Mark,
I love all of the extra gear on board! Looks very buys and impenetrable. Should be awesome painted!.

Gaz

Mark (d6mstO), a great job. It seems strange to me with these tracks on the machine. But it is spectacular.
Good luck.
Kalin

Are you sure there is a tank, not a cargo hauler under all that Mark!

Both Marks off to a great start with their different projects.

Kalin,

The track layout are from photos of Panzer IVs in North Africa and Russia.

Mark

Your build looks great so far. Where did you get/how did you make the aerial recognition flag?

Rick,

I can't remember what shop I purchased them from but I do remember it was in Europe, England I believe. I will check my records of purchase and get back to you.

Mark

I'm done!

I did a "two part" diorama/story.
The first part is the 14th Panzer Div on it's way to Stalingrad making a stop and taking a pig to slaughter for dinner later on, much to the chagrin of the Russian farmer. Note, she was on her way to feed the pigs.











The second part takes place almost a year later. A Russian tank crew is taking a pause in the hectic fighting to pass out some rations to a Russian civilian who hasn't fled the city. Needless to say he is beyond grateful for the young men risking their lives for their country, as well as the can of food and bread.

Note the abandoned German fighting position, hopefully I was able to convey the chaotic nature and closeness of combat that was prevelant during Stalingrad, albeit not in a "in your face" kind of way.




Overall I'm pleased with how these came out, as with anything related to this hobby there is always room to improve. I think trying two at once in order to convey the story took away from the overall quality. This is something I know now, and if I ever do something similar I will take it one story at a time.


Lastly, not only do these two diorama's have a similar them (taking/giving of food to those who need it) there's one other thing tying the two together, I'm interested if anyone will be able to spot it. Bonus points if you do!

Pathfinder,

Very nice dioramas, very well done. No I cannot see the tie in to each other.

Mark

Rick,

I was wrong the company wasn't in Europe. I purchase the flags from "The Scenic Factory" at www.thescenicfactory.com. They have them in stock for $10 dollars plus shipping.

Mark

Pathfinder,
I really like your dioramas. I can see the tie in as the Germans taking the food as they advance, and then the Red Army handing out food as it advances.

Don't forget to upload a pic of at least one of your dioramas into the gallery so that you can be given full credit for completing the campaign.

Gaz

Pathfinder14, Is it the motorcycle buried in rubble? Perhaps that rider trying to lasso the pig in the country got his come-uppance in the city?

Thanks so much for the info, Mark!

Nice work on the dios Pathfinder

Ding ding ding!

I was going to focus on the bike in the rubble a bit more but figured that would give it away too much.

Gaz, thanks for the reminder, I'll try and find an old camera and see if I can take better photos before adding them to the gallery as my phone camera isn't getting the results I like.

The tracks on my KV-1 were giving me fits so I decided to try a different technique:

Mark,
That's one technique I've yet to try though I've seen it used numerous times. Looks good, though I'm always afraid of mis-alignment issues.

Gaz

Gaz,
Misalignment won't be an issue because I actually assemble it all in situ, then remove for painting. The tricky part will be the painting. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Been a pretty productive weekend. Nearly done with construction of the KV-1, and even had time to engineer some enhancements to my painting station.

The photos I have seen show that even Soviet heavy plate steel was pretty rough so I added some texture to the turret:

After the first try, I primed it and decided I needed to even it out in a couple spots--hence the two-tone appearance.

Also added welds to the extra armor plating and textured the edges to create a rough finish from torch cutting.

A little more progress to report I'm done with the initial paint work now for some decals and a little weathering.

IMG_2214 by Chris WIlson, on Flickr

IMG_2215 by Chris WIlson, on Flickr

IMG_2217 by Chris WIlson, on Flickr

IMG_2218 by Chris WIlson, on Flickr

Mark and Chris. Coming along nicely guys.

Mark,
I like the extra texture on your KV. I've been looking at a lot of Russian tanks lately, and they are rough!

Gaz

Chris,
Loving the look of your 109! The paint job looks sweet!

Gaz

Ditto!

I am going to try building Tamiya's Marder III Pak 36(r) for this campaign.


I have some Echelon markings for Panzerjäger-Abteilung 140 of the 22nd Panzer Division.

-Nate

Nathan,
Welcome to the campaign! I have this kit too... so your build will have great interest for me!

Gaz