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Kit: Emhar (1:72)
This is a representation of one of the twenty German A7V tanks, namely 507 of Troop 1 as it appeared in May of 1918 after action at Villers-Bretonneux. I used photos and drawings from the "German Tanks of World War I" book by Schneider and Strasheim for my reference. Assuming the photos were of the orthochromatic type, I interpreted the darkest tones of the camouflage as lemon yellow and the lightest as the lime green with the reddish brown in between. I copied the crude brush strokes evident in the photos of 507, dubbed "Cyklop" by its crew. The external exhaust pipes were deleted and a window was opened for the driver, otherwise the model is unmodified.
Kit: RPM (1:72)
Represented is American ambulance No. 88 (serial 21235), photographed during the Second Battle of Ypres, April 1915. It was a car of Section Sanitaire 1, and was based on a 1914 Model T. The packing crate used to ship the car supplied the wood for the ambulance body. All the early ambulances used by the volunteer American Ambulance Field Service were built one at a time and each is different from the next. No. 88 had mudflaps, a ramped floorboard, carried spare tires on the roof and a medical bag on the running board behind the acetylene generator. It appears windows had not yet been inserted in the forward canvas and a large dark stain appears on the left side. The model starts with the RPM kit- the M.M.G.S., not the ambulance which is a later model Ford. I did use an ambulance kit to supply the seat and bulkhead (and two tires), but that was all. The M.M.G.S. chassis was detailed with PE from Part, which also supplied the wheels. Many parts-rear body, canvas, bag, acetylene generator, etc.- were scratch built for styrene. The colors were based on a statement by driver James McConnell (later to fly with the Lafayette) and other evidence in the book "Friends of France" (1916) along with colorized photos from the Ford Times magazine article of the time. The crosses are cut from trim film and the lettering is from my railroad stash. I learned a lot about 1914 Model Ts building this one! The blesse is an Aifix figure.
Kit: Airfix (1:72)
This model represents a Mk I of 'C' company before the attack on Thiepval in September, 1916. The Airfix kit is finished in early camouflage, pretty much from the instruction sheet. The grenade screen is styrene strip and nylon mesh. Photos of 'C' company tanks were used as reference.
This is a model of a Mk IV "female" of the 10th Battalion in March, 1918. It is built "out of the box" except for the addition of an unditching beam made from a wooden matchstick.
The Emhar kit is built pretty much out of the box as A 325, a Whippet of the 1st Battalion.