Howdy fellas,

a friend of mine ask me to build a diorama that consist of flak 43 (italeri), flak bunker (CD) and a few figures set from Legend Productions, CMK and DML.
He wanted that all the figures are in relax position and nobody is operating the gun. The figures all are in relaxed position. The DML figures set are the wafen SS Ardennes Offensive (ambush at Poteau) and the CMK set was 2 relaxed SS.
My question is, is it correct if the gun was operated by heer army instead of SS? since the DML and CMK figures were all SS set, will it correct if i painted them in heer uniform? and do heer army has cammo uniform??
would it be correct and possible if all the crew are heer army and should i left all the SS personel gears behind?

i just hope you will get my question, if not forgive me and pls ask anything that u didnt undestand.
thanks

You say you will use a FlaK bunker, which leads me to believe that this would be a 'proper' anti aircraft unit. (like the Berlin FlaK Turm's?) They were part of the artillery, not the SS. SS would have manned FlaK, but as part of the Armoured Divisions. I'm not sure but I don't think Artillery Flak crews wore much camouflage gear, as they where not usually near the front.

Cheers
Henk

If you want to have army figures instead of Waffen SS, then I would find different figures. The Ambush at Poteau guys are all wearing uniforms specific to the SS, and it won't look right if you just paint them in Heer camo. Heer troops had a camo smock/jacket, but it was different from the SS smock. The heer model has a hood, and is reversible from splinter or tan and water camo. Here's a pic of the heer model:



An interesting point about the Ambush at Poteau set, these guys are based off a series of photos of actual SS troops. The machine gunner happens to be wearing a pair of US trousers and what is believed to be some kind of US rain gear over his SS smock.
If you need references for uniforms check out this site:
www.1944militaria.com

Hi Henk and Evan, thanks for the reply

Henk, yes there will be a flak bunker in the dio. The Italeri flak was the ground type and not the one mounted on the halftrack.

All the figures and kits were purcahed by my friend and he wanted it that way (at first i suggested he get the newer Tristar flak) ... so looking at the replies, i think i got several posibilities..
1. the legend prod. figure is a heer army reading newspaper while the DML set were really SS which happen to passed by the bunker. and the two CMK resin figures will relax aroud the bunker as they're part of the DML troops. :-) :-) one of the CMK guys were molded on top of a wooden crate.
but this will leave only the heer guys reading the newspaper. Where are the other guys who was supposed to operate the gun - somebody will ask this. I dont know how many crew are for the flak 43.


2. get another figures set for the crews but keep the ss

3. modify the DML guys so that they will become heer but will it be major modification process or would it be impossible?

let's brainstorm

thanks once again

Hi Silantra

You seem to be having the same dilema Im having right now

Im planning a diorama around DML's flak 36 and wanted to do something different with the crew than painting them in the white/mouse grey uniforms as shown on the box art work .
I was thinking of setting the diorama in a late winter/ early spring with just a dusting of snow/frost so that everthing is not completely snowed under and wanted to show the crew in a mix of winter/cammo uniforms.

Ive never painted any german cammo on figures yet so thought this may be the ideal opportunity , but may have to use a little aristic licence and wait to get shot down by the wehrmacht uniform/colour police

But hey its all fun

last night after going through the spare box i found a few heer figures that would be nice to be included in the dio... and after doing some internet searching, i found out that the Flak 43 were operated by 6 crews...

so now if the SS guys would there as well??

hmm....

Trumpeter's 2nd set of Leopold crew are mostly in relaxed or informal poses with jackets off and shirtsleeves rolled up - if you're doing a summer dio. Incidentally, they are so non-descript that they would be useful for any artillery, SP, or infantry scene.

that's a good suggestion pal!
will consider it and will discuss with my friend if he like the ideas...

have to go to LHS then to see whether thay have the trumpeter set...i have the 1st set and i think only 1 or 2 guys will fit the scene

any more ideas are welcome...

thanks

Army camo pattern was very similar, if not identical, to Fallschirmjager 'splinter' pattern, and was used on their shelter quarters, reversible winter parkas/trousers, and the hooded reversible smock as illustrated above.

so do army artilerry crew really have cammo pattern uniform??i thought it was the infantry that have cammo uniform..

Good question. Artillery wore the same basic uniform as infantry, and in winter would be issued the same cammo parkas ( a mixture of field-gray/white/splinter patterns).. Most pics I've seen of summer action has the crew either wearing the army tunic, shirtsleeve order, or even bare top in really hot weather. They were obviously allowed a great degree of license in their dress, as they dressed for comfort. Anti-tank units, on the other hand, were much more formal as they were in the front lines, and, if they were not in a static position, were supposed to wear their gear as well as their rifles, for either defense, a retreat, or advance. And getting back to subject, also wore whichever uniform was current among the infantry.

I think that in this case the theatre were you're FlaK is placed will determine the uniform and personal equipment of the crew. If you are depicting a FlaK in Germany, like to defend a city or factory, I feel that they would not be wearing camouflage or indeed battle equipment. If your dio will be set on for example the Atlantic Wall, it would be different as that would have been considered ' front line'. A thing to remeber is that FlaK crew would have their personal equipment close at hand, but would not wear it...not easy to run around re-loading the gun with your gasmask can banging around or with a Mauser slung over your shoulder.. .
I think a crew dressed in basic trousers and shirt, with their equipment neatly ( they are afterall German and not American..) stacked to the side would be most realistic, and make for a pleasing looking dio.

Cheers
Henk

good point biggles and henk...

so now i think the bunker will be in german...and the passing SS have a rest and chat with the army while some of ther army are gone.. hahaha...

i will try to put the dio as simple as possible...so i will paint the army with regular field grey and have cammo on the SS..

any comments??

:-) :-) :-)

Sounds good, and logical.

thanks biggles....

will posed some photos when they're ready