Panzer Aces GB January 2007 to May 31, 2008

Here are some Hornisse/Nashorn photos from the 519 Schwere Jagdpanzer Abteilung (Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion) which I tracked down.  These all had a base coat of dark yellow with a winter camo whitewash with the possible exception of the last photo in this series. 

There is also a decent photo of Albert Ernst's Hornisse named "Buffalo" on page 378 of "Panzer Aces" by Franz Kurowski.

Doing some early research with Tiger's in the mud as my reference so far, I've pulled these pics:

This is his intial Tiger 213.  He comments alot about how dangerous the commanders cupola was on the early Tigers, since it opened straight up.  It was easily spotted on the battlefield and a target for the enemy.  He was even wounded due to the design when a anti-tank rocket het the hatch.

I think I'll build Carius' Jagdtiger as well.

Comet- put you down for Bremer's Puma.

Bobaily- I think someone was already doing  Werner Wolff's  251/10, but I suppose it would be fine for both of you to do it, unless you'd rather build a vehicle no one else is building, you could do Gerd Bremer's 251/9 Stummel with 75mm L/24. But the 251/10 is fine also.

As far as decals. most of the Dragon halftracks come with generic license plate and iron cross markings, and some of the kits have sheets of hull numbers. However Wolff's 251/10, and the rest of blowtorch battalion's halftracks, didn't seem to have any markings other than the iron cross and battalion emblem. If you choose to build Bremer's 251/9 I'll give you some info on his vehicle.

Scott-great idea for a GB.  I'm thinking of diving in after I clean up a couple of other projects.  I'll let you know.  I'm especially looking forward to the Allied Armor Aces GB that you mentioned-I have a T34/76 & the Thunderbolt VII Sherman setting in the stash.

Hermesminiatures-you are very knowledgable regarding applicable kits-Great job on putting the list together.  I'm thinking of a SdKfz 251 with the 3.7 Pak.  Do any of the Dragon kits come with the proper decals to fit the criteria for this GB or does somebody like Archer Transfers make a sheet for the SdKfz 251?  btw-do you know of any Panzer Aces that would have used the Marder III M?  I have the Tamiya kit sitting in the stash.....

Thanks

I added some reference sites for some of the tanks we're looking at building, and it's just a basic preliminary list.  I'll be adding many more and will also add links to sites that zero in on some of the guys and units we're interested in.

If you have any good sites you feel would be helpful to the gang feel free to pm, e-mail or post and let me know so I can add them. 

I also added redd-34 and Plastic_Cross to the roster.  Welcome aboard Gentlemen!

Hermesminiatures wrote:

Plastic_Cross,  you got Ernst's Hornisse.   We do need an online reference section so we can provide links to all the sites about Michael Wittmann Surprisingly, no one has requested a Wittmann vehicle yet. Everyone must be sick of him...

It just has been done before

Plastic_Cross,  you got Ernst's Hornisse.

We do need an online reference section so we can provide links to all the sites about Michael Wittmann

Surprisingly, no one has requested a Wittmann vehicle yet. Everyone must be sick of him... 

results may vary wrote:

I'm interested in this build too.  Guess I'll need to bone up on my history though. I'm a little weak on specific individuals.  Give me some time to figure out what i'm going to build.  Sounds like a bucket of fun.  Some online references would be great.  Whole lot cheaper than buying books.

doh!  I'll add a section for online references as well 

Hi,

This is a great GB idea.  I would like to sign up to build the Albert Ernst Hornisse.  I have the Dragon 6165 Hornisse kit in my stash...just got it a week ago.  Let me know if someone else already claimed this.....if so, I'll choose something else.

Thanks for hosting the GB.

Larry

Gun Tech wrote:

Tanks in detail #1        Panzer IV Ausf. A to J     by Jonathan Forty        Ian Allan Publishing    is awesome!    I believe they also do a book on the Tiger and Panther.

Cool thanks!  I added that one to the reference section. 

SgtBrown wrote:

espins1 wrote: I'm also going to dig through my stash of books tonight and post some more recommended reading and references for you all.  If any of you have books you think are good for this GB, let me know and I'll add them to the lists.  I know I'll be looking back over my copy of  Tigers in the Mud: The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius by  Otto Carius

Great book, read that earlier this year and got about halfway done with building one of his Tigers.  I'll add that to the list. 

espins1 wrote:

I'm also going to dig through my stash of books tonight and post some more recommended reading and references for you all.  If any of you have books you think are good for this GB, let me know and I'll add them to the lists.

I know I'll be looking back over my copy of  Tigers in the Mud: The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius by  Otto Carius 

Eventually, once we get rolling, I'm going to create a page on my website dedicated to this GB, with pics of our models, and info about the tank and Ace etc. (I'm stealing this idea from Marc aka Wingnut who is doing that for the P-39 GB.... it's really cool )

I'm also going to dig through my stash of books tonight and post some more recommended reading and references for you all.  If any of you have books you think are good for this GB, let me know and I'll add them to the lists. 

I've updated the roster and added a section for recommended reading and reference material.  If you know of any books or references please let me know and I'll add them to the list. 

Wow!  I really like the badge!  It's perfect!

Hermesminiatures, thank you very much for putting that list together, that's a lot of research there!  Exactly the kind of stuff we need with this GB.  Looks like we're all on the same wavelength here. 

I should be able to stay on top of this thread and the roster daily, and thanks for putting our names next to the Ace Hermes, between the two it will be really easy to keep all this stuff straight. 

Sorry I didn't respond last night, we went out to a great sports bar here in Reno (Bullys) with our older kids and their significant others.... man, we had a blast!  You gotta love 24oz Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap... mmmmmmmmm  and my head is only hurting a little this morning!

Put you down for Otto Carius' Tiger. 

I would say the best kit is Tamiya 35194. Academy's mid Tiger has an interior, but they really cut some corners to make the early release into a mid. So I would go with the Tamyia kit unless you want to be doing major surgery.

Details:

Eduard 35624(exterior) and 35518(interior) or  Voyager 35072

Hermes, what great info!!!!!

I need to think about which one I want to do now... hmm. 

Hermesminiatures wrote:

How 'bout a logo? Paste this image into your signature, or put it in your animated GIF of GB's. http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p90/J_Hermes/pzace_gb_logo-1.jpg

Hey Scott......  I hope you like that one for the GB Badge cause I do

Duh.

Will fix. 

Nice logo     I like it!      Souldn't it say 07-08 though?

How 'bout a logo?

Paste this image into your signature, or put it in your animated GIF of GB's.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p90/J_Hermes/pzace_gb_logo-1.jpg 

Wolff was commanding the 13th Company of Peiper's "Blowtorch battalion" at the battle of kursk, so his halftrack would most likely have been dark yellow with narrow green stripe camo like the rest of the company's halftracks. Fortunately these half tracks don't seem to have had any markings other than the iron cross and a blowtorch painted in white on the frontal armor, so you don't have to worry about a number.

Some of blowtorch battalion's halftracks at Kursk: (actually I think this is a while before Kirsk because all the men are wearin winter gear)