It was a big Sunday

The brewed-up T-34/85 wreck terrain piece is done! Here’s the base that it rests on:

Here’s the inked, drybrushed and matt-varnish-sealed piece that you’ve all been waiting for:

From the above, you’ve now had a good look at the home-made Rust blend that I made, combining Blood Red with Brazen Brass and the Brown Ink (R.I.P.). It doesn’t look so powerful here, because I’ve gone and applied two very heavy washes over it of the new Citadel pre-mixed Wash (or watered-down Inks, curse it), Ogryn Flesh. I should have just used one medium coat of Ogryn Flesh – you can see the Rust has become very brown from the washes. The Ogryn Flesh Wash has helped to take the shiny Bronze edge off the Brass particles, though…I’m tempted to keep this homemade Rust to use for mufflers and the like, where they recommend using a Rust – usually I’ve just used Boltgun Metal washed twice with Flesh Ink (R.I.P.). Have a look at the rear of the T-34/85: I think the rust on those mufflers has worked well.

I remember now where the idea for this terrain piece first came from – I was watching another wargame rules-set being played at NWA one night, where a good friend was learning to play. The objective for both sides was to reach a tank in the middle of the board (an ‘objective marker’). I have blended that idea with photo evidence from various ‘eyewitness’ books of the Eastern Front, where wrecked tanks were used as forward Artillery Observation Posts (because they were safe to be under when you were being shelled).

So, the terrain piece is done, as well as the two Revell Tiger I’s that were done as company command vehicles. Apart from having slightly different numbers on the side, an extra aerial added on the turret and MGs mounted for air defence, they aren’t any different to the four Tigers I’ve already got. This time they are perfect, since I knew what to watch for during construction. The one error I made (and was fixed) was discovered just as I was about to varnish them -  I realised I’d left the Balkenkreusz off both tanks. That set me back two hours.  The numbering advice I’ve used comes from here.

Hills! Yes, more terrain.

I was able to undercoat the two hills you’d seen me prepare previously. First, you need to get some pinboard tacks, ones that don’t go all the way in to the end:

Begin to stick the tacks in, about an inch apart from each other and at least half an inch (or more if your hill has a gentle gradient) apart: I advocate using as many tacks as possible, as some always come out during undercoating or flocking:

If your hills aren’t standing completely free of the surface they rest on, get better tacks and start again:

Now you can begin undercoating. I’m using good old Brown Kayak acrylic from Haymes, painting from the top of the hill downwards: You don’t have to apply it thickly, but you do want to completely cover everything: and it’s best to undercoat while holding them in one hand. When you’ve completely covered all the white, put it down and let dry for 24 hours:

Tonight (monday night) I applied on a second undercoat. This time I applied it quite thickly, but again, I made sure I covered everything – sometimes little air pockets are formed as you apply the first coat and they will be uncovered during the drying – get the brush bristles in there and paint them in well.

Sometime next weekend I’ll begin the flocking.

I also washed a number of sprues in detergent and very warm water, then air dried  them. I use an old coat-hanger, cut and reshaped, to hang them on:

Next weekend (earlier if there’s a good, warm afternoon) I’ll undercoat them – then all these recon units can be commenced.

Revell 1:72 PzKpfw VI “Tiger” 1 Ausf. E – completed

Although they were finished a fortnight ago, I wasn’t able to get around to photographing my completed Tigers until yesterday.

Now, these are Revell kits 03116 and 03161 – the difference being that in 03161 you also get a set of German infantry in Winter/Late War cammo gear.

I’ve posted here and there on what I discovered as I built and painted this kit. The only real troubles I had were 1) where I had used track links that are meant to get stuck on the turret as ‘ordinary’ track links, requiring those links that were glued onto the turret to require a little extra effort, and 2) when I realised I had to manually drill a hole (or two?) into the turret roof before assembly – but I’d already assembled.

Here’s the platoon:

The camouflage I chose was the Dark Yellow with Chocolate Brown scheme that GrossDeutschland’s organic Tiger unit at some stage in Southern Russia. I didn’t ‘mottle’ particularly well – in fact, until I applied the Kommando Khaki dust coats, they looked like milk cows!

You can see the camouflage pattern I did clearly in this photo of the platoon commander’s vehicle:

I mentioned near the outset of their construction abouthow I was inspired by a colleague’s Panzer IIIs and StuGs, which looked so real because of dust coats and plenty of stowage and that I was going to add stowage to these Tigers.

I then discussed how I secured a barrel to a turret (which I directly based from a source historical photo). You can see the final product, painted-fishing-line-representing-steel-wire, here:

Pretty good, I reckon!

You can see all nine photos over at my Flickr account.

I think this is a very good kit. Great realism, not too complicated, sturdy and paints up very well. I’ve got two more to assemble as Company Commanders’ vehicles – once I’ve finished the Horch 108s, that is.

