Kursk. II S.S. Panzer corps slowly claw their way toward Obayan

[tr1ckey66]

The story behind the build is this.

The date is July 6 1943, Operation citadel is 2 days old. Against dug-in and very stubborn resistance German advances are slow. The only real gains are in the southern pincer, southeast of Obayan, where German Fourth Panzer army has battled it's way to Prokhorovka.

Ok, that's the setting this is the idea :emo6:...

I'm going to attempt 2 new things in this build.

1. I'm going to build a knocked out and partially burnt out tank. I think this is going to be quite involved as it will require an interior and some careful study of burnt out vehicles.

2. I have some German figures and, although I'm sort of happy with the poses, the uniforms require some alterations. The wehrmacht troops should be SS and therefore should be wearing the SS smocks. Short boots and gaters will also be required as well as some other stuff. This obviously requires some figure conversions

I'm going to use this build to try new techniques with particular emphasis on figure build and painting and the finish of the burnt out tank...

...Thats the idea, here's the kits...

[ATTACH]16568.vB[/ATTACH]

These are the kit parts to the AFV Club T34/76 with full interior.

[ATTACH]16569.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]16570.vB[/ATTACH]

These are the figures

[ATTACH]16571.vB[/ATTACH]

There's a big risk here of this going badly wrong! but hey, I'll give it a go and we'll see what happens!!!

Really looking forward to all this Red Army stuff

удачи! (Good luck everyone)

[ATTACH]24661.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24662.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24663.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24664.IPB[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Hi Paul. This is just brilliant what you are planing. And i think it encompasses all that the GB should be about....trying new things. I love both the tank kit and the figures you have gone for, i will be watching this with real interest. Well done and good luck with the build, regards Martin :-)

[Guest]

Good grief man!!! I thought I had bit off more than I could chew. This is going to be amazing, every faith in you Paul.

[tr1ckey66]

Thanks Martin, Graham.

I'm hoping that this build will move my figure building/painting on a notch, and this armour piece will be something a little different for me. I'm going to give it a go and anyone interested can follow my ups and inevitable downs (hopefully more of the former) as I go along. I'm going to try out Tyrel's tips for figure painting, what's the phrase? - 'Aim for the stars and you might reach the moon'?

Anyway, even if it ends in the bin I'll have learned something from it!

Graham - if I've bitten off more than I can chew, what about you! 2 tanks 1 rusky jeep and how many figures!!! You've got a bigger cast than Les Miserables! Let's face it we both like a challenge!

Cheers

P

[Guest]

:laughing: Challenge is the way forward.

[Guest]

Paul the kits look very nice especially the T34 and the setting you have put in place should be interesting.

scott

[tr1ckey66]

Cheers Scott. Will you be joining us in the GB? I hope so

Paul

[Guest]

Hi paul not sure yet i have an idea based on forced perspective but iam not sure how or if it will work so i will have to work out some of the details.

scott

[tr1ckey66]

Oh yeah, sorry, I read that yesterday. Sturmoviks, right?

Mate, you gotta do that! I once saw a dio with a stuka dive-bombing a tank in 1/72. It looked amazing - the Stuka was pulling out of the dive and the t-34 had exploded blowing the turret completely off. There were some figures in there too. If you want to bounce any ideas or I can help at all just give us a shout. There's got to be a way of doing it that won't require a dio 6 feet long!

Paul

[Guest]

this sounding great! i love the idea of the action and destruction of including a burnt out tank. will you be daring and bold and maybe have a burnt figure too?

[tr1ckey66]

this sounding great! i love the idea of the action and destruction of including a burnt out tank. will you be daring and bold and maybe have a burnt figure too?

Bobby, i'm not going to have any bodies in the tank as I don't want the tank totally burnt out. I'm thinking the round hits the rear quarter of the tank, splitting the track on it's way, and then enters the engine compartment. Here there is an explosion which blows a few hatches open/off and a localised fire develops. Basically, I want the rear of the tank to be burnt and the front end ok-ish - I think this will be a bit more interesting to look at than a totally burnt out tank. I may even have it still smoking with plumes of smoke belching out the back (a bit like the smoke on the box art of the figures I've got). In a nut shell the crew of the tank were able to bail out and run like the clappers.

I will have some bodies in the dio though as I've now decided to incorporate a trench into it with a couple of dead Russian soldiers.

I've been collecting some ref and got some good stuff...

General countryside land topography...

[ATTACH]16752.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]16753.vB[/ATTACH]

Trenches...

[ATTACH]16754.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]16755.vB[/ATTACH]

German uniform (interestingly enough it seems at Kursk the Germans were still wearing jack boots)...

[ATTACH]16756.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]16757.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]16758.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]16759.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]16760.vB[/ATTACH]

I have a lot more pics but this selection gives a general impression of the scene I'm trying to recreate...

I've made a start on the planning stage and have already started some of the figures. When I get to a logical break I'll post the progress so far.

Cheers

Paul

[ATTACH]24816.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24817.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24818.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24819.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24820.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24821.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24822.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24823.IPB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]24824.IPB[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Nice idea, looking forward to seeing this, good choice in kits as well.

Ade

[Guest]

Hi Paul, found this on a site, which a freind posted on, hope it helps

http://site.scratchmod.com/

Ade

[Ian M]

Sounds like you got your work cut out Paul. Must be quite a big one too!

Oi, Cov That Site is the nuts!! Well worth a look. If you need rust thats the place to look!! Truly amazing!!

Ian M

[Centurion3RTR]

Looking forward to this Paul as theres some techniques i'd like to try, like the burnt out tank. The T34/76 looks a very nice kit too.

Have fun, John