Kurt Knispel Commemorative Buddy Build

[Coen]

Hey Fellas,
So back in January, "WarWarNeverChanges" Jonas Coleman (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2VKVG ... 2E4gtu5gLw) and I started work on a buddy build dedicated to Kurt Knispel, a WWII German Wehrmacht tank ace.
Here is is with his commander and best friend Ruddel.



Jonas is planning on building Kurt's Panzer IV that he rode in as a gunner.



And myself, I planned on building his Normandy Early Production Tiger II.

I've been planning to do this build for about four years now, back when I first bought an interior package and the Tamiya Tiger II kit. Since then I gathered several PE sets and apparently a couple of barrels for the build. I never managed to find a suitable figure though. I have yet to find a figure of Kurt anywhere (that isn't a basement model and looks like old cheese).


So here's a bit of history and why I have a strong admiration for the young man.

The highest scoring tank ace of WWII was Germany’s Kurt Knispel. Knispel total tank kills were confirmed at 168, with some unconfirmed estimates stating that total could actually be closer to 195 kills. Knispel is considered by some as the greatest tank ace in history. His awards included the Iron Cross, Panzer Badge and German Cross in Gold.

Kurt Knispel began his basic training at Panzer Replacement Training Battalion. He later received tank training on the Panzer I, Panzer II and Panzer IV tanks. Knispel was also instructed on the Panzer IV as a loader and gunner. When training was completed in June of 1941, Knispel was assigned as gunner of a Panzer IV under the leadership of Lt. Hellman and he began his World War II service.

In January of 1943, Knispel returned for training on the newer Tiger I tanks. At that time, he was already credited with 12 kills. His squadron – 1st Company of the 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion – participated in various battles throughout World War II, eventually upgrading to the Tiger II tank. Knispel is said to have accomplished an incredible 24 hits in one action with the Tiger II tank.

Kurt Knispel was recommended four different times to receive the Knight’s Cross – a coveted award received by many of the other German tank aces. Knispel, however, did not mind that he was consistently passed over. The purpose of his mission was not for decoration. He is even said to have credited others with kills he could have easily disputed as his own. His rise in ranks was slow which is attributed to a few conflicts he encountered with Nazi authorities and his lack of typical military uniformity – sporting longer hair than most and a goatee.

Kurt Knispel – an individual who fought in every type of German tank as a loader, a gunner and a commander – received a fatal wound just ten days before the end of the war. At age 23, the highest scoring tank ace of WWII – Kurt Knispel – was dead.

Some of my notes on the build...

The Tiger II
- 50 early turrets made (all turrets designed by Krupp, misnomer for porsche/henchel)
- Total Tiger II made 1347
- In May the 503rd re-equipped itself with the new Konigstiger.
- 503rd was the first to use them near Caen durning the Allied invasion of Normandy - July 18 1944
- Knispel fought in Fedensack’s tank in Normandy, and that would be the last time they would fight together: Fedensack died near St. Pierre. Knispel took ad-hoc command of a Konigstiger for the first time and covered the other panzer crew’s retreat.
- Most likely the 12 that they were issued at that time were early production turrets (porsche)
- At that time, according to the notes, Kurt was a Feldwebel (US Staff Sergeant or RAF Sergeant.) in the 1st Company of the 503rd


Kurt's Medals at the time of the Build

Iron Cross E.K.II (2nd Class)
Iron Cross E.K. I awarded after actions at Kursk July 1943. He destroyed 27 T-34's in 12 days during this battle.
Winterschlacht im Osten The so-called 'Order of the Frozen Flesh'.
Wound Badge (silver)
Panzerkampfabzeichen Panzer Assault Badge (silver)
Panzerkampfabzeichen 100 assaults.
German Cross in Gold on 20 May 1944 as Unteroffizier in the 1./schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503[6]


To build Kurt's Normandy tiger II I chose Tamiya's German King Tiger "Porsche Turret" 35169.



And Verlindin's resin interior pack. #1792 King Tiger Interior (Tamiya)



And Verlindin's resin engine set . #2117 King Tiger Engine Pack (Dragon) (I bought this for another build originally)



I never had any intention of showing off the interior other than "through the hatch" details, but I wanted to do a full interior build as I hadn't done one in some time.

