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Grossdeutschland (and their Soviet opponents) Summer 1942

Posted by MikeRC97 on 23 Nov 2017, 13:55

Thanks Peter! It appears that yesterday the Photobucket links were working again - I'm could see my old pics on other threads I have here as well as on other sites. But today they're broken again. At least with the PB links fixed on the old posts those pics are now showing again so thank you for fixing those.

So if I wanted to change the links in the old post to the new pics I have on imgur can I send you a PM with the image urls in the exact order they should go? I realize that is a lot of work for you but I would like to improve the quality of the old posts with new pics.
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Posted by Peter on 23 Nov 2017, 18:23

PM send! ;-)
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Peter  Belgium

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Posted by MikeRC97 on 30 Sep 2018, 16:16

Hard to believe it has been almost a year since my last update but I’m finally back with some new models in the form of a Rapid Fire company of Panzer IVs.

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In Spring of 1942 the newly formed Grossdeutschland motorized infantry division received a tank battalion with three companies. The first company was made up of Panzer IVs while the second and third companies had Panzer IIIs. In the first company, the tanks of the first and second platoons were the new long barreled Panzer IV F2, while the third platoon fielded the short barreled Panzer IV F1

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These models are the original Dragon Panzer IV F2 (kit 7359) and F1 (kit 7321) and they are fantastic. In the past year Dragon released new Panzer IV models in 1/72 but those models are simplified fast build kits (at full Dragon prices of course). I picked up these older kits years ago before they became impossible to find and I’m glad I did - these models have tons of detail but are not tedious to assemble.

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The reason it took me so long to paint these tanks has to do with the color scheme. In some of the older posts in this thread I explained (in a lot of detail) my struggle to airbrush the two tone soft edge camouflage scheme of the Grossdeutschland tanks in Russia in summer of 1942. After many attempts, I finally got to the point where I felt good about the results I was getting with my airbrush, but I didn’t really like the color scheme. In the end I decided to paint the models in Panzer grey and I’m happy with the way they turned out

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I used aftermarket decals made by Echelon Fine Details specifically for the unique markings used by first company of the Grossdeutschland tank battalion. Instead of the usual German three digit vehicle markings, the GD first company used vertical bars to signify platoon number and a single digit for tank number within the platoon.

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I went light on the weathering, particularly the chipping. When the division made its combat debut in summer of 1942 during operation “Case Blue” the tank battalion was a newly formed unit - most of the tanks were the latest model Panzer IIIs and Panzer IVs fresh from the assembly line.

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There was one issue with these kits – the DS tracks. I prefer one piece tracks to link and length and the Dragon styrene tracks are really excellent both in terms of detail and assembly (they can be glued with plastic cement). On one end of the tracks there is a small tab that lacks details – unfortunately the tracks are so short that the tab is visible where the tracks meet, creating a gap. I placed the join on the top of the return rollers just beneath the fenders so the gap isn’t that visible. The tracks and road wheels are suitably dirty but not caked in mud; the photo history shows a hot dry summer in Southern Russia in 1942

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That’s all for now, any comments or feedback are appreciated.
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Posted by Wiking on 30 Sep 2018, 16:51

The numbering system is for sure unusual.

I agree fully with you the actual Dragon output is on the lower end.
And on top:
MikeRC97 wrot:
... models are simplified fast build kits (at full Dragon prices of course).

:eh:

Look very nice done and paint, the grey steel wall.
Nice that you paint for contrast the wooden parts not in grey too.
And real handles on the turret roof! Not like the very often seen mold on things.
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Posted by MikeRC97 on 21 Dec 2018, 03:19

I'm back with a small update. Back in 2014 the Zvezda catalog included an upcoming "Art of Tactic" set number 6182 German Anti Tank Team 1939-43. This unreleased set was removed from the 2015 catalog but then surprisingly reappeared this year with a new set number 6216.

I didn't need an anti-tank rifle for my Germans; by 1942 the 7.92mm Panzerbuchse 38 was obsolete. I decided to convert the AT rifleman to a prone bipod MG gunner, which is a pose that Zvezda never produced. Here is the converted figure along with the unmodified assistant from the same set.

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The machine-gun comes from the Dragon set 7374 7.5cm PaK 40 + 3.7cm PaK 35/36 with Gun Crew. This set includes an awesome crew of multi-piece figures and two sprues of 1/72 weapons and equipment. On each weapon sprue there is one MG34 and one MG42 (which I used here), neither of which includes an ammo belt so I added a scratch built ammo drum. I also repositioned the hand holding the stock as the stock for the Panzerbuchse 38 is much larger.

