WIP Stalingrad Winter 1943, Street By Street

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Dr Force

A Fixture
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
1,390
Hi Guys

I have decided to concentrate on the 120mm scale as it seems to be just the right size for my projects and decided to open a blog to share with you helpful people.

I have decised to make a sizeable vignette/figure diorama, based on the street by street fighting in early 1943. The scene will involve 3 German troopers, one is mortally wounded and lies in the snow on the rubble on the verge of death,having recently been hit by a sniper. Another figure peers around the wall trying to work out where the danger is whilst another watches on anxiously at the downed soldier.

My intention is to create a sense of drama and anxiety in a relatively confined area, as the soldiers on both sides would have experienced at Stalingrad.

The figures are to be modded, with fresh area's of sculpting and are made up of x2 Stormtroopers 120mm and 1x Verlinden as per below:-


I have modded the verlinden figure to be the dieing/dead soldier lying on the rubble, the Stoortrooper peering by the wall will remain as is and the other stortrooper will be slightly modded to add a sense of worry (if that makes sense)

Anyway here is the start of the modding on the verlinden figure whilst I await delivery of the other two figures from Elgreco Minatures. I have now pinned and glued the legs and boots in position, removed the cigarette, added new hands, tilted the head and sculpted the extended neck scarf (quite difficult getting the pose, balance and sense of dead weight right, but its turned out quite well for now) loads of tidying up to do with the dremel etc, but this gives you a sense of what I am trying to acheive:-
 

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Dave - Looks good!

Question.....Would the ammo belts stay in that position if he's lying down? Imo they would have slipped down somewhat? May be easier to fix now than later?

Best regards

Ian
 
Hi Dave,

Sounds a great idea for a Stalingrad themed dio and great choice of scale, 120mm is one of my favourite scales as its the scale i first learnt how to sculpt with.

I agree the ammo belt would not remain in close contact with the body once in the prone position and would more than likely have fallen of the body almost. When converting figures of any kind one of the main things you have to consider with all poses is the force of gravity on clothing, equipment weapons etc.

Also the figures left hand seems a little too out turned, maybe turn it back in slightly, to turn this far would need to wrist to be broken but that may be the case when he fell from his gunshot.

i will look forward to seeing more on this one mate.

All the best

Steve
 
Hi All

Good call on the ammo belt. I'll remove this now and re-position falling to one side, to make it look more natural but is a hell of a challenge considering the small detail.

Steve, 100% agree on the hand, I noticed this too after putting it all together, so I have now turned it in slightly to make it look more natural and it has made a difference.

Any recommendations on the ammo belt position fella's?

I have now added in the milliput joints and gaps etc as per below( sorry for poor quality pic, will get a better one tomorrow after sorting ammo belt and tidying up), and look forward to all of your constructive criticism :-
 

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Dave glad you managed to reposition the hand mate.

is the ammo belt moulded onto the figure or separate part ?

I think it would be better to leave the longer length marked A and remove belt marked B and to have the loose end trailing of the body.

have enclosed image to explain, if you need belt in 120mm i might have some around and can post to you, i am in Leicester so shouldnt take long.

Steve
 

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Dave glad you managed to reposition the hand mate.

is the ammo belt moulded onto the figure or separate part ?

I think it would be better to leave the longer length marked A and remove belt marked B and to have the loose end trailing of the body.

have enclosed image to explain, if you need belt in 120mm i might have some around and can post to you, i am in Leicester so shouldnt take long.

Steve

Hi Steve

That looks spot on.

I'll do it as you describe, it will look far more natural that way, as though the shot has forced him backwards flinging the ammo belt off as he landed.

I'll have a go at moulding an ammo belt, but can you let me know if you do have some lying around in case I start to struggle.

Your input is very much appreciated.

