WIP German Panzerfabrik in 1/144 // neues Diorama, deutsche Panzerfabrik 46/52

The idea for this diorama came into my mind, when I saw something similar, but it showed more or less only a wall and two German Elephant tanks. My storyboard goes that way: The German company Alkett got the order to build a heavy Möser based on hull from the Tiger I.  On Wikipedia they write like new superstructures should be used, I have in mind, the Wehrmacht sent damaged hulls to Alkett to convert them into the so called Sturmtigers.  By the way, the official designation was  Sturmmörserwagen 606/4 mit 38 cm RW 61.

About the creation of the diorama:

Basement is again one of my wooden frame from the one dollar shop (thanks god I bought more than 30 of them before we left the states). The walls are wooden pieces, the floor is printed paper sheets from the Busch company. The rails for the crane are two pieces of wood and of course a lot of paint.

final course, filling up the diorama with details

The frame / basement belongs to my big amount of unfinished dioramas. The picture below shows how it looked for many weeks. Meanwhile I had produced several parts which I will use now to bring some action into the production hall.

starting point: the frame for the assembly hall

First and an important decision was, how to arrange the tanks. My first idea was to show them the long way, but finally I decided to show them with the front side, as it gives me the opportunity to show 3 working stations. 

first test for the arrangement of the diorama

Filling up the scenery, besides the Tigers, I put a shelf into the back, this shelf is a laser cut kit and assembly was, let´s say a challenge. The workbenches the lathe and the small cabinets are long time printed designs, I only had to paint them. 

1/144 assembly hall of the German Alkett, during the rebuild of the Sturmtiger

On one of the next weekends I will add the staff and more details, like a crane, maybe some lights and other stuff.

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Deutsche Version

Die Idee eine Panzerfertigung als Diorama zu bauen, hatte ich schon längere Zeit. Ich hatte schon einige Dioramen dazu gesehen, das Letzte zeigte zwei Elefanten und eine Hallenwand. Nicht schlecht, aber zu wenig Leben und die ganzen Maschinen fehlten. Ich wollte den Umbau von abgeschossenen, oder stark beschädigten Tigern, zu neuen Sturmtigern zeigen. Bei Wikipedia schreiben sie es nicht gnaz so klar, doch ich erinnere mich, gelesen zu haben, dass keine neuen Tigers gebaut wurden, sondern eben von der Front zurück geschickte Tiger neu aufgearbeitet und umgebaut werden sollten. Dies fand bei Alkett in Berlin statt. Neben der Montage von verschiedenen Panzern für die Wehrmacht, hatte Alkett wohl auch Reperaturen für die Wehrmacht ausgeführt.

Aufbau des Dioramas:

Der Rahmen ist mal wieder ein Feng Shui Set vom 1 Dollar Laden. Zum Glück, hatte ich vor unserem Wegzug aus den Staaten, davon mehr als 30 Stück gekauft. Die Wände sind aus Holz, der Boden ist ein bedruckter Bogen von Busch, der Rest Farbe. Der Rahmen stand so, wie viele andere angefangene Dioramen schon seit Wochen bei mir rum und wartete auf seine Fertigstellung.

Fertiggestaltung des Dioramas: 

Ich habe mir ja vorgenommen, bis Weihnachten, mal endlich alle Dioramen fertig  zu stellen, bevor ich schon wieder mit neuen Ideen anfange. 
Zunächst musste ich aber mich entscheiden, wie ich die Modelle anordnen wollte. Ich bin immer davon ausgegangen, die Modelle mit der langen Seite zu zeigen. Doch dann fiel mir auf, so wie jetzt gezeigt, kann ich viel mehr zeigen und bekomme 3 Modelle auf die Grundfläche.

1/144 Blick in die Endmontage für die Fertigung des Sturmtigers

Also werde ich mal bei dem Aufbau bleiben und anfangen die Details zu ergänzen. Einen grossen Teil der Kleinigkeiten hatte ich mir schon vor längerer Zeit drucken lassen. Werkbänke, Drehbänke, Zeichentische und verschiedene Schränke. Jedoch musste ich das Meiste davon letzte Woche erst anmalen. In den nächsten Tagen oder am Wochenende geht es dann weiter, die Werkleute muss ich noch auswählen, es soll noch einen grossen Hallenkran geben, das Hochregallager will befüllt sein und und und....

neben der Montage wird auf einem Bohrwerk noch ein Tigerturm bearbeitet

Der Sturmtiger kann natürlich nicht bleiben, die Hersteller haben die Panzer immer nur in einer Grundfarbe ausgeliefert, Tarnbemalung waren Sache der Truppe. Im Moment überlege ich noch den mit einem Modell im Rohbau zu ersetzen. Eventuell so etwas wie im Foto unten gezeigt, dem alten Sondermodell von Dragon / Cando, dem roten Tiger. Aber da bin ich noch am probieren. Als nächstes kommt erst mal der Deckenkran und die Werkbänke . Auch wegen Fenstern bin ich noch am überlegen, dort werde ich wohl auf einen Laserbausatz zurück greifen.

