Panzer Aces GB January 2007 to May 31, 2008

Sorry to hear about your troubles with the Tiger Bob.  I appreciate your participation in this GB and the moral support you've given to all of us.  Thanks buddy. 

Dupes, your King Tiger is gorgeous.  A little weathering, like what Hermisminiatures suggested, will really make it exceptional!  

Hermisminatures, thanks buddy for sharing those weathering tips.  I'm going to have to give them a try! 

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the p.m. and the chance continue.

Have had a deep think for the last two days over which one to do, as initially had three options; the tiger mid, late and the Pz III. Due to the time implications will settle for the Pz. III for Herr Whittmann with the turret number #4L1. As this will reduce the time required to achieve the zimm.... coating. May complete the Pz.III in the panzergrau for late 1942, or with winter cammo applied as of Feb. 1943.

Hi Scott,

The road wheels are complete, the lower hull is assembled. About to begin on the upper hull features.

Thanks for the updates Bryan. 

I haven't done any modeling in about a week and spent this past weekend trying to spoil my wife for our 5th wedding anniversary.

My goal is to get the JagdTiger ready for painting no later than Friday of this week. 

Thats quick with the JagdTiger! I'd kind of set my target date for the end of August.

Hope Mrs E. enjoyed the anniversary! That is one serious party to last a week  

We had a great weekend, it was really very nice.  

Well, I tried several times to get on my workbench last night, but there was just simply too many other things I had to take care of.  Hopefully tonight.  I just need to add a few more bits to the hull and attach the gun, then it's off to the paint booth. 

Hi all

My aplogies for not making too many appearances of late - work has been really busy so my modelling has been put on the back burner.

Glad to see that everyone's builds are going well.

Yo!!  Anyone still here?  Is this GB still alive?  I hope so because I'm going to dedicate the next two months to finishing von Rosen's King Tiger that I started 1 1/2 yrs ago!!  This is where its at now (and has been in this state since April 07!)

No more excuses, no more working on other GBs, no more research!  I've got everything I need to complete this build...tons of PE, 3 types of AM tow cables, Friul tracks, proper decals, you name it!! 

To whet your appetite for these great Panzer Aces, here is the build I just finished for the "Vintage Armor GB".  Its Tamiya's venerable Pz III Ausf M marked up as Oberst Hermann von Oppeln-Bronikowski's command vehicle for Operation Zitadelle.

This NOT my build for this GB....just thought I'd post a couple photos here since von Oppeln-Bronikowski was a panzer ace and included in the book, "Panzer Aces II".  Anyway, I'll post lots of pics of the KT and hope to finish it by the end of October!

Hi Ernest, Glad to see you're still working on the build!  Mine is almost half way done, but was pushed off to the side so I could focus what little time I did have this summer on my writing for Armorama.  Since you're still working on yours, I'll scoot mine back onto the bench and get back at it!  The Pz. III Ausf. M looks great and should give us some inspiration! 

Anyone else out there who didn't finish, but would like to?  We can keep the build open ended until all the "active" participants are finishe. 

Oh, I'm still working on mine! Working, of course, being a subjective term...the KT has evolved into my first ever "shelf queen".

Rest assured, it WILL be done, and fairly soon, too. Trying to clean up the bench so I can get a fresh start on a bunch of other projects - and the box for that KT has been on there since last DECEMBER. Finishing up a Frogfoot, Corsair, and that, then I get to crack into fresh kits!

 Sorry dupes, Scott....I wasn't trying to get on anyone's case!  I'm just as guilty as anyone for not working on my kit for this GB.    Shoot....this is the very first GB I ever signed up for and yet I've completed 4 other GBs since then!!  I just noticed that there hasn't been a post on this thread for a couple of months so I wanted to check first.  I wasn't sure if the GB had offically ended while I was, uh....doing other things!!  I don't feel so bad now that I know there are others in the same situ!!

