A Russian KV1 at 1/32 scale

The mighty KV1 was the most powerful heavy tank of the early war period…on paper.

Even though the Germans were badly surprised at first, the KV was never in a position to hold back the invasion of Russia. 

The beast with a green color...not historically accurate but fun

As quoted in Wikipedia:

The KV's strengths included armor that was impenetrable by any tank-mounted weapon then in service except at point-blank range, that it had good firepower, and that it had good traction on soft ground. It also had serious flaws, all of which were rectified with the introduction of the KV-1S: it was difficult to steer, the transmission (which was a twenty-year-old Caterpillar design) was unreliable (and was known to have to been shifted with a hammer), and the ergonomics were poor, with limited visibility and no turret basket. Furthermore, at 45 tons, it was simply too heavy. This severely impacted the maneuverability, not so much in terms of maximum speed, as through inability to cross many bridges medium tanks could cross.

My brother chose to make the 1941 model with the cast turret. 

To do the work, he used George Bradford series World war II AFV plans.  The book Russian Armored Vehicles provided scaled plan of the KV.  It helps a lot to represent all the details of that tank.

 Eight were built in two colors.

...that's the other color more realistic

The KV with TSSD russian troops.

Our KV's haven't fight yet.  Those scenes were made for propaganda purposes only (!)

A pioneer boat at 1/32

When a saw those hot dog containers in a dollar store, I immediately think of a kind of boat; a pioneer boat. 

I always love those discoveries; going through the aisle of the store and finding something new, something with a potential of becoming a new project.

The final result is a cool pioneer boat. 

The material needed is:

- Hot dog container

- Piece of bath mat

- Popsicle sticks

- Hot glue

Let's look at it at many angles

It offers a good protection on water because of the high broadside.  

I am sure Robert Redford caracter in "A bridge too far" would have appreciate my boat to cross the Waal river

The down side of that feature is that the boat is not totally at scale.  Between you and me, it would be difficult to row that kind of boat in real.  Anyhow, my army men already standardized it!

Stug Panzer at 1/32

The Stug Panzer is one of the most interesting tanks of WWII and for many reasons.

Let's look at them courtesy of Wikipedia

"The Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) assault gun was Germany's most produced armoured fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank, replacing the turret with a fixed superstructure mounting a more powerful gun. Initially intended as a mobile, armoured light gun for direct-fire support for infantry, the StuG III was continually modified, and much like the later Jagdpanzer, was widely employed as a tank destroyer."

"While the StuG III was considered self-propelled artillery, it was not initially clear which land combat arm of the Wehrmacht Heer would handle the new weapon.(…). It was agreed, after a discussion, it would best be employed as part of the artillery arm.
As the StuG III was designed to fill an infantry close support combat role, early models were fitted with a low-velocity 75 mm StuK 37 L/24 gun to destroy soft-skin targets and fortifications. After the Germans encountered the Soviet KV-1 and T-34 tanks, the StuG III was first equipped with a high-velocity 75 mm StuK 40 L/43 main gun (Spring 1942) and in Autumn 1942 with the slightly longer 75 mm StuK 40 L/48 gun. These versions were known as the Sturmgeschütz 40 Ausführung F, Ausf. F/8 and Ausf. G."

The two beasts :  with the long and the short barrel

A good example of an early Stug panzer with the short 75 mm

DSG Argentina Deetail recast as a comparaison 

The same tanks with TSSD

TSSD again

The two Stugs with a Panzer III as a comparaison

What about a short film about the real thing?  I know, I cheat because it's a replica.

If you like the article, feel free to write comments about it.  Thanks!