Free French Dodge + Pak40
One of the various FB groups I frequent is The French Armour Modelling and Discussion Group, frankly they are mostly super detail, ultra exact modellers. The kind of people who my very best work wouldn`t impress one little bit, but hey ho. They are a great resourse of photos and models and I often find new ideas for my various French projects.
A couple of months back a photo was posted from an article out of an old issue of Steelmasters magazine, the article was about 1er Division Blinde (French 1st Armoured Division) from Operation Anvil/Dragoon to the end of the war. Among the photos was this one:
Obviously a Dodge WC-62 (or 63?) towing a Pak40, I knew I have to build it.
A bit more digging and asking questions revealed the photo was taken in Mulhouse (Alsace), November 1944 and the vehicle probably belongs to 3rd Battalion Zouaves, who were the mechanised infantry element of Combat Command 3 who captured the town on November 21st.
S&S Models do a smashing WC-62 with resin and white metal parts which went together very nicely.
WIP photo playing with crew
I decided to build a canopy half pulled back like the photo, so made wire supports and used tissue paper to create the canopy (very old school). The driver is Britannia and the guys in the back Hat Industrie from their tank rider set, I added a bit of stowage and in place of the windshield I used plasterscene to emulate a tarpaulin wrapped around the folded screen. The Pak40 is an old Matchbox kit, the Free French decals are by Aleran
Finished model
I couldn`t resit painting up a gun crew by Waterloo 1815 for the deployed gun
Well done, the tarp crew and decals make it come alive. A quickbuild 6wheel Dodge is missing in plastic, good on you you can shop both in £ and in €. Regards, Pat
ReplyDeleteThanks Pat, very kind. Yep I ordered this to pick up when back in Wales, Raventhorpe do a really nice one piece resin Dodge too :)
DeleteNice work, Richard. I assumed (as I read this piece) that you glued the (tissue) tarpaulin in place as you built the model up then painted all when dried. If so how did you leave the inside of the tarpaulin? I would have been tempted to paint interior a dark grey or black primer and create a shadow effect. But you seem to have some interior details painted or is this a trick of the light when making photo? (Just fascinated by your effective technique!) CarlL
ReplyDelete(PS As you can see I am in catch up mode. My wife had successful knee replacement in January, then good rehab Feb and March; which kept us busy and a stream of visitors (or visits to grand children after regaining her mobility) since then that also kept us busy! And tired! Glad to see your blog has lost none of its character nor interesting pieces. CarlL)
Carl, i did miss your comments and wondered about your wife`s health - I`m so glad everything went well. I undercoat-sprayed everything once built, they carefully hand painted green inside the tarp once dry - not complicated, but it worked.
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