NACHTJAGER BUILT AND REVIEWED BY KEVIN SMITH

 

NACHTJAGER 

The idea for the diorama is based around the situation on the Eastern front in early 1945, when the Red Army was flooding through the weakened German defensive lines. Some of the German Panzer Divisions facing the threat from the East were issued with infrared equipment.

This gave me the idea of a recce group giving the location of Red Army units to the Nachtjagers, so operations could be mounted after dark.

 

INFRAROT NACHTSSICHTGERAT (INFRARED NIGHTSIGHT)

 

The IR equipment consisted of an IR searchlight and an image converter. Both were fixed to a small platform mounted inside the commanders capola, and fixed at the 12 O’clock position, a battery (12volt) supplied power to a transformer which boosted the volts up to 17,000 volts, the battery could only provide power for around 4 hours so a generator was provided to supply power to the battery.

 

 

COMMAND AND CONTROL

Only the commander had night vision he would give orders to both the gunner and driver, who could see nothing in the dark. This meant giving directions to the driver, whilst scanning for enemy targets and relaying orders to the gunner.

Reports say that the range of the IR equipment was about 500 to 600 meters; this severely limited the Panthers main armament of the L/70 gun. To overcome these problems larger searchlights were mounted onto Sd.kfz.251 SPWs known as the ‘UHU’ (owl). This was a 60cm AA searchlight converted to emit IR beams. These vehicles also had converters fitted.

When enemy targets were detected the information would be passed to the Panthers who would engage using flash proof ammunition.

 

THE VAMPIRE

For the Grenadiers of the panzer Divisions, a version for the MP44 assault rifle was produced. The Vampire. The ZG 1229 Vampire unit weighed 2.25 Kg (about 5Lbs) and was fitted by lugs to the top cover. On his back the Grenadier would carry, strapped to a

Traggestell 39 (pack frame 39) the 13.5Kg (about 30 Lb) wooden cased battery for the

Sheinwerfer and a second battery fitted into a respirator case to power the Bildwandler

(The IR torch and converter).

 

PANZERBEFEHLSWAGEN

The Tamiya Panther Ausf. G. late was used as the base along with photos and drawings to create a Panzerbefehlswagen Panther (command tank). The Panther retained its capability as a main battle tank armed with the standard 7.5cm KWK42 L/70 main armament. The change being internal with the addition of two command radio sets mounted to the inside of the turret.

To create a night fighting Panzerbefehlswagen Panther a number of changes were made mainly scratch building.

 

THE NIGHTSIGHT

The IR sight was taken from the steel wheeled Panther from Tamiya, using photos as reference it was improved by adding handles and cabling, bolts were added using a punch and die set.

 

THE TURRET

The commander’s cupola was textured by using ‘Humbrol liquid poly ‘working in small areas, and using the brush from the lid to ‘stipple’ the surface after applying the liquid Polly this achieves the appearance of a rough cast finish.  The same method was used on the commander’s hatch; details such as a latch were added using plastic card.

Once the capola was finished I turned my attention to the turret, to try and achieve a convincing finish of real armour; a hobby drill on low speed was ‘bounced’ across surfaces, the gun mantlet received the same treatment. Once I was happy with the effect I then applied liquid Polly in the same way as the capola. Lifting eyes were added using fuse wire, a rain and debris shield was manufactured from printers tin and added    

(Shell fragments could jam the mantlet preventing elevation.)

Weld seams were also enhanced by using a pyrograve,

 

THE HULL

The glacis plate and angled hull armour were treated the same as the turret, as were the weld seams, both mud guards were replaced with printers tin, the cable to the bosch light was added using fuse wire. Moving on to hull sides I reworked the tube for the cleaning rods and spare antennas from the very versatile printers tin. The bin for the stowage of the IR night sight during daylight hours was made from plastic card. .

 

THE MAST

The mast was made from a length of plastic rod; fuse wire was used for the cabling.

The mounting bracket on the hull was made from plastic card.

 

REARDECK

The Panther Ausf. G. late had a raised heater with cheesy shaped segments (six in total) to direct heat into the fighting compartment, when not in use these were stowed away.

