The original posts can be seen here
The subjects chosen were two Italeri Sdkfz 234/2 Pumas. Mainly as this was to be my first build I wanted to be able to screw up and not care and to practice a lot of the techniques I'm learning from these here forums. These are mostly OOB with some light battle damage. 114 on the left has had the aerial relocated and a stowage bin added with the lid open. Both have had the Italeri jerrycans replaced with better ones with scratchbuilt frames, straps and clasps.
The figures are a mix of Tamiya and Dragon stock figures mixed with a whole heap of DIY figures made from assorted arms/legs/heads and a bit of scratchbuilding.
The building face is a cut down Italeri one ( church I think ) with the rest scratch built.
The tree is from my yard with a mixture of different train modelling tree bits making up the leaves.
The well is scratchbuilt with stones from my garden and balswood.
The plow is scratchbuilt from paper, metal rod, balsa wood and the steering wheel from inside one of the Pumas with added spokes and a paper outer rim.
Birdsnest was made by making a ring of fuse wire then gluing thatches of cut up hair, bruch bristles and scraps to it then painting it.
Sacks were made from tissue paper cut into two sides, glued along three edges with a cotton drawstring at trhe top, top edges rolled over the cotton then the whole thing turned inside out, soaked in watered down PVA then formed, dried and painted.
The scene is meant to represent two vehicles of Panzer Lehr carrying Grenadiers of LSSAH post Fallaise. The officers are debating where they should be, the SS officer being a little more pushy than the Puma commander. Meanwhile the troops have taken the chance to dismount, light up, grab a bite, tend to nature etc.
I figure around that time when LSSAH was bereft of armour that it may have been possible to find this sort of mating as these units seemed to share battlefields a lot.
The vehicles have my own idea of stowage frames and an AA mounted MG34. I took liberties there but I figured as far as I could tell Panzer Lehr received the Puma in early 44 in Russia then were withdrawn to France for a refir and then battled through after D-Day so I figured a few field mods based on battlefield experience wouldn't go amiss.
The paintwork is supposed to show the field applied darkgreen paste used for the camo starting to wash away after repeated cleaning of the vehicles and rains. It's more pronounced on the righthand vehicle but the photos sort of show the camo net and cut branches covering up a lot more of the bodywork than was intended.
