German tank crew WIP

[grunt1]

...wow...

[maritime96]

Should I add earphone for the crew?

I would say only add them if you were able to make them as a seperate removeable accessory, as I would not want to see you sculpt them permanently onto their heads. I have never seen a picture of either Whitman or Woll in which they are wearing them, so I think you could get by without them. Personally I think they look fantastic as they are, but that is just my opinion. - Your work is just Amazing Weylen.

[PanzerArm]

And the gunner in this sculpt isn't Bobby Woll is it? Woll had his own tiger by the time they fought in the west, which I guess is an assumption that these figs are for May 1944 onward. I am not a uniform expert so I cannot remark when those uniforms saw service.

-Kevin

[plasticboy]

I did research Bobby woll history:
Balthasar Woll was a tank gunner and at the end of 1942 posted to the 13th Heavy Tank Company, SS Panzer Regiment 1, 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler where he met his tank commander Michael Wittmann.

You are right that these figures are for May 1944 onward.

[flyboy_fx]

Should I add earphone for the crew?

Can you make them optional? Maybe include the ear pieces and the buyer can add a strip of aluminum and the wires.

[PanzerArm]

I did research Bobby woll history:
Balthasar Woll was a tank gunner and at the end of 1942 posted to the 13th Heavy Tank Company, SS Panzer Regiment 1, 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler where he met his tank commander Michael Wittmann.

You are right that these figures are for May 1944 onward.

I think you may have missed my point. The wiki page on him is very incomplete and has only the most basic info on him.

Some more detailed info on Woll:

Awarded Iron Cross Second Class July 23rd 1942
Awarded Wounded Badge in Black July 26th 1942
Awarded Demjansk Shield retroactively to July 26th 1942
Promoted to SS Rottenfuhrer Nov. 9th 1943
Awarded Iron Cross First Class Oct. 14th 1943
Awarded Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross Jan. 16th 1944
Promoted to SS Unterscharfuhrer Jan. 30th 1944
Promoted to SS Oberscharfuhrer Oct. 1st 1944

It is worth noting that once Woll was promoted to Unterscharfuhrer he received a command of his own tiger in the s.SS.pz. abt 101's 2nd Kompanie. He was the first tank gunner to received the Knight's Cross. He was also Michael Wittmann's "Best Man" at his wedding on March 1st 1944.

//Information below is debateable//

Woll's command service in his tiger tank is somewhat harder to track down, but all I could dig up from the interview below, was that he was wounded in an air attack ( rockets) and was in the hospital recovering until late 1944. His actions at the end of the war are best summarized by Woll himself:

"Oh yes I was sent back to the front in a Tiger II for the Ardennes offensive but this tank broke down without me ever firing a shot. I got a Tiger I from Paderborn & fought around the Ruhr area before losing that one to an Anti tank gun that blew our track off & wrecked the drive sprocket. We were then given a Panzer IV which was a bit of an insult to us. I found that we were having to fire more shells to just stop targets at ranges that the Tigers gun would have blown them up. I remember all the useless engagements & battles we were ordered into with a couple of tanks or Stugs against entire enemy armoured divisions at this time it just seemed so pointless. We were at the stage of just giving up & surrendering but we had heard stories of prisoners being shot as they surrendered so we stayed with our tank. I found out after the war that this was common on the
Russian Front rather than the West. I will always be thankful for the end of the war because I had had enough killing & destruction long before that day. I had lost most of my fellow comrades & good friends by the wars end it was a very sad time for us."

The full text of the interview with him before he passed in 1996 can be found here:

http://panzer4520.yuku.com/forum/viewto ... 0e_4_V2N-A

/That interview is to be said by some to be a fraud, so take it with a grain of salt/

Info that other people claim is that Woll served as Wittmann's gunner for a few days after the battle of Villers Bocage (17-24 June) after his tank was destroyed/disabled, then after returning to command his own tank again was later sent on medical leave on 2 AUG by Wittmann, and during Woll's absence Wittmann was killed. The circumstances of his need for medical leave are also conjectured, but some say it was due to mental break-down due to the stress of war.

I wish their was more solid information, but no one can seem to site primary source documents and it all sort of seems to be hearsay. The one thing that is certain is that Woll was no longer part of Wittmann's crew from their time in the West onward.



-Kevin

[plasticboy]

Thanks for the detail information of Woll, I may carefully doing research of history people before I start to make them.

[PanzerArm]

No problem Plasticboy. Here are some pictures of what Woll would have looked like during the time period you are concerned with. He is wearing what I think (not a uniform expert) is the 44 Dot pattern panzer uniform. In the first picture he is sitting in the commander's cupola of his own tiger "212", and in the second he is with his good friend Wittmann.






