Al P

Glad to see that you have finally cleaned up that mess Al

L/53 is Hymmen I do believe, but this does not look like an L/53. I thought I saw one of these in the past, but searching through numerous threads has not resulted in finding a match. Al

Congratulations on this little treasure. It gives hope to all of us that 'it still is out there' Al

The pilots badge is from the famous 'unknown' maker'. Al

Thank you for the comments. The torsos are homemade with chicken wire covered with old shirts and stuck on a short stand. The light gage wire can be formed to fit almost any shape, is very easy to use and can be easily found at any homedepot type store. All the medals you see on the Oberfeldwebel are original except for (and you guessed it) the RK, which is a Souval. Al

I was cleaning up my little bunker and moved a few things around. I kind of like it. Al

Thanks for sharing this story and going out to talk to this gentleman to begin with. Preserving history consists of more than polishing up a few baubles. Al

Thanks guys. The very late Al

Outstanding case you put together, I dont think 'not much' really does apply Al

Thanks Gordon, as far as I have been able to tell the differences between the 2 ships were minor and after staring at numerous pictures on the net of the entire class, I was no farther ahead in figuring out the name of this ship. Al

I posted the pics to another forum Kriegsmarine forum post Any help is appreciated Al

Any help in identifying which panzerschiff this is?

I agree with the above. A good copy for the most part but the details let it down. Note how on the reverse the cutout is not centered. Al

For the U-Boat badge it was 2 war cruises, but for the clasp it gets a bit confusing. In about the middle of 1944 the (bronze) clasp was introduced but with no pre set criteria for awards. It was given for a number of reasons including bravery or other outstanding service, number of missions etc. The only thing of note is that Donitz himself had to approve the award. The silver came out later (1944/45???) In 1944 the situation for the U-Boat crews was not good, so you can imagine that these are quite rare. Al

A very nice example!!! This one must have been stored very well for the last 60 years. Al

So much for having the local market all to myself. Nice one Al

Thanks for all the good comments considering it is such a crappy photo. I have to get used to the file size guidelines here for photos. I don't think the KM collection will ever be finished; well at least not until all the diamonds badges are added Al Playing the lottery again this week!!

Since it came up in another post I figured I would post a pic of my KM collection so far. Al[attachmentid=7200]

thank you for the help (again) Non text-book examples make me sweat a bit, and this being a 'rare' award just adds to my paranoia. My next purchase was going to be an EK spange but a few recent events have changed my focus a bit. The first was completing* my KM qualification/war badge collection, and the second was going to the book store last week with a gift certificate from the wife and buying a book called "Wolf Pack, The story of the U-Boat in World War II" < great book btw, you should read it Al * Ok it may never be 'complete', but it was what I had set up as a goal.

The reverse, note the catch. thanks in advance Al [attachmentid=7157]

I have an option to buy this bronze second pattern Uboat clasp. So far I like what I see but have one concern, the flat catch versus the round wire that every second pattern I have seen (not many btw) have. All opinions are welcome. I normally do some reasearch before leaping into a purchase, but this one came up before I had a chance to hit the books. Al[attachmentid=7156]

Be carefull what you wish for Al

Very nice. I am looking to add a spange to my collection but these things scare the hell out of me. I guess it is time to do some reasearch. Al Where did you say you lived again :ph34r: < just a new smilie test