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Author Topic: The Thaw of '46  (Read 78673 times)

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #645 on: June 20, 2019, 07:24:01 PM »
Here's the state those two WIPs I mentioned are in.




The SG-122 so far's coming along - with today most of the time spent on it being marking out the layout of further parts. Annoyingly the number and quality of period images isn't great, and models and replicas get them wrong. So I may have fudged them a little, but considering people probably think this is just a weird looking StuG or something I don't think its a major issue. :P

So far the Panzer IV ...is at least now in one place. A bit more filling to go then I'll add on the smaller bits. I won't bother with much more rebuilding at the front; instead it'll just be covered in sandbags and tracks.

The muzzle brake was replaced with the Panzer IV's one, but I think it'll look better without it as it makes it look too German - or add one of those barrel extensions the Soviets tried out for their 76s. Something. ...

Offline von Lucky

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #646 on: June 28, 2019, 11:50:14 PM »
Nice conversions and painting. I actually like the Maus as it is.
- Karsten

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- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

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Offline FreakyFenton

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #647 on: June 29, 2019, 01:12:31 AM »
Amazing work, but I do have to ask where the purple grid/mesh is from.  :o ???
"No human being would stack books like -that-!" -Dr. Peter Venkman

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #648 on: July 05, 2019, 01:01:09 AM »
Sorry about the delayed response. My laptop decided to die and I've not had a computer since to do much with (...in particular upload pictures). That's not rectified itself, but I can at least respond here. I'll risk tasking this thing's poor Wifi card for a post with pictures at some point. :P

The plasticard with the grid was bought from a local crafts store, so sorry, no luck on an actual source. Its the sort of vacuform material you find smaller outlets producing themselves - I bought a tonne of it a while ago for terrain. It doesn't take much to make so shouldn't be impossible to find online in a similar pattern.


As for this thread and progress on things. Last week I mostly worked on modern things, pretty much all just more terrain - and yes will eventually get around to posting images of the games we've played using that stuff. With that its been an effort to work on existing figures I have. There's been two wargames shows lately where I've bought little after I realised how much stuff was at home to work with.

Yes, for the WWII collection however things have been a bit more glacial. At least with the weird figures. I've been rooting through my infantry collection as we debate at my club using the Star Wars: Legion rules for other settings, besides the modern cludge we've tried so far. So I've been slowly organising and painting up figures for that. ...Its only when you start sifting through things that you realise you have four platoons of Germans which you've never played with (and that's just the historically accurate figures). Maybe expect pictures of one of those games. ...Or we'll forget about the concept and just play with space ships or something. :P

There's an update from me anyway. Not dead, but nae pictures.


Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #649 on: July 06, 2019, 07:46:27 AM »
Good luck with the technology.

Offline Splod

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #650 on: July 06, 2019, 08:48:10 AM »
This is such an inspirational thread. I've had a squad of Empress Volksgrenadiers undercoated on my workbench for far too long. I feel some 1946ery on the way!

Offline Splod

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #651 on: July 07, 2019, 02:08:49 AM »
And Queeg did this:



Also, sorry to dig up an ancient post but I find this build SUPER-inspiring. I'm not a massive WW2 tread-head, but is that a Panther front glacis and hull welded to a Pz.IV? I realise it isn't your work, but you seem to be alright at this hack-and-slash business ;)

Offline Ballardian

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #652 on: July 08, 2019, 05:20:54 PM »
Splod - the kit bash is a representation of the Krupp design for an 'updated' PzIV (W1462), actually dating back to 1942, where Wa Pruef 6 decided to move to a more effective sloped glacis. The problem being that doing so increased the vehicles weight (to 28.2 tons), which would have required a re-design of the steering and braking systems - it was also concluded that the rubber tired roadwheels would fail. The idea was abandoned by Feb of 1943, where demands for higher production numbers for the PzIV meant there wasn't really time to complete the design work or necessary re-tooling for production.
 It wasn't the only PzIV re-design, in January of 1944 the Panzerkommision met to decide on specifications of a vehicle which used both PzIII and PzIV components (the snappily named Panzerkampfwagen auf Einheitsfarhgestell III/IV). The glacis slope wasn't as extreme, but by July of that year it met the same fate (Gaso-Line do a nice pre-painted model of one).
 

