1/76 & 1/72 Scale Model AFV Museum: Guided Tour
Introduction
Welcome to the museum tour. My name's Pat, and I'll be your guide for
your visit. The museum houses a collection of small scale armored fighting
vehicle models, and its primary purpose is to showcase a small sample of
the selection of kits that are available to the hobbyist. In addition to
some plastic kits produced by mainstream companies, we also display resin,
metal, and even plastic injection kits produced by companies that are not
often found in your local hobby store. Hopefully the museum will be a resource
and maybe even an inspiration for those interested in small scale Armor,
and give you an idea of the variety of kits you can add to your collection.
This guided tour will follow the history of AFVs in a linear fashion,
moving from past to present, focusing at times on specific vehicle classes
or nationalities. The emphasis is on fully tracked tanks and self-propelled
guns. A brief historical and/or technical description is given for each
individual vehicle, and the kit manufacturer is noted, perhaps with a few
words regarding quality.
To follow the tour, click on the little blue "T" at the very
bottom of each page. You can always go back to the previous page, but you
can't jump ahead of the tour guide. Of course, you can always leave the
tour and go back to the opening page and visit one of our temporary displays
or check out the inventory.
A NOTE ABOUT THE MODELS: These
models reflect one modeler's effort at assembling and painting kits. I do
not profess to be an expert, nor do I claim that my models portray with
100% accuracy vehicles that actually saw service. I admit that some of the
camouflage schemes are incorrect, and that some of the decal applications
are almost fictitious conglomerates of spares. I also have certain personal
quirks regarding my painting methods that I cannot change. The models are
not depicted as clean as you might encounter in an actual museum, nor are
they as weatherbeaten and laden with stowage as is often the case in the
battlefield. Nevertheless, I do believe that the models are good representations
of what tanks look like in the field, and possess a certain degree of aesthetics.
Anyway, on to a history of AFVs and a guide to the world of small scale
AFV modeling...let the tour begin.
Here's a famous, and the first,
modern tank. "Little Willie" is faithfully reproduced in resin
(with a few metal parts) by MATADOR MODELS. AKA "The Tritton Machine",
it was tested in December of 1915, and fared quite well. If adopted for
production, it might have sported a turret with a 2 pdr gun; however, new
trench-crossing requirements meant that more attention was given to the
"Big Willie" design.
The kit was a joy to assemble, being a nice break from the traditional
tank configuration. The resin tracks take a while to attach to the track
units; you'll have to break them into individual links to get them to bend
around the curves. All I added was a handle for a tow hook on the bow, and
the wires that lifted the rear wheels. A very nice addition to any collection,
despite the fact the vehicle never saw action. I also had a little bit of
fun with the kit here.