WWII Locomotives & War Series nº 43 - by Carlos Briz

Vehicles in Russia, Waco Glider & Nissen Hut - GRAMODELS

Gotha 242 - MINIWING

He111 - MINICRAFT

Vehicles in Holland & Figures - PENDRAKEN

Submarine - X-CRAFT

House & Bridge - FALLER

(Class SU 131 18 locomotive - German State Railways)

Hey CB: do actually manage any sleep at all?

I really have to ask this since it is beyond my limited capacity figuring out how in heavens name you can manage to put out this amount of modelling production.

I know for a fact that you live in peacefull surroundings, but that cannot explain everything...

Check out this winter setting for that He 111 and Gotha glider over there!

The winter cammo on the He 111 and vehicles in this dio is very close to perfection

The "ageing" (that's "aging", for you guys in the USA) and dry brush techniques on this locomotive look awesome.

Class 0-6-0 Dock Tank - War Department Railways)

One of the most sucessfull missions of the X-class Midget submarines was the damaging of the battleship Tirpitz, in September 1943.

The figures on the dock have their life jackets on...safety first.

(Class ex-SNCB locomotive - German State Railways)

This is another dio that blows your mind away!

Check out that great bridge!

Here we have the allies on their race to reach Arnhem in time.

They didn't make it...

This locomotive looks good and ready to be comandeered for allied service.

The Waco glider provided good service from Sicily to the Netherlands.

After the war they were sold as army surplus and transformed by many creative americans into towed camping homes and hunting cabins.

I would buy a couple of them, if I had the chance...

By the way: ML, I do not want to put any pressure on you (you guys know for a fact that I do not usually do that...), but it seems CB is on a roll now and you will be hard pressed to catch up with him, if you do not start delivering some goodies.

You have the whole weekend to do that...

;-)

 BT

WWII Locomotives & War Series nº 42 - by Carlos Briz

(with CGDynamix, Wargames-South & Wiking miniatures)

(Class V 36 locomotive - German State Railways)

Oh boy! 

ML will have to put in a serious amount of extra hours if he really wants to stand a chance in catching up with CB now!

Check out the 3 brand new and outstanding dios that CB brings us!

That medieval tower over there provides a nice setting to a coupple of 37 mm Flak guns. 

The gunners could always take a few shots against some roaming crows, if the allied Jabos don't show up.

(Class V 36 locomotive - German State Railways)

Here we have another state-of-the-art german Flak gun: the 88 mm!

This piece could easily clip the wing off anything that flew during WWII.

Nice windmill CB!

(Class V 36 locomotive - German State Railways)

Check out how CB combines a locomotive, a pier and a submarine!

This guy is not real...

That pair of german amphibious tractors over there look ready to ship out across the channel and land in good old England!

My guess is that one of the main reasons why the germans gave up the crossing was because someone told them what they could expect from the English "cuisine".

The option might well be to eat well in France or starve in England.

Maybe this has always been England's secret weapon to fend off invaders...

BT

WWII Locomotives & War Series nº 41 - by Carlos Briz

(Class V 36 locomotive - German State Railways)

Uau!

Will you check out the these two dios CB has just sent us!

This is not fair CB! 

Do you think a guy has nothing else to do but stand for hours looking at your dios?

In the first dio Carlos gives us a glimpse of the Bachem Natter and it's a mobile railroad support unit.

This was sort of last ditch scheme against the overwhelming allied air power, translated in the hundreds of bombers that flew over the Reich every day, ready to level anything in sight.

(Class BR 50 locomotive - German State Railways)

The positioning of that Greif (Heinkel He 177) over there truly translates the threat that hung over the Luftwaffe in 1945. 

Everything had to be as well camouflaged as possible or else it could well turn into scrap metal in a flash.

Ok, now CB and ML are tied up again, since these last two dios brought CB to the same level as ML, after his Sturmtiger & village dio.

I just cannot wait to see the new stuff these two master modellers are preparing to bring us next! 

BT

BANZAI – Japanese Onslaught WW2

The Allied forces in the Pacific were devastatingly unprepared for the onslaught of the Japanese Army (1941-42), which by this time had been fighting for ten years on the Manchurian front. 

The Allies were defeated time and time again as the seasoned Japanese forces swept through the Pacific colonies. The Allies paid dearly for their lack of planning and found themselves in an attrition war that swept vast amounts of men, until the ultimate defeat of Japan in 1945.

The minis below are from Pendraken WW2 Japanese range, and I personally considered them the best cast Japanese minis items in 10/12mm. They were based and painted by our well known  master J Peixoto (with the exception of the HQ base), and for me they are simply awesome.

HQ base (Japanese landing)

Attack at dusk (Palm trees by pendraken)

The invasion force (37 inf bases)

Banzai

Type 92 MMG Team

Type 97 20 mm Auto ATR Team

Foot AT - Lunge charge and Pionners - pole charge

Best regards

JMM

Sturmtiger in action! - by Mário Laranja

Check out ML new project, fresh from the drawing board!