These were made from plastic card. The tube for the stowage of the telescopic antenna was fabricated from tin. The exhaust pipes (flammanenvernichter) were replaced from the spares box.

The only photo etch parts used on the Panther were the engine grills and the tool clamps, the empty tool stowage points were scratch built using tin and plastic card .The tow cable ends were removed from the kit part and the cable replaced with picture wire.

 

WEIGHT PROBLEM

The Panther Gs weighed in at about 45 tones; to try and capture this I lowered the swingarms so the vehicle sits lower towards the rear than the front.

 

TRACKTIME

The tracks are from Fruilmodel; these tracks give an excellent finish to the model. Firstly the tracks were painted dark grey and left to dry, 4/5 different brown pastels were sanded down and thinners added, I like to make a slushy paste but it’s a personal choice, play and have fun. The mixture is then applied to the tracks and left for at least 24 hours to dry. One thing I should say, this is all done before the tracks are mounted onto the vehicle.

When dry, using cotton wool buds or similar gently rub away the excess pastel exposing the raised detail, if you wish you can add local washes of black or dark gray to give some depth .A lengthy process but worth it.

To finish off a light dry brush of metallic paint (I used chain mail from the games workshop range) the spare links on the turret, and to the rear of the vehicle were treated in the same way.

 

NOW FOR THE BEST BIT

Before painting try to remember that you’re working in 1/35, and to remember that throughout the painting and more importantly the weathering stage. At this point I would like to say that all my models are sprayed with Tamiya acrylics. 

Before applying the basecoat I undercoated with a light grey, when dry I pre- shade with red brown XF 64 in all the joints and around all the raised areas ECT.

The basecoat of desert yellow + dark yellow XF59/60 is now applied, allowing the pre- shading to faintly show through.

 To achieve the hard edge effect I was after I cut out the camouflage pattern from low tack tape, the idea being, to use this as a template, one for the green pattern and a separate one for the brown (when sticking the template on be careful of any small details.)

Starting with the green areas (I add yellow green XF4 to olive green XF58.) carefully start the pattern.

When happy apply the red brown XF64 the same way.

When dry lightly spray the basecoat (XF59+60) over the top of the camouflage pattern this has the effect of fading the paintwork. (The advantages of using acrylics are that they dry almost instantly.)

 

FILTER

A mixture of yellow ocher oil paint and thinners was mixed at a ratio of 95/98 % thinners +5/2 % paint and applied with a flat brush; this has the effect of changing the tone of all the colours.

When dry apply a local wash of black /dark grey around clamps, hatches etc, not forgetting the crevices, this is not an over all wash but is a controlled way of adding depth. This can be repeated a number of times, at this stage paint chips can be added, I use Pains Grey oil paint and a very fine brush, try to think logically and in 1/35, the main thing is to have fun, the advantage of using oil paint is that it takes an age to dry, so if your not happy it can be corrected easily. Finally using a soft pencil raised edges and areas of wear were highlighted.

To finish off brown pastels were prepared, (as described in the track section.)  Dip an old toothbrush into the mixture and by drawing a small steel ruler or similar across the brush ‘splatter’ the wet pastel mix onto the vehicle paying attention to the rear and along the schurzen etc.

 

 SCHWIMMWAGEN AND MOTORBIKE

  ……. Are from Tamiya and both had various etch parts from Aber added, but are as good made straight out of the box, the painting, and weathering are as described for the Panther. The stowage is from the spares box.

 

THE DIORAMA

The base was picked up at a show, the sides were made from balsa, and the top third is foam board and secured with glue, the grass was bought from a local train shop, this product is made by Noch/Gaugemaster and is available in three colours.

 

THE FIGURES

…… Are a mixture of Tamiya, Dragon and Hornet all have had their heads replaced from the warrior range. The weapons and equipment have had straps added. Apart from that very little has been done to the figures. The vampire sets are from Dragon.

 

Ref: Walderman trojka,

Tankpower Panther VOL 2.