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Greetings from the Eastern Front

a diorama feature by George Schachinger
10
Comments

 

Construction report StuG III, Ausf G
Autumn 1943, assault gun of the commander of the StuGAbt 191, Hptm Alfred MUELLER)

Built by: George Schachinger
Finished Project Photos: Wolfram Bradac
In-Progress Photos: George Schachinger

History
Finally I could fulfill the desire to build a Sturmgeschutz (assault gun) III. This type of vehicle had always fascinated me. Their threat to opposing tanks became legendary, just like their assistance to relieve pinned-down infantry in last minute-actions. They destroyed more enemy tanks, than all German battle tanks together. Russian tanks had orders to avoid a fight with assault guns. Fourteen soldiers of the assault artillery were awarded the oak leaves to the knight cross, as was Hptm Alfred MUELLER, the commander of the StuG Abteilung 191 for its earnings during the fight for the Kuban bridgehead. By destroying 150 enemy tanks within a few days his battalion (=Abteilung, renamed as a brigade, from 28.02 1944 onwards) secured the evacuation of the Germans to the Crimean peninsula. Some time after the promotion to major, Hptm Mueller was shifted to the assault artillery school in BURG (Germany), where he could pass his rich experience on the class participants. He experienced the end of war as a lieutenant colonel.

The scenario
I built the StuG III with interior arrangement, in order to represent a workshop scene. Various battle damage and wear require a repair. A defective torsion bar and a driven off road wheel are to be exchanged. Extensive checks are executed at the cannon. Hptm Mueller takes the chance of a battle break, to look after the workshop crew, while they deal with his vehicle.

Kits and materials

TAMIYA: StuG III, German engine tank crew set.

AIRES: transmission for StuG III.

DES kit: driver for Sd Kfz 251, changed as a mechanic on the gunners place of the StuG III.

VERLINDEN: assorted heads, barrels.

ABER: thumbscrews, mounting plates.

ITALERI: cans, field tool shop (Nr.: 419).

DRAGON: Single link tracks early Ausf. for Pz III/IV.

About the Author

About Viking
FROM: WIEN, AUSTRIA

Starting with aircraft models in 1:72 scale, I soon switched to armour and figures. But only since 1998 IŽm seriously concerned with the topic of diorama-, tank-, vehicle-, and figure construction. Running my homepage: "Wikingers Panzermodellbau" also tak...


Comments

Tin_Can
That is great work. Very, very nice and richly detailed. Love those well used road wheels.
APR 08, 2002 - 07:29 PM
ArmouredSprue
What a masterpiece you did! I specially loved the battle damages and the painting techniques. Keep up the excellent work (and don't mind to take about half an year to complete such beautiful pieces! ) Cheers!
APR 08, 2002 - 07:45 PM
Kencelot
Simply outstanding work...marvelousness! :-)
APR 08, 2002 - 07:52 PM
mj
Modeling at its best. George, you have me torn between giving up the hobby (since I will never be able to produce such beautiful pieces) or kidnapping you to my basement, where I will make you show me exactly how to reproduce the wonderful techniques you used. You really should be proud of what you accomplished. And, thank you for the terrific article. I know it's good when I find myself saying "Shit, why didn't I think of that" over and over as I read how you did it. I hope we see more of your work on display here. Mike
APR 08, 2002 - 08:28 PM
YodaMan
Wow!!! Great work there! The painting, the figures, the tank interior. The little details like the damaged road wheels. It's the little details that make a great model better. I can relate to the builder when he says Heh, I've been reasonably upset when a model I was building just wasn't turning into what I wanted! YodaMan
APR 08, 2002 - 08:29 PM
YodaMan
Well, I'm sure everyone thinks that about their skills. The trick is to just keep trying! This is precisely the reason Armorama exists! And if George dosen't want to give us a how-to at first, I'm sure someone will bug him until he does! YodaMan
APR 08, 2002 - 08:32 PM
mj
Thanks Yoda, for the vote of confidence. I know practice makes perfect, but man, people here produce some really high-grade stuff. What I meant by the second part, about watching George do his thing, is about how people learn, I guess. In grade school, given a project to make paper Thanksgiving items, others would make lovely Pilgrims, turkeys, etc., and I was the guy in the back with one thumb glued to his eyelid, and the other up his "blo-hole". I just have a little trouble visualizing instructions off a written page. But, if I see something done once, I can usually duplicate the effort quite nicely. For instance, I read a number of articles on painting and weathering aircraft. I played around with a few techniques, but wasn't real happy with the results. Then I found some Video Workshop tapes by Charles Davenport, who covered the topic. Just seeing how others did it, improved my work considerably. It was the same material, just basic painting/weathering techniques, but seeing it done made all the difference for me. I do appreciate the written tips and techniques, don't get me wrong. They get me thinking and trying new things. But sometimes I think how nice it would be to actually watch a master at work. Mike
APR 08, 2002 - 10:40 PM
YodaMan
Yeah I know what you mean. Sure it's easy to tell people how to do stuff, but it's a lot easier to learn if someone's there with you. YodaMan
APR 08, 2002 - 10:47 PM
cfbush2000
Outstanding work! Museum quality stuff. Look on page 10 of the article and you will find a link to more of Georges work. It's worth a look. Good stuff George. :-)
APR 09, 2002 - 12:02 AM
Viking
Hello friends! Thank you for your positive reaction to my dio! As "mj" stated: I played around with a few techniques, but wasn't real happy with the results. it was also on me to "play". Sometimes I try two month to finish the colors of a vehicle in the desired way and on the way to the result it sometimes looks as if IŽd better throw it into the waste basket... So my painting sometimes also consists of "recovering" bad stages of paintwork. One must knock his way trough this problems to get to a somewhat acceptable result. The problem is: how to tell others about the growing of the paintwork? My next item will be an Afrika dio about the L.R.D.G. (next year?) In the meantime visit: WikingerŽs Panzermodellbau or: Die Luftwaffe im Modell (German "Luftwaffe" in models)
APR 09, 2002 - 05:51 PM
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