I’m kickin’ around the idea for a GB that would be for tanks. I plan to build my Panther G Late painted gray with brown camo’, the setting being Berlin 1945. This made me think…how about a GB based on urban warfare/setting?, call it, “Urban Armor”. The premise is that the tanks would be modeled to simulate “urban wear and attire” in an urban environment. I think this would be fun and would work well for the modern tank guys too!!!..Dio’ guys could also jump in…buildings being encouraged. what do you think???
As you know, I’m always up for a good Group Build. [;)]
Wondering what might make up the criteria for “urban”? Are we talking specific unit type, or markings, or…? After seeing what we went through in the Hunters build just deciding what was a “tank destroyer” (heh) you may need to lay down some either very broad (any vehicle that could have potentially at one time fought in such an environment) or more specific (find a unit that has a history of having fought in an urban conflict, or pictures to prove it) guidelines.
Sounds like fun to me if that can get ironed out. [:D]
dupes: I think photo proof would be the criteria. We wouldn’t have to depict the picture submitted, but that would be encouraged. I also thought that somewhere the city depicted should be identified, in letters, be it a street sign, building signage, whatever, be creative…
Sounds like a good plan to me…now we just need to find out which of the reference gurus has some good urban warfare pics. cough Manstein? cough Hermes? [:D]
dupes: I think most, if not all, of my “In Action” series books have photos of the tanks in an urban setting. I picked up the last two, T34 and Panther for about $6 (with delivery). Great resource photos throughout.
If this idea takes off, I’ll need some help with the “badge” design, how do you do it, download info, etc…do we have some Graphic Artists here on the forum?..helloooooooo[:O] I have some ideas, I just need a pro to implement them.
Graphic designer…that would probably be me.[^] Unless somebody else wants to try…
I’ve done some of the Armor GB badges…(Panzer Aces, Kursk, War in the Desert, Armor Prototypes, Winter Warriors, Hunters) Care to share your ideas…?
I can provide some individual pictures for all the common types, plus I think, maybe, somewhere, in the deepest depths of my bookmarks folder, I have a site with urban armor warfare pics…but I might just be sort of imagining, especially having had a headache for the last three days[xx(]
And to get everyone in the mood…the greatest (IMO) urban combat dio built to date:
That picture, with the text changed, would be great!!! (would we need permission to use it?) I envision adding more building ruins in the background (out of focus). What if we did an abstract of the image if we couldn’t get permission? Kind of a black and white (or color)abstract of the major elements…does that make sense?..We could create “generic” tanks versus the Russian and German ones depicted. What do you think?
Since I missed the “Hunters” window I am now “Game”
There was an article on weathering featuring a KV1 in Stalingrad a few issues ago.
That is going to be my subject if I only can find the original photo, it was never published in FSM…
If not it is going to be the Köln Panther that was knocked out by a Pershing.
I still struggle with the power of that image…
Funny you mention those…after posting here last night, I pulled all of my “In Action” books off of the shelf and went nuts. [8-] I remembered seeing a lot of urban stuff in there as well…interestingly enough, while there are a lot of pics in urban environments, most of the captions state that the units are “passing through” whatever village/town/etc. I think unless there are other good sources of urban pics (my library is certainly not definitive), we may have to open it up to stuff with confirmed urban combat histories. Although, that does make it hard to work off of a pic. Dang. [V]
More I think about it, there HAS to be more photo proof. Also spent a good chunk of time going through the stash looking at marking options, and there are certainly a good number that cover Berlin 1945…which would be only a tiny portion of available “urban” conflicts.
Anyone have a reference about the battle in Berlin at the end of the war? I’m seeing T34’s, JS-II’s, and Panthers so far.
Your ISU-152 would do fine.
Less of a hunter, more off a StuG, the mortal shell was the weapon used in Königsberg (Kaliningrad) and Berlin to wipe out stongholds.
Teaming up with infantry defence and that AA gun the Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck was no threat.
guys: A few things I’m trying to get resolved before we kick this GB off. Here’s what I’m thinking about, please respond/help me with the following:
I think some clear-cut guidelines still need to be established. Along with, or in place of, photo-proof, maybe we should establish a list of key cities and/or conflicts that would qualify: Berlin, Stalingrad, Baghdad, etc, etc…I hope to involve the “forum family” as much as possible, but I don’t want “loose” interpretations of the “Urban Armor” image.
Hermesmimiatures is “working” on the badge, or at least, him and I have swapped ideas (he posted a GREAT photo I hope we can use, scroll up a few posts)…I should hear back from him soon.
I don’t think there is a minimum number of participants required, we are at 6 now (maybe 5 after dostacos reads items #1 and #6…c’mon dos’, I want you in on this one, we’ll think of something for you[;)]), I’m hoping to get at least 10. It would be nice to have at least one modern tank guy too…townsy11, others, helloooooo[:O]!!!
We need to set a start date. Is there a significant day in history involving urban conflicts coming up…fall of Berlin to the allies, etc…???
I thought that with the current number of GB’s going we might get more interest when they wind down. I am currently involved in the “War in the Desert” GB with my “Jimmy on the Bench”-dupes…another great name for a band), and I’m in the “Cold War” GB with a T55A, which at this point, I don’t even have the kit yet. Since I prefer to build 'em one at a time I’m in no big hurry to start and if there’s no historically signifcant “start date” coming up, I put the question to you guys as to the start date. What does your workbench and schedule allow???
Duration: With the encouraged (bordering on mandatory…again a question up for discussion) dio’ setting, I think this will add some extra time…how long should we let this run? I’m thinking 6-12 months…I will be adding Berlin building(s), I hope to get some tips from panzerguy, better yet, get him to join us…I hope you guys will try a dio’ for this one too.
Post me back soon, I look forward to your input and ideas…SMJmodeler
