WW1 German Infantry

Your Main Forum For Discussing 1:18 Scale Military Figures and Vehicles.
Post Reply
Obi-Shinobi
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:06 pm
Location: Hershey, PA

WW1 German Infantry

Post by Obi-Shinobi » Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:14 pm

Hey everyone, new here. I'm on several other boards, which some of you might know me from.

On to the show!

Technically, this guy isn't 100% finished. I still have to make a working bayonet, gas mask with can, and add a few small details. This is probably close to what we'd likely see from a company, imo.

Thanks for looking, and any questions/comments are welcome.


Image

Image

Image

User avatar
grunt1
Officer - Brigadier General
Officer - Brigadier General
Posts: 2979
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:41 pm
Location: Indiana
Contact:

Re: WW1 German Infantry

Post by grunt1 » Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:20 pm

Very cool, I like the base as well! 8)

pickelhaube
Officer - Brigadier General
Officer - Brigadier General
Posts: 9649
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2007 5:52 am
Location: New Orleans

Re: WW1 German Infantry

Post by pickelhaube » Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:55 pm

Great job !!!

Welcome aboard !!
Kirk Douglas : Mine hit the ground first
John Wayne : Mine was taller



Image

nooker21
Officer - 2nd Lieutenant
Officer - 2nd Lieutenant
Posts: 321
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 9:32 am
Location: Anaheim, CA

Re: WW1 German Infantry

Post by nooker21 » Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:51 am

Wow, really well done. What parts did you use?

Obi-Shinobi
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:06 pm
Location: Hershey, PA

Re: WW1 German Infantry

Post by Obi-Shinobi » Wed Oct 03, 2012 5:54 am

grunt1 - Thanks! The base is actually from a friend of mine, "Meddatron".
He does some wicked cool dio stuff.

Pickel! - Thanks man, I was hoping you would approve. :D

nooker21 - Parts? Too many! The body is a combo of 6 different Joe figs, while the gear is comprised of modified 21st, Bravo, and sculpted elements. I can give you a more complete breakdown if you want it.

I also have Stormtrooper gear in the works along with an alternate set of lower legs/boots. The plan is to have everything cast so I can finaly build a decent trench dio. Really looking forward to that day.

tmanthegreat
Officer - Brigadier General
Officer - Brigadier General
Posts: 11238
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 7:38 pm
Location: Central California

Re: WW1 German Infantry

Post by tmanthegreat » Wed Oct 03, 2012 9:05 am

Very nice work! Now you need to take a crack at making a scale "pickelhaube" spiked helmet for him. I know those were mainly for show, but it would be classic German WWI :wink:
"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

Obi-Shinobi
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:06 pm
Location: Hershey, PA

Re: WW1 German Infantry

Post by Obi-Shinobi » Wed Oct 03, 2012 10:16 am

tmanthegreat wrote:Very nice work! Now you need to take a crack at making a scale "pickelhaube" spiked helmet for him. I know those were mainly for show, but it would be classic German WWI :wink:
Thought about it, but I wanted to focus on late war uniforms and gear. Might still though.

Thanks.

pickelhaube
Officer - Brigadier General
Officer - Brigadier General
Posts: 9649
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2007 5:52 am
Location: New Orleans

Re: WW1 German Infantry

Post by pickelhaube » Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:09 pm

Obi-Shinobi wrote:
tmanthegreat wrote:Very nice work! Now you need to take a crack at making a scale "pickelhaube" spiked helmet for him. I know those were mainly for show, but it would be classic German WWI :wink:
Thought about it, but I wanted to focus on late war uniforms and gear. Might still though.

Thanks.

You could possibly get more use out of your figures ( if you make duplicates of them ) using the pickelhaube troopers.

I am not sure if you know about the history of the pickelhaube during WW1.

When the war started ( 1914 ) they did indeed were the pickelhaube and it had brass parts on it with a leather body.

Knowing that the brass was shiny they used a cloth cover to cover up the whole helmet with the spike sock attached to the main body of the cover.

So it would be easy to do a trooper with pickelhaube because you would not have to make an actual helmet just a green cloth like cover with the same for the spike.

During 1915 brass was getting a little tight for the German army. They needed brass casing for bullets rather than helmet hardware . So they started to switch to steel or tin hardware with a field gray finish.

Even the officers started to switch over with zinc hardware that was gold gilted. Some of the aristocratic officers still went with gilted brass . A lot more expensive because officers paid for their own pickelhaubes. Enlisted were supplied their helmets.

Leather was also hard to come by and most of Germans supplies of leather came from Argentina. They could not get the leather through the allies blockade so they had to start using other material. ( ersatz ).

They used tin , felt, papermache , cork and of course leather for the pickelhaube bodies. In some cases combinations of the different materials.


The grey/ ersatz still had their cover but during 1915 they switched over to the bayonet style twist off spikes. The storm troopers took off their spikes on raids. So they wore their leather domed ( grey cloth covered) helmets on raids.

That rendition would be easy to do.

Another reason to have the spikes removable was if a soldier was in a trench the spike would advertise a soldier standing up so a sniper could easily pick him off. So they removed them.

Then of course in 1916 the German army started the transition to the steel helmets.
Although throughout the war they did use the pickelhaubes during parades and walking out dress.

Hope I didn't bore you guys . It has been a while since I talked about pickelhaubes. :D
Kirk Douglas : Mine hit the ground first
John Wayne : Mine was taller



Image

Rowsdower
Officer - Brigadier General
Officer - Brigadier General
Posts: 8043
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 4:33 pm
Location: Ocala, FL

Re: WW1 German Infantry

Post by Rowsdower » Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:21 pm

Great info pickelhaube! 8)
This message brought to you in part by Adderall.

Obi-Shinobi
Private First Class
Private First Class
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:06 pm
Location: Hershey, PA

Re: WW1 German Infantry

Post by Obi-Shinobi » Thu Oct 04, 2012 7:11 am

Thanks Pickel... that was a mouthful! No, I'm not as versed as you are with the technical info, but like I said - I'm sticking to 1917-18 for the era. I don't have any need for the earlier gear, but again, I might go back at some point and see if I can make a suitable version of that helmet.

Time will tell with any of this project. I need to get this guy, and the ST version finished first.

normandy
Officer - Brigadier General
Officer - Brigadier General
Posts: 6028
Joined: Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:30 pm
Location: Atlantic Coast

Re: WW1 German Infantry

Post by normandy » Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:05 pm

Welcome to the site! Great looking figure!!! and as stated cool base.
You should check out Fritzkrige's work if your into custom figures.
http://www.warbird-photos.com/gpxd/viewforum.php?f=9
Post some more pics when you get a chance.

Post Reply