When it comes to modeling armor. Why is it that German armor is such a popular subject? I would like to see results on which is the most popular country to model. Myself, I prefer U.S. vehicles.
Trevor
Well, there’s tons of it, for one thing. A huge variety of vehicles, from the tiny to the monstrous, in a myriad of colors and markings, is available as subjects.
And they’re all pretty cool, too.
I think that a lot of it has to do with the fact that the Germans rolled over most of Europe in WWII. This produced a facination if you will about how they did it. It also gave them the role of the bad guys. Personally I really like thier equipment. I read in one of my books that Allied comanders EXPECTED to loose around 3 tanks for every Tiger they took out. There is my facination. (doen’t hurt that most of my Ancestors were from Germany)[:D]
The fascination with German armor is many. One is that when you break it all down, you had a county that produce high quality, limited quantity of machines. For all the greatness of the Tiger I, Germany built only 1800 vehicles, hence the Russkies built over 34,000 T-34 alone.
Germany designed a host of tanks that were far ahead of their time. The IR search/target system on the very last Panther G wasn’t surpassed until the mid-60’s. Yes there were plenty of monsters being developed, the Maus and E-100 were doomed from the get-go, yes powerful, but car designers shouldn’t dabble in tank designs, ie, Tiger Porsche and the Maus.
Lord knows what Germany could have really developed if Hitler listened to his Generals and waited until 1943 to start the war. Tiger I’s eraly problems would have been solved; the King Tiger would be more prevailant.
Iguess the reason why German arnor is so popular, is that if you look really deep into modern armor, you can see alot of what the Germans did long ago.
Not just armour, the M-60mg is almost an exact copy of the MG44.
In addition to the above reasons German armour just looks cool, the overall appearance of the panzers fairly oozes an attitude all its own. They look tough, powerful and belicose.
I think it goes deeper than that… It seems to me than humans have something for the ‘baddies’… Obviously German military planes and armor, and ships are very popular modelling subjects. One of my customers once told me that anything with a iron cross on will sell, and therefore on its display stand, many British, French, Belgian, Dutch, Austrian, Italian,… subjects were shown in German markings…
But there is a certain amount of fascination with the military and weaponry of the Soviet Union (another ‘bad guy’, at least for some anyway!), despite the fact that the color schemes are way less interesting and open to controversy than the ones used during WWII by the German forces. Were there to be available in greater numbers, I’m pretty sure Italian and Japanese armor of WWII would be popular subjects, more than Dutch, Chinese, Australian, Canadian,… subjects. Japanese aircraft always have been fairly popular, no?
It’s something we find not only in modeling. Look at movies. The Batman series is a good example, where the ‘baddies’ were actualy more ‘interesting’ than Batman…
i like it for the “shape”. Put a panzer IV late next to a sherman, and see who looks more intimidating. Other than that : variety, colour, marking, etc etc…
German armour is just plain interesting! Who wants to model WWII US tanks when there are only three that stand out as different.
The germans had over 20 different major varients, most of which had sub varients. They made small and huge tanks, fast and slow, and everthing in between. Heck they even made one that shot a one ton rocket mortar!
Plus everyone like a lost cause, the Germans were doomed to fail from day one, but man did they have everyone on the ropes for a very long time.
I have to disagree. I feel there is a wide variety of U.S. armor, a lot of it based on the Sherman chassis, but thing that I think makes modeling U.S. armor so great is you can build two tanks from the same unit and make them total differnt by personalizing them the way the crews might have done in WW II.
When I see pictures of German armor they all look the same other than the numbers and a whole lot of branches.
Maybe it’s just me.
Trevor
I have to disagree with you RAF. The German tankers in WWII seem to have collected and stowed just as much crap as anyone else. Check out the back of this Pz38(t), there’s no room for anything else. And if you’re resourceful you can add personal artifacts such as cigarrete boxes, personal photos, etc. I’m wondering if I’ll ever finish my PzIV I’m adding so much crap to the interior and stowage areas. But, then again, each to his own, that’s what makes the world an interesting place.
I stand corrected. Thanks for the photo. Maybe what I need to do is start building German to find out what all the fuss is about.
I might learn somthing.
Trevor
They are pretty cool mate!!! I reckon they look better than Amerecan stuff. 
Lets face it the Americans and the Brits made crap tanks only the Germans andthe Russians made anything of real quality. Americans never realy made a good tank untill the M1.
