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Author Topic: 1944 on the Eastern Front Project  (Read 4806 times)

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: 1944 on the Eastern Front Project
« Reply #15 on: September 05, 2020, 02:51:22 PM »
@fred Heh, the Humber was just a bit of silliness. The model was there, so why not do something with it? Realistically though, that sort of thing would only have been used on the Western Front (unlike say some Soviet equipment which was transferred all over). The furthest East one of those probably went was in one post-war film set in Norway where one was standing in for a German armoured car. (The model's been since sold off to another owner anyway)  :D

And yes, typically I cover all of my models in grime for that realistic "how the hell has an officer not reprimanded these soldiers for being so dirty? Oh right, because they were shot three weeks ago..." look.  ::)


Right, now onto what's been happening with the Germans.

As far as what's actually painted, this is where the most movement's been. The majority of which has again been on their vehicles - that's just down to my tastes. The infantry remain in the same state they were when I first posted this thread actually, however as I'm yet to finish off any of my force's infantry platoons, they'll remain un-prioritised till wargaming clubs here can restart.

Here's what I've managed so far. Minus a few more vehicles which need the finishing touches on them, but I'll save those for another post (when I'm not throwing up so much stuff in one day that is).


T-20 with Pak 36



Perhaps another anachronism for the time period. Germay (and the other Axis powers - particularly Romania) captured many of these artillery tractors. I believe that the Soviets stopped producing them not that long into the war, but there was enough around for sites like beutepanzer.ru to have pages of them in German service alone.

This particular vehicle is inspired by a few field conversions. Its not as developed as most, just a Pak 36 attached to a T-20; without having extended the gun shield to offer more production to the crew (similar to the ZiS-30's larger shied). Let's call it field expedient.

By 1944 this sort of thing may still have been around. Whilst the Pak 36 was obsolete by this point, it continued to be used, even mounted on vehicles. As well, a gun's a gun when facing targets which it can damage, and it could still be capable against enemies without adequate armoured or artillery support. One more vehicle to stick in the historically plausible bin, just maybe not quite so historically accurate.



I said it in the earlier post. I'm a fan of the T-20. Whether one will turn up here in its original configuration, without a dirty big gun stuck on it is another matter (I suppose the Romanians did use them as tankettes).

This one originally was going to be just a regular artillery tractor. I'd even made it as far as building up the rear seats with sculpted on cushions. But you make the mistake of look at some old photographs and this sort of thing comes out... ::)

The model's by Paint and Glue Miniatures, with crew and gun from Rubicon. I can't say that I'm entirely sure on the fellow on the right of the vehicle moving an ammution crate. Maybe sighting in the gun would be more appropriate, though as it is it looks like the other figure's surveying the area, as the gunner re-arranges the ammunition (on the rather tight fighting area).




More T-20s to come as I find excuses to pick up more... Maybe some other small vehicles with guns strapped to them as well ( I have seen artist's impression of a Romanian Renault UE with a 47mm gun plonked onto it...). ;)


Panzerbefehiswagen II Conversion



Some form of field modification done on a Panzer II chassis to offer a command vehicle for a Marder SPG equipped unit.

I couldn't find any further information on this vehicle other than two photographs. It appears to have been pictured prior to the German military changing their vehicle colour from grey to tan at least. One more case of something which could potentially seen service in the period I'm covering - but with no evidence to back it up. It seemed interesting though, and I had a Panzer II (intended for another project) available, so it was donated to this conversion.



The model's again a 3D print. With a superstructure made from plasticard and antenna from Rubicon (its actually from a Sd.kfz 250, though with this being a field modification that may be permissable. I'm assuming however that the real vehicle used the Panzer II antenna - it may even have originally been a Panzer II command vehicle. They just wanted more space for radios, so removed the turret).




When modelling this I chose to go for an enclosed crew compartment. The one photographed appears to have an open box attached to the hull. Though for ease in making the model (i.e. not having to build up an interior) I went with one which was covered by a tarp. It seemed like a thing the real vehicle would have considering its pictured in Winter.

