench knife on his lower right leg.

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BELOW: I could not identify the bag on the left hip of the Caesar figure (far left). While it’s probably an M1936 Musette field bag, it’s missing the two straps and buckle to close the flap, as seen on the two Imex figures next to it.

036

BELOW: Of particular interest is the folded M1A1 Carbine on the back of the bazooka gunner (far right). This may be the only folding stock M1A1 Carbine that is actually folded in the various sets. On the same figure, note as well the superb rendition of the “U.S.” designation on his canteen. Note that both Imex figures in the middle have the M1936 Musette field bag. As with the ESCI sculptor who included the distinctive trench knife on virtually all his paratroopers, the Imex sculptor’s idiosyncrasy was to include the characteristic musette field bag on all but two of his 14 paratroopers.

035BELOW: Here are some photos of the TQD figure, completing the Filthy Thirteen. It bears mentioning again that TQD white metal figures are generally excellent, with realistic proportions, fine detail, and historical accuracy. 

Pathfinder (2)
TQD AA5 Pathfinder white metal figure

Comparison Chart

Finally, below is a lagniappe comparison chart that summarizes the project. It shows the original figures with helmets, the set they came from, the figures with the transplanted heads, and the finished figures, as well as the weapon each carries.Filthy Thirteen Final 2

The Upshot

I was pleasantly surprised by the results of this project, an honest and well-intentioned 1/72 scale tribute to the Filthy Thirteen, “the orneriest, meanest group of paratroopers” who ever lived. And it was loads of fun to boot. However, I do have two regrets, as discussed previously: 1) I wish I’d used an Airfix figure to represent all available U.S. paratrooper sets; and 2) I wish I’d used a figure with an M3 “grease gun” to better represent most of the small arms used by U.S. paratroopers.

I hope you enjoyed this Filthy Thirteen series of posts. If something looks amiss, please remember that I’m just an amateur enthusiast (redundancy intended) and let me know. I would be delighted — truly — to correct inaccurate information so that this may be useful for other 1/72 scale collectors and wargamers. Stay tuned next week or so for Part 5: Preboarding Diorama, a simple diorama featuring these characters. As always, comments, questions, corrections, and observations are welcome. 

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I want to thank my friend and fellow collector Joe Buccellato, of NY, whose love of craft, workmanship, and patience far exceed mine — “therapy,” he calls it. He enthusiastically painted these figures and to the extent they succeed the credit is all his. I’m fortunate he’s a Civil War collector for I doubt he’d part with my WWII figures after he paints them. More of his outstanding work will be featured in future posts.

The Filthy Thirteen of the 101st Airborne Division, Part 3: Selecting the Weapons

This is the third of a five-part series on the Filthy Thirteen. For a synopsis of these colorful characters and creating the figures in 1/72 scale, please refer to the two previous posts, The Filthy Thirteen, Part 1 and Part 2.

U.S. Army Airborne Weapons

The nature of U.S. Airborne troops in WWII was such that their weapons had to be specialized, usually to make them lighter or more portable. Because paratroopers were often dropped behind enemy lines where resupply was uncertain, they had to schlep loads of 100 lbs. or more on their backs, making lighter, more portable weapons a must.

As I mentioned in Part 2, one of my goals was for the 1/72 scale unit to reflect as many of the weapons used by U.S. paratroopers as possible. I compiled the weapons plate below from a number of illustrations contained in various Osprey books, including US Army Airborne 1940-1990, US Paratrooper 1941-1945, US Army Airborne and Paratroops; and US Army Paratrooper in the Pacific Theatre 1943-45. The Pathfinder illustration is by renowned military artist Ron Volstad. The plate summarizes the small arms — hand-held small caliber firearms, such as handguns, rifles, manual, semi-automatic, and fully automatic weapons — used by U.S. paratroopers. US Airborne Paratrooper Weapons 13

Figure and Weapons Chart

Below is a chart showing the weapons used by each of the selected figures. A discussion of each weapon follows. Where the options were limited for a particular weapon, I’ve included photos of the various alternatives.Weapons Chart

Weapons in 1/72 Scale

1. M1911A1 Colt .45 Pistol: The venerable seven-round, semi-automatic .45 caliber “Colt 45,” introduced prior to WWI, was issued to officers, non-commissioned officers, and machine gunners and was so effective that it wasn’t replaced until 1986, 75 years and several wars after its debut.

