Sunday, January 8, 2017

'Armour' from Barks: Mephisto (and friend)

The A7V was introduced in the last year of WW1. Only twenty Sturmpanzerwagens were built, compared to the well over 1000 British tanks which fought.

These tracked and armoured fridges are 15mm A7Vs from PSC. They are very precisely sculpted pre-built models and I recommend them. I made up the camouflage and markings based on an amalgamation of historical vehicles. You can see the origins of the iconic Hinterhalt (ambush) colours. I stippled it on using an old brush. The crosses are decals I picked up from eBay- I would try to freehand one, but not a dozen!


Of the twenty A7Vs, only one survives- No. 506 Mephisto. It was stolen by Australian diggers (Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!) and is currently in our national war memorial (unmissable if you are in Canberra). Fellow Aussie blogger Kaptain Kobold has plenty of info and pics of his visit here- here's one showing the 'nose art'. The demon Mephisto is cheekily running off with a British tank! I tried to replicate this freehand, along with the name. Mephisto has a lot more green to it than mine, but I can live with that.
Photo by Kaptain Kobold


I confess I haven't seen Mephisto in the flesh, and I would love to do so someday.

47 comments:

  1. Nice to see the German counterpart to my entry. Great job!

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  2. AWESOME! Excellent work.
    I have seen Mephisto when it was in Brisbane a few years back. I didn't know it had moved to Canberra.
    Great stuff Barks.
    Cheers mate

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    1. I think it is on loan to Canberra after the Brisbane floods.

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  3. Nicely done John - great homage to that wonderful exhibit and momento of Digger "souveniring"!

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  4. Gorgeous tanks Barks. The cammo and weathering are top notch work.

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    1. Thanks, Curt, they're great little sculpts.

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  5. Great work on these PSC tanks. I hope you do get to see the one in the museum.

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  6. Great work Barks. I went on a pilgrimage down to Canberra to see Mephisto - it's well worth it.

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  7. Two f the blighters.. excellent

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  8. I've seen Mephisto in the metal so to speak, and it's the only tank I've ever seen which has three storeys and a mess hall.
    ; )
    Lovely work, mate, keep 'em coming!

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    1. If only it had a front end and a back end!

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  9. Fantastic work, especially the artwork on the front.

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  10. I build one of those in 1:72, but yours look sooooo much better, great work Barks!

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  11. Some more WW1 Tank love here.
    (It would be so much better if the AV7 was at Bovington though... it is a bit of a trip to see it in Canberra! See if you can sort this out for me theres a decent chap!)

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    1. Stop hogging all the AFVs at Bovington!

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    2. We do share at Bovington.
      We even let the guys from Kubinka "Moscow" Tank Museum copy the original blueprints for the MAUS so they can renovate their version of the Maus.

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  12. More WW1 whackiness - great job on this one Barks.

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    1. I really like the variety in WW1 tanks before they all became variations on a theme.

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  13. Great to see these WW1 beasts in the bonus round. Excellent work on the camo and withering Barks.

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    1. I was pleased to see the Brits and French represented in this round as well!

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  14. Devilish! I love the way you've replicated the Mephisto artwork and name - adds tons of character. Vehicle names aren't often represented in smaller scale modelling, so this is nice.
    Figures it would have been Aussies who nicked the only surviving one!

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    1. Thanks, Padre! I trend towards generic, multi-use markings but I knew I had to do this one.

      We do have our convict past to commemorate!

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  15. Most excellent! I've seen a 1/1 replica at Munster last year and these things are awesome.

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  16. Very well done, love the camo effect. Very menacing looking vehicles.

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    1. Thanks, James, they do look implacable, if not entirely unstoppable!

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  17. These are a great pair, nice camo

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  18. Very fine heavy metal, Barks!
    I do love the dazzle camouflage and the free hand decoration is very well done!

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    1. Thanks, David! I quite enjoyed painting these, and hopefully some more WW1 armour will get done!

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