Werkbänke und andere Kleinteile sollen das Ganze dann zum Schluss beleben

Sources / Quellen:

The good point is, you find a lot of pictures on the internet about tank production.

Below you see a picture from the Panzer III production, from Henschel you will find pictures from the Tiger assembly, or from MAN in Nürnberg, from the Panther production.

Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-L04352,_Deutschland,_Rüstungsproduktion,_Panzer.jpg

https://www.ww2aerialreconstudies.com/alkett-armor-plant.html

Wer im Internet nach Panzer Produktion oder Herstellung sucht, findet sehr viele Bilder. Besonders von Henschel gibt es eine Bilderserie von der Herstellung des Tigers in Kassel, daneben gibt es auch Fotos von MAN, wo in Nürnberg der Panther und später der Jagdpanther gezeigt wird.

Opel Maultier as Ambulance

The Opel Maultier I have now for many years in my collection. But just some weeks ago I came up with the idea to build the cabin for the ambulance version. As always the work was done on my computer with my 3D program. After printing I had to paint it and to add the ladder at the end of the cabin.
In total not that much work, but I like it, as the range of ambulance vehicles in the scale 1/144 is not that big.

Famo with Bilstein crane 1/144

The Famo in 1/144 is nothing new, but to use him on a Diorama the model looked a bit naked. With the big storage and nothing on it, no that does not looks good. As I already had built the spade for the Famo, I came up with a new project. the Famo with the Bilstein crane. I remember some years ago you could buy this model from a small company in Japan, but is was not that cheap. So I decided to build the crane by myself.

First a short overview about the cranes in use with the German Panzerwaffe:

The German Army had for their maintenance several types of cranes. 

• Büssing with an Bilstein 3 ton crane (a 4,5 ton truck) 

• sZgkw. 18t. with the Bilstein 6 ton crane.

• Friescrane with 15, later 16 ton lifting capacity, often in combination with a Hanomag tractor

All other cranes do not belonged to the maintenance units.

For my model I used the Famo from PanzerDepot. The model looks good and it is easy to put into his parts.

After some work with a screw driver I have disassembled everything I need. The most critical point is, not to damage the front wheels. I my case I made a perfect work, they broke both.

After some smaller work I could glue the new platform on the frame. The white part I designed some weeks ago and got it printed by Shapeways.

 Further I plan to use my new Bergegeschirr, which I had designed in 3D as well. Here you can see it in an first attempt with a Bergepanther and a Panther 

The Famo some time later. I have added some smaller parts to let the set look a bit more in constant use.

The Famo with the Bilstein crane after the first painting.

Next step I had to finalize the painting and to add a soft cover for the cabin.

crusaders in the dessert

As I just got my new crusaders last week, I placed them on a new basement for a dessert project I work on.
The tanks are just out of the box. The only missing thing is the sun going down. :-)

new tanks from Panzer Depot

Yesterday I got a new delivery from Panzer Depot. This time I have to say I like all the tanks.
One of the highlights is the British Crusader MK III.
This tank looks really good. SdKfz 251/7 comes in the 500th version, but I have to admit, that the solution with the removable Schnellbruecke is smart.
Here are some pictures of my new tanks

Bergepanzer auf Pzkpfw I Ausf. F

Here I represent my latest version of an German recovery vehicle.
This was a special version done by the troops in the field.

some new models arrived

Two weeks ago the postman made my day. I got a new shipment from my friend George from Panzerdepot in HongKong.
So here some of my new items:

Mercedes Benz LG 3000 tank truck for my not existing airfield:

The Mercedes Benz truck:

And then finally an update about my German Bunkerbahn in 1/144:

The diorama for the Bunkerbahn is done, I only have to add some details like the train crew, the signals, some flowers......  more soon

Puma-Meeting Somewhere in France in 1944

Once I received my own Pumas from the Panzer Depot, I knew that I needed to build a diorama. Nearly at the same time I got the first German tank crew from German company, Preiser.

So my idea was to build a scene somewhere in France. The Pumas would meet with their commander to get new orders. As a foundation, I decided to go with a wooden picture frame from the big “I”.

The ground is a piece of Styrodur or better kwon in the USA as blue foam. I shaped the terrain with several tools until I had the feeling it would work. The meeting point was a kind of an intersection of two small roads.

I pained everything with brown color, before I clued the grass and the sand on it. For the road I went with some dirty powder I took from a road not far where I live.

For the fence I took small toothpicks. All trees and the green is made with stuff I had at hand. 

new tanks for Africa

As I had to decide which tanks I want to place on the african village, I took two from Panzer Depot and one old Panzer II from Dragon.

In the next days I will paint them and some stuff to make them more looking like in action in Africa.

new tanks arrived

This week I got a new shippment from my friend George from PanzerDepot.
So below you can see my latest tanks I got. I will use them within the next months for new ideas.

And here some more pictures together with dioramas from HongKong which I brought with me from Switzerland.