Just posting here to see if you guys have any comments or crits.
Pak 40 and crew with homemade ground mat'ls.

From Here:

To Here:

To where I'm currently at:



My next stage was to put down the plaster of paris ground layer and get the underbrush in there...though thinking about it, I need to figure out what would make some good ground layers...any suggestions?

Thanks,
Dee

Hi Dee. Very nice first effort. One constructive comment, I don't think the figure behind the gun would be there with the tube recoiling! Gonna hurt a bit when it hits him!

Oh, the loader is currently missing his load. Thanks for thinking of that though.

It's looking good, what kind of ground work are you doin? mud would look cool with ruts for the tires and the little bulldozer things that stop the cannon from re-coiling whatever they're called. keep up the good work

Well, I'm not entirely sure what the ground will be like, I'm very open to suggestions. The gun and crew are muddy and the the bushes and trees are dark and somewhat brown also.

Ruts for the tires are definitely a good suggestion...I'll be sure to include those.

Hi Dee,
I read something about the artillery men to wet the ground near the gun so that it doesn't do too much dust when the gun fires -so I guess you wouldn't loose anything to do a very wet ground -why not try and so some depressions out of Celluclay or Plaster of Paris, embed a few grasses of the Heki kind and then fill those depression with a strong varnish or even several coats of Future?
just a few suggestions

Hi Dee,
Good work so far, I like that you've gone for a dio with the gun in recoil, I don't think i've seen this before so top marks for originality! However, Ive just built a Pak 40 and I'm unsure as to whether the gun would recoil quite that much? I could be wrong so i'll leave it for someone else to pass judgement. Also i'd say that the guncrew would have turned away from the gun when it fired to avoid, dust and smoke in the eyes etc.
Good work on the trees, they look pretty realistic, Id suggest a groundwork combination of static grass mud and small bushes and plants, something that shouldn't cause you any problems with your scrathbuilding skills!

James

Heh, whoops. I wasn't realizing that it wouldn't be fully recoiled when they reloaded it. That's a mistake on my part...beginner's luck? I don't think so, more like beginner's error.

Well, that leaves me with options now. Either I forget about the error and write it off as a mistake in an early dio, and keep with the loading theme.

Or, I can try to reconfigure my crew. To do that I'd need some reference pics, which I couldn't find looking for a bit just now. And then I'd need to figure out how to reposition their body parts, most likely. I'd probably be up to either, depending on what info I can get my hands on.

And heki, or static grass? Or both? Sheperd Paine recommends unraveled hemp rope...too

Thanks for the replies
Dee

Hi Dee,
Firstly, i'm afraid you can't really show them loading the gun in that position as it would never have happened, therefore i'd suggest showing them preparing to load once the shot has finished firing. Alternatively you could remove the barrel and attach it in the normal position.
When building my Pak 40 I did loads of searching on the internet and found no pics of a gun actually in recoil. However, there is a video ( here ) on you tube which includes some renactors firing a Pak 40 that should give you some idea of how the crew behaved during firing.
Please note though that these are renactors and they aren't firing real shells and are not being shot at and so it is'nt 100% accurate but probably as good as we can get these days!

Hope this helps,

James

cool video ... if those uniforms are authentic,then this is a great reference source ..thanks!!
.

Careful Mike!
As mentioned these are modern day reenactors and its more than likely that the uniforms are modern reproductions. Adding to that the poor quality of the film i'd say that its not a hugely reliable source for uniform colour (Plus the guys on the Hetzer at the start aren't even wearing german uniforms) . If you do some research there are much more reliable sources out there. However, it is a great resource regarding how the equipment would sit on a soldier as he moves etc. and as mentioned, a soldiers pose when interacting with the Pak or the AFV's as this would be relatively unchanged over time.

James

Yeah, I'll have to figure out what to do about that...

Actually, I think that there were some Pak 40's in the movie A Bridge Too Far...weren't there? I don't own it though, so I can't double check.

Hi,
I really don't know anything about PAK's and usage of them,
but my first impression was that the trees and bushes are to much encircling the PAK.
How is it towed in there, how is the freedom of movement for the crew ?
Not a lot of place to move i think.

Cheers
Claude

I do beleive that there were some Pak 40's in A bridge to far, defending the road the british armoured column is moving along (the wide bit!)
Its a great film so i'd get hold of it anyway, just don't use the 'german' tanks for reference as they blatantly aren't!

James

great video, especially the part where the German falls, that didn't look like it was planned :-). I'm currently working on a PAK 40 dio too, so the video helped, what would a PAk 40 do to brush that was close to the muzzle brake when it was fired.
P.S. Their are PAK 40's in "A Bridge Too Far"