Diewaffenkammer's Tortoise

Wow it's hard to believe it's been two months since I made a post.  I've been swamped with work, the holidays, and even helped run my very first Bolt Action tournament.  I've played in a fair amount of tournaments, but this was truly a "first" for me to actually organize and run one. It was a blast!

Today I'll be sharing a review of a very unusual tank: the Tortoise.  Today's model was brought to you by Jeff Trnka and Richard Humble.  The 1:56 model can be purchased at Die Waffenkammer.


The A39 Tortoise was a tank destroyer that was developed by the British towards the end of World War 2.  It was developed for the messy task of laying siege to heavily fortified areas and structures and relied on its armor rather than its speed.  The tank never saw combat with only a few of them built as prototypes by the end of the war.

The vehicle was crewed by a total of 7: a commander, driver, main gunner,  2 loaders serviced the 32-pounder gun and infantry would have been kept at bay by 2 machine gunners.  The gun was an adapted design taken from a 3.7 inch British anti-aircraft gun.  The gun was capable of tanking out a German Panther tank at roughly 1,000 yards.

Protecting such a gun was no small task as the developers wanted to keep the gun and its crew safe during siege conditions. The armor on the Tortoise ranges from 1.3 inches on the top to 7-9 inches thick on the front and sides.  The vehicle was 33 feet long by 13 feet wide and 9 feet tall.  It weighed 78 tons.

The kit by Die Waffenkammer certainly wasn't that big but it did have heft.  It's essentially a huge block of resin.  It arrived neatly packed in a box with a note from Jeff.  The entire kit is resin and my is the detail incredible on it. All of the pieces went together wonderfully.  There was no warping to contend with and very little clean up was needed.

Here's a good judgment of the scale of the vehicle with it next to a Russian JS-3 and a ISU-152.

The Tortoise was a blast to paint.  I painted it as a gift to a friend who's been running a British army against me for some time.  I'm not sure how we'll run it in games, but I'm pretty sure we can create some house rules for it.  I wanted to emulate a subtle camouflage scheme I've seen in some articles about British armored divisions pushing towards Berlin.  I held off of weathering it too much, but I wanted to give the impression of it being in a wet environment at times and made sure to create plenty of rain/ grime streaks down the sides of the super structure.  I used a variety of paints, pigments, filters and washes by Ammo by Mig.

Verdict:

This kit is fantastic.  I loved building it and I especially loved painting it.  The only drawback I could see for some people would be that there are not any rules available for it in Bolt Action, however that shouldn't be an issue for people who enjoy making house rules.  The details and build quality is second to none especially considering it's for 1:56 scale.  This kit is fantastic

If you enjoyed the review, feel free to leave a comment below as it really helps the site out.  Additionally, if you'd like to pick up a Tortoise of your own, head on over to Die Waffenkammer or follow this link to the direct listing.

Until next time, have a great one.

Running with the Tortoise

The past week has seen me dive head first into preparing for the January Blitzfreeze 2016 tournament I’m helping hold for the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.  We’ve capped out the available venue space of 18 participants for the January 7, 2016 event and I’ve wasted no time in making preparations for the event.  I’ve spent a fair amount of time discussing plans with the venue, evaluating rules and scenarios, and preparing media that will be handed out to the participants, preparing awards that will be given out, and preparing a board that I will be providing myself.  I managed to score an Urbanmatz roll-away terrain mat that I’ll be writing a review for later.


Aside from planning the tournament, I’ve been busy preparing gift commissions for friends who’ve been encouraging and incredibly helpful along the way with this hobby.  Up on deck is the Tortoise by JTFM, an ISU-122 assault gun, and a 1/72 corsair.  An Italian tankette is on the way, but it’s currently in the post.


This week I’ve been having a blast working on the Tortoise.  Once I have completed it, I will write a detailed review along with a step-by-step on how I painted it.  Until then, here’s a brief glimpse at the lovely resin Tortoise, courtesy of JTFM!

 

If you enjoy this blog, feel free to leave a comment below as it really helps the site out.  Additionally, if you'd like to pick up this resin beast of British engineering that is the Tortoise, head on over to Die Waffenkammer or follow this link to the direct listing.

I’ll be following up with this post as I begin to paint Rubicon’s ISU-122.  In a future post, I will be reviewing and painting one of Warlord’s kits: the Italian C3 Tankette!  Until next time, have a great one.

The Biggest Fish in the Pond (For now)

The ISU-152 is no longer the big fish in the pond.  The beastly British post 1945 tank destoryer, the Tortoise, from JTFM Die Waffenkammer has arrived

A huge thanks goes to Jeff and Rich!

If you're as excited as I am about working on this thing and would like one of your own, follow this link to the Tortoise or head on over to Die Waffenkammer and check out the vast selection of models.  Jeff has told me that this is just one of the many "after '45" kits they are releasing!

With the Alte behind me, and in the case until it's used for play, I've resumed priming the rest of my Finns and aim to complete my 1,000 points of them for the tournament I'm co-hosting on January 7, 2017.

Thanks for looking!

Jake