It wasn't until I'd gotten quite a ways into the construction of the interior that I realised that I was using the late production interior set instead of the early. There were also a number of pieces missing from the set which made it even more difficult to build.
I guess it was a good thing that I was planning on just "through the hatch" haha.

So on the the build.

As with any build, mock ups, dryfits, an planning are necessary.
While going through these steps I noticed my issues with the interior packs, but I decided to use them anyway.
The sets are old and the quality of detail, though exceptional, it's attached to gigantic pour plugs or they're cast on thick sheets of resin that must be thinned considerably in order to fit properly. This is both dangerous as resin is wickedly toxic unless you're wearing a mask and rubber gloves, and it's difficult as the parts are very fragile and sanding that much material can cause them to crack and break.
To say that it was easy to do this part of the build and that I enjoyed it would be a lie.

Here are some shots of the dryfits during sanding.



So it was an epic tale and adventure in toxic dust and mess. Needless to say, it will be some time before I do another full interior build haha.


So the scene that I want to use for the diorama is this one.
It's the 503 hiding under some large trees in Normandy while refuelling and rearming.



I found it really interesting that while I was pouring over these photos I noticed that one of the Tiger II's were a really early version of the Tiger II. You can tell by the front mud flaps.



Were the others are slightly later and looked like this.



I really wish that we could see the turret numbers in these shots other than Tiger 114's.

[Coen]

So after the dry fits were done and I knew were everything was going and that the hull would mostly button up I tried to apply Tamiya Putty to the hull for the zimmerit. I'd used Tamiya Putty for this in the past and it's always difficult to use, but if you get good at it, it looks awesome.

I didn't get good at it.

So I sanded it all off (another epic tale of dust and mess) and ordered the Tamiya stick on zimmerit. Mostly because I'd never used it before.
This caused a three week delay on the build as it takes 2 1/2 - 3 weeks for almost anything to get to my house from the USA.... no idea why.
In the meantime I mocked up the diorama with some figures that I build and had laying around.

I chose a triangular piece of MDF as the base because I thought that it would be different, but trying to get all the elements on the space was really awkward.
The story I wanted to tell is similar to the reference shots above with the crew servicing their vehicles and various other military elements passing by.





It seemed like a good idea at the time... however,
I've since scrapped that base and went in another direction that I'll show later.

So while waiting for the zimmerit to show I moved forward a bit with the suspension and the tracks for the Tiger II. I had a set of Fruil that I bought ages ago for this build so I got comfy with some old movies and spent 5 hours building them.



You just can't beat the look of metal tracks.

I also started picking away at some of the PE.




And I started installing the interior elements.



Then I painted all of the interior spaces in black primer, then vallejo air hull red, then AMMO Cremeweiss over that.

[Coen]

Then the detail painting.



By then the Tamiya Stick On Zimmerit had arrived and I spent about 2 hours applying that. I like the look of it and it was easy to install. The edges are a bit rough though and it's hard to work with them. Even with putty. Practice with this stuff is definitely worth doing though. It seems to be good stuff. I do worry about the adhesive breaking down over time though.




Then I weathered the interior for the final bit before she gets closed up for good.
Ultimate Washes and a stiff bristled brush to the rescue!



So she's all buttoned up now and I've just recently started work on the exterior parts. With all the PE extras that I want to add and the paint work to do yet I expect another two or three weeks before she's done and I can move on to the base.


[youtube]ZbFraoYIlY4[/youtube]


[youtube]xj_kglho45w[/youtube]

[timtamtung]

That is so inspiring to look at. Question, (bit late now) but why don't you just leave the upper hull unglued so that you can lift up to see the interior when you feel like it?

[Schoof]

Wow. ........... Just wow

[Art17847]

WOW all those little interior pieces would have drove me batty .....the effort was well worth it though as it looks spectacular it is a little sad that u will close it up but u could always take some real nice pics of the interior to display with the finished kit....i was kinda likeing that triangle base cuz u dont see that shape used much but i can see where it would be a bit of challenge to work with...as always excellent work have fun with the rest of ur build

[Coen]

Thanks fellas.
I'd leave it so that you could open it up but there would be this huge gap on the bow that would drive be batty.

And thanks to Jayclub for pointing out that this is actually a tiger I not a tiger II.


The way that the side skirt is bent makes it look a lot like a Tiger II and it took me in.
I totally missed the obvious tiger I tracks on the glacis plate.
Duh.