042
Left, Revell; right, Imex.

Every unit has an officer — always with binoculars and a pistol — and the various paratrooper sets offer different alternatives. However, only the Revell and Imex officers have a pistol in hand and the latter is clearly firing his in combat, leaving the Revell figure as the only choice. See photo inset at left. While it is impossible to determine at this scale what pistols the officers are really wielding, we must assume they’re the M1911A1 Colt .45 pistol, common with U.S. Airborne officers. 

 

2. M3 Submachine Gun “Grease Gun”: The .45 caliber M3 Submachine gun was designed to be a simplified, cheaper ($20) replacement for the Thompson submachine gun. Commonly known as

047
From left to right: Caesar, Imex, Italeri, and Revell.

the “grease gun” because of its visual similarity to an actual mechanic’s grease gun, it was unjustly perceived to be less reliable than a Thompson, though its lighter weight (8 lbs.) made it popular among paratroopers who had to schlep loads of 100 lbs. or more on their backs.

For the most part, I succeeded in representing all the standard weapons used by U.S. Airborne troops shown in the Weapons Plate above. However, I failed to use a figure with the M3 “grease gun,” though there were four available. See photo inset above. Note how well-defined the weapon is on the Imex figure (second from left; click on the photo to enlarge). The proportions, detail, and sculpting on the Imex figures are dead-on.

3. M1 Garand Rifle: The semi-automatic, 8-round .30 caliber M1 Garand rifle replaced the 1903 Springfield rifle as the standard issue for U.S. troops in 1938, giving U.S. soldiers a distinct advantage over the slower German K-98 bolt-action rifle, which had become standard Wehrmacht issue in 1935. General Patton considered it “the greatest battle implement ever devised” and many soldiers preferred the M1 Garand’s greater range and stopping power over the M1 Carbine that was supposed to replace it. By the end of the war, over five million M1 Garands had been produced.

The various U.S. paratrooper sets included many figures with the M1 Garand rifle, reflecting the fact that it was the most common weapon used by U.S. Airborne troops. Thus, there were a number of choices and four of the selected 13 figures are carrying one, including one with the 10-inch M1 Bayonet attached. (See the Figure and Weapons Chart above.) 

4. M1 Carbine w/ Wooden Stock: The semi-automatic, 30-round, .30 caliber M1 Carbine, which replaced the M1 Garand as the standard issue rifle in 1942, was intended to be smaller and lighter than the M1 Garand. At 35.5 in. and 5.5 lbs, it was, in fact, eight inches shorter and weighed four pounds less than the M1 Garand, making it well suited for paratroopers. With more than six million wood-stocked M1 Carbines produced, it was much more widely used by U.S. forces than its cousin, the folding stock M1A1 Carbine, of which only 150,000 were made. However, designed specifically for U.S. paratroopers, the M1A1 Carbine was more common among this group.

As with the M1 Garand rifle, the various U.S. Airborne sets offered a fair selection of figures equipped with the M1 Carbine. As noted, however, the folding stock M1A1 Carbine was more widely used by U.S. paratroopers so I selected only one figure carrying the M1 Carbine, the Revell figure (sixth from left), as can be seen on the Figure and Weapons Chart above.

5. M1A1 Carbine w/ Folding Stock: Identical to the M1 Carbine except for the folding metal stock, the M1A1 Carbine was 25 inches long when folded, fully 10 inches shorter than the M1 Carbine, making it an excellent weapon for the highly mobile paratroopers.

Given that the M1A1 Carbine was specifically designed for U.S. paratroopers, it is no surprise that at least 10 figures in the various U.S. paratrooper sets are equipped with it. The ESCI set alone includes five figures wielding this weapon. There are three figures with the M1A1 Carbine in the selected 13 — the ESCI (fourth from left) and Caesar (ninth from left) figures shown on the Figure and Weapons Chart above plus the Italeri figure (far right) with the M9 Bazooka, who carries the M1A1 Carbine on his back. 

