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Ardennes Tank Riders...Finished 04/04/14

T

TomN

Active member
Oh...why do I do this to myself...

Meaning, why do I start collecting parts for a new project, when I have so many unfinished ones.

Anyways, after an unexpected weeklong trip for work, in which I worked lots of overtime, I decided to
treat myself to some of Jeff Shiu's lovely Fallschirmjager figures. While waiting for them I got to
thinking it would be cool to dispaly them on the back of a Tiger II, as seen in some well known war-time
photos.

So, what to do. My first thought was to scratch build the back end of the Tiger II, based on a 1/35 DML
kit I have. After looking at the DML kit, it looked alot harder than I thought at first. I looked at the
Heng Long r/c tanks, which with a bit of detail, maybe could work. But couldn't find any in stock.

Trumpeter Tiger II? Naw, too huge and expensive. I really didn't want to build the whole tank, just
the back end. After poking around eBay I found some one who sold separate parts for the Tamiya King Tiger.

So here's what I got so far:

Tiger II lower hull:
MA001.jpg


Tiger II turret.
MA002.jpg


Sprue with assorted useful bits:
MA003.jpg


Sprue with lower turret and hull rear:
MA004.jpg


And sprue with exhaust, fenders, etc...
MA005.jpg


Some brass and on the left, nuts/bolts and wing nuts from Panda:
MA006.jpg


Here are two of the Jeff Shiu figures:
MA007.jpg


Two more...one more seated figure is on the way:
MA008.jpg


And here is a shot to give you a sense of scale, sitting next to the DML 1/35 hull:
MA009.jpg


This thing is BIG!!!

My idea is after the figures are placed in the desired positiions, I will cut turret and
hull basically in half, saving the turret front for a future project.

Well, wish me luck, I'll need it.
Tom
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders

Could you elaborate more on the wing nuts from Panda? Is this Panda Plastics? Also note AFV Modeller (the publisher) is selling loads of detail items for the Trumpeter kit which may come in handy such as ammunition belts and more:
http://shop.afvmodeller.com/customer/home.php?cat=387

Regards,
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders

sharkmouth said:
Could you elaborate more on the wing nuts from Panda? Is this Panda Plastics? Also note AFV Modeller (the publisher) is selling loads of detail items for the Trumpeter kit which may come in handy such as ammunition belts and more:
http://shop.afvmodeller.com/customer/home.php?cat=387

Regards,
Click to expand...

Hi Saul

Here are the parts. They are Resin. You get this x5.
MA010.jpg


They are from Panda Plastics:

http://shermantracks.com/catalog/german_nuts_bolts.html

Yes I am aware of the AFV Modeller detail items, and may order some of their ammo belts, among other things. Also the
Trumpeter Tiger II build & info resource site is quite helpful too:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/637977/

Thanks for looking,
Tom
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders

These figures! :cheer:

Sounds like a way cool project,Tom!
Really looking forward to the next steps. :popcorn

Greetings,Ron.
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders

Thanks for the support Ron, feeling a bit overwelmed already.

Tom
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders

That's alot of plastic you have there on the bench!!
Looking forward to see the result, i'm sure it will be impressive :)
//Mats
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders

Hi Mats, thanks for looking in. I was quite surprised by the size of this thing when it arrived.

Tom
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders

Well, change of plans...

After looking things over...and over, I realized all the figures would not fit as I had hoped. I was getting
a bit depressed...this wasn't working out. Then I asked my wife to have a look, we moved the figures around
and were getting nowhere. I had been toying with the idea of only using two figures, so I placed them on the
tank, moved the turret and..."Ah...that's it!!"

So here's a quick mock up of my idea so far:

MA011.jpg


Tom
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders...Update 4/15/12

May not be tactically correct but it works as far as space goes. Those are superb figures btw. Who makes them?
J
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders...Update 4/15/12

Thanks Ron!

