1:35 Kursk 1943 Pz.Kpfw. IV Field Repair Big Set

A field repair of a tank in the middle of the summer of 1943

The fighting in the Kursk area tends to be recalled because of new types of equipment, but the weight of the operations was borne by the ordinary medium tank of the fourth series. There were the most of them, it served with all the formations, and that is exactly why how quickly a damaged machine returned to the line mattered most on it. Repairs were done on the spot, under a tarpaulin or under a tree: take the road wheel off, pull the engine out with a block and tackle, replace a track link and drive on.

Extensive sets of this type are practical for a builder of dioramas, because in one box they find the vehicle, the figures and the equipment they would otherwise hunt for piece by piece. The scene has a story of its own straight away and does not have to be completed.

• The medium tank of the fourth series in 1:35 scale
• Figures and equipment for a scene of a field repair
• A setting in time and place in the fighting of 1943

During the build it pays to start from the scene, not from the tank. Lay the figures and the tools out on paper first, choose the orientation of the machine accordingly and only then build. Removed parts and dismantled assemblies are the main ornament of a repair scene, so leave them really separate and do not be afraid of an open engine compartment. Let the working tools and the crates have a different degree of wear from the vehicle. And watch the height of the grass: in July the steppe at Kursk was tall and dry, which gives the scene a warm tone without a single dark deposit of mud. Anyone who wants to tell the scene even more clearly will let one of the standing men look elsewhere than the others; a small inconsistency of gazes turns a group into living people instead of an assembly of figures stood in a row.