Hi,
I have read many threads on Armorama about what people want to see come out from Dragon and other kit makers. Personally I'm happy with what I see and I realize that companies will continue to make what will sell profitably.
That said, I buy German and I have stated so in many a thread during my time here. Here are some of those reasons:
-more good kits on the market
-German stuff looks nicer
-yes, the Allies won, but their stuff is ugly
-I understand that companies will only make stuff that will sell, and German stuff sells in its biggest market (Eastern Asia)
-some of the stuff I want is coming out, I am willing to be patient

I am a happy modeller and I am basking in new stuff that is coming from all the companies.

I like speculating sometimes about what may come from a kit maker and enjoy make a list to drool over stuff in plastic, but I'd take some thought about what will sell. German is the BIG thing in Military Modelling, especially in the biggest market as I mentioned above.

Lastly, I will continue to buy German, more variety and types of color and shapes that keep my hobby juices flowing.

Happy Modelling to all

Chris Streeter- German Armor and Figure builder

For me the attraction to all things German seems to boil down to what I call "The Boogy Man Effect". We all "know" what our own national stuff looks like, so we like to build other things. That why I also like Russian/Soviet and Israeli subjects. Yeah the camo schemes are more appealing than straight Olive Drab, and I like the menacing look of a lot of the German stuff too.

I hate German stuff, especially late war three-or-whatever tones camo, they used something like three colours for their vehicles and early panzer gray- and thats it. As far as German things are concerned I can tolerate only early panzergrau vehicles. That said...

Firstly look at the palette of colours Allied vehicles wore: early war Polish stuff: different patterns, dark yellow, brown, red brown, slate, something like OD green also, then the French vehicles: different camo patterns, hard/soft edged, yellow green, brown, some had black parting lines I think? Later there's array of colours for British and Allied equipment in Africa: slate, silver grey, terracote light stone caunters, then blue-black/ ligt stone/ pink shemes and some light stone with gren over it sometimes with black/white parting lines, not counting the crazy colours LRDG used on their vehicles :-). Then you have a variety of camo shemes for Allied armor in Italy... NW Europe had some black over OD or green or just plain OD. How many colors did you counted? Certainly more than four... It's all a matter of your personal preferences.

Variety of shapes? Well.. No, German stuff has a variety of Ausf's but if you count major shapes they are far fewer than Allied vehicles, simply because there were more nations involved on the Allied side, I'd even say British tanks and trucks alone can equal german stuff in the variety of shapes...

For you allied armor can be ugly- fine by me, but I will still prefer a Matilda MK II in caunter sheme over say, Panther in three tone camo. For example for me the Tiger is the most boring tank in the world at least by the look of it- its a big box- just that. So again it's down to personal preferences.

The conclusion is that there are no solid arguments for modeling German armed forces, maybe excluding technical edge over the Allies(but remember, this was also the factor that led to Germanys defeat). All other pros and cons for either side are purely subjective

Cheers
Greg

Hi Greg,
Okay, so you do not like German stuff. That is alright by me. BUT! I started this to say why I like German stuff. If someone else likes it too, they should post here.
Three tone or Panzer Grey suit me fine. And the more models/ausfuhrungen the better.
I guess by your reply that you are saying that the Allies had great paint schemes and that you like it. Okay, I grant you that, but I do not care for that myself. I would never argue with someone about what they like, all thoughts on model building are welcome to me. I just do not share your view on things.
'nuff said!
My favorite things to paint and build are:
-SS camo schemes: fall oakleaf, fall plain tree, both peadot patterns and the Italian camo scheme.
-trying to paint all the different colors of Field Grey(even mixed up my own olive brown for one of the M44 uniform shades.)
-building and painting the different rifles, machineguns, mortars, AT guns and field pieces of the Wehrmacht.
-I love doing marching or resting figures
-I also "dirty-up" my figures, clean soldiers in the field look fake(especially after combat)
-I do both 1/35th and 1/16th, the larger scale helps me to do detail on smaller stuff

Those are a few more reasons why I build German.

Chris

For me, I just like changing....but always in 1/35 or 54 mm...
Starting with a retreating group of SS in Parkas from Kharkov, then I swtich to Varsity paras covering wounded friends, and hop I jump to Russian cossacks horse riders rushing on german pak 40 position.
My only problem is that I 've never (really never !) totally finished a dio !

Shame on me, I may try psychanalyst...
But I must admit german tanks are somewhat cooler than allied one, for me, subjective choice ! Even the Allied tankers during the ww2 were fascinating by german monsterss...

Best to you all,

Julien

Easy now...beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
Personnaly, I think the Spitfire in one of the most elegant planes ever built. Might agree with you though when it comes to armor.
Gary

Hi Guys!
Here's the deal for me.....I love to model just about any WWII vehicle that tickles my fancy...It just so happens that more WWII German vehicles catch my eye than Allied vehicles. I did just get the DML British Bishop SP Gun and I have a few Allied Tanks (M4A1, Firefly Vc, M18 Hellcat, Stuart Honey, etc.)

I have a lot of Russian stuff from Trumpeter and DML and am really looking forward to building the KVII.

It really all started for me in the late 60's with the early Tamiya models that were, at the time, unique. Monogram had the 1/32 scale Panzer IV variants but Tamiya had the huge Tiger, King Tiger, and Hunting Tiger, not to mention the 251 Ausf. C and all of the 1/35 figures which, then, were state of the art.

Now with all of the DML,AFV Club, and Trumpeter releases of rare and unique German vehicles (Trumpeter Sturer Emil for example) I've had to take out a 2nd Mortgage on my house to pay for all of the models I've bought in the last two years. PLEASE don't tell my wife!

I just ordered the AFV 3-in-one (3 complete kits in one box) Sd. Kfz. 251set.
I have both the Dragon and AFV Club variants of most of the 251 halftracks they've released. The Drilling is my favorite.


Bottom line for me is the "exoticness" of WWII German armor. It just catches the eye somehow. I'm not ashamed to admit that my collection is 2/3 German and 1/3 Allied.
That's just how it is...just like you are drawn to different types of women or cars or sports;that's how it is with modelling.

Jeff

Gday Chris
Built a Sherman lately?! They sure are purdy
Have a question up your alley
Bought the first German figs ever today...
The Fallen comrade: Aachen set...
Bought it as it would work perfect for the Allied push into Germany to have some injured defenders of the Reich...
First impressions were WOW!
They are quite crisply moulded and even the faces have more character than usual!
Well worth the $11 AU...
Now, what is the pattern on the smock thingy one of them is wearing? He is in one of the best poses I have seen to date...
Cheers
Brad