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After painting the basecoat on my old SDD 15mm German Tiger II (Königstiger) I started to paint the camouflage.
I used Chocolate Brown (872) from the Flames of War German Armour Paint Set.
Though following the painting guidelines from the German Armour paint set, I think the brown is too brown and needs to be more red.
The Tiger II (or as was informally known to the Germans who fought in it, Königstiger), was a 70 tonne heavy tank. It was first used in combat with s.H.Pz.Abt. 503 during the Normandy campaign on 11 July 1944.
In the process of sorting some old gaming stuff out I found a bundle of old SDD models. These are 15mm metal castings that I bought back in the 1990s. It makes me think that the other metal models that I have been painting are also SDD.
This box was mainly late war stuff and included a King Tiger. Having put the model together and given it a white undercoat, I gave it a basecoat of Middlestone using a brush.
I usually spray my 15mm models, but this time used a brush.
I am intending after finishing painting this model, to use it as a test bed for foliage camouflage.
Talking about foliage yesterday I was reminded of this photograph of an Universal Carrier disguised as a haystack!
I have been thinking about adding some foliage as camouflage to my Flames of War models (once I have finished painting them). Looking at photographs of real tanks, such as the Canadian Sherman Tank in Italy above, there is certainly no one way to do this.
One consideration when modelling in 15mm, is that though the true reason for adding foliage is to camouflage the tank. I do think you can add too much foliage, which may be authentic and realistic in real life, may look “weird” on a 15mm model. It may look like a moving bush or tree, rather than a tank with added foliage camouflage. Part of that reason is that in real life the tank when stationary needs to appear to be hidden, but once moving it would be obvious it was a vehicle with foliage on it. In 15mm the models do not move by their own power, so it can look “weird”.
So next question, how do you model foliage on your 15mm models?
The Plastic Solider Company have announced their release of a set of 15mm scale Cromwell tanks.
15mm Cromwell kit – 5 models for £18.95. Each sprue gives an option to build a 95mm howitzer close support variant and has a British commander figure and a Cullen hedgecutter.
Really quite like the idea of these models and they are very cost effective too.
As well as the 4Ground Hotel I blogged about a few days ago, I also had the semi-detached houses.
Northwest European semi-detached houses, one house rendered green the other is white, these are ideal buildings for any 15mm gaming table.
The back is very similar to the front. Like the 4Ground hotel, the kit comes with very clear and easy to follow instructions.
Like the hotel these went together quite easily, though I had a few issues putting the roof together. I am going to add some details, such as glazing for the windows and posters on the walls. As with the hotel the instructions includes some 15mm scale posters.
I mentioned in a previous post on my Sarissa Precision Old West Buildings about how much I liked the concept of laser-etched mdf buildings. Though these were the first laser-etched mdf buildings I had made, they weren’t the first ones I had bought. Some time ago I had seen some of the 4Gound 15mm buildings in a display cabinet in Waylands Forge in Birmingham alongside some Flames of War tanks and was impressed, so I purchased a couple of kits. However I hadn’t got round to ever making them up, now isn’t that quite normal for games, buy stuff, put in a cupboard and then do nothing with it… well certainly happens to me, probably too much.
However after making up the Sarissa Precision buildings and finding them very quick and easy to make, I remembered the 4Ground models that I had bought, found them and decided to put them together.
The two kits I bought were a couple of terraced houses and the hotel. The hotel was a lot more complicated to build than the Old West buildings. There were a lot more internal parts and there were even separate window ledges! Despite the added complications and more parts, it was a pretty easy build and didn’t take very long either. The instructions from 4Ground were very clear and easy to follow. The end result is quite pleasing.
I went with the pre-coloured version, so I wouldn’t need to paint it.
It might need a bit of weathering, and it also needs some signage and posters. It’s nice that the instruction sheet does have these, that can be cut out and stuck to the mode.
Overall these are really nice models and very easy to put together. The only thing I have mixed opinions on is that you can place models inside the building on all the different floors. This is obviously very useful from a gaming perspective, however I also think it has a rather negative impact on the look of the model.
Will I get some more? Yes I will. I think I may get some of their Old West buildings and 28mm World War Two buildings for Bolt Action.
You may have noticed in Wargames Illustrated and the most recent update to the Flames of War website that Battlefront are venturing into the Far East for Flames of War. In July we will see the release of Japanese tanks.
A bit like I thought about Vietnam I am not sure that this is an era that I would get into. I have always seen Flames of War very much as a tank versus tank game with infantry in support. 15mm scale is ideal for this kind of game. With theaters of action where the main fighting was infantry versus infantry, I have always preferred 28mm (or back in the olden days 20mm). The big difference, was less the scale, much more the models would be individually based.
Both Vietnam, the Pacific theatre and the fighting in China, tanks had their place, but the vast majority of the fighting was done on the ground by the poor infantryman.
What is also interesting is that the initial focus of the release will be the fighting in Manchuria. So if you thought there were going to be Marines, this won’t be happening in the initial releases.
What are your thoughts? Are you going to get the new Japanese tanks?
I haven’t quite worked out the process of adding decals to my Flames of War tanks. I am not sure if I should give the models a wash first, or after adding the decals.
As for the actual process of applying the decals, there are quite a few articles on the web (and in rules and magazines) on how best to apply decals.
Battlefront even have a video…
…which I must watch at some point.
The process I think I am going to try is to paint the areas for the decals with a gloss varnish. Once that is dry, apply the decals and allow to dry. Then I am going to apply a decal fixer. After that is dry and at this point I will add the weathering to the model. The final stage will be to add a matt varnish to the whole model.
The other problem I have, is despite reading a range of articles on the subject, I am still not entirely sure what decals to apply and where.
There is this article on the Battlefront website, but I know that even after reading this I may get the placement of the insignia just plain wrong.
I think I might need pictures of what the finished article looks like. Still a fair amount of work to do.
My old SDD Miniatures German SdKfz 251 Half Track patrols a French village.
Roads and buildings from Battlefront.