20mm WW2 DAK Pz IV F2 platoon (lockdown 12)

Another part finished project was my Pz IV F2 zug for the western desert and Tunisia.  I started these to take part in the BG Torch campaign, which sort of faded away, so progress ground to a halt.  So I dusted them off, touched up the paintwork, added decals and here they are.

Vehicles are from Early War Miniatures.  Unfortunately, they came with an odd set of tracks, only one set fitting the resin hulls - I assumed the others were off the PzIV D - at least from another PzIV mark anyway.  I did some modifications so they fit the hulls and off we went.  Two were assembled with closed turret hatch, the third was modelled open with a commander in the hatch, to signify the zug commander.

Decals are Skytrex iron crosses, PSC tank numbers and, I think, Flames of War palm trees.  Stowage from Sgts Mess.

Another vehicle in the zug

The commanders vehicle.  I used the Crowood painting guide, which suggests Russian uniform faded with Iraqi sand for the jacket. 

Detail of the zug commander.

Nice vehicles, I'll have to give them an outing, although they will have to watch out for that US artillery if it's a Torch game.

Thanks for looking.

20mm WW2 DAK Kradshutzen squad (lockdown 11)

I had a box of Italeri German motorcycles assembled and base coated, languishing in the stalled projects box.  So I dug them out, added a few DAK infantry figures that I bought at a BnB a couple of years back and finished them as a Kradshutzen recce section for my 20mm DAK force.

The box gives you two motorcycles with rider and pillion passenger, as well as two motorcycle side cars with three crew.  The sidecars come with the option to build as MG34 armed or with a trooper carrying an MP40 - I did one of each.

 One of the motorcycles with rider and pillion using a pair of binoculars, suitable as transport for the section commander or an artillery observer team.

The other version of the motorcycle - here the MC is stationary and the observer has put a foot to the floor to steady himself.

MC and sidecar carrying a trooper with MP40.

MC and sidecar armed with an MG34.

The Kradshutzen recon squad mounted.

And dismounted, a rifle squad of 5 on the left and an MG34 team of three on the right.  Figures are mainly Revel, with a couple of Airfix thrown in.

Individual shots of the dismounted figures.  NCO type.

Guy preparing to throw a grenade.

Rifleman.

MP40.

Officer with pistol.

MG34 gunner rushing.

Assistant MG34 gunner with rifle rushing.

Assistant MG34 gunner with MP40. 

MC as transport for an artillery observer.

Dismounted artillery observer team.

Two sets of these come with the Italeri MC box.

I quite liked the way these guys turned out.  Not for the last time, I used the Crowood Painting Guide for suggestions on the colour pallet and was not disappointed.

As ever, thanks for looking. 

20mm WW1 Bengal Lancers (lockdown 10)

For a bit of variety from WW2, I dug out a box of Hat Colonial era Bengal Lancers.  Comparing pictures of WW1 Indian Lancers from Mark Hargreaves book on painting WW1 British, Dominion and Indian figures, there was little difference between the colonial era and WW1 era troops and at this scale, I figured I could get away with it.

I largely followed the paint recipes in the book, although decided I wanted to give them the dress puggree/turban, to make them more colourful to stand out on the tabletop.

Close up of the commander and a couple of lancers charging with lances levelled.

From behind - I could find no images of the neck covering part of the pugree, so followed a similar pattern to that on the front of the puggree/turban.  I added some old gold as a fringe at the bottom, although this may have been reserved for officers and other ranks may have had to make do with a white or some other light coloured fringe.

These figures from Hat are made in their soft, bendy plastic, but I found them to be easy to work with.  The soft plastic made it easy to cut away the hilt and guard of the sheathed sword on the officer with sword drawn, as well as the butt of the rifle protruding from the rifle bucket of the two rifle armed troopers.  The bamboo lances don't appear to be significantly bent out of shape, although the very long upright lances mean I have to use a double height storage box to avoid crushing them.  I might add some pennants to the lances at some time, to give some more colour, although they weren't used on active service, so I guess these are more realistic for combat.

These should be useful for early 20th Century operations in the NW Frontier, East Persian cordon, Mesopotamia, Palestine and even on the Western Front, although deployment of mounted lancers in Flanders would have been unlikely in the extreme.  They will also be great for what ifs, such as allied intervention forces in the Russian Civil War for Setting the East Ablaze and may even pop up in the fictional Black Sea country of Andreivia at some point.

Thanks for looking. 

20mm WW2 German supply carts, Feldgendarmerie and 75mm IG (lockdown 9)

Languishing at the bottom of the stash for the last couple of years has been a pair of Britannia WW2 German supply wagons.  So, in the spirit of reducing the lead stash, I decided to take out one of it's foundations and get these wagons on the table.

First up, a battalion supply wagon.  Straightforward to assemble, once I'd worked out how it went together.  Quite nice and clean casting, except for the spare wheel hanging from the back of the cart, which took sorting out with some paste.

Spare wheel came up ok once I'd filled the gaps in the spokes.

Quite nice, at some point it would be good to add some chains and swingletrees to the back of the horses to attach to the cart, along with a set of reins.

This is the Britannia platoon supply wagon.  Again, quite a nice casting, except for a bubble in the folded tarp behind the carter.

I also had a Zvezda 75mm infantry gun in the same stash, so assembled it and painted it up as additional support for my early war German force.

Finally, for now, I was given a bunch of painted WW2 Russian infantry by Will at the club, along with some German pioneers and this little group of unpainted Armorfast Feldgendarmerie and motor cycle.  I did these in the dark brown raincoat, to differentiate them from the Britannia figures I posted on earlier.

The motorcycle is a nice model, perhaps with too long a wheelbase, but looks the part.

Not a particularly glamorous assortment of figures, but the supply carts will come in useful in replenishing my late war armour and the Feldgendarmerie in stiffening up the will to resist.

Thanks for looking.

More 20mm WW2 British Paratroopers (lockdown 8)

I wanted to bring my British paratroopers up to company strength for I Ain't Been Shot Mum, so I've been working on additional infantry plus supports.  I couldn't find any suitable airborne vehicle decals, so these were handpainted.  White stars still need to be added.

Below is a pair of Ready2roll jeep tows, along with Airfiz 75mm howitzers.

A Britannia Miniatures/Grubby radio jeep.

An SHQ paratrooper universal carrier.

A pair of Britannia/Grubby 3" mortar teams.

Britannia/Grubby supply canisters.

British paratrooper platoon, mainly Revel figures picked up at WMMS back in early March (seems like years ago now).

PIAT team from the Italeri AT weapons set.

HQ section, Revel figures.

2" mortar team, firer from the Italeri AT box and assistant an old Airfix figure.

Paratrooper section, mainly Revel with some old Airfix.

HQ section from another platoon made up of mainly ESCI figures with some old Airfix.  Italeri 2" mortar firer from the AT weapon set, ESCI PIAT firer and Airfix assistants both Airfix.

Old Airfix CO and radio operator providing an artillery observer team.

PIAT team.

ESCI figures making up another paratrooper infantry section.  Two more similar to these make up another paratrooper platoon.

Britannia/Grubby medic with wounded and dead paratroopers.

Various sniper figures, Britannia/Grubby on the left, Esci centre and right.

A Britannia/Grubby pathfinder team, marking out the landing zone for the first wave of paratroopers.

That wraps up a company of paratroopers.  I can see a need for a couple more 6pdr AT guns and Vickers MGs and some recce jeeps.  There may even be room for the Britannia/Grubby divisional HQ group at some point.

As ever, thanks for looking.