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The only negative about the Dragon MG42 is that both sides of the barrel jacket are identical. The left side should be completely open as this was the side where the gun barrel was removed and replaced when it over-heated. On the Dragon model the left side of the jacket barrel is vented like the right side. I'm nitpicking here but given that the MG42 is the arguably most famous weapon of World War II Dragon really should have gotten this detail right.

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Close-up of the other figure, as usual Zvezda has produced beautiful figures with tons of detail such as the folds in his trousers. This set was a nice surprise in 2018, but bittersweet in that the beauty of the figures make me sad that Zvezda has moved away from producing 1/72 figures.

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That's all for now, as always any feedback is appreciated.
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Posted by Bluefalchion on 21 Dec 2018, 05:46

Should the assistant gunner have the spare barrels and toolkit and a sidearm instead of a rifle?
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Posted by Bluefalchion on 21 Dec 2018, 05:47

And, I should add, I really like your conversion. And the painting, too. Zvezda, come back!
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Posted by MikeRC97 on 21 Dec 2018, 15:00

Bluefalchion wrote:Should the assistant gunner have the spare barrels and toolkit and a sidearm instead of a rifle?


You are correct, I did not modify the second figure as single based figures are always useful for "making change" when playing wargame rules with casualty removal but at some point I do need to convert a prone assistant gunner.
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Posted by KenzoSato on 21 Dec 2018, 16:10

fantastic, good job
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Posted by MikeRC97 on 06 Jun 2020, 21:59

It has been a while but I finally have an update, a Rapid Fire company of Panzer IIIs. As I mentioned in the post about the Panzer IVs, in the Spring of 1942 Grossdeutschland received a tank battalion with three companies - one company of Panzer IVs and two companies of Panzer IIIs.

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The Grossdeutschland photo history has many pictures of the GD Panzer IVs from the Summer of 1942 but only one picture of a Panzer III and unfortunately it is of the rear of the tank so it does not give any indication of the variant. Based on the fact that the newly formed GD Panzer battalion received the newest model of Panzer IV I assumed the same was also true of their Panzer IIIs. In the Spring of 1942 the newest model of the Panzer III was the Panzer III J with the long barreled 50mm cannon (as seen in the original post of this topic).

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The long barrel was not the only improvement made to the Panzer III in early 1942, the other change was the addition of vorpanzer (spaced armor) to the front of the hull and the turret mantlet. From what I have read the mantlet armor plate was not widely available in the Summer of 1942 so many of the tanks only received the mounting frame (there are many pictures of Panzer IIIs in 1942 with the mantlet frame missing the armor plate). I wanted to model the mantlet that way but in the kit the armor plate and the mounting frame are a single piece so I decided to just keep it as is.

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Beginning in the Spring of 1942 the side vision ports were removed from the turret of Panzer IIIs on the production line. The Grossdeutschland Panzer IIIs probably had turret side vision ports but I used the Dragon model of the Panzer III L (kit 7385) that does not have them because I wanted a kit that included the spaced armor. As it so happens the Dragon model of the Panzer III J (kit 7372) is the exact same kit with the vision ports included on the frame. Oh well, at least the smooth surface on turret of this model made it easier to apply the decals.

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The kits went together easily but there was one issue and it was the same problem I had with the Panzer IVs, the Dragon Styrene tracks are too short. Once again I tried to hide the gap by placing the join just beneath the fenders but it is really annoying that Dragon makes the tracks too short when it would so much better if the tracks were too long so you could either trim them or model them with sag.

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With this company of tanks I have completed a 250 point Rapid Fire battlegroup (using the revised RF point system from 2015). And best of all, Zvezda has some new "Art of Tactic" sets coming out this year so there will be more to come but first I need to finish four more T-34s to get the Soviet battlegroup up to 250 points
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Posted by C M Dodson on 07 Jun 2020, 07:41

Excellent work.

I love the dusty running gear.

Best wishes,

Chris
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Posted by T. Dürrschmidt on 07 Jun 2020, 10:10

Very good work. I think you could use some additional drybrushing in light grey over the edges. It helps to define.
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T. Dürrschmidt  Germany
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Posted by MikeRC97 on 02 May 2021, 18:25

I’m back with an update to the Grossdeutschland force. Both GD rifle regiments included a “heavy” battalion with a self-propelled anti-aircraft company, a motorized infantry gun company and a self-propelled anti-tank company. Eventually I want to model each company but I’m starting with the infantry gun company.

The motorized infantry gun company included one section of heavy infantry guns (150mm sIG33) and one section of light infantry guns (75mm leIG18). Pictured below are the guns and their prime movers. I previously modeled the light infantry gun using Zvezda set 6156; the prime mover for the gun is the Krupp Protze Kfz 69 (Dragon kit 7419). The heavy infantry gun is S-Model kit PS720190 with crew from Dragon kit 7374, the prime mover is the Demag D7 Sd.Kfz 10 (Special Armour kit 7210).

