Very cool! I have a similar dio planned to be honest. I’m using a sdkfz 234/4 with the pak 40 of the Wiking and they’re going to be at the extent of their probe mission, covering the retreat of a few Panzergrenadiers.
Mine is based off of this line from Wiking’s wiki page “By 12 January, the Westland Regiment had reached Pilszentkereszt, barely 20 kilometers from Buda. That morning the Wiking panzergrenadiers spotted the church spires and turrets of the distinctive Budapest skyline poking through the morning fog. Despite its success, the Wiking, overextended and vulnerable, was unable to exploit its breakthrough and was eventually ordered to pull back and regroup.” So the whole idea was to portray that sense of being right there, so close you can almost touch it, but then having to pull back.
Your pair of 250’s should be balanced out very nicely by the Russian 76.2 piece and the dead soldier. The only thing I might say is all your figures so far look like they’re standing around for a very dramatic war-time picture. I think if you take the next two figures, and make them a little over exaggerated, digging through the 76.2mm ammo or looking through some satchels or something- to really get that point of their dismount to gather intel across. I like the few groups looking at maps and discussing future plans, but it looks a little bit… uninvolved? I don’t know, like the figures are too self assured. I think that’s a good perspective on Germanys stance on the war, but I think it might look a little more realistic if they almost looked a little surprised that their small recon unit just overran a Soviet gun emplacement. Maybe if you don’t want the figures digging through the emplacement/dead soldier, maybe have one or two sitting down, maybe catching their breath, letting the adrenaline come back down to normal. The poses look more like a war game as opposed to just after a battle, there’s that sense that everything is perfectly fine.
**Not meaning to criticize your figures- the fact that this comes across goes to show how well you’re figure painting abilities really are, it’s not a question of realism or getting the right colors or poses, at this point the only thing I’d change is the mood of the figures, and I think your figures are so amazing, you have the ability to change the mood of a piece with your figure painting and positioning- like Death in the Courtyard- the kind of realism and sense of urgency you put into the US figures was what really nailed it IMHO
Does that make sense? What I’m trying to say I guess is at this point, it’s about what you want to portray. If you want a bunch of confidant officers discussing their next movie like it’s a chess game, I really like the figures, but if you want a bunch of front line soldiers that respect the Soviets for their ability to dig in and hold on to ground and are a little shocked that they’ve pushed this far, I think you might need to rough them up a bit around the edges, you know? This is just my opinion, I really like the concept and I’m looking forward to seeing your armor and the gun- the ratio of vehicles to figures is good, seams simple enough for the size and realistic enough for the amount of vehicles/crew involved.
Great feedback and it does make perfect sense----I’ll keep it in mind as I plan my last 2 figs…Cool that we are both doing a Wiking dio…Wiking, by most accounts, was the most feared of all of the SS Divisions and maintained an excellent combat record throughout the war, AND, the Division was never formally charged with any war crime…
Very glad to help out Manny, glad it all made sense. Good luck on the next two figures, I’m excited to see what you do with them.
I wouldn’t say “working” per say… I have the kits, but it’s all still in the box and I’m currently in the planning stage…
From the research I’ve don’t involved with the planning of this one, I’ll admit I’ve been very impressed with their history. The Battle of Budapest is one of my favorite parts of the Eastern Front history, the Soviet Army of WWII didn’t have much to rally around but this was a definitive part of their campaign. The Wiking grouped up with the Totenkopf in this effort and I really got onto the dio idea from the history of the vehicle and I had the Totenkopf Budapest 1/35 figure kit from Dragon and their Winter Grenaders Wiking kit, these were bought because I liked the figures, liked the poses, they looked like they had some good story behind them, and I was right. Most dios I buy kits for them, but this one was just a collection of random stash items coming together- it was pretty cool.
I was thinking about a Russian casualty from a “day prior” perhaps but I’m not sure- I’ll have to wait and see how yours looks.
I also have another Budapest dio from a Russian perspective, a buch of classic tank riders dismounting from an SU-100 to clear out some light German resistance in an urban kind of setting.
The Russian casualty will actually be a fig I had hoped to put on my “Backhand Blow” dio after the fact…however, trying to get the fig to fit properly onto the base weeks after the celluclay had set proved to be too risky a proposition so he was left off…so, he’ll be the dead guy in “Counterattack” instead…
Ah ok, that’s what I was wondering- I remember the poor guy. He’ll fit in much better with his own groundwork- I like the boots. Do the two Germans above have a home yet?
Continuing to work on my new dio entitled “Counterattack”, which will depict German operations in the relief attempt on Budapest in early 1945—the last major german offensive of the war. This dio represents elements from 5th SS (Wiking) Panzer Division’s recon unit probing Soviet positions ahead of the main element…I chose Wiking because it served exclusively on the Eatern front and is regarded by many historian to be the most feared and effective German Division of the entire war…
I began thinking that I would have two vehicles (a 250/8 and a 259/9)…
…on the base along w/ Miniart’s 76.2 field gun, but after placing the gun on the base relized that the deployed trailing arms take up a LOT of space…I think I may have solved it with the placement (in front) shown in this pic:
Still leaves room for the other halftrack behind the first one (a sdkfz 250/9 Neu)…
Or…I could downgrade the Soviet position to a heavy MG nest:
The bulk of the figs will be outside of the tracks assesing the situation after the firefight with the Russkies…a few will be milling about the destroyed position…I have 2 more figs still undergoing painting…
I REALLY like your work on this one. As everyone has said, your figs are… WOW! [bow]
Just one thing - looking at the pics you have, I get the same feel as you mentioned with MM’s recent dio - you could cut it in half and have two seperate dios. I don’t think the two troopers approaching the KIA are interacting well with the cluster of guys hanging out by the vehicle. Unless there is going to be some sort of terrain to sort of segregate them to explain the somewhat cautious nature of the two, versus the casual aspect of the larger group. I know you are still in the planning stage for your layout, so I hope you find this helpful.
By the way, as to which Russian gun to use, I really like the big AT gun. The only probem is, as you say, with those arms extended, it really dominates the scene and kind of forces the halftrack to become almost an afterthought. With the MG, you might be able to have to halftrack(s) more front and center.
As always, I can’t wait to see more of your progress on this.
One other thought… as I looked over your photos a second time, I was again struck by the sense that the vehicle seems kind of out of place. None of your figures is interacting with it (and I realize a lot of this may be taken care of with your ground work and final placement and such, but it really did jump out at me).
So, what I might suggest, for example, is to have a figure in the vehicle, leaning out to talk to one of the men in the group, or have the hatch open and a fig standing next to it to imply he just climbed out. You mentioned they have just had a firefight and taken out the Russian position - maybe have a crewman tossing out some expended shells or reloading the MG - something to make the vehicle more involved in the scene…
Also, in the second to last pic that shows the two SS troopers in the background behind the vehicle - I am assuming that you placed them there to get them out of the scene? If not, I would discourage that layout - it really would break down into three distinct and disjointed scenes in one, IMHO.
Once again, Manny, these are just some thoughts I had as I looked your photos over. I know how much thought and consideration you put into your dios and I hope some of my observations might be useful. I’m always anxious to see the progression of your work, so I’ll be tuning in to see more of this.
One final thing, and then I promise to shut up for a minute. As I looked your pics over the a third time, another thing jumped out at me:
That 250/8 you built is AWESOME! Holy cow man, when I really took the time to appreciate it, WOW! I love the camo scheme, the light weathering (so far…?). Just an all around beautiful build!
I’m not trying to blow sunshine up your skirt when I say that, the combination of that vehicle and your figs really have me excited about this project! [party]
Some great points!..all of them are valid…still working with the final layout as you mentioned…one thing I might do to add some visual interest is to have the 250/9 (2nd track) coming into the scene at a slightly different angle in the center (more head on with the turret pointed in the direction that the figs are looking)…this will help fill out the center of the dio…I also will break up the cluster of guys on the cardboard base. They are basically affixed their right now for ease of moving them around…
I also have a dude I’m working on looking through binocs that I will probably place on the 250/9’s roof or hood…this will add a visual “center” to the dio (because it will be the tallest element) w/ the 250/8 the the left and the AT gun/MG to the right…this will also allow me to move some of the figs forward, some into the area of dead space between the trailing arms of the AT gun…still experimenting a lot w/ the composition on this one—nothing has been decided yet and you guys are giving me some great tips…I also hope to add some ground interest as well…maybe a culvert or a wooden fence…stay tuned !!!
Hi Manny, I’ll start with compliments.
Wow! As usual your figures are superb and your armor phenominal!
Now, critiques. I’m new to the whole dio business, but none of these pieces seem to tie together. You have five brilliantly painted tankers standing in semi-action poses, not interacting with each other, near a vehicle that seems to have been dropped from the sky. Maybe put in a guy who’s looking at a map briefing them, or some bedraggled soldier pointing back where he came from. They can’t be just starring into space. You could use both halftracks if you split up the tankers and had them interacting within crews. Don’t bother with the other soldiers as their poses don’t fit the scene.
PHEW!! That’s seemed like a lot of critiques. Take it worth a grain of salt though. I really enjoy your dios and just want to make sure this one turns out as nicely as the others!
I like the big gun better than the MG as well. However with the issue of the small size of the base with the legs extended, did you think of perhaps having the two recon vehicles coming in from a side? So perhaps the two cautious Germans can be going further out past their vehicles, while having more of the casual officer types in their own groups maybe between the vehicles or behind them? I think the flanking maneuver by the recon vehicles would make more sense as to how they took over the AT Gun position as well, maybe make it look like the Russians saw them at the last minute and the crew had tried to spin the gun to take them out, but were too late? The only reason I say this is because with a frontal assault of the position as you’ve set up, I’d think the main gun on either 250 would have blown apart the Russian piece? Maybe it’s more of a Mortar and they wouldn’t use it against a target like that?
Here’s a quick doodle I did in photoshop to illustrate, sorry for the quality.
I know you know what you’re doing so this is just as idea I’m kicking around, I’m sure you’ve done a whole bunch of positioning and repositioning to wind up with what you did, so this is just my 2 cents. I’ll echo the complements on your 250- very very nicely done, love the camo and fine weathering.
Really?! [:D] hope they help, I’ll try and improve the quality. I think all the basic elements you have going on here are going to really make this one stand out, I hope you can figure out a way to get everything right and make it work, thanks for appreciating my input- it’s still a little mind numbing- your work/quality of everything is so much nicer than anything I put together, so believe me, glad to be following along [#toast]
Hi there Manny I’d just like to agree with everyone here that your figures are simply stunning as is the halftrack, great job.
Now for some observations if you don’t mind. The two German infantry soldiers look like they are advancing to contact and are expecting Ivan to leap out of the nearest bush, while the officers are standing around have a bit of a chat and a smoke (typical). The two groups don’t seem to gel well with each other.
Love the big gun, it makes a much better statement than the MG but I agree that the legs really do occupy a lot of room.
Great work and I’ll really look forward to the final result.
While I agree with this general sentiment, might I point out that neither infantryman has a finger anywhere near the trigger guard. While they look more cautious (take paranoid infantry) they are not ready to shoot, and while the officers look more relaxed (take cocky “war-game” mentality officers) I think they could be realistic if they feel safe and in cover.
I agree…I’m glad I’m not the only one who has seen this in ref pics…the Germans, especially after fighting for 4 years on the Eastern front, sometimes looked very composed right after an action took place…I have plenty of refs that show this; here is one:
Note the Medical Officer treating freshly wounded Russians and the guys in the halftrack behind them looking rather busy, while the Panzer Officer on the left strikes his “Marlboro Man” pose (in the full pic he is holding a smoke)…
…also, depending on how I placed those two infantrymen, they could blend in well…one is simply leaning forward and the other has an outstretched hand…I have thought of putting that hand on the shield of the gun as if he is peering over into the area of the casualty…again, the composition is very fluid at this point…
Manny- glad you have ref. pictures to back it up. I would argue that it’s not just a German phenomenon. I’d say after any group of infantry and officers becomes seasoned to a day to day fight type action, their ability to compensate and normalize the situation would make the events much more bearable. It’s like watching the movies where the new guy gets in off the plane or out of the helicopter and he’s acting all excited and giddy and ready to fight and the old war torn vets don’t flinch when mortars come in and laugh at the new guy who hit the deck like he was taught straight out of boot camp.
The movie All Quiet on the Western Front has the classic scene where all the soldiers tell the new recruits to toss their serrated bayonets and the hard*** drill instructor cowers behind a burm while his graduated class that had been in the trenches moves on without him to fight.
I think this piece has the potential to be much more than a simple showing of your skills as a figure painter and a master modeler, it captures very well a lot of ideas and feelings of the time. The Eastern Front was rough, bitter fighting and worse weather and after 4 years, I’m sure there wasn’t much the men hadn’t seen. It’s a shame everything your put into your pieces doesn’t come across to model show judges…
