20mm WW2 beute French field gun.

 All are from Raventhorpe, a captured 75mm ex-French field gun - as shown in the Rapid-fire D-day supplement, with three German artillery crew, an officer in field cap and a more senior officer in fur trimmed coat.

Field gun with 4 crew.

Officer in field cap.

Artillery crewmen.

Officer in fur trimmed coat.

I might have to give him a Knight's Cross ribbon to provide a splash of colour and better fit his rank.

Nice figures, probably best used in an open emplacement firing direct onto the D-day landing beaches as per the R-F D-day supplement.

Thanks for looking.

20mm Late war German infantry - Platoon20

I bought these as a job lot from Ian at the Defenders club a couple of years back.  I spruced up the existing paint job so they fit in with the rest of my troops.  As is the norm for Battlegroup platoons, these guys are organised with a six man command team at the front, followed by three 3 man MG34 teams and three 5 man rifle sections.  I have no idea off the original manufacturer, so if anyone recognises them, I'd love to know if they are still available (as StevenC points out below, they are Platoon20 figures, currently available through East Riding Miniatures).

CO and 2IC.

Riflemen - using a spare Revell rifleman to make up the required number (front right).

MG 34 teams.

Optional extras for Battlegroup or core supports for Rapid-fire.  Two sustained fire tripod MG 34s and an 81mm mortar team.

These guys seem to be from the same range as the metal figures.

These guys are from the Armourfast German MG set.

These guys are from the Armourfast Mortar set.

Both Armourfast teams were gifts from Ian, repainted to match better with my other forces.

Thanks for looking.

20mm Valiant Fighting 20's mid-WW2 Germans

 At the start of the year, Valiant Miniatures ran a handy online sale, so I took the opportunity to order some packs of their newish Fighting 20's resized mid-war German infantry.  I finished up with two packs of infantry and two of support weapons, but shared half of one of the infantry packs with Will, to enable us both to build complete platoon/battalion units for Battlegroup/Rapid-fire.

Here is a pack and a half worth of infantry and all bar an 81mm mortar stand of a pack of support weapons.  For Battlegroup, this would represent a command section at the front, with three 5 man rifle sections and three 3 man MG34 sections, plus two optional tripod mounted MG34s in sustained fire mode, an 81mm mortar team and a two man Panzershrek team. 

As the figures are multipose, usually with various arm and head options, there can be quite a bit of variety.  I opted to paint these in field grey, using Vallejo WW2 German field grey lightened with Iraqi sand, washed in Agrax Earthshade.  Helmets are grey-violet.  Part of the command team below.

Thought I'd try another B&W shot for a period feel.

Remainder of the command team.

MG34 teams, with Panzershrek team on left.

Rifle sections with SMG armed section leaders on right.

MG34 team in sustained fire mode.  Equipment such as tripods and mortars are painted Middlestone.

As above with head swapped commander in field cap.

81mm Mortar team.

So, I think these are usable from 1941 Barbarossa, through to the end of the war, although they are very well supplied and kitted out for the final battles around the German frontiers and interior, so probably best mixed in with other infantry in camo gear, greatcoats, etc.

Nice figures that mix in well with my metal and plastic figures from other manufacturers, so a great improvement on their much larger predecessors.  I'd love to see the same treatment meted out to the other packs in the Valiant range, including the Germans in Normandy, British Tommies and US GIs.

The spare mortars and tripod MG teams are being allocated as supports for other troops in the collection to bring them up to Rapid-fire status.

Thanks for looking. 

20mm WW2 75mm recoilless rifles

 Another pack split with Will, this time the Strelets 75mm Recoilless rifles.  These are half of my share, painted up as late WW2 US infantry.  The other pair, I plane to use either for French in Indochina or early US/ARVN in Vietnam.  A generous 8 weapons in the set, with enough crew for three men to each weapon plus some spares which look to make useful command or spotter elements.

These guys are painted with khaki jackets or grey-green wind cheaters and US tan earth trousers/pants, all washed in Agrax Earthshade.

A useful set covering late WW2 and early Cold War era.  Only issue was mildly bent barrels that needed a bit of straightening once released from the sprue.

Thanks for looking.

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.