Tea and Tank

Montag, 13. Juni 2016

New old Dioramas in 1/144

While I was searching for some old pictures I found some nice pictures with dioramas, all in the scale 1/144.
They have been presented some years ago on the German fair "Intermodellbau" from a seller there.
Here the pictures, I hope you like them and find interesting ideas for your own work.

Mittwoch, 1. Juni 2016

Kaelble AZR tractor

Here some more pictures about the Kaelble truck.
You can use the tractor for the Kriegsmarine, Luftwaffe and for the Wehrmacht.
If you like it more non-military, even the Reichsbahn used this heavy tractor.

Kaelble AZR in 1/144

Dienstag, 31. Mai 2016

German Bunkerbahn narrow gauge in 1/144

Besides all the other projects I work on a small diorama about a German secret Bunker complex.
At the end of the war the Germans rushed to bring important factories under the earth. Therefore a lot of secret projects in Austria and East Germany were initiated. My project will be a mixture of German and French Bunkers.
Here a first preview:

Italian and German Mini subs German Neger and an Italian Pig in 1/144

Donnerstag, 26. Mai 2016

Renault AHN truck, a new truck for the 1/144 Wehrmacht

During the complete second world war, transportation was always a bottleneck for the Wehrmacht. How important this was, you can see on the African Theater. There the trucks used over 80% of the gas they had to bring to the front line by themselves.
In Russia they could use trains, but there was the problem, that Russians had a different, more wider railway gauge.
So I thought I should get some more trucks.
While you can get the Opel Blitz trucks from different companies, the Büssing truck and the Einheitsdiesel from Panzerdepot and Arrowheadminiatures, there are no other trucks available on the market.

But the Wehrmacht used much more trucks, actually they used everything they could get. In France they pressed Renault, a French truck and car company to continue with the production of the Renault AHN truck. This model was designed and built for the French Army and served then until the end of the war with the German Army. Besides Africa, the truck was seen an all places.

So here are my two versions of the Renault truck

Front view Renault AHN

Renault AHN with hard cover and soft skin

the Renault ambulance had two doors on the backside

Renault AHN with hard cover and soft skin

Parade of all my Renault AHNs I got

And here are the Frenchs with painting in Wehrmacht grey and yellow.

Renault AHN in 1/144

Side view Renault AHN

Rear view Renault AHN Ambulance and truck

If you are interested in purchasing the truck --> please go here

If you are interested in purchasing the ambulance --> please go here

Mittwoch, 25. Mai 2016

Panzer II with mine roller

Today I present a minor change. I added mine rollers to a German tank II. Mine rollers are known with British or American tanks. But German tanks with mine rollers? In fact, there had been some designs but none of these studies came to the troops in bigger numbers.

This version was tested in Africa with the Afrikakorps

the set from Shapeways

Panzer II with mine rollers

and in action

Panzer II with mine rollers

So the set with two mine rollers can be bought from Shapeways. Check here.

Freitag, 20. Mai 2016

1/144 Pioniersicherungsboot

It took a bit time, but this week I finished my work on a very special and rare model.

A German Pioniersicherungsboot

There is not so much known about this river gun boat, according to some books only two have been built. They were planed by end of the war and came too late to change anything or even to get produced in bigger numbers.

On the internet I found a drawing and an old picture of one of the river boats in action.

If you want to learn a bit more about the history of the original, please look here:

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Waffen/Pioniersicherungsboot.htm

Here you will find the only existing picture of the Pioniersicherungsboot in action.

So I designed the Pioniersicherungsboot with the drawing from the internet and decided to go with the drilling instead with the Vierlingsflak. Some paint and the Pioniersicherungsboot could start for the first mission.