I thought that I was looking at this.

[timtamtung]

Thanks fellas.
I'd leave it so that you could open it up but there would be this huge gap on the bow that would drive be batty.

And thanks to Jayclub for pointing out that this is actually a tiger I not a tiger II.


The way that the side skirt is bent makes it look a lot like a Tiger II and it took me in.
I totally missed the obvious tiger I tracks on the glacis plate.
Duh.

I thought that I was looking at this.

Guess the german camouflage worked very well

[PaulAyrey]

What a great thread and fantastic build Mike, really looking forward to this one!

[Russ72]

Wow mate that's some brilliant detail, well executed. Looking forward to the rest of the build.

[Hillbilly]

WOW that's alot of resin detail but it really makes it look the part though.This thing is going to be stunning when you are done with it.

[M60Tanker]

Do you use a CA glue or Tamiya thin on all that resin?

[Hillbilly]

Do you use a CA glue or Tamiya thin on all that resin?

Tamiya Extra thin wont stick resin,use good old CA for that.

[Kingdan]

Wow great work

[cmc]

An amazing build.. thank you for sharing

[Coen]

Thanks fellas, there's still a long way to go yet.

Do you use a CA glue or Tamiya thin on all that resin?

I use Bob Smith Industries thick CA glue bud. I've been using it for years. I never use the thin runny stuff anymore. It's ruined too many models for me to bother with that stuff anymore. It's strong and good for filling minor gaps too.
Tamyia Extra thin is for styrene only, it's a "hot glue" that welds styrene together. It wouldn't do to much to resin.

[M60Tanker]

Thanks to you and Hillbilly. I'll sort out the hows and hows nots pretty soon

[rodrant]

This is something great to see ! This makes me want to do in the future some detailed build of a plane or a tank with all the detail ! And the diorama idea is again very good !

A very nice build on some very fine subject on a great Tank Ace !

Thank you Mike for this build ! Worth all minutes spent watching all the videos and posts of it !

[mick]

excellent build & weathering

[Coen]

The last update ended with me finishing off the interior of the tank.
A lot has happened since then.

She's all the way up to the first wash now and the pin washes and rust details are about to go on.

After I finished with the interior I spent about two hours trying to get it to fit together in one piece. No easy task with the hull being warped.
In the end I got it buttoned up and I was happy with it.
I then jumped right in with the Lion Roar PE set. I have to say, it's one of the easiest PE sets that I've ever assembled. I will be getting more from them in the future that's for certain.
So here she is with all the PE on and the crew (which I won't be using anymore) in place, and ready for paint.





The tracks are assembled and primed with Alclad black microfiller primer.

[Coen]

Next it was painting time.

First I primed her in that black badger primer.







Then I lay in with the colours.
I also decided to do a how-to on tri-tone camouflage. Even though this tank never had tri-tone camouflage.

[youtube]S1xr8ceU5wE[/youtube]

Migl's late war dunklegelb 011 was sprayed first, I didn't like the colour so I resprayed later with 010. A much better colour (I also removed the tri-tone you see here and changed it to a two-tone camouflage.







Here is is with the correct camouflage scheme.





Here is a colourised shot of here (never use colourised shots for colour matching, it's ok for getting camo patterens but the colours will always be off.






Then chipping began using a green scrubbing pad torn into a small piece and dipping into Vallejo Model Colour's Cam. Black Brown.







I also added some metal shine to some surfaces, like the rim of these wheels using and HB pencil.







All chipped and decaled.

[Coen]

Then I added Mig's track rusts (both colours together) to the tracks, and layered the two colours separately to add variety.





I took an HB pencil to the areas that were contacted by the road wheels to show the polished steel.



As well as to the outer surfaces of the tracks.



Then I installed the wheels and tracks.







Then it was detail painting time.







The interior is still visible as well... with the help of a flash.

[Coen]

Finally for this update.... On went the first oil wash.
Burnt Umber for now. A flat coat will be next followed by a pin wash, then some Ultimate Dark Dirt. Then some rust work.

[Aliktren]

fantastic mate, really love watching you you put everything together, I know you say your painting isnt anything special but it looks fab to these eyes

[Hillbilly]

Beautiful build! I really like the amount of chipping you did...just right in my opinion.

