January 17th, 1945 - Hungary - the German forces around Lake Balaton lead by IV SS Panzer, prepare to launch Operation Konrad III - a desperate attempt to relieve the beseiged Axis forces holding Budapest and reclaim the city.
On the afternoon before the operation, as mobilised infantry move towards the front line, a Panzer service crew make rapid preparations to the division's reinforcement Panther Tanks recently arrived from Germany.
This project began as an eye catcher for the SIG 144 display at Scale Model World 2024, part of a series of armoured vehicle vignettes.
I was also motivated by a desire to use some of the many whitemetal and Gashapon vehicles and figures that I have accumulated. Until the recent improvement in resin 3d printing, these were by far the best way to get figures and vehicles in 144th but the figures in particular are now showing their age compared to the lovely delicate 3d models available, so it seemed like a good excuse to clear out some of the stash.
This scene was inspired by photographs in the Osprey book on the Siege of Budapest and on Panther Tanks in Eastern Europe. The highlight was to be tanks undergoing winter camouflage painting and engine maintenance, something not as often represented in scale models. I also wanted to take advantage of the small scale to include multiple vehicles in the scene.
Ignoring the highly suspicious photo-art in the instructions, these F-Toys Panthers build up easily into a pretty detailed representation of the type. They come pre-coloured, but I painted them myself to more closely match the reference pictures available from this theatre of the conflict.
The big benefit of plastic kit parts over 3d printed examples (which in this scale are often one-piece solid prints) is that they can be drilled and customised. I cut out these engine flaps using a drill bit, allowing me to create a representation of the engine bay. Unfortunately I don't seem to have a photo of the work in progress here, but it can be seen in the final gallery. I used thin styrene sheet to represent the open hatch and a 3d printed 1/148 air conditioner unit as the engine itself.
The original smaller layout of the scene
Expanded on a wider base and a hut added from Highlands 3d prints on eBay.
The Hanomags are from Victrix models, lovely detailed injection kits with extra detail components, passenger figures and decals (something missing from the F-Toys Panthers and most 3d printed and whitemetal kits).
A careful overlay of winter white represented the reference photos.
The figures were all from a collection of Arrowhead Minature whitemetal soldiers. These are somewhat bulkier than the 3d printed 1/144 figures now available and they don't look right when mixed together, so I used them exclusively in the scene.
As with the multiple vehicles, I wanted to take advantage of the small scale and fill the scene with figures to give a more realistic feel to the busy preparations.
They are cast with bases which can be blended into the soil if added at an early stage of construction, but instead I cut them away - often having to remake truncated feet when gluing them to the scene.
The scene was put together with a lot of mud texture. Cork pieces were used to add height and a model railway tree provided the frontal focus. Light snow was added based on the reference photos.
The final touches were added just minutes before we started loading the car for Telford for the display.
Thanks for reading - this model and its cousins will be on the SIG144 IPMS UK tour this year, do come and see them in person.