This conversion, whilst unique, does seem to follow a trend in German command vehicles. There's more mass produced vehicles which resemble this built on French chassis, and in the case of the below example - they've taken a SPG and removed the gun, replaced it with a machine gun, then presumably used the spare space for additional equipment.



Command vehicles are something I want to represent in games - primarily on light tank and armoured car chassis. They'll offer an additional model to relay commands using the Star Wars: Legion system; in which only models within a command radius of an officer or a radio can act immediately without having to rely on their turn being randomly drawn. With something like this giving the opportunity to move up with troops instead of sitting behind cover for most of the game till the coast's clear (though practically speaking, this will probably do the same. It could just take a more hits than an infantry figure).


AMR-35




A captured French tankette serving in second line duties. Most of these were kept out of the fighting, though with the Panzer I which I had being requestered for another project, I had to find an alternative.

Honestly by the mid-war period the Germans had stopped using tankettes in most locations. This one's more representing a vehicle which has been caught up in the fighting, rather than actually being sent to the front. I was looking for a tankette with a turret, and well anything would do as all sorts of older stuff was being used in second line duties till the end of the war on one forgotten front or other... (ah, no historians quote me on that).

The Model's another from Paint and Glue. With its exhaust replaced with plasticard to save filling in the print lines. I'm a fan of tankettes. Whilst they're not ideal as far as the historical setting goes, they're just gun to make models of. There'll be more of these to follow as I can course more.

Oh, and in games tankettes share the same armour category as armoured cars and armoured trucks. Whilst their size and small armament makes them something most would look down on, when compared to these other vehicles, putting a vehicle proof against rifle fire in such a small package may actually may these desireable to use in our games. Vehicles in the modified Star Wars: Legion rules which I'm using for these WWII games can be "armoured". What this means is that unless a weapon has the tag "impact X", it does no damage to the vehicle. So one of these could quite happily take fire from infantry all day - so long as they don't have an anti-tank weapon or throw some grenades at it.


Panzer I with MG 151/20



Now onto what happened to that Panzer I.

I came across an image of a Panzer I somewhere in Europe (judging by the houses in the background) fitted with an MG 151/20 "Drilling". The image was presumably taken late in the war given how late the Drilling came into service and non-Eastern European setting. Which leaves this particular model being posted at the bottom of this thread, as its not appropriate for the period which I'm trying to keep to.

I'm fine (to an extent) featuring vehicles which saw service prior to 1943/44, as some may have still been around. But its a bit difficult to field something which wasn't even built till Months later at least. :P





When I saw this image I just had to make one. Its a pity then that the MG 151/20 which Rubicon had shown off wouldn't be released till Months later.

The Panzer I itself is from Blitzkrieg Miniatures - having bought it years ago when they'd had a sale, as well for a few quid, why not? I'd drilled out the crew compartment and fitted the machine gun into it. Though found that even with cutting down the mount, and removing parts of the gunner's controls, it still was a tight fit. Which led to the gunner being positioned sitting on the rear of the vehicle - watching for targets - instead of manning the gun.

This may not ever see any use in games. I've not considered covering later in the war, as that would lead me to forking out for Offensive Miniature's Last Levy figures, then throwing together even more absurd conversions. A Sd.kfz 234/4 has somehow found itself onto my painting table as well, another late- 44 vehicle (I'll take some photos when I post the few German tanks which didn't make the cut for this post). Both of these may wind up being sold off if I can't stop myself from wanting a Winter of 44/45 force. ::)


That's the end of another post for now. Next up I'll cover what I managed for the Romanians and Italians. The bulk of the vehicles that I have for them are still being tidied up before painting, thus just the one post for the two of them. After that though I'll see what infantry's available for some pictures.  :)

« Last Edit: September 05, 2020, 03:00:43 PM by Wyrmalla »

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: 1944 on the Eastern Front Project
« Reply #16 on: September 09, 2020, 09:54:15 PM »
Woops. It seems someone forgot to post the rest of these figures. ::)


The last batch of the current finished vehicles include a few Romanian and one Italian piece. Which currently is most of what's actually painted for those forces. Though with more to follow of course - and a whole load of bits sitting piled up waiting for paint.

