Tim Wilding
Reviews By Author
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British Self-Propelled Anti-Tank Gun ArcherPublished:
HistoryAs WWII progressed, British troops found that their 2-pounder and 6-pounder guns were being rendered obsolete by German armor, and planners decided to develop a vehicle using the powerful 17-pounder (76.2mm) gun. The vehicle chosen to mount the gun on was the Valentine with the turret removed and replaced with a fighting compartment. This new vehicle would be known as the Archer. Interestingly, as there was little time to re-organize the cramped layout, the 17-pounder had to be mounted pointing rearwards to fit it in. As a result, the Archer moved and fired in opposite directions. Designed and manufactured by Vickers’ Armstrong, 655 were produced by May 1945. It served with British and Commonwealth units from October 1944 until the end of WWII, and with the British… more |
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Sturmpanzer IV BrummbarPublished:
HistoryIn February 1942, the German Army (Heer) started building forty Sturmpanzer (Assault Tank) on Panzer IV chassis in readiness for the Battle of Kursk. The vehicle carried a 15cm howitzer in a boxed fighting compartment. Another eighty were produced in late 1943. Finally, another 162 were built between May 1944 and March 1945. These were the late production models built on the Panzer IV Ausf. J chassis and this newly tooled kit represents this model. The KitThe hull is a holdover from their Panzer IV Ausf. J kit #35181 from 1994, a few other smaller sprues are from recent Panzer IV based kits, but the rest are brand new tooling with a 2017 date stamp. This kit shares no parts with the older Tamiya Brummbar #35077 from 1976. There are 325 parts on… more |
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Zimmerit Coating Sheet - Brummbar Late ProductionPublished:
Zimmerit was a paste-like coating used on German armored fighting vehicles between December 1943 and October 1944. It was used to produce a hard layer covering the metal armor of the vehicle, providing enough separation that magnetically attached anti-tank mines would fail to stick to the vehicle. This 5x10 inch sticker sheet enables easy reproduction of zimmerit on the Tamiya #35353 1/35 scale German Assault Tank IV Brummbar Late Production. There are 48 red outlined stickers on this sheet that need to be cut out, pealed from the backing and applied to the model. The stickers are a little thicker then decals and cut very easily with a sharp X-Acto blade. I also used my photoetch scissors to cut a few decals. A metal straight edge helps making the longer cuts. There is some extra… more |
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Panzer Kpfw. IV Ausf. DPublished:
This kit is the first armor kit in the 1/35 Platz line from Dragon. They have taken the Panzer IV from their Girls Und Panzer line, re-boxed it and gave it new decals and instruction sheet. The molding is from 2012 and has about 175 parts, with DS tracks. This is quite a reduction in parts then from other Dragon kits. Slide molding technology allows Dragon to mold past subassemblies into one or two pieces. The box is overall white with just a black strip and one picture of the tank, no real box art like other Dragon kits. This kit consists of only five sprues with almost all the parts being used– very rare for a Dragon armor kit. There is no photo etched, tow cable or clear parts. The small decal sheet only has two options, both from the summer of 1941 Balkans campaign. The… more |
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Staghound Mk. 1Published:
HistoryThe T17 Staghound Mark I armored car was designed in the United States based on British specifications at the beginning of World War II. The British were looking for a wheeled reconnaissance vehicle with a high level of armor, well-armed and highly mobile. Chevrolet started production in late 1942 and a total of 3000 units were produced. British and Polish units started fielding this vehicle in the spring of 1943 in the Italian Campaign. The Staghound was used by many different counties during the post war era up into the late 1970s. The KitItaleri first released this Staghound kit in 2007 under number 6549. They used this kit to make a AA version in 2008, number 6563. Tamiya re-boxed it in 2008 as their number 89770. Italeri used this kit in 2009… more |
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British Mk.VI Crusader Mk.III - Cruiser TankPublished:
The Crusader Mk. III came into British service in the second half of 1942 during the Tunisian Campaign in North Africa. They were used for about a year until replaced with the M4, then they were converted to AA or reconnaissance tanks. This Tamiya kit is part of their Italeri series where they take older Italeri molds, correct errors, add details and pack them in new boxes with some extra Tamiya goodies. This Italeri kit first hit the market in 1976. Tamiya has taken these old molds and added turret and hull weld seam. They also corrected the front fenders by taking a molded-in step out of them, updated the moldings on the turret tool box, added details to the underside of the hatches, hollowed out the spotlight and included a thin, plastic lens. Two Tamiya figures are included from… more |
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M36/M36B2 'Battle of the Bulge'Published:
The M36 was a late war tank destroyer based on the M10A1 tank destroyer hull and a new turret to carry the 90mm gun. The M10A1 was based on the M4A3 Medium Tank hull with the Ford GAA 8-cylinder 500 HP engines. In early 1944, the Army had 600 M10A1 hulls ready, so they diverted them to be used with the new 90mm turret to become M36s. Towards the end of the war, M10 tank destroyer hulls were used and these became M36B2s. This hull was based on the M4A2 Medium Tank using two conjoined 6-cylinder GM diesel engines to make a 12-cylinder engine. This kit offers both versions to be built by having different engine decks, exhaust and rear engine plates. The kit includes six bags of sprues, with two to three sprues per bag, one photo-etched sheet, decals sheet and white string to be… more |
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M-10 Mid ProductionPublished:
Eduard has released a photo-etched (PE) detail set for the 1/35 Tamiya M-10 mid production tank destroyer. This set includes one PE sheet and a one page, color instruction sheet that is printed on both sides. You can fold this sheet in half to create a pamphlet. This sheet is color coded with black showing the original kit parts, blue for the PE parts and red for the parts that need to be removed for the PE to take its place. The only down side to the sheet is that does not follow the steps on the Tamiya instruction sheet. Before I started, I compared both sheets and wrote on the Eduard sheet what Tamiya step number each assembly belongs to. Then I marked the Tamiya sheet by circling the parts that were going to be replaced or where PE parts were going to be added. There are… more |
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Combat 22 Panzergrenadier versus US Armored InfantrymanPublished:
Osprey has released number 22 in their Combat series. This series deal with two adversaries, mainly infantry, from throughout history by comparing and contrasting them. Battles these two fought against each other are examined from both perspectives with split-screen artwork. This book deals with the German and American armored infantry that fought with armor units between July and Dec 1944. Here is the summary from the back of the book: “During World War II, the two pre-eminent mechanized infantry forces of the conflict, the German Panzergrenadier arm and the US Army's armored infantrymen, clashed in France and Belgium after the Normandy landings. These engagements went on to profoundly influence the use of mechanized infantry in the post-war world. Drawing upon a… more |
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M4A3(76)W Battle of the BulgePublished:
The M4A3 was the main medium tank used by the US Army in Europe starting in the Fall of 1944 until the end of the war. The A3 version had the Ford 8-cyclinder GAA 500 horse powered engine. The (76)W stands for the 76mm gun version with the T23 turret and the “Wet” ammo storage bins built into the floor surrounded by a jacket filled with an anti-freeze solution. This kit represents a M4A3 that would have fought during the Battle of the Bulge in mid to late December 1944. This kits contains 10 dark green sprues which are a mixture of past Academy releases. There is a sprue from their M10, older M4s and a couple from M51 Super Shermans. There is a small photo etched sheet with the headlight, horn and taillight guards, plus some unused pieces. A length of white string is supplied… more |