German Infantry
Waffen - SS Infantry:
My current project is a '42-43 Waffen SS PzGd company and a '42 SPW 251 Ausf C Halftrack Company. The Infantry are based on the Winter German sculpt with some Afrika Korps cap-equipped truppens thrown in for good measure. There is a great deal of arm-bending and head-transplanting going on so the following pics are not for the squeamish!
The lack of Waffen SS camo-smock infantry
has forced me to scratchbuild and modify some of my own. The winter blister has
few good poses for scratchbuilding but the crouching officer, and the grenadier
are the best of the lot. The hood lip can be shaved down and the result looks
somewhat like a cloth helmet cover. The winter uniform can easily pass for a
camo-smock at this scale.
Staff or GHQ team: Radio operator - Flamethrower converted with scratchbuilt
Rifle from spare
pewter. Obersturmfuher taken from the winter blister, head lopped off and a
slightly sanded down Russian Officer cap and head added to look like a crusher.
Winter grenadier re-posed. The table...helmet - another headless leader; barrels, table, ammo cans,
scratchbuilt.
Finished team.
Radio operator crowded the base too much - ended up on a separate base.
MMG / HMG Teams: Ammo Carriers...Winter hood carved away and ammo can scratchbuilt.
Painted...
LMG gunners: with their smocks done. The MGs and ammo belts still
need highlighting and the boots need gaiters but you can get an idea of the
variety of clothing. Blurred edge, plane tree, tiger and autumn oak leaf. The
only one missing is Pea dot but there are some others with that pattern - not
shown. I have deliberately mixed the uniforms on some figures. Sculpts are
modified only in that the winter hood is removed. I have used the Winter, Afrika
and standard infantry poses.
Panzerknacker: To fill out the 1940-41 German Infantry Company, we now have the German ATR (yippee - now how 'bout the Russian?) but still need the panzerknacker units that were more common than the ATR. These were attached to the Company HQ in lieu of the uncommon Panzerbüchse 39 that was in short supply. To represent them, we need a fellow with a tellermine and another with a grenade bundle. The best fellow for this is the German grenade tosser. A small blob of solder is added to the grenade and flattened into a small disk with needle-nose pliers. The arms are bent down into as natural state as we can muster. The head is turned a little less sharply and the left leg straightened.
The Grenade bundle thrower is made with the same figure, first straightening the arm to point. Left leg straightened again. The head is turned to look more realistic and the throwing arm bent at the elbow to look like he is cradling the charge. Its really a dramatic pose and looks much better in person.
Painted Picture:
Engineer/Pioneres: To fill out the Engineer/Pionere squads, we have a very good flamethrower done by GHQ already but need the mine detector and demolition troop types. For the mine detector, the grenade thrower is again a good start. Begin by bending into the proper pose. The grenade is removed and the helmet shaped down to a wedge to represent the field cap. The rifle is removed from his back and in is place, a pack is added fashioned from scrap pewter. A helmet is made to add to the belt by lopping off a spare Leaders head (there really are too many in the German Infantry pack!) The remains of the head are scraped and sanded away and the helmet is glued to the belt. A thin piece of brass thread is then used to represent the detector wand. A blob of solder is added to the end of the thread and flattened/cut to shape. Glue this to the hands, first notching out where it will go. Another piece of brass thread is then used to fashion a set of headphones and these are glued onto the cap. That's it! This figure took about an hour to make. I only need three more!
