WWII didn't end in 1945...

Pictures of my last "old" diorama. This time a "What-if" or "Luftwaffe-46" scenario. It's the Focke Wulf Ta-283. The diorama is set in Spring 1946. The Normandy landings was postponed in June 1944 because of bad weather and a later attempt failed. Because of this the German army could send reinforcements to the East and stabilize the front. During 1945 there was a general lull in the fighting because of exhaustion on all sides. There was even talks of an armistice. Now in Spring 1946, the Soviets make a final attempt at ending the war and are advancing ever nearer to Berlin. The Western allies put their hopes on the Italian front and repeated bombing raids on Germany (they have decided not to use the Atom Bomb in Europe, unless absolutely necessary). The Ta-283 is to be used in combat for the first time in another attempt at stopping the Alled bombing campaign.

The aircraft never left the drawing board and we will luckily never know if it would have worked as a combat aircraft.

I have painted the panel lines too sharp. Perhaps fix this sometime... The aircraft kit used is made by Huma Modell.

1 Divisione corazzata "M"

My first post for a very long time. Thought I catch up and post pictures of an old little diorama depicting a Pz IV serving the Italian unit 1 Divisione corazzata "M" during exercises in 1943. The "M" stands for Mussolini. It was a Black Shirt armoured unit equipped with German AFVs (Pz IV, Pz III, Stug III). It never saw any combat as a unit and didn't oppose the overthrow of Mussolini in July 1943.

The tank is the old Esci/Italeri with some minor improvements (on the turret and the driver's hatch). The Italian tank crew figures are made by Waterloo 1815.

How would the Italians have performed if they had been equipped with better tanks and other heavy equippent from the start?

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.

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.

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.

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.