6. M1A1 Thompson Submachine Gun: One of the most recognized weapons in history, the M1A1 Thompson submachine gun was a favorite among the troops. Though generally only issued to squad leaders and officers in the regular army, it was widely used among paratroopers. Accurate up to 50 yards, it could fire its large .45 caliber rounds at a rate of 650 per minute, giving it devastating “sweeping” power within that distance. Though heavier than the M3 “grease gun,” the M1 Thompson submachine gun was more widely used.

The various figure sets provided a fair selection of figures wielding the M1A1 Thompson submachine guns, reflecting its wide use among paratroopers.  As shown in the Figure and Weapons Chart above, I selected three — the ESCI figure (third from left), the kneeling Caesar figure (fifth from left), and the TQD Pathfinder figure, a picture of which appears in the previous post.

7. M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR): The fully automatic .30 caliber M1918A2 BAR, which replaced the M1918 used in WWI, was designed to be fired from the hip as an automatic rifle while moving forward in support of riflemen or from a stationary position as a light machine gun.

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Left, Imex; right, Revell.

However, its paltry 20-round magazines greatly limited its effectiveness as a machine gun. While used by U.S. paratroopers, the BAR’s 20-lb weight and need to be reassembled after a jump made it an inconvenient — and therefore uncommon — weapon for Airborne troops. To reduce the BAR’s weight, experienced paratroopers often ditched the bipod, buttplate, and carrying handle, lowering the weight to 15 lbs.

There are only two BAR gunners in the 69 paratrooper poses available — one in the Imex set and one in the Revell set, as seen in the photo inset above. Thus, the Revell figure (on the right) was an easy choice since the Imex figure is prone firing the weapon, clearly in combat. The Revell gunner, who has not removed the bipod or carrying handle from his BAR, is presumably a novice. 🙂 

8. M9 Bazooka: The M9 Bazooka was a portable recoil-less, anti-tank rocket launcher that replaced the earlier M1 Bazooka in 1943. At 54 inches, the M1 Bazooka was unwieldy during jumps so the Airborne command specifically requested the M9 Bazooka, which could be broken down into two parts to make it more portable. By happy coincidence, the modification allowed engineers to make it longer, increasing range and accuracy.

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From left to right: Caesar, Imex, and Italeri.

Considered the perfect infantryman’s anti-tank weapon, it could immobilize a tank with a solid, accurate hit. According to the conventional wisdom, the much-feared German 88mm Panzershreck was copied from a captured American bazooka.

The M9 Bazooka was common with U.S. Airborne troops so the set would have been incomplete without a figure carrying one. There were three potential figures with a bazooka, as can be seen in the photo inset above. However, two of them are actually firing the weapon so the Italeri figure was the only non-combat choice. 

A passing glance at the Figure and Weapons Chart above quickly reveals that the Italeri figure (far right) is somewhat bulkier than the other 12, which gave me pause. In the end, I used it anyway. First, I rationalized that human height and girth varies significantly. It turned out that the figure is 26.4mm tall, which scales out to only 6’2”, totally within the acceptable range. He is crouching a bit, which means he’s actually taller. Secondly, the figure — huge as it is — represents the gentle but slow-witted giant often seen in Hollywood movies, including the one in the aforementioned Dirty Dozen. (To my mind, the all-time greatest Hollywood brute is Andre the Giant as the unforgettable Fezzik in The Princess Bride.) And finally, it makes sense that the biggest man in the unit would carry the M9 Bazooka, the heaviest weapon in the paratrooper arsenal, weighing 16 lbs — one pound more than the stripped down 15-lb BAR. 

Browning M1919A4 Light Machine Gun

I intentionally did not include the Browning M1919A4 light machine gun in the Weapons Plate or in the discussion, as there were no figures carrying it in non-combat. However, four of the six sets include such a weapon and, for the sake of completeness, I’ve included a lagniappe photo of those four below. Referring strictly to the weapon and not the paratrooper, the ESCI machine gun (far left) has the most detail and best proportions, with the Revell and Italeri weapons closely behind. The Caesar machine gun (far right) is underscaled and has very little detail, though the paratrooper figure itself is excellent.

BMG 004
From left to right: ESCI, Revell, Italeri, and Caesar.

