1/48 Tamiya with Hauler conversion. Alpine and Dartmoor figures

What is it? Looks like Panther wheels, glacis plate, upper hull, mantle and gun but it also looks like a heavily modified M10. I'm not particularly good with American armor so egh. Very nice work with the base and weathering.

Its a Panther disguised as an M10.

Awesome build!

Hi glad you guys like it. Yes, it is a weird and ugly one But the story is very cool.

Here's the article of how they were used in the battle:
http://warandgame.com/2008/05/04/the-last-throw-of-the-strategic-dice/

The idea came up before the Battle of the Bulge. The plan was to use these after the breakout to create confusion and havoc behind the American lines. Only a few were converted.

Nice work on yours!

Ah very cool; think I remember reading a tiny bit about it. Thought the 'applique' armor looked inconvenient.

Hey Greg .... great job !!!!!!

Lookin good. The positioning of the figures is well done. Having one in an American uniform enhances the narrative.

Nice dio Greg! You can almost feel the cold!

Had me fooled. I thought it was an uparmored M10. The figures are excellent as well as the Panther.

Thanks very much guys. Feels good to get this one finished. I think I forgot to add a blue scarf to one of the SS guys to try to tie the scene together more; I did give them all the same boots. But, I think even people unfamiliar with this tank knew something was fishy seeing all the elements.

very nice job on the tank,the dio is great.

Nice job there Greg! Makes a dio very easy to do when you just go for the basics and make a statement all at the same time!

And giving a history lesson all at the same time, too!

One thing though, I think it needs more fresh fallen snow on the vehicle. Right now it looks like it's operational and hasn't been sitting long. But that's just my unprofessional opinion.








~ Jeff

Thanks for the comments Jeff. I totally threw that idea around while I was weathering but in the end didn't think I would be able to pull it off and become over-weathered. I even thought of "splashing" a little in with the mud effects. In the end it was the hasn't snowed recently, just frozen look.


But my Stug, may be another story as I need to hide parts of that build

Depends on the day you're portraying too. If you're looking at December 16th, it was cold, wet and muddy. It didn't really start snowing in earnest until the evening of the 16th and then it didn't let up for a few days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_Brigade_150

Thanks for the weather info Jon! Here it looks like it was between Dec 10-28 so I think I'm covered. Most pics and videos shown were after the battle with heavy snow though.


This video dated as 17th January shows the clean up of one in the heavy snow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PzpVtcwLqU

Greg, nice job on the Panther, I like the painting with the different shades of OD.

Cheers!
Stefan

@GregCloseCombat - Greg,

You did an awesome job on this build! Is that an American cigarette on one of your figures hand? Too cool!

~ Eddy

Nice work Greg,especially on the weathering.The figures really do tell a story also.

A very nice reference to a bizarre situation. To confuse as much US troops as possible a very sneaky ( and likewise war criminal) idea was realized, using US equipment, wheeled vehicles like jeeps and GMC's, combined with reshaped German armour. It ended up in a complete disaster, many of the caught German soldiers shot at an instant, based on international war laws which forbids the use of uniforms of the opposing parties. Due to the lack of proper equipment many German units used a mix of their own gear and "liberated and/or found" US gear since this was of a higher quality ( Germany's industry and supply system heavily suffered from Allied constant bombing. So US tobacco was much sought after.

This model really represents a very dark episode in the last phase of the war. Chapeau!

Stefan - Hello, thanks for the comments - trying to get that OD a little life

Eddy - LOL, you spotted the Camel cigarette markings. They must have came from those ration boxes. Thanks

Anthony - Hello and thanks for the comments

Paul - Thank you for your comments. Indeed, "Hitler's last throw of the dice"