Panzer IV's to the Fore...

Well it is still the early stage of painting these Plastic Soldier Company Panzer IVH 1/72 tanks(tracks/tools still unplainted, no washes, no pin wash, no weathering, no higlighting...yet) but I like the way the basecoat color and camoflauge looks so far. 

This is my first time every using an airbrush(outside of the practicing I did on some 'junk' tanks) so, given my noobiness, I am fairly pleased.  I used Vallejo Dark Yellow Primer to begin followed with Vallejo Dark Yellow Model Color as a basecoat(which I highlighted with some beige put into the mix).  The camo colors(brown and green) were Vallejo Model Air colors.  They say that you don't need to thin these to spray them in your airbrush I found the brown a little chunkey and splattery...so I had to go back to apply a little thinner to the cup; it's possible I didn't shake it up well enough before hand.  The green was fine right out of the bottle.   I wanted the camo patterns to have a bit of a faded look so I went back over the whole think with a heavily thinned layer of the Dark Yellow basecoat. 

So now I will move into the detailing stages.....I am excited to see how the whole thing turns out.

On another note, my Plastic Soldier Company order of Pak38 50mm AT Guns just arrived as well as my Battlegroup Kursk rulebook...yay!

Urray!!! Four more Soviets to the salient...

Well we've reached the end of my week of vacation and although I didn't paint as many miniatures as I'd hoped to(naturally), I did get quite a few terrain projects done. 

First off, here are four more Plastic Soldier Company miniatures ready for the gaming table...
(click on any pictures for larger images)

Above you have a Maxim HMG crew, a rifelman and an PPSh SMG gunner.  Of the four, this guy has to be my favorite(probably the best figure in the set actually).  Got to love the sculpted yell..."Urray!!!!!!!!"....

Another shot...

All in all, it was fairly successful vacation hobby-wise and I look forward to sharing my new stuff with my club at school.  Here is a roll call of what I finished over the February break...
-8 PSC 20mm Soviets painted
-8 PSC 20mm Gerrmans painted
-9 Double-Sided Terrain Tiles Completed to make a new gaming board
-3 large hills made for above
-two pine forest terrain pieces made for above
-Orthodox Church terrain piece made
-4x stone wall sections made
-4x rough stone wall sections made
-6x hedges made
-6x wooden fence sections made
-4x bushes terrain sections made
-2x Pegasus hobbies Russian houses made(need custom roofs still, though)

Additionally, my wife built me five tanks that I will be painting in the future with my new airbrush(yay!).  She has been cranking out these Plastic Soldier Company beauties for me at such a nice pace that I have dubbed her my German tank factory("Sarahwerks").  Here they are(unpainted) with more on the way...

My first five PSC tanks...can you identify them?

Vacation may be over but I have many "works in progress" that will be hitting the table in the near future. 

Thanks for viewing,
Happy Wargaming Everybody,
~Gareson

German Heavy Weapons Teams

I completed a small number of PSC(Plastic Soldier Company) German Heavy Weapon Team figures...

Still love everything that this company touches, and their models are a joy to paint...

Panzerschreck Team

 

Mortar Crew with 82 and 120mm Mortars

German MG-34 Heavy Machine Gun Crew

On deck I have some small terrain elements, more Russians, and several tank models in the works as well as the rest of the figures(not shown) in the PSC German Heavy Weapons set.

(as a final note, here is a WIP shot of some of the minis above...No, I do not paint my nails with Vallejo Model Colors...it's how I take some paint off my brush when I pull too much off my wet pallette!)

(1)Winsor and Newton Series 7 (2) Minis Blue Tacked to Old Paint Pots (3) Colors Log (4) Thumbnail Paint Thinning
Happy Wargaming Everybody!
~Gareson

Geomorphic Terrain Boards at Long Last

I have wanted to make a geomorphic terrain board for as long as I remember but had never gotten around to it.  Using my vacation week seemed like a perfect opportunity so I dove in.  Here is the result...

Note that the road elements are made to align with each other as are both the barren and grassy patches.  I have always been a fan of this visual style and it will be a fairly neutral battlefield that I can use to simulate various historical periods or fantasy settings.  The individual tiles are 20" by 20".  I made them from 2" styrofoam as they are fairly sturdy(especially once painted). The board were textured with a sand/kitty litter mix, base-coasted in dark brown, dryrbrushed with various browns/beiges and then flocked with static grass.   Also, I plan to later add depressed elements like trenches and rivers so the added thickness will work nicely when I make those tiles.

Now for the best part....they're two-sided...

 

This really gives me many options as far as quickly designing a gameboard.  Of course the photo above is a pretty barren battlefield so let's see what it looks like with a few terrain elements added and the tiles reconfigured...

Note how the terrain pieces such as hills(top and right of board) and tree stands start to disguise the tiles somewhat.  In addition to trench and river tiles, I plan to build a 2 tile x 2 tile urban section to integrate into the board.
If you have any questions about the gameboard feel free to post them in the comments section.

Happy wargaming everybody!
~Gareson

Orthodox Church for Soviet Battlefields...

Well I've had some cozy little Eastern European style village buildings I scraped together several years ago but always wanted an Orthodox style church for my Soviet battlefields.  Yesterday, with some help from my son, I threw together a quick terrain piece...

 

The piece disassembles into several pieces(by design, not laziness!)...

