Bovington Tank Museum #1

I finally had a chance to visit Tank Museum in Bovington, trip was quite long, 190 miles one way, but well worth it. I think it is a Must Visit for any tank modeler.

Before even approaching main buildings there are many examples of what can be seen (or poked) inside - tanks are everywhere. Tour around the Museum involves several displays, The Tank Story, Trench Experience, The Discovery Center and Battlegroup Afghanistan. There are plenty tanks to be seen across all these sections, from time of Great War  to very modern.  I did not even realize how big they actually are, Tiger is huge, but King Tiger or JagdTiger are monstrous. So are power-plants and engines (also on display) for such machines. It is pretty impressive seeing in reality how thick tank armor was, and how thin it may have seemed to what enemy may have prepared to use against. It all served and serves still one purpose though - breaking enemy resistance.
 

{Link to Part 2}

Trip to RAF Cosford

Having some spare time I took another trip to nearby based RAF Museum in Cosford. 20 miles done with no problem and no delay - quick & easy, only parking to be paid and that's all the cost. Friday morning was not bad choice at all, two coach parties of pupils and few adult visitors - perfect. Before kids appeared in the area where all War Planes are, I took closer look at few shown below:

Sdkfz 7/1 # 2 / Tracks & Sprockets /

Any paper model of a tank or a half track is very requiring and time consuming because of great number of parts for all wheels and track links. Without applying "cutting many in one go" methods the build would take even longer. For square shaped parts  it's good to use knife and metal ruler to guide blade avoiding wave like edges left by scissors. Perfect, if parts are grouped together (like in this kit:) and one cut sorts few out in one go. Tracks are made out of single links connected by a pin. Usually, but not always, 2 versions of tracks are provided: single links or strips (models for experienced modelers are usually supplied with only single link version, other option seems to be waste of space). Strip version of tracks can be made pretty quickly, main difference is thickness, flexibility and construction time. Single links are very flexible (pin-joints), take easy any curves especially around the sprocket, where strip may crack or be difficult to shape up. There is however third option, which is laser cut set of tracks. It looks like simple, strip version but with all details cut out (see Stug IV).