Hallo fellow modellers!
This is the third diorama on the Finnish Army theme. This kit was my very first Resin kit so a bit of trial and error was included in the build.
/Fredrik
Background
The historical theme for the diorama is the decisive fight to defend their country that the Finnish soldiers fought on the Karelian Isthmus in the summer of 1944.
The diorama is my third interpretation of the battle of Tali-Ihantala. It displays when the Swedish volunteers in the Swedish speaking 13 Regiment, JR 13, received their first Panzerfausts. This was on June 25th, just before they left for the front line north of the village Tali.
The Swedish volunteer Company counted 64 men before the battle of Tali-Ihantala. The Company, as well as all the other Finnish Forces, suffered heavy losses during the fighting, 11 were KIA, 27 wounded and 2 MIA. Despite the heavy losses the Finnish army broke the tip of the Soviet offensive and the front stabilized.
The Finnish Army used a variety of trucks during the war. Many of them were civilian trucks confiscated by the Army. Trucks was also part of the equipment bought from Germany, including the Ford V8/51.
The kit
The Ford V8/51 is made from Commando5 resin kit C5 3515, German Ford V8-51, with a few modifications for a Finnish look a like. The figures is a mix of figures from Dragon, Hornet and MK35, all with Hornet heads. The driver though I believe is an old ESCI one from the 1980's that I repainted. The weaponry and equipment is a mix of German and Russian equipment. This mix was the reality for the Finnish forces putting just everything they had into the war effort.
The construction and painting of the kit was pretty straight forward so the assembly was quite quick. The fact that it is a resin kit made me use some putty to fill a gap between the two front fenders and the chassis in the lower front part. This was made at the same time as I filled a bubble in the right fender. I don't know whether it was due to the clean up or the casting, but when I was about to glue the truck cab I found that the framed had warped a little. No problem as I was about to place the truck in terrain so I left it the way it was rather than trying to dissolve the glue. The front bumper is a little bent due to this though.
What I have used
The biggest issues trying to make Finnish Army WWII dioramas and/or kits is in my opinion making the soldiers and actually finding colours that match the Finnish camouflage. The Finnish Army was small and no manufacturer (that I know of) make Finnish soldiers, equipment or colours.
For the Finnish three tone camouflage (for the Sturmi and the Sotka in Finland's last stand, part 1 and 2) I used Gunze colours as follows:
H309 for the green (FS34079)
H37 for the brown (FS30097)
H324+H336 (50/50 mix) for the grey (FS 36306)
To make Finnish soldiers I have consistently modified German soldiers, except for the tankers in leather uniforms for whom I used Russian soldiers. For the Finnish Lahti machine gun I used Tank's Russian MP PPD-40 and the rifles are Modelkasten Mosin Nagant rifles.
Please comment!
