Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Nice work. When it comes to "what ifs", World War II is a favorite subject of mine.



Oh, and the official German designation of the Soviet T-70 was "Pz. Kpfw. T-70 743(r)".

Heh, aye I remembered the name of that thing after I posted this thread ...but you try editing a post with that many pictures on the first page.

Anyhow, more crap being painted. I've ran out of brown paint however. ...Even though I just bought some of it yesterday. Ah, I may have painted up a table's worth of muddy roads then (the texture's three layers of water effects mixed with sand and brown paint).

And I'm powering through some more armour.

Lowe



The Lowe was one of Germany's earlier attempts at a Super Heavy Tank. Intended to support Tiger I units as a command vehicle as well as a breakthrough Tank. The Lowe was supposed to integrate parts of the Tiger and Panther designs, though it never left the drawing board. Rather the Fuhrer cancelled further development in favour of even larger tanks.

This represents the command vehicle of the 4th Company, thus the simplified numbering system.



A Tamiya 1/48th Scale Elefant kit was the donor for the tracks and lower hull - the rest's plasticard or milliput. There's a lot of inconsistencies between this and the original proposals, though seeing as nobody's commercially making one of these in 1/56th I feel like I can take liberties. Its a bit bigger than it should be I think, but not like anyone will care ("hey, that's a weird looking Panther...").






Beutepanzer KV-1



Yet another Soviet vehicle seeing use in German service. This one is perhaps a bit more involved from a mechanical standpoint; having been upgunned with the 75mm gun from a Panzer IV. By the late 40s this would have been a thoroughly obsolete vehicle when facing off against most modern vehicles; being too slow and under armed to compete.



A Warlord KV-1 with the gun, mantlet and cupola off of a Rubicon Panzer IV (I have a load of those spare). The commander's by Warlord, the stowage and guy hitching a ride are by Die Waffenkammer. I saw the original vehicle which this is based on a while ago and with Warlord's plastic KV-1 kit coming out thought I'd give it a go. Not that radical conversion (nor completely accurate - the real one had the gun recessed into the existing mantlet), just something I threw together whilst making more road sections.

Eugh, and screw painting Balkenkreuz on white backgrounds...




VK 903 Mit Pak 42



There's not much to go on with this one besides just some pictures in Panzer Tracks I found. A Panzer II Luchs mounting a 75mm gun out of a Panther. I can't make comment on the viability of this concept, and well it didn't make it further than a wooden mockup. The Germans tried sticking massive guns in all kind of light chassis, so something must have made sense for them to keep trying it. Post-War the French did something similar, though featuring auto-loaders; so perhaps the concept was just ahead of its time.

...That or just incredibly stupid. Lemme stick a 128mm onto a 38(d). Wait, I think they tried that.



A Warlord Panzer II Luchs with a spare Panther 7.5cm gun and a load of plasticard. Another easy one to build. I like how this thing looks; like a Late-War Marder.

Terrific thread. I'd like to see more infantry and fewer armoured vehicles, although I can see that's where your heart really lies.

R.

Really enjoying a vastly different blog. Love the sculpting and weathering. Consider me subbed and onboard, Skipper!

Love all the crazy late war concepts the germans made, that Luchs with panther gun looks great. Great modification work.

Will you make some of the most ridiculous waffentragers based on the 38t chassis?
Like the one mounting a 15cm!

@ precinctomega

I've found that I'm playing Tank Wars style games more often than not with this stuff, so its easier to just make more vehicles. That and the kits are much easier to slap together most of the time than sculpting all the infantry. I've a load of unpainted guys though, and if I ever get around to them there's some half built Vichy French in NBC suits sitting under a pile of tat.

@ Bash the Bosh

Thanks for the support. I'm not 100% sure I'll make one, but I've been eyeing up this beastie to give to the British.



@ Illumini

I did make a set of these a while back...



Recently I've been looking at them and thinking about making the scout version of the 38 (d). Either with the Sd.Kfz 222 turret, or 75mm gun in a Stummel style mount (the later's what they settled on for the production vehicle). Those tracks were for a particular Waffentrager which they did actually build, so I'd need to go back and change the position of the front drive a bit to be accurate.





They were wanting to use that chassis for loads of junk by the end of the war of course. I've steered away from making self propelled guns with open crew compartments as I'm not into making the crews and all the little details.

I was playing a game today with these models, but felt like rushing in some last minute tanks.

