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Dioramas
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German WWII Kugelpanzer - real tank prototype
dutik
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Germany
Joined: October 03, 2010
KitMaker: 134 posts
Armorama: 134 posts
Posted: Saturday, May 09, 2020 - 10:24 AM UTC
Hello!

Do you think it is possible to build and paint a 1/35 scale tank in just one day? A working day, to be precise?


Subject: German Kugelpanzer

Scale: 1/35

Made by: Attack in 2008

Parts count: 4


Four parts! Thats true!
Here we go!


First part:





This is a wheel. A mainwheel. One of them. The "cleats" were a bit brittle. Lost some while in the box, more during handling. Had to rebuild a good number using strip styrene. The slot between the "wheel rims" has a curved shape, that made the fit of the replaements a bit fiddly, but it was doable. Good news: The "cleats" are cast in place. No need to glue a gazillion of PE onto the wheels. Well done, Attack!

But before doing so I had to grind off the pour stubs. There were 4 large pour stubs: One at each wheel, two at the tank body. The full size of each parts back. Thickness 5-10 mm. It took me two full hours to saw and mill them off, not to forget a good amout of wet sanding on coarse grit paper. Now we have this:





After gluing two main wheels and a tiny tail wheel to the body it looks like that:











OK, I HAD to superdetail this Doubled the parts count by adding a step (got broken off), a handle (broken off too) and two exhaust pipes (the white parts, a too much sanding here...).

Final count: 8 parts forming a full size German WW2 tank


You don't know what a "Kugelpanzer" is?

Well, this is no hoax and no "what if". This one was really made by the Germans in WW2 and captured by the Rssians in 1945. Here the stories differ: Some say, it got exported to Japan an captured in Manchuria, other say it was found at Kummersdorf (german testing range) beside the Maus supertank. Whatever is true: Nowaday it rests in Kubinka, Russias armor collection. Thats all we know. There are no surviving documents, so we don't know what it was intended for. It is a one man tank, has an engine of 25 hp and an armor thickness of only 5 mm. An educated guess is that it was intended to be a selfpropelled obsevation post; mayby for artillery observers. But it went not into aproduction or service.


To get an idea about the size of this thing a photo together with a Pz. IV model::





Just the work of an afternoon and an evening. Now we need a setting for our little Panzer.

Enjoy!
- dutik
dutik
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Germany
Joined: October 03, 2010
KitMaker: 134 posts
Armorama: 134 posts
Posted: Saturday, May 09, 2020 - 10:10 PM UTC
Paintjob done:










Done! Only 24 hours!


Choose an Andrea base of 11 cm size. Want to add the corner of a russian hut and some green. Should look nice when ready.

Regards!
- dutik
Tank1812
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North Carolina, United States
Joined: April 29, 2014
KitMaker: 1,112 posts
Armorama: 886 posts
Posted: Sunday, May 10, 2020 - 12:21 AM UTC
Looks really nice. I like the size comparison with the tank. It appears bigger then photos I have seen. Miniart has a plastic kit of this real tank coming out soon. I plan to put a figure next to for the kit for size comparison.
dutik
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Germany
Joined: October 03, 2010
KitMaker: 134 posts
Armorama: 134 posts
Posted: Sunday, May 10, 2020 - 02:10 AM UTC
Thank you! A figure will follow


Built a house corner, russian style, from a few parts of an old resin kit. Also made some nettles. Lasercut paper plants form Fredericus Rex from Germany. Cool stuff, but a bit fiddly to assembly. Some green paint, ready. Close ups:








Enjoy!