Washed up, washed out, washed away…

In the previous two posts, I mentioned about how I was going to try to replicate various forms of mud and earth. I had decided in between the previous two posts to emphasise water by using ‘Ardcoat gloss varnish. Gloss varnish on wargaming terrain really serves to represent the clarity of water and the shine/reflection you get from it helps to reinforce the idea of light glinting on the water’s surface. For that reason alone, wargaming terrain should never have any gloss varnish anywhere, unless its specifically done on windows or water. Everything else ideally should be matt or dull – hence why I use Testors Dullcote spray varnish to seal much of my terrain – because it’s not glossy (unless you apply too much).

The ‘Ardcoat I used was old, and you’ll recall that I became panicked when well after 24 hours, the places where I had thickly applied it still had a very milky appearance – the varnish had not dried completely clear. In the end, it simply needed more time (and a day of 46 degrees centigrade). So, I obtained more ‘Ardcoat and more inks, in case I had to re-do the ink washes.

Well, this is probably old news to some of you, but Citadel have changed the names of their inks. Chestnut is now called ‘Devlan mud’. Flesh is now called ‘Ogryn flesh’.  You can see them all here. I’ll try to use these new names immediately in this blog…if I don’t, just do the conversions for yourself. It also seems that rationalisation has hit this product line, with Brown Ink no longer being avialable. There is Gryphonne Sepia, but it’s not the Brown Ink at all.

(Hmm. Six months for the new washes to reach my local shop? Wow, I am behind!)

Road building

There’s nothing like a heatwave to slow my work right down. That being said, all the paintwork on the roads is done.

First I inked in all the ruts, puddles and potholes:

At this stage, I was still unsure that the final product was going to be worth the amount of effort that I was putting in to it. By the way, the ink mix was 50% Chestnut  Ink and 50% water.

With the Kayak Brown to represent dried mud / solid earth, it was time to represent the soaking wet mud and the somewhat dried mud. This was done by making a roughly 60%-40% blend of Vermin Brown and Kayak Brown for the somewhat dry and pure Vermin Brown for the soaking wet.

The soaking wet mud could only be lying in and around the lowest parts of each part of road – because water always settles in the lowest places. This is where remembering what happens in Nature is all-important…there’s nothing like going out and seeing something first to get it perfect in your mind before trying to model it! In the least, use a good search engine to look at plenty of images of what you want to model – and don’t forget to make notes of the minutiae.

So, here are photos of the completed paintwork:

I’m happy, but once it’s cool enough for me to work in the hobby room without breaking into a sweat in seconds, I’ll put some Green Blend flock on the edges for grass, Dullcote each piece and call them finished.

Stuck in a rut

A lack of “Kayak” brown semi-sheen acrylic housepaint saw all work on the caulk roads grind to a standstill. I had judged that my veteran sample pot of “Kayak” brown (lasted me ten years, did that trustworthy pot!) didn’t have enough to complete a proper first undercoat, so I stopped work until I had more. ‘Having more’ took until the weekend just gone (thanks, Haymes Paint Right in Nunawading) – longer than I’d intended.

Yesterday I was able to complete the first complete undercoat and I had judged correctly that I would’ve run out if I just relied on the dregs in the sample pot, so I was relieved about that. With tomorrow being just as hot as today, tomorrow evening looks ripe for applying another complete layer in one go and having it dry quickly.

Next, a brown ink wash will be applied, to bring out the depth in the ruts and pot-holes in the road. The ruts and pot-holes look much better with a coat of paint over them…thye looked a bit odd just in the plain caulk.

After that, the plan is to do a heavy drybrush of this “Kayak” brown mixed equally with Vermin Brown, as I use Vermin Brown spattered on vehicles to represent mud. (Note to self – buy some more Vermin Brown tomorrow, or there will be delays again). Lastly, a final drybrush of pure Vermin Brown to bring out highlighting.

Some green flock will be glued along the sides, a coat of Dullcote to protect each piece, and done!

***

First comment about that MAC Horch AA vehicle…thanks for the brass fine etched parts, but why not also proved brass etched wire panels for the collapsible sides?

Why drinking tea leads to better detail on your wargaming tanks

I didn’t end up using 6lb fishing line to secure the lichen to those Jagdpanthers…nor did I go into heavier gauged lines that I have, like 15lbs, 25 lbs or even 35lbs. This was because I realised I wanted to have the “wire” or “rope” tied around the lichen – if I painted the fishing line with Shadow Grey first and then tried to tie the fishing line around the lichen, I knew the paint was just going to come straight off. There was no way to paint the Shadow Grey on after tying the line around the lichen first.

I realised that string would be a good substitute for rope at those scales (1:72 & 1: 76). The twine I have in my toolbox was too coarse and shedding its fibres too freely. The different balls of string I saw in newsagents were no better.

While drinking my morning cup of tea at work, I saw the solution right in front of me – to use the string from the teabag. String on teabags? If you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, here’s a picture.

I saved the strings, brought them home, completely immersed them in Flesh Wash to give them a good, dark colour and let them dry. When dry, I tried using one – perfect results.

So all that remains with those Jagdpanthers is to paint on some fresh mud using Vermin Brown, then apply a coat of protective Dullcote, and they are finished.

Tanks and felled trees…impassable terrain 3

The “felled trees” impassable-to-vehicles terrain piece is finished!

