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There is a private Facebook page affiliated with the LSM site, where the subject matter naturally leads to the Swastika being displayed. We have been warned thusly (as have other private pages) Remembering all the while, that Facebook allowed the live-streaming of the Christchurch massacre, un-edited and un-censored. S

John, You may have innocuously done or said something in the last week or so, that goes against Facebook's current values. Have you recently on Facebook: Supported a Political Party or their policies... Denounced a Political Party or their policies... Denied that it was as hot or cold on a particular day than someone might have mentioned... Shown a Swastika on a model kit, or liked a post where someone displayed one... Inadvertently used the word 'Gay'; as in 'That's so GAY', 'Rub some BenGAY on that', or 'I love that song by Gloria GAYnor'... Inadvertently used the word 'Man'; as in 'SportsMAN', 'MANager' or 'MANitoba'... Used a swear word online... Sworn anywhere in the vicinity of the computer while it was turned on, whether logged onto Facebook or not... Or perhaps even just thought of a swear word while the computer was on (not that they're monitoring you or anything)? If any of these things happened, that's probably what's lead to your suspension. Either that, or whoever was in charge on that day left their Child alone for 5 minutes on 'Bring your Kids to work' day. S

I basically think everyone is happy with just a little Beaver. S

Thanks J, I'm trying to use wire, but I'm having trouble keeping the wire from kinking. Never thought to use plastic rod. S

Wha..? Don't they give the Women Horses to ride? She looks a little Husky to me... S

You've really skipped along with some great work here Jeroen. Ok, so can I ask... What have you used for the breather pipes between cylinder heads? S

It's 75 Degrees... Zero chance of rain... It's been a perfect day. As we say here... "I wouldn't be dead for Quids!" S

Thank you Rog, Some more to consider when going through the highlighted page... I'll run through some of the symbols and their meanings. The 3rd Panzer Regiment lists the tanks under their control in descending order; Total, Ready for action, Under minor repair and Under major overhaul (14 days). Then the types are listed... The individual Ausf types are not referred to, only the barrel calibre ( K for 'Kurz' (short), L for 'Lang' (long) and 7.5. I'm afraid that I'm not fully up to speed on German Tanks, but hopefully this will give you a guide. I mentioned earlier that they showed 3 Armoured Cars at the end; my apologies, I took 'Bef.Wg.' to mean 'Bewaffenwagen', when of course this should have been 'Befehlswagen' - Command Tanks. This should make them Pz. IV Ausf.J's I believe? If you wish to model one, their Command Tanks were numbered '601' and '602' for example for 6. Kompanie. So, the day before the Battle, the II Corps of the 3rd Panzer Regiment had 87 serviceable Tanks, 3 of them dedicated Command Tanks and no short barrel variants. Some of the information appears to have come from the recollections of a member of the 8th Kompanie, Lt. Seinecke who was the Commander of Tank 811. As such, further down the page we have a fairly detailed list of the Men of 8 Komp., along with the Officers and other staff of the other 3. The breakdown of the Tank types is hand written here inside the Kompanie sections (within the red rectangle), but unfortunately it appears not clear enough to be read. But what it does show, is that there was a mix of different types in each Kompanie. So I would go with the kit suggestions as having different types operating within 6. Kompanie. Also shown opposite in the OoB, is that the I Corps Tank symbols are vacant... ie, the entire 2nd Panzer Division went into arguably the largest Tank battle ever staged with only 87 serviceable Tanks! No wonder they were happy to see the 505th Tigers! S

Rog, let me first state (as is often the case)... "The Fog of War". Now that's out of the way... Indeed; the section that you have circled indicates the Heeres 2nd Panzer Division, which was in part made up of the 3rd Panzer Regiment along with separate Infantry, FlaK Reconnaissance and Maintenance units that an Army in battle would require. Immediately underneath in the Order of Battle is the 6th Infantry Division... Note that there is no 'Tank' symbol attached here, more in a minute on that. Searches I've conducted seem to indicate (as does your illustration) that the Pz. Abt. 505 were notionally attached to the 21st Panzer Brigade under Zorn's 46th Corps. Indeed, several sources have them in action in support of the neighbouring 909th Stügs. This would still see them operating in the immediate vicinity of other units during the same Offensive conducted by the 9th Army, especially at the beginning before the situation becomes more confused. However... Other references point to the 505th having directly supported the 6th Infantry, especially on the 5th of July. This would make sense, as the 6th Infantry seem to have no Armoured support according to the OoB from the day previous. This though for me is the clincher... The link I included in my previous post has a page from the 3rd Panzer Regiment's War diary, specifically noting on the 5th of July "The Tiger Abteilung 'Sauvant' tore forward to attack..." The Commander of the Pz. Abt. 505 at Zitadelle was one Major Bernhard Sauvant, who won the Ritterkreuz at Stalingrad for decisive actions, and later the Oak Leaves at Kursk. This points to a man and Unit known by reputation, but perhaps not by number. Either way, with the 505th in full view of the 3rd Panzer Regiment on at least the 5th of July, I would have no problem seeing Tanks of both Units operating together in a diorama setting. HTH, S