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I posted pics of the leIG18 earlier in this thread, here is close up of the new Kfz 69. I already have a Krupp Protze made by Caesar Miniatures (kit 7203) which can be seen on page 1 of this thread. I picked up the Dragon version because I wanted to see how it compared to Caesar model. As I mentioned in the post about the Caesar kit, that model has over 100 parts and is incredibly detailed as it seems to be a 1/72 copy of the Tamiya 1/35 Krupp Protze. The Dragon kit is very detailed but has fewer parts and was much easier to build.

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The Stalhelm divisional markings are not from the kit, those came from my stash. There should be tactical markings on the left side of the vehicle but I don’t have the decals or the patience to attempt freehand in this scale.

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In terms of details, both kits are very close – here is a side by side comparison. I like the Dragon kit better because it was much easier to assemble but the Caesar kit is less expensive.

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Here is a close up of the sIG33. The S-Model kit is beautifully detailed and was fairly easy to build. The kit comes with two identical models of the gun, which is a good thing, because some of the small thin parts snapped when I was cleaning up the sprue attachment points.

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The S-Model version of the sIG33 features the steel wheels with rubber tires used for vehicle towing. Caesar Miniatures also makes a 1/72 sIG33, which features the all steel wheels used for horse towing. I picked up the Caesar kit years ago, but being a motorized infantry division Grossdeutschland would not have used that version of the gun, so when the S-Model kit came out I picked one up right away. I have not assembled the Caesar version but in comparing the parts on the sprue, the S-Model version appears to have better details. The Caesar model looks more like a wargame kit but with a large part count like a scale model.

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The S-Model kit does not include a crew so I added figures from Dragon kit 7374 PaK 40 + PaK 36 with Gun Crew. The figures in the Dragon kit are scaled down versions of the 1/35 figures in Dragon kit 6433 PaK 40 with Heer Gun Crew and kit 6795 leFH 18/40 with Gun Crew. The figures are multi-part, which made them a bit of a chore to assemble, but they have very sharp details which made them very easy to paint.

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The figure holding the ramrod is a minor conversion (I repositioned the left hand). The ramrod is not included in the kit, it came from a Zvezda Napoleonic artillery set - I just removed the sponge from one end. It might seem anachronistic, but there are contemporary pictures of the crews of WWII German howitzers and heavy infantry guns using ramrods to load the guns.

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Besides being tedious to assemble, my only other complaint about these Dragon figures is that they are slightly over sized for 1/72. It would make sense to have the biggest, strongest soldiers in the battalion manning this gun as the high explosive shell fired by the sIG33 weighed 38kg/84 lb. It must have been exhausting to load this gun repeatedly in combat.

I like these figures for the sIG33 because it looks like they are preparing the gun for direct fire in close support of the infantry companies, a likely occurrence during Grossdeutschland’s assaults on Soviet defensive positions in 1942 (and in Kursk in 1943).

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The final addition to the German force is a new Sd.Kfz 10. I posted pictures of the Caesar Miniatures version of the Demag D7 half-track (kit 7204) earlier in this thread. Below is the Special Armour version, which is a re-release of the MK72 kit which is now out of production. The plastic in this kit is different from the hard plastic most models are made from, it is very similar to the softer plastic used by Italeri for their models (even the color of the sprues is the same as the Italeri yellow plastic).

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The original MK72 kit featured one-piece plastic tracks which were designed to be wrapped around the interleaved road wheels. Those tracks are on one of the yellow sprues from the original MK72 kit. The Special Armour kit comes with a new sprue in a dark grey plastic which includes replacement tracks, I’m not sure why. I was a bit nervous that the tracks would break during assembly, but I had no issues whatsoever. This made the entire build much easier than the Caesar Miniatures version which includes link and length tracks that were a pain to assemble.

The decals included with the kit include multiple license plate options, tactical markings for an anti-tank unit (which I did not use) and a single decal dashboard instrument panel. Unfortunately the decals are not well made, they tore apart easily. I was able to salvage the speedometer portion of the dashboard decal which is visible in the picture below.

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The Special Armour kit does not include a plastic windshield (the Dragon Krupp Protze kit does, the Ceasar Miniatures kits do not). I’m not a very good modeler so I did not attempt to scratch build plastic windshields. I did replace the axe on the front fender with a smaller axe from the Dragon Kfz 69 kit, the smaller axe appears in pictures I found online of actual Demags.

