A couple of months ago, I finally “finished” my Afrika Korps army for Flames of War, that I’d started waaaay back in the 1st edition of the game. Well, I thought I finished it, but as I was doing so, I started having a closer look at what it would take to actually, you know, use them in a game with the current rules. Now, something that had always bothered me just a little was the fact that my Tiger I tank was the wrong version for the Desert War, most notably lacking the air intake filters for the engine. So having “finished” the army, I decided to burrow into my model archives and see what I’d squirreled away years ago in terms of 15mm/1:100 armour. Something I found amongst quite a few other things was a pair of Plastic Soldier Company’s boxed Tiger I sets, with enough parts in their modular kits to rectify the issues with my Tiger.
So I already owned the models. All I had to do now, was, y’know… build and paint them. With that, I had some painting decisions to make. To keep going with the modern-mixed-approximation of a desert yellow paint I’d used around 2002-2004, or just Tabula Rasa the thing and start fresh with my DAK armour scheme. I went with the latter, figuring it would be easier for any further additions to the force. So Vallejo’s convenient Desert Yellow spray paint became the basis for the scheme. I built two Tigers as the current FoW DAK list has them as a Support unit with 1 or 2 Tigers, so painting a pair at once just gives me more flexibility in future. I didn’t add any Panzer III escorts, though I now wish I had done so at the time, and I’ll likely paint up a pair of those in the future after a few other sub-projects.
Now PSC’s models don’t actually come with decals, and so I had to bodge together the turret numbers for these two from some Battlefront decals that I had. After some looking around, I went with 131 after Bovington’s finest, and 141 that I’d also found some references to elsewhere. No rear turret numbers due to a severe lack of decals, particularly red/white numbers. But I figure most people would never know the difference, so I’ll let it pass.
Lastly (as far as the tanks in this post go), here’s a comparison with my original resin and metal Battlefront Tiger I and the PSC model(s) that supercede it. The PSC models have the correct air intake and filters, exhaust covers, commander’s cupola and the turret side hatch. All good. As for the original Tiger I, it’s going to have to be reassigned to another Front. But that’s something to worry about later on down the road…
Now all of this Tiger-related shenanigans happened during August, when Dave Stone’s Season of Scenery Challenge was still a current concern. I’ll have my own horribly-belated update post for that Challenge shortly. On Sunday 26th of September I went out for a walk. This was the result. (though the photo is from today, so the brusing is gone and most of the swelling is as well.) Tibial plateau fracture and torn meniscus, though no damage to the patella and I’m assured that it could have been far, far worse (unusualy, no need for surgery). So lucky me, I guess?
So that’s one of the reasons I haven’t been all that active lately. There have been others, busy with work before that, a bit of burnout, stress, all the usual shit. Admittedly, I’ve been playing a lot of video games and actually doing a lot of building and painting. Now I’m looking forward to being able to walk again and do exciting things like make myself a cup of coffee and carry it to my desk all by myself. Since my work has returned to onsite duties because the pandemic is, like, totally over now, I’m actually on sick leave, rather than working from home – though that was also the doctor’s recommendation – so who am I to argue with an orthopaedic surgeon? So a chance to recharge a little and de-stress. Just checking in intermittently to fix and coordinate stuff that needs me – though I can tell you that sleeping in this fucking thing is not easy, so the resting part isn’t the greatest.
Enough bitching. See you again soon, hopefully! :p
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Just pretend you’re Mad Max!
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I hadn’t thought of Mad Max. I was going with Stone Cold Steve Austin initially, but I guess I now have two cosplay targets! 😉
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Great work on the Tigers, and great you already had the kits needed to solve the problem.
Sorry to hear about the leg, and hope you feel better soon, and can carry your own coffee ( I know how big a deal that is !)
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Thanks Dave! Certainly looking forward to being able to move around AND carry things at the same time again!
It was pretty handy already having the kits, though in the interim I may have bought …a *few* more kits. 😮
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Sorry to hear about the injury. I hope you sprinting like a deer in no time. I have been in good heath the last two years after I had covid in the beginning. I am finally getting some miniatures made. To good health and modeling.
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Thanks mate and definitely good to hear that you’ve recovered well from having COVID. I don’t know about sprinting again anytime soon, but looking forward to being able to do longer walks and carry heavy objects around again! 🙂
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i takes time. I tripped down some old steps once and fractured my foot. I had to wear an air cast for a month to make sure I didn’t create any more damage. At the time I was doing a lot of jogging and had to stop that for a while too.
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Sounds painful, and I can relate to it stopping exercise in it’s tracks. 😦 I’m off to the Hospital for my followup tomorrow. Unfortunately my knee still feels a bit “funny” a fair bit of the time, so as much as I’d like to be able to walk again tomorrow, it might not be time just yet… I’ll find out soon at least!
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Loving the Tigers, bummer about the leg. I hope things improve soon.
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Thanks! I’m hoping that the rest of this year can mostly be obstacle free once I get on my feet again. Who knows what next year will be like at this state so the same hopes here!
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When it comes to real world tanks I’m afraid the only thing I can say with any degree of confidence or expertise is what looks cool to me, and these look great to my eye. Sorry to hear about your knee mate, sounds like stepping out your front door really is a dangerous business.
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Thanks Wudu. I’ve certainly learned over the last couple of months why 40k tanks usually have a complete lack of visible suspension and hidden road wheels! 😡
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Lovely tanks mate, and nice knee brace!! I’ve had my fair share of those buggers… only thing I’ll say is ‘don’t skimp on your physio’… 🤙
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Thanks Alex – I’m looking forward to finding out what I need to/will be allowed to do for recovery. I bet it involves squats. I love the leg press (when the gym was a thing) but I bloody hate squats!