The plan originally was to buy some Panzer IVs and turn them into a concept which gave them sloped armour and a simplified turret. What I actually bought was three Panzer IIIs. ...Because that's a thing people do.

Well I'm a big fan of this thread, so nicked an idea.

Panzer III SII Ausf. A








I left them with their original guns instead of 75mms for ease of using them as regular Panzer IIIs in games. There's not much else I was really willing to do with them to be honest as the Panzer III by 1945 was an entirely obsolete chassis. I could have done something weird with them, but hey, I'm forever short on light tanks, so a Zug of Panzer IIIs helps to fill out the numbers.

Their Rubicon Panzer IIIs + plasticard. The engine air intakes come off of a Rubicon Panther (I just press molded some copies out of Oyamuru and milliput). Stowage is by Die Waffenkammer and Rubicon.



I'll see if I can manage to post some pictures of the game at some point (I left the camera in the van,and CBA going out this late to get it)

What a fantastic blog! An incredible array of converted vehicles, well-painted figures and a ton of backstory that makes all the connections to make sense. Your winter weathering/camo is particularly effective- I can feel the cold rolling off those figures. The stowage is accurate for the vehicle type and correctly placed- so many modelers stick something on because it looks cool, or because there's room; not many realize that packs, tools, reserve ammunition, etc, had to be accessible and usually in the easiest place to reach. No one who has served on armored vehicles is going to put something they use frequently any further away than they have to from where they ride.

Great work, and I look forward to developments unfolding!

The thing about WWII German vehicles is that for a lot of the Late-War they were in retreat. Retreating means that you're near supply lines, so there's no need to carry as much stowage (that and well, if there's no logistical support then maybe there's nothing to stow).

That, and well yeah, most people can't be arsed buying stowage sets. I personally just like showing tat all over my tanks, though I guess thematically it shows that the German's aren't in as bad a position as they were in the real world.

...And I've been trying to find the packs of guitars I bought ages ago for a while. Oh and bicycles. Youknow, loot to take home for the kids.

Strong supply or no- you're spot on: GI's of any nationality will do what they can to make themselves as comfortable as they can- whether it is issue items or things 'liberated' from the surrounding countryside or things they've cobbled up themselves.

I saw a T-62 Iraqi tank in Kuwait shortly after Desert Storm that had a living room couch lashed to the back deck. It seemed to be fastened so tightly that it wasn't intended to be dismounted each time the tank laagered up- it appears the crew were in the habit of hanging out on their vehicle when not actively on the move. I imagine they strung a sunshade from their radio aerial and were as comfortable as they could be, given the circumstances.

Of course, the couch only seated three, so low man probably had to sit on the edge of the turret- another universal constant: sh*t rolls downhill.

I've been short on time this week, but here's what I've managed. Nothing's been painted, just another round of new stuff.

A Leopard Scout vehicle. Warlord put up an article on how to make one of these a while back, though its innacurate and instead shows you how to build a weird Luchs with sloped armour and Puma turret hybrid thing. This one's a proper sized Leopard.



Yeah, I was that annoyed by that tutorial that I went and made a tank. Problems.


Another Beutepanzer T-34 (r); because well the shop had one. I'll paint it in German colours with the bolted on front armour and slabs along the sides all rusty to look like they were added later in the field. I might try sticking an 88 from the below Tiger on another T-34/85 for the hell of it (though yeah, even if that would improbable in the real world. Tank Encyclopedia has an article on the subject under Fake Tanks in their Goodies section)



VK 36.01 (H) Ausf. D - or "what the hell is that thing?". One of the early Tiger prototypes. Its not completely accurate as I couldn't be bothered rebuilding the tracks, though close enough seeing as its not that common. Its my first Rubicon Tiger, and damn that kit's great. You get 2 variant set of tracks and 3 styles of turret in one kit (though only enough bits to make one). All I seen that was missing was different exhaust styles for the desert. I'll keep the late war tracks for some loose roadwheels for the E-75s.  



Something for people wanting to recreate an early war Sea Lion style scenario I suppose. Its a bit differeny for me seeing as its a prototype which led to something which was actually built and improved on, instead of just existing on paper - so its kind of redundant. Meh, it looks weird, so that's OK.


A second E-75. I left the mantlet this time around. Its not been changed in a major way, barring maybe that gas turbine engine at the back. There's not much I can do with the E-75 to differenciate it from a Tiger without being too radical. This one looks different enough I suppose whilst still being practical.




