Tamiya 1/35 Nashorn , 519th Heavy Anti-Tank Battalion Eastern Front 1944

[rodrant]

Hi , I was looking in my stash in order to decide what I could enter this GB, and check this Tamiya Kit that I had for some time and this is a great excuse to build it in a Winter Camo Scheme (actually is whitewash on the Three Tone Camo used by Germans in WW2 ) , and place it in a nice Heavy Snow landscape ambushing some Russian Tanks ...

So this will be my entry on this GB , maybe will use some additional figures , also I have some brass 88mm ammunition from Tamiya ...

[krusty69]

I love a nice nashorn

[Stokesy44]

Good choice mate. I have it in my stash and considered it for the Winter GB. Since you got there first I'm going for an Elefant instead.

Be good to see how the 'cousins' progress over the course of the build.

[ForbesHutton]

The Tamiya is a great kit. If built it twice now. The only two minor problems that I've had, and you can probably work around knowing in advance:
1) The air intakes (the grills on the side) haven't fit perfectly for me. I've had to sand the front edge (not visible when complete) of the horizontal fins to get the piece to mess in behind the front plate.
2) The periscope holders are really tight and don't want to spread to accept the periscopes and may break if you try to force them. You could just cut the holders in two and glue them back together around the periscope and then glue it to the wall, or you could put a drop of Tamiya extra thin on the periscope holder to soften the plastic so it will flex open enough to get the periscope in.

Coen had a crack at a winter Nashorn, but used a Dragon (silly man...):
http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.p ... it=nashorn

And one of the Nashorns I built was for the winter as well:
http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=11253

[rodrant]

Good choice mate. I have it in my stash and considered it for the Winter GB. Since you got there first I'm going for an Elefant instead.

Be good to see how the 'cousins' progress over the course of the build.

Could be nice to see two builts , The Elephant was my other option also , believe it or not , bu tI go for this one instead , for a long time I wish to have an excuse to build it .

Well come aboard Stokesy !

[rodrant]

The Tamiya is a great kit. If built it twice now. The only two minor problems that I've had, and you can probably work around knowing in advance:
1) The air intakes (the grills on the side) haven't fit perfectly for me. I've had to sand the front edge (not visible when complete) of the horizontal fins to get the piece to mess in behind the front plate.
2) The periscope holders are really tight and don't want to spread to accept the periscopes and may break if you try to force them. You could just cut the holders in two and glue them back together around the periscope and then glue it to the wall, or you could put a drop of Tamiya extra thin on the periscope holder to soften the plastic so it will flex open enough to get the periscope in.

Coen had a crack at a winter Nashorn, but used a Dragon (silly man...):
http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.p ... it=nashorn

And one of the Nashorns I built was for the winter as well:
http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=11253

Thank you for the heads up , I will try to follow your tips if have difficulty , I followed Coen's build , and it is lovely , I admire all his works , I will do ( or at least I'm thinking of to do it in an more open field ...as I will try to do some proper snow for the fist time , well some of my builds have snow , but not in the quantities that I'm thinking off this time

Your build is great , love that scheme ! I will do the Tamiya all white , and try also to do some winter wash for the first time , maybe I will use the Ultimate Winter wash , she's waiting for a build like this !

[rodrant]

So time for begin this thread and build ...

The usual photos of the box and sprues









The gun barrel is glues on the box cover , so carefull not to loose it or miss it







The crew !







Tracks , in plastic , for me it is ok , I will use this ones



Decals , the usual plastic rings and the usual rope to depict the steel cables



Instructions



Colour schemes and technical data on the vehicle



Three nice colour schmes , one from Russia ( the one I will do ) , two nice three colour schmes used in Italy ...I like them also









It also get some photos of one of the surviving real NAshorns , it is in a Russian museum in Kubika Tank museum a link for the museum page :

http://www.tankmuseum.ru/nashorn/

Will use this brass ammo from Tamiya ( 88mm ammo )



and this two Panzergrenadiers figures from Alpine



Well the idea is Snow ! Lots of Snow , bring the snow ! , well it is to do a small diorama showing the Nashorn in a winter field , with some scenario and the two figures, well I might get more figures ...some German Skiiers perhaps

AS you see the Russian Scenario is very white :



If I had two ...



Shooting ...



If I have four of them , and a Opel Blitz ...

[rodrant]

So time for begin this thread and build ...

The usual photos of the box and sprues









The gun barrel is glues on the box cover , so carefull not to loose it or miss it







The crew !







