Americans over there!

So here it is, the completed ABM 42 diorama. It's a scene from Sicily 1943, with a camionettisti unit having some minor problems. I imagine they are passed by another Italian unit. The vehicle commander is pointing to in which direction the american forces are.

East Germans in 1/87

I finally gave in.. I've been watching the East German frontier guards from Preiser at my local hobby shop a long time but never bought them since they are made in the "wrong" scale 1/87. They are even smaller than what I'm used to, 1/72. But my curiosity finally took over and I bought them the other day.

In the box there are six figs in six different poses. Some arms and equipment are seperate and needs to be glued. And they are small! (20 mm in height). In the box there are also a frontier marker post, a guard dog and some signs made in paper that you can glue on walls, road signs or similar.

Of course, if I got the figs in 1/87 they will also need vehicles of some sort in 1/87 :-D  I searched the internet and found a lot of things in scale 1/87; it is after all the prefered scale for train hobby enthusiasts. Most were civilian stuff, but there are a few military minis in 1/87. The best I found for my new figs were made by Herpa, a big producer of vehicles in 1/87. They have a little series of mini vehicles for the East German army and I ordered a couple of Trabants and a russian made UAZ 452 van. Seems like Herpa are continuing the old Minitanks line (originally released by Roco?).

Let's see what else will come in 1/87 in the future...

ABM 42 finally ready painted!

I've had this Italeri ABM 42 painted in base colour more than a year but not until now have I finished it. Finally! It was fun to paint and since it hasn't got any roof you can see inside the vehicle for a change!(compared to a tank that's almost always closed for view inside)

I painted it as a vehicle belonging to 113a Compagnia Arditi Camionettisti in the Italian Army, Sicily 1943. The driver is made by Waterloo 1815, from their set with Italian tank and vehicle crews.

 

I'm not that used to paint desert camouflage but I'm satisfied with the result. I've also tried to imitate the look when paint is scraped off from areas that are frequently walked and touched on by the crew, exposing the bare metal under the paint.

A desert Ferrari packing guns!

And here comes the rest of the crew, also from Waterloo 1815. The commander in the middle is from the figure set X MAS ("deci mas", not "christmas"!) and the two others are from the Folgore paratroops light artillery set. I've changed heads on the two seated/lying figs, so they got the bustina cap instead of a paratroopers helmet.

And finally the base on which I plan to put them when it's finished.

Flying saucer project

I have also started on my UFO project, using the Pegasus Hobbies Alpha Centauri UFO I recently bought. The plan is to make an imaginary "Nazi UFO". The inspiration comes from the movie Iron Sky (a comedy about nazis on the moon...check out the trailers on youtube). There is also a myth (?) about germans making a flying saucer and having established a base for it on the Arctic during the war, called project Haunebu.
I have scratchbuilt part of the cockpit by using parts of an old Me-262 double seated night fighter model that was wrecked since before. The two round "engine parts" that are under the seats are made from left-over Sherman tank wheels in scale 1/35. The unpainted pilot fig is from Revell.

Ta-283

Now the Focke Wulf Ta-283 is almost finished. It's the first time I've tried to imitate sprayed paint with a paintbrush by dry brushing. I'm happy with the result but it can of course get better. It's painted with Vallejo acrylics. Next up with the Ta-283 is to put it in a diorama, but that might take a while since other projects have come up...

Latest harvest...

My latest purchases: Panther Ausf F from Dragon, an german half track ammunition carrier (for Nebelwerfer) from Roden, a Panzer IV Ausf H (bought in a shop at Berchtesgaden during my trip to the Alps) and Italian tank, artillery and AFV crews from Waterloo 1815. The Italian crews are nicely scuplted and they take ordinary poly glue really well. They will be a very nice complement to the Italian AFVs in my collection.

So, more german AFVs. Can't seem to get enough... But I have purchased one kit that stands out from my other stuff. A couple of "Alpha Centauri U.F.O.'s" made by Pegasus Hobbies. The box says they are in scale 1/32 and two alien figures are provided, but I of course have a plan to make them useful in 1/72. And one of them at least (there's two in one box) will not be used by aliens. More to come... The UFO models looks really nice and seem to be very easy to build.

Russian Cavalry at Narva 1700

One last post before my vacation! Some figures I painted some time ago. They are Zvezda Russian Noble Cavalry, with some conversion on the right fig. I've painted them for use as Russian Cavalry during the beginning of the Great Northern War, for example during the battle of Narva 1700. I got inspired from a picture of a Russian cavalry officer at Narva I saw somewhere on the internet, but don't remember where.. Maybe I'll get back to that.

I think I need to work on the highlighting on some areas before I'm satisfied. The flash has helped me a bit here... Was fun trying to make the cuirass on the right fig!

Focke Wulf Ta-283 in progress 3

Almost put together the whole Ta-283 now, except the canopy. The cockpit is otherwise almost done. Next is to make some fine adjustments and then paint it! The model is extremely tail heavy (will need quite a heavy counter weight in the nose if you wish to get the nose down), but since I'm going to put it in a diorama and glue it on a stand this will not be a problem. I like the look of the plane, very futuristic. Looks like something out of  Star Wars.
This will propably be my last post for a week or so, since I'm off to a bit of vacation in the German alps in a few days. My first time there and I'm looking forward to hiking, beer and wurst!

An interesting eye-witness account

 I'm currently reading the memoars of a Swedish Waffen-SS volounteer, Erik Wallin. The book was originally titled "Ragnarök" and was written shortly after the war. He served on the eastern front from 1943 all the way to the end in Berlin 1945, defending the city centre. I'm reading a recent Swedish edition called Berlins sista timmar (Berlin's final hours). The memoars are also published in english, but I haven't seen the book myself. The English title is apparently Twilight of the Gods: A Swedish Waffen-SS volunteer's experiences with the 11th SS-panzergrenadier division Nordland, eastern front 1944-1945.
    Understandibly the memoars are biased and the comments on the Soviets and western allies aren't positive. But it's a very interesting account of the desperate battles to hold the line in the east and putting the hopes to new weapons being promised by the nazi leadership. It also gives an interesting insight in the minds of a Waffen-SS volunteer and why he and others continued to fight until the end. I haven't finished the entire book yet, but from what I've read so far I can really recommend it for all interested in WWII.

My latest diorama: a homage to Orwell's 1984

This one is inspired by George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984": A protester painting forbidden words on a propaganda poster from the ruling party. The two security troopers are equipped with "old" WWII British army gear and more "recently made" grey uniforms.

Work in progress 2

A close up of parts of the cockpit, wheels and a ramjet of the Ta-283. I changed the pilot fig supplied in the kit with one from Revells Luftwaffe pilots and ground crew set. I'm no expert in Luftwaffe equipment, but was inspired by the box art of Revell's figure set and gave the pilot a classic brown leather jacket.

Work in progress

My next project involves Huma Modells projected German jetfighter Focke Wulf Ta-283. The prototype never left the drawing board. It was powered by two ramjets and one rocket motor. My project will also include some Luftwaffe pilots and ground crew from Revell.

My first (completed...) diorama.

Depicts Prince Repnin's Russian grenadiers at the battle of Poltava. The figures are from Zvezda. The two figs further back originally wore tricorns. The Swedish casualty is from Mars.

Just created a blog. Testing, testing...