Having constructed the Cromwell ARV, the next stage was a white undercoat.
The white undercoat really does bring out the detail of the model.
See the workbench feature on the Cromwell ARV.
Category: flames of war
Flames of War German Armoured Train
Battlefront have released details about their plans for 2012 and one of the releases will be a German Armoured Train.
As you can see from the picture it is a “captured” Polish Armoured Train with extra German bits. Looks good, but I I don’t know about you, but I think I would prefer a “proper” German armoured train rather than the captured version.
Of course the other reason for not getting one, is that I don’t have forces from the Eastern Front and most of my collection is for D-Day and onwards.
Repainting the Shermans
I originally gave the Shermans a base coat of Humbrol green spray paint. I decided that this was way too dark and resprayed the models using Warpaint British Armour. The result was a better looking tank.
All three Shermans..
See the full workbench feature on the resin Shermans from Open Fire.
French Renault R35
The Renault R35, an abbreviation of Char léger Modèle 1935 R or R 35, was a French light infantry tank of the Second World War. Designed from 1933 and produced from 1936, the type was intended as a light infantry support tank, equipping autonomous tank battalions, that would be allocated to individual infantry divisions to assist them in executing offensive operations. To this end it was relatively well-armoured but slow and lacking a good antitank-capacity, fitted with a short 37 mm gun. At the outbreak of the war, the antitank-rôle was more emphasized leading to the development and eventual production from April 1940 of a subtype with a more powerful longer gun, the Renault R40. It was planned to shift new production capacity to the manufacture of other, faster, types, but due to the defeat of France the R35/40 remained the most numerous French tank of the war, about 1685 vehicles having been produced in June 1940.
Like some of my other models I am unsure of the manufacturer of this one. After a bit of internet research I believe it is an old SDD miniature. Not convinced totally, but other miniatures in the box it was in carry SDD codes.
I am going to use this one as the test vehicle for my Flames of War French tanks to try out different paint schemes. Tempted though to paint as a captured German version.
I gave the model a white undercoat.
15mm British Vickers Dutchman
I have had this tank for sometime. Don’t remember the manufacturer. It actually took me a while to work out which tank this was exactly… I used another website as a reference.
Mechanically similar to the Mark IV, though armament and other features were like the Mark II, the “Dutchmen” were a 1936 commercial version. 40 vehicles were sold to the Netherlands. All 40 were taken over by the War Office in 1939 before export. All vehicles were used for training only by the British Army. The term “Dutchmen” or “Dutchman” was an unofficial moniker.
Though never used in service, in the event of a German invasion (Operation Sealion) they probably would have been used to help defend the country.
After a bit of internet research I believe it is an old SDD miniature. Not convinced totally, but other miniatures in the box it was in carry SDD codes.
I gave the model a white undercoat.
Undercoating the 15mm Home Guard MkIV Male Tank
Having finished the construction of my 15mm Home Guard MkIV Male Tank I gave the model a white undercoat.
Undercoating the Flames of War French Char B1 bis
The Char B1 was a French heavy tank manufactured before the Second World War. It was a specialised heavy break-through vehicle, originally conceived as a self-propelled gun with a 75 mm howitzer in the hull; later a 47 mm gun in a turret was added, to allow it to function also as a Char de Bataille, a “battle tank” fighting enemy armour, equipping the armoured divisions of the Infantry Arm.
Having constructed the three Char B1 tanks the next stage was to give them a white undercoat.
This is one of them on their own.
The next stage will be painting a basecoat of Tan Yellow (912) which I had to buy separately as it wasn’t available in the French Paint Set.
See the full workbench feature on my Char B1 bis platoon. I have also managed to get a fourth one to make as a command version.
Flames of War German Panzergrenadier Headquarters
I purchased a Flames of War box of the German Panzergrenadier Headquarters. In the box you get a bunch of resin, plastic and metal. Having put them all together I gave the models a white undercoat.
I still need to add the main frontal armament, any crew and the crew equipment. I maybe should have done that before undercoating…
One thing I do like about FoW models is that in this set you get three different half track hulls rather than three of a single mould.
This photo compares my metal SdKfz 251 with the resin/plastic version from Flames of War.
As you can see there is not only more detail of the FoW model, but the detail is crisper and more defined. The plastic tracks certainly help here as does using resin for the main body.
See the workbench feature on this boxed set.
15mm German SdKfz 251 Armoured Half Track
The SdKfz 251 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251) half-track was an armoured fighting vehicle designed and first built by Nazi Germany’s Hanomag company during World War II. The largest, most common, and best armored 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.
Like some of my other models I am unsure of the manufacturer of this one. However it is a completely metal model. I want to use this one to test out my German armour paint scheme. I might then use it to create a Flames of War objective.
I found the frontal weapon and stuck it to the model.
After that the next stage was a white undercoat.
Another view.
You can see how it compares to a Flames of War resin and plastic SdKfz 251 in this photograph.
As you can see there is not only more detail of the FoW model, but the detail is crisper and more defined. The plastic tracks certainly help here as does using resin for the main body.
The next stage will be to give the underbody a dark brown basecoat.
See full workbench feature on the German SdKfz 251 Armoured Half Track.
Flames of War Scenery
Having spent a bit of time making and painting models for Flames of War I have been thinking about doing some terrain. As well as potentially buying resin scenery, I have also been thinking about making some of my own.
There are lots of sources available on the web that can be used to inspire or to provide ideas for models. One recent find was the following entry on How to be a Retronaut on the destruction of Epinal in France during World War Two.
Epinal is a town in north-eastern France that was hit badly both by the German invasion in 1940 and subsequently with the liberation of the town by American forces four years later.
The destruction was horrific in 1940 as you can see from these images.
Likewise there was added destruction four years later as the forces of liberation pushed the Germans back.
From a modelling perspective these photographs give you an idea of what war torn France looked like during the 1940s. Some of the key features that I have noticed is that in amongst the destroyed buildings there are others which have minimal damage. Plenty of ideas in these photographs.