Rapid Fire! Operation Barbarossa and beyond in 20mm- A few more vehicles for the 'Panzer Grey' period.

In USSR, mid 1942, a German column stops close to an orchard for the crews to fill their bellies with plums. 

Inside the column is the famous Kurt Knispel, a Sudeten German of Salisov that is still the highest scorer tank ace of history with at least 168 confirmed  kills both as gunner and tank commander. In this picture Kurt Knispel was still a gunner inside this '301' Tiger I E. Later he would became a tank commander and use other Tigers and King Tigers. It was in one of the later that he died in 28 of April 1945, aged 23, surrounded by Soviet tanks not far from its birth place, in Urbau, Czechoslovakia. He was an interesting character, definetly not a Nazi (nor a 'pure' German), with longer than usual hair and a goatee. These two characteristics, together with the fact of assaulting an SS soldier whom he saw mistreating Soviet POWs, never let him have more than the German Cross and the Unteroffizier rank, even with a tank kill record superior to Wittman, Barkmann or Otto Carius. 

This Tiger was painted with  the symbols of the s.Pz.Abt.503. and believed to have been  Knispel's first Tiger. Later when using the first model of the King Tiger in Normandy he only destroyed two allied tanks and a few other vehicles due to an environment not as favourable for his admirable skills and his heavy tank.  

The model is an old and half broken Airfix model. It received several new parts from the slightly bigger Hasegawa Tiger like the Rommel kisten, commander's hatch, headlights, smoke dischargers and engine cooling and exaust parts.

Also some extra wheels were added as they were missing in the original model. They are solid steel wheels of a later version so they were covered in paste to hide the difference.

These two PzIV are Hasegawa, and F2 to the left and a later G model with PSC commander. 

The PzIV F2 got a few extras from PSC.

Same with the PzIV G. I place my antennas inside a small EverGreen rod for extra strenght.

This Armourfast PzIII G had plenty of details added as, even if well proportioned, could have been a more detailed model in the way PSC makes theirs. 

My idea with these tanks is to make a pool of different models of the PzII,III and IV for the 'Panzer Grey' period of 1941-42 so they can be used with many different units. 

The Armourfast model with all its detail added before priming. 

These two die-cast VW joined the German Army in the Eastern Front after having one tyre in North Africa. Fortunately, and thanks to the lovely RF! FB groups , it could be concluded that no VW ever went to the DAK. 

The VWs started their commercial lifes in a local bazaar and sported the later bigger rear windshield which were remodelled with paste. The cargo on top is a mix of two component paste and small bits and pieces copying the one you can see in the German Tank Units in the Eastern Front 41-42 supplement by Master Richard. 

Finally three Krupp Kfz70 from BPM 3d prints were added to the France 1940 collection and its 7th PD. They were left without the brown camouflage so they can give a hand in the Eastern Front even if the green jackets of the figures betrays them as early war models. The figures, stowage and Mg34s are PSC from its very useful stowage set.

Next: The new ACW Epic miniatures.