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Sorry to read about your troubles mate. I hope you get to put them all behind you as soon as possible. All the best. 🙂
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I’ve found that having a legitimate reason that nobody can dispute to have my phone turned off (or on flight mode at least) and have a break from everyone else’s endless problems is pretty good. Even if I have to dip in to fix people’s issues occasionally.
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Sorry about your leg mate – hope that heals soon. On the plus side, the Tigers look really good…!
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Thanks mate – appreciate both thoughts! 🙂
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Leg stuff sounds nasty, get better soon! Meanwhile, digging those tanks, lovely work.
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Thank you! The leg feels a lot better now – pain is rarely intermittent rather than frequently intermittent, which is progress. A new X-Ray at the end of this week and then I find out what the next steps are…
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Oooh, that is painful – not enough decals to put numbers on the rear of the stowage bins! 😉 Really hope you can make the most of not being at work to get yourself on the mend. 🙂 All I’d say is stuff electric cars and let’s get a decently-priced compact exoskeleton on the market (I’d sign up to a kickstarter for that)! Leaving the most important stuff ’til last, those are really nice Tigers – I always like the early version with the plain dished wheels and air filters! 🙂
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Thanks John. I tried to get myself a War Machine suit but apparently Tony Stark isn’t running his company anymore and may or may not be dead depending on which version of which universe you ask. Unless I can find myself a solid source of decals, I think I may have to just omit the stowage bin numbers. Rear shots of a lot of German armour can be surprisingly hard to come by, but you’d have seen a lot more than I have – have you seen many examples of Balkenkruz on the rear of turrets?
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Without looking anything up, I can only recall seeing German national markings on the turret rear face for early war armour – the Pz.38(t) sticks in my mind, but then it and the early Pz IIIs and Pz IVs didn’t have turret stowage bins fitted. Curiosity has now got the better of me and I’ve checked my Zaloga Eastern Front camouflage and markings book (so OK for 1941 on) – tanks usually carried the cross on each hull side and the hull rear, rarely on the turret (King Tigers appear to be the exception), Self-propelled guns are similar. I don’t think anyone can be criticised for leaving turret rear or stowage bin faces unmarked to be honest!
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I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the Balkenkruz in images of the rear of some TD/Stug/Jagd casemates, and *possibly* once in the indented section on the back of the Panther’s turret where the hatch is (though numbers are more common there, and the Cross is more frequently on the stowage bins on the back of the hull.) I can’t recall the type of images they were now, though unfortunately.
Still, this is all just (recent) internet research – and looking for period photos as opposed to what other modellers come up with can be tricky. Colour plates seemingly being the midddle ground in terms of historical accuracy and artistc impressions…
Good to know there’s no cross on the turret rear at least – means I won’t have a nagging feeling that I should add them to all of these completed Panzers! 😀
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Great models- sorry to hear about your knee- rest up and I hope you recover quickly.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks Pete. Me too! 😮
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I’m glad you’re on the road to recovery, that looks like a painful injury! I’ve managed to hurt myself walking my dog a couple of times since moving to Chicago so I can unfortunately relate. I agree with what Wudu said above, in that my WWII knowledge is poor but the tanks look great and I’m glad you got the tank done up the way you want too. I’m excited that you’re back to posting and looking forward to seeing what you work on next!
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Yeah, it hasn’t been fun at all. It’s been well over a month now since I’ve been able to walk so I’m looking forward to being able to again. X-Ray and follow-up this coming Friday, so we’ll see what state it’s in then. Hope you enjoyed the tanks, I know they’re not all that interesting in some ways, but they’ve been a (mostly) enjoyable and different project to work on.
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I hope you get a clean bill of health soon and don’t worry about the tanks! Even if they aren’t my thing, I think John really enjoys seeing them so I can wait my turn for something that excites me more 🙂
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Haha, well it’s regardless been good to have a project and focus towards getting some models on the table. 🙂
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Sorry to hear about the injury, and worse, not being able to make yourself coffee, man, that’s bad!
If you’re anything like me, being stuck indoors for too long will drive you crazy, so keep hitting those games and producing more juicy posts, which I know you do, as I’m working backwards through them 😉
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Thanks mate. It occured to me this afternoon that I haven’t been past the front porch since I got back from the hospital several weeks ago. It’s a little groundhog day here, but we’ve been in lockdown for several months, so aside from going for walks or to the post office, etc it’s really not been that different in a lot of ways…
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Its probably to late now mate to wish you a speedy recovery because knowing you I think by now you are out doing half marathons!!! Love the Tanks!
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Thanks Pat – I wish it were the case, but I’m still Limpy McGimpy on crutches sitting around the house. It could be a lot worse, though – at least I can do some work, waste time online, paint, watch stuff and videogame even if I can’t go anywhere.
Next up, a marathon repeat viewing of Hitchcock’s Rear Window…
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I feel your pain friend. Having had knee, back, and other less fun things happen that locked me up, I know what it is to feel like you are. It will pass, and you will rebound, I am sure. In the meantime, the Tigers look great for North Africa. Not sure when exactly the air filters went on but I think that was an upgrade added as a result of field experience – so I’d keep it and say it hadn’t been sent for the upgrade yet! Certainly they look the part. Heal up soon.
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Thanks Mark. The two new Tigers with the filters will stick around for Afrika, but the other one wil be sent up North to fight the Soviets whenever I finish my Desert armies and move onto the next theatre. I’ve got some grand plans, if I can manage to keep my focus and interest…
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