BTW dupes, if you remember I still have 2 definite shelf queens PLUS a few others that will be getting that status soon if don't get my butt in gear!

Yoikes! Call me the posterchild for absentmindedness.

Mobius'  KT has been done and sitting on the mantle for @ least a month and a half now. I will make a point to break out the "photo studio" I bought @ Wally-world about 6 months ago and learn to use it this week. With a bit of luck, I'll be able to post some quality photos this coming weekend. 

I fully understand what my dad meant when he said "There aren't enough hours in the day". Over the past year, I have been tied up with work mostly, but given the state of the union today, I'll take it. I also maximized my efforts/production in the garden this spring/summer and I've actually planted a fall garden this year. I'm even considering a winter crop. It sure saves on groceries. 

Regardless, I'm done. I just gotta' take the pics. Bear with me justa' mite longer.

-John

I haven't been able to unearth much about Rolf Mobius. I do know that he served as a battery commander with an 88 mm FlaK unit prior to joining the 101st sSS and served in both the Tiger I and Tiger II . I also know that he served as the CO of both the 1st and 2nd companies and at one point was temporarily battalion CO. He and his 1st company "reinforced" Wittman @ Villliers-Bocage, the day Wittman shot up the British 7th Armored and the days following. He also participated in the Battle of the Bulge.  

During the Bulge, Mobius commanded the 2nd company. His vehicle was a Tiger II #205. As I understand it, #205 broke down during the road march and Mobius switched to Tiger #204. I've attempted to recreate Tiger 204 as it might have looked just prior to the start of the battle. The black "G" on the bow is for March Route "G".  The "MP's" used these symbols to route traffic and hopefully keep everyone moving toward the right objective.

As fate would have it Tiger #204 broke down during the battle and was abandoned near La Glieze. The Americans recovered it and attemped drive it to a railhead. But it overheated on a steep hill near Ruy and was eventually abandoned. It was later pushed off the road, where it wound up at the bottom of a gulley. I assume that someone eventually salvaged it for scrap. 

Scott- Thank you for a very enjoyable 1st GB. Besides trying out a few new techniques (new to me anyway), I think I've learned more about the Tiger Aces than I ever thought I could and I've expanded my reference library considerably . Needless to say, I'm inspired to build more of the Ace's vehicles - I'm going to do Staudegger's Tiger I at Kursk, right after I do Barkmann's Panther in Normandy .

Here's the finished product. It's OOB, except for the Fruil tracks and Archer's decals. I also added screens from the parts box over the cooling fans. I welcome any constructive input any of you may have.

-John

Hi John,

A nice build there....... liked the cammo pattern, did you use a masking card?

Need to get mine finished.......

Thanks for the compliments, guys . 

I painted everything except the base coat by hand, Bryan. I tried some Polly S acrylics this time and I like them much more than the Model Master II acrylics for brush painting. Truth be told, I've always been an enamels guy. But, this old dog is learning some new tricks. 

Scott, I failed to mention that before I get to Barkmann's Panther, I have to finish the mid production Tiger I from the 3rd company 101st sSS I'm working on. I haven't decided if I'll mark it up as Max Gorgens (321), Hermann Barkhausen (323) or Rolf von Westerhagen (334).   

I forgot to include the reference pictures I used. I'm sure that I don't have the paint scheme quite right, but I can live with that.

-John

It is alive!!! 

Sorry to bring this old GB back out of the grave.  I've finally gotten back to work on the JagdTiger for this build.  All these unfinished projects laying around in my den have been frustrating me so I'm going to finish them up to clear my staging area and to give me more "guilt free" flexibility with being able to build whatever happens to be interesting to me at the time.