And a StuG E-75. Most of the design's stolen from Paper Panzer's 1/35th conversion kit. Yes, as with the previous Jagdtiger the style of casement's silly, though we're living in a world where the front torsion bars are made of admantium. This one has a gas turbine engine as well, just in a different style.




Oh, both the Tiger's are by Die Waffenkammer. Shame to waste all that engine deck detail. The StuG's the one with the "Porsche" turret. I'll keep that for another Tiger, emplacement or something I guess.

That's what I flung together this week. The T-34 was already sitting there from the start of the month; the rest was started Tuesday.

And another thing.



A T-34 in the Marder style. The concept was more of an early-war thing, so this is made to look like T-34/76 which was captured early on- used for a bit, then converted over, before continuing to see service for a few years yet. Yeah, the Pak 40's maybe a little small for that chassis as a waffentrager, but you use what you have. An 88mm would start to look a bit silly I suspect, not that people haven't tried jamming massive guns onto T-34s.

The model's a Rubicon T-34/76 with a Pak 40 off of their Sd.Kfz 251 upgrade set. The commander's from that Pak 40 kit, the other's mostly Wargames Factory bits.

Wow, you are productive! Love the E-75 StuG. The T-34 marder style is cool, nice to see you are not shying away from the open topped vehicles, although as you say, they would probably slap a bigger gun on it, they did put 15cm howitzers on Panzer I´s after all

Very, very impressive builds and paint!

Awesome Minis going to have to give the book a read !

Yup, more new WIP stuff. I've actually painted some things too ...but can't bother myself to base them with that snow.

Here's another attempt at a sloped armour Panzer IV. I don't like how the other one which I made way back turned out, so had another go. This one's a mix of the early war proposal, the simplified turret variant and the Panzer III/ IV engine (though not the road wheels). Each of those elements come from different parts of the war; so its not really feasible that they came together in one design (especially seeing as the Panther was already around). I suppose this could've been sold as an upgrade package or something - maybe for the other Axis Powers as a cheaper alternative to the Big Cats.



I'm a bit late with this one after the first package was lost in the post, but here's something for the Soviets. A T-44 based on Blitzkrieg Miniature's new T-54. Its not a complete recreation of the T-44A; but close enough. I'd considered turning it into the T-44/100 (with the larger driver's compartment), though think I should have the basic variant off my plate first.



The Konflikt '47 book actually has rules for both production variants (though not the T-54, as that's too late; the /100 rules are functionally the same). ...Ah, even if someone gave it a hull MG.

You're a scratch-building and kit-bashing gun, mate. Always impressed when I check this thread!

I love your work so much. Conversions and painting is beautiful.

Nowadays I work at an similar theme, but with robots not tanks.

I've had a go at pushing some more infantry out. Nothing fancy about these ones - just Artizan models in Trenchoats (with another from Auchtung Cthulhu and a few Warlord guys thrown in). Those're are just about all the German models they make with reasonably sized guns (the feet on some of those are really tiny oddly).




I've had this other E-50 Ausf. M sitting about for a while now; well here's it painted.

]



And the weird Tiger I Jager thing with the oversized gun.




Background wise my thoughts are that it was an alternative proposal for the Jadtiger. The gun's far too oversized, not just in comparison to the actual Jagdtiger (presumably that'd be one of the reasons why it'd be rejected - with how cramped the gun compartment would be it'd take ages to reload). Picture the Bar or Ferdinand I suppose. A silly looking thing regardless.

Plus something vanilla, just a Warlord Jagdtiger with some extra armour at the back.

Here's more toss I finished off yesterday.

Some sort of supply Kettenkrad. I bought the bike to make the NSU Springer, so had to do something with it. Later I found out that they made a direct explosives vehicle conversion of the Kettenkrad which I could've made, oh well.




This one's just a Warlord mini with random stowage stuck on the back (mostly by Die Waffenkammer or greenstuff).

The (close enough) VK 36.01 H Ausf D. The tracks are too wide and some of the details on the turret are wrong, though as ever, who else is making these things/ even knows what they are?




None of that particular model ever saw service; rather the chassis were scrapped and the turret presumably re-purposed for the Panther. Perhaps in an alt-history world they did make a few, which wound up being dumped with some unit till they eventually broke down. With the lack of armour and smaller gun compared to the production Tiger I suppose this'd be a Panther in BA rules terms.