Tracks , in plastic , for me it is ok , I will use this ones



Decals , the usual plastic rings and the usual rope to depict the steel cables



Instructions



Colour schemes and technical data on the vehicle



Three nice colour schmes , one from Russia ( the one I will do ) , two nice three colour schmes used in Italy ...I like them also









It also get some photos of one of the surviving real NAshorns , it is in a Russian museum in Kubika Tank museum a link for the museum page :

http://www.tankmuseum.ru/nashorn/

Will use this brass ammo from Tamiya ( 88mm ammo )



and this two Panzergrenadiers figures from Alpine



Well the idea is Snow ! Lots of Snow , bring the snow ! , well it is to do a small diorama showing the Nashorn in a winter field , with some scenario and the two figures, well I might get more figures ...some German Skiiers perhaps

AS you see the Russian Scenario is very white :



If I had two ...



Shooting ...



If I have four of them , and a Opel Blitz ...

[rodrant]

Started last night while watching /listen to the Friday Night Show and keeping this going

Wheels , a lot of them ...



Then rear pannel from lower hull...nothing special , it is another great Tamiya kit , already noticed that



Lower Hull with side mud guards and the plataform for the crew to use the massive AT Gun from the Nashhorn



Now to follow work on the front armour and hatches ...a lot of small pieces to be placed there ...keeping busy

[AdamLuscombe]

Nice work so far! Good luck with the rest of the build

[rodrant]

So due for some issues with Photobucket , I didn't updated any of my last days work on the build , I put some photos of the build in FB , but it is here the real Thread , so here we go , and sorry of the lenght ,

Last Saturday I continue to work in the hull, upper hull front and side armour panels





I painted some of the interior , but then I decided to leave it and painted after as for sure it will be all cover with the main colour



A first to me ...the gun barrel is one piece ...it is nice ,even there are some mould mark on it will be easy to clean !





I placed the barrel support for travel , I should place some wire ( supplied in the kit) to depict the mechanism that could be operated in the inside of the tank to lower or place the support





Already placed some of the accessories in the side skirts



Gun ...now that is very detailed ...some Plastic PE , give me a all afternoon of modelling , that I liked a lot







to place all this was hard work , but with patience and following the instructions all went to the right place ...it's Tamiya at its best !



Here I make a mistake ...I glued the barrel support ...this was to be used during travel , I will depict the tank firing ...well the should place the tank first and release it after so ...but a mistake I must admit , as I wasn't thinking ...





Working on the diorama ...I have this Russian BRidge from Royal Models for some time ...



Some plaster elements and some resin



And a first idea on what could be the diorama , I wanted to do a real winter scene , with ice under the bridge ans lots of snow ...but the base is small , and a NAshorn on a wooden bridge ...well I think couldn't support it so a bigger base or no bridge ...I must decide that later ...



Some small pieces already done ...gun sights ...shells ...



The yellow tip ones are HE(High explosive) shells and the black tip ones are AP (Armour piercing shels ) , I read that the NAshorns usually use AP ammo as the gun was so good that they didn't really need to use the HE ones ...some curiosities :

When entering service, the Hornisse was issued to six of the newly-formed heavy antitank battalions, the schwere Panzerjäger Abteilungen 560, 655, 525, 93, 519 and 88, each with 45 vehicles. The main gun was derived from the regular 88 mm (3.46 in) Pak 43, one of the most effective anti-tank guns of the war, and later used, with few modifications, on the Ferdinand/Elefant, Tiger II and Jagdpanther.

In addition, the Panzergranate 40/43 tungsten carbide–cored round could defeat 190 mm (7.48 in) of RHA at a 30° angle at 1,000 m. This allowed the Hornisse to engage enemy units while staying out of range themselves. So there was no need for armor protection. It was reported several times that T-34s were destroyed at distances of around 4000 meters, in almost direct fire. Usually, the prey were the “hard-skinned” KV, IS-2, SU-152, ISU-122 and ISU-152.

This made the Nashorn the first of the German alpha predator bred for the Eastern Front. The Sd.Kfz.164 was first blooded at the Battle of Kursk, and performed quite well, engaging heavies like the KV-1. Its long-range ability was found particularly adapted to the open and flat landscapes of Russia. Added to this, the open fighting compartment gave excellent peripheral vision compared to an enclosed turret.

