Panzer Aces GB January 2007 to May 31, 2008

Unless I find anything to the contrary, I'm painting it green and then apply a series of oil washes to grunge it up.  Thanks again for digging that up for me. 

np espins1... glad I could help with something ^_^

So since today is my day off woohoo I actually have the WHOLE day to work on my 3 kits. I also reorginzed my desk/build area to make building more pleasent. It looks pretty good for only having a small space. One major prob is that I am not allowed to paint inside... however.. some resent news told to me yesterday may be a way to get around that issue haha.. after having my car stolen, I was told I have to move out of the room I am renting. I jsut moved in 4 months ago and jsut finally got settled. Got all my tools/suplies orginzed and ready to start building, now I have to prepare to move yet again. This year started out so well... haha

Anyways.. here is the pic of my new work station...

Also on the lowe chassis, there are what looks liek giant injection holes or whatever.. the circular holes that usually need to be filled.. not sure if they should be filled or not.. or are they supposed to be there.

I soooo need to do the same thing with my modeling area, it's a disaster right now.  I have waaay too many things going on in my den what with all the computers, guitar stuff, modeling stuff, bills etc. 

This ejector pin marks should be ok unless it has an interior which you're planning on showing and they'll be seen. 

Edited 1-10-07 

It is a capital letter on all of them, changed to post to correct it (thanks Hermisminiatures!  )

Here is a higher resolution scan of "Büffel".  I haven't been able to track one down of "Falke".  It's hard to see, but the B is a capital B on Büffel.  You may have to experiment with zooming in and out on that picture as it stands out better with certain views.  I would assume Falke was done in the same font, so to speak, although Tiger and Puma from the other platoon have a different lettering style than Büffel. 

It may be hard to find a photo of "falke" for the simple reason that Albert Ernst only had it in combat for 3 days before it was disabled by Russian artillery and then blown up in a brave and daring mission on foot to prevent the Russians from repairing and using it.  I don't know how long he had "Falke" before they entered combat.  Either way, I can find no photographic evidence of it.

I would imagine that "Falke" looked very much like "Buffel" in terms of the winter white wash over the dark yellow base coat, with there being a lack of white paint where "Buffel" is painted on the side etc.  So I think it's safe to say the camo and white wash would be the same.  From that point we could have the "Falke" decal made in the same style/font as "Buffel" and we have a good shot of being as accurate as possible, given the lack of a photo.

Notice on "Puma" that the whitewash goes completely over the side, with Puma painted on over it.  I'm not sure what color the fill in color on each of the letters.   

"Tiger" is painted on this one, although the whitewash was painted around the name.  

Wow...what great information Scott, and thanks for sharing it.  I stated earlier that I've ordered both Panzer Aces I and II. Yesterday I ordered a book by author Karl Kollatz
called  Leutnant Albert Ernst. Der "Tiger von Witebsk".  It's in German but I think the pictures might be in English   I also ordered a few others -     Strumartillerie, Self-propelled Guns and Flak Tank,   2 different Panzer Battles titles by F. W. Von Mellenthin, and something called PANZER TRACTS # 7-3 - Panzerjaeger (7.5 cm Pak 40...) by Jentz, Thomas L & Hilary L. Doyle.  

Hopefully there'll be more details or maybe some additional pictures that will be useful for our modelling effort.

Maybe it's just me, but doesn't the "Puma" lettering in that photo look like something from 1960s pop art?

Larry

Plastic_Cross wrote:

Maybe it's just me, but doesn't the "Puma" lettering in that photo look like something from 1960s pop art? Larry

Although it's not as easy to see, the lettering of Tiger is similar.  I don't think we'll be so lucky as to find a color photograph, I'd be curious to see what color filled in the letters. 

Sounds like you picked up some nice books!  You'll have to fill us in on them and let us know how they are. 

I am now going to ask a dumb question.  So it's fair game to laugh at it.

Question - Why are the names "Puma" and "Tiger" spelled in English on the German AFVs?  Maybe they're spelled the same in German and English.  But if not.....it makes me wonder.