Another T-34/85 in German service. Originally it didn't have the tracks along the sides, just the slapped on steel plates. The whole thing's a hodge podge of armour (the track armour's painted in different camo schemes btw).




And the VK16.02 "Leopard". In its shortened hull guise, rather than the other one which was just a new turret on the Panther chassis.




Cutting down that Rubicon Panther wasn't too bad. Warlord's would have been easier as the track assemblies aren't (mostly) all one part. The better detail, along with Rubicon offering a proper Ausf.A Panther (which I stole the turret from for that Tiger) clinched it.

Oh, and to be a git, here's a comparison between the Leopard and a Panzer II. For ...reasons.




When ordering the T-54 from Blitzkrieg Miniatures they happened to have a Panzer I Ausf.B on sale. The spare turret could be useful, but I didn't have much idea what to do with the actual tank. So here's something fictional for the early war (as far as I can tell there was never any recovery variants), a Bergepanzer I.



The closest thing of the sort I've seen were some converted driver training vehicles that were used in Czechoslovakia. I'd imagine that the chassis would be too light for much use, but, well, there you go.

I'll probably give making a larger plough a go at some point for a Panther or something. One'd be practical for all that snow (and well this one's a bit piddly if its supposed to be clearing roads for Tigers...).

And tonight's work's been on another Panzer IV derivative. The Jagdpanzer IV Lang Ausf. E.



As of yet its still early days. I spent most of my time tearing apart the track assembly on the Warlord kit (Rubicon's just slot on, but I've none of those spare since they discontinued them). That particular proposal's oddly named as it actually used the III/IV chassis, essentially being a Panzer III/IV with a casement plunked on top. I much prefer how the III/IV's glacis look with that casement, so this one's an excuse to make something based on that design.

I'm also going ahead and sticking some Tiger tracks onto the model. They were going to use widened Panzer IV tracks, but well, I've the Tiger tracks going spare (plus they look cool). That's one of the German tank's issues in my opinion (among their many problems that is) when compared to Soviet tanks. Out on the Eastern Front I'd imagine the T-34 would offer much better traction with their Panther sized tracks instead of the piddly (albeit large by early-war standards; which the IV design pretty much was).

Well more WIPs.

I wound up making a Sturmpanzer based on the III/IV instead of the Jagdpanzer IV Lang Ausf. E. The casement was coming out different than the blueprints (passively I must have been thinking about Soviet stuff), so an alternative was needing. I considered sticking a rocket on the top (as the Germans would later do post-war), but the range finder was taking up too much space. So here's a sort of update to the Stupa 43 design.



Its a Warlord Panzer IV originally. The tracks are from a Tiger, with roadwheels made from 1/48th barrels (the III/IV used a strengthened Panzer III leaf suspension system). The rest's either plasticard or the odd spare Panther or Tiger II parts.

And a field command post, based on a popular 1/35th whif called the Sd.Kfz 350.



Its again a Panzer IV, this time with its original roadwheels, though Panther tracks (because, god, the Panzver IV tracks are so thin for all that mud compared to the T-34). The 350's based on the Nashorn chassis (itself a simplified III/IV), thus the obvious nods in the style of the rear cab. This one's completely unarmed, but well, seeing as in the real world the Germans were using busses (literal busses) or Sd.Kfz 250s for this role I suppose its an upgrade.

I'm working on a Jagdpanzer 38 (d) as well at the moment, though that's still just the basic shapes. I'd hoped to have finished that quickly as a use for some spare Hetzer parts. ...Then I looked at the blueprints more closely. Whilst the 38 (d) was a simplified version of the Czech built Jagdpanzer 38 (t), that simplification whilst subtle, was kind of all encompassing. The glacis are completely different (steeper, with an overall longer chassis) for one, among other things. So I'm pretty much scratchbuilding the thing. It'll be worth it, at least for people to have a double take if I stick it next to an original 38 (t) and all the differences to become obvious.

Late in the war the Entwicklung Series as a proposal for a streamlined set of armoured vehicles which would replace the German inventory. A number of vehicles were part of this at various points; notably the E-10, E-25, E-50, E-75, E-100, Panzer III/IV, Rutscher and the 38 (d). I've models of all of these barring the E-100 (planned obviously) and 38 (d).

