Project - 'Deadly intent'

[SteveKrieg]

G'day all,

I hope all those on the SAG (and their families) had a grand festive season and that despite the ongoing COVID strains all is positive in your desired intentions for the year ahead.

Two additional scenes just completed. First, U.S. Army sniper (41st Armoured Infantry Battalion/2nd Armoured Division) circa France July 1944. This is DML's "Hap Daley" figure and save for some additionally weathering, addition of helmet foliage and change to his combat load it is essentially 'out of the box'. The all-metal (and largely remodelled) German field kitchen is roadside debris to signify the German retreat (where many snipers were left behind to take-out service troops. The polyfoam two-section wall courtesy of Sideshow Collectables.

The 41st were one of the few units to be issued the HBT camouflage uniform for ETO wear (in limited quantity) and was ideal for sniper use though the uniform being an anomaly against the standard OD green fatigues caused the odd 'blue-on-blue' for the wearer being mistaken for a German who predominantly wore camouflage clothing by this stage of the war (W-SS in-particular).

He carries the trusty (though antiquated) Springfield M1903A4 bolt-action rifle (the M1 Garand was at this stage of the war about to be produced in a sniper variant - more on that weapon in a future scene covering U.S.M.C sniper, Iwo Jima which is so-equipped). The American Army utilised stocks of British helmet netting prior to D-Day and many (particularly the U.S. Airborne divisions) utilised it in the same manner as their British cousins. Other forms of netting just as vehicle netting was also cut and used.

Enjoy, Steve

 

[SteveKrieg]

Second scene completed today is of a British sniper NWE (aka as ETO in American parlance) circa Belgium, September '44. The British took camouflage and concealment to the next level with their Ghillie suits (something learned from their sniper school training in Scotland) and is a form of sniper clothing worn universally today.

The figure also wears the hooded 'paintbrush' pattern two-piece windproof suit and face veil in an effort to blend in better with his environment. Knitted gloves cover his hands with fingers cut to allow uninterrupted functioning of his rifle - The .303in Enfield No.4 Mk I (T) which surprisingly performed well when rebuilt as a sniper rifle (fitted with 3x pwr No.32 Mk I telescopic sight.

This is the last covering British snipers.

Enjoy, Steve

 

[SteveKrieg]

G'day all,

Four more completions to the mix:

- The third of four dedicated to American snipers - a Marine sniper, Iwo Jima, Feb '45. A per a lot of the scenes for this Feb's model show, I've relied on good-old fish tank accessories in order to recreate the volcanic environment of Mt. Suribachi. The Marine is armed with the Garand M1C, a rifle that took sometime to get into production and only really saw action at war's end in Italy and the Pacific.

Second diorama, closer to home, the story of the Australian Army sniper - many of whom were kangaroo shooters in civilian life before their sharpshooter skills became more honed keeping the enemy at bay in the Pacific campaigns of New Guinea, Timor, Bougainville etc etc. A 'clean shot' was a measure most appreciated by these ex-roo shooters as a clean pelt fetched more than a blood-stained one. I had a P'14 rifle 3d-printed especially for this scene by a mate of mine (who is also currently working on some of the more unusual scopes required of the sniper series). The spotter is armed with the Australian designed/produced 9mm Owen machine carbine.

 

[SteveKrieg]

The German FJR sniper, circa Third battle of Cassino, mid-Mar, Italy '44. With the town of Cassino in ruins from constant Allied bombardment, it provided ideal cover for the 100 or so German paratroopers that initially had to hold the town (until reinforcement arrived preventing the New Zealanders from a quick capture.

I purchased a TYS 1:Sixth Toys ruin specifically for this scene. Lightweight and perfect for either 1:6th or 1:12th I reckon I can get a couple of future scenes out of this one.

Finally, It'd be hard to tell the story of the World War Two sniper without having a scene covering Russian female snipers - some of whom exceeded famed Vasili Zaitsev in kill count. I've used headsculpts that closely resemble two of the best known: Lyudila Pavlichenko (309 kills) and former school teacher Roza Shanina (54 kills) and posed in accordance with some old Russian propaganda pics of them.

Oh, I've also fashioned a signpost for the opening intro information panel which sort of speaks for itself and was often placed by Allied units advancing into Europe as a warning to others, some adorned with helmets in order to get the point across. Enjoy, Steve

 

[SteveKrieg]

Oh, forgot to add, the FJR sniper will have a Zf 41 scope added to his 98K once 3d printed. Steve

 

[Captain Darling]

Like the Aussie jungle sniper

Are all/some of these set ups ‘permanent’ for your display area (I did notice on one you mentioned the ruin may be reused in another setting)?