Maybe its just the lack of big crosses or stars. The other Axis powers I have just take me longer to paint. I suppose the Romanian insignia is a bit more complex - with their pointy crosses with flags inside them and rondels. Or just that there's less photographs of them out there, making finding inspiration not as simple. You always feel like you're not getting the full picture with what little there is to work with.

Right, models.


Tacam R-2



Late into the war Romania was finding that what they had just wasn't capable any longer of competiting with their enemies. Sure they should have realised this going into the war - armed with all their pre-war light tanks - where similar vehicles hadn't faired too well in France - but Romania was still using WWII tactics at the time. I suppose after losing so many men in human wave attacks someone questioned how come the enemy had so many tanks left over after these inspired command decisions.

The Tacam series of vehicles was similar to the Marder conversions undertaken by the Germans, and similar prototypes going on with other Axis Nations. They took an outdated vehicle, removed the turret, and fitted a larger artillery piece in what space was freed up, then made a casement out of cannibalised armour from captured tanks (as opposed to newly made armour plates - Romania didn't have the best industry at the time). Romania had projects going on for the 35T, 38T, T-60 and Praga R1 tankettes. However only the 35T and T-60 saw any production.



I've read sources that the Germans were surprised that the Romanians could come up with this sort of vehicle. At the time the conversions were born out of desparation for any modern vehicles - having at best to make do with some Panzers and StuGs provided by the Germans. The war just wasn't going their way by that point, and whilst there could be what ifs about where these projects could have gone - there wasn't much hope for them with the Soviet Union at the border. Still, imagining that things like Tacam R2s fitted with 88s is just fodder for alternative history modellers. :)





This model's another 3D print from Paint and Glue Miniatures. Great Escape Games also does a resin one, but the 3D print's quality's fine for me once its touched up. I'd replaced the gun with a spare barrel from a StuG. It doesn't have a historically accurate muzzle brake (which should be a Soviet one), though who's going to notice. One crew member's from Great Escape games, the other's a motorbike rider from Black Tree (I think).

Some of you may notice the big tarp sitting on the front of the vehicle. ...Obscuring the driver's vision and hull MG. Well, ah, that front plate was a bit of a pain to clean up from the 3D print. Having looked at some photographs I'd noticed that for some reason on a few Tank Destroyers the driver couldn't see on the real vehicles either. I guess one of the other crew members was directing them. Which seems quite silly. That was enough to excuse doing the same with this vehicle (I hope). :/

Oh, and for the period, only the Tacam R2 seems correct for my Romanians. Other Romanian attempts to up gun their tanks didn't really see service till the Summer of '44 - after they'd switched to the Allies. Particularly meaning that I'd have to change the national insignia to a red star. I'm not sure if that was done on all vehicles in service - though to be honest the Romanians had that little by then its probably moot to wonder.


TAs III



StuG IIIs - known as TAs III in Romanian service - were provided by Germany to resupply Romanian's decimated and obsolete armoured forces. Those which they were given, along with Panzer III & IV, arrived in the usual sorry state Germany's tanks did when provided to foreign powers. Still, when the mainstray of Romanian tanks at the time was the 38(t), anything built after 1940 would probably have been an improvement.

Romania had tried to start up domestic tank production in the pre-war years. And had contracts to build French vehicles. During war time they'd attempted to start producing a domestic copy of the T-34. However by that point their industry just wasn't capable. The whole country winding up just being considered a big oil well by the Germans. Had the Germans treated their allies better then perhaps we'd have seen the Romanian industry in a better state. With what little they had though they still managed to make the odd viable piece of equipment (the Resita 75mm anti-tank gun for instance was still in use till 1998).



