Bookmarked… love your stuff 
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Loving it so far, Jerry! Time to watch “Cross of Iron” again!
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the Russians “gang-pressed” civilians into digging many defensive ditches.
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Loving the look of this already!
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I’ve read that (either WWl, or ll, don’t remember) that the spoil was piled higher on the “friendly” side of the trench so that when a soldier poked his head above the trench to take a look, he would not be sky-lighted against the horizon. 
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Wow! This is a great topic for a scene and I am really going to enjoy following this build.
Digging trenches, ya it’s a lot of fun with no suck factor at all. There are never any roots or boulders ever 
. I’m happy with no more labour than a shell scrape.
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Nicely done! Looks great as usual. Glad to see another thread from the master.
What figure(s) did you use for that MG gunner? I figure it’s several, just curious how you go about doing those.
Edit: just realized you said that you used a figure from Dragon 
Anyways, did you use solely it repositioned or some parts from another as well?
Is that from the old Bellona reprint of the German field fortifications manual? There are some amazing constructions in that book, including a special underground bunker for the field kitchen! There’s also one of a massive bunker built up out of stones! I suspect that troops in fixed positions would curse an enthusiastic sergeant major with a copy of that manual! Must dig it out and post some relevant pictures.
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@Bwilt-thank you sir!
@Hohens.-Thanks bud-good idea.
@Biggles-thanks and yes they did . So did the Germans as the Reds got into the actual Reich.
@Karl=thanks ol bud.
@Biggles, makes sense but only after you have built good cover in front I would say.
@Sable liger-So true.
@CK Plastic-thanks yes,dragon. I used the gunner that came with the lafette kit but it was a pain getting his hands and arms into the correct position. In the end I had to join the arms to the torso with wire and carefully bend the arms into position. This was after I attached the hands on the lafette at where they needed to be.
J
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I am always trying to show something out of the ordinary and so built something I have wanted to do for a long time. A mundane action all light machine gunners do frequently. Changing a hot barrel. The MG42 had a fast and easy system and far superior to the M60 IMHO. You just changed the barrel and not the whole forward part of the gun, including the bipod like the M60 had you do. This sure made the spare barrels much much lighter. An asbestos pad was provided and it lived under the front strap of the gunners’ acess. case worn on his right front belt
.
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I have the Bellona reprint, but I took the image from Osprey’s German Field Fortifications 1939-45. The two drawings are somewhat different. Here is the Bellona drawing.
Always admire your “soldier’s eye” towards the details, Jer!
“A hundred and ten pounds of lightweight gear!” “Go to CIF and swap your ruck for one of the newer, bigger ones!” “Take a knee, face out and drink water!” “Pop smoke and draw fire!” “Hot chow on the DZ!” “Milk and cookies in the ORP!” “The trucks are waiting at the AA!” and at the end of the month, “The check’s in the mail!”
“Fin hard and keep your air-hole above water,” old friend!
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Yessir, Smaj ! All of the above. Travel light freeze at night with all that high speed low drag equipment,
J
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That’s right! “High speed, low drag, air-cooled and Ginzo operated!” LOL!
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That is one of your best attentions to never seen detailing … exceptional mate …I would give it an award just for that one small detail which would probably go unnoticed by many
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Thanks John,
I am always trying to challenge myself.
J
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That figure is unbelievable. Your imagination comes to life with no explanation needed. I swear I can see a sense of urgency in his pose.
I am curious, red hot barrel?
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He’s holding a mitten, so pretty sure the figure is mid-barrel swap.
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