After Kursk, three of these Abteilungen, the 560 sPzJagAbt, 655th sPzJagAbt and 525 sPzJagAbt, were sent to Italy. They again proved to be successful tank destroyers. Six more schwere Panzerjager Abteilungens (560, 655, 525, 93, 519 and 88), each equipped counting 30 Nashorns, saw service on the Eastern Front, Normandy and Italy. Each Abteilung was composed of a command company and 2-3 companies (14-17 tank hunters each) with 4 platoons each.

There was a Nashorn ace, platoon commander of 1st company, sPzJagAbt 519, Junior Lieutenant “Tiger of Vitebsk” Albert Ernst. On December, 23, 1943, he destroyed 14 Soviet tanks in a single day with 21 rounds near Vitebsk. In December 1943, he destroyed 19 more enemy tanks and was awarded the Knight’s Cross.

Lieutenant Beckmann from sPzJagAbt 88, destroyed a Soviet IS-2 at the amazing distance of 4600 meters near Marzdorf in March 1945. A Nashorn from the 2nd Company, Abteilung 93 destroyed the only M26 Pershing in Europe, at 250 meters, with the first shot, in Niehl, north of Cologne, March 6, 1945.

this was taken form this site :
http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/n ... ashorn.php

interesting site , think most of you already know it

Well I made the ammo racks to be placed on both sides decided to have ine with the AP and other with the HE ...used the plastic ammo form the kit , I will use two brass ammo from the Brass shells kit that I have and the empty ones also from brass...







I painted now some details of the gun using x-11 , mainly some somall details in the recoil and in the gun interior



Palced the MP-40 in the back ...they are stored , one issue with tank destroyers was that they were fantastic armour AT , but were very vunerable to infantry , so they must have small arms to defend themselves ...also a MG 32/42 were stored at the tank , I will take more visible photos as it is hidden in a side pannel , you can see it in the lower left corner under the ammo boxes for it !



here, see it ?



Brass ammo





the difference between the plastic and the brass ones ...pitty that i do not have enogh brass ones to fill all the rackets



Now the tank is ready to have some three tone camo , I have painted it already in Dark Yellow XF-60



And some free airbrush done , it is ok as it will be covered later with some white wash









After a Clear Gloss , ready for some decals



And now ready for some Ultimate wash thatI will use to try to depict the winter camo



I had some doubts on the name of the tank and the heraldic of the unit as in the instructions they seem to be placed after the winter wash...but I thought that they will have this at Kursk and after in the winter they have been covered with the wash













too clean yet

Hope you liked so far !

[Stokesy44]

Looks superb mate.

That gun and mount is a thing of beauty.

[rodrant]

New update ...

I paint the NAshorn with the Ultimate winter wash









then I try to remove some using a brush , my idea is to not remove too much given that impression of a winter camouflage...at this point I'm a little in the edge of thinking that I could remove more , but I also could remove less ...





this side pannel , I didn't like so much the result ...

[spock1701]

I think the camo actually looks pretty good. Sometimes the crew didn't have enough time to spray on the paint, so they would apply it with anything from mops to rags. A tank in combat might not have a pristine, homogeneous coat of whitewash.

[rodrant]

after 'destroying ' all the paint camo work wuth that white wash (for me is is really great stuff, an very convencing, as should be more or less the way that the crews did it in the battlefield !) time to get things going ...

tracks ..they are rubber , bu for me no big issues on that ...og course some metal ones could be better , go for it if you can ...

Some Dark Iron XF-84




Some x-11 drybrushing to give that worn metal look



Also you can also drybrushing with some XF-64 to give them a rust look !

no issues at all palcing them , glue them outside, remove the sprocket (it isn't glued) and easy fit afterwards







I added the wire ...this was operated from inside the tank to up or down the gun support ...this was a mistake in my build ...when firing this should be down I think





Tow cable ...it is some rope that tamiya gives us in the kits , after it is painted with dark iron XF-84 or XF 56 Metal



I aplly some MiG washes on the interior , will do some more with some snow when doing the diorama I think













Figure time !!!



Will start with the alpine set



Will use for the camo in the SS figures the new Andrea Miniatures camo set



Crew



Meanwhile some of the materials that I will use in the diorama , from Precision Ice and snow






Snow...



dirty water




Ice sheets



Disrupted Ice...



