"Amazing diorama: WW2 German gun emplacement" Topic

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Absolutely amazing work! A great diorama and one of the best aspects of this hobby.

Unfortunately, I cannot determine who actually created this masterpiece so, until such time as I know, a big thanks to the anonymous creator and to the website.

Great!

Great diorama!

Ahhh! The sunny sands of North Africa.

Seriously, that is really nice. Thanks for sharing.

Nope, no sunny sands there. That looks like the icy plains of Russia.

Jim

Duck Jim, something's going over your head!

Superb.

Very nice. True talent.

Man, I feel cold just looking at that!

beautiful worksmanship!

No wonder the Russians liked artillery…

That reminds me: I've been wondering how they got an 88 back on its wheels again, once it was off of them. It surely was too heavy to lift by hand. For that matter, how'd they get it off the wheels in the first place (very carefully, presumably).

Me too.

I've been wondering how they got an 88 back on its wheels again, once it was off of them. It surely was too heavy to lift by hand.

You can lift a diesel locomotive by hand if you have enough leverage in your pulley system.

(Photos from the quite good Achtungpanzer.com site.)

The trailer system, for each end, had a pretty substantial winch/pulley set-up to get those things up and down.

Or so I understand. Never cranked one up myself. But I have cranked several multi-ton objects that had appropriate pulleys/gearing.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

I can't help wondering if those brass cartridge cases are actual brass (not just painted).

If those are painted, I want to know how that realistic metallic sheen was achieved. Holy MOLY that's nice.

- Ix

Yellow Admiral, check the Privateer Press website. P3 Brass Balls, washed with burnt umber, highlighted with Brass Balls, then top highlight with P3 Radiant Platinum.

Using winches and pulleys is not my definition of "by hand." But thanks. Anyone have photos of it being done?

Here's a better question:

How did the gun get into the emplacement? There really needs to be a ramp down into the pit that's wide enough for the prime mover to back the gun down into the position, right?

You can buy turned brass cartridges in at least 1:35. If you do it yourself, I would check the colour first though.

I particularly like his scrub in that diorama. Used to do filescale ww2 myself.
And yes.
A gun pit like that would mean a crane to get the gun in and out. If it's so cold the bottom is frozen then you can't dig it out.

Not so hard to get it in/out. Use a ramp – they must have had lots of these around to bridge craters or support weak bridges.

the difficulty would be to do so under fire! The weakest bit of the composition is the MG crew and infantry aiming SMGs. These guns would be well back in your defense plan not in the front line. Of course, could be the Soviets have overrun the first and second lines and are now closing in on this position…so maybe it's OK. Even so, I would set up my MG a few dozen metres away from the big gun.

But a really nice execution. I would just leave off 3-4 figures. Less is more.

Unfortunately, I cannot determine who actually created this masterpiece so, until such time as I know, a big thanks to the anonymous creator and to the website

Found him, Igor Volodchenko,
link

I must admit that I never gave any thought to how the gun got on and off its bogies, or sonderanhanger 202. I remember that on the old Airfix kit the 'fore' and 'aft' arms of the cruciform carriage had a single central hole in them. Underneath each bogie there was a plastic 'spike' and the spike was pushed into the hole if you wanted the model to be in the 'travel' position. So the gun was effectively suspended under the bogies.

Wondering how accurate this Airfix system was I searched for some good information on how the sd. anh. 202s worked. Surprisingly, even in some good books on the gun, how it got on and off the bogies was never mentioned.

Then I found an instruction leaflet for a 1:35 plastic kit of a flak 36 on the net and it showed a kind of hook and eye system being used. Each fore and aft arm of the carriage has two hooks, one on each side. Each bogie has two eyes, one on each side of the inside face of the bogie. These eyes actually look like a stirrup mounted horizontally rather than hanging vertically as they do on a saddle.

It was therefore apparent that the bogies are pushed over the gun carriage arms, the hooks and eyes are lined up, and the carriage is lifted up off the ground and suspended under the bogies. Obviously the eyes/stirrups must be capable of being raised and lowered relative to the bogies but I don't know for certain how this was done.

Next I had to find photographic evidence of what this instruction sheet showed. This is where the photo above comes in. If you look carefully at the fore and aft carriage arms you can see the hook and eye system engaged. Interestingly there are many photos of 88s deployed where the hooks are not apparent, so maybe they could be removed when the gun was in action.

Very nice… the dirty uniforms should be highlighted the other way around…white within the folds and dirt on the outer edges…though it never looks right on a miniature figure (ive tried it many times and failed)

Let me know if these guys would paint wargame figures.

@deephorse

Read the post by Mark 1 above, then watch this. Should expain it nicely.
YouTube link

Thanks Leper. I did read Mark's post but he didn't provide the level of detail that I was looking for. Your video link has about one second of the crew turning what I presume is a winch, but still not enough information I'm afraid!

Modern videos of re-enactors will probably be better quality but I can only find this one:

YouTube link

Here's a highly detailed US Army manual which is well worth a look and has a handy index to find what you want.

PDF link

@ Pauls Bods, thanks for that. I like to provide a name for these talented people when I can.

Regards positioning the 88 within the emplacement, could it not have been reversed in. The gun now seen aiming off to the left (firing forward towards the enemy) but it's legs remaining where they were dropped?