Offline Splod

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #653 on: July 08, 2019, 11:38:31 PM »
Splod - the kit bash is a representation of the Krupp design for an 'updated' PzIV (W1462), actually dating back to 1942, where Wa Pruef 6 decided to move to a more effective sloped glacis. The problem being that doing so increased the vehicles weight (to 28.2 tons), which would have required a re-design of the steering and braking systems - it was also concluded that the rubber tired roadwheels would fail. The idea was abandoned by Feb of 1943, where demands for higher production numbers for the PzIV meant there wasn't really time to complete the design work or necessary re-tooling for production.

Thanks for the info!

What I was after however was more a practical 'how would I make the thing' rather than the quasi-history behind the design ;)

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #654 on: July 09, 2019, 09:44:47 AM »
There are a few build examples back through this thread, I cannot remember how detailed they were.

Offline Ballardian

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #655 on: July 09, 2019, 12:49:30 PM »
 Here's a pic which reveals the extent on the plasticard work to make a sloped armour PzIV. I'm not sure if the original kit is the old Rubicon PzIV (they've recently replaced their Pz IV range - they're now excellent) or the Warlord plastiv version, but it shouldn't matter much either way. As you can see, it's a significant amount of work, but far from impossible.
 (this is a Kugelblitz AA version, but the job would be the same for a standard tank)

           

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #656 on: July 09, 2019, 01:31:27 PM »
My own builds of each design aren't that in depth or in places wholly accurate.

Of the two the design which had the single piece front glacis was the easiest to replicate. On the real vehicle the crew hatches at the front were modified a bit, but on a 28mm model nobody cares. This one mostly was just sticking plasticard over the existing vehicle instead of a load of cutting. I did add a new turret and engine at the back as well - though those aren't necessary.



With the other design I haven't actually made a Panzer IV based on it. At least not properly. Though the front portion did appear on this vehicle (which I'll eventually repaint - the paint scheme is far too complicated). You have to rebuild the front instead of just sticking plasticard over it, so its a bit more work.



As Ballardian said there's other changes on these designs than just the sloped armour - like the road wheels to deal with the weight. Practically I went with that heavily modified Panzer IV design for the second vehicle to be a fictional and probably highly impractical example of pushing the chassis to its limit.

...And kind of want to get around to repainting that damn thing brown now so it looks less stupid. Eugh, too many projects.

Offline Skullhamma

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #657 on: July 11, 2019, 09:12:18 AM »
My god... your kit bash fu is amazing!  :o

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #658 on: September 11, 2019, 12:32:35 AM »
Keeping the updates fast and consistent as ever. :P

Tonight we played another alt-history tank game at my club, so for the past week I'd been painted up a few vehicles to give some more options for the Soviet player. Along with pushing off a pair of older projects from the "to do" pile (one of them) which have been sitting around for far too long at this point.

I'll lead with pictures of the models and end with a dump of some images of the board. So first up here's the German stuff.


Super Heavy Tank Destroyer

Starting with something silly. I'll post the images below of this unpainted to show how little of the children's toy this is based on was left over. ...This more being an effort into using that toy which I'd had left unused for ages than looking for something which could ever be used in a game. Though perhaps one day the Soviets will have more large tanks for this to actually go up against.

Its pretty much an E-100 Flak turret on tracks (most of the bits coming from a 1/48th Tamiya Tiger kit). I'm thinking used as a Tank Destroyer on the Russian steppe somewhere. Ah, its more in the style of something you'd see in a video game than in reality, but all the angles look cool. ...Even if it is a bit daft. :)










Bergepanther

Originally this started out as a regular old Bergepanther using Heer 46's conversion kit - albeit with extra armour and a cab added. It just wasn't working out for me and my alt-history tastes though, so I stripped it back a bit and went for a different route.

