Panzer Aces GB January 2007 to May 31, 2008

  Being a bit anal (or as I like to put it, 'detail oriented' ), it frustrates me that I can't find photo documentation of my subject, Albert Kerscher, or for that manner, conclusive evidence of the turret numbers/type of Tiger (Early/Mid/Late) that he commanded.  Guess I'm used to being in the airplane world where there seems to be more info available.

Boy I hear you there Mr.Bail...Bob.

I'm to the point where I'll take pretty much any ace if I can find some actual references as opposed to just a lot of contradicting info and ambiguity.

dupes- I think I promised you some pictures didn't I...sorry for the delay- I haven't forgotten about you.  I've had to shove a lot of things to the back burner here lately.

The best I can do for von Westhagen's Tiger II is a photo of #008 - the XO's vehicle. I would think that it wouldn't be too great a leap from 007 to 008.

I did however find a couple photos of Heinz Kling and his early Tiger I - #405. Kling was Wittman's first boss. I can't recall why he was replaced by von Westhagen right off the top of my head, but he wound up commanding the same battalion @ war's end. As you can see by the captions, the photo of 405 was taken when Field Marshal Guderian came for a visit and I know there are other photos of 405 taken during this event. The pics I've posted here all came from Tigers in Combat II. If you haven't seen it yet,there is more info on this great book under the Reference section on page 1.

Hope this helps.

-John

espins1 wrote:

I'm glad you were able to get the info you needed Duke, aboard officially now!

Thanks Scott! I'll be starting my Panther this Sunday. It's good to be here! 

Hey, thanks Postman! Sadly I don't have a KT in the stash...I didn't even realize Westerhagen rode one. Hmmm. Perhaps that's why I can't find pics?

Will definitely do some more research into Heinz Kling - that's the closest I've seen to an "actual" vehicle photo so far.

ALRIGHT - been making some progress.

Which leads me to a question. If one has received the Knight's Cross, did one have to be an ace? I'm asking specifically for the case of Sturmbannfuhrer Kurt Hartrampf, battalion commander of the 102nd/502nd...

Disturbingly, I don't see his name on a list of panzer aces anywhere...which has me worried. Heh. 

Couldn't tell you. I wish I knew. Sorry about that.

I ran into a snag on this Dragon 1/72 scale Panther model. The entire "B" sprue is missing! So I'm dead in the water unless and until I finally find that darn thing! Sheesh! If it ain't one thing it's another!

I'll keep you all posted. 

dupes wrote:

ALRIGHT - been making some progress. Which leads me to a question. If one has received the Knight's Cross, did one have to be an ace? I'm asking specifically for the case of Sturmbannfuhrer Kurt Hartrampf, battalion commander of the 102nd/502nd... Disturbingly, I don't see his name on a list of panzer aces anywhere...which has me worried. Heh.

That's a good question.  Hermisminiatures, what are your thoughts about Kurt Hartrampf?

Well, here's all I could find about him...

Hartrampf started in the infantry, commanding the 14th Kompanie of III SS Totenkopf's 3rd regiment. That was 1940-42. I couldn't find much info until the later war years, when he commanded sSSPzAbt 102 in the Ardennes. He was awarded the RK for his actions as 102's CO. He saw multiple actions with sSSPzAbt 102 and although I can't find a kill tally, I find it hard to believe that he would have no kills after commanding a King Tiger battalion for six months.

I think he qualfies as a Panzer Ace. You should have an easy job ahead of you if you go with his Ardennes KT, since it should be 007, and there are plenty of pictures of other 102 KT's in the Ardennes. 

Hermesminiatures wrote:

I think he qualfies as a Panzer Ace. You should have an easy job ahead of you if you go with his Ardennes KT, since it should be 007, and there are plenty of pictures of other 102 KT's in the Ardennes.

Hahaaaa! Sweet. I was actually just looking for a confirmation on his ace status. His late war King Tiger (according to Tigers In Combat II, anyway - p293) should be 555...which I happen to have both decals and a color plate for!

One question - sSSPzAbt 102 received their KT's from 14 Feb - 6 Mar of 1945, they would NOT have received zimmerit, correct? I don't see any evidence of zim on the pics, just checking for production date confirmation.

OFFICIALLY FIRED UP! I may accidentally start on this guy when I get home.

dupes wrote:

Hermesminiatures wrote: I think he qualfies as a Panzer Ace. You should have an easy job ahead of you if you go with his Ardennes KT, since it should be 007, and there are plenty of pictures of other 102 KT's in the Ardennes.  Hahaaaa! Sweet. I was actually just looking for a confirmation on his ace status. His late war King Tiger (according to Tigers In Combat II, anyway - p293) should be 555...which I happen to have both decals and a color plate for! One question - sSSPzAbt 102 received their KT's from 14 Feb - 6 Mar of 1945, they would NOT have received zimmerit, correct? I don't see any evidence of zim on the pics, just checking for production date confirmation. OFFICIALLY FIRED UP! I may accidentally start on this guy when I get home.

That is correct, none of those KingTigers would have been delivered with Zimmerit.

I'm starting my JagdTiger tonight, while I wait for the seatbelts to arrive for my Me 410 B-2/U2/R5

jadgpanther302 wrote:

hey espins, can i join now, sorry its late but i can finish it on time. Otto Cariuus tiger

You bet you can join.  We still have about several months before this GB starts winding down.  I currently have SgtBrown listed as doing a Tiger I - mid production.  Are you planning on doing an early or late?