The opportunity to make StuGs is really why I collect any of this. If the Italians had actually used any of their StuG III's in combat I'd have give one to them as well. :)




Tsk. Another 3D print (in fact everything in this post is 3D printed). Being a foreign StuG, rather than a German one, I'd decided to go with some choices to differentiate it. Particularly with adding sand bags to the front of the vehicle - rather than spare tracks. As do my German StuGs lack schruzen. The winter camo as well is made up of various dabs of paint - rather than a  full white wash.

With this one I'd gone for just the outline of a cross for the Insignia; rather than one filled in with the Romanian flag. In retrospect I should have gone with one which contrasted more. Painting these crosses (and German ones) which usually have a white outline on mostly white vehicles has been a challenge. Looking at real vehicles they tend to just have crude insignia painted over the white wash - or leave a gap in the white wash around these areas. That crudeness however is something which doesn't translate well when being painted, at least in my case, and looks like a mistake rather than being deliberate.

Maybe I should apply more unit specific identifiers to break up these markings a bit. I just don't like tying vehicles to specific historical locations if I can avoid it. I'd rather go for fictional numbering, than try and depict a real vehicle and get it wrong. :/


Carul de Luptă R35



Just a quick note on this one to say that I've since returned the R35 with T-26 turret conversion back to an original R35. In game terms they both function the same, and the regular vehicle was much more common in Romanian service (its questioned if the one with the new turret was even Romanian). The T-26 turret's been nabbed instead for a Soviet armoured car. :)





(the lead vehicles have a stripe around the turret as rank markings in case you were wondering - ah, though even that's debated)


TK-3



Last up for the Romanians - (the mghty) Polish TK-3 tankette. When Poland fell, troops fled to Romanian for refuge. The Romanians seized their equipment, and in some cases put it into use for security duties when war came. There's very little information on this topic out there- and is disputed in some sources. As a situation which may have happened though, its enough to justify me using these vehicles.

Polish vehicles were actually captured and used by both Germany and the Soviet Union. Obviously they're the sort of thing which likely wouildn't have been around even a year after the start of Barbarossa. However the Soviets were still using things like pre-war tankettes in rear duties, so things like these may have been around till then. Even if they'd mostly been used for driver training or artillery tractors by that point. In Romania's case however they had so few tanks that they'd classified the T-20 artillery tractor as a tankette, so perhaps something like this would have seen some frontline action (if that is they actually had any to begin with).


This image purportedly does show Romanian soldiers with Polish tankettes however. Note the Romanian rondels on the side of the vehicles.



(apologies for the orang tint in a few of these images)

Winning the competition for the smallest armoured vehicle in my collection (just beating out some Italian tankettes). As a mobile machine gun pillbox these may actually turn out functional in games. They wouldn't last against anything larger than a rifle bullet - and even then against enough shots they'd go down - but with how armour works in the rules I'm using one of these may actually last long enough to do damage against enemy infantry.

And tankettes are cool. I don't need any excuse to make more of these...


Spa AS-37 flak



Finally something for my Italians. A regular truck fitted with a Breda autocannon.

Italian made wide use of gun trucks in WWII. Mostly in Africa of course, but taking inspiration from those I'd include something similar for their European forces. Its not like flak trucks were uncommon at the time. :)




This one's a mix between a 3D print, a gun from Offensive Miniatures, and a bit of plasticard. The gun comes with its original tripod mount - rather than a vehicle fitted one. I'd made one myself then in the style of what was used on Italy's armoured cars (which this weapon was also used on). The crewman's originally a British figure - with a snow suit sculpted on, and a German mountaineer's head (which perhaps he found somewhere).

Its plausible that Italy would have used this sort of thing. With my Italian's I'm seeing them more as a force operating in the second line outside of the Soviet Union or being caught up in the German retreat somewhere. I can admit that of the Nation's which I'm representing they're the one which I'm reaching with the most. Being the most wargaming force out of the lot of the one. Oh well, I'm committed now.


