Finally got these…

Got this sets with mail today. Two Academy sets I have wanted for a very long time. The Dodge Ambulance I actually already have, but this is converted into a radio car. The other Academy set I mainly wanted for the motorcycle, I need a dispatch rider for my US battlegroup. I have lots of M3’s already, but can always need some more. The Seep I will give to my russians, when getting there.

The 88 is one that I needed. I have two from Hasegawa already, but I need four. I wanted to check out the quality of the Zvezda model before buying one more. The first impression of the set is that it looks good, fine details and great quality of the plastic. The sprues seems to have been bent though, I am a bit concerned that it will give me problems later when assembling the model. But the price is so low that I guess I can live with a model that is a little bit deform.

This two Academy sets have been sold out for several years where I normally buy my stuff. I was happy to find a seller on Ebay that have both sets, always nice to save a bit on packaging.

Brockway Bridgelayer truck

Everything are stuffed down in boxes in our new house. So there is no progress at all to talk about.

But there is some good news though – a friend pointed me in the direction of a vehicle that I have wanted add to my collection for ages now – a US bridge layer truck. I am not a big fan of resin models but as there aint other models available, I am just happy that someone finally made this vehicle.

The model is sent, can’t wait to get it.

6 Dirty StuG’s and one StuH 42

Some of the pictures in this article can be shown in higher resolution by clicking them.

This damned tanks just took me too long to get finished. But now they are done and I am pretty happy with them. The build was straightforward, including some conversions on especially the two StuG’s from Armourfast. I gave them a basic primer with my airbrush (Dunkelgelb from Tamyia). Adding camo with the airbrush was hard as I am still learning to use it properly.

After painting the models I added decals using dry transfers from Archer, I then airbrushed the models with a semi gloss varnish to make it easier to add the wash. The wash I used is from AK Interactive, a great product that is easy to work with. But on one of the models the semi gloss varnish wasn’t good and the model became very dark. After repainting the model and adding the wash I sprayed all the models with Dull Coat before chipping.

The chipping was painted on with both a brush and with a sponge (mainly on the shurtzen). I like to add both light and dark chips, both gives a great result. The last thing to do was to add weathering using pigments, the tracks got a medium brown color while I gave the rest of the model a sandy looking beige pigment. Finally the models where all airbrushed with yet a layer of Dull Cote.

Italeri model, this was a great build which I can’t say about all of their models. I also managed to make the tracks look “almost” perfect :-)

Italeri model.

Armourfast model. This is a quickbuild model and the details will be low but after since companies like The Plastic Soldier Company I has arrived at the scene I think the level of details on Armourfast is too low. I have tried to fix this and added some of the missing stuff myself – worst is the tracks as it aint easy to fix this.

PSC model. Really great quickbuild model. The tank commander is from AB Figures.

PSC model.

PSC model.

Armourfast model. As with the other Armourfast model I have added several details to make it blend better with the Itarleri and PSC models. The gun barrel is an extra barrel that came together with the Italeri models, I choose this over the Armourfast because it was thicker and stand out better.

The stowage in the back is just pieces of cardboards together with a oildrum covered with paper tissue that is dipped in a mix of water and white glue, when dry it becomes hard and can be painted together with the rest.

A close up on the figure in one of the PSC StuG’s. He is from AB Figures.

StuG got their first layer of “dirt”

Haven’t been able to be very active in company with my small toy armies for a week. A combination of work assignments out-of-town and making our flat ready to be sold has forced me to use my time different than normal. Selling the apartment has forced me to clean out the man cave which has made the room very popular, my girlfriend have been seen setting her foot in the room for the first time in ages… at the same time our two-year kid has totally lost interest of the room as there is no cool stuff to steal or destroy anymore.

But still I have been doing some process with the StuG’s. I used most of a evening adding decals to the sideskirts. As much as I love the Archer’s dry decals I also hate them. I guess the biggest problem is my fat fingers in combination of the tidious task of making 12 skirts that have to look the same.

Cleaner than ever – I am going to miss Copenhagen’s coolest apartment…

Dry transfers gives a great result, but damn they can be annoying to fit onto the vehicles.

The decal on the StuH 42 is inspired from one used in Italy that had the number 55 written the same place (but in black).

I also gave the vehicles a wash using AK Interactive enamel wash for DAK vehicles. One of the tanks I had either forgotten to spray with satin coat or maybe the surface had become too rough due to bad airbrushing – the result was that the effect of the wash became very dark. I had to re-paint it. I decided to skip the camo, not because of being lazy, I love to paint camo, but to make some difference from the other StuG’s.

Wash done, next step is to paint tracks and tools.

Now I have to paint the tracks, probably the most boring task ever (that or fitting Italeri tracks to a model). After that I will love to add chips and pigments.

(I made this post just to avoid painting tracks – now I have no more excuses… aaargh)

StuG’s on their way

Just a little update: Had a long session with the airbrush this night. Painted 7 StuG’s which took me some hours… They got the dunkelgelb colour last night and today I did the camo. Last thing I did was to give them a Satin Coat so they are ready to get a wash.

The StuG’s are from some different brands. The three late versions are from Plastic Soldier Company, two from Italeri and two from Armourfast (one of them with a 105mm gun, that is actually a StuH 42). Man, those Italeri tracks kills me, it took me four times as long to build those two as it did the four others. Models like this that I just need a lot of I will in the future always, if possible, get as Quickbuilds. But I did in fact use some time on the Armourfast ones too, had to add details that wasn’t there. They are quite simple and you get much more for your cash buying PSC models.

