On the 14th February 2011, it will be the 70 years since Rommel landed in Libya to take control of the Afika Corps and I would like to propose a campaign focused on the DAK and the other army groups that made up Army Group Afrika.

As Winston Churchill said of Rommel, "We have a very daring and skillful opponent against us, and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general."

So let's build some of his gear!

The rules will be simple. Starting on 14th February 2011 and ending on 31st December 2011 the goal will be to build any tank, armoured car, motorcycle, softskin, or artillery piece that saw service under Rommel in Africa between 14th february 1941 and 9th March 1943 when he left Africa, never to return.

The rest of the rules will be the all the usual stuff... scales 1/72 to 1/16, no cheating using previous builds or starting before the start-date, dioramas welcome, more than one entry definately welcome and of course have fun and don't take it too seriously!

Hopefully we will be able to share tips on desert paint and weathering and get some good history lessons from each other too, so WiPs will be most definately encouraged.

I am sure the medal will be rather cool too.

If you fancy getting your hairspray out to tackle an early Panzer with Panzergrau showing through the hastily slapped on desert paint, or maybe finding some obscure Italian tank to throw in the mix, getting some juicy initial Tiger of the 501st out, doing that 222 in DAK regalia or covering your 88 in sand, then please jump in and let me know.



If / when we have enough members interested I will seek permission from the powers that be.

Sign me up for this one, got a panzer IV E itchin for tropen paint job.

I'm in.

Pz III G

G

I am interested. Is this campaign going to focus on German subjects? Or are other country's vehicles allowed, such as Italian or British?

I was just saying to myself that with all these good campaigns going on there is nothing that I will be doing that is a desert theme. So although I am stretched thin with all these enlistments this is 1 that i will really be interested in. Now I have to figure out what i will build

Sounds good to me. How long will the time frame be.
Tom

I'm in

I swore that I wouldn't sign up for any more campaigns but.... I'm in......

Jason

I am new at this, first campaign, but will build a PZ III G or PZ IV D. I have been building my own Afrika Korp since I started back in the hobby, been over 15 years or so. I have learned a lot reading the build logs, new weathering ideals, some PE, etc.

If I'm making a 501 Tiger I can go ahead and build that Greif sitting on the shelf,
I guess I'm in.
Bob

Great to see so much interest so quickly.

medicman, AgentG, eqNeal, BobCard, welcome on board!

ltb073, I know what you mean. I am working on a Cyber-Hobby PzIII L Tp at the moment and wanted a campaign for it. I hope to get it finished before Christmas and build either my Flak 88 or my Sd 222 in DAK to compliment it. Hence the reason I thought it time for a desert themed campaign.




Hi vonHengest, my thoughts were that the focus should be on Rommel and his gear, so Italian tanks would fit. Even when he technically was not in charge of them, he really was, if you know what I mean.

Personally I would like to see some new hardware so I am all for some imagination. I do not know much about the Italian equipment and would be keen to learn.

Regarding the Allies stuff, maybe we could have destroyed tanks!? I am not sure if Rommel had any Beutpanzers but if you can find a photo of an Allied tank in DAK livery then I say bring it on.




Hi sfctur1, I suggest we kick off on the 14th Feb 2011 and run either until 13th Feb 2012 or more likely to end of December 2011. What do you think? that gives us 4-5 months to clear the decks and decide on a model and long enough to get at least one done.


... spearhead21pz, thank God one of us knows what to do! With a username like that you may end up being the campaign guru!

Now go and have yourselves a beer and start your research

Sounds like a good one,and time frame is perfect : I will build either DML Mark IIIG,or Tamiya 232

I'm in

Very good then, I'll do my best to see if I can come up with something interesting

How about something like this beutepanzer Valentine in Africa?


-looking to see what else is out there-

Great find! That would be a real challenge and a really unique model.

I do think it would be a good idea to show a prototype photo of the model you are attempting and whilst I am as guilty as anybody of loving the PzIII it will be nice to see some variation.

Jasonbee71, there is always room for one more campaign!

captnenglish and Tojo72, glad to have you in.

Looks like we are over 10 so I will fill in the relevant forms.

G'day all, don't know how i'm gunna squeeze this one in! But I can't say no to anything to do with the North African campaign,so I'm in.
Feb-December sounds good.
The DAK did use quite a lot of captured allied equipment, I've seen photos over the years of Valentines,Matildas, 25 pounders,various trucks etc etc....
Nice Valentine photo Jeremy, it's a vechicle from Panzerregiment 7, 10th Panzerdivision.
A few Matilda photos...
http://beute.narod.ru/Beutepanzer/uk/A12_matilda/a12matilda2-5.htm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/damopabe/3075014662/

There's a few kits of Italian related stuff around these days,mainly by Italeri,and there's resin kits around if that's acceptable. I have a 1:72 scale 47mm anti tank gun and crew that i'm keen to do,came in a box of Italian infantry I picked up. Will probably do something DAK as well.
Cheers,
Tim

Firefly74, good to see I am not the only other DAK sucker out there. that Matilda looks fantastic.

Here are some nice colour (colourised) photos from WW2incolour to whet your appetite...

vonMarshall: I agree, and if I can figure out which version of the Valentine that is, then I will certainly build it but in service condition as opposed to being knocked out as in the photo. Otherwise I may end up giving in to a PzIII build myself

Tim: Nice photos of the Matilda II's, I was looking at those earlier when I found the Valentine pick. Thanks for the unit info btw.

There was a photo of a Ford truck next to a beuteMatilda, but I don't think that truck is made in 1/35 or 1/48...

vonMarshall,
I saw that pic of that Pz III aw well and was thinking that I might go with 1 of those. Does any one know the model of that 1 or have additional photos of it

The time frame sounds good to me either end date. Gives us enough time to complete it.
Tom

I think it is a G which were there early enough to still be in Grey and I do know the arrangement of the tracks and spare wheels at the front was common on the G. I think the next batch to arrive were the J Tropen versions which had the new desert paintjob and beefed up engine ventilation.

There is a DAK Pz III G in the Cyber Hobby Orange Box set. I believe that this is actually the old Dragon Imperial range before the Smart-kits came out so you may want to add some brass. It does come with some DAK figures though.

It appears to be a Pz III G, the most common version in 1941, all retrofitted with the new 50mm Kwk 38 l/42 gun. In December 1941, the first Pz III H (added 30mm armour plate) arrived, followed by the early Pz III Ausf J and Pz IV Ausf. F (both had increased armour). The the Pz II Ausf. F (added armour) was sent the same time. The Pz IV Ausf. F2 arrived in June 1942 in limited numbers and the Pz III Ausf J (late) with the long barrelled 50mm Kwk 39 L/60, arrived in numbers beginning August 1942 (used first time at Gazala).

Do you know if any of the early F's with the twin machine guns in the turret made it to Africa or were they all retrofitted with the single gun and thicker armour by then? I have a Daragon PzIII F and would love to DAK it up but cannot find a single reference photo. I am guessing they were all reconfigured by the time they went to Libya but keeping my fingers crossed I am wrong!

hmm i got a panzer 3 ausf g of the africa corp waiting in the stash so im in too Rommel is one of my fav subjects.
cheers,
Graham