Finally and just in time; here's my entry for the Ardennes Offensive Campaign.

It's called: "Wolf in sheep's clothing" and shows a German StuG III Ausf. G abandoned beside the N32 at Géromont. This as American vehicle disguised StuG was part of the Kampfgruppe Y (150 panzerbriagde under Skorzeny) and used for operation "Greif" with the main purpose to create chaos behind Allied lines.

GI's search it for laft behind crewmembers.



Their LT shouts at them: "Watch out for boobytraps, you hear me!!!"



As in original, this vehicle is showing a registration if it were a vehicle oft the USA Co.C 81st. Tk.Bn.
That's a mistake the Germans made, because that division was not even near the Ardennes that time.


The false sideskirts and some damage:


The whole thing.

Thanks for looking!
Watch the Campaign Gallery also!!
Comments and critics always welcome

Paul

Hey

Looks very good. 1 little thing: looks like you've forgotten the periscopes of the comannder's cupola.

Other than that all I see is a fine small diorama with a nice tank, well painted figures and also a nice idea behind the diorama!

Great campaign entry!

Martin

Thanks for the nice comment Martin!

And, no... I did not forget the periscopes of the comannder's cupola. It was simply not there on the reference pictures of both the 'American StuG's' I saw, so I didn't place it.

Paul

Paul, very cool scene you have here. The "American" Stugs are something we dont see very often. Kudo's for the rare build...its excellent work. Cheers Kevin

Good job. I build a Panther Ersatz for my AO entry but no dio.

Paul very well done , good job you have there, indeed the periscope i mis to but that should do nothing about the greatness of your work, and Alan your're panther is also good and nice looking even without a dio
Greetz
Eric

Nice job with figures

(++) 1:35

Thanks guys, for the nice comments!

Eric, as said before, those StuG's did not have periscopes.

Alan, that's a great looking Ersatz Panther indeed.
I like to build myself one also. Did you use an AM set, or did you srachbuilt some? I would like some tips on that

Paul

Hi Paul,

That is a beautiful build. Simple, clear yet concise and strong in theme. I've head of Panthers being disguised as American tanks but I never knew that they also used a Stug...until now.

Adding the bent armor skirts is a nice touch and adds to the overall effect of the dio. Are those from tin can? Photoetch? And what did you use for snow?

Congratulations on finishing this dio and the campaign.

Angela

Hey Angela!

Thanks for the nice comment! Yep, Skorzeny used StuG also (only 5).
Actually, he wanted to use real Shermans and other US equipment. But in the short notice he could only found good US softskins. He did found 2 Shermans, but both were not capable to join the conflict because of motortrouble.
He than used Panther's as M10, StuG's as "something that looked American" and also SdKfz 250 as "US halftracks"...

The picture below of the StuG is taken from the Osprey Book: Ardennes 1944, Peiper & Skorzeny.
In total I had 4 pictures as reference...
Notice the sideskirt bended
People please, also notice the lack of telescopes (and MG's as well), mentioned earlier in posts above. :-)


Snow
The snow I got from 043 aka Eric Verberne. It's some halfproduct from the plastic industry. It's grinded plastic, the kind they make garden chairs from, I guess. But it works great and you can apply it with some white glue (PA glue) and other kinds of glue. Eric and I experimented with it on both mine dio's (see my Seeing Red entry) and his beautifull Road to Bastogne '45.

Sideskirts
Sideskirts are made out of very thin polystyreen plastic sheets, simular to those of eg Evergreen products.
It's bended by heating it a little. The damage is an exact copy from the pictures I had. It seemed the skirts did simple "fall off" during use. I think it had to do with the low space between te ground and the skirts.

Thanks for you interest!

Paul

Addition:

Engine deck
The false engine deck is also made out of thin plastic plate and the 'curved' section is made out of cigaret paper, 'stolen' from one of my friends :-)
The paper was glued in position, than soaked with plastic glue, so it became very smooth.

Numbering
The numbering on the vehicle is also an exact copy of those on the pictures. It's made out of a combination of Verlindens US numbers and water decals. The stars are waterdecals
These StuG's did not have that beautifull little yellow triangle (for recognation by other Germans) on the back as the ersatz "M10" and some other US equipment . Why, I don't know. Perhaps the thing looked so German it was not needed.
:-) :-) :-)
Paul

Wow another great model