Tom Fort
Edinburg, Texas
Composing a World War I scene in the Battle of Cambrai on Nov. 20, 1917, Tom built an Emhar 1/35 scale British Mk.IV tank as Cleopatra from the 9th Battalion of the Tank Corps. He added wire handles and a scratchbuilt stowage bin topside using sheet styrene. Styrene tubing replaced the exhaust pipe and machine-gun barrels. The fascine is made from broom bristles. “Possibly it could have been a greater diameter,” Tom says, “but I didn’t want to still be working on this thing when the battle’s centennial rolled around.” Tom found an image of Cleopatra from a tomb painting and rescaled it to print a decal on Bare-Metal Film. The terrain base is Woodland Scenics foam shaped with a hot-wire cutter and coarse sandpaper. Tom used balsa planks and Tamiya sandbags on the trench and guarded it with Eduard photo-etched wire painted black with a rusty wash. Figures are modified ICM WWI German assault troops.