venerdì 30 gennaio 2015

NASHORN IN ITALY

NASHORN IN ITALY 1944

The Nashorn was been one of best makeshift solution for respond at necessity of anti tank defence of German Army.
 ALTMÄRKISCHE KETTENFABRIK firm of Borsigwalde, had developed  started from  panzer III and IV a cassis for self propelled gun.
 Very similar at the Hummel instead of a 15 cm FH 18 had a 88 mm Pak 43 cannon; this with a standard ammunition can piercing 165 mm of shield at the range of 1000 m and 132 mm at the range of 2000 m.
In one report the Nashorn knocked out six T-34 at the range of 3500 m.
The Pak 43 among its flaws was the barrel life  that was short 1200/1000 shots( the Pak 75 had a life of 6000 shots) and the difficult in traversing movements.
The prototype was ready in October 1942 and the series production start in May 1943, initially named III/IV Sd.Kfz.164 "Hornisse"  in 27 Jenuary of 1944 Hitler renamed it “Nashorn”.
For the end of war 494 Hornisse/Nashorn was been product.
In April 1945 there were 141 of these vehicles on hand.
Every unit had 45 Nashorn 14 for companies( three) and three for reserves in the staff.
Rarely these units were used together, the Nashorn  battalions were always independent units temporarily attached to other front line on a necessity basis.
The Nashorn were assigned to these units Panzerjäger:
Schwere Heeres Panzerjäger Abteilung 560
Schwere Heeres Panzerjäger Abteilung 655
Schwere Heeres Panzerjäger Abteilung 525
Schwere Heeres Panzerjäger Abteilung 93
Schwere Heeres Panzerjäger Abteilung 519
Schwere Heeres Panzerjäger Abteilung 88
Schwere Heeres Panzerjäger Kompanie 669
Schwere Heeres Panzerjäger Abteilung (mot.Z) 664
Schwere Heeres Panzerjäger Abteilung 424
Schwere Heeres Panzerjäger Abteilung 37
Ersatzheer (German replacement Army )
Panzerkompanie Kummersdorf


THE IDEA
I will wanted represent a simple scene in action where the Nashorn is the undisputed protagonist.
I reproduce a Nashorn 131  of the Schwere Heeres Panzerjäger Abteilung 525.
 The Nashorn 131 from I/s.H.Pz.Jg.Adt. 525 in March 1944 fight in the area of Cassino to support Fallschirjager Div. and 90 Pz.Gren.Div. until the New Zeland troops knocked out it.
This unit was formed in 26 th August 1939 , in WK.IX from parts of 3./Pz.Abw.Abt.37 of forst panzer division.
In September of the same year the 525 was sent to first Armee ; a year later was in action against the Maginot line under the XXX.A.K.
Equipped with Pak 38 and Pak 36 serve in Balkans and later in Russia.
In 17 April of 1943 the unit were equipped with Nashorn and in 8 june was in Coetquidan, France .
In July was subordinated under 715 Inf.Div. in Southern France.
In late August  1943 the 525  serve in Italy ; in December 1943 was subordinated in part to the 90 Pz.Gren.Div., 371 Inf. Div. and SS-Sturm.Brig.”Rf-SS”.
The same month opered in Rome area with 3.Pz.Gre.Div. and later with 1 Fallschirm Korps.
The 3 January 1944 the 3/525 was transferred to Cassino front, under 29 Pz.Gren.Div.(XIV A.K. 10 th Armee).
In 23 January the stab1 and 2 of 525 serve in the area of Pontecorvo and later were transefered under 3.Pz.Gre.Div. in the area of Anzio-Aprilia.
In 15 February 1944 the 525 attack Nettuno with the LXXVI Panzer Korps
IL 15 Maggio 1944 the complete 525  was sent back to the Cassino Front  under 1 Falls.Jg.Div. and 90 Pz.Gren.Div, here suffered heavy casualties.
From 28 May to 20 June the 525 serve under 26.Pz. Div. during retreat to Radicofani area.
While the 1 stab of 525 was ordered to Mielau the rest of unit remained in Italy.
The Nashorn 131 from I/s.H.Pz.Jg.Adt. 525 in March 1944 fight in the area of Cassino to support Fallschirjager Div. and 90 Pz.Gren.Div. until the New Zeland troops knocked out it.

THE KIT
I use the AFV kit , for me no good experiences, excessive breakdown, often unnecessary ( for example the breech and yoke),  and the poor quality plastic shortly workable have made it difficult assembly.
Without the number 14 of Nutz & Boltz dedicated to Nashorn I would never be able to assemble the kit because of the poor instructions.
The thicknesses (surely to scale) of the hull and the plate of the gun are so thin that it is a miracle to put them together without deformin.
I have to admit that the fun and relaxation are another thing in respect a this kit.
I replaced the tracks of the kit with the magic tracks Dragon and glued with vinilic glue to make them more flexible and easy to handl.
The kit offer the standard version with the two tipe of drive sprocket,and spare road wheel; missing only the barrel release for have the opportunity of assembled the first production Hornisse.
To make assembly less traumatic I brought forward in the dead time for an hour per day. After completing the installation in May 2013 I put the kit for several months reproves and ending it about 2 months ago (almost a year later!)



