Armor, Figure, and Diorama Modeling

Armor Modelers Preservation Society (AMPS) (www.amps-armor.org) is a growing international organization that promotes both modeling and preserving AFVs. The best feature of the web site is a comprehensive list of AFV kits. You can join AMPS for about $20 per year, for which you get a bimonthly susbscription to Boresight, a slim magazine that often has good construction articles, but the product news tends to be somewhat dated if you've been tuned in to the various AFV discussion groups on the web. The annual national U.S. AMPS convention, showcasing some of the world's best AFV models and dioramas, often has been held in April in Havre de Grace, Maryland, In 2006, it was held in Hubbard, Ohio, and in 2008 it will take place in Auburn, Indiana from April 10 to 12. The show has won great acclaim for its unique rules where each entry is judged on its own merits, rather than in direct competition with other kits. Consequently, there are often numerous gold, silver and bronze awards in each category.

Armorama (www.armorama.com) is a vibrant AFV web community, with good features, discussion groups, and group building campaigns.

Hyperscale (www.hyperscale.com) is Brett Green's comfortable marriage of airplane and AFV modelers. There's not a lot of interplay between the "skeet" and "ground target" crowds, as they have separate discussion groups and review areas.

Internet Modeler (www.internetmodeler.com) is a monthly online magazine that runs the gamut of modeling subjects. There are often good build-ups, references, reviews and articles to be found here.

Mortars in Miniature (www.mortarsinminiature.com) is the place to go if you want to detail one of those mortars from Tamiya or Italeri.

Missing-lynx (www.missing-lynx.com), which is run by Brett Green, offers good discussion areas and frequent contributions from Steve Zaloga.

Planet Figure (www.planetfigure.com) hosts stunning examples of figures from throughout history. Sculptor Gordon Stronach, who has contributed some of the better figures and accessories to the Verlinden and VLS product lines, is a regular contributor with step-by-step demonstrations of his remarkable skills.

Track-Link (www.track-link.net) is one of the oldest armor web sites on the net and certainly the most advanced. Users are encouraged to contribute to the site and webwizard Paul Owen's self-designed interface makes it a simple task. There are more than 1200 articles and reviews online (yours truly has contributed more than 100) as well as hundreds of photos of models and real AFVs. There is also a lively discussion group.

Armor and Infantry Reference Sites
See also the Sherman Corner in the Articles section for a list of division and battalion websites.

I05th Engineer Combat Battalion (http://www.105th.org/) is a well-done re-enactor site for this battalion, which served in the 30th Infantry Division. It has a good photo gallery and history section.

117th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division (http://home.comcast.net/~30thhrs/) is another re-enactor site for a companion group to the 105th Engineers above.

752nd Tank Battalion in World War II (www.752ndtank.com/index.html) is Bob Holt's outstanding tribute to the 752nd and the memory of his father Sgt. Raymond Holt of B Company. Bob provides an in-depth look at this independent tank battalion and its campaign through Italy.

AFV News (www.geocities.com/firefly1002000/) is hosted by George Bradford, one of the earliest and most dependable AFV researchers in our community. This is a good site to post questions about kit vs. vehicle details and real world armor issues.

American Military Medical Impression, Inc. (www.ww2medicine.org) gave me a tremendous amount of information as I researched and built my diorama "Between Life and Death in the Hürtgen Forest," which features a battalion aid station.

Armored Fighting Vehicle Data Base (afvdb.50megs.com/) is a good source for techical information on your favorite AFVs.

Built to Scale (www.tanks2scale.com) offers a wealth of photos of museum AFVs of all nationalities and eras. Great place to check out those minute details.

Center of Military History (www.army.mil/cmh-pg) is the U.S Army's online repository of historical documents and data about it's military conflicts since the founding of the nation. Poke around here for good information.

Ferrea Mole (www.ferreamole.it) is in Italian, but speaks the universal language of OD with some great photos of a Sherman Tank-Dozer, M26 Pershing, and M25A1 Dragon Wagon, and a number of technical manuals.

Fighting Iron (www.fightingiron.com) offers some great detail photos of the restoration of White Motor Company M3 halftrack and a Ford GPW jeep.

Lone Sentry (www.lonesentry.com) is a treasure chest of more than 500 pages of WWII photos, documents, and publications from the webmaster's personal collection, with a strong emphasis on American military.

Olive Drab (www.olive-drab.com) is a good site for info, particularly on wheeled vehicles.

Quartermaster Foundation (www.qmfoundation.com) is a great resource for all those small details about supporting the troops in the front lines, from supplies to meal rations to graves registration. This was also was a great asset during the research for my Hürtgen Forest diorama.

Roberts Armory (www.robertsarmory.com) is another good site with a host of restored vehicle images.

Trigger Time (www.101airborneww2.com) is noted author Mark Bando's salute to the 101st Airborne Division. If you are a fan of "Band of Brothers," you'll be a fan of this site!

WWII Historical Re-enactment Society, Inc. (http://www.worldwartwohrs.org/American.htm) is an association of re-enactors. The site provides links to other re-enactor groups and an excellent photo gallery.

World War Two Impressions (www.wwiiimpressions.com) sells replica uniforms and gear for re-enactors and is a good visual reference site.

WarWheels.net (www.warwheels.net/index.html) is a good resource for info and photos of armored cars and wheeled fighting vehicles.

General Modeling

International Plastic Modelers Society (www.ipmsusa.com) is a longstanding modeler's organization with chapters worldwide.

Scale Model Index (www.scalemodelindex.com) is the place to go for an exhaustive list modeling-related web sites compiled by the tireless Tony Matteliano.

Vendors

Lucky Model (http://www.luckymodel.com) is an excellent hong Kong vendor that has gotten a lot of my business since the Master's Club program at VLS was discontinued when the company was bought out by Squadron Mail Order. Prices are very good, especially sale prices, and shipping is quite reasonable if you can wait for ground transport (two to four weeks). At the rate I get things built, that's no problem!

R&J Enterprises (www.rjproducts.com) is run by Rich and Joy Sullivan. Rich is very knowledgable about armor modeling and offers some of his own resin products. Joy handles most of the orders and is a delight to talk to. While they can sell you a Tamiya or DML kit, their specialty is those harder-to-find items like ADV/Azimut and MK35. They attend shows and take vacations, so its best to plan ahead or be flexible in how soon you need something from them.

Squadron Mail Order (www.squadron.com) is considered to be the largest wholesale and retail distributor in the U.S. Their prices are generally a bit lower than list, and sale prices can be significant at times; the $5 subscription to the annual catalogue and monthly supplements is worthwhile. It's a good source for Nemrod figures. In 2007, Mike McMahon, owner of Squadron and MMD, its wholesale distribution arm, bought the VLS Corporation from owner Bob Letterman, and moved VLS's operations from Missouri to Texas.

VLS stood for Verlinden, Letterman and Stok, an ill-fated partnership that grew into a veritable military modeling empire under Bob Letterman in the 1990s. Stok had already faded out of the picture by the time of the split between modeling legend Francois Verlinden and Letterman in 1998. Letterman quickly recovered from the loss of Verlinden's manufacturing division by buying out Custom Dioramics and Warriors and starting several other lines. Letterman retired in 2007 and sold VLS to MMD/Squadron.