I was unconvinced that I’d done a good job until after the Dullcote was dry – I don’t know why, and I’m sure lots of wargamers and modellers probably don’t add a protective varnish coat to terrain, but I find it has a slight darkening affect but also makes the ingredients look more natural and more to scale.

With this piece, I was just going to stick to using the Dark Green Bushes…but I ent all out and even added some Forest-blend bushes as well. They turned out pretty well! I did expend all my “useful” lichen, though, so I went and picked up three single packs of lichen (natural colour, light green and medium green) so I can work on some big hills over Christmas (more about this another time).

Here’s two Jagdpanthers so that you can see the camouflage patterns / scheme that I used:

Today I finished all the annoying details and applied the decals. Tomorrow is just fixing up the remaining odds & ends with Desert Yellow and then I can do the weathering with Kommando Khaki.

The Tigers also had all detail finished and will get final Desert Yellow touching-up tomorrow, but I didn’t get up to decals. I really want to finish these Jagdpanthers, so I’m driving hard (bad pun, I know) to finish them first, so that the Tigers can get more care (because I can use them more in games).

Jagdpanthers, trees and wire

The one thing I neglected to mention about camouflage for the Jagdpanthers is that because the Allies had air superiority by the time Jagdpanthers were entering service, many German vehicles had additional camouflage added to them by draping or securing tree limbs and branches to them, to further break up their silhouette.  This certainly happened to Jagdpanthers – there is plenty of photo evidence of them having foliage draped over them to break up their shape and also to provide localised camouflage so that they could be used in ambushes, which was an effective tactic for these tank hunters.

I’m going to replicate this by glueing lichen to my completed models and then securing the lichen to the vehicle hull with 6lbs fishing line, to represent wire, which was often used for that purpose.

So, once I’ve finished the fine detail and corrected any mistakes, the glue comes back out, lichen and fishing line get glued on, any last mistakes are fixed and then lastly on goes the Dullcote and then they get “blooded” in a game.

I’ve provided a scan of Revell’s own painting instructions for these Jagdpanthers:

The colour code is as follows:

1. A = “Matt Sand”, #16
2. B = “Lake Green”, #48
3. C = “Matt Brick”, #37

and those names and numbers are for Revell’s own line of paints.

The reason I posted that scan is to show some more Jagdpanther camouflage schemes / patterns…not stripes, not mottling (still not exactly sure what mottling really is) and not plain DunkelGelb. I suppose more of a disruptive scheme?

Nice houses, Fujimi – thanks!

The birthday presents are complete, Dullcoted and ready for a game. They are quick to assemble and come out looking great. Judge for yourself:

So, thanks Fujimi, you make some nice, cheap but great-looking terrain pieces. I know that you aren’t the scale I’ve chosen, but for these, I’ll make an exception. Each house almost holds two bases of Panzerfaust: Iron Fist infantry!

As well as some some straight Citadel colours, there was some blending going on, with a number of bricks individually picked out and also careful drybrushing. I have not glued the roofs on – that way they came be quickly removed and infantry bases placed there instead.

It’s been a productive weekend, because the Opel Maultiers were Dullcoted and put away at the same time as the houses. Having purchased some reference material, I’ve been kitbashing and modding the Italeri StuG IIIG that has been sitting alongside the houses. Just a couple of hours ago, the Revell Tigers began construction. Tankoberg, go!

So, you want to drive a schwimmwagen…

If you’re the driver figure from Hasegawa’s 1/72 kit #31113, then you need to have most of your left arm sliced off and both feet amputated at the ankles! I had glued his arms on and then painted him up, but he wouldn’t sit in the seat at all properly – his bum was one part across the passenger’s seat and his knees were hitting the dashboard. Which means that as he is, he won’t fit in. Out came the scalpel. I severed both feet. Then I shaved off as much of his left arm as possible, retaining the whole hand…this was a verticle slice. He then fitted in fairly well – not perfectly, but enough so that he didn’t look unnatural. Basically, his left elbow sticks well and truly into the door panel a good 3mm, and both feet have to come off – again another 3mm.

Then I painted on two GrossDeutschland ’stalhelms’ as unit IDs. I’ll touch up the paint on his arm, then do a good thick coating of dust on the upper half, then it’ll be ready for safety Dullcoting and action.

Continued on with assembly of the Italeri StuG. So far, glueing on the track links has progressed more smoothly than with the UM kits. But I’m only 1/3 of the way through the task, so stay posted.

The modular pieces of the thicket are ready to go. (The modular pieces are the two bits on the left). With all excess flock tapped off and then brushed out of the lichen, a quick blast of Testors Dullcote was sprayed on to preserve its lifespan.

Let me explain the picture a bit more. I have the three pieces of sheet styrene stuck to empty single-serve plastic containers, using double-sided sticky tape. The large piece on the right is covered by the two halves on the left. If a tank or base of figures moves into that terrain, then I remove the appropriate half. As I have painted the terrain onto the bottom part, it’s still clear that the tank or figures are in terrain!

I hadn’t finished the paintwork when I took that picture. I have now, so i’ll give it some Dullcote and then get proper pictures up of the terrain in action.