![]() ![]() I built up the terrain of my diorama using old polystyrene boxes and detailed it with sculptamold, a mouldable paste that dries to leave a hard surface. He was awarded his second of 3 military crosses that year for his accuracy against the Tigers. They faced the 5th Panzer regiment and destroyed 16 out of the 38 tanks engaged, this was the first time that Rommel’s seemingly invincible panzers had been stopped. His role was to spot enemy tanks from a tower, giving instructions of where to fire to the guns. My great-grandmother’s brother, Brigadier Charles Armitage, fought in this battle, commanding the front line of artillery. Tobruk was relieved by the 8th army on the 27th November, ending the siege. The port was bombarded by Axis artillery and air force, but the Allies had naval superiority enabling reinforcements and supplies in and prisoners and the wounded out. Allied forces, mainly the Australian 9th division, defended the port city against the North Afrika Korps and Italian forces led by Erwin Rommel. Although my Tiger II wasn’t produced at that point the Tiger I would have been used in support of the German infantry. I chose to make a diorama to set the tank in, it is based on the siege of Tobruk which took place from 10 April - 27 November 1941 during the North Africa campaign. I created a weathered look by watering down black paint for grime and I stippled silver and orange over to represent bullet holes, chips in the paintwork and dust from the desert. I used acrylic paints as a base colour of beige. To assemble the model, I used polycement, which is a specialised glue used to melt the plastic together forming a stronger and seamless bond. This meant that most of the 492 built were abandoned or destroyed by air attacks. However, the weight (68 tonnes) and complexity of the design was a disadvantage, it was difficult to move to Allied positions and used too much fuel to sustain attacks. The reason that it was so effective was that it’s 88 mm gun was capable of defeating all Allied tanks of the time and the thick sloping armour was almost impervious to anti-tank guns. The Tiger II was a heavy tank developed by Germany during the second world war, but was only used from 1944 to 1945. I chose to make a Panzer VI Ausf.B ‘King Tiger’ at 1:76 scale. SeptemWeekly Newsletter 12 June 2020 05 This Week Merchant Taylors’ Airfix Model Club writes George Bindloss (5ths): During lockdown the members of Airfix Club were asked to build and paint a model of any era.
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