[Nige99]

Looks well cool Mike. It's a crying shame you can't see all that detail of the interior mate but never mind. Cool camo to

[Coen]

Thanks fellas.
So it's done and dusted for the moment. It just needs placement weathering and environmental effects once it's on the diorama. I'll take some fancy photos of it later, but here's a sneak preview.

[Schoof]

[Nige99]

Awesome Mike

[Coen]

As promised, here are those fancy photos of the Tiger II.
Like I said earlier, she still needs the placement environmental effects and the final weathering, but she's finished for the most part.

[Coen]

Now that the two vehicles are finished I can start work on the diorama.
Since I just completed a How-To on dios I won't go into the nitty gritty of this one as it's pretty much the same.
I will make mention of a couple of really cool bits and bobs that made their way into the dio.

Firstly... the layout.
I used an old piece of shelving for this one and spent an hour or so messing with the pieces to see what arraignment I liked best for the story that I was telling.












Next it was the topography. DAS for the surface, then the assorted rocks, tallus, a few sticks for logs, and sand for the textures.





Then I painted up the cool bits and bobs.
Forbes Hutton and Randy Hickey both sent me these dried flowers. Forbes sent me some MK35 dries baby's breath and Randy sent me some funky stuff that we don't know the name of. It looks a lot like a cedar or a pine when left alone, when broken into bits you can shape it into other trees when combined with the baby's breath. I was really impressed with the look of it.
I painted them with my airbrush using about 4-5 different shades of green and olive. The result was very pleasing.



Then the ground work got some paint. First the muds and dirts.



Then the grass colours.



Then I soaks certain areas with diluted white glue from Woodland Scenics and sprinkled two colours of static grass mixed together.





Then I added the trees and some rubberised horse hair for the bramble and forest floor.











Next, ground scatter, various herbs and spices, Thyme, parsley, oregano, coriander. For the leave litter and forest floor.





Then some grass tufts that I got from some Dutch company that I can't remember now. Three different colours.



Next I drybrushed the logs with some wood colours after adding even more trees.







Next I painted up some old man's beard to act as low shrubs along the treeline.



More ground scatter.



Then a test fit of the vehicles.























[youtube]EadpZ6jv8SY[/youtube]

The vehicle still need the final placement weathering as I'd said, and the figures still need painting. But for the most part the dio is nearly done.
Maybe by the end of the month.
Right now I have a fever of 39.9C, thanks to the kids, so I won't be getting much done today I think, but we can't be sick all the time.

[ForbesHutton]

Stay warm, drink lots of fluids (switch to decaf for the time being) and try to get lots of rest (yeah, yeah, two kids. If you didn't spend all your money on models you could have had a dart gun with sedatives ).

You'll feel better before you know it.

[Paul]

Awesome work mike, cant wait to see the finished dio

[heel]

It looks fantastic, Coen. Huge fan of what you do.

[Nige99]

Woooow that is the dogs dangly bits Mike. Awesome Dio dude. You build so fricking quick.

[PaulAyrey]

Wow Mike, it all looks great but I love the KT, awesome work. The tone and appearance of the base yellow is gorgeous!

[Coen]

Thanks fellas.
It seems as though I work fast only because I have very little else to do.
haha.
Once everyone is at work or at school it's just Sam and I during the day. He's happy just playing around at my feet.
At night everyone else but me is asleep.
I hate being idol.

[Russ72]

Brilliant job mate. Looking forward to next stage.

[Coen]

Well... Not much left to do now.
Just the figures and she's done. You can pop on over to the Land Gallery to see the final result.









And installed on the diorama.




Here's the link to the reveal
http://www.intscalemodeller.com/viewtop ... 46&t=11357

[PaulAyrey]

Figures look great!

[AchtungPanzer]

Great work Mike

[Rodney]

Wow what I job on the inside of the tank its allmost a shame to cover it up. Think I might know that randy hickey that sent you them trees lmao. Get well soon bud

[Coen]

Randy Hickey?
Did I say Randy Hickey? Ah crap I'm sorry Rodney... This fever is kicking my arse. I thought sure that I said Rodney.

[Rodney]

lol I knew what you ment I was just pulling your leg.

[wesleye18]

love the dio and weathering on this mike! very nice indeed! well done mate, not bad for your first model

[Coen]

Gee... Thanks Wes. Do Ya really mean it?