 

[SteveKrieg]

No, the scenes are built for the model show and then dis-assembled and shelved after the show. Where possible, I do re-use for future diorama plans and particularly the ruins on this one which I'll re-purpose for the November series covering the German Fallschirmjager (Normandy '44).

Noting you're from Adelaide I can appreciate you'd like the Australians. I made a section-strength fighting patrol of Aussies for a 2018 diorama covering the Kokoda Campaign (pics of which are on the SAG if you search back far enough) so was happy to get a couple of them out of their storage tub for re-use.

Cheers, Steve

 

[SteveKrieg]

G'day all,

Just another couple to add to the series - the first is of a Japanese soldier in the Pacific circa '43. Armed with a Type 97 (note this is a stand-in rifle as the one to be used is currently being fitted-out with a 3d printed scope), the 'sniper' (noting most Japanese soldiers employed in sniping were not snipers by trade but just ordinary infantrymen utilising the most of their camouflage skills and cunning) wears a netting over his body and on his helmet for foliage attachment...last one covering the jungle scenes and no doubt my local pet store suppliers will be glad not to see me again too soon ('what sort of fish tank do you have?...none, they are for my 1/6th scale dioramas).

 

[SteveKrieg]

Second, a sniper of the U.S. 101st A/B Div (2/506th) in St. Come-du-Mont - a tactical objective of the Division on D-Day. It was here that American paratroopers met their German equivalents of the 1/FJR6. I had previously used this figure on the 2019 diorama series covering the 101st in Normandy (in a different pose). This marksman has broken up the brightness of his uniform with hand-painted green stripping and utilised (as was the norm for the Division) British helmet netting and burlap strips. The Springfield 1903A4 with Weaver scope was still in wide-use despite its obsolescence (the M1C Garand sniper variant still far from production and general-issue).

I've since taken the pigeon off the lamp pole (seriously, I doubt a bird such as the flighty pigeon would hang-around in such a place full of noise) and will be placed atop the roof of the German Normandy sniper scene instead. More brick dust and debris will be added to the scene on showday.

Cheers and enjoy, Steve

 

[Hammer's Africaners]

Great work and figures.
Enjoy seeing you're work, keep posting those picture.

 

[SteveKrieg]

G'day all,

Well the weekend just gone finally went ahead in terms of the annual Scale ACT model show where I got to tell the story of the World War Two sniper. For those that have perused the build process to this - my 7th diorama series for Scale ACT - then there's no surprise in that this was the first done on a multi-national scale. All told, 19 scenes entailing the use of 27 snipers/spotters and such and though it was probably the smallest I've done in terms of figures used it was definitely the most elaborate with regards to diorama back drops.

This show was a carry-over from the postponed November show of 2021 and the show itself still came under the banner of 2021 which means there'll be another show (the biggest in-fact to celebrate the model club's 50th birthday) this coming November (more on that under my Project - Fallschirmjager series).

I went for a U-Shaped configuration akin the U.S. 101st display back in 2019 which worked well in terms of traffic flow (even with COVID spacing in-mind). The entrance had an over-arching information board on the right which was flanked by two period uniforms illustrating camouflage (a core aspect of the theme) with two German torso mannequins and a British Denison smock on the reverse side of the board.

 

[SteveKrieg]

In order to give you a visitor perspective, I've arranged the following series of pics to match that of how the dioramas were placed out in order to enhance the narrative flow.

From the opening diorama (my first non-WW2) covering the British 95th Rifles (DiD's early release) along with a figure from the famed TV series 'Sharpe' (a composite figure made up of Cotswalds and scratch-built parts). Then the second diorama (my second non-WW2 type) telling the story of the World War One advent of the professional sniper.

The third/fourth covers Hollywood's versions of WW2 snipers with 'straight-out-of-the-box' figures - Facepool's rendition of Pte Jackson ('Saving Private Ryan') to DiD's great renditions of Maj Konigs and Vasilli Zaitsev 'Enemy at the Gates'). I considered this first four as my 'Intro' or lead-in vignettes.

 

[SteveKrieg]

It was at this point that the WW2 sniper story begins with an apt warning sign. I then went straight into telling the real Vasilli Zaitsev story with a great 'Facepool' headsculpt of the most famous (thanks to the movie) WW2 sniper despite the fact his kill rate was rather low on the listing but a great story regardless.

Russia's female snipers - the main reason behind my theme choosing for 2021 having read the story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko and then Roza Shanina. Both figures are composites with headsculpts chosen to match as close as possible. Alert Line uniform sets helped make these figures possible and it would've been hard to tell the story of the World War Two sniper without them (and was one of the most interesting according to - surprisingly - female visitors).