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Here is a side by side comparison of the Caesar and Special Armour models. I prefer the Special Armour version, both models are nicely detailed but the Special Armour kit goes together better and has more accurate details such as the front grill.

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The last update is that I decided to replace the Pak38 conversion on page 1 of this thread with a straight out of the box Plastic Soldier Company Pak38. I was never happy with that kit bash of the PSC Pak38 and the gun from the Caesar SdKfz 10 with Pak38 as the latter was way too big. While I was updating the gun I also replaced the right hand on the figure loading the gun and the 50mm round (the figure was originally holding a flamethrower). Here are pictures of the old version and the new version.

Before

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After

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That's all for now. As always, any comments or feedback are appreciated.
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Posted by C M Dodson on 02 May 2021, 18:55

Fantastic modelling as always.

These men and vehicles etc are always brilliant and look as if they have just driven out of history into the forum.

Excellent .

Best wishes,

Chris
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Posted by Peter on 02 May 2021, 20:03

Wonderfull work again! I love every part of it: figures, guns and vehicles! :thumbup:
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Posted by MikeRC97 on 16 Jul 2022, 16:54

I'm not completely finished with Summer 1942 but I've decided to start working on Summer 1943. Here is the first addition to my Grossdeutschland force for 1943, a Pak40 anti-tank gun.

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The gun model is from Dragon kit 7374, the crew is from Zvezda set 6257 (which also includes a 1/72 Pak40 model).

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The gun model is very detailed as to be expected from a Dragon kit, but was not difficult to assemble. I painted the gun in Dunkelgelb (dark yellow) which the Germans adopted for all vehicles and guns in early 1943.

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The Dragon kit includes 5 figures (4 of which I used for my sig33 model) but the poses are much more suited to a field gun whereas the Zvezda models were designed as a Pak40 crew. There are contemporary pictures of German anti-tank gun crews sitting on the gun's trails waiting for a target.

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The other new unit for 1943 is a forward observer team with a Kübelwagen transport.

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The figure on the left is from Zvezda set 6153 German Reconnaissance Team, the figure on the right is from Zvezda set 6106 German Machinegun MG-34 with Crew and the Kübelwagen is from S-Model kit 720082.

The S-Model kit comes with 2 models of the VW type 82 Kübelwagen, both of which I painted (the second will be the transport for a Battlegroup Kursk German forward HQ).

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This is my second S-Model kit and as with the sig33 kit I found thin pieces snapped easily during assembly. The decals you see here are not included with the kit, these came from my stash.

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Here is the start of my first force for Battlegroup Kursk, a German Infantry Division battlegroup.

Although Grossdeutschland was a Panzegrenadier Division in 1943 the Panzer regiments and the Panzegrenadier regiments usually operated separately during the battle of Kursk. Grossdeutschland infantry often had to hold captured ground in the face of repeated Soviet counter-attacks, particularly in the last few days of the offensive. I started with the infantry as I had most of the units done already from my 1942 Rapid Fire force.

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The first row of the battlegroup includes the forward observer team seen earlier in this post, a three figure forward HQ and a two figure comms relay team. The next four rows of figures are a Grenadier platoon, which will also be a Panzegrenadier platoon for the armored battlegroup I have planned. All of the figures except for the forward observer team are from the 1942 Rapid Fire force seen on page 1 of this thread. The units in the last row are four optional platoon support units - the Pak40 seen earlier in this post, a medium mortar team, a heavy MG team and an infantry gun (which is not a support option for a Panzegrenadier platoon).

That's all for now, still to come for this battlegroup is a squadron of StuG IIIs and then it is on to the Panzegrenadier battlegroup and the big cats I have in my stash.
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Posted by Minuteman on 16 Jul 2022, 20:37

Very good modelling and presentation, well done!

Are you planning to weather the vehicles and guns a bit more? They look a little 'clean'....

The 'Dunkelgelb' shade you are using looks very convincing. Which brand paint is this?
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Posted by MikeRC97 on 16 Jul 2022, 23:11

Minuteman wrote:The 'Dunkelgelb' shade you are using looks very convincing. Which brand paint is this?


The base is Vallejo Model Air Dark Yellow 025, to that base I add Vallejo Model Air Light Brown 027 for the highlights.
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Posted by Rich W on 17 Jul 2022, 23:16

Very nice work! I like the bases, simple but effective. How do you get the earth texture looking as good as it does?
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Posted by MikeRC97 on 18 Jul 2022, 02:44

Rich W wrote:Very nice work! I like the bases, simple but effective. How do you get the earth texture looking as good as it does?


Thanks Rich - I actually detailed the process in this thread:

http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=21427&p=236143#p236143

The process is a bit laborious but I like how it looks.
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