Its partially based on a few real vehicles. The plow isn't a 100% recreation, but its a "good enough for wargaming / I have a game in a few days, screw it". The real one with a plow was a salvaged Panther made from a hodge podge of bits with a stripped down turret. Though here I went for the random bits, but the turret wasn't doing for me so instead I went for an autocannon. Which with the armour hopefully will keep it kicking if anyone shoots at it whilst its clearing some rubble.

It'll probably do for just a piece of terrain (which is what it was used for tonight) or perhaps a scenario vehicle - clearing as many roads as possible to help the Germans get off the board in a break through.







T-44

Now onto the Soviets. First from the pair of vehicles is a second T-44, going with the first vehicle which I already have made from the Blitzkrieg Miniatures T-54 resin kit.

With this one I wanted to be a bit more accurate to the real vehicle than my first attempt. With the game coming closer and general fatigue of having this sitting unfinished for so long I rushed some of the details, but its a fair representation I think.







T-4/ 76

One more German tank in Soviet service. I mentioned this is based in concept on a pair of real vehicles - a post-war Bulgarian bunker made from a Panzer IV fitted with the gun from an SU-76, and a request during the war to convert captured German tanks to mount Soviet guns which wound up not really going anywhere.







And just an update on that other Soviet tank I've been working on. Nearly done, but I haven't pushed myself to finish it off. I'm not happy with how the rear stowage area looks and will probably do my best to cover it up with some cloth or something.




Finally, some images of tonight's game. Or rather a few of the 3 we played ...as the first two were rather short (on account of me being a my usual gitish self).

Over the past few week's I've redone all of my winter terrain with new snow and mud effects. Hopefully things look a bit more realistic now. I'll eventually go through my tank collection and update the paint jobs and effects on those too. The pictures aren't the clearest,  but hopefully you'll see the difference between these and the "before" pictures I'd posted earlier.

There's also a few new bits. Another ruin (the one with the StuG) and flooded craters. With plans to add a load of tank traps and rubble piles in future. I'd also like a proper winter mat (instead of the flipped over regular one we use ...which is completely untextured) so we play with a less stark white and instead something which mixes the snow and mud together a bit better. I've seen home made ones which look all right, its just finding the time to make one. :)




















As a last point (...yeah I know I just said "finally" a minute ago), elsewhere I've started (yet another) project. Or at least an off shoot of this one. The infantry side of my WWII stuff hasn't really been the main focus of this thread. I've decided to split off the less obviously alt-history figures into their own thing - which whilst realistically would still be suitable for post-1945 games, may as well be a bit more historical for the sake of being able to play regular WWII games with them.

Lately then its been a work in progress to repaint and add models to that SS collection I have. Mostly made from Heer46 and CP models figures with those winter parkas the SS had. With a decent number of other figures - largely Perry - done up with the same uniforms sculpted from clay to fill in whatever roles those companies don't do models for (heavy machine guns, radios, more sergeants etc).

This will also mean perhaps a few vehicles too. I'm not into the main German tanks much, so if there are many they'll be stuff like the Marder series and other converted or captured tanks, or things like armoured cars or recce vehicles (I was thinking of doing one of those Panzer 38ts with the 20mm gun turret used on Sd.kfz 222). A Marder III has already been started, and is just awaiting a pair of crew figures to be converted.

Expect a thread on those to be started at some point. Depending on how much interest there is at my club for the Eastern Front setting it may be ongoing, or I'll just keep it to the initial post and things will be more sporadic from there as I work out how to actually play with the figures. I was considering doing a Soviet force - either all in Snow Suits as Siberian Veterans, or as some sort of Engineering groups wearing armoured bibs (I know two companies doing both suits and bibs, and could easily sculpt either on other figures). That's probably way down the line however, and up in the air based on what's going on around here.


Anyhow, there's an update for this ...trimester (?). I'll see about getting around to posting pictures of the terrain more specifically - showing off the snow and mud a bit more. For a last image though here's some arty farty stuff done for the sake of ...arty fartiness showing off some Soviet elite infantry on patrol in some "dead" city (...hah, zombies :P). :)



Offline Rich H

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Re: The Thaw of '46
« Reply #659 on: September 11, 2019, 04:47:22 AM »
Nice stuff as normal!

 

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