From DallasE: Frohe Weihnachten! (Under Construction - 80 points)

Merry Christmas from snowy Winnipeg, Canada! I've titled this opening Challenge post "Frohe Weihnachten" as the subjects are all German... and with the above terrain piece I've located the set in the "Under Construction" studio. Not only do we have a "constructed" bunker, there are also some models for continuing projects - WW2 in the Western Desert and NW Europe/Russia.

First up is the bunker. This is the Coastal Defence Bunker from Warlord Games' Bolt Action range. The model is from Italeri and while it's nominally 1/56 scale, I think it's more like 1/72, which would fit with Italeri's other production. Anyway, it's a pretty nice model - let's take a closer look...

Well, maybe don't look too closely... I found the model somewhat difficult to assemble squarely as there are few locating tabs on the parts, and there's no floor included to secure everything to. So you have to assemble the thing as best you can, trying to keep all the walls square. I mostly succeeded in doing this.

Of course the roof of the bunker is removable and that's where you can have some fun in detailing the interior. Here's the Hauptmann studying a map, overseen by the ubiquitous image of the Fuhrer. The carpet brings a homey touch though eh?

The posters are images sourced from the Internet and printed out, cut to size and glued on the walls with white glue. I did the same with the Persian rug.

Had some old furniture laying around that fits well in the bunker.

The doors open and close but you get a sense here that they are somewhat underscale, right? Anyway, that's the bunker done, for which I will suggest a total of 25 points.

Next up are some more WW2 Germans - no, not the Marder III, but just the crewmen! They are 3D-printed models from Trenchworx and fit well in the armoured vehicle, a 1:48 prepainted diecast model from New Millennium. 

I needed to do a bit of fiddling with the bases to make the crew fit the vehicle - the vehicle floor is somewhat sloped but no problem. These two models retail for about $5USD and they really bring these vehicles to life. Two 28mm crew = 10 points.

Lastly, here's an addition to my Western Desert project - a German 50mm PaK38 antitank gun. This one is from Bolt Action/Warlord as well.

Quite a nice little model but you're on your own to figure out how to put it together, no assembly instructions in the package or on the website. Fortunately the Internet has lots of pictures.

I added a few spent shell casings just to show that the gun is "im einsatz".

Three crew and the gun I reckon are worth 25 points.

That's 60 for the models and 20 for the bonus location = 80 points total. Consider my account opened!

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Fabulous work Dallas and welcome back to the Challenge! I love the interior details of that wee bunker, especially furniture and the rug. As the Dude would say, '...that rug tied the whole room together'. The  Marder III and Pak 38 are awesome as well. For both of these, it's the crew and smaller details that really make them sing (the spent shells are a particularly nice touch on the Pak base). A great opening entry for your Challenge campaign. I'm looking forward to seeing what else you have for us this winter.

- Curt