The 38 (d) itself was a revision of the common Jagdpanzer 38 (t) (D for Deutsch, C for Tschechisch), and was to be the basis of a whole load of more specialised vehicles (presumably including a variant of the Katzchen APC). Whilst the Jagdpanzer 38 (t) was a good Tank Destroyer, it was difficult for them to be made in Germany. So plans were drawn to convert manufacturing techniques to something the German industry could cope with, along with simplifying the design and adapting it to suit the modern battlefield.

At a glance the 38 (d) is just your run of your mill 38 (t). Maybe with a bigger gun. That's what I thought when looking at pictures on the internet. Then I started comparing the blueprints of the two models. The (d)'s larger and has a much steeper glacis layout, as is the whole engine deck area completely different. It looks a bit like a Jagdpanzer IV crossed with a 38 (t).

This one's made from parts of the Rubicon Hetzer kit (barely, just the mantle, exhaust and parts of the running gear). The rest's; tracks from a Panzer IV, Panther roadwheels and gun, and a whole load of platicard. Its not 100% historically accurate, but well close enough to play games with (and well, must people'll just think its a crap attempt at a Hetzer).

Things look to be coming along nicely. Looking forward to more.

Well, I may be having a go at another WIP. Nae pictures as of yet, but its something I've had sitting mostly built for a few months now. I posted that *not* Hetzer just there, now I' having a go at a second actual Hetzer.

...And if you don't know what that means, its just another E-25. This time I'm building it from scratch though instead of buying a resin kit. Which actually's surprisingly easy now that I have a model to copy. The plan with this one's to give it an applique armour kit along with some modernised sights. Oddly the E-25 and 38 d come out at near enough the same size. ...So screw those guys who say that the 75mm lang wouldn't work on the 38 d chassis.

This has been sitting about ever since I picked up that Die Waffenkammer E-25. I thought I'd tidy it up a bit and finish building the damn thing.



Its a set of Rubicon Panther tracks on Tamiya 1/48th Tiger roadwheels. The drive sprockets and gun are from a 1/72nd Tiger II I think. Doyle's blueprints are fairly barebones with the details, so I wound up copying the JTFM or making some of them up. It has some extra armour on the sides and roof to set it aside from the existing model I have as well (if you're wondering what all the random bolts are for).

Oh, and for comparison with the 38 (d), it comes about around about the same size. Its not as tall and the casement looks a bit shorter (though wider). The roadwheels are interleaved and a tad larger, so maybe it could have coped with the gun a bit better, though if size alone's the factor I don't see why both tanks wouldn't be viable - they were sticking the same gun on Marders.

Die Waffenkammer's original:

Panzer IV Ausf. K




Another attempt at one of these. Its still not accurate to Doyle's pictures as I said; a mish mash of sloped armour, a simplified turret and a modified engine deck. I'll have to make a Panzer III/IV (with the enlarged roadwheels) at some point as a comparison to see which one I like better. Actually, this has me thinking whether or not re-arming the IV with with a PAW 600 like in the 38 (t) proposals is something anyone's ever done.

Panzerjager 34 (r)




Some sort of converted Bergepanzer, or just an older T-34/76 with the turret removed. The gun's inset a bit into where the turret used to be to lower the profile a bit, though this is still hardly practical. They must have been desperate for a gun platform instead of just using this as a recovery vehicle (to go pick up actual tanks with big guns...).

T-44




Or "oh, if the Germans had continued in the war they could have held on for a while yet". Sure... The Soviets had 600 of these in the Far East at the end of the war, along with their IS-3s and hordes of T-34/85s (of course we'll ignore the lack of spare parts). If I had all the time in the world I'd made a couple of these and the upgunned variants with different armour layouts. Out of all the stuff in this thread its probably the least fictional thing I've posted.

You are a machine! Not only are you converting with an incredible speed, you also get them painted!

I made some new armatures, so thought I'd have a go at something for my WWII stuff. Here's a dismounted tank crewman.



I'll paint him in Oakleaf camo. The anachronisms are mainly an early flak vest (taken from Paper Panzer's 1/35th 1946 tankers), a different style of headset and an M1956 Stalhelm (which was to become standardised, but the war ended. East Germany used them post-war). I probably should have gone with a modern pistol as well, but had the Luger spare, and well nobody's going to look that close anyway (the SS did made wide use of a M1911 derivative though. It was something like the 3rd most common pistol in German use).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And done.