Larry

Hermesminiatures wrote:

That is most certainly a capital B in the name of the Nashorn "Buffel". If you look closely you can see the grey spot that is the center of the upper loop of the letter. Also it looks like the word is painted over the dark yellow in the same color or one very close to the color of the whitewash. Somewhere between dark yellow and white. It for sure isn't black outline letters like the other two.

doh!  I can't believe I didn't notice that!  I had done a really high res scan at home, and zoomed in and I guess it just washed out when I was looking at it, as it's so fine.  Good catch Hermisminiatures!  Thanks! 

Plastic_Cross wrote:

I am now going to ask a dumb question.  So it's fair game to laugh at it. Question - Why are the names "Puma" and "Tiger" spelled in English on the German AFVs?  Maybe they're spelled the same in German and English.  But if not.....it makes me wonder. Larry

Tiger in German is "Tiger" and Puma is "Puma"    Although Puma can also refer to a mountain lion or cougar, which are pretty much the same.

Here's a cross ref for the Buffel picture.  The caption for the photo also indicates a capital B in the name.

http://ostpanzer.asty.ru/topics/sp_guns/nashorn/images2.html

This website has a lot of photos I've not seen before.  Might be old hat to you guys thoush.

Larry

Anyone know how to read this language?  It's at the ostpnazer.asty.ru website.  I think 519 is Albert's ?

 Schwere Heeres Panzerjager Abteilung 519
1 июня 1943 г. на основе личного состава «Arbeitstab Hoppe» было сформировано подразделение WK.III, переформированное 25 августа 1943 г. в s.H.Pz.Jg.Abt. 519. Личный состав нового батальона приступил к освоению самоходных противотанковых артиллерийских установок «Hornisse». Последнюю самоходку «Hornisse» 519-й батальон получил в ноябре 1943 г., после чего его отправили на Восточный фронт. Здесь s.H.Pz.Jg.Abt. 519 вошел в состав 3-й танковой армии группы армий «Центр». Вместе с 21-м танковым полком 20-й панцердивизни батальон в декабре 1943 г. - январе 1944 г.г. отражал многочисленные атаки советских войск в направлении Витебска. В январе 1944 г. фронт на этом участке стабилизировался. Всю весну и первую половину лета стояло затишье, которое было прервано 22 июня мощным наступлением Красной Армии в Белоруссии - началась знаменитая операция «Багратион». Советские войска сбили с позиций VI армейский корпус, остатки 3-й танковой армии вермахта были приданы 4-й армии. В жестоких боях с 22 по 30 июня «Насхорны» 519-го батальона уничтожили 112 советских танков. 1 июля 1944 г. то, что осталось от s.H.Pz.Jg.Abt. 519 вошло в состав танковой боевой группы «Хоппе». 4 июля группу «Хоппе» вновь передали в 3-ю танковую армию. В составе танковой боевой группы имелось 15 самоходок «Nashorn» и семь штурмовых орудий. Группа «Хоппе» действовала в составе 212-й пехотной дивизии. Согласно рапортам к 15 июля в группе «Хоппе» не осталось ни одной самоходной противотанковой артиллерийской установки «Nashorn». Личный состав s.H.Pz.Jg.Abt. 519 был выведен в резерв 3-й танковой армии. В конце августа людей отправили в Милау для переучивания на «Ягдпантеры».

Larry

If I'm posting too much, or doing it improperly...let me know and I'll follow proper procedure.  But I had to add this......  according to that website, there's one more 519 Hornisse/Nashorn that is identified with a name -  Pommern.

Larry

Plastic_Cross wrote:

If I'm posting too much, or doing it improperly...let me know and I'll follow proper procedure.  But I had to add this......  according to that website, there's one more 519 Hornisse/Nashorn that is identified with a name -  Pommern. Larry

You're fine Larry, keep it coming.  The more discussion and information sharing we do the better! 

At the time of the actions around Vitebsk, Albert Ernst commanded the 1st company, of the 519th Schwerer Panzerjäger Abteilung, which consisted of Falke (Falcon), Buzzard and Eagle (Adler).  When Ernst's Falke was knocked out, it was replaced by Büffel. 

According to what I could find online Pommern belonged to the headquarters company of the 519th Schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung.  

