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Friday, October 17, 2008

Christmas on the Ost Front


I have a friend named Bill who frequently says, "Hey, Mike I bet you don't have that in your collection." Typically, he loses. Not long ago he asked me about sled in the Wehrmacht. Well, of course I have those, and this is a good time of year to build up this type of unit too.


Go to the craft store and check out the Christmas stuff. This is the time of year the Christmas decorations start appearing because craft people need a long lead time to get their crafty things finished in time for Christmas. I found a few little sleighs and reindeer years ago at a craft store. Cake decorating stores sometimes have them too. This is one of my favorite types of projects; you get something very unique and it costs almost nothing.


For about a dollar I got all these reindeer. So I rounded up a few sleighs and attached them and the reindeer to sheet styrene bases, and instant Ost Front transport. The Russian winters would get so cold that anti-freeze and motor oil would actually freeze. Gasoline is not supposed to be slushy. So that is one reason why the Germans and the Russians maintained thousands of horses until the end of the war, animals were just more reliable in the harsh winter conditions than the machines.


Out of the spares box came a few aircraft drop tanks. I used each half to make a quick sled. A good uses for an otherwise useless spare part. As this picture shows a part of a headquarters is being moved by reindeer. These animals could function very well in the long winters of Russia, that's why Santa uses them.

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