Triumph des Willens

  My fascination with the model-building hobby started with Matchbox kits. When I was young they were easily available on newsstands and their boxarts were almost mesmerizing to me. My first kit was Sdkfz 251 (Hanomag), and I was immediately fascinated by its sloped armor, and the fact that it had tracks, and also wheels on the front. It looked so modern and groundbreaking! Another thing was the graphics made by Roy Huxley. Scenes captured in his paintings were often very dynamic, and dramatic - the guns were blazing, and the shells were exploding in the background. The best example of that, in my opinion, is shown on a box cover of Humber, and M-16 half-track. These epic illustrations gave me the deep feeling of being in contact with something legendary, and larger than life. That propelled me into finding out more about the history of world war two. I was excited every time when I learned about the existence of a plane or vehicle that was unknown to me before. My grandfather, on the other hand, didn't share my excitement - "All its purpose is to kill people, and therefore I'm disgusted with this" - he used to say. I honestly couldn't understand how anyone could be "disgusted" by a vehicle like Jagdpanther! The aesthetics of that vehicle alone... - To me, it looks as cool as an Italian sports car or a very advanced stealth airplane. And its main cannon was basically a masterpiece of engineering! Its range, armor-piercing ability...

  During WWII my grandpa was a tanker in a IS-2, so I came to the conclusion that he simply didn't like Deutsche Panzer's because he had to fight against them in the past. He almost lost his forearm in one of the battles. The field surgeon wanted to amputate his entire arm from the elbow down, but his colleagues objected and urged the doctor to be a little more compassionate and try to find another way. And so he did.

As a result, one of the bones between his elbow and wrist was completely removed. His forearm looked a little weird afterward with a long and deep scar along the length, but it was a miracle that he kept his hand with fully functional neural connections. 
  Later, after some digging about Bf-109's, FW-190's, and Zero's like every normal teenager, I came across stories about what happened in Coventry, Hamburg, and Tokyo. The topic of firestorms was particularly horrifying. A similar thing happened while reading about my favorite tank: Pz.Kpfw. III - the nightmare of battle at Kursk is probably the best example. To put it simply - you can't explore the history of "cool stuff" from WWII like tanks and planes, without encountering an unbelievable amount of human suffering and senseless deaths most often caused by delusional  "...ism" ideologies. "In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers" - it sounds like a cliche because it's true. I finally understood what Grandpa meant when he didn't want to get into a conversation about military machines. I get it now... And yet I still consider a Jagdpanther tank destroyer as one of the coolest thing ever!
  Some time ago I was in Belgium looking for King Tiger - one of the very few that survived WWII. By mistake, I typed the wrong name of the village into the navigation and as a result, I accidentally went to the wrong place. I didn't realize that I was in the wrong place at the time, so I got out of my car and went looking for the Tiger. A moment later I came across a couple of tourists from the UK, so I asked them if they know where the tank is.
-What tank? - One of them asked me surprised.
-The Tiger Tank! The KING! The German King Tiger - I replied with excitement.
-Why do You want to see some old Nazi tank?
I honestly didn't know what to say back...

-Why wouldn't you want to see a tank like that?
-Because I consider WWII as one of the darkest periods in the history of mankind and I don't want to celebrate it in any way, because I don't want it to happen ever again.

Believe me, we were on the same page in that respect.
Once upon a time, I read the book "Ordinary men" written by Christopher R. Browning. There is no more horrifying lecture than that. It's very graphic and overwhelming.  When you read it you feel like a witness to a horrific crime, but there is nothing you can do to prevent it. You are powerless, and your faith in humanity is shattered. That,s heavy... Really heavy experience...

Heavy like the King Tiger that  I still wanted to see anyway!
Other subjects that I like to explore besides that one, are many other imperfect designs like Ferdinand and its beautifully overcomplicated engine layout, and basically every makeshift tank-destroyer in the German arsenal.  The same goes for planes - the civilian airliner - Fw 200 hastily converted into a long-range bomber, He-177, and its problematic DB engines. The more flawed, or weird the design, the more interesting it is to me. The more ill-prepared the machine was for its role, the more I admire those who had to use them to fight.

 

  Living the life of a modeler, sooner or later you come across the point where you have built so many well-known Tigers and Bf-109s that you can't look at them anymore. But at the same time, you still want to build something that would complement your existing collection. For example - someone who is emerged deep in the Pacific theatre of WWII and collects IJN aircraft carriers would probably stay in the same scale but jump into battleships, or US aircraft carriers for a change.

In my case after I went through almost every Sd.Kfz. available in a 1/72 scale I developed a strong interest in all kinds of supporting vehicles, trucks, and busses. However, I quickly realized that there is very little selection of kits in this area. So... I've decided to try my own skills in creating some of them by myself. At that time I was finishing school for dental technicians where I learned how to create models from many different materials, and then copy them using silicone. Since then I have created several dozen designs, and my passion for making more is still burning bright. 
 

  The name "Triumph des Willens" is of course the most associated with the work of Leni Riefenstahl.

In the context of my models, that name should be understood as an attempt to convey the ominous atmosphere of the late 1930s and early 1940s. However, I cut myself off from any philosophy often associated with this name, that promotes hatred and discrimination. I strongly believe that every person should be judged only by the content of their character and not nationality, race, or whatever else, just like Martin Luther King, Jr. once said. As an individual, I am somewhere between left and right, and I like to form my own opinions about stuff, and not just mindlessly repeat someone else's populistic slogans.  As George Carlin once said: "I leave symbols for symbol-minded people". To be honest, I believe that whoever supports any ideology of hatred most probably does not read books. At the same time, I consider Swastika as a (sad) part of European history and I think that if an airplane or a vehicle was wearing that symbol during world war two, it also should have it as a historically correct model. I think that prohibiting the use of swastica is a form of whitewashing history. Separating machines from their historical background is in my opinion counterproductive. Also, I don't think that removing any symbols will ever cure any social tensions.  

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  So that's a couple of words about me. I hope that you found it interesting. I would like to thank all of you who have been enjoying my kits and supporting what I do throughout the years.
I will constantly strive to make my kits better and better with each project. I really love doing what I do, and I hope to make at least a couple of "good ones". Many thanks for visiting my page and I hope that You'll find something that would catch your interest.

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