Proud Kraut Posted July 8, 2011 Share #1 Posted July 8, 2011 I thought about building my next Diorama with a "Battle of the Bulge" theme for a while. Last year, when I saw the new DRAGON "M10 Ersatz" (Ersatz = replacement) model kit, the idea for the new Dio was born. A dozen of these disguised Panther tanks were employed during "Operation Greif". A sub-operation of operation "Wacht am Rhein" better known as "Battle of the Bulge".The operation was - like the whole Ardennenoffensive - a complete disaster. Operation Greif, the use of Allied Uniforms and vehicles with allied markings, was beyond that against the law of war. You'll find more background informations e.g. here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Greif If you google Ersatz M10, you'll find a couple of pictures and a short clip on youtube as well. From the modeler's point of view, the "wolf in sheep's clothing" theme is quiet interesting. Of course the Ersatz M10 should "meet" a real M10, so one can compare both tanks side by side. This time I would like to post the development of my dio step by step. Thus I hope to learn much more from the community. Let's see what we are able to create together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willysmb44 Posted July 9, 2011 Share #2 Posted July 9, 2011 Can’t wait to see what you do with this! When you’re done with the box, I’d like to buy the lid from it. I love that artist’s work and I’ve always wanted a painting just like that. I keep hoping that someday, someone will put a book of his work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjones5452 Posted July 9, 2011 Share #3 Posted July 9, 2011 greatmodels.com has the same kit on sale for $30.95. I just checked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share #4 Posted July 9, 2011 greatmodels.com has the same kit on sale for $30.95. I just checked. Wow, you'll have to pay nearly twice as much over here. It's a stunning model kit. More than 500 parts, many transparent and photo etched parts included. Incredible detailed and very smooth to build. I have started with the chassis now: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share #5 Posted July 9, 2011 left side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share #6 Posted July 9, 2011 Size compared to a Sherman Thunderbold, another project in progress: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share #7 Posted July 9, 2011 Can’t wait to see what you do with this! When you’re done with the box, I’d like to buy the lid from it. I love that artist’s work and I’ve always wanted a painting just like that. I keep hoping that someday, someone will put a book of his work. No problem, if you absorb the shipping charges, it's yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted July 9, 2011 Share #8 Posted July 9, 2011 Interesting topic.... We did a vehicle meet in the Ardennes back in 1989 where we portrayed men from the PzBde 150... Vehicles were marked with the yellow triangle at the back and we all kept our chinstraps unhooked, the second button of our jackets undone and wore blue scraves around our necks... No-one really knew what we were up to... :think: Anyway here's an old picture showing one of the Jeeps' yellow triangle marking.... and yes, that was real snow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheskett Posted July 9, 2011 Share #9 Posted July 9, 2011 I am very impressed with you model guys here. I could do that too if I only had the time, patience, model kits, and Oh yea talent. Looks great Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Meatcan Posted July 10, 2011 Share #10 Posted July 10, 2011 Lars, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to see how your diorama turns out. Should be interesting. Keep up the nice work :thumbsup: Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Marine Posted July 10, 2011 Share #11 Posted July 10, 2011 That's a great idea for a diorama. I look forward to seeing the progress. Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
45ACP Posted July 10, 2011 Share #12 Posted July 10, 2011 Proud Kraut the M10 is a class of vehicle known as a self-propelled gun specialized as a tank destroyer. It is artillery and does not have The armor to take on tanks one on one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share #13 Posted July 10, 2011 Thanks guys, I will post the next steps soon. Proud Kraut the M10 is a class of vehicle known as a self-propelled gun specialized as a tank destroyer. It is artillery and does not have The armor to take on tanks one on one. Yes, I know the M10 tank and the TD branch. But I think it's rather not artillery (what is indirect fire in my opinion). I used "meets" in the meaning of "displayed on the same dio". I think it makes most sence to display one of the tanks knocked out of course. The pictures you find on the net show a Ersatz M10 covered with snow and another knocked out one in a "spring surrounding", obviously much later taken than the snow picture. http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://...1t:429,r:13,s:0 To display the Ersatz M10 "active", I have to build a winter scene for sure (what I never have done before...). :think: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share #14 Posted July 10, 2011 Time for some conceptuel design today. Some months ago I acquired a huge lot of unbuild/unpainted model kits. Thereby parts of a MiniArt Normandy dio set with some ruins and lots of other stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share #15 Posted July 10, 2011 These ruins could be the frame for a street scene with both tanks. I'll take my M10 from the "Occupy that Bridge" dio, to minimize costs. It can be easily replaced there by a Sherman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share #16 Posted July 10, 2011 Or maybe I'll add a Dragon Wagon? Maybe too much for one dio, don't want to overload the scene. I also don't know, if the Dragon Wagon could have carried the weight of a PANTHER? Regarding that, I found different infos on the net??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
