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
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
The same
month opered in Rome
The 3
January 1944 the 3/525 was transferred to Cassino
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
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
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
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.
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