Hi Rog... According to this site, 2 Pz.Div / 3 Pz.Rgt had a mix of Panzer II, III and IV on strength just before the start of Unternehmen Zitadelle, with 84 ready to commit to action. https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=255873 Also mentioned at the end of the table, "Bef.Wg" X 3, which are possibly Sd.Kfz.234 or similar armoured cars. Those would be separate from those contained within the 5th Panzer Reconnaissance Btn (also part of the 2nd Division), which would have its own separate vehicles. Period photos show the usual mix of RSO, Stüg, and Sd.Kfz.252 of the Regiments usually incumbent with a Panzer Division. If you google "Bundesarchiv + Russland + July + 1943" or along with a PK photographer's name such as "Dreyer" you will find a nice selection of ambient shots to work from. S

I thought you may be along soon enough Rob... Isn't 'Fokker' Dutch anyway? At least with German there are rules. Crazy Dutchies with their salty Licorice and little Pancakes. S

Supply chains all across the Country are completely clogged. Courier and Freight Companies can't get new employees, especially with the Unemployment Benefit payment still at double the usual rate until March... No one wants to do a hard day's work for minimum wage anymore, they'd rather go surf and have the Government support them. The major ports in Sydney and Melbourne have run out of storage space on the wharves, and along with China back on song with production there's just too much freight to deal with. https://www.brint.com.au/news/news-2021-sydneys-storage-areas-for-empty-containers-are-full-further-jamming-up-australias-stretched-supply-chains With everything having to come into the Country through Customs, your delay is probably due to all these factors, as well as Covid-19. S

There are a number of Factors at play here in Au Gaz...

I think that's merely an indication of resources. Despite their billions of dollars in revenue each year, it seem that there's not very many employees actually monitoring the content on Facebook... ie; shutting down the charity site for Hannah Clarke who was murdered along with her Children a year ago yesterday, yet allowing the Christchurch massacre to be live-streamed by the perpetrator a couple of years ago. Kind of a situation like the local Council; they can't fill that pot-hole in your street unless someone tells them it's there. But once they're informed, you can bet that they'll target you. S

Gaz, the site can be found here... https://m.facebook.com/TheSdkfz2509Project/ Off topic, but... For the uninitiated, the Australian Government intends to introduce legislation to enforce Social Media companies to start paying for third party news content they link to on their sites... Much like an advertiser paying a Musician if they want to use their song as a Jingle in an advertisement. Google initially threatened to limit their search functions here; then once they realised that half the mobile phones in the country run Android, chose to negotiate directly with news organisations before the legislation goes through. However, Facebook this last Thursday, disabled all news content to Australia on their site... Local, international, anything with "news" or "information" in the title or 'About' blurbs... Completely shut those sites down. This also managed to disable sites run by Charities, Utilities, Government and Local Councils, Emergency Services, random Businesses, Community Groups and private sites. It's all-encompassing, yet completely random in some cases. For instance: Want to search Facebook for a book about Luftwaffe subjects? Chandos site = good. Jochen Prien = bad. I've got some news for Mr. Zuckerberg that he won't have to pay for. You're going the right way for a smacked bottom. S

I completely agree Gaz... Facebook is a fantastic tool for gathering information. Where else could you see the exact layout and contents of the starboard storage container on a Sd.Kfz.250 Neu? It's just a pity that Facebook is behaving like tools here in Australia at the moment. S

Geez, that's terrible news Ernie... My best wishes to Harv and Bev. S

Not really any of the above 1. Undercoat with spray can lacquer... 2. Brush paint with half/half acrylic paint and weathering pencil solution... 3. Scratch away with toothpick while still wet... 4. Finish rough areas and highlights with Micromesh. Et viola!

This is great news Phil; both for the Bank balance, and the confidence hopefully. Meanwhile... Don't be surprised if 5 days morphs into a fortnight Brad. Their website says as much... Time will tell. S

Sorry if it came across that way Bill; not implying that you blamed Smitty, probably one of the most dependable guys here. S

Someone (not Smitty) deserves to have their a** handed to them over that one. For starters, fragile light boxes should ship in the centre of pallets, with the harder rigid cartons on the outside providing integrity for the load. Secondly, there are angles that should be used underneath strapping, to spread the force along the corners and stop damage immediately under the strapping. They're a couple cents each, or you can make some with an old box and a cutter. S

Alt or Neu Sonder 250? That's a fantastic find, the new Dragon incarnation of the Alt recon SPW goes for around $100 AU. And the older Neu variant is getting really hard to find. S

Carl, I'm pretty sure we've seen you with 14 kits on the bench this past year, let alone just that many in the stash. Focus Man!

This is a complete understatement... I can fully appreciate the work involved in getting to this stage, as I have all of this still to do on my build. My only criticism... More photos please! S

Tony... Go to your local Craft or Sewing store. There you will find little packets of metallic cut-out Chads for jewellery and some-such. There will be round ones, sometimes all silver or gold, or often assorted colours and shapes. These are excellent for mirrors and as backing for lights on model aircraft, tanks and cars. The blue ones I find particularly useful on BMW or Mercedes cars mirrors, which in real life often have a blue tint to them. HTH, Steve.