Next up its time to take some pictures of what infantry have come about. Romanians probably. :)
« Last Edit: September 09, 2020, 10:14:13 PM by Wyrmalla »

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: 1944 on the Eastern Front Project
« Reply #17 on: September 23, 2020, 08:49:28 PM »
I said that I'd post some infantry in my update didn't I? Naturally here's some Panzers then. :D



Finally having made it around to adding some more medium armour to my Germans - other than the StuG III and Panzer IV which I'd made before lockdown here.  I'd bought some vehicle kits from Rubicon Models over the past few Months. Not so much at times out of necessity to fill in the blanks in my collection (though I can always add new things to the list to excuse that). More so that they're lovely kits, and always a treat to put one together. (Even if the tolerences on parts mean there's usually some gap filling regardless of how careful you are).


Panzer IV Ausf. F1



Being paired with the existing Panzer IV I'd made, this one's kind of a development of what I was trying with that one. Instead of being made from Warlord's kit, this Rubicon one was so much less of a chore to get the most out of. The details are so much better - to the point that I may have to go back and swap out some things on the other one to bring it up to snuff (particularly the single piece road wheels).

Now the eagle eyed may right away note some anachronisms with how this Panzer IV was built. Its an F1 model, yet it has schurzen and winterketten (tracks). Which didn't really come in or would have been rare at the time this model was being produced. Rather its intended to be an older vehicle which has been modified in the field to current standards (rather than the factory - otherwise the gun would have likely been replaced). The idea came from a photograph I'd seen and some discussion on the use of winterketten on older tanks,  all in all just to put together an unusual vehicle. Which was more of a fun project that something I was actually looking to use in games. But it should give some utility alongside the long 75mms. 



Particularly Rubicon's new Winterketten were a must buy for me. I'd have preferred if they'd made Ostketten (a wider form of tracks, rather than one with cleats), but that any 1/56th scale manufacturer is making winter tracks is a dream. The two sets which I'd bought came to the cost of a whole tank. For their unique look I think they were worth it - even if my own painting standards don't quite do them justice.




You can see yet again that my predisposition to want to cover all my vehicles in tracks are reaching fetishistic levels. Maybe its from starting my current modelling career with Post Apocalyptic settings. Or just that I dislike out of the box kits and want to do as much to make my vehicles look lived in as I can (bordering on them looking like the car from the Beverly Hillbillies).

Having watched The Tank Museum's recent video on the Panzer IV on their Youtube channel (well recent at the time of drafting this - it takes me forever to photograph things). I'm kind of in the mood to make an Eastern Front rendition of the Panzer IV Ausf.D they have in their collection. A vehicle which had been returned to the factory and modernised - whilst retaining the older model's features. Giving it a long 75mm, schurzen, etc.  Again just to break up the usual Ausf. F2s and Hs you see being modelled.



For me these vehicles stand on their own as modelling projects - rather than at times trying to be a coherent historically accurate force. I'm always a modeller first and well, historian coming in at a late third or fourth. If something looks interesting and "could" have been potentially around at the time, then its open season for me. :P


StuG IV



Please accept that I also have a thing for StuGs and this forum's an outlet for that. Its self destructive, and I need help, but there'll likely be more of these bloody things to come...

...

Erm. Looking for a second StuG to add to my Germans, I wanted to do something different. Not another StuG III, otherwise I'd be up to having 6 of them in the collection now (not that I'm looking for excuses to add more...). Instead I wanted one which I could approach from another angle. A StuG IV or early Jagdpanzer IV perhaps.

Well it would  be pushing things to have a Jagdpanzer IV in service in the 43 into 44 time period which I'm attempting to fit within, so I'd decided to go with a StuG IV. Now I didn't want to go ahead and buy a resin one when I knew that I had the spare bits there to put together one myself. So I raided some of my failed projects and found a Warlord Panzer IV hull. Together with parts from Rubicon's StuG III - and a load of plasticard, I threw this together.