Why not? German Armor in WWII were considered top of the line next only to the French in Europe. They were also the ones who really took serious considerations the camo patterns and already had a grasp of its importance in warfare (hence the abundance of camo designs both in their soldier’s uniforms/equipments and vehicles)-I think the Americans and Russians copied only after the latter part of the war. German tanks are also among the first to have the “right grasp” of what tanks should be- compared to the pitiful Shermans and T-34’s. It just so happened that both America and Russia had the advantage of more resources hence produced more of them versus the limited tank production facilities the germans had. (They only won because of the numbers)
What we all need to remember is that the Germans tanks were inferior to what the British and the French were fielding. The reason they did so well was because of thier tactics. One on One they were under gunned and under armoured. Thing was the British and French were using thier tanks for infantry support or as mobile bunkers. The Germans concentrated thier armour together and overwhelmed the thinned out opponents. I whole heartly agree that if the Germans had waited till they had stronger tanks and infantry weapons Europe might just look a lot different on the map these days.
From what I understand, at the outset of war the Germans did not have the best tanks by a long shot. The T34 reigned supreme at the beginning of the war (yes, a personal opinion). The French and the Brits also had good tanks. You think a 38t, or a panzer II stood a chance against a T34??? Not even a Panzer III could take on a T34 and expect to win one on one. What the Germans had going for them was tactics. They were out manned, out gunned, and especially in Russia, and North Africa, out supplied.
I have to disagree with the “intriguing bad guy” theory. However, there is something to be admired in an adversary that has all the chips stacked against him, but still manages to put up one hell of a fight. Actually I think the only reason that the Allies won the war was because of Hitler. Fitting, since he started the war. Let’s not forget too that before and during WWII the Germans pioneered a lot of technologies that are used in warfare today.
Add a lot of flexibility in subjects of WWII German armor, and you have a wining combination.
I also happen to believe that a lot of German armor kits get built because there are a lot a lot of German armor kits out there. Not really sure if this is a supply side, or demand side issue.
Even though I haven’t built a piece of German armour in over 10 years, I thought I’d throw my personal observances in here anyway.
I think that German armour is and always has been the most popular because of the mystique that surrounded the Panzer Divisions during W.W.II. They rolled over everyone with seemingly unstoppable force. They had charismatic leaders like Rommel who appeared to be absolutely unbeatable. Their tactics defined the use of tanks in warfare and most other countries were still debating whether the tank was much good for anything. Our parents and grandparents tell us stories about the German juggernaut of W.W.II. Our television and movies further these stories. Their armour looks powerful because they were at the time.
But their downfall was the technology that they decided to go with. Its gotta be bigger, its gotta have thicker armour, its gotta have a bigger gun. The Tiger is one big, huge impressive looking beast and I’d never want to be on the business end of that 88mm, but for the time it was a mechanical nightmare and that carried on in the design of other tanks too. These mightly tanks were under the mechanics wrench far more than they were under the sites of allied guns. Soon the ability to strike hard and fast was gone and that’s what the tactics were all about at the start of the war for the Germans. They turned their armoured units into slow moving, cumbersome, steel pill boxes. Which were the tactics of the British and French at the beginning of the war. The British, American, and Russians learned that it didn’t have to be the biggest, the thickest, carry the biggest gun…it had to be quick and mechanically reliable but most of all quick and easy to produce. If it took 5 Shermans to take out a Tiger, that’s ok because you could build 10 Shermans in the time it took to build 1 Tiger so soon you have superiority on the field by sheer numbers. One of the most successful German tank destroyers fell into this category of simplicity, the Hetzer, and like the Sherman and the T-34 had a long and successful post W.W.II career.
But I digress, maybe the German armour gets more attention because superficially the Tigers and Panthers just look more cool than a Sherman. Ah but beauty is only skin deep.
edog, you’re right. That’s why all early German armor has flat faces, and later - when they designed the Hetzer, Panther and Tiger II, they realized the importance of sloped armor faces (the Tiger I is the one exception in this case). I have a pic somewhere of a Panther that took five direct hits and deflected them all. Earlier Panzers probably couldn’t return home with the same battle scars. I’ll try to dig it up and post it later.
A great post. Worth a second look…
well I find the conversion factor bigger in German stuff, not to mention the bigger possibilites for colour schemes… shermans, and allied stuff was pretty bland… no offence, but Olive Drab?@? gets pretty boring!