This concludes our lightning-fast survey of U.S. Army Airborne small arms. I hope you found the post informative. Stay tuned tomorrow for Part 4: The Finished Figures, with lots of photos of the painted figures. As always, comments, questions, corrections, and observations are welcome.

The Filthy Thirteen of the 101st Airborne Division, Part 2: Creating the Unit in 1/72 Scale

This is a follow-up to the previous post, The Filthy Thirteen, Part 1. For a synopsis of these colorful characters, please refer to that post.

It is highly unlikely that any major plastic soldier manufacturer would create a 1/72 scale set of the Filthy Thirteen, as the set would lack wide enough appeal to make it financially viable. While compulsive collectors like me would welcome such figures, the wargamers who currently drive the market would probably not find sufficient uses for them to warrant their purchase. With their distinctive Mohawk haircuts, the only other possible use for such paratrooper figures would be as Pathfinders during the Normandy invasion. Thus, the subject is one more appropriate for the resin or white metal cottage industries.

U.S. Paratroopers in 1/72 Scale

So where are we to find our Filthy Thirteen in 1/72 scale? The group can be created with just a little work. As always, our point of departure is the Plastic Soldier Review (PSR) website to determine the universe of figures available. Six major plastic soldier manufacturers have produced WWII U.S. paratroopers in 1/72 scale, with various levels of success. In chronological order of release they are:

  1. Airfix 1751 U.S. Paratroops (1975) (14 poses);
  2. ESCI 209 U.S. Paratroopers “Screaming Eagles” (1983) (14 poses);
  3. Revell 2517 US Paratroopers (1995) (12 poses);
  4. Imex 527 Easy Company (2007) (14 poses);
  5. Italeri 6131 Anti Tank Teams (2009) (4 poses); and
  6. Caesar H076 US Paratroopers (2012) (11 poses). 

Of course, some of these have been re-released by other companies. Please visit the PSR website for an excellent analysis and photos of each of these six sets.

We are fortunate that five of the six sets are excellent, with high PSR ratings in both historical accuracy and sculpting — the two characteristics most important to me. The mediocre 41-year-old Airfix set is the Original 2only exception, lacking sharpness in detail, though still not a bad effort. The ESCI, Revell, and Caesar sets each include one Pathfinder pose, fortunately with 5, 4, and 3 samples in each set, respectively. See photo inset at left. Thus, we have a total of 12 figures: three different ready-made figures and nine extra copies of those figures. To create 12 different figures with Mohawk haircuts, we take the heads of the nine extra copies and transplant them on the torsos of U.S. Airborne figures from the different sets. 

Selecting the Bodies: The Lucky Twelve

The inspiration for this effort was Joel Iskowitz’ painting (see The Filthy Thirteen: Part 1), which depicts most of the Filthy Thirteen without their helmets preparing to board a C-47 Skytrain. Naturally, paratroopers always wore their helmets on their heads in combat, regardless of how sporting their haircuts were. Thus, if our boys were to be shown bareheaded, we needed to use paratroopers not in action. Secondly, paratroopers used a number of different weapons, some of which were specially suited to their jumps. I wanted the set to reflect that variety. I therefore had but two simple criteria for selecting donor bodies: 1) they should not be overtly in action, e.g., aiming their weapons, and 2) they should represent as many of the weapons used by U.S. Airborne troops as possible.

These two parameters greatly limited selection but after careful consideration I judged the twelve figures below — out of a combined total of 69 poses from all six sets — to be least in combat and to represent most of the weapons used by U.S. paratroopers:FT DonorsEvery unit needs an officer with a pistol and the Revell figure on the far left best fit the bill, though he’s more animated than I would have preferred. Similarly, every unit has a gentle giant — at least according to Hollywood — and the slightly oversized Italeri figure on the far right met that need. In retrospect, I regret not using at least one Airfix figure so that every figure set was represented. As an aside, one of the Airfix figures is “the spitting image of John Wayne,” according to a 1975 issue of Airfix Magazine — something of a redeeming quality of the Airfix set, at least for me. As a further aside, I’m partial to the Imex set, which, to my eye, looks the most natural and best sculpted. Unfortunately for this project, all its figures are clearly engaged in combat except the two I used. 

