Winkel Bunker

I took to heart what was said in the forum, so this weekend I scratch built a building for my Z scale military base layout. It is called a Winkelturm or Wikel bunker. They were above ground air raid shelters that were found around military bases and rail yards in Germany during WW2. Because they are so hard to get rid of, a lot of them are still standing. I scaled down some pics and plans and cut out a core using foam. I then layered it with some stuff used to repair holes in walls,(Spachtel, I don't know what it would be called in English) and then painted it with some concrete paint from Faller. I added an etched ladder and some 1/35 scale tack rivets for the air vents.

Kelley, This looks different, but good. I think we use the word Spackle?? Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Thanks Jim. I cant get the focus right so Ill get a friend to take better shots in macro. It is an odd thing to model but the Germans should know what it is at a glance.

Highly unusual looking structure, but yours looks good. Why that particular shape? Were they built above ground to avoid having to dig big holes?

We call that stuff "Spackle" in Australia.

Hi,

yes, they were quicker to build. There are lots of different designs around in the middle of german cities, all have a kind of pitched roof in common. The idea behind the shape is the bombs will slide off the structure and detonate in the surounds rather on the structure.
Walls are typically made from 3-5m steel reinforced concrete, the roofs where up to 8m thick! They have tried to remove some, but the explosives required to remove such a bunker would demolish the whole city too. Therefore they are made forever....

Regards,
Gerd

They were designed by a Dr Winkle They were built starting in 1936. They were shaped that way so bombs would deflect off of them. Only one direct hit with 5 casualties were recorded in the war. Capacity was about 300. There were several different models and they were found at factories, rail yards and military installations. There are several in the town I live in in Giessen. There was one near the Frankfurt Messe(Fair) in the middle of the freight yard, and when the tracks were taken up recently to expand the Messe, they used a jackhammer mounted on a lift to chip it down. If you Google Winkel turm or Winkel Bunker, there should be more info.
I really like the Faller concrete street paint. If I can get a good close up you can see it looks like real concrete. I just need to weather it to make it look more realistic.

Very original. And as they are often around railway yards very appropriate as well.

One advantage of the tower was that you could not get trapped because of exits collapsed or lots of debris on top of you. Never saw one when I visited Giessen. But at that time I wouldn't have know what it was

Kelley,

Thanks for your post on this subject. I know little to nothing about RR's outside of the US. It is great having exposure to this kind of information. With your and our other European friends help I hope to learn about this interesting part of the hobby. Thanks so much.

Thanks,

Jerry

Jerry, you might find this website a good source for facts, figures and photos of the current European railway scene:

www.railfaneurope.net/frameset.html

Gary,

Thanks for the link. I've only been able to take a quick look at the site but it looks like a great one. I just have to make sure the boss doesn't find it or no one will get any work done!


Thanks,
Jerry

I knew I had somewhere seen a lot of pictures of these bunkers. Today I found the link back: thrillingwonder.blogspot.com/2007/05/strange-towers-of-third-reich.html

We call is Spackle or Drywall Compound in Canada

Very interesting photos of the bunkers. Thanks for posting the links.

Very nice scratch built bunker.

I was watching the History channel and there was some of these Winkel bunkers near or combined to the feurher bunker.
Fred

Kelley, I found this most interesting (interestink as Sgt. Shultz would say) so I took the journey into their history with my son who is interested in Germany. We never ever remember anything like these in history/German classes, or war movies, etc. Yet they are still prominent in post war Germany. It was also cool to see the "Third Reich Ruins" website to see the before/after photos of Hitler's and the SS hangouts. So many today look like back then minus the eagles and swastikas. Gives me the creeps to think such an evil man got so far before his final demise. Thanks for the history lesson. Germany is beautiful in spite of him. Keep up the good work! Are you going to paint it blue with yellow polka dots like they did one of the real ones? Personally my favorite Winkel Bunkers are those that have ivy grown all over them.

I live about a kilometer and a half from the polka-doted one..next sunny day I will walk down the road and get a picture of me next to it.

Sorry Kelley, I meant blue with white dots and yellow cap. Would LOVE to see a photo of you by that thing. I'd print it and have my son take it to his German class teacher and say "Hey, how come we haven't studied these cool things?!" and he could say that is his Mom's friend standing by one.

So, how are you going to weather/paint yours? You ought to do some of more of those in different styles. There were several and were all in cool places. There is one big flatter one that the Germans piled a lot of the rubble from Berlin's bombed buildings onto and now only part of it shows. It looks like its near a major railroad station.

There is so so much more interesting things about Germany than what happened between 1938 and 1945. This year is the 2000th anniversary of the battle of Teutoburger Wald. I will try to be there in my Celtic clothes. (Celt? I thought they were only in Scotland!!, There is some extra credit for him) Today is also the last Kaiser's birthday, and I guess I will have to celebrate it later this week when the Frau comes back.
I think Artitec makes these bunkers in HO, or somebody from Zundmeer should know. These things should be easy to cast in Z. If someone had a metal lathe or even lathe it out of wood, it would be nicer. Then there has to be a texture to it though, and the concrete street paint worked pretty good. When I weather it it needs to be in rings, as it was pored that way. The tip needs to be more pointed too but it keeps breaking off and could be a problem if cast.