Looks amazing!
1 Like
Beautiful Tim , dog with a bone man , dog with a bone , I know you man and you won’t be happy till you’ve made a working turn signal thingie …
Inspired by your exceptional metamorphic talents I’m cannabisizing , I mean cannibalizing a couple of horse drawn kits , Tamyia’s cook wagon , Miniart’s wagon offering and the old ESCI’S very poor med. and goods wagons , with a little bass wood .
Gimmie a few days , I’m gettin close , yet I have an advantage, I’m still smoking while thinking about my process on the design …
4 Likes
Tim, I think the colouring - polish logo etc are fine; any darker and it might be heading towards the garish. Nice subdued, understated colours which to me, sort of ties in with those old coloured pictures from the era.
Re Fags (that is, cigarettes) it’s hard to imagine now a world in which nearly everybody smoked, especially servicemen (and women). I recall that the cigarettes available seemed to be larger size (king size?) than those in the UK and everybody who smoked smoked these sort of top of the range efforts. Embassy I think were the most popular, and possibly a brand called Guards - which in a later posting serving with a Guards officer, was the brand he smoked. I also - as a Private soldier had to empty endless ash trays from my superiors, which I resented; equally, I was often tasked to go to the NAAFI (Services’ shop) and bring back cigarettes or pipe tobacco (my first boss, a Major, smoked something that actually smelt nice); these days I’d like to think that soldiers would say something on the lines of “Get your own bloody fags”, but that’s the way it was back then.
1 Like
I agree,nice understated coloring on that cool little vehicle and nice cargo as well.
J
Nice van. I like the crates, but they’re beer empty!!
Maybe try to apply some lights in doors and hood. For the rust, have you tried the chipping liquids?? You can get a very good effects.
Here are the beers 
Cheers!
Yeah fill up those bottles!! Looking really good! Nice work. /Erik
Tim, it’s impressive to go back and see the original design right up to today and how close you are to wrapping this beauty up. Be ready for dio withdrawals, it’s happened to me before. You sit at the bench and think to yourself, “Now what the heck am I gonna do?”
Pop the top off a cold one, light your favorite cigar and let the imagination fly, HA!
Ruck On Bby!
Thanks guys, Mike - that was creepy, hope they don’t do Velcro. Glenn - yikes careful not to frighten the horses with that. Brian - ah Embassy…blue Regal, a pristine 50 year old memory I didn’t know I’d kept. Nacho/Erik - here’s another shot of the bottles full of vague and mysterious cleaning products & it looks like Father Merrin’s trying to sell the van before I’m done with it, now there’s a plot twist…
You got it Ski, the Tatra’s really put my mojo in the ER – simple problems seem complicated & hyperventilating thru a hollow plastic doobie just knocks me out. I bought a nicotine spray but the mosquitos just fly around faster 
7 Likes
Yep,that is just outstanding right there man. Just finding the very esoteric research on this topic was impressive enough. Although with assets like Frenchie it makes everything much easier. LoL Impressive man. I am struck with just how small that vehicle was and am trying to imagine the tall nordic superman being folded into that little box!
They had to have hurled the cargo out first right ?
J
1 Like
Hi Tim,
Great looking van, amazing detail, and I like the the look of the bottles and crates, and particularly the figure with hat in hand and draped jacket, very nice touch, 
.
Cheers, 
,
G
Thanks G he’s one of the stock MiniArt tram passengers but I gave him a real coat…which looks a bit strange (?) maybe I’ll try that again. Thanks Jerry and absolutely Frenchie’s The Man. As for the van’s space, here’s a different wounded guy auditioning…
OK so maybe it is feasible to fold Heydrich in there, totally sans crates, just. But did it happen, was it really a Tatra van? I doubt it, and I’ll be even more annoyed if it turns out it was a friggin’ Merc Lieferwagen. Talking of annoyance, here’s an unauthorised shot from inside my secret experimental/research facility probably taken by a marauding Diorama police drone…
My genuine leather seats are in scale but these ICM German driver figures (#35642) look like they’re gonna need crash diets to fit 
8 Likes
Hi Tim,
I think the coat looks great, is it made from some sort of paper?
Cheers, ,
G
1 Like
Thanks G it was some kind of crepe wrapping paper, I thought the texture looked good but now seems too pale – it was kinda fun tailoring the whole coat & then folding it over his arm though. Anyhow, I’d been quietly trying to resolve more pressing trees & powerlines issues but having got diverted by the van & then the limo, I’ve ended up taking the full detour. So here we go, Heydrich & Klein lost the weight furgud…
…and then grew heads. Still a tight squeeze…
I know, they look like Little People - that’s partly the angle, partly the camera lens, and partly they really do look like Little People. But when I’ve trepanned Heydrich’s head & put his hat on, and beefed up Klein’s back with putty (he was by repute a big unit), they might just about pass muster. If not I’ve already got an order prepared for ICM, Masterbox & Hornet alternatives. Both their heads will only be secured with a micro-pellet of blu-tac so that I can use the same figures in the early shots as they round the bend, rubbernecking at the hapless Gabcik.
