by Mike McCabe
1/700 ARA Comandante General Zapiola (Battlefleet Models)
The model uses the Battlefleet Models Cherokee ATF as a base, a little gem of a kit with sharp casting and nice detail which can be built into a wide number of vessels, no two of which appeared to be the same. I decided to do something a little different, as a number of these large ocean going tugs were transferred into other navies in the 1960's as they were extremely handy vessels. With a little research I came across some Argentine ships, which gave me the opportunity to do something a little different after being inspired by a week spent on an offshore island in Wales over the summer. About a week or so into the build of the kit I found a photo of a sister ship to the one I had chosen delivering supplies to a brightly painted research base so I decided to use that as inspiration.
The diorama shows the Argentine aviso (despatch boat) ARA Comandante General Zapiola, a grand name for a fairly small vessel. She is delivering supplies to a remote research base in Tierra del Fuego, with some inquisitive local wildlife looking on. I wanted to try doing some seabirds, in this case it was a partial success but they are so small my camera can't pick them up and keep the ship in focus, also I used clear stretched sprue as supports and these are rather more obvious than I would have liked. The small size of the scene means it is difficult to photograph well, but I was pleased with the overall effect.
Some alterations have been made to the Cherokee kit, which was deliberately kept as a 'generic' kit due to the great variation between ships. Most of this involved the updating of the ship to an early 1960s configuration including a larger boat, its handling derrick, life raft canisters, radars and lights and some other small details including detail on the guns, air cylinders, signal lamps, cable reel, piping, ladders, railing, inflatable boat from bent and carved plastic rod and flag printed onto inkjet decal paper. I used the wem USN doors kit to show a lot of open doors and generally tried to make the ship look busy.
For the rocky coast I used Polyfilla, buildings are again battlefleet with the landing stages built from various bits of railing, steps and N gauge siding plastic card. If they are visible, the sealions are carved from plastic rod with cigarette paper flippers, the birds are also cigarette paper and pre coloured wire. Figures are eduard drybrushed to soften the colours.
Altogether a thoroughly recommended kit, the only thing missing to get the best out of it is a little imagination.
