flames of war Archives - Page 21 of 41

Flames of War Renault FT-17

The Renault FT or Automitrailleuse à chenilles Renault FT modèle 1917, inexactly known as the FT-17 or FT17, was a French light tank; it is among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history.

The FT was the first operational tank with an armament in a fully rotating turret, and its configuration with the turret on top, engine in the back and the driver in front became the conventional one, repeated in most tanks until today; at the time it was a revolutionary innovation.

France still had several thousand First World War Renault FT tanks in 1940. Over 500 of them were still in service in independent bataillons de chars de combat (BCC) tank battalions in the front lines. Although adequate for infantry support, they were totally outclassed by German tanks in a mobile battle.

It is one of my favourite tanks, I have always had a fondness for this little tank, probably as a result of making that Matchbox plastic kit of the Renault and the Char B1 when I was young. As I am creating an Early War French army I got some of these little tanks for Flames of War. I was pleased with the amount of detail in the model.

These were not in my opinion the simplest of models to put together. The model is not as easy as it looks, I had some trouble putting the tracks into the resin hull.

I like the fact you get two turret variants, one with a 37 mm gun or one with the 7.92 mm machine gun.

15mm Ruined Houses

I have the ruined row of three houses and the ruined row of four houses, from Total Battle Miniatures. Having cleaned the models, I gave the inside of the models a black undercoat and then masked the inside of the windows (with masking tape) before I give the model a white undercoat on the outer side of the model.

I then started on the basecoat of the various parts of the building starting with the stonework.

Green Stuffing De Gaulle

Having constructed the Somau S35 objective, I used some green stuff to fill in the gaps where the figure bases were on the base.

I used the remaining green stuff on the De Gaulle base.

See the workbench feature on General de Gaulle.

Flames of War Ruins

In the Flames of War Jagdpanther boxed set as well as the Jagdpanther you get a set of ruins. After washing the resin I gave the model a white undercoat.

I started to paint the ruins, wooden floor and red brick for the bricks.

I don’t like how it’s turned out, so I might repaint with a more subtle style. I think it’s the contrast between the red bricks and the unpainted walls.

You can see how I am painting the ruined building on this page.

Flames of War Jagdpanther Ruins

In the Flames of War Jagdpanther boxed set as well as the Jagdpanther you get a set of ruins. After washing the resin I gave the model a white undercoat.

After undercoating I noticed that the model was cracked.

This wasn’t part of the casting, and the model had broken at some point. It could have been before I bought it, or I may have broken it. I decided to fix it with some recently purchased liquid green stuff which seemed ideal for this kind of problem.

It worked fine as you can see from this shot, it filled the crack quite nicely. I could the use a wet brush to smooth the “filler” down.

You can see how I am painting the ruined building on this page.

Undercoating the Flames of War Jagdpanther

The Jagdpanther was a tank destroyer built by Nazi Germany during World War II based on the chassis of the Panther tank. It entered service late in the war and saw service on the Eastern and Western fronts. Many military historians consider the Jagdpanther to be one of the best tank destroyers of the war due to the combination of the very powerful 8.8 cm KwK 43 cannon and the characteristically excellent armor and suspension of the Panther chassis.

The kit consists of a resin hull and metal components such as tracks and track guards. After constructing the model I gave it a white undercoat.

The next stage was to give the underbody a dark brown basecoat. This will add shadow to the underneath of the model.

See the workbench feature on the Jagdpanther.

Undercoating the Flames of War French Hotchkiss H-39

Despite having been designed from 1933 as a rather slow but well-armoured light infantry support tank, the type was initially rejected by the French Infantry because it proved difficult to steer while driving cross-country, instead being adopted in 1936 by the French Cavalry. From 1938 an improved version was produced with a stronger engine, the Char léger modèle 1935 H modifié 39, that from 1940 was also fitted with a longer, more powerful 37 mm gun.

Having made up the models, the next stage was to give the models a white undercoat.

See the workbench feature on the Flames of War French Hotchkiss H-39.

15mm German SdKfz 251 Half Track

The SdKfz 251 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251) half-track was an armored fighting vehicle designed and first built by Germany’s Hanomag company during World War II. One of the most common, and best armoured of the wartime half-tracks, the SdKfz 251 was designed to transport the panzergrenadiers of the German mechanized infantry corps into battle. Widely known simply as “Hanomags” by both German and Allied forces, they were widely produced throughout the war, with over 15,252 vehicles and variants produced in total by various manufacturers.

This is an old metal model that I think was made by SDD. I am using it as a testbed for which method I should use with my Flames of War resin models and I suspect in the end it will probably end up as a piece of scenery. However before it gets embedded into a ruin or similar, here are some photographs of it.

See the workbench feature on the German SdKfz 251 Armoured Half Track.

15mm Ruined Houses

I have the ruined row of three houses and the ruined row of four houses, from Total Battle Miniatures.

Having cleaned the models, I gave the inside of the models a black undercoat and then masked the inside of the windows (with masking tape) before I give the model a white undercoat on the outer side of the model.

The models were then given a white undercoat.

Flames of War General de Gaulle

A veteran of World War I, in the 1920s and 1930s de Gaulle came to the fore as a proponent of mobile armoured divisions, which he considered would become central in modern warfare. During World War II, he reached the temporary rank of Brigadier General, leading one of the few successful armoured counter-attacks during the 1940 Fall of France, and then briefly served in the French government as France was falling.

Charles de Gaulle is available for Flames of War and comes with a Somau S35 objective. The blister contains the metal parts and resin objective.