6. Armour Division, Kotelnikowo Russia 1942

It was formed from 1 Armour Division in Oct 1939 in Wuppertal. First deployed in the Western Campaign, it was then transferred to Poland and took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union within the northern front.

After heavy losses the division came to France for refitting in 1942.

Back in Russia in late 1942 the 6 Armour Division took part in the futile attempt of Generaloberst Hoth´s 4 Armoured Army, to reinforce Stalingrad. The Diorama from Victor Vezmar shows the first enemy contact of the division after leaving the assembly area near Kotelnikovo. A Russian recce unit fell victim to this assault.

In 1943 the division took part in the battles of Kursk and Kharkov, before it had to reatreat under heavy losses through the Urkaine.

After a refit once again, the unit was deployed in the mid section of the Eastern Front in 1944. It struggled it´s way via Budapest into Austria and finally surrendered to the Red Army at the vicinity of Brno.

 The Diorama (from W. Kampfhofer)

As base I used a framed wooden plate of 26 xx 26 cm (10,26 x 10,26 inch). Most of my dioramas are made from Styrofoam and that fact often produces unpleasent edges. So I wanted to avoid it this time. As I don´t like to work with wood or veneer, I chose an alternative from a DI market: wall paper base plates. These are foam plates of a thickness of 5mm (0.137 inch).

They were cut with a crafts knife and put onto the edges of the diorama base. Thus I "wrapped" the following Styrofoam layers, that formed the landscape. I glued those layers together with white glue (Elmers or similar brands). The area, where the Stuart found his rest, was formed like a slope.

Now the base for the snow was produced by applying a groung-cote of white alabaster plaster cast onto the terrain. By keeping the mixture quite wet, one gets the desired smooth and round surface, like fresh fallen snow would generate it. The vehicles were pressed into the still wet plaster.

The flocks were made by using Natron soda with the following method:
Wallpaper paste was smeared onto the base and a strainer helped to sprinkle an even layer of "snow". From the company Auhagen I got a twinkling snow-like material and I added this to enhance the realism. Unfortunately the glint is hardly to be seen at the photos, but when examined under light, the effect can bee recognized very clearly.

When everything was dry, the tanks were glued onto the base at the spots, where I could still see the marks from the previous pressing. The edges between the tanks and the terrain were blended by means of a mixture of white glue and Natron soda. I applied that with an old soft brush. At the end a twig brings some variety.
© Werner Kampfhofer

 Figure painting for this Diorama (from Chr. Heugl)

The figures were provided by Werner Kampfhofer, who did a fine sanding and glueing job. The base colour was matt black. So I only had to do the most pleasant job, the painting.

I started figure painting some 20 years ago and I suppose to have got some experience with that. I prefer to use enamels (Humbrol, Revell). If used right, they dry rather quickly and are dull as well. Sometimes I add some Gunze clear finish, if necessary.

To avoid gripping into wet colour, I bore a small hole into the foot of the figure and glue a toothpick into it.

Most important part of a figure is the face. In real live, people also will have a look into the other´s face first and similar it is with model figures.

So if a figure shows the finest shadows at the garment, but lacks of proper face painting, this will spoil the whole figure.

I always start with dark colours and then proceed to a lighter tint. Therefore the dark base tone fits quite good. The lighting was done with an airbrush and a normal brush from the top direction, as if the sunrays came from this course. So after that phase the first shadows can be recognized.

Then I proceeded to the face: a red brown cote is applied first. This layer should be very thin (Revell thinner). This enables us, to do the next steps quickly, as the paint will dry swiftly.

Lights can be applied with white colour. A figure at the scale of 1:35 needs at about 5 to 6 steps of these lightings. These are followed by some shadowing around the nose, lips and the eye-sockets and the face starts to look like the real thing.

The eyes are painted as follows: first I paint the rims of the eye-sockets black, then white and again black for the pupils. If the eyes turn out to be too big, I trim them by painting the lids at the upper and lower part once again with dark flesh tones.

The garment is painted similar to the faces: from dark to light. The white helmets were first bedaubted gray, then white washed and after the white had tried, I scratched it off to a certain amount.

Basically I can suggest, to use as much relevant technical literature and contemporary photos as possible. 

Much worth to be looked into are the Andrea-books on figure painting, where one can find step-by--step guides for this job.

Also the painting tips, provided by "Wikinger", within this site are worth a longer glimpse and very useful. The described technique is also applicable with enamel colours.

At last one word: the most important thing is, to have fun with this hobby - I wish you good luck and fine results.

© Christoph Heugl

6 Armd Div, Russia 1942

© Viktor Vezmar 2005

Dioramas
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