45ACP Posted July 11, 2011 Share #17 Posted July 11, 2011 The M10 TANK DESTROYER IS NOT A TANK. To the U.S. Army the M10 was a specialized vehicle rush to the site of the Panzer attack to recon & movement to advantageous positions so that they could attack with fire. Their motto was "Seek, Strike, Destroy" you see when your armor is only a maximum 37mm your survival instinct takes over when your against tanks with a maximum of 80mm to 100mm of armor and you run. Even if you have a big gun and a turret if you don't have the armor your stupid to try and slug it out with a real tank. You shoot & scoot and find a new place to shoot & scoot from. And yes about half the TDs were towed guns. Maybe you could do a dio with an M3 halftrack towing an M5 3" antitank gun with your Ersatz M10. I know it just would not be the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpguy80/08 Posted July 11, 2011 Share #18 Posted July 11, 2011 Actually.... I just had a thought... That Ersatz M10 Panther on the Dragon Wagon... with the M-10 and crew looking on and pointing to it as it passes by... like, KFC??? Imagine the novelty of seeing one of these after the battle... I'm sure the crews heard the rumors of them... but to actually see one in the aftermath of the battle... might make a pretty good dio... The ERssatz was meant to fool US troops at a distance, not up close, but you can imagine that the M-10 crew would be obviously stymied by seeing one. You might call it, "Battlefield Cleanup" or maybe "The Depths of German Desperation - Ardennes, 1944" Also, keep in mind that the job of fighting tanks wasn't with the tanks in the US Army in WWII... it was with the Tank Destroyer corps. It was also one of the biggest mistakes we made in the war... which was why the TD Corps was disbanded after WWII. During the Ardennes offensive, US tanks were pretty much divvied out in Penny packets... a few here, a few there. Also, a lot of the Anti Tank guns were the towed of the 3" (M5), 37mm (M3) and 57mm (M1)Variety. Sad, but true. The M36 Jackson with it's 90mm gun was just starting to make it to the front but not in really big numbers. Just a thought... or three... :thumbsup: Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeper704 Posted July 11, 2011 Share #19 Posted July 11, 2011 For being the biggest mistake, the Tank Destroyer units really did their share of knocking out enemy armor. The TD was NEVER designed to meet enemy armor head on! Not for nothing was their motto "Seek, Strike, Destroy!" to which they added "And get the hell outta there!". The purpose of them was to locate enemy armor, move into a good position, to knock it out and then get the hell out. These TD crews did a really good job. Too bad higher up misused this TD weapon. A lot were used for mobile artillery ... which was not their purpose. Especially infantry officers looked at them as being tanks ... which they weren't! I hold the TD crews with highest respect ... it took some real guts to go against some of the "stuff" the Germans had. On to the diorama which can be an interesting one, showing both the "repro" M10 and the real thing. I tend to agree with Wayne; let the M10 crew check out this ersatz beast. Maybe they are showing where they hit it? (Some battle damage to the ersatz M10?). Erwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpguy80/08 Posted July 11, 2011 Share #20 Posted July 11, 2011 For being the biggest mistake, the Tank Destroyer units really did their share of knocking out enemy armor.The TD was NEVER designed to meet enemy armor head on! Not for nothing was their motto "Seek, Strike, Destroy!" to which they added "And get the hell outta there!". The purpose of them was to locate enemy armor, move into a good position, to knock it out and then get the hell out. These TD crews did a really good job. Too bad higher up misused this TD weapon. A lot were used for mobile artillery ... which was not their purpose. Especially infantry officers looked at them as being tanks ... which they weren't! I hold the TD crews with highest respect ... it took some real guts to go against some of the "stuff" the Germans had. On to the diorama which can be an interesting one, showing both the "repro" M10 and the real thing. I tend to agree with Wayne; let the M10 crew check out this ersatz beast. Maybe they are showing where they hit it? (Some battle damage to the ersatz M10?). Erwin Shermans were also used as bombardment weapons as well. Any good book on the sherman shows them pulled up on dirt ramps to increase their trajectory ( and hence their range to a certain extent). You are right about the TD mission. It was hoped the TDs could get into position and get dug in to ambush the Germans. Fighting a mobile battle just wasn't in the TD's best interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpstout Posted July 12, 2011 Share #21 Posted July 12, 2011 Or maybe I'll add a Dragon Wagon? Maybe too much for one dio, don't want to overload the scene. I also don't know, if the Dragon Wagon could have carried the weight of a PANTHER? Regarding that, I found different infos on the net??? Lars, it is always enjoyable to follow your model topics and this one is no exception! A photo is worth a thousand words and hope this one helps... regards, pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share #22 Posted July 13, 2011 Thank you very much, guys for all the input! @Wayne & Erwin: Very good idea. I thought about a "Look at the bullet hole" theme as well. Need a couple of GIs in winter clothing then... @Pat: That is a great picture, never seen it before. No more questions about the payload of a Dragon Wagon! (Nice customized Jeep as well!) Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cco23i Posted July 13, 2011 Share #23 Posted July 13, 2011 I am always astounded at the M-26 as we use to produce it when I worked for The Tank Workshop and I remember all the LITTLE parts that went into that fricken trailer ALONE! Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share #24 Posted July 15, 2011 I finished the assembly of the Ersatz M10 yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share #25 Posted July 15, 2011 After a couple of "testshots" I started to airbrush the kit with my "starter kit" airbrush gun today. That's for sure more difficult than expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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