Are there any SS uniform experts out there? If so I’d appreciate your help please, starting with…
(Thanks to DeviantArt/Grand-Lobster-King/Tounushifan for permission to reproduce – the site said I could use this image if I credited it, but wasn’t sure exactly who so crediting everyone in sight/on site) Let’s assume that being the end of May (1942), it was warm enough that the typical SS Reichsprotektor-about-town didn’t need a coat. So, Q1) would he have been wearing the light grey or field grey ensemble? Q2) would his chauffeur (an Oberscharf-a-ding-dong) have gone for matching style?
Q3) is the above the most likely ensemble for Heydrich’s drive to the airport that day, and is that the field grey version? Q4) what colour(s) are the belt, and Q5) did both Heydrich and his driver have red stripes on their strides? Q6) the gold (? or silver?) braid chest thingy on the flanking officers – for specific rank(s) only, and/or would Heydrich have been wearing one? Yeah I just noticed my Heydrich’s got a left-arm swastika arm-band AND a Sam Browne which Q7) probably only applied to the black outfit…?
And finally the Daily Double: Q8) if Heydrich really did have his “dress uniform” laid out on the back seat…which colour would that have been, compared to what he would have been wearing to travel in? Any/all contributions gratefully received
4 Likes
Sorry I can not answer your question but I want to say that it is a fantastic build
Tricky one this and I’m not really a SS uniform Ninja; however, I would suggest that it was a field grey version not least as these SS honchos liked to wear field grey as that was the military colour and they liked to be seen at war, as it were. Collar and tie would still be suitable even if the uniform was field grey.
I’m not too sure about the cross-strap though, purely based on the discomfort factor. Having worn a Sam Browne often, including in a motorcade I can vouch for it being very awkward. I also have a suspicion that the cross-strap was discontinued by 1942, but as I say, not really sure.
The Driver would have the usual high collar I would have thought; personally, headdress-wise if it was me driving I would wear a side cap, peaked caps sometimes get in the way but of course, orders are orders and you tend to wear what you’re told to wear.
True to form I haven’t helped at all here Tim!
1 Like
I would agree with Boots about the Fieldgray uni being worn. Defo no sam brown belt. No red stripe on trousers as that was only for general staff qualified officers. The aiguillette also a no-go as that was meant for adjutant officers and Hey-man was not then in that capacity.
The coat is up in the air. It might well have been worn as I remember that late May in central Europe is still kinda cool and driving in an open topped car adds to the wind chill. The hakenkreutz. arm band-nah, that was worn with the all-black comic opera uniform. His driver probably also wore the fieldgray. The hat at this point (1942) may have been the sidecap but SS NCOs loved the old style “schirm mutze” which was the peaked officer style hat usually worn without the stiffener and of course without officer braid and also usually without chinstrap. Only adorned by the eagle and grinning bonehead and the color piping signifying the branch of the wearer.
The dress uniform? I would say 50/50 black formal or gray formal but also as it has been noted, the SS liked to show they were at war by copying their Leader in wearing Fieldgray while the war was on. Adolf famously changed from wearing brown to gray when the war got going. I think I addressed all queries?
J
Jerry’s just reminded me about the trouser stripes (Lampassen I think); there was always a view that SS Generals would wear white stripes but the only time (as far as I’m aware) that’s ever been depicted is in the film “Night of the Generals” with Peter O’Toole sporting such stripes having transferred to the Waffen SS - and very smart he looks too. The film contains one of the best lines (in my opinion) ever: When in discussion with another General’s daughter about his use of bodies as barricades (!) he counters with the phrase “Nobody rots with me”. Brilliant. I’m sure it’s on YouTube somewhere. 'Doesn’t help with your uniform quandary though
Just for the record Luftwaffe Generals did sport white stripes.
1 Like
FWIW, I’d agree with everything that @JRutman said (and Jer’s on top of his game when it comes to this subject).
I might suggest, though, that Heydrich’s travel destination for that day might provide some clues or context for which uniform he was wearing and carrying.
For travel, the field gray with standard leather accoutrements would seem most appropriate. Unless he was expected to get off the aircraft and immediately attend some formal event, comfort and avoiding messing up a formal dress uniform would probably have been his concerns.
If he was expected to attend some formal event or presentation after he arrived, the dress uniform would have been selected accordingly. A daytime event, such as a parade or awards presentation might suggest the black uniform, especially if there was to be some sort of media / PK present to take photos, etc.
A formal evening event, such as a dinner with other high-ranking officers, pols and diplomats might suggest the light gray for evening wear. (This not being in the summer, white formal mess dress was probably not appropriate. By 1942, that was probably not often worn period.)
On the other hand, if the trip was for essentially “working” purposes (planning conferences, tours of some facility or training site, etc.), his spare uniform might have just been another field gray change.
1 Like