- dutik
Dioramartin
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New South Wales, Australia
Joined: May 04, 2016
KitMaker: 1,476 posts
Armorama: 1,463 posts
Posted: Sunday, May 10, 2020 - 03:55 AM UTC
Nice work, maybe qualifying for the Fastest Diorama in the West. I remember a few of us had some fun when the MiniArt kit was first announced maybe 2 years ago, imagining what the Prokhorovka battlefield would have looked like if both sides had used these things – a giant pool table, with hundreds lying on their sides smouldering & slowly rotating
dutik
Visit this Community
Germany
Joined: October 03, 2010
KitMaker: 134 posts
Armorama: 134 posts
Posted: Monday, May 11, 2020 - 01:11 AM UTC
General wheatering finished, now dusting the wheels:










This is "natural effects light dust" by Ammo of Mig, thinned with turpentinoid. It had not fully cured when I grabbed the tank for the photo, so there are some fingerprints at the upper rim of the wheel. Fixed it with another layer of thinned "light dust" and set it aside to cure for some days. Meanwhile I will paint the hut and maybe build some more nettles. Really a speedbuild


Enjoy

- dutik
dutik
Visit this Community
Germany
Joined: October 03, 2010
KitMaker: 134 posts
Armorama: 134 posts
Posted: Tuesday, May 12, 2020 - 04:11 AM UTC

Finished the painting of the house and glued it to the base::








Regards

- dutik
dutik
Visit this Community
Germany
Joined: October 03, 2010
KitMaker: 134 posts
Armorama: 134 posts
Posted: Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - 06:46 AM UTC
Started figure painting:

Warning! Contains nudity!














Regards
- dutik
Tank1812
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North Carolina, United States
Joined: April 29, 2014
KitMaker: 1,112 posts
Armorama: 886 posts
Posted: Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - 09:55 AM UTC


Keep the diorama going.
dutik
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Germany
Joined: October 03, 2010
KitMaker: 134 posts
Armorama: 134 posts
Posted: Thursday, May 14, 2020 - 04:36 AM UTC
Ryan: Thanks for looking!

...



Finished the groundwork. AK Terrains Dark earth, different brown piments and fixer, finally some drybrushing and highlighting. Time to call the gardener to plant some nettles

Regards
- dutik
Tank1812
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North Carolina, United States
Joined: April 29, 2014
KitMaker: 1,112 posts
Armorama: 886 posts
Posted: Thursday, May 14, 2020 - 06:36 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Ryan: Thanks for looking!



Let’s hold off saying “looking” part a little to loud after that post, don’t need folks getting the wrong idea.

The update looks good.
dutik
Visit this Community
Germany
Joined: October 03, 2010
KitMaker: 134 posts
Armorama: 134 posts
Posted: Friday, May 15, 2020 - 06:26 AM UTC
Finished the base:







Regards
- dutik
Tank1812
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North Carolina, United States
Joined: April 29, 2014
KitMaker: 1,112 posts
Armorama: 886 posts
Posted: Friday, May 15, 2020 - 07:06 AM UTC
The base looks great and the bushes turned out well.
dutik
Visit this Community
Germany
Joined: October 03, 2010
KitMaker: 134 posts
Armorama: 134 posts
Posted: Sunday, May 17, 2020 - 05:36 AM UTC
No updates this weekend. Had a lazy day on the beach watching the sky and the seas. It's soooo empty now! Fascinating!




Regards!
- dutik
dutik
Visit this Community
Germany
Joined: October 03, 2010
KitMaker: 134 posts
Armorama: 134 posts
Posted: Monday, May 18, 2020 - 05:36 AM UTC
Added a number and a German cross to the tank as well as an aerial base. There was no aerial base at the prototype, but if used for artillery observation there had to be some means for communication. so I added an aerial base:








Well, if we skip the figure we could call this diorama to be finished now. Speedbuil! But the figure is still in the painting process, so it will take a few days longer until finished. Stay tuned!

Regards
- dutik
Tank1812
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North Carolina, United States
Joined: April 29, 2014
KitMaker: 1,112 posts
Armorama: 886 posts
Posted: Monday, May 18, 2020 - 07:39 AM UTC
Nice addition, look forward to the finished work.
dutik
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Germany
Joined: October 03, 2010
KitMaker: 134 posts
Armorama: 134 posts
Posted: Sunday, May 31, 2020 - 05:37 AM UTC
I am back behind shedule. Had to strip the paint off the figure and to restart painting. Well, painting monochrome uniforms is not my cup of tea, indeed. The first try looked very aweful I'll give it another try now...

Regards
- dutik
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