"eternal war of the poor man"

[Guest]

let me start by saying, this has been very interesting. i do have a keen interest in the history of ww2 but most of my knowledge is in the western battles by british and american forces. i started by looking at all my favourite films based on the eastern front (enemy at the gates, stalingrad and the iron cross). i then looked at my dvd, the attack on leningrad (which isn't the best of movies and is more about the stavation of the russian citizens) and thought i would like to know more about this long drawn out battle. so for my build i've decided to go for "the north siege of leningrad", near the start of the battle in the "northern end". where the wehrmacht forces and the finns used a three prong'd attack on the russian made border defense.

the build.

as i've said, i'm new to all this but i'm gonna throw myself in the deep end (thats a bad habit of mine) and i'm gonna try and do a 1/35 scale diorama. the scene being a small portion of the wide scale fighting across the cold wasteland. i've went for a KV-1 tank by trumpeter for the russians and a motar team by tamiya for the germans. the german motar teams uniform is standard so i'm gonna try and change them a bit and give a few of them camo covered hemets and maybe a camo poncho (or rain covers). then a rugged bumpy well shell'd base for the ground with some melting snow and burnt tree's. the mortar team will be surpised and overpowered by the on-coming tank and defeat looks immanent, try as they might that tank keeps coming.

box photo's.

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[yak face]

looks like this is going to be very interesting bobby, cant wait. cheers tony

[Guest]

hi there tony. cheers mate. i was just wondering if u could help me or if anyone else can, i need some 1/35 scale german uniform decals, preferably wehrmacht and have see them in a few places but i would like to buy them from the forum store and start to help contribute to this friendly forum. can they get them in for me so i can get them from them?

[Guest]

Hiya Bobby. Ive read your project with great interest, its brilliant to know youve really gone in depth on the background of the scene you want to create. In my opinion its really important to have that cause i just think it makes the whole thing so much more "real". To have that story behind it brings the whole thing to life , so well done.

Enemy at the gates is truely awsome, i would say one of the best movies i have ever seen, watched it so many times, its one of them you can just watch over and over again. Not seen the other two films but im starting to put a collection together :-)

The KV1 looks an awsome kit as does the figure set, i reckon you are ganna have a lotta fun with this, and the dio. As i said with my thread, one of the really great things about these GB's is the fact we take on stuff that perhaps we would not normally, so hats off to you for going in the deep end, respect.

Anyway i will very much be in for watching this all the way my friend, have a great time with it, best regards Martin :-)

[Guest]

Very nice scenario and an interesting kit choice. It is great to see people thinking outside the box... (I cannot believe I said that as I hate jargon)...

[Guest]

thanks martin. like yourself, i have never done a tank before or figures before or even a dio before but i'll give it a good shot. i hope the finished piece does seem "real" and i'm gonna try and give it gritty and dark emotion that tells a small story it's self.

and cheers graham. i hope i am going to think outside the box, i think being new modeling helps me do that. i've got a few ideas that people might find interesting that i havn't seen in dio's before (but i've only seen a handfull). i want to try crater's and mid explosions with the use of real smoke ( at least for the photo's). and will add little custom's to my tank and figures.

[Guest]

anyone reading this,feel free to give me any helpful hints and tips. for figures, tank weathering,tracks,rust, burnt things, snow, ruff muddy ground anything that might be in the idea. it would be greatfully excepted. thanks.

[Guest]

Lol, I was hoping you were going to tell me all that Bobby ;-)

[Guest]

Hi Bobby, ive been gathering loads of info from all sorts of places to help me. Certainly the internet is a great place to start, ive found some brilliant referance photos of the T34/76 that im making, these show where the paint wears, how they weather, how they get muddy etc etc. Also picked up tips on weathering etc from this site and previous threads. Same with the dio i shall do, some great previous threads on here for inspiration....oh and i even joined the libary...they have some books on model making and dio's...they are rather old but still very much applicable. I also buy the odd model magazine if they have interesting articles in, so ive gone over those especially for the figure painting stuff to see how they do it. One last thing i went into my local Games Worshop...and asked for a demo on how they do their figures, they may be si-fi stuff etc thatthey do but again the same methods can be applied to military stuff.

Hope this helps bud...just remember dont be afraid to ask a specific question on here...ie "how do you lot create snow" i know the guys and gals on here will do all they can to help. SAll the best mate, regards Martin :-)

[tr1ckey66]

Hi Bobby, you've gone for the other Russian stalwart - the KV. It's a great kit choice and the figures (I think) are a newer set by Tamiya so should be nicely sculpted. I've got a couple of books on German WW2 uniforms and equipment if I come across anything for the conditions/period I'll scan them for you.

Best of luck with your dio mate I'm sure it will be a good un!

Cheers

Paul

[Guest]

thats kool info. when i was younger i used to paint warhammer 40k figures (thats where this interest started). so i'm hoping to trasfer the technics to my soldiers. not sure if i should use an ink wash? i've got some good pics of KV-1 tanks and been watching a lot of old video footage. as for the snow, does anyone know "how do you lot create snow?", i was thinking salt?! is that a mad idea?

[Guest]

cheers paul. the tamiya figures are quite good! i was able to switch all the body parts about to re-postion them into interesting postions that work for me. they where real quick to do too. good fun.

[tr1ckey66]

Re: snow. For deep lying snow just pour plaster on to the base. If you want the powdery stuff I use bicarbonate of soda and/or alum depending on the type of snow. Some of the other guys may have other suggestions but this is a cheap option!

Cheers

P

[Guest]

cheers paul. i was wanting to ask too, seen as it's my first tank. as well as the plastic mold kit tracks, there's full rubber tracks. what are they for? is this for moveable parts? or to make it easyier?

[tr1ckey66]

These sound like optional tracks. Ya pays yer money and takes yer choice. Personally I'd go for the plastic tracks rather than the vinyl (rubber band tracks) as they will have the track sag already in them and will be more realistic. You could use the vinyl track to press into any fresh ground work to give the impression of tank tracks. It is good that the kit offers both types. I'm replacing the rubber band tracks on my T-34 for individual links which I had to buy extra. My vote goes for the plastic, just keep the band tracks (just in case).

I've put 3 pics up in my gallery of what the bicarb snow looks like. Ignore the tank, it's an early attempt and the decals are really 'silvered', it's pretty rubbish really but I think the snow looks convincing.

Paul