This is a sheetof 'ice' actually is a resin , but vey nice effect hopr to grt in the dio



The SS grenadiers are being painted, used the new Andrea Set for Waffen SS camo (autumn colours )



Nice paints an easy to use



The jackets are done with Tamiya Paints , XF.2 white, and Dark Green XF -61 , the wood on the rifle and STGM44 was from Model Colour from Vallejo Mahogny 70.846 , and XF-10 Gun metal , XF-1 Flat Black , XF 57 Buff and X-18 and X-11 for the belts and ammo pouches ...











I try a littel unshaved effect on the two crewman with the ammo ...





Crew at combat stations !!!







A very nice kit to do OOB in my opinion ...wonderfull kit , would have a go doing an Italian front one soon !


'Hey Franz ...that is a big Gun ! '



A first idea for the diorama ...again a big one , do not lke those trees to be honest , also do not like to have only the two figures , Like the idea to give all the winter environement that I can do , Ice under the bridge ...snow , the NAshorn crossing the frozen river and not going trough the Bridge ...



I will stop a while on this build , but will resume soon , try to get materials to do the base ...or to have a small base ...let's see

Hope you liked

[DC87]

Absolute joy to watch this come together, white wash is very nice and atmospheric.

Can't wait to see more, top job.

[ForbesHutton]

In this kit I found Tamiya had really upped their game on figures. The gunner fit like a glove.

In his book, Helmut Scheibel recounts getting three Nashorns across a rickety old wooden bridge. The staff and support vehicles went first, then the engineers in half-tracks. They stripped all the ammo and other gear off the Nashorns and walked it across to get the weight down. Then the used the tow cables to attach the first to the second and the second to the first. Only the drivers were in the vehicles as the first one crossed, wood broke off the sides off the bridge and the engineers grabbed in it and used it to reinforce the deck. The second went across and again bits fell off the bridge and was used on the deck. The third Nashorn crossed and got a couple of road wheels of itself onto the far side when the bridge completely collapsed, and was left with it's back half hanging out over the river. It would have fallen in backwards if not for the two Nashorns ahead of it pulling on the cables. The Nashorn train was finally able to get itself away from the former bridge and the driver of the last Nashorn had to be plied with alcohol to calm his nerves.

[demarcation]

Stunning work mate!! Can't wait to see the finished dio!!

[Muzrik]

Nice work looking really good

[Bissyboat]

Nice and thourough documentation on your Nashorn. I looks fab!

[rodrant]

So continuing with the build thread ...

I do the bridge now, it is from Royal Models



Looks easy to do



Some resin and plaster parts ...



Some cleaning to do







And Glue all the resin parts







Black primer



The colours I'll be using for the wooden bridge



After painting





and now some washes from AK set for Wood









And getting the pices on the base ...



on the NAshorn , I decided to get a try on the Krycell winter wash ...





the tracks are too 'clean'





After some coats of the wash...great snow effect





Also inside the tank...the crew should get some snow inside ..



I will use this foam to the terrain ...a littel soft ...but that is what I have around ...



the base will be a frame




After I cut it ...







I draw the river shape





Not easy to do with the bridge and so ..





The ice sheetthat I will cut






Must use a dremel tool ,a mask and googles , as dust is hell !



Also cover all the terrain with some plaster



After the ice been cut to the right shape ...



we shall place the ice sheet in the freezer for half an hour so that we can break it more more easily





My idea is to depict the NAshorn crossing a small river , and break the ice in the crossing



I cover the all surface with some gloss varnish ...use this one that I bought some months ago and never had the courage to use it in models



Water ...for placing in between the ice cracks



two components , one coloured and with some debris on it







but...this all stuff not went well with the base i choose, impossible to have the water without spilling it all , I waste a wall bottle ...and by my mistake ,I can't use this base anymore...



also cracked the material that I use for the terrain ...too soft and not suitable for this



Will try to get the ice



Yes ...we learn form the mistakes...so Plan B !



Some DAS modelling paste...primed with white Primer ...ice pieces fit to the base ...think iy can be done !



Some water and some snow on the ice...nice effect!



Then some MAtt Gel Base from Vallejo





Let it snow...let it snow ...



Nice !



Some foot prints ...and some Nashorn Prints





Some green turfs , herbs and Noch plants



place them here and there near the small creak







Hair Spray



And snow again











I liked so much the effect that the Nashorn wheeles will have the same treatment



So now to have a littel tree ...and place the tank and figures for the final reveal !



Fianl reveal here :

http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=583&t=21480

[Bissyboat]

Wow! Unbelievable! Top notch work on the winterscape.

[Les]

Congratulations on your finish!