References:
TANK RIDER: Into the Reich With the Red Army, Evgeni Bessonov, Greenhill Books, 2003
The motivation for this project was drawn from the book TANK RIDER by
Evgeni Bessonov. The author was a Lieutenant in the Russian Army with his
baptism of fire coming at the Battle of Kursk and went through to the end of the war.
Its a very good book that details the life of an Infantry Lt. during the war,
and leaves out all the politics often seen in other books on the war. Proves
again that the common soldier, no matter what army he fought with, just wanted to survive
and get to go home at the end. The author gives very good detailed
descriptions of the equipment used by the TANK RIDER, and how they road and fought their
way all the way to Berlin on the back of a tank!
A resin turret from the Anubus company was used to replace the kit turret.
It is listed as a "Corrected" turret. Myself, along with numerous other
modelers, could find no difference between the kit turret and the Anubus Turret.
The only difference found was that the Anubus resin mantlet is a little
smaller than the kit mantlet. So, why replace the kit turret???
The Anubus turret does have a little better "crisp" detail, but I would not call
it a "corrected" turret.
Friulmodel tracks were used in place of the kit tracks. I am a HUGE fan of
the Friul tracks, and use them on every tank that I build (If they are available!).
The detail is the best, and they go together as easy as any other track on
the market. If not, easier! Clean-up is almost non-existant!
I used an Eduard Turned aluminum barrel. I hate sanding the barrel seams
from the kit barrels, and again, I use the after-market barrels whenever possible.
 
The figures are a mix-match of the DML Tank Rider set, and the Tamiya Russian Assault
Infantry set. The weapons and equipment were modified/replaced as depicted
from the factory sets, to more historically duplicate the way the TANK RIDERS were
actually described as per the book.
 
This is the first time I ever used Hudson & Allen snow, and have just one word to
describe it - EXCELLENT! It comes dry in a bag, and you just add water to make
it a paste-like consistency, and apply to the base and whatever else you want the
"snow" on. There is a dry adhesive already mixed in, and after
putting the snow down, you just let it dry. That's it! It works
really nice. The only problem I had with the snow was my fault.
When I was gluing the figures onto the snow, I used Super Glue w/accelerator.
The accelerator "yellowed" the snow. I then had to paint the
"yellowed" snow with white paint, then I applied another thin layer of the snow
mixture over that. This fixed the problem.
The trees are hand made from Russia, and the exact make is not known.
It appears to be wire with some sort of putty molded on the wire
trunks/branches. Resin stumps from Armand P. Bayardi were also used.
Bragdon Enterprises pastel chalks were used for the rust on the tracks and the detail
"highlighting" on the kit. I feel the BRG chalks are the best on the
market, for they have a dry adhesive mixed in. Once applied, it does not come
off near as easy as traditional pastel chalks.
 
The kit itself, DML kit #6066 is very nice. No fit problems at all.
Clean-up was minimal. It was painted with a mixture of
Testors/Floquil/Humbrol enamels.
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