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Sunday 12 June 2016

The First Tank......

It was going to happen sooner or later, though when it did happen, I was pleasantly surprised.....




No, not that you perverts, I painted the first vehicle for my German force, a StuH 42. Probably my favourite of the German tank designs, yes the gun is in a low hull mount but the whole thing looks stubby and brutal.


StuH 42




One of the things keeping me from starting them was being unsure about how to apply a decent scheme without an airbrush, though that was soon solved by using a trick I found on youtube - firstly stippling the stripes on using a 50/50 mix of the stripe colour and the main colour, then using the stripe colour over the top to give a soft edged finish.


StuH 42




I've not added any weathering to this one for now as I wanted to get the paint recipe right before I start flinging mud and chipped paint everywhere. I think a bit of mud in the guts of the tracks and flicked up the side skirts should do the trick, while I'll probably keep any chips to heavy wear areas.


StuH 42


One of the things I'm pleased with and disgusted at in equal measure is the comment from my wife that it look like a shop bought paintjob, and in some respects she's right. I mean, everyone paints German armour and it all looks the same for the most part. What I need to do is work out how to make it mine. I think a few bits of stowage would help, as would taking panels out of the skirts. The rest of the tanks I've got built are all straight from the box jobs so I'll be going back over those in turn.



StuH 42




The next tank I've got on the desk is the StuH's up gunned daddy, the StuG Ausf H. I think I'll start on that while I've got the enthusiasm for armour going.



Saturday 11 June 2016

German Field Guns.....

A jump back to World War 2 tonight as I finally decided it was time to get a few decent photos of my recently finished Waffen SS field guns.



75mm Pak 40, Anti Tank Gun


These 3 gun teams took me about a year to get round to for a couple of reason. Firstly, I wanted to get the bulk of the infantry done first and secondly, Warlord's field guns have a reputation for being a pig to build. I'll be honest, they weren't fun but a few pins and some liberal application of super glue means they shouldn't be coming apart any time soon.


10.5cm LeFH 18/40 Medium Howitzer


The crew are in a mix of field grey and SS camo (which I'll be glad to see the back of!) while the guns themselves were used as a test for a dunkelgelb coloured spray from Flames of War (I think it may have been changed since I picked the can up). It's made by Army Painter (who's sprays I tend to avoid) but it worked a treat. A quick wash/drybrush combo with some sponge chipping for weathering and that was that.



Nebelwerfer Multiple Rocket Launcher



One thing of note is the bases. I was originally going to use some of the large oval bases by Renedra but found they were a bit too big for what I wanted. I remembered I had a bunch of ovals by Games Workshop and eyeballed the fit, between a couple of sizes for the different gun sizes I was onto a winner. They were used as templates to carve flat bases out of 3mm plasticard.

I've got an officer on my plate next for Bolt Action and the dunkelgelb spray I mentioned earlier may have been used to get something tank shaped prepared for the table......