-Kevin

[TankAce]

While most tank commanders designates which targets the gunner will shoot,Wittmann trusted Bobbys skills so much that he would allow Bobby to choose the targets.Bobby's sharp eye sight and quick reflexes made him a true master behind the 88mmgun.While Michel Wittmann's crew change from time to time,he always kept his trusted gunner.
Information about Wittmanns last battle is very unsteady as there is always debates about it,but i read than in Wittmann's last battle,Wittmann's Tiger destroyed 3 tanks before biting the dust.I am sure that if Bobby Woll was there at that time,his tank killing spree would have been much higher.

GOOD WORK by the way Plasticboy.I like the fact that you did not put earphones.
I think that removable earphones will be better because it can be hang from the figures neck,head or simply displayed without them.

[PanzerArm]

Wittmann did not destroy any tanks during the battle in which he was killed. The tanks of A Squadron, Canadian Sherbrookes Fusiliers and B Squadron British 1st Northhamptonshire Yeomanry, the units that engaged Wittmann and the other tanks of the 101 s.SS.pz.abt that day, did not sustain any losses during their engagement with the tigers, and claimed at least 5 tigers from the eight that started the attack at 1230 on 8 August 1944. The attack, part of a larger effort under Kurt Meyer of the 12th SS was supposed to kick off later, but with movement evident on the part of the Allies, Meyer decided it was time to kick off the attack early. This proved to be ill-advised. Without the proper reconnaissance, Wittmann and his tigers stumbled headlong into the crossfire of the aforementioned units and was killed as a result. To my knowledge, the only casualty of the battle from the allies was the commander of Joe Ekins tank (a claimant to M. Wittmann's kill), Sergent Gordon, was hit on the head by his hatch and knocked unconscious when it was grazed by an incoming shell. It is not likely that Wittmann was able to fire any shots during the battle as he was only able to get one partial communique out at the start of the firing by the Yeomanry before his transmissions stopped, presumably after being hit in his right flank by the Canadians. The Canadians were only about 140m from Wittmann's tiger. Both units did sustain losses in following engagements, especially the Canadians, who suffered heavy casualties that day and the next during the continuation of Operation Totalize. This was partly to blame for no one really coming forward from the unit and claiming Wittmann's tiger as their kill as the loss of equipment and personnel eliminated nearly all records of the event.

I would recommend watching all five parts of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uCKhIkA ... re=related


-Kevin

[warbike]

Great work on the figures !!!!!!!!!!!!

[plasticboy]

I've got a pair of resin head from my caster which I'm planning to add earphone. So, they will be 2 set of head option.

[flyboy_fx]

I love them!!!

[Razor17019]

I've got a pair of resin head from my caster which I'm planning to add earphone. So, they will be 2 set of head option.

Does each one come with a Walkman option?
Just joking with you, Plasticboy.

Your stuff is AMAZING!

[plasticboy]

[flyboy_fx]

The Germans will blast PanzerLied all day.

[pickelhaube]

Hey PB,

Any update on these ?

[plasticboy]

Hey PB,

Any update on these ?

Not yet! I'm still waiting my caster!!!!

[markecho]

dang...these look great! I will keep my eye out on this topic plasticboy...I love the pose with the tanker hunkered down in the hatch! also the commander looks awesome!

these will be awesome additions to anyone's tank! looking forward to seeing your progress!

[plasticboy]

Thank you, markcho.

The half of the cast just back! So exciting~ Now I'm going to be very busy for the paint job. I've paint the head (without earphone) from the sample which last week when I received them. Later I'll show the full paint tanker.

[grunt1]

Amazing.. I PM'd you about some sets!

[maritime96]

Amazing!!! Im still in for these as per my previous PM

[plasticboy]

Hi guys, I’m doing paint job for 5 set of Tiger tank crew, one for myself (the black uniform) that the other 3 gunner painted dot camo uniform.
*I’ll charge ＄45.00 each painted dot camo gunner because there are not easy to paint.
*The commander will be ＄37.00 per each (painted).
*Those painted tank crew come with earphone head, but I’ll be attached unpainted head without earphone.
*The unpainted figure still the same ＄18.00 each.

More new pictures will come soon!


The black tanker uniform can use XF-1 straight forward. Humbrol Dark grey for dry brush.


The primer of dot camo (H-72)


The first layer of dot (XF-57)


The second layer of dot (XF-11)


The third layer of dot (H-50).


Spray the flap coat (Mr.hobby) before wash stage.


I used ZIPPO mix with oil (Brown + Black) as dilution.


Wipe the wash (oil paint) with kitchen tissue.


The completed paint work for the crew!

[flyboy_fx]

THose are the best faces yet! THe pea dot is also AMAZING!

How did you do the flesh on these ones???

[maritime96]

Just AMAZING work!!!! - PM sent about the figures