JRutman

Thanks all you guys that commented. I always really appreciate it when you do, J

Thanks everyone,for the gracious words of encouragement. I appreciate them all. And yes,all my dios are in 1/35 scale. J

In Dec44 the USArmy occupied the buildings of the Sankt Eduard Sanitorium in Stoumont Belgium. This was a key position that the Germans needed badly to secure their western flank. Untersturmfuhrer Sievers of the 1SS PzPionier Abt drew the assignment. He led his hastily assembled force in an extremely violent night assault that knocked out 4 Shermans and re-captured the main building.

Lots to work on there !

Thanks for noticing the mods I did with these guys. Yes,the diet of late war Germans was not very good. Much is made of how little our airmen POWs were fed but the truth is,the whole German nation was not eating much,including the soldiers. Most figure manufacturers don't get enough baginess into the pants and it is sure from looking at wartime pics that the uniforms all had a very generous cut in the trousers. Would you like to see a picture of the figs with the additions I added and before paint? J

Thanks Torben,I appreciate it man. J

One of these days I will get it looking good if I keep at it long enough, J

Thanks all,for taking the time to type your nice words, J

Brilliant work. I don't envy that PE work at all ! LoL J

Thanks Joe and Harv !! It was nice to complete something. It's been a while now. J

A almost unknown event occurred right before Christmas in LeGleize Belgium,when the 1SS PzDivs armored group,surrounded and out of gas plus running low on ammo was re-supplied from the air. Well,almost re-supplied. About 5 or 6 Ju52s took off from Germany at night but maybe one or two actually arrived over the hilltop town,guided in by MG tracer burst fired straight up into the murky misty night skies. Most of the canisters fell into the USArmy cordon. Just enough fuel was recovered to power the radio generators and move a few tanks into better firing positions. Almost no ammo was recovered. My little vignette tries to capture the feeling the poor sods had that were instructed to recover the canisters from no mans' land. Under fire and dragging a lot of weight,it was a crappy detail to draw,I'm sure. The two draggers are from the PzGren Bn in the battle group and the NCO giving them cover is from the tank Regt. Details were gleaned from the outstanding "Duel in the Mist" series of books. The figs are all heavily modified and the canister is all scratchbuilt. I found excellent color pics of a surviving example online. I discovered too late that the body of the canister had stiffening grooves in it. Ah well,the best laid plans ...... Please have a look, J

Very very nice work ! J

That faded green looks the bees knees, J

I really like what you are doing here ! Nice clean workk so far. J

Nice build and it came out great. Your title is kind of miss leading though as I was expecting a "Napoleonic Cannon" and this is much later American Civil War 12 pounder Napoleon Cannon,which is a type and not an era. Not trying to be pedantic,jut trying to correct the record. J

I built one many moons ago. Did a lot of altering on the figs. It's huge though and i only built it because it was a commission and so he had a place to display it.

Another impressive update. I wonder if this little jewel will be completed for Telford next year? If it is I may even be tempted to save my pennies and attend just so I can see it in person ! J

Maru and Boris,thanks for the very kind words. I always appreciate it. J

Thanks man, I don't push that envelope in the curves any more. I just try to keep between the ditches ! LoL J

Thanks Boris ! J

Yep,P-47s,the best aircraft for ground attack as the P-51 was too vulnerable to small arms fire..

Once again,thanks guys for the very kind and generous remarks. This is,without a doubt,the biggest and most complicated thing I ever attempted. I thought it sort of had to be to depict,as was typed above,the feeling of being trapped on all sides and then wide open to fire from above. No escape !! Maybe this one is the reason I was challenged by myself to build an even bigger one this time with way more figs !! Actually,this dio here was started when I wanted to build a full horse team with a WWII arty piece. It is such an anachronism to me to see this in WWII because we always think of trucks and tanks and aircraft when considering that war. The fact is,the German Army used hundreds of thousands of horses right up till the end ! J

I must admit,I was curious about that as well. Never happened to me before on here. But you can't judge somewhere I have participated on for about a decade now over a few posts on one thread so........it's all good. J

Thanks man, mighty nice of you, J

Hey thanks guys,for bringing this one back up top again. That was a nice way to begin my day. The rainy day yesterday kind of had me in a funk. I hadn't seen this one for a while and I am reminded how much work this was. And how long it went on for ! J