PAINTING AND WEATHERING

For paint i use Budger 100 G and Iwata Eclypse HP airbrush and Vallejo Air colors.
 For paint the down part  and tank tread and road wheels i use a Dark Earth 71029 and for the up and side part  Dark Yellow 71025  in different shades .
The camouflage scheme  was did with different shades of Cam.Light Green 71006 and Cam. Med. Brown 038.
The tactical number was did with makeshift stencil, I did a copy of drawing of Nashorn 131 of the magazine Nuts & Bolts and glued that  above parking  ticket and cut out numbers.
With Tamiya XF 18 i paint the tactical numbers.
Unit symbol of 525 was did with Faber Castell Ecco Pigment 0,1.
For the ammo container open in the fight compartment (the Nashorn had two of that, each with 8 rounds) i use a Orange 71083 wash with Raw Umber oil paint Winsor & Newton the chipping was did with a Pitt Graphite Pure 2900 -9B Faber –Castell.
Washes targeted was did with a mixture of Cassel Earth Maimeri and Raw Umber Winsor & Newton oil paint.
The down part  and tank tread and road wheels was painted with a mixture of earth pigments mixt with talcum powder(to better attack the pigments)  and Naples Yellow Deeps Maimeri, later washed with diluted Sand Vallejo Air 71075 and drybrushed with a mixture of Naples Yellow Deeps Maimeri and Flesh Tint Winsor & Newton.
Trucks was painted with Gun Metal Tamiya , whashes with Tamiya XF 69 diluted at 80% and Raw Umber oil paint Winsor & Newton and finish with drybrush of Maimeri Silver 003 ( i use this for did the light to all metal parts).
Filters and a small weatering was did with oil paint, I use lighter colors in the up part and color less clear at the sides ; at the end I did an drybrushed with a mixture of Naples Yellow Deeps Maimeri and Flesh Tint Winsor & Newton.
For to recall the color of the  camouflage spots I use Maimeri Sap Green and Naples Yellow Deeps oil paint up green spots and Naples Yellow Deeps oil paint for the brown spots.
In the fight compartment put some equipment and tools from different kits, the MG 34 has the barrel changed with one in metal from RB model, but I did the error to paint it with brush killing part of thr drtail( another time I use a airbrush for sure).
The ammo boxis (was normal who in the Nashorn the crew put extra ammo in the fight compartment ) written was did with stencil from Stencilit 1061.
The cartridge case has been pierced with the tip of a mini drill and paint with Vallejo air Gold 71066 for the light use Maimeri silver 003 Mixed at Maimeri Gold 151 oil paint.
The crew is a Tristar 35007 with a small modified (some new hand) , one Hornet head(I could not use because you can not see your face) and one Verlinden boots(use to make the higher the gunner in order to be able to place it while charging the cannon).
The Tristar set is good and offer different crews for different self propelled gun only the plastic is to strong and difficult to work.
Crews Nashorn in Italy in the photos wear black panzer uniform(even if the regulation forbade) but I prefer use I different type of uniform for I preferred to use other types of uniforms( in use in this time) to make it more lively scene
I paint the crew with acrylic base and finish with oil paint and opacifying.
I get on well with the oil finish, because it's easy to blend the colors to achieve different color effects, use a drying oven made ​​from a tin box with inside an incandescent bulb 40 W ;for light gray and green use flesh color and Naples. For the embodied I use the SHEPERD PAINE sistem.
For opacifying I use a matting spray from hardware store.
To fix the aimer seated it took me more than three hours; to make the headphone cable I used copper wire.
The tree is a branch at the end of which I glued  hood filter  painted dark green; I drilled the trunk and put inside larger branches , up that   I twisted copper wires to create other small branches, copper was coated with a mixture of glue, putty and brown acrylic paint. Later I put on the filter hood I sprayed glue diluted to 90% and then I glued dried tea and oregano, paint with airbrush the leaves and did a drybrush up the bark
The base is do with polystyrene glued in a photo frame all paint in black.
The graund is a a mixture of putty, vinilic glue and earth pigments put up clay, when dryed I put a mixture of spice , tea and earth pigments,later I paint that with air brush.
The grass is does with posidonia and the flowers from fennel flowers.
At the end I am happy with this little skit, despite the difficulties of the kit, the end result looks good, well-balanced a skit in which the scenery (especially the tree) does not steal the limelight from the protagonist, the Nashorn; static frame inside which plays a dynamic scene (the crew in action).
I hope you enjoyed it also hello and good modeling.