The build was a bit of a bodge. I was replacing as much as I could from Warlord's kit with parts from Rubicons - till only really was parts of the front hull visible from their original kit. Put alongside a Rubicon Panzer IV the differences are minor now, which was worth the effort in keeping all the Warlord parts to areas which aren't really seen (the inner drive sprockets for instance).

It having an underlying Warlord kit did mean that by the time it came to fitting the Rubicon winter tracks that the fit needed some work - i.e. replacing pretty much everything but the inner drive sprocket. Still once it was all over though I was satisfied in having probably one of the few plastic StuG IV models in 1/56th on the planet. :D

Between the StuG III & IV I'm kind of into the Frankenstein nature of the IV more. Again being a fan of the more Mad Max style of vehicles out there (why else do I build modern technicals too...). Still, I've came across some weird looking field conversions for extra armour on StuGs, so more opportunities for seeing what that chassis has to offer to suite my own tastes are always there. A future StuG project's sticking schurzen on StuG with a short 75mm - similar to what happened with the Panzer IV above. :)


Panzer III Ausf. M

https://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2020/9/23/1078790-

Here's another Panzer III which I'd reclaimed from my Alternative History project. Being that the upper hull was a bit of a mess after I'd removed the offending components which had given this sloped armour originally, adding that extra layer of stowage was necessary to reduce my workload.

Again then we have one more tank covered with everything a crew will need to sucessfully advance to the rear in 194. Only about 5 tarps for the crew to huddle up in at night unfortunately, but I'm sure all the random crates could be used to light a fire to keep them warm...




This was one of Rubicon's original run of Panzer IIIs. Which had some issues with accuracy. The stowage covers those issues up hopefully. I'm not even sure if its an Ausf.M or some hodge podge of variants.
 
Their newly releaesd kits look subperb. And you can see that they put the effort into their research this time around differentiating the various production models (even if they don't quite fit the sort of excentricities you'll see with the 1/35th crowd when it comes to individual differences in short runs from particular factories. Because they don't want to waste money quite that badly...).  I mean three plastic kits to represent the variants of one tank by a 28mm manufacurer isn't normal right?

Unfortunately Rubicon don't make a set of winter tracks for their Panzer III. Nor will they be in the immediate future either till they can sort out some production issues with their resin tracks. This seems to be the reason why the original Panzer IV winterketten took so long to be released. A shame for modellers like me, however I can accept that they have other less niche products to work on. And I can always just buy more Panzer IVs... ::)

Speaking about Rubicon's new Panzer III kits. I was considering adding Panzer III Ausf.N to my German or Romanian forces. The problem is that with how I have the stats set up they'd be kind of redundant for my Germans at least. As in game terms their profile would be the same as the Panzer IV Ausf.F1 with the same armour and gun stats. Romania then may be the only recieptient of one then. Still, they look like nice kits.

Tsk, but I have so many more tanks I've already bought to paint. Finishing them first may be in order. ¬¬



Sd.kfz 234/4




The first thought in seeing this (other than why are all your vehicles so bloody dirty" is probably that none of these were built till a year after the winter of 1943. And you're right. Like the Panzer I in my earlier posts this is another case of having the model around, but nowhere to really show it off other than in this thread. Here it is then. Don't all yell at me at once. ;)

This one is Warlord's plastic kit mixed with Rubicon's Pak 40 Sd.Kfz 251 conversion. Both of which had been salvaged from other vehicles - parts of which having been taken for other projects. So with what was left over I'd merged the bits to make this thing.

Despite having made it this far though, I haven't added the crew. See I've come to the conclusion that at least for now I need to tell myself off from making this late war stuff. Otherwise I'll start collecting more of it and sooner of later I'll be doing a Battle of Berlin force (nobody mention that Ardelt Waffentrager sitting on my shelf). So if you've looked at my thread in the Bazaar you'll see this for sale there. Better to get rid of it entirely instead of having it gnawing at the back of my mind to make some nice Volksgrenadiers to go with it...


