16th September 1939, near Łuków Poland - the leading vehicles of Panzer Division Kempf stop to exchange information with a horse mounted reconnaissance unit.
This gives the panzer crew a chance to admire the museum piece left abadoned at the side of the road...
This project began as an eye catcher for the SIG 144 display at Scale Model World 2024, part of a series of armoured vehicle vignettes.
I was also motivated by a desire to use some of the many whitemetal and Gashapon vehicles and figures that I have accumulated. Until the recent improvement in resin 3d printing, these were by far the best way to get figures and vehicles in 144th but the figures in particular are now showing their age compared to the lovely delicate 3d models available, so it seemed like a good excuse to clear out some of the stash.
This scene was inspired by a book I have on Polish use of the famous French FT (or FT-17) tank. I like, where possible, to make vignettes based as closely as possible on real events.
With some reading I was able to find reference to the 111 Light tank company of the Polish Army who still operated the long outdated FT-17 and in mid-September were being rail moved eastwards to the fortress at Brest when due to track damage they were forced to attempt to drive until, unsupported, they had to abandon the vehicles.
The whitemetal vehicles come without instructions, but are quite easy to assemble with superglue.
The small size of these early war vehicles is very evident compared to the other vehicles I was putting together for parallel projects.
I decided to go with the brown camo scheme for the Panzers, if nothing else, as an excuse to try the new AK paint pens.
For this role, they worked perfectly - very easy to achieve a sweeping camo line, even across the raised details.
The scene was put together with cork sheet, blended with Duluxe Materials Create and Sculpt paste and various texture paints. The railway line was 3d printed from Butlers Printed Models and formed the curvature of the scene.
Then came the figures. These are all from Arrowhead whitemetal castings, which come with bases, so lots of careful cutting was required so they could blend into the scene, without losing their feet!
A name plate was added, produced by Name it Plates. I added more detail than normal to convey the interesting story represented and as respect to the brave Polish tankers still persisting in these long outdated vehicles.
The final touches were added just minutes before we started loading the car for Telford for the display.
Thanks for reading - this model and its cousins will be on the SIG144 IPMS UK tour this year, do come and see them in person.