Plastic_Cross wrote:

Anyone know how to read this language?  It's at the ostpnazer.asty.ru website.  I think 519 is Albert's ?  Schwere Heeres Panzerjager Abteilung 519 1 июня 1943 г. на основе личного состава «Arbeitstab Hoppe» было сформировано подразделение WK.III, переформированное 25 августа 1943 г. в s.H.Pz.Jg.Abt. 519. Личный состав нового батальона приступил к освоению самоходных противотанковых артиллерийских установок «Hornisse». Последнюю самоходку «Hornisse» 519-й батальон получил в ноябре 1943 г., после чего его отправили на Восточный фронт. Здесь s.H.Pz.Jg.Abt. 519 вошел в состав 3-й танковой армии группы армий «Центр». Вместе с 21-м танковым полком 20-й панцердивизни батальон в декабре 1943 г. - январе 1944 г.г. отражал многочисленные атаки советских войск в направлении Витебска. В январе 1944 г. фронт на этом участке стабилизировался. Всю весну и первую половину лета стояло затишье, которое было прервано 22 июня мощным наступлением Красной Армии в Белоруссии - началась знаменитая операция «Багратион». Советские войска сбили с позиций VI армейский корпус, остатки 3-й танковой армии вермахта были приданы 4-й армии. В жестоких боях с 22 по 30 июня «Насхорны» 519-го батальона уничтожили 112 советских танков. 1 июля 1944 г. то, что осталось от s.H.Pz.Jg.Abt. 519 вошло в состав танковой боевой группы «Хоппе». 4 июля группу «Хоппе» вновь передали в 3-ю танковую армию. В составе танковой боевой группы имелось 15 самоходок «Nashorn» и семь штурмовых орудий. Группа «Хоппе» действовала в составе 212-й пехотной дивизии. Согласно рапортам к 15 июля в группе «Хоппе» не осталось ни одной самоходной противотанковой артиллерийской установки «Nashorn». Личный состав s.H.Pz.Jg.Abt. 519 был выведен в резерв 3-й танковой армии. В конце августа людей отправили в Милау для переучивания на «Ягдпантеры».

Larry-try this

 http://www.google.com/language_tools

Use the Translate box-copy and paste the Russian text in, select the Russian to English in the drop down box and hit translate. 

bobbaily wrote:

Larry-try this  http://www.google.com/language_tools Use the Translate box-copy and paste the Russian text in, select the Russian to English in the drop down box and hit translate.

That worked surprisingly well.  Thanks a lot Bob !  This is the first text material I've found on the web so far that hasn't been a copy of the information on every other website.

Best Regards,

 Larry

These guys have some really great decal sets, several for the Panther A, D and G.  They cover units such as Das Reich, Panzer Lehr, Herman Goering and SS Wiking and a few others.  I'm impressed with these sets, they seem well researched and accurate and have gotten very good reviews. 

I know psychoblue 23 scored a set for his Panther, so some of you may want to check them out.  All the German armor decal sets are on the bottom half of the Decals and Prints page.

http://pachome1.pacific.net.sg/%7Ekriegsketten/

espins1 wrote:

These guys have some really great decal sets, several for the Panther A, D and G.  They cover units such as Das Reich, Panzer Lehr, Herman Goering and SS Wiking and a few others.  I'm impressed with these sets, they seem well researched and accurate and have gotten very good reviews.  I know psychoblue 23 scored a set for his Panther, so some of you may want to check them out.  All the German armor decal sets are on the bottom half of the Decals and Prints page. http://pachome1.pacific.net.sg/%7Ekriegsketten/

I agree espins1!  I just rec'd my Panzer IV H&J set and its awesome! Markings for 17 different vehicles with paint schemes!  I just hope I don't have problems with the decals on zimmerit!  If not I'll probably get a set for my Tamiya Panther G.

espins1, I agree with you!  I just rec'd my Panzer IV H&J set and its awesome!  Markings for 17 different vehicles AND paint schemes!  I just hope the decals work well on zimmerit! 

Well.....I started into the Hornisse kit a little more yesterday.  I have to say that I've already made more mistakes on this kit than I did with my last two kits combined.  I'm embarressed to admit that I had the glacis plate 180 degrees out of phase.  I didn't realize it until I was reading through the PE set instructions. A little Ajax spray and I was able to pull the glacis off and turn it around.  But not without some minor damage to the lower hull and the glacis.