Transplanting the Heads

Head transplants are fairly straightforward:

  1. Lop off the helmeted head;
  2. Drill a hole on the neck of the torso;
  3. Drill a hole on the base of the donor head;
  4. Superglue a tiny metal pin in the torso hole; and
  5. Superglue the donor head in place.

Presto! You’ve got brand new figures. For an excellent, detailed how-to discussion of head-switch conversions, see this Figure Conversion article on the oneseventytwoscale.com website.

The photo below shows the selected figures before and after the head transplant.FT Donors w New Heads 2

Of course, I cleaned up the seams and, where necessary, I removed excess plastic from the figures, particularly where the piece was 045blind to the mold, which is common between the midsection of the figure and a weapon when held with both hands. See the excess plastic marked in red in the ESCI figure at left. Though Caesar’s modern multi-mold process allows its sculptors to be adventurous, crafting poses that are more three-dimensional, the downside is that their figures often have excess plastic in these blind spots.

The Thirteenth Samurai

The title is a thinly veiled reference to Eiichi Kudo’s 1963 film The Thirteen Assassins — one of the best Samurai movies not directed by Akira Kurosawa. (The 2010 remake of this classic is also pretty darn good.) Incidentally, any reader who has not seen Ran, Kurosawa’s 1985 masterpiece, is missing out on the best war movie ever made — bar none — in my not unbiased opinion.

TQD Pathfinder
TQD-AA5 1944-45 US Airborne

But forgive the digression. As I mentioned, the plastic figure sets yielded a total of 12 Mohawk heads but I still needed one more to complete my devil’s dozen. I decided to use the Pathfinder figure from the TQD-AA5 1944-45 US Airborne white metal set — to my knowledge the only other 1/72 scale Pathfinder figure in production. The photo above is from the TQD website. TQD figures are somewhat more pricey compared to plastic but are generally superb, and this set is no exception: realistic proportions, fine detail, historical accuracy, and metal content, which, unlike plastic, takes paint well.

There they are: 13 U.S. Airborne 1/72 scale figures to represent the Filthy Thirteen. I hope you enjoyed the post. Stay tuned tomorrow for Part 3: Selecting the Weapons, covering the most common weapons used by U.S. paratroopers. As always, comments, questions, corrections, and observations are welcome.

Softskins of the Afrika Korps in 1/72 Scale

The German Afrika Korps (Deutsches Afrikakorps) arrived in Libya in February 1941, following Mussolini’s appeal to Hitler for assistance in light of Italy’s dismal performance fighting the British in North Africa. Within weeks of arrival, Rommel’s Afrikakorps had reversed Mussolini’s fortunes, handily defeating numerically superior British forces time and again in rapid succession, and in the process becoming a source of fascination for many a WWII buff despite their eventual defeat in 1943.

Countless books have been written on this subject and the reader is directed to them. This post is merely intended to provide collectors a survey of Afrikakorps-specific prebuilt softskins available in 1/72 scale. The reader should note that major manufacturers such as Dragon and Panzerstahl have also produced more than a dozen prebuilt Afrikakorps tanks, but information on these is readily available and not the subject of this post.

By my count, there are approximately 20 prebuilt Afrikakorps softskin vehicles. Photographs are provided below. To provide perspective on the size of the vehicles, included in the photos are figures from six of the eight different Afrikakorps sets released thus far. They range from the Airfix set released in 1973, more than 40 years ago, to the Caesar set, released in 2010. The name provided for each of the vehicles and soldier sets is the one given by the manufacturer, thus the lack of consistency in the use of “Afrikakorps,” “Afrika Korps,” “Africa Corps,” and “DAK.”1/72, Afrika Korps, Afrikakorps, Airfix, Altaya, Atlantic, Caesar, DAK, Desert, Deutsches, Dragon, El Alamein, ESCI, Flak 38, German, HM, Hobby Master, Horch, Italeri, Kubelwagen, Libya, Matchbox, Nikolai, North Africa, Opel Blitz, Panzerspahwagen, Revell, Roden, Sd.Kfz. 11, Sd.Kfz. 7, Softskin, Soldiers, Steyr, Tunisia, War Master, Zvezda1. Altaya Opel Blitz 3.6-36S (Kfz. 305), 21.Pz.Div., Medenine, Tunisia 1943. Other than the lack of weathering and fake window flaps on the canvas cover, this is a neat little piece that would greatly improve with a simple umber wash.