Dave
 
Just one question. The Verlinden figure is wearing a US army rain poncho and pants over a SS pattern camo smock, neither of which would be around at Stalingrad for the 6th Army soldiers. He is meant to be the SS machine gunner from the famous pictures of Kampfgruppe Hansen at the Battle of the Bulge after the ambush of US troops at Poteau .The pants aren't that big of a deal,many soldiers at Stalingrad would be wearing them untucked and over their boots, but how do you plan to handle the poncho over the camo smock? I guess you could paint it white like its a sheet, but you would still have to mod the sleeves, the elastic cuffs are a giveaway that its an SS camo smock. Just thought I should mention it before you get too far.
Cheers
Jason
 
Just one question. The Verlinden figure is wearing a US army rain poncho and pants over a SS pattern camo smock, neither of which would be around at Stalingrad for the 6th Army soldiers. He is meant to be the SS machine gunner from the famous pictures of Kampfgruppe Hansen at the Battle of the Bulge after the ambush of US troops at Poteau .The pants aren't that big of a deal,many soldiers at Stalingrad would be wearing them untucked and over their boots, but how do you plan to handle the poncho over the camo smock? I guess you could paint it white like its a sheet, but you would still have to mod the sleeves, the elastic cuffs are a giveaway that its an SS camo smock. Just thought I should mention it before you get too far.
Cheers
Jason

Great spot Jason

I am no historian so would not notice this kind of detail (that's why I am here :) )

How do you propose I mod the sleeves to fool the eye? and make it look more authentic in respect of the uniforms worn during the battle.

Steve, Just noticed I did not answer your query re ammo belt! it is molded on to the figure so will dremel the short part out and then I will make a milliput mold and fill with epoxy resin, before trimming, I'll see how that works out before calling upon your help.

Thanks
Dave
 
Great spot Jason

I am no historian so would not notice this kind of detail (that's why I am here :) )

How do you propose I mod the sleeves to fool the eye? and make it look more authentic in respect of the uniforms worn during the battle.


Thanks
Dave

Well, the simplest way it to just re-sculpt the smock sleeves into normal sleeves like the first figure looking around the corner has, and make the poncho an improvised camo garment (i.e. a bed sheet) by painting it white. They would be wearing M36 (most likely) or M40 standard Heer uniforms. You can google "german Stalingrad" and look at the images to get some idea of how they were dressed. If it were me, I would have him wearing a great coat, and do that by extending the sleeves of the poncho he is wearing all the way to the wrist, then grind away the bit of poncho below his belt and sculpt a coat that reaches to below his knee, as seen in the attached photo. If I did that, I would also cut off his current footwear and attach marching boots that go right up to the bottom of the greatcoat
Cheers
Jason
 

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Thanks with your help on this guys.

I lke the look of this as a good compromise (get rid of sleeve elastic, bring great coat out of the bottom of the makeshift sheet and add thicker colars to give the impression coat is underneath the sheet?

Thoughts welcome:-
 

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hello
yes thats right.the smock is your main problem.nor where ss present at stalingrad nor had at this date the german wehrmacht received their smock in splinterpattern at this early date.so you will have the problem that even if you paint the smock in splinter pattern its still not suitable for stalingrad.and the idea that an common WH soldier did wear an SS smock is for this date highly inpropable-i have seen pics of wehrmacht wearing SS smocks but those where officers not common soldiers...doing an greatcoat is an possible solution.i would go for the normal uniform tunic saves you lots of work
cheers
 
Ok thanks for all your feedback.

My intention was not to paint the cammo colours/patterns as described, it was always going to represent winter colours indicative of the arena.

I've decided to go down the route of the 6th Army pic above (courtesy of Dragon 6th Army box art) by adding in the suitable parts of the overcoat.

So far I have added the sleeves and colars and also removed the ammo belt from his left side. The right arm has also been bulked out a bit more to give the impression of a thick cumbersome Great Coat

The smock will be a white sheet as described by Jason which has been placed over the great coat.

I will concentrate on the bottom of the great coat next which will give the impression of being split open due to the fall and placement of the legs.

A bit more progress and still tons of tidying up to do (thanks Dremmel):-
 

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Back again (making use of my last day off work)

Bottom of the Great Coat now attached, it needs "thinning" out so as not to look so bulky (will dremmel once rock solid and shape further with sharp blade) , but I did want to maintain a stiffer look due to the way the material would react in such cold conditions.

I think it's starting to look much better now, you cannot pick up a great amount of detail due to the white of the milliput, but I am overall, pleased with the shape and weight of the coat and figure:-
 

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Nice idea to add the greatcoat Dave, i have ammo belt if you need one mate, just PM me with your address and i will post to you.

Steve
 
Nice idea to add the greatcoat Dave, i have ammo belt if you need one mate, just PM me with your address and i will post to you.

Steve

Hi Steve

I really appreciate this matey, i'll get my address over to you. I have tried making moulds etc, but its just too damn intricate so the ammo belt will be a huge help.

Thank you
Dave
 
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