You can proudly wear the badge while you're participating in the build. 

As it stands right now, SgtBrown is building a Tiger I mid "Otto Carrius".  Unless Carius had another mid production Tiger I, it is already spoken for. 

Hey all.  Given the time constraints (i.e., my overcommitting to other GB's)  and my desire to really 'detail' the 1/35th Tiger I have in the stash, I picked up the Tamiya 1/48th version for this GB.  It comes with the 'correct' turret number, 213, for Abt .2/503 Summer 1944.  Based on this interview I found on the web, Kerscher could have very well been in an Early at that time.  I would like to think that Tamiya did their homework, but the more digging I do, the less I'm certain about anything unless I see a picture.

http://www.hotlinecy.com/Kerscher.htm

Hopefully I can get started on this one early '08.

bobbaily wrote:

Hey all.  Given the time constraints (i.e., my overcommitting to other GB's)  and my desire to really 'detail' the 1/35th Tiger I have in the stash, I picked up the Tamiya 1/48th version for this GB.  It comes with the 'correct' turret number, 213, for Abt .2/503 Summer 1944.  Based on this interview I found on the web, Kerscher could have very well been in an Early at that time.  I would like to think that Tamiya did their homework, but the more digging I do, the less I'm certain about anything unless I see a picture. http://www.hotlinecy.com/Kerscher.htm Hopefully I can get started on this one early '08.

I know what you mean Bob, there are so many great GBs going on, and several other good ones getting ready to start up! 

Looking forward towards your build Bob, I'll update the front page. 

jadgpanther302 wrote:

i will do kurt knispel in a tiger.

Wow, I can't believe nobody picked him yet, you got it jadgpanther302!    I was just reading about his exploits in "Panzer Aces II", he was pretty amazing.  It's too bad he was killed so close to the end of the war. 

Hey, which kit are you building?  Tamiya? 1/35, 1/48?

Well guys...I had a fairly productive weekend.

Construction of Tamiya kit #35252 is, for the most part, done.

Doing this one mostly OOB, a few too many sets of PE lately driving me insane...and all of the masking I'm going to have to do with an ambush scheme makes me think a whole ton of little fiddly bits might be fun not to have around. The Eduard PE grill set is on the way, as well as the Hobby Boss Tiger II late indy track set. Anyone tried these Hobby Boss tracks? Placed my order over the weekend from Squadron, didn't think I'd get this far quite this fast. Would get cracking with the paintjob, but not knowing how easy/hard that trackset is, I don't want to attach the skirts quite yet. Was really fired up to try using the rubber bands and "pinning" them after seeing Crockett's little mini-tutorial the other day, but the ones that came in the kit are crap...glad I didn't pay the $53 retail price this monster carries with it. Ebay to the rescue!

Anyhoo, I'm rambling, thought I'd give you guys a little progress report, guess I'll be working on the figures (or maybe even a dio base?) the rest of the week until that other stuff arrives.

Looks good Dupes.  Glad to see some action in this GB...still gonna be at least a month before I start on my Tiger.

I know what you are saying about eBay-I like the Tamiya kits for ease of assembly but the retail prices are more than I want to spend...especially if I'm going to add any AM bits.  I've picked up an Early & Mid Tiger from eBay for future builds.  Also got lucky got the Late Tiger w/metal tracks & barrel from Squadron at a close-out price-probably could have done better on eBay but still a fair price.  Now I just need to get the time to build them!

Just so you know, the Hobby Boss tracks are the single link 18-tooth type used only on very early Porsche KT's and very late Henschels. Better find out what the approximate production date of your ace's KT was; only vehicles produced February-March 1945 would have had the 18-tooth sprockets and tracks.

As far as quality, they are fairly nice tracks with no pin marks for the most part, and only the attachment points to clean up. They include the extra sprocket teeth so you can convert standard 9-tooth sprockets. 

Oh, by the way, your model looks pretty good so far. Glad you opted for the Eduard grilles and didn't mess with the nylon mesh that comes in the kit. It's  

The quick reply - Crap!, Cool!, and Thanks!

The expanded version - gaaaack I'm bummed about those tracks. Now I'm going to have to find something else to equip this monster with, which means she's going on the back burner for a while - got that little "War In The Desert" GB to worry about.

Glad their stuff is decent quality. Was excited to find some replacements for cheap...if only they were the right ones.

Hey, thanks! I'm also glad I found that little Eduard grill set. 5 bucks and I'm not up to my eyeballs in superglue for 2 weeks. Heh.

bobbaily wrote:

I know what you are saying about eBay-I like the Tamiya kits for ease of assembly but the retail prices are more than I want to spend...especially if I'm going to add any AM bits.

Hey Bob - don't know if you've ever tried them, but Lucky Model's prices on Tamiya are pretty spectacular, especially if you hit them during a sale...I cleared several kits for under 50% of retail, even including the fairly exorbitant international shipping. Also, their Academy prices are STUPIDLY low. Like, around 33% of retail shipped. Zing! 3-for-1 deals!

I can shoot you my whole "Lucky Model Spreadsheet" if you want the full details.