Bodenplatte, The Day After
By Bill Sarnoff
The Story
This is a mostly fictional depiction of an Fw 190D-9 flown by Uffz. Herbert Korber of 3/JG2 during operation "Bodenplatte". Using the excellent book "Bodenplatte, The Luftwaffe's Last Hope" by John Manrho and Ron Putz for reference, I know that Korber was one of the few pilots of 3/JG2 to make it back to his base at Merzhausen. I know that his plane suffered 10% battle damage and he was slightly wounded in the leg. I also know that his aircraft WNr. was 500111. There is no record of his staffel number but I know that yellow 6, 10 and 1 were destroyed. I had a yellow 8 so that seemed plausible. Past that, it's fiction. The scene takes place January 2, 1945 and shows Uffz. Korber on crutches reviewing battle damage with a Hptm. and Oblt. while a welding crew supervised by a Gefr. discusses repairs.
The Model
This is the Hasegawa "the Fall of the Reich 1945" kit which I believe was the first of Hasegawa's 1/32 Fw 190D-9 series. The wing was inaccurate and was replaced with Jerry Rutman's update. I admit I am a total aftermarket junkie, so the kit includes so many accessories I can't remember them all but I'll try. The cockpit is MDC, which is superb. It's a shame the instrument panel can't be seen because the decal instruments with a touch of Future come out beautifully. The Aries Jumo 213 is also a masterpiece. There is little need for detail other than wiring and plumbing. The Eagle Edition decals are the best I've ever used. I was astounded at how easily they went down without any silvering. Even the nose spiral (which I was sure wasn't going to work) settled down perfectly. The paints are Model Master RLM 75/81/83 over 76. The figures are a mixture of Verlinden and Warriors. The Hptm. is actually one of a number of beautiful lead figures I bought 20 years ago. I don't remember the manufacturer but apparently they were $4.50 each back then! The Acetylene trolley is Scale Model Accessories.
The Base is Celluclay colored with house paints. Though it doesn't show well in the photos I created muddy footprints by pressing a figure in the wet Celluclay then adding Future to the depression. Very convincing!
Next Diorama is a Ju 87B, "Fall of France".
© Bill Sarnoff 2004
This article was published on Wednesday, July 20 2011; Last modified on Saturday, May 14 2016