Panzer II with crane

I found this interesting variant on the page www.panzerschreck.de . According to what I read there, this version was built only one time and the Red Army found it when they reached a tank factory. So not that much information but an easy and quick rebuild.
I took a Panzer II lower body and added one of the cranes I had designed in the past for my Bilstein crane. After painting, the model was done. I decided to go with yellow instead of grey because the Russian found the tank at the end of the war and at this time all tanks had in general yellow paint.
Here some pictures:

New on my work bench

This week I received a new delivery from Shapeways. So I give you a short overview about my next projects on which I will work the next days.

Schwimmpanzer II ready for Operation Sealion

So far I am done with the tank. The pontons are ready and what you see is the second print. Further I added a piece to close the motor cooling plates like it was on the Original. In the next days I will start drawing the Schwimmpanzer versions of the Panzer 38 and a second version of the Schwimmpanzer II.

Schwimmpanzer II in 1/144

Some new stuff for an industrial diorama

For this diorama I`m planning now for months. From the first idea I have reduced everything to a much smaller version. The topic is still a secret but of course it has to do with tanks. On the first planning I thought about a really big diorama, at the moment I will go with a small one, which will fit into a shoe box.

small crane and lifter in 1/144

German Radio trailer 3 axis 

This trailer is print no. 3, I believe. The first version was too small, version two was a bad print and now I have a version with movable wheels and I am still unhappy. With this German Radio truck in the scale 1/160 it looks not that bad. But for everything else I still do not like this version. Maybe I will paint them, but I will not print again a new version.

German radio trailer in 1/144

German radio trailer in 1/144

Sherman mine roller 

The Sherman is done, I just realized, that at the rear end, they had a steel plate to get pushed if necessary. As it was not that easy to glue something together, I printed it and will add it now.

Coles RAF crane

After the French theater the Germans caught a lot of British equipment. Among them was the Coles crane. I remember a picture, where the Luftwaffe used one. The Wehrmacht used them as well for maintenance work on Panzers.
The upper part of the crane is movable and in the next step I will design the arm movable as well. This time I forgot to add the fixing points to the design.

Coles crane in 1/144

Coles crane in 1/144

Bergepanzer V Panther

I have some Bergepanzers, and one on basis of the Panther. But so far I had one with a spade. So I designed the spade and I will make it movable so that I could lift it. Let`s see in the next weeks if I will get it done.

Cando Panther with conversion set to Bergepanzer in 1/144

Luftwaffe bomb transport set

Are you able to see something? I have to say, this design was a total disaster. All parts are too weak and everything is too small. So nothing to save, next stop will be the trash can and I have to draw everything again. the idea was to design some small trailers to transport bombs on an airfield.

1/144 and ready for the trash can

Schienenwolf and Panzer train trailer

At the end of the war in Russia the Germans run back in direction Germany. To stop the advance of the Russian army or to slow it down, they destroyed as much as possible. So they invented a very simple but effective design the break the wooden construction of the Russian railways. Besides this small wagon I designed a wooden cabin for a German train wagon with a small Flak. The Germans used them to give trains a bit of defense power against Allied Fighters.

German train wagon with Flak

Schienenwolf in 1/144

Schienenwolf in 1/144

Panzer 38 Munitionspanzer tank 38 (t) Ammo carrier

Nothing special, but this tank was missing in my collection for many years. 
I just finished the painting and added the cover over the open top. That`s it.

Here the ammo carrier on his way to the front.

Munitionspanzer 38 (t) in 1/144

two Ammo carriers 

Molch a German unsuccessful Mini submarine

I started with something new, not a tank, nothing in relation with tanks.
I designed a submarine. As there are a lot of German submarines ready to get bought, I designed something more smaller. One of the first German Kleinkampfmittel. These new designs were planed to change the war, as at this time the German army was already on all fronts on the way back.
The Molch was everything but not successfull. Therefore the Germans used them after two attacks for training only.
If you are interested in the history or pictures, please use these two links:

Molch History

http://www.uboat.net/types/molch.htm

Pictures of the Molch

Molch printed in standard white material

Molch in frosted detail printed

first test with the trailer

Molch ready to dive

Molch with his 3 axis trailer

the first two Moch ready for action

Molch and trailer ready painted

Hanomag SS 100 and Molch with trailer

Most times the Hanomag SS 100 was used to bring the subs to the ports.

After the design of the submarine I designed the trailer, so that with a tractor, the unit would be flexible.

There is a one famous picture, it shows the Molch and a LWS, Landwasserschlepper during the first trails.

Here is the old picture:

LWS and Molch during first trials

and with the wonderful LWS from CDG (CGD) we put this in 1/144 as well.

Nebelwerfer in travelling position

In the last days I have updated my Nebelwerfer a bit. I changed the position of the legs, so that I can use them to be towed behind trucks or other vehicles.
So here some pictures of the new design.
If you are interested, you can buy them now at my Shapeways shop.

German Army Museum in Dresden

Last weekend I had a chance to visit the new German Army Museum in Dresden.
Who knows Munster and comes to Dresden to see tanks will be very disappointed. 
Dresden is a Museum to explain and show different aspects of war or aggressive conflicts. No wonder that you can see there things from more than 500 years history. From early knights, their weapons, the evolution of riffles and much more to cold war exponents, they show a lot.
The most interesting part for me was of course the WW II department. As I said, not that much tanks, only some vehicles but therefore you could see what war means in relation to movies, to civil people and a lot more aspects I never thought about. At the end I found some tanks outside, most of them after WWII. On the other side they showed for example which animals humans had used or still use to support them for fighting. 
Here is are some highlights which I liked the most.

A Horch from Paris, later used by General De Gaulle

A German Einheitskübel

An American Tank from WWII

This is the rest from a German Submarine, a Seehund, which was found some years ago

the model of the so called PAris gun from WWI

German Shelters from WWII

okay the paining is strange, but it is a German Marder

150 mm search light

Sherman DWG (Deep Wading Gear) on the beach in Normandy

As D-Day comes closer I have started to get my shermans ready to jump onto the beaches of Normandy.
So one of the first modifications is this Sherman with a deep wading gear. Some other variants of the Sherman  will follow in the next weeks.

The first two pictures show the old Metal Troops model of the Sherman DWG.

Here is my version, based on a Dragon Sherman which had the right back to install the dwg to it.

The device is again printed in 3D. 

If you are interested in this version, so send me an email and I will offer the print via Shapeways.