Figures: Zvezda 6143 German Medical Personnel set. In my view, Zvezda is now producing the best 1/72 scale figures on the market.


1/72, Afrika Korps, Afrikakorps, Airfix, Altaya, Atlantic, Caesar, DAK, Desert, Deutsches, Dragon, El Alamein, ESCI, Flak 38, German, HM, Hobby Master, Horch, Italeri, Kubelwagen, Libya, Matchbox, Nikolai, North Africa, Opel Blitz, Panzerspahwagen, Revell, Roden, Sd.Kfz. 11, Sd.Kfz. 7, Softskin, Soldiers, Steyr, Tunisia, War Master, Zvezda2. Left: Hobby Master HG3903, Opel Blitz German Cargo Truck, 21st Panzer Div, North Africa 1942. This little truck is a beauty. Note the crispness of the DAK palm tree. The divisional and tactical markings on the fenders are an added plus.

3. Right: Hobby Master HG3911, Opel Blitz German Cargo Truck with 20mm Flak 38, DAK, WWII. The Flak 38 anti-aircraft gun is metal and is detachable. About the only quibble with this piece is the lack of divisional markings on the fenders and rear.

Figure: Matchbox PK35 Sd.Kfz. 232 plastic kit. This is one of two figures included in this 1/76 Matchbox kit. The figures themselves are actually 1/72 scale, however.


1/72, Afrika Korps, Afrikakorps, Airfix, Altaya, Atlantic, Caesar, DAK, Desert, Deutsches, Dragon, El Alamein, ESCI, Flak 38, German, HM, Hobby Master, Horch, Italeri, Kubelwagen, Libya, Matchbox, Nikolai, North Africa, Opel Blitz, Panzerspahwagen, Revell, Roden, Sd.Kfz. 11, Sd.Kfz. 7, Softskin, Soldiers, Steyr, Tunisia, War Master, Zvezda4. Left: Hobby Master HG4501 Horch 1a with 20mm Flak 38, DAK 1941. This vehicle came with a Flak 38 anti-aircraft gun worthy of comment in its own right.  Regrettably, I did not photograph it.

5. Right: War Master Steyr 1500 A/01 + 20mm Flak 38, 10th Panzerabteilung, Tunisia 1942. I failed to include the Flak 38 on this vehicle as well.  Though War Master gets credit for including the swastika on the palm tree, they managed to place it facing left, which is incorrect. One wonders whether the “error” was by design to get around laws in various countries that prohibit Nazi symbols.

Figure: Revell 2513 Africa Corps. This particular figure in the Revell set is one of the most ubiquitous in Afrikakorps dioramas, probably due to its casual pose as the vast majority of a soldier’s time is spent not in battle but performing pedestrian daily activities.


1/72, Afrika Korps, Afrikakorps, Airfix, Altaya, Atlantic, Caesar, DAK, Desert, Deutsches, Dragon, El Alamein, ESCI, Flak 38, German, HM, Hobby Master, Horch, Italeri, Kubelwagen, Libya, Matchbox, Nikolai, North Africa, Opel Blitz, Panzerspahwagen, Revell, Roden, Sd.Kfz. 11, Sd.Kfz. 7, Softskin, Soldiers, Steyr, Tunisia, War Master, Zvezda6. Left: Dragon Warbirds 50120 Me 109G-2 Trop & Kubelwagen, III./JG 77, North Africa 1942. This hard-to-find Cyber Hobby exclusive aircraft model included this kubelwagen. Of note are the balloon sand tires, designed specifically for the desert campaign.

7. Center: Altaya Kfz. 15 Horch + 10.5cm le FH18M, Art.Reg. 119, 11.Pz.Div., Kursk USSR 1943. Admittedly, this model is not marketed as an Afrikakorps vehicle, but given the wide use of the Kfz. 15 Horch in North Africa and its dunkelgelb base color, the straightforward application of DAK palm tree decals would easily do the trick.

