Pumas

Being extremely busy with exams I obviously needed to take the time to re-format the blog and post some pictures that have been waiting in the wings.  I finished these pumas quite a while ago and have been waiting to matte varnish them so they'll stop chipping.  The weather has not been cooperating and they may have to wait for spring before they are fully protected.  You can see especially on the commanders' hats where the paint is chipping off. 

I tried to do more of a soft edge camo than I normally do.  Loosely following Dirty John's guide on WWPD, and I think it turned out quite nice, but did take a bit longer than my normal quick hard edge.  I have some Su-100's that I just need to finish the commander on and a Typhoon that is waiting for decals. In the more distant future I might try and go to a local tournament in February which means I will need to try and get a practice game or two in and try and remember the rules. Lists are restricted to early '44 so fewer German big cats and the allies will have less high AT.  I'm debating taking Germans, probably mechanized or Panzer Lehr, or going out on a limb and running a Soviet Forward Detachment. The soviets would need some significant effort put into them to get some supporting platoons purchased and painted up.           

Italian Medium Tanks

After purchasing some Italian Medium Tanks off ebay I decided to paint them up.  They came partially painted with a basecoat and a bit of detail.  Basically I tried to touch them up and add some camo and then give them a wash with Devlan Mud.  They came out ok although some of the basecoats were a bit lighter than others.  I was hoping the wash would even them all out but that didn't really happen.  I was going for a scheme like this tank on display at the Bovington Museum (not my picture although I have been there).  I need to but some decals for these guys to finish them off and then look at picking up some support options, hopefully ones that can be used in both early and mid war.

As a group they look good

But here you can see the one on the right is a lighter shade

 

Fallschrimjager Tank Hunters

I've painted up von Der Heydte and his Fallschrimjager Tank Hunters.   This gives me two panzershreck teams and 4 panzerfaust trap teams.  I painted them by base coating them with army painter Bleached Bone.  Then used GW catachan green and bestial brown for the splinter camouflage.  I then washed the whole figure in devlan mud, which really is awesome and I would highly recommend it for 15mm figures.  The bleached bone base coat looked quite light but with the wash it darkened to a nice tan colour.  Not sure when I will get around to basing these guys.     

Flames of War in Plastic

So I have "finished" my project for two Flames of War armies done using the Plastic Soldier Company range. Neither of them fits too well inside a force organization chart but they both give me lots of options.  The Soviets, which I have already shown close ups of, have: one 23 stand Rifle/Mg platoon, 15 stand Rifle/MG platoon, 15 stand SMG platoon, 10 T-34 76/85, Shturmovik air support, and 4 unfinished Katyushas and some trucks. So not fully done, but done enough to play with.

Full Army

Battlefront Flamethrowers, the only metal.

Full size Strelk Platoon

SMG's

Never mind those unpainted Katyushas I snuck in there.

Tank Support

The Germans are really the core of two company's Grenadiers and Panzer IV's but can draw on each other and the rest of my collection for support.  

Battlefront 8-rads only metal german models

Grenadier Platoon

Pioneer Platoon

Panzer IV's with Decals!

Full German Army

Gepanzeret Panzer Grenadiers

Opposing Forces

Close up of MG team

 

Space Ork Cowboy, Tuff Git

     

Back to the Bases

Managed to Dullcote the dipped infantry without getting the dreaded frosting that people talked about.  I was a bit worried since it was colder outside than the optimal conditions but I did a couple test stands and when they were all right I went ahead and did all the Germans and Soviets. 

A group shot of all the bases being Dull-Coted some based some not.  Bit worried about the cold, note the snow on the ground, but no problems.  

Rifle/Mg Bases

SMG Bases

For the soviets I ended up with 35 Rifle/MG bases, 5 Rifle bases to be used as Pioneers and 14 SMG bases. I think that should cover most of my infantry needs. I'm also planning on ordering a couple of the heavy weapons boxes which should give me an ample number of mortars, HMGs and AT Rifles and should pretty much finish off the Soviets.

The Germans also were based but I will have to get some pictures of them up later.

Dipping PSC Infantry

So for the sake of mass production I decided early on that I would do a Flames of War Strelkovy battalion with PSC miniatures and by dipping them to speed painting time.  Somewhere along the way I got the idea that if I was already doing a ton of Strelkovy I might as well do some Grenadiers to oppose them.

Now the Strelkovy I sprayed with Army Painter bleached bone and when dipped I think it came out the right shade of tan for their uniforms.  For the Grenadiers I painted them using Vallejo Field Grey and the impulse decision to dip them lead to them looking a little dark.  So I think the Strelkovy turned out well and I regret dipping the Grenadiers but you can see for yourself.  Hopefully I will start basing them up today.

MG Team

Rifle Team

Advancing MG Team

Command Team I tried actually "dipping" rather than brushing on.  They looked like they went swimming in an oil spill.

Battlefront Flamethrowers the only metal figs in the Soviet Army

MG Team

SMG Team

Rifle Team

Command Team

 

Dipping some PSC Germans

A nice place for a dip.

Taking advantage of the sun and some warmer weather. 

So after finishing my Soviet and German PSC infantry around Christmas I had to wait for the weather to warm up before I could get outside and give dipping them a try.  I have never dipped before so hopefully all my work painting doesn't get ruined.  That is why I decided to dip the Germans first since there is only half as many of them.  And of course there was no way I was just going to do one test stand to see if it works....

I brushed the dip (which was Minwax Poly Shade: Antique Walnut Satin) on rather than actually dipping it.  I did try dipping one stand and they looked like baby seals after the Exxon Valdez spill so I quickly daubed it off with a brush.  I am a little worried that the lighter details on the PSC infantry might get covered up by the heavy stain.  If all is good tomorrow I might have a go at dullcoting them (that I will do a test stand first.)  I brushed the dip on the 130 figs in about half an hour.

German Light Armour and Stuka.

Painted up my Zvezda Stuka for Flames of War I tried to go with a generic scheme that could be used across multiple periods.  I placed some decals on just to add to the over all look and they are not historically accurate.  I have very little experience with decals so I just wanted to try them out.

I also have "completed" 5 Plastic Soldier Company Sdkfz 251 Halftracks.  I didn't paint the tools and such because I just don't feel it is worth the effort at this scale and I am working to get through my backlog of painting. I also need to add the decals to them so I might be having a decaling party with myself these guys and my Panzer 4's.  These means I can now run one of my Grenadier platoons as Armoured Panzer Gren's as support for those Panzer 4's.  If I order a box of the PSC Panthers I will probably get another box or two of these Halftracks as well.

And lastly some 8-rad reconnisance armoured cars these models are from battlefront and after the PSC kits I found the metal and resin not very nice to work with. However the wheels seem to be sticking now (all 8 of them) and they sure are cool looking little blighter's.

Zvezda Stormovik and a CowOrk

So unfortunatly I did not make it down to Vancouver for the Trumpeters Convention.  I'm sure it would have been a great time but I am still feeling a little burnt out from travelling and didn't want to face the 12 hour drive down and then back.  So instead I have made slow progress on a couple projects.  I finished my 1:144 Stormovik to provide some airsupport for my All Plastic Soviets.

I also started painting my prisoner for the Deathsquads Prisoner Exchange 2012.  Below are some conversion and in progress painting pictures (sorry I cannot figure out how to rotate them so you are just going to have to tilit your head.)  The ork is obviously inspired by Western movies, particularly True Grit and the Outlaw Josey Wales.  I had prievously not worked with Greenstuff very much at all and I learned a few things trying to get this guy how I wanted him.  Hopefully I will finish up painting him in the next couple days.