Our ‘Mini Art Contest’ proved very valuable works with truly sublime masterpieces. As usual this challenged the jury in selecting the best pieces. But now Mini Art Ltd. happy with the high level reached plus the value and emphasis that modellers gave to their products have decided to issue three more prizes. All prizes have been selected independently by them.
Today we are pleased to announce :
“May morning in Berlin of 1945″
our congratulations go to:
Yunker!
“Plot: in the Spring of 1945 Germany capitulated. The destroyed streets of Berlin restore. Prisoners of war of Vermahta clean the padded technics … clean of street blockages. Captured German soldiers under escort of fighters of Red Army go slow step.“
LVT-4 Water Buffalo & 1/4-Ton 4x4 Truck - Dragon 7389
Dragon is releasing its first ever 1/72 scale plastic kit of the Water Buffalo, so naturally it employs all-new moldings. The arrival of the LVT-4 adds nicely to the armored LVT(A)-1 and LVT(A)-4 vehicle kits that are already available in the 1/72 lineup. It has crisp detail, with elements like the weld seams and complex suspension system carefully reproduced.
The LVT-4 comes with DS tracks so that detail on the links can be as fine as possible. The rear ramp can be portrayed either raised or lowered, plus the inclusion of a 4×4 truck, an icon of WWII, provides the potential for an instant Pacific War diorama.
The smaller vehicle comes with a mounted .50-cal machine gun, and the truck can be parked inside the LVT-4, or it can be shown embarking or even disembarking during a fierce amphibious assault on an Iwo Jima beach. Modelers have a novel diorama straight from the box with this new LVT-4 and 4×4 truck combo!
The Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO) was a bitter campaign for Allied forces as they pressed fanatical Japanese defenders back towards their homeland. By the end of WWII, the Pacific War had resulted in the deaths of some 6 million soldiers and 18 million civilians.
One of the costliest battles was the capture of the volcanic island of Iwo Jima from 19 February-26 March 1945. Codenamed Operation Detachment, this first taking of a Japanese home island eventually embroiled some 70,000 US Marines. One of the vehicles the Marines relied on to get them onto Iwo Jima was the LVT-4, also referred to as the Water Buffalo. This amphibious tractor had a ramp at the rear to allow troops to disembark after the vehicle had swum ashore. With a total of 8,351 LVT-4 vehicles produced, it was the most common version of the LVT family.
Although almost 22,000 vehicles were built during the latter half of WWII, it seems as this vehicle class was neglected for the last fifty years in all publications. As leading model companies have now detected a market for soft-skinned vehicles it is time for Nuts & Bolts to release an in-depth publication on these vehicles.
As ever we will publish a sound mixture of wartime shots to bring our readers an impression of their deployment during the war, detail photos of existing vehicles in museums and private collections and how to model the four versions by Tony Greenland. Also, Blue prints from John Rue and camouflage artwork from Laurent Lecocq complete the publication.
Date of publication December 1st 2011
by Joachim Baschin
published on December 1, 2011
soft cover
german & english texts
160 pages
341 photos (222 historic, 24 model, 86 modern)
78 blueprints
16 camouflage schemes, table of organsisation (KStN)
Russian ASU-85 Airborne Self-Propell Gun Mod.1956 Basic set for Trumpeter 01588
The ASU-85 is a Soviet airborne self-propelled gun of the Cold War. It was designed on the PT-76 tank chassis, and armed with an 85 mm gun.
Soviet Airborne Forces used the ASU-85 in airborne operations. Its primary role was light infantry support, with limited antitank capability. The ASU-85 replaced the open-topped ASU-57 in service.
