Welcome To My Hermann Weber Page.

This figure is the new one that has been released by DiD of the Hitler Youth figure, and this is a very welcome and nice model. As the thinner and shorter body will make a nice change from the standard 6 foot plus figures.

The original figure is shown here - http://www.onlinedid.com/products/wwii/80043/ and the pictures below are of the original figure left, and my kitbash with the German uniform.

With this model I did not want to keep him as he came from the box, as the political uniforms just don't appeal to me. And because I could not get just the nude figure I had to buy it as a complete figure, this is because I have found that a lot of the uniform it came with, cannot be used with any other figure and a lot of suppliers don't want to end up with parts they cannot sell.

So with my figure I had already purchased the uniform I wanted him in. Because I have seen a picture for reference purposes that I am going to use of a boy in the 12th SS Panzer Division, standing next to a US military policeman and I thought that this would make a nice diorama with the height differences. Especially as I intend to bulk out the MP to try to make him look a giant compared with this figure.

I have also made a new German insignia page on how I have fitted the shoulder tabs and the cuff title to my figure.

Figure Assembly

The uniform I chose for this particular model was the DiD Herbert Zeller one along with the cap which has the raised SS detail on it, the only drawback to it is the green shoulder boards as I may have to repaint the fabric part black. The boots came from the DiD Richard Schlemm figure, and although they do look good on this model I may fit some gaiters over the top of them to see what they look like. The armband above right, was made from an image I had of it which I resized and printed out on self adhesive cotton printer paper.

Uniform Fitting

The Zeller cap had the front paper insert removed, and then placed on the head as it is a tight fit with the front hair moulding and just squashed down slightly. Be careful of the badges as they can come off.

The jacket and trousers were put into boiled water 3 times to shrink them slightly, and then put on over the top of the supplied shirt and shorts. The jacket sleeves were the main problem I found, as they ended up way too long for the arms. So get around this I pulled the jacket sleeves up and the shirt sleeves down, so that they were level. And then I put a couple of stitches into the ends of them to keep them level, this allows the jacket sleeves to crease up nicely, making sure that I did not allow the stitches to show through the outside of the material.

The trousers were pulled up as far as they would go and then done up over the top of the shorts, this kept the trousers up as they were quite loose on the waistband. Plus it saved me having to either sew the waistband tighter, or use some fine string to pull it tighter. As this would be hidden under the jacket, so it didn’t really matter how I did it. The trouser legs were then pushed into the boot tops and bloused out over the top of the boots, depending on how you do this you can end up with some nice creases in the trouser legs.

With the supplied belt that came with the figure, I adjusted it out as far as it would go to get it to fit around the figure. On the inside of the belt lock is a two pronged spring clip that goes through the belt, free the prongs and pull the belt material through. And by trial and error place the prongs back down into the material until the belt fits.

With the boots I have used with this model, they do come up big on this figure, and at the moment I just have them on him with the socks and no alterations. But what I am hoping to do is place some tissue into the toes of the boots to push the foot backwards, plus tape the foot and ankle slightly to bulk it out a bit. Then do up the laces over all of this to help the boot creases look right. As it is the back of the boots that just don’t look right at the moment.

At the moment this figure is finished apart from dirtying him up a bit, and I will update this page when I get around to making the diorama of him with the US MP.

Backpack

The M39 backpack that came with the figure is a very nice piece and very well detailed inside. And I became curious as to what it was exactly used for, as I know very little regarding German packs and equipment. So in having a look around the internet, I came across the pictures on the Sixth Army Forum taken by one the members. The interesting one is the picture of the German medic.

I have also found these links showing the detailing of the backpack.

M34 Backpack - http://www.germanmilitaria.com/Heer/photos/H048656.html

M34 Backpack - http://www.germanmilitaria.com/Heer/photos/H003457.html

M34 Backpack - http://www.germanmilitaria.com/Heer/photos/H045057.html

M39 Backpack - http://www.germanmilitaria.com/Heer/photos/H018157.html

M39 Backpack - http://www.fieldgear.org/pouches.htm

HJ Backpack - http://aboutww2militaria.com/June2006/hjbackpack.html

Hitler Jugend Belt Buckle Image - http://aboutww2militaria.com/November2006/HJbuckle1.JPG

Hitler Jugend Belt Buckle Image - http://aboutww2militaria.com/November2006/HJbuckle2.JPG

Making The Boots Fit

The pictures above show the sizes between the figure's foot and the boot, and it is only when I had them lined up like this did I realise the amount of difference that there is. This shows how the creases in the heel just did not look right, plus I had slight problem with getting the figure to stand right because of the lack of ankle support.

To get around this problem I used some tissue paper to bulk out the boot around the foot, I firstly pushed some gently into the toe area inside the boot. The purpose of this is to push the heel back so the foot sits neater, making sure that I did not distort the outer shape of the boot. Then as shown above right, I rolled up two pieces of tissue to go either side of the ankle to hold the leg and foot in place.

Note: Put the foot into the boot first and then add the tissue down each side of the ankle with tweezers, making sure that it reaches the bottom of the inside of the boot.

The pictures above show the tissue in place and the laces done up, and in the picture above right with the trousers legs pulled down and bloused I have lost the clown look to them.