This leads on to the Germans who had little choice but to ramp-up quick in terms of the number of snipers and sniper school they required in order to match the large number of Russians; many of whom were actually just above-average shots than professional marksmen...most coming from hunting backgrounds.

 

[SteveKrieg]

I kicked-off the German aspect with the winter war and highest-scoring soldaten - Mathias Hetzenauer - of the 3rd Gebirgsjager Division. Like most of the figures which has a story behind them, I've tried to base headsculpts as close as possible though this was not always necessary (the American snipers for example which I could find little in terms of high-scoring or individual stories - apologies there) and therefore are a little more just representational.

The next vignette covers German airborne snipers in action at Cassino in '44. Note the small Zf 41 scope; another key feature of each scene is the main tool of the trade that each sniper carried and given the multi-national aspect, I was able to cover just as many in terms of rifles and scopes and some, like this one, had to be 3d printed in order to provide that aspect of the story.

My favourite is next with 'Sniper in the attic' (Normandy '44) and a late addition (3d printed) being the Hub 23 surpressor which was encountered in Normandy in small numbers.

 

[SteveKrieg]

Two subsequent German scenes illustrate not only the later war fronts but improvements in camouflage clothing (another key aspect of the series); particularly that of the Waffen-SS (which utilised many patterns) and the blurred 'marsh' or 'swamp' pattern that superseded the classic 'Splinter A' pattern.

We then move on to two British scenes, the first I enjoyed despite the frustration in trying to replicate a ghillie suit to which British snipers tended to use (and every sniper in the world) has used since. SGT Harry Furness is the main focal point of the next British scene and even though I have him with a spotter (just to illustrate the sniper/spotter team aspects), Furness was renown for not only being 16 years old when he joined the British Army but often worked alone.

 

[SteveKrieg]

Where possible, I tend to re-use or re-purpose parts and figures from previous displays and I was happy to re-use the U.S. 'Screaming Eagle' sniper from my 2019 series (101st in Normandy) to cover the story of snipers in those first heady days of the Allied liberation of Europe (sort of a counter to the earlier German sniper in the attic scene).

Next provided an opportunity to put in a heavily modified all-metal German 'Gulaschkanone' Hf 13 which I do intend to put with horse and limber one day but thought a nice 'battlefield debris' piece as the Americans broke-out during Operation 'COBRA'. This scene also giving me the chance to tell the story of infamous HBT 42 camo uniforms which were used in the ETO for a short time.

 

[SteveKrieg]

Entering the Pacific theatre against the Japanese sniper (most of whom were actually just above-average shots who were very adept with camouflage and concealment in an environment they seemed to have no fear of) kicks of with a sniper built around one of the excellent IQO figures. The 2.5 Tokia scope on his Type 97 was 3d printed.

Temporarily curbing my interest in the USMC during the Pacific War (the theme of my 2023 series under Project - 'Devil Dog'), I was able to put in two scenes covering marine snipers - the first illustrating a way (hopefully) in drawing fire so that the marine sniper can get a bead on the unseen enemy marksmen who benefits from firing a round with little to no muzzle flash or smoke.

I couldn't resist covering Australian Army snipers of course and I was able to utilise my favourite 'Paddy' (the old classic BBI release) and another from my section of Aussies acting as spotter. The P'14 was 3d printed especially for this scene.

 

[SteveKrieg]

Bringing to a conclusion (a the war draws to its conclusion), a marine sniper on Iwo Jima (most of the diorama features were from purchases from pet stores with copious amounts of fish tank accessories which, when painted, fitted the part nicely.

Bringing to a close is a sniper that actually garnered his kills before the war actually started (the Russo-Finish 'winter war' of 1939-40). Simo Hayha has the top-scoring kill ratio at 500+ so it was vital I tell his story (saving the best 'til last). The figure is a 'short' DiD body with an aptly sized DML head. I based it off a popular propaganda photo (minus bayonet as what exacting sniper would shoot with a bayonet fitted?). Given he was dressed in all white it was not hard to assemble this one.

I completed the series with a short text panel covering post-war snipers to today and a dedication to a good mate of mine who had helped set-up my previous shows but unfortunately passed-on late last year.

All-in-all...it was a well received show where I again told another World War Two story. With November's show now on the cards...it's time to press-on with the story of the German airborne forces; the mighty 'Green devils'.

I hope you enjoyed this story (sorry about its length) and the build processes required. It was fun to put together and it was really nice to see them all set-up side-by-side on display. Cheers, Steve

 

[The_Dutchman]

What a massive and excellent array of displays Steve! Something to be very proud of!

 

[Kapernakis]

Very well done. No apologies needed for its length.
Did you see that Alert Line is coming out with a Finnish soldier (Sniper).