8. Right: Dragon 7434 Sd.Kfz.181 Tiger I Mid Production w/Zimmerit & Kubelwagen. This vehicle, which was included as a plus in a Dragon Tiger kit, is identical to the one in the Dragon Warbirds 50120 set described above except for the standard tires and darker desert yellow.

Figure: Airfix 1711 Afrika Korps. Despite its release 43 years ago, the Airfix Afrikakorps set remains one of the most beloved among collectors, for obvious reasons — this was Airfix sculpting at its pinnacle.


1/72, Afrika Korps, Afrikakorps, Airfix, Altaya, Atlantic, Caesar, DAK, Desert, Deutsches, Dragon, El Alamein, ESCI, Flak 38, German, HM, Hobby Master, Horch, Italeri, Kubelwagen, Libya, Matchbox, Nikolai, North Africa, Opel Blitz, Panzerspahwagen, Revell, Roden, Sd.Kfz. 11, Sd.Kfz. 7, Softskin, Soldiers, Steyr, Tunisia, War Master, Zvezda9. Left: Dragon 60514 Sd.Kfz. 223 Leichte Panzerspahwagen, 21.Pz.Div., North Africa 1941.

10. Center: Dragon 60498 Sd.Kfz. 222 Leichte Panzerspahwagen, Unidentified Unit, North Africa 1942. A quick comparison of this Dragon piece with its Altaya counterpart to the right immediately reveals why Dragon has been king of the 1/72 scale hobby. There is absolutely no comparison in terms of detail, finish, and weathering.

11. Right: Altaya Sd.Kfz. 222, 10.Pz.Div., Tunis, Tunisia 1943. Given the existence of the vastly superior Dragon 60498, this Altaya 222 model is only for the hardcore collector.

Figure: Atlantic 88 German Afrikakorps. This hard-to-find set was maligned from its release almost 40 years ago (1977). Today, it’s highly sought-after by collectors.


1/72, Afrika Korps, Afrikakorps, Airfix, Altaya, Atlantic, Caesar, DAK, Desert, Deutsches, Dragon, El Alamein, ESCI, Flak 38, German, HM, Hobby Master, Horch, Italeri, Kubelwagen, Libya, Matchbox, Nikolai, North Africa, Opel Blitz, Panzerspahwagen, Revell, Roden, Sd.Kfz. 11, Sd.Kfz. 7, Softskin, Soldiers, Steyr, Tunisia, War Master, Zvezda12. Left: Altaya Schwerer Panzerspahwagen (8 Rad), Sd.Kfz. 232, 5.le.Div., Agedabia, Libya 1941. Dragon has produced an Sd.Kfz. 232 that is immensely superior to this piece. Unfortunately, Dragon has not released one in an Afrikakorps desert livery.

13. Right: Altaya Sd.Kfz. 250/5, Afrikakorps, Tobruk, Libya 1942. Desert campaign enthusiasts will immediately recognize this vehicle as Rommel’s “Greif.” In retrospect, it would have been more appropriate to use a Rommel figure for the photo. As is Altaya practice, neither vehicle has swastikas on the palm trees.

Figure: ESCI 206 Afrika Corps Soldiers. This ESCI set, their second effort at producing Afrikakorps soldiers, was summed up by Plastic Soldier Review (PSR) as a “perfectly solid effort.” The first set, now extremely hard to find, was somewhat unattractive.


1/72, Afrika Korps, Afrikakorps, Airfix, Altaya, Atlantic, Caesar, DAK, Desert, Deutsches, Dragon, El Alamein, ESCI, Flak 38, German, HM, Hobby Master, Horch, Italeri, Kubelwagen, Libya, Matchbox, Nikolai, North Africa, Opel Blitz, Panzerspahwagen, Revell, Roden, Sd.Kfz. 11, Sd.Kfz. 7, Softskin, Soldiers, Steyr, Tunisia, War Master, Zvezda14. Left: Dragon 60294 Sd.Kfz. 251/10 Ausf. C Unidentifed Unit, El Alamein 1942. Photographs exist of the actual vehicle upon which this model is based. Unfortunately, the actual vehicle was an Ausf. B, rather than an Ausf. C, which is immediately apparent by the location of the hull side lockers.

