Kharkov Counterattack
This diorama probably took the longest ever because it has gone through about fifty permutations.
This is the 3rd battle of Kharkov, where the SS panzer army was deployed to envelop the Russians after they already surrounded the city. The point of the Dio is where they've entered the city and have began house-to-house fighting.
There are pockets of Russians defending their freshly won prize. You can see that the church has already changed hands a few times. In spite of the fresh snowfall, there is rubble everywhere and its a shadow of its former self. On the first floor of the church, you'll see some equipment from the ill-fated German defenders, and on the second floor, you'll see the soviet officer preparing to go out in a blaze of patriotic glory! The machine-gunner is observing the still-wet soviet grafitti covering the church. The German officer, the focal point of the scene, is shouting orders to his men from the back of a Marder III(H) panzerjaeger with a lugar in hand, just in case.
The church has an advantage over the surrounding terrain, making it a critical spot to deploy artillery, but, in spite of being the victim of a few 105mm salvoes, it still needs to be secured, since the Russians also recognize its value.
So the grenadiers of 3nd SS Panzergrenadier division have been tasked with pushing out the resistance while they simutaniously move a Marder into position.
Aformentioned, this took a very long time. Probably about a year. Initially it was Kuenigsberg, with german defenders ambushing a T34. That didnt look good. So, then it became Kharkov, as a command post; with a sd kfz. 251 reinforcing the troops bracing for an assault. Then I found the Marder III, and it sounded like such a good model that I decided it would look awesome. That was when I compiled the present scene.
The pre-snow groundwork was my first experiment with Hydrocol, (this was my first diorama in that sense), I imagined that I could construct real dramatic eleveation. Boy, was I wrong. After pouring hydrocol, I dropped in lentils to form cobblestone; that became a mess. Later I recorrected it, by gluing in each lentil individually and using glue to lock them together.
The church facade is really rad, however, the interior is flat and was not intended to be displayed. Since i was giving up so much space to the interior, there was no way that I was just going to give it up; so I began scaffolding with coffee stirrers to distract from the lack of character. I also used them to build window frames and random butresses to shatter the otherwise blank wall. Regarding the stained-glass, I used clear plastic, puffy-paint and water acrylics; the puffy paint is exceptionally hard to control at that scale, but I got my point across (besides, it was made to look shattered)
In spite of winter camo, winter gear, etc. There was something missing: Snow. I was experimenting with snow, first I tried glue and flour, since it worked for my Afrika Corps scene. That sucked. Then I tried epoxy puddy, but there wasnt enough, plus it didnt feel fluid enough. I finally used hydrocol plaster, which I use typically for smoothing out groundwork.It worked perfectly. Since it starts as a liquid and slowly solidifies, it poured naturally around the base.
As I mentioned before, It's been a wild ride. These are photos from a previous incarnation, when the theme was a group of panzer grenadiers (Grossdeutschland) defending/patrolling a Command Post.
The Story
This is the 3rd battle of Kharkov, where the SS panzer army was deployed to envelop the Russians after they already surrounded the city. The point of the Dio is where they've entered the city and have began house-to-house fighting.
There are pockets of Russians defending their freshly won prize. You can see that the church has already changed hands a few times. In spite of the fresh snowfall, there is rubble everywhere and its a shadow of its former self. On the first floor of the church, you'll see some equipment from the ill-fated German defenders, and on the second floor, you'll see the soviet officer preparing to go out in a blaze of patriotic glory! The machine-gunner is observing the still-wet soviet grafitti covering the church. The German officer, the focal point of the scene, is shouting orders to his men from the back of a Marder III(H) panzerjaeger with a lugar in hand, just in case.
The church has an advantage over the surrounding terrain, making it a critical spot to deploy artillery, but, in spite of being the victim of a few 105mm salvoes, it still needs to be secured, since the Russians also recognize its value.
So the grenadiers of 3nd SS Panzergrenadier division have been tasked with pushing out the resistance while they simutaniously move a Marder into position.
Sets used
- Dragon Marder III Ausf. H
- Dragon Panzergrenadiers (Kharkov 1943)
- Verlinden German SS Officers
- Verlinden Soviet Officers
- Verlinden Church Ruins
The Creation
Aformentioned, this took a very long time. Probably about a year. Initially it was Kuenigsberg, with german defenders ambushing a T34. That didnt look good. So, then it became Kharkov, as a command post; with a sd kfz. 251 reinforcing the troops bracing for an assault. Then I found the Marder III, and it sounded like such a good model that I decided it would look awesome. That was when I compiled the present scene.
The pre-snow groundwork was my first experiment with Hydrocol, (this was my first diorama in that sense), I imagined that I could construct real dramatic eleveation. Boy, was I wrong. After pouring hydrocol, I dropped in lentils to form cobblestone; that became a mess. Later I recorrected it, by gluing in each lentil individually and using glue to lock them together.
The church facade is really rad, however, the interior is flat and was not intended to be displayed. Since i was giving up so much space to the interior, there was no way that I was just going to give it up; so I began scaffolding with coffee stirrers to distract from the lack of character. I also used them to build window frames and random butresses to shatter the otherwise blank wall. Regarding the stained-glass, I used clear plastic, puffy-paint and water acrylics; the puffy paint is exceptionally hard to control at that scale, but I got my point across (besides, it was made to look shattered)
In spite of winter camo, winter gear, etc. There was something missing: Snow. I was experimenting with snow, first I tried glue and flour, since it worked for my Afrika Corps scene. That sucked. Then I tried epoxy puddy, but there wasnt enough, plus it didnt feel fluid enough. I finally used hydrocol plaster, which I use typically for smoothing out groundwork.It worked perfectly. Since it starts as a liquid and slowly solidifies, it poured naturally around the base.
Early Permutation
As I mentioned before, It's been a wild ride. These are photos from a previous incarnation, when the theme was a group of panzer grenadiers (Grossdeutschland) defending/patrolling a Command Post.
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