(1) Main Structure: There is a floor inset in the tower so figures can populate the top portion. 
(2) Removable Dome Roof: This allows access to the tower and in the future I could swap a Western European style steeple to conver this to a Catholic/Protestant church.
(3) Eastern European style ribbed roof(anyone know the name for this style?).  Also could be swapped with shingled roof for a Western look.  Not attaching roof also allows figures access inside chapel.
(4) Detachable Base: A growing trend for me...not attaching a permant decorative base so terrain piece can be used on various other terrain types(snowscape and urban settings...in addition to grassy field style shown).  The four rectanglar notches are scraps of foamcore which settle the church onto the base.  I may later paint the floor a grey to represent stone. 

Construction Basics:

The main structure is of foamcore construction....standard fare.  In the pics above you can see the pins I have in place while the glue sets.  The pinholes they leave behind are easily obscured by the textured paint "stucco" that I add later.  The door was carved into the foamcore by removing a half circle of paper on the outside shell and carving the woode details into the foam within. 

I struggled with how to model the dome and then I scrounged my bits box and "Eureka!".  The larger piece is a wooden ball from Michael's Craft Store with a finial cap(another wooden bit attached).  I drilled in a hole in the top piece so I could put an Orthodox cross on top.  I left this piece unglued because I have a feeling with the wear and tear of wargaming...it will easily break(but no problem, I can construct a new one in 5 minutes if this ever happens). 

The roof is made of matting board(heavy cardboard) with matchsticks framing the structure(I have seen many photos of Eastern European battlefields depicting this style of roof but still can't find the name). 

As we speak my son's Soviet forces are destroying my German reconaissance company in the shadow if this very church in a game of Blitzkrieg :-(

Thanks for viewing....happy wargaming everybody!
~Gareson

Soviet Anti Tank Power vs. Panzer 38T's

While I am putting the finishing touches on my new modular terrain boards(something I've wanted to make for years), I thought I'd throw up some pics of some "newer" minis in my painted collection of 20mm WWII figures(in group shots)...

First up, various Soviet T-70 Light Tanks, 45mm Anti-Tank Gun and Crew, Anti-Tank Rifle Team and a light Russian mortar in the background.  All miniatures are from Plastic Soldier Company.

The second shot shows some of my German infantry from Plastic Soldier Company.  Also in the shot is a 75mm Infantry Gun by Zvezda(from their Art of Tactic line) with the crewmen being Fantassin/Warmodelling.  The Panzer 38T light tanks are from Pegasus Hobbies. 

As I type my brand new Pak 38 German anti-tank kit is on its way to me from the U.K.(couldn't wait for U.S. stores to stock it so ordered it directly from PSC).  So excited to get this new kit...



Also, my wife is being kind enough to build my Panzer IVH and Stug III kits from PSC in the meantime!

Thanks for viewing, happy wargaming everybody...
~William

A Few Germans and Soviet ATR Team...

Here are some Plastic Soldier Company Germans that I painted up....great figures with wonderfully casted details and clean lines....

 

And a Soviet Anti-Tank Rifle Team(Plastic Soldier Company)....

Soviet Anti-Tank Guns & Crew

Ever since reviving my enthusiasm for WWII miniatures one of the great pleasures has been discovering the fantastic line of plastic figures made by Plastic Soldier Company.  They are a pleasure to paint, easily customized and show real originality in terms of poses. 

(click on photos for larger images)
Here are my Soviet 45mm Anti-Tank guns with crewmen...

In reality each gun is crewed by four men but I haven't gotten around to painting more as of yet.  In fact, eight of the figures are from the artillery set and four are from the Russian Heavy weapons set intended as mortar crewmen(but I thought they mixed nicely).

Here is a shot of the crewmen without the guns...

The four figures on the left are from the 45mm AT gun set by PSC and the four on the right are from PSC's Russian Heavy Weapons set.

Finally, here is a shot of a 50mm Russian mortar and crewmen...

I've been painting 28mm Warmachine figures for so long that adjusting down to painting 20mm plastics is a bit of a challenge but my brush control is slowly adapting. 

Thanks for viewing...
~Gareson

European Barn Terrain Piece...

Woke up early this morning with the intent to get started on a barn to go with the high walls that I built yesterday.  I wanted to stick with the same khaki stucco/red tile theme. 

The building was made from foamcore with balsa wood for the doors and shutters.  The roof was a pre-fabricated styrene pattern that I cut to size. 

One thing I struggle with in making terrain is that I love the look of a finished base but doing so can limit the piece to one type of battlefield(Spring grass around a barn wouldn't work on my snow laden battlefields).  So I am trying something new...

I made the base an optional piece(not the four tabs that nicely hold the building in place).  I could make additional bases to place the building on(snow, urban, etc.) or the building could stand alone on the gaming table without it.  I think this is an approach I will be using in the future.

Here are some additional photos(the first shows how it integrates with the high walls)...

As this was more of a showcase than a tutorial, if you have any questions on construction/technique just post them in the comments.  Thanks for viewing!



Village Wall Terrain(and some Brits!)

Been a while since I posted.  Here are some tall wall segments that I built for my WWII skirmish game, Blitzkrieg.  The elements can be configured in any number of ways...

The sections were VERY EASY to make...a little foamcore, cut up cereal boxes(for cap stones) and some paint textured with sand and I was good to go...

Here are photos of the individual pieces...

 

 

And if we moved our walls a few thousand miles eastward., we might see a Soviet 76mm Antitank Gun using them for cover...

Thanks for viewing...