Hi all


I'd like to get your feedback on my latest little dio i'm preparing. It's called "silence after the storm". It depicts an abandonned corner of a battlefield in the stalingrad region in oktober 1942.. The battlefield was abandonned shortly after the last battle, during which the stug IV tried to break the lines but got stopped by a lucky shot which destroyed the track and bent the wheels. The russians left the trench as it is, but not leaving anything carriable behind, deciding it was not worth defending it anymore, and the germans were pushed back, and have now set their hopes on breaking throug another frontline, leaving the metal beast to r(e)(u)st...


Would you want to be the one who has to find out if anybody is waiting for you in the dark corners of the trench, maybe already looking through his gunsight...?

The only living soul left wondering around here i s a lonely german shepherd looking for some food.War is hell for everybody...

Ripped clothing hangs from the remains of the trees...
The stug is from R.O.G, 1/72, shurzen were scratchbuild using metal from a soda can.the dog came from a R.O.G modern german crisis reaction group.
I used an old chocolates box as a base.


I still need to complete the stug with the tools and some stowage.

Thanks for looking!!! Let me know what you think!!!!

looks great, if the red box wasnt besides the first pic i never would have guessed its 1/72!

Frank

Good idea, nice composition, well executed model.

Hi

Nice dio! Good setup, nice trench, nice tank.

Just 1 thing I'm not sure of....did the Germans used the 3-tone camouflage in October 1942 already?
I always thought that this style of camouflage was used from 1943!

Greetings,
Martin

That is extremely good. I did noticed 1 thing that might need to be changed: The gun on top of the stug is still there. The germans would have definatly taken that with them to abandon the tank. Also, if it would have stayed there through all the crappy weather the wood on the gun stock would have been warped.

Other than that, I love what youve done with the dio. I really like the trenches.

May I ask how you made the base?

What time of October is it? If it is late there would probabbley have been snow.
but other than that, it is amazing!!!

cheers

Philip

You've done a very nice job of construction and finishing, but there is one serious problem. I hate to be a wet blanket, but you're using the wrong version of the Stug III. You've got a late model IIIG there, and the very earliest IIIGs weren't made until December 1942. Also, I'm pretty sure that three-tone camo such as you used didn't come into use until around mid-1943. You could possibly change the setting on the nameplate and leave the scene as is, since it would be fine for a scene from later in the war. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work as a scene from Stalingrad.

Excellent dio! I think the trench is great. Is it safe to assume that the tin in the first pic was used to create the base? If so what did you use to do it?

Great 1/72 scale work - lots of detail packed in for such a small diorama.
Overall very well done. For feedback, I'd offer that some of the sand bags seem a bit to rounded in shape for my tastest.
The ladder looks a bit chunky to me, but it's not distracting.

I love the label, love the base, nice layout.

1/72!!!! Nice work and very patient i have to say . I like it a lot Bravo

Awesome job Bjorn, I,m another one who thought it was a 35th scale dio, great job.

I do not quite know about the history and the facts about Russia, but the rest is very good. Especially for a 1/72 scale model. I like the overall setup.

Cheers!

Cagin

Thanks for the comments all!!

I must admit I didn't do my homework concerning which stug would be used in which area. But I did see some pics of stugs in russia, so I thought they would fit in around 1942.... oops.
But it's exactly this information and comments that's what makes this a great site.
Tsunamibomb, you're right about the machinegun. It would actually be stupid to leave a good working gun behind.

Slodder, you've got a point with the sandbags, but after remaking them 3 times in total I gave up. I used the wrong clay (they shrunk like crazy the first week, so I got stuck with a trench which was filled with minidwarf sandbags.After that I got so fed up that I pushed a bit to hard on top of the upper ones, so they got "squished".... I like to think it's just due to the bad quality of the russian sandbags :-)

the base is made from the red bin, cut a hole , filled with white foam ( piepschuim) cut the trench, and covered the dugout with balsawood. Then I used a mixture of wall spacle, white glue , water and filtered sand for the groundwork. (the sand gives the overall a little more depth and un-smoothens the ground. First i tried to fill the three bombcraters with varnish, but that had the strange tendency to crawl up the walls of the crater, making the whole thing look shiny, not just where the water was supposed to be. Don't know what caused this effect.
But after I realised that if the bombcraters would have water in them, the half of the trench should be filled with water also, so I just rebuild the craters (a lot smaller than before)
Everything was painted with enamels, for the grass I used very cheap unknown brand, glued it to the base and spray painted the whole again. Strips of clothing was made from cosmetic tissues dipped in mixture of green paint and whiteglue.

I'll have to leave the stug's paintjob as it is, because of the shells already glued to it, and the whole being glued too firmly to the base. But for my next dio's I'll surely remember to ask you guys first before I screw up again!!!


thanks for all the info!!

Nice dio,
I like the bended drive sprocket from the Stug.
All that in 1/72? amazing!