20mm WW2 German Panzergrenadiers in Italian camo

These are mainly Caesar WW2 German Panzergrenadiers (Set 2) with prone MG34 gunners from the PSC 20mm Waffen SS set.  I've painted them up in telo mimetico an early Italian camo pattern, representing cloth "liberated" by the Germans after the Italian Surrender in 1943.

Base uniform colour is Russian uniform green diluted with Iraqi sand, followed by irregular islands of German camo medium brown, with Iraqi sand blebs as smaller infills in brown blebs (at least that's what I was aiming for, rather than a random set of three colour splodges - honest!).

Usual organisation, six man command team and two man Panzershrek team at front, followed by three 5 man rifle teams and three 3 man prone MG34 teams.

Some individual figures - grenadier.

Running with MP40 SMG.

Commander figure kneeling with Knights Cross ribbon beside a kneeling figure with AT weapon - I took this to be a Panzerfaust, but PSR suggests it's a thrown AT grenade.

Similar to the version above.

Rifleman standing firing - not the best pose unless he's in a trench.

Panzershrek gunner.

Chap marching with slung rifle - I'm using him as the Panzershrek loader.

Prone MG34 teams.  Gunner and mate from PSC, chap throwing grenade from Caesar.

Close up of the figure with slung rifle as he best illustrates the telo mimetico scheme.

I thought I'd also try a monochrome image to see what the camo pattern looks like in black and white for a period flavor.

I like the final look of the scheme.  I need to do some research on whether the scheme was mainly used in Italy or if it was more widely used.  I like the final look, so am tempted to make more use of them.

As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm British specialist carriers

More of the PSC carrier variants finished, first one the artillery spotter vehicle.  Paints and decals as my previous carriers.

Once assembled, it makes quite a nice vehicle, although the size difference in figures between the officer spotter figure (from the variant set) and other crew (from the standard vehicle sprue) is quite noticeable.

The spotter version uses a different front armour plate with the Bren port welded over and a winch mounted in front. 

An extending ladder attached to the side makes the vehicle very distinctive, as well as providing handy access to trees and bomb/shell damaged buildings.

Rear equipment stowage includes another winch, spare radio batteries and several large equipment panniers/boxes.

I am quite pleased with how this vehicle turned out in the end.

Then next up, a Wasp flamethrower carrier.

I think this is meant to be a Mk II variant, the Mk IIC for Canadian with large rear external tank and third crew man rather than two internal tanks.

If it's the Mk IIC, then it shouldn't really be allocated to 7th AD.

An interesting vehicle requiring some tactical skill to get it within range of a suitable target.  On the whole, I think I'd prefer to be sitting inside the better armour of a Churchill Crocodile.

Thanks for looking.

20mm German Late war PAK 36

I unexpectedly found a Zvezda Pak 36 kit in the stash.  As several of the German OOBs in the R-F Arnhem book have a Pak 36 attached to battalion command groups, I thought I'd try this one in a late war scheme.

Gun is middlestone mixed with Iraqi sand, washed in Agrax earthshade and dry brushed Iraqi sand.  Figures are WW2 German field grey diluted with Iraqi sand.  Black grey boots and webbing, grey violet helmets.  Kneeling crew are from the kit, while the chap struggling with a case of shells is an AB casting I bought at Salute in 2019.

The business end.

This was really quick to assemble and paint and I was really pleased with the results.  I even tried a period feel b&w image.

Thanks for looking.

20mm Volkssturm 2

 In an amazing bit of model soldier wheeling and dealing, I also split a box of the relatively new Mars Volkssturm with Will, which gave me 20 figures in 8 poses.  I painted these up in a variety of drab civilian colours and pseudo-military colours, plus a couple of Hitler Youth types and another couple as League of German Girls members (thinking of Rebel Wilson in JoJo Rabbit).

What seems to be a typical pose advancing crouched with Panzerfaust over shoulder.

League of German Girls members with Panzerfaust. 

Quasi-military uniformed guys with rifle, some webbing and a slung Panzerfaust.

Advancing, hunched over with SMG - could double as Gestapo or similar.

Rifle armed, gamekeeper or poacher types.

Gents with old WW1 Lewis guns, presumably from a museum.

Hitler Youth types throwing grenades.

SMG armed officer types, would work for Gestapo, SS, police, etc.

I've integrated these with my Pegasus Germans in Berlin figures (sediment's wargame blog: 20mm WW2 Volkssturm) and Underfire Miniatures MG08 on tripod (sediment's wargame blog: 20mm Early WW2 German MG08 team (lockdown 5)), plus a couple of odd infantry figures.  I need to do a three man MG34 team and I'll have enough for 2 full platoons plus supports for BG FotR or 2 battalions for R-F.

Link to Will's half of the box Will's Wargames Blog: Deutsche Volkssturm (willwarweb.blogspot.com)

As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm WW2 British tank crew

I shared a box of the recently released Orion British WW2 winter tank crew with Will, 2 sprues each.  These guys are the most useful dismounted figures, each sprue has a chap loading shells and two guys handling jerry cans (mounted in groups of three at the back) and then there are bailed out tank crew figures, again each sprue carries a guy running, another firing a Sten from the hip and a third firing a revolver.

Two stands of three tankers refueling/rearming.  Should work as markers to show resupply going on.

Bailed out tank crew markers.

Orion's early productions were a bit short on detail, but these figures are lovely.  A tiny amount of flash in places, annoyingly near the faces in some instances, but relatively easy to remove.  They are modelled wearing "Pixie suits", which I think makes them suitable for Normandy onwards.  I've painted them in green ochre, washed in Agrax earthshade, berets and boots black grey, webbing is Russian uniform green lightened with Iraqi sand.  Silver for goggles and cap badge.

The rest of the figures on the sprue include three figures suitable for crew in hatches, a kneeling figure as if on the tank deck ready to take the shell being offered by the figure above, and two seated figures, one eating from a mess can.  All very nice and will be put to good use when I'm next working on command British armour.

I even tinkered with the image to try for a period look.

As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm German Wirbelwind and Pz IV

The Italeri Wirbelwind that I built over the Christmas break, painted up using one of the schemes suggested with the kit for a unit in Germany in 1945.  A lovely kit, but I'm going to struggle to get crewmen to fit without a lot of cutting down.

Decals all came with the kit.  Vehicle is painted in middlestone mixed with pale sand, then brown stripes added based on armor brown mixed with German camo mid-brown, with central stripes overpainted in German Late WW2 field grey with some reflective green added.  The whole vehicle is washed in Agrax Earthshade and dry brushed Iraqi sand.

The Italeri kit also includes a full turret for a standard Pz IV, which was handy as I needed a mantlet and gun barrel for a Pz IV I bought from Paul at the club a couple of years ago now.  I liked Pauls scheme on the tank overall, so tried to match mine in, although I think the base colour was too yellow, should have used more sand! 

So, quite pleased with the result and its always nice to get a "twofer" out of one kit.

Thanks for looking.