Hi Jerry
I'm pretty much married to the placement of the figures and turret, since I just cut it in half. Could you
elaborate please, just so I know.

The figures are by Jeff Shiu and they are great, great service from Jeff too.

Thanks, Tom
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders...Update 4/15/12

Infantry(in this case paras) riding on the back of tanks was a field expedient to get supporting infantry to keep up with the armor if no trucks or halftracks were available. The turrets would be at 12 oclock when carrying troops on the engine deck. At the first enemy contact troops would dismount very rapidly as they were sitting ducks on the engine deck. So the turret being at roughly 10 oclock in your dio means that they are in contact or are eexpecting contact and so the troopys would be on the dirt,behind cover or advancing,etc. The 15/25 SS pzGren Regt went into combat like this for their first time in Normandy riding on Panthers and were ambushed by Canadians. 7 tanks were knocked out in a few moments and the infantry suffered awefully from direct and indirect fire and then from being run over by their own tanks manuvering.
Combat makes one learn quickly as the ones that don't won't make it long.
Sorry to wax eloquent,hope I made things more clear than mud.
J
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders...Update 4/15/12

Hi Jerry
Thanks for the info, I agree with what you are saying. I just felt that having the turret rotated was
more interesting visually. Plus there's not a whole of room back there with the turret at 12 o'clock.

Hopefully it won't detract too much from the scene.

Thanks again,
Tom
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders...Update 4/15/12

It will not detract from the scene at all. There are not many that would know the difference as far as tactics go. There are sadly,not many model builders that know anything about military life or tactics or reality as they are surrounded by a cacoon of fellow modelers that are just like them. This has always been the case with model builders as we all like to build what "looks cool" because it usually looks better than reality. I remember seeing my first real mortar explosions and grenade explosions when I joined the Army and was seriously let down and dissapointed becuase there was no bright ball of flame! Just a grey puff and throwing up of soil. This was becasue of all of those war movies that I saw growing up and also the TV show"Combat".
In the end,it is a hobby and whatever makes you happy is the "right" way,isn't it?
I think your vignette here will be awesome as you have started with great"bones",that is, a super idea and well done figgies.

J
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders...Update 4/15/12

Alot of this project will involve correcting, enhacing and detailing the Tamiya parts. They are quite
simplified and well..clunky...which is fine, since in this large scale it's easy and really fun.

I filled holes in the rear plate by melting sprue and jabbing it into holes, then a good dose of
liquid cement.

MA04_22_12_001.jpg


The exhaust covers as delivered:

MA04_22_12_002.jpg


And with some texturing:

MA04_22_12_003.jpg


I scratchbuilt the flanges between the lower and upper tail pipe:

MA04_22_12_004.jpg


And a look at what it will look like:

MA04_22_12_005.jpg


Thanks for looking,
Tom
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders...Update 4/15/12

Dear Tom.

...I was missing your thread :bang head .... wonderful idea :v ... I´ll follow this one with a big interest :popcorn

...love this stuff :ro:

Best regards :drinks

Luiz.
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders...Update 4/15/12

Thank you Luiz!

You have inspired me so much, I'm glad you like it.

Tom
 
Re: 1/16 Ardennes Tank Riders...Update 4/15/12

TomN said:
Alot of this project will involve correcting, enhacing and detailing the Tamiya parts. They are quite
simplified and well..clunky...which is fine, since in this large scale it's easy and really fun.

I filled holes in the rear plate by melting sprue and jabbing it into holes, then a good dose of
liquid cement.

MA04_22_12_001.jpg


The exhaust covers as delivered:

MA04_22_12_002.jpg


And with some texturing:

MA04_22_12_003.jpg


I scratchbuilt the flanges between the lower and upper tail pipe:

MA04_22_12_004.jpg


And a look at what it will look like:

MA04_22_12_005.jpg


Thanks for looking,
Tom
Click to expand...

Nice! Lovin' the flange.. :soldier
 
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