A brand new Sturmtiger!

I know for a fact that ML was worried about CB's latest modelling output, and he wanted to show the world that he could also pull one of two rabbits from his (modelling..) hat.

This assault gun (a.k.a. Sturmmörserwagen 606/4 with a 380 mm RW 61 rocket launcher) was meant to be the answer to well fortified redoubts held by infantry, mainly in urban warfare.

It's 380 mm rocket launcher could easily level almost any building in sight.

And check out where the Sturmtiger is parked: a brand new village!

Well, maybe this village will not remain "new" for long, if Sturmie over there starts delivering it's ordenannce around...

This is another great piece of modelling ML - congratulations!

BT

WWII Locomotives & War Series nº 40 - by Carlos Briz

(class FS650 locomotive - Italian State Railways)

This is the biggest one yet!

Check out how you can place a Giant and a Locomotive in the same dio and get a fine result!

The Messerschmidt Me 323 was the largest transport aircraft of WWII, and was able to haul up to 20 tons of hardware.

During the North Africa campaign the Germans tried several times to bring supplies using these monsters, but more often than not they became easy prey for the RAF

Another great dio CB!

BT

SCW & Locomotives - by Carlos Briz

(Class 4021 locomotive - Madrid-Zaragoza-Alicante Railways)

Check this out: CB brings us two more outstanding dios, related to the Spanish Civil War!

I guess this is one of the favourite historic periods with CB, since he keeps bringing wonderful stuff related to it.

By the way CB, if you really like this war that much, be sure to read Hemingway's "For whom the bell tolls" - it's a satisfaction garanteed historical novel!

The Heinkel He 115 seaplane was used as a torpedo bomber, but it's best performance was achieved in a reconnaisance role.

                                    (Class 4021 locomotive - Madrid-Zaragoza-Alicante Railways)

The Fiat BR 20 was another bomber on the Nationalist hardware list.

It's good looks were complemented by an outstanding operational performance, since it's speed allowed it to outclass the Republican main interceptors, like the Polikarpov I-15 and I-16.

However, there were never enough of them to balance the scale in a decisive way.

BT

Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik

Foi um avião da Força Aérea Soviética criado para o ataque ao solo, fortemente blindado e que contava com 2 canhões de 23 mm. Foi um dos aviões de maior produção na história, com mais de 36.000 em todas as versões. A infantaria russa chamava-lhe o tanque voador, no entanto as suas verdadeiras capacidades nunca foram verdadeiramente determinadas.

O Sturmovik podia voar em condições de pouca luz e levava armas capazes de derrotar a blindagem dos tanques alemães Panther e Tiger I.

O modelo aqui apresentado é à escala 1/144, da marca Zvezda, foi construido e pintado pelo nosso conhecido JPeixoto.

Um dos seus contributos para o torneio Ambush Blitz – Kursk 1943, que se realiza em Setembro, em Espinho. "As colunas alemãs vão sentir o seu poder de fogo".

Sturmovik em altitude

A fazer curva de 30º preparando o ataque

A metralhar uma coluna alemã de Wespes

O regresso à base já com pouca luminosidade

Na minha modesta opinião , mais um excelente trabalho.

JMM

1:1 Scale Plastic Soldier

Green Stuff in natural scale!

BT

Kursk Campaign 2012 - by Mário Laranja(7)

Well, well, ML's Kursk diorama saga continues at last!

The pic above shows were we left off, and now you will see the continuation.

A terrain feature, with a bridge and a small creek

Check out the muddy water under this bridge.

My guess is that this could turn out to be a perfect spot for some light infantry skirmishing.

Another great piece of artwork ML!

Now ML and CB are tied up one again in the current competition to measure the best modelling output in town.

By the way, JMM has also been given some points with all the work he put out related to the Pendraken competition. Come on JMM, you are not going to give up now, are you?

Keep it up and you might be able to leave ML and CB behind !

BT

Spanish Civil War & Locomotives - by Carlos Briz

(Class 4021 locomotive - Madrid-Zaragoza-Alicante Railways)

CB brings us back to the Iberian Peninsula and to one of the worst civil wars of the XX century!

Here we have a Republican deposit of hardware, ready to be transported by train to the front lines.

The Trubia Naval was a light infantry tank of Spanish origin, based on the French Renault F-17. 

A tank crew considered itself fortunate when there was none of these vehicles available to fight with...

(Class 4021 locomotive - Madrid-Zaragoza-Alicante Railways)

And now, of course, a similar harware deposit, this time on the Nationalist side.

The average quality of Nationalist hardware was superior to that of the Republicans, even if sometimes there was a perfect mix in material used by both sides.

Nevertheless, stuff "made in Germany" made all the difference even then...

Great job CB!

BT