German Secret Strongpoint by Arii. WARNING!! LONG POST, LOTS OF PICS!!
Many moons ago, someone had posted a question asking about the 1/72 scale Arii German Secret Strongpoint kit. As I had just finished it, I posted a picture of mine that was taken at my IPMS club meeting the month before. It was only the one picture and didn’t really do the kit justice. I finally have a camera that is capable of taking decent pics of this diorama and I have done so. Now, without further ado, here are the pics of the German Secret Strongpoint!
As I mentioned above, this is the kit of the Arii German Secret Strongpoint in 1/72 scale. When I built this kit, I changed around where some of the furniture goes in several rooms from what the instructions say to do, in order to make the interior more believable. I also had extensive amounts of extra soldiers, oil cans, crates, ammo boxes, utility vehicles and motorcycles to add to the diorama in addition to what was supplied in the kit. Some kit-supplied items were replaced as well, as I had better quality models to replace the ‘toy-like’ models that Arii included in this kit.
Also, the green grass and the small gravel were included in the kit. The lichen I used as bushes were aftermarket that I got from a railroad store. I painted then up to help them to blend in to the landscape.
This is a shot of the front of the diorama; the side that the enemy would encounter. I replaced the tank, Flak 88 and the Pak 36 with other more detailed models to replace the poor ones that came with the kit. (What Pak 36? I don’t see no stinking Pak 36! *check two pics down!*) The truck, Kubelwagen and motorcycle/sidecars are extra:
This next pic is the rear section, where the Germans accessed the ‘administrative’ sections of the strongpoint. Again the motorcycle/sidecars and the schwimmwagen are extra. That schwimmwagen by the way was a first place winner at my IPMS club meeting several years back:
These next photos in the series are some of the detail shots taken of select parts of the diorama, both interior and exterior. The exterior shots are first.
This first one shows the interior of one of the field gun bunkers that is covered in the main photos. I replaced the Pak 36 cannon with one from Italeri’s kit of German Artillery.
This next shot is of the top of the diorama that gets removed to show the interior. On the top is a radar dish, a spotlight, a long range spotter for the artillery, and a Flak 38 Quad AA gun. The Quad AA gun was also from the Italeri Artillery Set. At the bottom of the pic, you can see the firing slits on the main defense bunker.
The next photo is a close-up of the Flak-88 emplacement, complete with a full crew and even a radio operator that I added so he could communicate with the radio operator next to the long range spotter scope.
And finally, here is a close-up of the main firing slit showing several troops aiming through, as well as a sergeant looking through his binoculars:
Now, let’s step inside and see how this place looks on the inside! I have labeled every room to give an idea of why I furnished it the way I did.
This first photo shows three rooms just inside the main entrance. The first room on the right of the photo is the foyer/adjutant’s quarters. That’s his bed just inside the door. He’s got a wood burning stove to keep him warm as well. The room at the top of the photo is the Kommandant’s quarters. He gets a room all his own, complete with a desk, dresser, and his own bed: RHIP! Then on the left of the photo is the armory/weapons locker. You can see a couple troops doing maintenance on some of the weapons there. The front of the strongpoint is to the left of the photo.
From the main entrance, the first door on the left is the conference room. (Again, the front of the stronghold is to the left of the photo.) Here the Kommandant is briefing some of his noncoms about what’s going on. Notice the maps on the wall: one shows Normandy! The maps and posters that are on the walls were included in the kit. Nice touch!
Passing through the conference room takes us to the communications room. (And again, the front of the stronghold is to the upper left of the photo.) You can see the banks of radios on the wall, and a number of troops who’ve either just arrived, or are waiting for transport out to other units in the field. Note several crates and other supplies in the room, as well as the stack to another wood burning stove. On the upper left of the pic you can see the generators that keep the place powered. By the way, the metallic ‘rug’ by the door, is actually the door that is supposed to go on the entrance leading to the outside. It fell off and I didn’t notice it till the pic was uploaded.
In the middle of the Strongpoint is the ammunition storage room. Here is a guy getting ready to move some ammo to the front of the bunker. There are also a couple of gas cans and fuel barrels there too. Once again, the front of the strongpoint is to the left.
This last photo shows the main defense room where the troops can fire out at the enemy in defense of the strongpoint. At the bottom of the photo you can see one of two troopers I placed running forward to reinforce the squad at the firing slits. Is it a drill, or is the enemy finally out there?
The stairs above the firing slits on the right of the photo above lead up to the emplacements on the roof holding the radar dish, spotlight, rangefinder, and flak gun. I dry-brushed some dirt colored paint on them to look like dirt from some soldier’s boots. I did that on most places, but not all. After all, the Kommandant wants the place maintained clean!
Well, I hope you enjoyed my tour of this great little model. Once more, this is all in 1/72 scale. It was a blast to build and detail, especially since I had so many additional troops and things to add to it! If there are any more photos of this kit you want taken, let me know. I’ll be happy to add to it. Thanks for looking, and all comments are welcome.