Keeping on my favorite topic my next dio will be covering the combat undertaken by my brother Regt the 505PIR. It was on the right flank of my old bunch the 504PIR during the battles against the LAH in the Ardennes.
The Regt Cmdr thought it would be a good idea to push a company of grunts across the river at Trois Ponts after the town was reached by the 82nd Abn. The Company had to go up a steep switchback narrow road to the top of the bluff on the east side of the river and dig in. They had a few AT guns in support and not much else. Their backs were to the river. So when the powers that be in the 1SS Panzer Div realized that the Amis had a bridgehead on that side of the river and were in danger of loosing all hope to re-establish contact with Armored Group Peiper they launched a vicious attack by at least a Bn of Infantry from the 1SS PzGren Regt supported by a few up-gunned halftracks. Eye witness accounts called the fighting intense and ending in hand to hand,foxhole to foxhole violent combat against good quality very motivated Infantry. The Para company was reenforced by another Platoon but the pressure was too great for them to hold. So for the first and only time during the war the 505PIR had to give up ground.
They now had to get back down the cliff that they used the switchback road to get up! Some guys ended up just jumping down to the road below,etc etc in a "extremely fast retrograde" movement.
I will make my usual meager attempt to show some of this drama which I am sure caused more than a few rear ends to tighten up.

C'mon Bill,I got you!!


Keep their heads down buddy!



They're flankin' us!!



Very initial stages of frankenstein work.
I am trying to keep to my new SOP being that I will aternate GI dios with Axis dios. So while I wait for wiring issues to be resolved on the Stoumont thing I will forge ahead here.
Tanks for checking in as always guys.
J

Great concept Jerry, and personally I love the historical aspect of it. I cant imagine making something without the history part of it. Thats probably why I have such a low output number of kits. Its awesome the way you can take a historical period and mentally turn it into diorama. That my friend takes pure talent on your part. I really enjoyed your last work and I am looking forward to seeing the shadowbox progress. I will eagerly await your next update as you embark on this next modeling odysee. With the number of views on your last dio you should be getting a rock star status,lol. All the best...Dale P.S. Have you seen the Jochen Peiper book by Patrick Agte? It is one of my favorites

Hi Jerry - I must say, I wonder how you do it? So many creative projects, with such high quality execution! Keep it up buddy!

Nick

Niiiccce!!

Going good there, bud!

Just 2 suggestions; 1) the runner: let him lean forward in order to suggest more urgency and movement at speed.
2) if you want to keep the BAR-gunner's stance, maybe alter the position of the arms and BAR. The BAR's no light weapon and holding it like that... Let alone fire it, even in panic.
Maybe turn him a little more clockwise. That way you can keep the gun on target so to speak, but make the stance more (bio)logical.

Like where this is going, will be watching!

Cheers!

Its always an education with your work Jerry- both in terms of history and modeling!

Another winner, Jerry. Definitely another one to follow, even if it is about the 505th (LOL).

Thanks for the extremely nice things you've said buddy!
I have a lot of ideas for dios and vignettes just from the three DITM books I would love to build. My problem is I can't stay at the bench too long these days because of my various health issues!
Agtes book is good for the vast array of pics,no doubt. Agte is very one sided though and doesn't have a good rep with the few remaining German vets. He is a bit too apologetic for the Nazi cause in my view. I think "Hitlers' Warrior" is a more fair story.
J

I could say exactly the same thing about you my good friend
J

All good points and thanks for checking in buddy! The figs are still in the most embryonic stage so cut me a little slack till I get the thing straightened out a bit! LoL
As far as the BAR guy,the aim is to show him swinging around during his decent down the road a firing a quick burst towards the area where the inclining road meets the top of the ridge. A Logical place for the enemy to appear? The attacking force was large enough to overlap the paras lines on both flanks.
J

Stefan,Karl and John,
Thanks guys for typing in your comments. Always appreciate it when you do.
John,yes well,they may be the 505 but as an old saying goes" They may be but---ds but they are OUR but----ds!
J

Started another guy

And another guy



Overall view

WoW! You rock, dude!!

The action is already splashing from the screen here. This composition really works for me.

Your figure production is as prodigious as Sir Nick's vehicular manufacturing....frenetic, and yet the standard is as high as ever!!!

Great job Jerry!

Hi Jerry ,

well , all i can say is that live isn't fair you know (lol). I am waiting to show the progress on my Ardennes diorama until you are finished with your beautiful shadowbox diorama and now you've started a brand new one also from the Ardennes . Where in heavens name do you get that energy from ???

No , i'm kidding of course ! This is going to be another epic build from you and i'm looking forward to see more . Keep up the good work old friend !

Kurt

Ron,Dave and Kurt,
Thanks so much for checking in guys!! Kurt,don't wait,post that bad boy!
Got some done on the dudes. Here are the two with the most done so far. With the sliding guy,I wanted his gear and jacket to be riding up as it usually would when sliding down a steep hill. I tried to get more depth to my usual undercutting by prying away some pocket flaps and collar stuff as these things were usually not looking like parade ground ready.






Running guy got some gear and I filled out the trousers and jacket. Empty e-tool carrier.



Lots of small details and mistakes to add/fix but they are getting there.
J

Hi Jerry, Those modifications to the 'sliding guy' are convincing as hell! Nice!

--mike

Really great update Jerry, the figures are coming along nicely. The work on thesliding guy is exceptional. Keep up the good work Jerry and I will be watching for your next update. Best regards....Dale

Only fix the mistakes Jerry, don't add any... And as has been witnessed above, sliding guy is the bomb baby!!! Can a 52 year old, father of a kindergartener say that??? It is truly a stunning group of figgies. They don't get better than that. Well done.

Top marks on the new figure. He looks the business.

Mike,Dale,Dave and Paul,
Thanks guys for typing in some very generous comments. It means a lot to me when people take time out from their busy lives to do so.
Looks like the sliding guy is a hit! Luckily he is also the one nearest completion. Si suppose my work was not wasted.
J

This should look good when done. Nicely animated scene.

Kimmo

Jerry, even at this early "frankenstein stage", these are some of the most realistically dynamic poses I've seen in figure modelling.
Really looking forward to this one progressing.
Just checking, in the case of the sliding guy, his right arm is initially held in place with some shims of plastic card. Are these trimmed flush and filled or do you remove them altogether before filling?

Thanks KImmo and Pat,very nice things to say!!.
Pat,I try to trim the plastic card shims but sometimes the crappy glue I am currently using doesn't hold and I loose the piece. If it doesn't end up moving the limb in question then no big deal! I then fill with epoxy putty and sculpt. It it's a delicate join I let the filler dry and then carve instead of sculpt.
J