Armoured Sd.kfz 11




A while ago I turned up some WWII bits at a flea market. Among them was what I assume to have been the remains of a diecast Sd.kfz 7 or other larger German half track. It wasn't in the best state, and the wrong scale, but I knew I'd find a use for it somewhere.

German half-tracks of the period tended to have a similar look to them. So a large truck in 1/72nd would be a medium one in 1/56. Using what was left of the diecast as a starting point I needed an idea of what to turn it into. Looking for what would require the least amount of precise work - otherwise I may as well have just bought a resin kit and thrown this thing away - I came across a pair of field conversions.



The article they appeared in says that they're Sd.kfz 6. The model I had's a little bit smaller than those, so this one had to be an Sd.kfz 11 or something. Though its difficult for me to judge the scale of the vehicles in the photographs (ah, because all German half tracks look the same...).

https://www.customscale.de/customscale-modell-historie/35052-sdkfz-6-mit-gebirgsflak-feldumbau/

Given that these appear to be unique conversions, and in use by mountain troops, they're perhaps not suitable for my own forces. Just a side project. Whilst there were other field conversions adding armour to German half tracks, having this one doesn't sit right with me thematically. Which means that yes, I've stuck this model into the bazaar as well. I'll buy some Sd.kfz 251s to replace it eventually.


There's your lot for this post. I'll try and have the infantry up for next time. Which I'd thought that I'd had all painted, but it turns out that a few of them are only half done. Otherwise I'll just post something else. I have loads of this crap. ;)

(seriously I have a problem. Send help. Or maybe just a few Panzer IIIs you may have spare. I'll take even just a little tankette...)

Offline darthfozzywig

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Re: 1944 on the Eastern Front Project
« Reply #18 on: September 23, 2020, 09:07:31 PM »
Fantastic!

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: 1944 on the Eastern Front Project
« Reply #19 on: September 24, 2020, 06:57:24 AM »
Nice collection of kit.

I look forward to the next batch.

Offline Wyrmalla

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Re: 1944 on the Eastern Front Project
« Reply #20 on: September 27, 2020, 06:09:53 AM »
The test model for the Bulgarian Paratroopers I'd mentioned elsewhere here. Hopefully the model's convincingly not German?



The model's a German Paratrooper from Artizan Designs (I think, or Copplestone). With his gun replaced with a ZB vz.26 - made from a Bren Gun with a modified stock and some vents put into the barrel (the magazine on the Czech gun was straight, rather than curved on the Bren, but its not noticeable as the figure's reloading).

I then added a Soviet head from Warlord. The Warlord heads are oversized, which was perfect for the type of helmet the Bulgarians used. Reshaping was required - giving the front and back a more pronouced lip, adding a rib to the top, and bolts to the front. The head was given a beard too. Because the Warlord faces look a bit silly (look how small the nose is).

I'd also removed some of the gear like the bread bag, canteen and gas mask cannister. None of the images I've seen of Bulgarian Paratroopers had any of these. In fact most just had ammunition pouches, knives and pistols. I guess to stop things being caught on those horrible German parachutes they used.

Bulgaria used a similar uniform to the Germans, but their camouflage was slightly different. Clearly inspired by the Splinter pattern , though there was a bit of brown in all of the colours.


He looks all right to me. Going forward I'll likely use the Perry Miniatures figures as a basis for future figures (unless some other range comes up - realistic proportions are key. This chunkier figure is just what was to hand). Primarily as they're sold in smaller packs instead of full squads. Which factors in given the number of SMGs I need (being the Bulgarian's primary weapon rather than rifles),  and the Perry's sell a pack of six. There will have to be some duplication though, and even with changing up the heads, I couldn't source enough figures that way without the poses being too samey. So the idea's to use a few few figures with rifles for SMGs - altering the rifles to look like Czech ZK-383s.

 

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