The assembly of the JagdTiger is complete.  It is Dragon's 1/35 JagdTiger kit#6050, which came with the PE grill screens included as well as a few other PE detailed parts.  I'm building mine as "X1" the mount of Alber Ernst with the s.Pz.Jgr. Abteilung 512 in Iserlohn Germany in the Ruhr pocket April 1945.  Assembly was pretty straightforward, no major issues although the fit of the rear hull doors is a bit finicky if you wish to pose them shut.  The kit came with individual plastic track links, however I have a set of white metal Friulmodel tracks for this baby which will give them the heavy weighted sag that they need to look right on this beast.

The tiny little PE hooks for the camo netting were very tricky to install.  Every time I attempted to pick one up with my tiny sharp pointed tweezers static electricity (or magentism?) would make it jump and attach itself to the outside of the tweezers when I got about 1/8" away from them making them extrememly difficult to handle.  I almost gave up on installing all 26 of them until I decided to use that problem to my advantage.  Instead of using CA glue, I put just a tiny dab of liquid Tamiya thin plastic cement where the PE hooks were to be placed, took the tweezer and let one of the clips jump up on the tweezer and then just touched it to the cement in roughly the right position.  The suface tension of the liquid cement sucked it right off the tweezer and snapped it down onto the plastic.  A quick tweak or two to position it just right, then a quick, light tap to secure them to the hull.  Took all of about 15 minutes to get all 26 attached.  Whew! 

Thanks Bob.  Funny thing is I'm one of the worst offenders for my own GBs... lol

My problem in the past was that all those GBs interested me so I'd sign up for a bunch of them, and then not have anywhere near the amount of free time available to actually complete builds in them.  I think the only "active" GB I'm participating in right now is the 1,000 Roadwheels GB.  I'll be finishing up my JS-2 for the Red Storm on the Reich GB soon too, I really want to get all these partial builds finished to free up some space! 

Hey, me too guys!  Looks like we're all in the same boat!  We should start another GB for guys who join too many GBs!  OH WAIT!  That's what the "No More Excuses" GB is for!! LOL!

Another problem I have is I'm a perfectionist (only with my stuff) and very exacting but don't always know how to do all the things I want to do, which sometimes means I can literally spend days just deciding how I want to tackle a particular modeling problem.  I gotta stop being such a perfectionist.....riiiiight!

Now to your JT Scott!  Dude that's looking BEEYOOTIFUL!!  I love how its turning out even though I can barely see those PE hooks!  Looks like you came up with a great solution to a sticky problem!  Seeing this and knowing you're working on it makes me want to finish my von Rosen KT! BUT FIRST I have to finish the "UHU" for dupes' "251 Halftracks" GB.  Its painted, just need to finish the weathering...but you know how that goes!  And then I have to get BACK to the JS-2 for your "RSotR" GB. And I also want to get going on the Pz. I Ausf. A for Huxy's "Norway WWII" GB!  Then there's all those Pz. IV variants I want to build for the "1000 Roadwheels" GB!!  Agghhh...so many models so little time!!  LOL!! 

BTW, is there anyone else who hasn't finished their build for this GB? 

I've made two modifications to the JagedTiger

1. Dragon erroneously used a museum JagdTiger with the 128mm gun in the recoiled position when they engineered this kit.  I have very carefully pulled the barrel out from the mantlet and added spacers around the base of the barrel shaft, thus preventing it from going in further than the non-recoiled position (is that even a word? )
2. I removed the base of the engine deck AA gun mount, snipped off the solid supports for the gun pole mount at their base, then meticulously carved, filed and sanded them to resemble the welded steel tubing which should be there.  Turned out ok so I'm glad I was brave enough to try it.  

bufflehead wrote:

Nice work on the corrections Scott!  You can definitely see the difference in the barrel length now!  What a HUGE gun!!  The mod to the AA base looks great!  How much assembly work do you have left on this big boy?

Going to make a few more fixes before it hit's the paint booth.  I need to seal the gaps on both sides where the engine deck meets the rear hull plate.  I also have some gaps to fill in the upper superstructure where the front plate meets the side plate.

Oh, and almost completely forgot about the stern antenna for this command vehicle!   :oops: