Aaron Kirby
Here is Aaron's 1/35 scale Meng King Tiger built to represent the wartime photograph taken of Königstiger 312 of SS Pz.Abt. 501 abandoned outside of Malmedy. Apparently it ran out of fuel and was booby trapped, then discovered by the 82nd Airborne. This model has won multiple gold awards for 1/35 scale armor over the last 12 months.
Benjamin Delcourt
Benjamin's 1/72 scale model is from Revell. He upgraded it with some basic scratchbuilding, painted with Citadel, and used the hair spray technique for the white camo. The two figures on the left are from Milicast, the one on the right is scratchbuilt, except the head and feet.
Michael Campbell
Michael placed a Tiger in Tondorf, Germany along with a mix of assorted figures in resin and plastic, Dragon vehicles, and a scratchbuilt base made of foam insulation and air dry clay. Everything was painted with Vallejo paints, weathered with homemade oils, clay washes, and pastel chalks. "The build was dedicated to my eldest son who had passed away not long before the build was done. He and I had built the kit of the King Tiger together when he was a young fella — it was his first kit."
Chris Hill Ludwick
Here is a Dragon Jagdpanther kit with leftover Sherman tank parts from Chris' spare parts box. German figure is from Alpine. The tank was done with a whitened desert yellow, after which he sprayed on hair spray. Then using Tamiya white, he airbrushed over the whole thing. Not letting it dry too fast, he used a stiff brush loaded with 70% rubbing alcohol and brushed off some of the white. Groundwork is a wood base with a foam top, then drywall mud. All the junk came from his spare box stuff.
Chris Hill Ludwick
Chris' U.S. Hellcat from Academy has been abandoned by its crew during the German offensive. The figures are from Dragon. Camo on figures was done with Vallejo paints. Extra gear is aftermarket stuff with some from Verlinden.
Chris Hill Ludwick
"A Really Big Gun" is made of Trumpeters' K18 Howitzer which has been abandon with ammo left behind as well. Figures are from Miniart. Gun was painted in German gray followed by a very thin desert yellow wash.
Chris Hill Ludwick
Christ built a KT tank with paratroopers Building is a Miniart kit, paratroopers are Dragon, other figs are Alpine.
Chris Hill Ludwick
Chris calls this one "Watch on the Rhine". Depicts a scene from a German newsreel of captured U.S. soldiers marching off to a POW camp past a German KT and a group of commanders mapping out directions. King Tiger is a Dragon kit, the Swimwaggen is a Tamiya kit. Both were airbrushed painted using Tamiya paints. He used a self adhesive tape for the camo. Weathering was done using artist oils such as raw umber, rust, and white. He applied a light mud splattering using very thin raw umber mixed with turpinoid; he flicked this onto the model with a flat brush scraped across a piece of cardboard. He used rust pigments for the tracks. American figs are Miniart, Germans are a mix of Tamiya and Dragon.
Chris Hill Ludwick
"Abandoned Sturmtiger" is an AFV kit. The Jeep and figures are from Miniart. Chris threw away the plastic mud guards and replaced them with scratchbuilt ones, made out of heavy aluminum foil, which was easier to bend. After airbrushing, he used a flat brush loaded with 70% rubbing alcohol and created streaking with downward strokes, careful to not to completely rub off the paint.
Christos Athanasiou
Here is Christos' "Julia" from the 761st Btn, AKA: the Black Panthers Base. The kit is from Dragon (No. 6325). He used spares from an Aber photo-etch set and re-applied the cast surface texture on the turret and transmission cover with Squadron green putty. Base color is Vallejo OD poly primer and camo is Vallejo black gray. Weathering was done primarily with oils and some pigments on the running gear.
Federico Perez
This model is Tamiya's 1/16 scale King Tiger Henshel. Federico painted with enamels and acrylics before weathering it. Ambush pattern camo as used in the Battle of the Bulge and late-stage of the war.
Fernando Alfonso Castro Arroyave
Here, the German onslaught is ongoing and they are smashing through the forest. Fernando used Frog's 1/48 scale Willys MB Jeep and Academy/Minicraft's 1/48 scale King Tiger, built out of the box. The base is made out of Celluclay with Arm & Hammer soda as the snow. He made to help his daughter with her high school history project in 2012. It became school property and was auctioned off for a fundraiser that year. Who knows where it ended up!
Fernando Alfonso Castro Arroyave
Glenn Cauley
"No ammo, back soon" is a mini diorama with a Das Werk 1/35 scale German 3cm Flakvierling 103/38 anti-aircraft gun as the centerpiece. Glenn says that this relatively new kit was easy to assemble and is a fine representation of a unique subject. The build developed into a mini-diorama with the addition of a grass base with ground and water effects, scratchbuilt wooden ammo crates, a draped tarp, and a weathered wooden sign.
Jack Lynch
Jack used a 1/32 scale Monogram M-20 armored car and a very old set of Valiant 1/32 scale figures. "I believe this and the M-8 version of this Monogram armor kit were the only ones that never got a Shep Paine diorama so this is sort of my homage to the master!"
Jerry Rutman
Jerry re-created a night assault on the Sankt Eduard Sanitarium from Kampfgruppe Peiper in December 1944. The building held a key position on the road to LeGleize and had been taken by the American 30th Infantry Division. Peiper ordered it retaken at all cost. Model was made using modified Dragon figures with Hornet and Warriers heads with a scratchbuilt building.
Lieven Terryn
Lieven modeled German soldiers at the ambush at Poteau. He detailed an M8 light amored car with figures by Dragon, Alpine, and Bravo 6.
Robert Marquinez
Here is Robert's Tamiya 1/48 scale Sdkfz 251/1 Ausf D German halftrack, built out of the box. He added stowage from various Tamiya figure sets. The model was airbrushed using Vallejo acrylic paint. This was his first attempt at simulating whitewashed camouflage using the hairspray technique. Afterward, the halftrack was weathered with oil washes and pigments. The groundwork is MiG Mud products.
Shaun Symonds
Shaun says, "It's not from the Battle of the Bulge, but the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest which was a few weeks earlier." It's a 1/35 scale Italeri 2-1/2 ton truck with a xylophone rocket launcher fitted to the rear. The truck was built out of the box with just the side panel tops and benches left off. The rocket tubes are brass rod for the front with the rear made from a Calliope launcher. The frame is made of brass rod and plastic tubing. The control boxes are from spares adapted to look like a battery. The ammo boxes are made from plastic card. The trees are scratchbuilt using a dowel and asparagus fern. The figures are from Miniart.
Stanley Kowalski
Stanley built Tamiya's jumbo M4A3E2 and painted with Vallejo and Tamiya paints. He says that this model was a real pleasure to build.
Stein Andreas Aasland
Stein's diorama was featured in the
December issue — here's some more angles of the finished piece. The Panther G is from Tamiya, with photo-etch metal parts from Aber and tracks from Friul. The M4A3 76 is from HobbyBoss. He modified the turret on this on pretty extensively as the original turret had some shape issues. The stowage is a mix of Black Dog and scratchbuilt. The figures are from Tamiya. Airbrushing was done with Tamiya acrylics, painting with Vallejo, and weathering with MiG/AK.