Eastern Front (ww2) Project - Your Advice on Kits

[hagakure.s81]

Good morning, afternoon or evening all! I've just signed in and this is my first forum post here, and i'm looking for some helpful advice on a project I have in mind.

Firstly, though I enjoy modelling, I have not got a great deal of experience. I picked it up again a couple years ago (since I was a kid that is) and have made a Tamiya 1:350 scale Yamato which I did on a self made stand, and a Mr. Hobby Waffentrager 12.8cm Krupp self propelled gun, for which I made my first diorama.

What i'd like to ask advice about, is:

• your recommendations on who makes a good kit for the below mentioned vehicles (eg. trumpeter, tamiya etc.)
  your advice on scale (1:35, 1:48, 1:72)
  any good advice for the diorama materials, techniques also welcome, though I can search myself thru these forums

What I want to do is build a diorama of the eastern front (ww2), so plenty of snow and mud I intend to put some ruins of a stone building on there (think, remains of a stone wall, or wall of a house, just needs to be a few bricks high). Behind this wall will be a destroyed tank. Basically i'll use a kit to make the tank, but will damage the side of turret or body to simulate an AP or APBC having penetrated and knocked out the tank. I'll probably leave some hatches blown off or open, maybe some blackening for fire damage, and the gun barrel depressed to maximum. i'll see how it goes. Beside this tank will be a muddy or dirt road / tread trails on which will be passing 1 or 2 opposing tanks, and hopefully some marching infantry.

I'd prefer that the knocked out tank is a german one. So i'm thinking a Tiger I.
So then the infantry and tanks passing by in column should be Soviet.
Does anyone know a good set of soviet soldiers marching? I see a lot of figures thats like tank crews in various positions, but marching figures should also be available right?
I definitely want one of the soviet tanks to be a T-34, something with a longer barrel, not the short barrelled 1940/41 tanks, so perhaps a T-34-57.
For the other tank i'm not sure yet, any thoughts? I think the best time period to aim for would be 1943ish, so the 34-57 should fit in nicely. Perhaps a soviet TD like the SU-85? or an IS-1 or KV1/85 tank? I'm really not sure which kits are the best to go for so any recommendations highly appreciated.

Finally, there is the question of scale.
Frankly, i'd prefer to do this in 1:35, however there is the question of size. Has anyone made a diorama with 3 or so tanks on it? Did you do it in 1:35, was it overly large or overly cramped feeling?
If I go to 1:72, do you loose a lot of detail on the vehicles?
Then there are 1:48, which I have heard can have some very nice kits available, however the range isn't as great... what is your opinion here?

Thanks for reading this long winded post, thanks even more if you have advice to give a novice

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

For the tanks, pretty much Dragon for the T34s or SU-100, Trumpeter for others, IS, KV, etc, etc

Tiger....pick one, pretty much every company has a Tiger in their arsenal.

3 to 4 vehicles in a 1/35 diorama wouldn't be that big, if one is knocked out Tiger with a couple of Soviet tanks rolling by, it wouldn't have to me that much longer than the 2 Soviet tanks (depending on spacing between the tanks and in front the first and behind the last).

As far as width, wouldn't have to be that wide, you could probably build it on a 2ft X 2ft square pretty easily, road on a diagonal across the board, Tiger in a ditch on one side of the road, ruined bldg on the other side. Building only really has to be the front facade of the house.

Add in the figures, lots of Soviet tank riders populating the tanks, and you have the makings of a pretty cool dio.

 

[hagakure.s81]

Awesome, thanks for the advice.
So dragon for the T34's huh, is that because their T34 kits are better or they have more selection?

For the building, yup just the front wall with 1 corner is pretty much what I was thinking, it could also just be a normal stone wall a foot or 2 high (scaled of course ) with some bricks punched out.
Do you think cork could make a cool surface texture for the stone wall?

Tiger in a ditch. Hmm i'll have to think on it. You are thinking it ran off the road when it was hit. This is a good idea, imagining it now.
I was originally thinking more along the lines of the road running at a slight uphill slope, with the tiger sitting on a slightly higher ledge pointed in the direction the soviet tanks are coming from. The brick wall and some shrubs along the edge of this slightly protruding rise.

Anyway, at my pace, you can expect an update sometime lets say 3Q or 4Q of 2027.

 

[Jeeves]

If space for display is at a premium, there is no reason to rule out 1/48 either. Hobby Boss makes a great line of Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks that'll fit the bill...the T-34s even have interiors and engines that might work for showing off detail in those blown hatches.

AFV Club makes a Tiger in 1/48 as well as Tamiya...and Tamiya has some great figure lines for both Soviet and Germans.

Like Elm City said though-- there is certainly no shortage of great stuff of 1/35. There's a company called Stalingrad that makes amazing Soviet figures albeit pricey ones. And of course- the aftermarket accessories are much more numerous for 1/35.

Either way-- your best bet is a T-34 and KV-1 I'd say...and Panzer IIIs or IVs...maybe a Sturm gun....

 

[hagakure.s81]

Thanks for that
I'll look into all these mentioned. So much stuff out there it can be overwhelming to start off with haha

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Forgot about AFV Club, they make some T34s as well, probably a bit better than Dragon.

Reason I say Tiger in a ditch, is most roads would have a ditch running along side of it (unless it is the middle of town), and if any tank was knocked out in the middle of the road, and the road was needed to be used, the knocked out tank would be pushed out of the way, hence, pushed into the ditch.

 

[hagakure.s81]

A good idea, i think i'll gather a few kits together, see what sort of size i need to work with, and come up with a plan that way ;D