Captured Sherman Tank

I acquired a new Battlefront plastic Sherman kit a few months ago and have been wondering what I should do with it (as the other Shermans I have are slightly smaller and out of scale) for some time. I'm not sure how it happened, but it finally dawned on me one night. I wanted to see a Sherman in German service.

I assembled and primed the model before painting it US Army olive drab. I then applied uneven coats of German Dunkelgelb, as I wanted parts of the original paint to be showing through. The idea was that this tank was recently captured and thrown into Axis service ASAP. 

I'll be honest: the German crosses really bug me. But that was the look I was trying to go for. The following photos show hastily painted, sloppy Balkenkreuzen. It's obvious the new German owners didn't spend a lot of time on it, nor did I.

My next step was to apply winter camouflage to the model. This was accomplished using my traditional method of toothpaste and spray paint.

The tracks still need to be painted, but this model is essentially done (apart from the commander who will be coming later). Comments, as always, are appreciated.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is going to be my final update for a while. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm moving across the country for grad school in just a few days and don't know how soon I'll be able to work on anything. But it'll be soon enough!

Raus! Raus! Schnell!

My bailed out Panzer crew is finally done! This was my first attempt at really painting 15mm figures, and I certainly learned quite a few things along the way: like to wait until the end to paint the pea dot camouflage or to prime and paint the figures on a Popsicle stick first before gluing them to a base. And other things like that too. I can't wait to take all that I've learned on these guys and apply them to my next batch of figures (though that may be some time from now, as I'm getting ready to move across the country). 

As I mentioned previously, I wasn't happy with the modelling clay I initially used for the snow. After a bit of research I decided to use Golden Coarse Pumice Gel. What a Godsend! I applied it with no problem and it was dry after only a few hours. I then gave it a base coat of Screaming Skull and highlighted the whole thing (several times) with Skull White. Not too shabby in my opinion.

And I decided to add a little color to it all and make some of the crew pretty seriously wounded. It also may or may not have been an attempt to hide some mistakes during painting.....but I'll never tell for sure.

What do you think? Any feedback is welcomed!

Work in Progress: Bailed Panzer Crew

I've had these dismounted German tankers sitting on my desk since September, so I finally decided to start working on them last night. At 1 am. That's how I roll with these things it often seems.

I recently picked up a copy of Devil's Charge, the new Flames of War book that focuses on the German offensive in the Ardennes during December 1944. Since I'm putting together a list based on Kampfgruppe Peiper, I thought it appropriate to make these fellows Waffen-SS.

I used this tutorial from the Battlefront website for the pea dot camouflage uniforms. It really helped out and made the whole process quite simple.

I think the camo turned out pretty well, but I still have a lot of work to do on these guys. I'm still learning how to properly paint 15mm figures and I think these figures will be a good test of my skills. I don't think they're too bad for a first attempt, though.

One thing I'm not happy with, however, is my choice of basing material. I used some air drying modelling clay, but it's cracking and starting to come off the actual base. Someone online suggested using something called Golden Coarse Pumice Gel, so I think I'll give that a shot next time.

First Panzer IV Ausf. H

My friend Ben recently introduced me to a new game called Flames of War. It's a 15mm WWII game which, it turns out, is a lot of fun to play! After lending (and leasing) me his British tank force for our first few games, I decided that I needed to start building my own army to play against the Weasel.

I settled on an Ardennes-style German force. I've always loved the look of tanks in the winter, and so here it is - my first Panzer IV Ausf. H!

Underneath that white camouflage is German Dunkelgelb, or dark yellow. I realize that the foliage is a bit off for the Battle of the Bulge. Not only is the grass too long, but it's also too yellow (it was a much darker green when I applied it to the model, but I think the sealer is making it dry out faster). I'm in the process of replacing it; the Flames of War website offers a nice tutorial. So I figure I'll end up doing something very similar.

Here's a close-up of the tank commander. I'm really pleased with how he turned out! I'd never painted a 15mm figure before and think he came out pretty well. If you look closely you can see a red dot on his cockade - a detail that I'm particularly proud of.

I didn't attach the side skirts because, based on a lot of the photos I've looked at, the Germans tended to take them off in the winter months. You can also see where I tried to put snow and mud in the tracks. I think they still look a little too clean, so I'm going to go back and dirty them up a bit more using Games Workshop's new texture paints.

Overall, I think this tank turned out pretty well for a first time. The kit was easy to assemble and a joy to paint. I'll definitely be building a few more of these, so stay tuned for more German armor goodness!