Air protection to the Panzers! Sdkfz 10/4 ready.

This last picture can be seen in bigger resolution by clicking it!

A terrible model from Caesar, lucky that I was more alert than usually otherwise it would have many errors, I cannot recommend anyone to build it. Figures are as always my loved AB Figures. Hope you like it

:-)

Sdkfz 10/4 WIP

I am making progress on my Sdkfz 10/4 and it should be ready tomorrow.

My first camo with airbrush, not perfect but will work.

This is after a wash and some chipping – maybe too much chipping… The next step will be to continue the weathering using pigments, the wheels and tracks looks very clean but that will change tomorrow.

The crew has just got a wash with Army Painter Quickshade, when they are dry and got some Dull Coat they will look super.

This is supposed to be my next project. I need six and will add a Armourfast StuG that I have.

Normandie vehicle park is growing

A quick glance at what I work on at the moment:

This is Sdkfz 10/4 from Caesar Minitatures gave me both joy and frustration to build. Most parts would fit together well but the building instruction was terrible and had several quite big errors, but was also far from precise. I wont say that the plastic is bad, but still quite a few pieces was destroyed when opened the box, worst was the gun that was broken in two, luckily the piece that was broken of was still in the box even though it could easily had been falling out. Other minor parts that was broken of was missing. By checking pictures of the vehicle I could put it together and make it look reasonable, in the it was a fun challenge, but in the future I prefer to choose when I want a challenge instead of getting it because of a bad model. I added the number plate and the tarpaulin on the windscreen, put some ammo boxes in the back to a figure to sit on and added stowage in the front. The figures are AB Figures.

This is my first Diecast models a Panhard 178 for my recce patrols and two Wespes, all from Altaya. There have been some fixing to do before I can paint them, the stowage on the Panhard was really ugly, and when removed they left big holes in the plastic. I have to paint them before I can say if the quality lives up to the rest of my plastic and metal vehicles. None of this vehicles are some that I need very soon, so maybe I only paint the Panhard (have always liked the design of this funny little car) and wait a while with the Wespes.
Behind the diecast models a Marder IIIM from MMS is being assembled, it seems to become a fine model.

Probably a very easy task to paint this 105mm guns from SHQ, but still I have struggled a bit with them, it took me some time to find the right color and the wash didn’t look good at all – so how far they are right now is hard to say, I guess I will give them a dull coat and try to pin wash them one more time, normally I would use satin or clear coat but by using dull coat the enamels will spread out a bit and hopefully I can give the color some depth in this way. After this I will add weathering with pigments.

More Shermans…

(Click the pictures to see them in bigger solution)

Four new Shermans – the liberation of Europe has started…

Most of the stowage are from Goffy, the extra jerry cans are SHQ.

Two Armourfast (to the left) and two Revell.

Showing all seven Shermans that I have painted this last couple of weeks, nice and dusty.

More Shermans to be shoot to pieces by Pak40’s lurking in the boscage. Not long ago I finished the first three and has now painted seven. I started to build three more, but these where M4-A3E8 and didn’t enter service in Europe until December ’44 (I later found out). 2014 will not be the year where I use time on stuff that I cannot use here and now, so those are put back in their boxes and will be there until we enter Germany. I has now ordered some PSC Shermans, that hopefully are here before the weekend.

I actually ordered a really big bunch of stuff this time (I hope my girlfriend doesn’t read this), a box of PSC Sdkfz. 251’s, two Tiger II with Porsche turrets from Trumpeter, a single Sherman M4 also from Trumpeter that will get a Dozer blade, a box of PSC StuG’s, a box of PSC Panthers, two diecast Jagdpanzer IV from Easy Model, two diecast Wespe’s from Altaya, one diecast Panhard 178 also from Altaya and finally a Spitfire and a Typhoon both from Academy… Adding to these I also bought a Dragon Hummel and a box of German Artillery, including a horse tow and two 10,5 guns. After this I only need a few pieces for my US vs. German Normandie missions (it will start all over when I am going to buy vehicles for my unpainted british army).

While I wait I think I will paint these little fellows:

Say hello to Jimmy, Glenn, Bing and Tommy, the noise from them will be sweet music to the infantry fighting their way through the bocage.

Achieved in December 2013

After been doing nothing for ages I finally started up again last month. I have been working like I tried to make up for the lost time.

This is what I achieved:
• 1 full US Platoon
• 1 extra US Mortar Team
• 1 US Medic
• 1 German Fallschiermjäger Squad
• 3 US Shermans
• 1 House
• 3 new Terrain Boards
• 3,6 meters of Bocage

That is 53 figures in all. I am usually very slow to paint figures, so 53 figs is a lot for me. Making new terrain boards doesn’t seems to be much, but every board has got two layers of plaster and have been painted several times to get a differentiated surface that I wanted to look like a mix between grass and earth. I have started up doing my houses again which is something that I have longed for. And finally I have started using my airbrush (on the shermans)…

So in all a very productive month, I hope Januar will be as good and something is indicating that it will be. I am soon ready with four new Shermans. When they are done I will go one with three more, the first one I finished assembling this morning and I will start up on the next two tomorrow. The next step will be to paint 6 Armourfast StuG’s and hopefully make some more Fallschiermjägers to bring them up to a full Platoon. There are four US 105mm Artillery pieces together with trucks and gun teams that also would be nice to have ready. I hope to make some more Normandie houses and to keep getting more terrain done: fields made out of Fake Fur, dirt roads and a couple of forrest pieces would be nice.

But if you want to know how fast armies can be built and still keep a really high quality you should check out Piers and his blog: WW20mm

:-)