8.8cm Flak 36 and friends

It has been  rather productive week model and painting wise. I finished up 5 different units of models. 2 units, a set of Pz III's and PzIV's from command decision where for my buddy in the Paint for Panther scheme (though now its a paint for anything sheme really). The rest were for myself.

My main focus was on a pair of 8.8cm Flak 36's. The infamous German AA/AT gun from WW2. I really love these guns. I bought a Tamiya 1/35 scale version about 21 years ago (I was 9 years old at the time)which sat proudly in my room for almost 2 decades.

These guys are quite a lot smaller at 1/100 scale but they just look phenominal. I also took my time with them and made some scenic bases out of greenstuff and some straw I found outside.

I think these came out really really well considering its my first attempt at this kind of scenic base.

A bit of paint and the application of the actual model and Bobs your uncle :)

Crew are not the actual 8.8 crew as I got the models without. These are from the 105mm artillery set which is why they are not quite right. Still, they do look good.


Next up is a couple of Panzer III G's. These are the Zvezda models are are really good considering the price. Sure, they dont have much individual detail and yes, the detail it has could be more pronounced but at $5 each they are perfect. I did add some detail in a jerry can, extra tracks on the front of the commanders tank and I adapted a commander figure and hatch from a Plastic Soldier Company Panzer IV. Doesnt look 100% right but still looks good and at this scale and looking down at it from the table top no-one will notice anyway.

Paint for Panthers

So given my current financial situation I have had to resort to alternate means of aquiring the minis that my hobby addiction craves.

With that in mind I reached an agreement with a buddy of mine who had some spare mini's but not the time to paint some of the plethora of models he had. So thus came about the "Paint for Panthers" scheme. I would paint up some of his FOW Hungarian army and I would recieved some of those spare minis.

The green BFG cruiser and the 3 sword frigates were part of that deal as well as a FOW panther. For that I painted 3 Hungarian Toldi 1's, 2 Nimrods and 2 Pz38t's.

Toldi 1's - White balance was all off so these dont look as good as they should.

Nimrods - These were interesting to paint due to the crew members being crammed into the small turret.

Panzer 38t's - Fun and easy little tanks. I really like these tanks a lot and if I can figure out how to fit some into my list I will.



Panther Redo and Heavy Gear Sidewinders

In a previous post I posted some pictures of a FOW Panther. Despite how I said I liked the result in that post I started to feel that it just didnt look good. Detail was obscured, it looked too dirty. It didnt help that it was painted over 2 different base coats.

With that gnawing at me I decided to repaint it for the third time. This time I stripped it properly, basecoats and all down to the bare resin and metal. This fun and exciting process took 2 days with the tank sitting in a container of Green Stuff and hourly scrubs.

This time I also painted in the battle damage where the zimmerit has been blown off. I used the flash to highlight it in one picture and its very glaring but under natural light it is far more subtle.

I have to say that I am much happier with this iteration. Camo is clearer and not so muddy and detail is highlighted and not obscured. I also painted the rubber tires on both the inner and outer road wheels.

Flash reveals battle damage and rust, most noticable on the left side of the picture by the machine gun.



In other news I have also finished up 2 Sidewinders for my Southern Heavy Gear Army.

These buggers were the devil to prepare. Lots of flash and heavy mould lines. First time I have run into this with DP9 mini's which are usually quite well cast. Took me about 90 minutes each to get the 2 guys prepared.

After that painting was pretty easy. Had an issue with the matt varnish causing the purple to bleed all over the place and covering all the drybrushed detail but I managed to sort that out as well.

More Flames of War

In preperation for a Mid War campaign this spring I got my arse in gear and finished up painting the final models of my 1500 point Panzerkompanie.

My list looks like this:

HQ:

Panther D - 275

Combat Platoons:

4 x Panzer IV H with Schurzen - 680

3 x StuG G with shurzen - 525

1480 points

And the new models look like this:

StuG G's are from Battlefront. 2 are from the starter box and the command tank is from the Panzer Kanno box. Went with a minimal camo scheme in contrast to the Panzer IV's which are just covered.

The Panzer IV's are from the Plastic Soldier Company and are wonderful plastic kits. Very easy to put together and around half the price of the Battlefront ones. Only draw back is they dont have much customization on the sprue. No stowage etc which would have made them perfect.

FOW Panther

I have been trying a new way of painting on the below Panther. Since I dont have an airbrush I was looking for a way to try and mimic the airbrush effect. Using a normal paintbrush ended up giving a camo that was too hard edged.

However, a combination of stippling, light drybrushing and layers of matt varnish have, I think, turned out a nice result.

I will say, however, that it does look a lot better than the photos would have you believe. The use of flash and being enlarged do not do it full justice. Thats not to say it's going to win awards but it does look nicer in person.

As promised

As promised yesterday I have taken some more and better photos of my recent activity.

First up, my Jager Gear. As I said yesterday this is just a test scheme but I have to say it came out beautifully and will be carried over with very few tweaks to the whole army once I have purchased it. The photos are quite dark though. He is a bit brighter in real life and the purple has less of a blue hue to it.

Next up is a closer view of my only completed Flames of War mini. A Tiger tank. I have left off the additional brown and green camo stripes as this vehicle is fresh from the factory and hasn't received them yet. (real reason is that I cant paint them on very well yet) It has suffered from some paint chipping during transit from the UK to the USA which I will touch up when I get all my paints out.

And lastly, the last 2 completed Tactical squads from my 2nd Company Ultramarines.This rounds out the full company which is also pictured.

 The above squad does have the full 10 guys, only noticed the one was out of shot after all the equipment was put away.

100 Space marines. 60 Tactical, 20 Assault marines and 20 Devastator marines.

Back in action

Its been a while but in my defense a lot has happened.

Biggest thing is that I moved across the Atlantic from the UK to the USA. North Carolina in fact. This has meant that there has been bugger all money for hobby. Even worse is that I don't have any area to paint so haven't even been able to paint us the back log.

Still, I have managed to get some hobby done. Played a few games of 40k but also a few games from other systems. I have had a few games of Battletech and Heavy Gear. I have also started collecting a Flames of War army.

Now, since no one wants to just read a text update I suppose I should throw in some pictures.

First, my FOW army. Going with Germans and currently have 10 tanks. Only 1 is painted up though the other 9 have all been basecoated. Will be adding infantry in the future. Just chose tanks so as to be able to get an army on the table as fast as possible.

My tank park. 3 StugIII's, 5 Panzer IVH's and a single Tiger (which is painted up).

Now this chap is a test Jager from Heavy Gear. Its a test colour scheme but it just looks spanky. Will be running an army from the Eastern Sun Emirates with Southern Republican Army support.

I am really liking the look of Heavy Gear. I like that it plays quite differently from 40k with stacked modifiers and objectives that are very different from the bog standard 40k stuff. I also think the minis are rather attractive and I also love the fact that its a low model count game.

Tomorrow, when there is better light and I am not so tired, I shall put up some more pics of the Gear and tanks. I shall also put up some photos of the 2 completed Tactical Squads that I mentioned in my last post. I now have the full 2nd Company Ultramarines.