All
Well Tankette 47-4 is now in the hands of TNT & should be with UK based members by the weekend & outside of the UK by the middle of next week. Below you will find Paul Middleton's review of this issue.
Enclosed with this issue is a nomination form & a list of posts up for election. So if you want to help mAFVA grow & have something to contibute get Nominated.

TANKETTE 47/4 Review by Paul Middleton

Another stunning cover photo from the hands of John Woolford greets us as we look through the new issue of Tankette. The subject id a model KV-2 that was in the Nationals 2012 competition at Duxford in June. The excellent detail of damage effects show what is possible in modelling to the extent you can almost taste the cordite from the scene. More photos from the 2012 Nationals appear inside the cover and on the rear covers, reminding me of the models I did see, and some that had not registered in my brain. More photos will be posted on the MAFVA website. Hopefully the quality of the models shown, plus the atmosphere, the traders gathered together, the attraction of the Military Vehicle Show and of course Duxford itself will attract more of you to attend next year (Rumoured to be Father's day again, June 16th).

Page 3 (Sorry, no pin-ups) finds Neil's editorial displaced by several important notices regarding the Model Shows at London and South Wales in October this year. One phenomenal step forward for MAFVA will be the elections which will take place soon. This will hopefully make the Association more inclusive, and persuade members to participate.

The articles start with a three page postscript to the previous article on the Vickers Tanks of the Chaco War, 19323-35. This is all fascinating stuff on Bolivian armour from a 'Little War' that many of us will know nothing about. New photos are shown, as well as a photo of the wreckage of one Vickers still laying where it was destroyed 78 years ago. I'm surprised that it has not been snapped up by an 'entrepreneur' yet.

Page 7 has a very complete set of drawings by John Church of the Churchill Great Eastern Ramp in 1/76th scale. As well as the overall views are numerous detail drawings to help with model construction of thsi complicated vehicle.

John Rulton has contributed a few bits for this issue, the first being titled 'The Acht-Komma-acht' in Braille scale. John outlines the history of the famous German 88mm gun and untangles the complicated designations with a view to building accurate models in 1/76th scale. manufacturers are taken to task with their errors, and reference literature is listed with comments. John completes his second page by promoting 'green' modelling using cardboard trays collected from the supermarket to store part built models in.

The centre spread for 47/4 is a 1/35th set of drawings of the Vickers medium Mk1 drawn by Peter Davenport. I thinkthat there is only a hard to find resin kit available in 1/35th, so a lot of plastic bashing would be needed to produce a mode, but possibly the old Spojnia Polish 7TP can supply the suspension and tracks. A page of text from Peter supports the plans.

Dick Harley continues his overview on the recent Mini-Art Dingo's with an in-depth review of their kit 35087, the Dingo Mark 1A. Dick discusses the the camouflage and the markings included in the kit, linking them to reference books and including a photo of one of the subjects. In a well researched piece he then covers the details of the folding roof and the A.A. Bren gun mount, and also how the four wheel steering actually worked. Bravo! Dick, no excuses for getting it wrong now!

The final article for this issue comes from Canadian member Ed Storey and describes the Canadian Forces Registration system for military vehicles. Yet another interesting read on a subject i had not seen before, with four subject vehicles covered. Yet another splendid issue.

As always Tankette can be obtained via the website www.mafva.net or by contacting MAFVA HQ direct at [email protected].