20mm WW2 German armour

I picked up some late WW2 German armour from Early War Miniatures at the Vapnartak show, back in February.


First up, a pair of Hetzer tank destroyers (Jagdpanzer 38s or SdKfz 138/2s).  I did these in an ambush pattern, as this seems to have been pretty common for this vehicle, which seems to have been deployed in hit and run settings.

I haven't decided what unit they will belong to, so no unit insignia as yet.  The version on the right with the commander in the turret will be a platoon command vehicle and I will add a third vehicle to make a platoon.

I think they need Balkan crosses on the rear hull plates as well.

Then for a change, a recce option based on the Pz 38t, an SdKfz 140/1 aufklarungspanzer.  Designed to provide tracked mobility on the eastern front and armed with a 20mm autocannon.

Again, no unit insignia until I decide which unit they will be assigned to.

Nice model, this one seems to be built of the bouncy resin that EWM are using on most of their models, which is nice if they happen to get swept off the tabletop and they seem to paint up nicely.

I've had these models on the painting table for a couple of months now, so it's nice to be able to finish them and put them in storage to make room for more bits and pieces.  I'm having a bit of a tidy up on some 15mm models that need finishing, ahead of a couple of games coming up in the next month or so.

Thanks for looking.

20mm WW2 British HQ vehicles

Having decided on how to mark up the British vehicles, here are the first efforts.  All are marked up with the Jerboa of 7th Armoured Division.

First up, a Humber Heavy Utility car from 7th Armoured divisional HQ.  This can transport an FHQ when I'm playing bigger battles or need an overall higher command vehicle on table.  The model is from Anyscale Models and was really simple to put together and took the paint really well.

Next up is a bargain bin show special from Early War Miniatures, picked up for £1.  I had to do a bit of repair on some bubbles around the wheels and the underside of the vehicle, which I filled with Miliput and attempted to score some treads to match the tyre detail on the original.  The driver and officer are from EWM's British drivers set, while the two rear passengers are from the Hat British tank riders set.

This is another EWM bargain bin special, a Humber Scout Car, again with Miliput used to repair some casting flaws.  The twin Vickers K guns and mount are from Sgts Mess and the crewman is from the British tank riders set from Hat.  The camo net on the back is made from Miliput and hides a major casting flaw that was too big to do a full repair on without looking too odd compared to the rest of the model.

So, all three vehicles could be used as an FHQ transport, while the Humber Scout car or the Jeep could be used as an artillery spotter, forward air controller or recce vehicle.  I still need to find some decals suitable for census numbers and tactical markings, but they can be added later.  Lots more armoured cars in the queue for decals, so hope to have those done and posted shortly.

Thanks for looking. 

20mm Airfix Cromwell

Finally finished the Airfix Cromwell tank - one of the £5 Aldi bargains from last year (I do wish I'd picked up enough for a troop now).  I posted the first pics of the unpainted vehicle a couple of months back.  The commander is from the Hat British tank riders set.

I added some assorted stowage from Sgts Mess, chiefly some Jerry cans, ammo boxes and tarps.  Decals were as supplied with the kit.  I can't find a reliable photo showing the bridge marker on a Cromwell fitted with the Culin device (it would normally go on the left hull front as you look at the vehicle from the front, where the Culin is attached).

The vehicle is painted in Vallejo Russian uniform, washed with dilute Agrax earthshade and dry brushed with Iraqi sand.  Wooden tools and boxes are beige brown while bare metal tools and wheel tyres are black grey.  Tracks are flat brown and orange brown mixed.  Engine cover is washed in Nuln oil.

This is the first in a series of British recce vehicles that I'm working on, most are painted and gloss varnished, but I'm in the process of adding decals and it's a slow process trying to find a consistent marking scheme and then making sure I have the correct decals.  British vehicle numbers in 20mm seem to be really poorly represented, although divisional and tactical markings are well covered.


As ever, thanks for looking.

20mm WW2 German support weapons

I picked up some odds and ends for support weapons at the Vapnartak show earlier in the year.  First up, an Early War Miniatures PAK43 AT gun, plus 4 crewmen in winter parkas.  The gun was tricky to put together - I'm not a fan of the folded up and taped/stapled instructions in the EWM blister packs as they are very small and difficult to see the detail, plus, by the time you've unpicked the staples and cut away the tape, they are almost illegible.  However, the models do go together relatively well and look good.

Detail of the crew.  I used the Farnworth guide to try and get these guys in a spring reversible oak leaf pattern, so the white winter lining shows inside the parka hoods, while the spring pattern is made up of green blebs on a tan earth base colour.

I also picked up another 20mm AA gun with an SS crew from Grubby.  This went together well and makes a nice little group.  The crew wear London grey uniform trousers and my attempt at an autumn oak leaf pattern, similar base colour to the PAK43 crew with blebs of brown and orange-brown.

And finally a 120mm Mortar and crew.  I realised after that I had mixed up the crewmen - the guy with the range finder should have been with a Fortress PAK38 AT gun and should have been a bloke covering his ears, but I've managed to swop them, so now the mortar crewman will appear as part of the Atlantic Wall defences.

 

 

All nice figures, with lots of raised detail, making them really straightforward to paint.

 

Thanks for looking. 

20mm WW2 German infantry in Zeltbahns

Having got the Farnworth guide to painting German WW2 infantry, I tried my hand at a batch of infantry in Zeltbahns.  I had a pack of Caesar figures, but these don't really have any command figures of LMGs, so I picked some up from SHQ, which seem to match in relatively well, just very slightly smaller in stature.

The whole platoon.

Command section

5 man rifle section on the right, 3 man MG34 section on the left.

Another, better view of the 5 man rifle section, with the MG34 team at the far end.

View switched so the MG34 team is closer.

Rear view, showing the men's personal equipment.

The command team, officer with MP40 (I think) with senior NCO behind - there are two of these figures in the Caesar set and they seem right for a grizzled and battle hardened NCO.  Something to do with the set of the shoulders?

Command section rear view.

Detail of the NCO figure.

Rifleman throwing a stick grenade

Panzerfaust firer.  To the eye, the figure looks fine, but close up the magnification and lighting highlight loads of little bubbles in the top layer of matt varnish.  Good job I'm switching to the Galleria varnishes as I've had no trouble with them.

Rifleman preparing grenade.

And again from the front.

MG34 team.

MP40 gunner.  Again, this chap suffers from a pitted surface on the matt varnish layer - not noticeable to the eye, but the magnification really picks it up.

SHQ radio operators - also suffering bubbly varnish.

 

 

As I said, I did these guys using a recipe from the Farnworth guide and chose Deck Tan as the base as this seems to be the best option for the background colour of the earlier splinter pattern which was most commonly used on Zeltbahns.  I've tried to put the colour swatches on in inclined streak of brown with irregular blebs of green and to keep the edges of the base colour relatively well-defined.  Base uniform colour is London Grey for trousers and WW2 German field grey for jacket sleeves.  The figures were washed in Agrax earthshade, diluted 50:50 with flow improver.  The base gloss varnish was Vallejo, which worked well, but I was really disappointed with the final coat of Vallejo matt varnish - I shook this well to get a thorough mix and brush applied it carefully to avoid any froth, but it doesn't seem to have worked, so I'm switching to the Galleria varnishes - I used the Galleria matt varnish on my Brit paras, posted previously, and they seem to have turned out fine.  The Galleria varnish is much thinner and goes on like water or flow improver.  I've just picked up some gloss varnish, so will be trying that out soon.

 

Thanks for looking.