Ralph A

I want to see that!!!

This one is my absolute favorite. It is completely scratch-built. An H/O T-34 that ran into some bad luck... and a little door-knocking! Note how some fragments from the anti-tank shell have taken a piece out of the gun, leaving the rest intact. I used no paint on this, only a little wite-out, some soot from matches... and some real rust from an old nail soaked a few days in saltwater. This is my "minimalist" effort. The "trees" mounted above the track covers served two purposes for the crew: as make-shift fascines, and as firewood for the evening's campfires. In this case, the 75mm PAK round that brewed up the tank cut through the wood like butter, and left splinters all over the tank's chassis. I noted from period pictures of destroyed tanks how they all seemed to lose their sharper edges in death; they all look somewhat softer in detail, and somehow... melted. I tried to duplicate this effect, and I think I suceeded (note how the "un-destroyed" side seems sharper).

Here is a favorite, a PzKw Ausfurung III- (L)M50. The canvas tarpaulins are made with cigar tobacco leaf. The trick is to smoke the cigar first before stripping off the binder, so the leaf is soft and pliable. Note the tactical number change, painted over the old number. Also note the (Novorossiysk) champagne cask, mounted to the mud guard and used as a water cask. Also note the little "Tommy" helmets affixed to the mantle, crew-trophies from the Balkan (Grecian) campaign of Spring 1941, transferred from an older weapon. They are made from halved split-peas fixed to tiny cardboard disks. This model is authenticated to the Southeast Russia campaign of 1942. I made it in 1979. Also note how the tracks "sag" between the bogeys, a little detail many modelers forget to add. The mud is real mud, from genuine NC red clay tar. The devil is in the details. My only regret is that I didn't whack up the thin track mudguards even more than I did. Those things were fragile. Also, the paper labels on the "potato-masher" crates are a little thick... I should have used onion-skin cigarette papers. To explain the grenade cases... remember, these Mark III's were infantry support vehicles. I made dust with real dust. First spray the model with a light coat of WD-40. Then, put it in front of a fan, sprinkle dust behind the fan. As a bonus, the WD-40 gives the model a faint petroleum smell... which can only add to the realism.

Here is a Panther I never got around to completing, but it looks good nonetheless. The Zimmerit paste is made with drywall compound, a technique I found particularly effective. I slathered on the paste, then added the grooves by pressing the paste with a wet wooden matchstick.

Here is an H/O Stug III with a long 75mm cannon.

Once upon a time and many long years ago I tinkered with modelling. Here is an H/O scale PzKw IV-H hybrid with a PzKw III turret. About 1/2 scratch-built.

Here it is:

I love this little piece. It's my favorite 1914 Iron Cross trinket:

Good eye. I had forgotten about that. I better tag it. It's one of several "Frankenstein's monster" bars in my "Fiction" collection made from original parts, along with a (supposedly) fake Afrika Korp cufftitle DN sold me (and refunded the money on), a "suspect" Krim Shield and an SS camo helmet cover made after the war from period cloth. Oh, and a "Luftwaffe" helmet with a national emblem stuck on it after the war. I just can't bring myself to take the bar apart.

Rick is on top of it. Arguably, recognition of the CSA by a foreign power. The Wikipedia article on this seems to be a good, concise accounting, if you want to know why.

Speaking of "raids," I always try to get up to St Alban's, Vt. every October 19th or so... just across the US-Canada border. There is a significance to this, which escapes some historians.

"We need to start a BBQ thread." Good idea!

...

Thank you gents, it looks good hanging on the wall. NC style is good, too. Although raised in SC, I was born in NC (Charlotte) so I can lay claim to an affinity for both varities of sauce. New Yorkers and mustard-based BBQ sauce? You mean vinegar-based, don't you? They put it on chicken.

"There is no such thing as "good" BBQ north of the Carolinas." ROTFLMAO. You ain't lying. But we might have to go to war again, if you don't agree that SC Piedmont-style mustard-vinegar-pepper based sauce on pulled pork isn't the World's Finest. ...I'm guessing our European brethren are absolutely mystified by our back-and-forth, Irish. Well, you win. I'm going to sign off and have some supper. Shrimp and grits tonight, Charleston style.

"But when northerners and southerners poke each other today - it's "good natured" for the most part." Cheers to you, my friend. Not many countries can say that about their "differences." “Thus ended the great American Civil War, which must upon the whole be considered the noblest and least avoidable of all the great mass conflicts of which till then there was record.” -Winston Churchill

Here is my favorite Civil War picture in my collection, supremely evocative of the desperation and futility of the Lost Cause. It's a period print of a painting by Conrad Wise Chapman (original in the Museum of the Confederacy), of Fort Sumter's (Charleston Bay, SC) southeast gorge angle. It was painted on October 25th, 1863, a few days after the evacuation of Fort Wagner, which was unsuccessfully assaulted by the 54th Massachusetts.

Here is my collection of GAR memorabilia. These are veteran's pieces. My ancestral homelands were in Sumter, SC. A plantation manor belonging to a direct ancestor there was burned by troops of the 54th Massachusetts. You know them, from the movie Glory, and the assault on Fort Wagner. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/54th_Massachusetts_Volunteer_Infantry No grudges here, though. Those men of the 54th were heroes, as far as I'm concerned.

"How many Union prisoners decided to "switch sides" and fight for the Confederacy?" About 300, from Andersonville (Camp Sumter). But good for you. Excellent riposte. We're all Americans, after all. The US Civil War made an "us" of the U.S. I love the story about the reunion of Confederate and Union veterans at the Battle of Gettysburg re-enactment of 1912. When the old surviors of the Army of Northern Virginia walked from the woods in front of Emmittsburg Road, the Yankees of the Grand Army of the Republic at the top of Cemetary Ridge erupted in cheers, and ran down the slope to embrace their former enemies. Only in America, my friend.

There were four Abercrombies who fought for the Union. Here is one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Joseph_Abercrombie Funny thing, he is a dead-ringer for my grandfather, Ralph McCall Abercrombie Sr. (I am Ralph McCall Abercrombie III). Incidentally, another scion of my family owned the McCall (McCoull) House at Spotsylvania Battlefield, scene of the second "Lee to the Rear" story of May 12th, 1864. http://www.civilwarhome.com/leetorear.htm

From the chief historian at the Fredericksburg battlefield. But don't take me seriously. I'm naturally biased, being a "tongue-in-cheek" unreconstructed secessionist from Charleston, SC. "...to bolster his election chances in Pennsylvania, Lincoln approved 1,750 more Confederate recruits, enough to form two more regiments, to be sent to the frontier to fight American Indians. Due to doubts about their ultimate loyalty, galvanized Yankees in federal service were generally assigned to garrison forts far from the Civil War battlefields or in action against Indians in the west." "Whitewashed" rebels were the turncoat ones who fought in the East. -Ralph "Rhett Butler" Abercrombie http://www.nps.gov/jeff/historyculture/upload/galvanized_yankees.pdf

Glavanized Yankees were not required to fight against their kin. They were sent to the West to fight injuns.

"A Confederate rebel who turned his coat a second time..." Them thar be fightin' words.... I take it you are a dam-yankee...

"So, why this rifle as your wall hanger? Just what came along or something more meaningful?" I'm not a serious collector of US Civil War memorabilia. Why grab up something from bona-fide collectors who need the best stuff for their collections?

This carbine had an odd, "ice-cream cone" cartridge. Here is an original example, which I acquired to go with the carbine. Still, they were ignited with percussion caps, so the carbine is not a true "repeater." The "doughnut" ring around the casing acts as a gas seal, which I think is particularly ingenious.