Red Death.pdf

RED DEATH

WHITE FIELDS

By Mig Jimenez

I feel that the year 1943 is especially

important for the modeller, because

we can find so many interesting ideas

and much inspiration from which to

make our models. For example on

Soviet vehicles the winter camouflage

can be seen to have worn very quickly

and roughly, and with a premature

spring this would be hastened by the

soldiers’ attempts to scrub off the

whitewash. With the return of warmer

weather the snow quickly melted,

producing very muddy conditions

where armoured vehicles found it hard

to operate. As a result, the infantry

had more opportunity to engage the

enemy with the knowledge that an

armoured counterattack would be

unlikely.

On the Trans-Caucasian front, elite soldiers

of the Soviet Naval Infantry operated very

effectively-for example, Senior Marine V.S.

Ponomarenko killed more than 580

Germans behind enemy lines in January of

1943. In this diorama, I have tried to show

one of these soldiers directing the advance

of a T34 of the 52nd Red Army. The naval

infantry did not normally fight along with

armoured units but in some cases where

they knew the enemy rearguard area very

well they served with them as support or

reconnaissance. In any case, these

soldiers were considered as genuine

heroes and they were respected and

admired by all of the other armies. One

man in particular, V.V. Tselikov, was

honoured with the Gold Medal of Hero of

the Soviet Union.

Although the main topic of this scene is

the T34, I wanted to highlight this

interesting history of a mostly unknown

subject for many modellers.

The Red Death

The remains of the Pz. IV F/2 symbolize the

Red Death in this diorama, as German

tanks were often the victims of ambushes

by the Russian tanks. At this stage of the

war, Pz. IVs started to appear painted in

the new dark yellow colour scheme, and

they were now being armed with the

powerful 75mm L/48 instead of the shorter

L/43 gun barrel. However, the mobility of

the T34 on the snow remained a great

advantage over the Pz. IV. This Panzer was

penetrated by several projectiles in the

chassis, causing a strong interior explosion

that split the tank into two parts, which is

characteristic of many destroyed Panzer

IVs. It would soon have been covered by

snow and mud, which, in conjunction with

the heat of the explosion and fire, would

cause extensive corrosion.

Although this Pz. IV is only a secondary

component in the diorama, it is still

necessary to make it with a lot of care and

attention, because each element that we

put in a diorama contributes a lot of

information to the observer. We should

study any abandoned or destroyed vehicle

that we include in a diorama, and to build

it with as much detail as possible. I have

seen many times beautiful dioramas with

magnificent figures and perfectly built and

painted vehicles, but the general scene

was not quite as convincing as it might

have been because the author used a 20

year-old model to represent a destroyed

tank. It is necessary to take great care with

these elements and to realise that the

observer is more attracted by the

destroyed vehicle than the rest of the

diorama. This is especially true if the

diorama is to be entered in a competition.

of the kit turret for the longer L48 version

by Jordi Rubio. Everything was assembled

in a little over 2 hours.

diorama or model that we make is a

personal interpretation that may not always

be understood by other people. Those of

us who are lucky enough to be able to

explain our ideas in a magazine have the

opportunity to justify to others why we

used a particular colour and not another, or

why we put this tank in this position, etc.

However, the great majority of modellers

cannot explain their own dioramas and so

they can meet with bad results or

experiences. To overcome this, it is

necessary to research as much as

possible in order to bring their work as

close as possible to reality. It is the only

way to be understood by others, using a

common language: -modelling. It’s easy to

imagine a white snow covered field with

100 T34 advancing, but later it is

necessary to know how to translate that

The White Fields

My head was full of images of dozens of

white T34s advancing through numerous

remains of German tanks….“A white

avenger with a red death”. Maybe too

poetic, but it is often my main inspiration

source. In my opinion, a diorama can be

an interpretation of ideas, sensations or

imagined experiences. Maybe for this

reason there are many problems among

many modellers. When a modeller

receives harsh criticism, even if

constructive in nature, from another

person, he can feel very offended and find

it hard to accept. This is because each

However, we cannot always spend our

money and our time buying a new PzIV, a

complete interior and all the accessories,

when that PzIV is only to be used as a

complement. This was my situation, and

so I decided to look for a simple position in

which to place the upper part of the tank,

so that it would not be required to create a

complete interior. For that I used the PzIV

F2 turret from my company, Mig

Productions and some parts of a Dragon

PzIV F2 kit that I would never use. I

replaced the main weapon & muzzle brake

image into a small diorama. This the big challenge, but to

me it is also the most rewarding achievement in modelling.

1st Step: Documentation and Assembly

The T34 probably had more variation than any tank that

has existed, so it can be difficult to be sure that our model

is completely correct in detail. The object should be to

research the subject thoroughly in order to ensure that the

model we build is a true representation of a vehicle, which

was actually built, and to avoid glaring or not so obvious

errors.

Pic1) These books were used to research the upgrade of

our T34, they contain a lot of information on this tank.

Pic2 to 9) The Aber PE is necessary if we want make our

model ultra realistic-we can make damaged fenders or

boxes, and also the rear grille. To bend the etched

components I used the Etch Mate tool of Mission Models,

at the time it was the only tool that allowed the user to

bend very long parts. If the entire Aber photoetch set is

used, a very accurate T34 will result. However many

modellers tend to only use those parts that allows a model

to be visually enhanced to their satisfaction rather than

spend a great amount of time using every single part,

which can be tiny and barely noticeable on a finished

model.

2nd Step: Working in a Winter Camo

In my opinion, the winter whitewash painting of any vehicle

is one of the most difficult techniques to master, but also

one that is very rewarding. Contrary to a grey or green

camouflage where the modeller can work quickly with the

weathering on that colour, the white camouflage needs a

lot of work and elaboration to achieve an acceptable base

colour. The technique to paint these types of colours

consists of applying numerous layers of superimposed

colours. This means that we should combine layers of

green colours with white colours. It is a very slow and

exhausting work, but the result is very realistic.

Pic11) With acrylic paint, we must paint the white areas, as

irregularly as we can while trying not to cover all of the

green areas.

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