15. Right: Dragon 60281 Sd.Kfz. 251/2 Ausf. C, Eastern Front 1942. Despite Dragon’s “Eastern Front” label, this piece is actually from the DAK, as can be easily concluded from the 21.Pz.Div. formation marking on the vehicle’s front plate. The actual vehicle upon which this model is based was an Afrikakorps 251/1 Ausf. C, rather than a 251/2 Ausf. C. To make it accurate, one need only remove the mortar from the back of the vehicle.

Figure: Caesar H070 German Afrika Korps. This 2010 release is the most recent Afrikakorps set on the market. According to PSR, the figures have “well-defined detail and faultless proportions” and the use of modern molds allowed Caesar to produce figures that are appealing from every angle without resorting to multiple pieces that require assembly, as Preiser often does.


1/72, Afrika Korps, Afrikakorps, Airfix, Altaya, Atlantic, Caesar, DAK, Desert, Deutsches, Dragon, El Alamein, ESCI, Flak 38, German, HM, Hobby Master, Horch, Italeri, Kubelwagen, Libya, Matchbox, Nikolai, North Africa, Opel Blitz, Panzerspahwagen, Revell, Roden, Sd.Kfz. 11, Sd.Kfz. 7, Softskin, Soldiers, Steyr, Tunisia, War Master, Zvezda16. Left: Hobby Master HG5104 Sd.Kfz. 11, 33d Pz.Art., 15th Pz.Div., North Africa. This vehicle carries an interesting but non-standard Afrikakorps palm tree.

17. Right: Altaya Sd.Kfz. 11, 15th Pz.Div., El Alamein, Egypt 1942. To my mind, this is not a bad effort by Altaya and the difference in quality between it and the HM piece is not that great. Note again Altaya’s failure to include the swastika on the palm tree on the port-side front fender.

Figure: Caesar H070 German Afrika Korps. See comment in previous photo.


1/72, Afrika Korps, Afrikakorps, Airfix, Altaya, Atlantic, Caesar, DAK, Desert, Deutsches, Dragon, El Alamein, ESCI, Flak 38, German, HM, Hobby Master, Horch, Italeri, Kubelwagen, Libya, Matchbox, Nikolai, North Africa, Opel Blitz, Panzerspahwagen, Revell, Roden, Sd.Kfz. 11, Sd.Kfz. 7, Softskin, Soldiers, Steyr, Tunisia, War Master, Zvezda18. Hobby Master HG5002 Sd.Kfz. 7 German 8 Ton Semi-Track, Luftwaffe, Africa 1942. While this is, in fact, an Afrikakorps vehicle, HM neglected to include the distinctive Afrikakorps palm tree. I pilfered the palm tree decals from the Airfix A02303 Sd.Kfz. 7 Tractor half-track kit.

Figure: Italeri 6099 D.A.K. Infantry. As can be seen in the photo, the detail on this figure is superb. In PSR’s words “detail is everywhere clear and sharp, while clothing looks natural and human proportions are spot on.”


1/72, Afrika Korps, Afrikakorps, Airfix, Altaya, Atlantic, Caesar, DAK, Desert, Deutsches, Dragon, El Alamein, ESCI, Flak 38, German, HM, Hobby Master, Horch, Italeri, Kubelwagen, Libya, Matchbox, Nikolai, North Africa, Opel Blitz, Panzerspahwagen, Revell, Roden, Sd.Kfz. 11, Sd.Kfz. 7, Softskin, Soldiers, Steyr, Tunisia, War Master, ZvezdaFinally, here’s a lagniappe photo of an Opel Blitz bus, widely used by the Afrikakorps in North Africa.

19. Roden 721 Plastic Kit, Opel Blitz Omnibus (model W.39 Ludewig-built, late). This model is not available as a prebuilt. I commissioned this piece from a master modeler in Poland.

Figures: Various Afrikakorps Sets; Nikolai ARB04 Arabs in the Streets 2 resin set. Without a doubt, resin figures allow more detail than plastic ones as exemplified by the three wonderful figures from the Nikolai set. However, the short runs and resulting high cost of resin sets often present an obstacle for collectors.


I hope you enjoyed the photos. As always, comments, suggestions, and questions are always welcome.