Let's also add on the fact that this is my first build where I am using a PE.  I'm using the Eduard set for the Hornisse. It almost became my last attempt at using PE as well.  I fumbled the right front fender pretty good and got frustrated in the process.  Fortunately, the left front fender went a little better.  With my spirits up I installed a couple more pieces successfully.  I won't go into the other couple of dumbell mistakes I made.

Scott - Make sure you have the Perth Modeling review by Terry Ashley with you when you start your kit - he has a list of 6 - 7 mistakes that are in the instructions.  Most are pretty minor but there are a couple of important ones that would definitely foul up a novice like me.

Larry

Thanks for the heads up Larry.  I must admit I'm a bit intimidated by the Nashorn kit.  I've never done an open topped vehicle before, and I'm relatively new to PE.  Regardless, it should be a good learning experience.  I'm going to try to wrap up a couple of builds before I start mine as I want to be able to devote 100% my time to building my Nashorn, since this is going to be a pretty intense build.  

I'll check out that review you mentioned.  I like to read reviews and builds of kits before I start them, so I can learn from others mistakes.... heh heh heh  Speaking of which, sorry to hear about your troubles, it happens to the best of us my friend.

Hermesminiatures wrote:

As I think I said before, if you don't have an etchmate, get one, because you're dead without it. Knife/pliers combinations just don't work, and while improvised holders are alright (mine was sandwiching the part between 2 razor blades and putting it in a clipboard to bend) you are going to end up with destroyed PE parts without a "fancy" bending tool. Ask me how I know...

Not necessarily. I'm using a machinist ruler to hold the part down and a straight blade (# 21?) to bend my etched parts.  I'm also using my drill index quite a lot to curve the ones that needs to be. A pair of twezzers with flat edge, (the one my Fiancee would use) works great to hold the smaller parts, then I use the ruler to bend it.        Works great for me.

Is that dragon or eduard PE though? They make their PE from overly thin brass/steel, which makes it easy to bend but not really accurate. If you ever try Aber or voyager, you'll encounter much thicker sheets that are impossible to bend without an etchmate. I do use pliers and blades for small stuff like tool clasps but fenders and such work much better with an etchmate.

By now, everyone is probably thinking I'm a salesman from Mission Models...

Hermesminiatures wrote:

By now, everyone is probably thinking I'm a salesman from Mission Models...

Ah ha!  I knew it! 

Hey guys, I just received 2 books that I ordered from Amazon.  Both of these are excellent!

Germany's Panther Tank The Quest for Combat Supremacy by Thomas L. Jentz

Anything and everything you'd ever want to know about the Panther, all of it's variants, configurations, production statistics etc.  I highly recommend this as THE Panther reference book.  One of the things I really like about this book is that the auther has spent decades doing the research and has only used original source material so as to prevent perpetrating the myths and mis-information that keep spewing around the internet and other publications.

Tigers in Combat I by Wolfgang Schneider

This is an excellent book on Tigers and their units.  Very good reference as it has a time log for each and every unit that used the Tiger, documents their engagements, kills and losses by date and everthing.  This might prove invaluable for those of us building a Tiger I or Tiger II.  There is also a 2nd bood that covers the Waffen SS and the named units such as Grossdeutschland.  If I had been paying attention I would have order both..... oh well, going to go order Tigers in Combat II right now. 

OK I'v started on my Jagdpanther inbetween doing research on Hermann Bix but the only problem is I cant find a picture anywhere of his Jagd

I'v found loads out about his war career in the 4th Panzer Div where he was platoon leader and scored 75+ kill's which got him his Knight's Cross in March of 45,I'v even found pic's of the man and his family(I'll put a file together and pass it onto anyone who's interested when I'v finished)but like I said non of the vehicles he served in.

Can anyone help me out please?

Here's my progress so far with the build......

This is the Dragon kit and I'v got to say it's a great kit to build......all I'v really got left to do is build up the indy track and solder and fit the Armourscale barrel then it's ready for paint. 

Looking sharp Glyn!     I will have to add one of those great beast to my stash.