Village Cobbled Streets

I made some new cobbled streets for my Normandy village. Using MDF as the base cut into 8cm x approx. 30cm pieces, I coated each one with a layer of modelling clay. Getting this as flat as possible was a mission, I think a regular rolling pin is the best idea. Then I used an excellent new purchase from Green Stuff World

This is a heavy plastic rolling pin with a cobbled texture on the outside. So all you do is roll it firmly along the modelling clay surface and it leaves a cool imprint of a cobbled street. It was so quick and easy compared to my previous method of individually carving cobblestones with my engraving tool. The pattern comes out very nicely as you can see from the detail in my photos. These rolling pins are not expensive, and I also picked up one for brickwork, which I will use on my next houses.

I wanted to add some bomb damage craters too, mainly to cover up areas where the cobbles were not so great. Circles of modelling clay glued on did the job here. Then I would dig out the hole in the road and cover it all with some fine sand and dirt. Undercoat and plenty of grey paint, plus some drybrush highlights and lots of dirty weathering powders finished it all off!

Check out the Puma armoured car cautiously picking his way through the destruction.

 

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Revell Sturmgeshutz IV in 1/72 scale

OK so this kit usually gets an absolute pounding on line whenever I read a review of it. I built it and quite enjoyed building it. It comes out as quite a nice wargaming model. The only really strange thing about it is the massive muzzle brake. It looks like a person with a really massive nose. So a bit weird. Some people criticize the lack of detail on the tracks, but these link and length tracks went together really well. The side armour is quite thick, but nothing that really upset me, and if you were really picky you could switch them for some other ones.

All the hatches you can leave open for crew. So I will be adding some AB figures crew for this guy when I get the time. Here are some photos with all my other Stugs too. I think that will be enough Stugs for my Germans now. Such cool little tanks!

 

 

Dragon Models Sd.Kfz.142 Stug III Ausf B in 1/72 scale

Another Stug for my collection from Dragon Models. This time I managed to buy from Dragon Models USA for some super duper bargain price. Keep a look out for their specials as sometimes they do have really good ones. Even with the pricey freight USA to Australia its worth it.

The kit is really simple as Dragon are now releasing these small scale kits with running gear and tracks in single sections. So each side of the tracks include the lower wheels and upper return rollers and fit over the sprocket and drive wheel. This reduces the parts drastically but I still have trouble fitting the tracks and managed to snap off one of the wheels. Lucky I now have a fantastic pin vice and mini drill bits. So a new metal axle was added to the back wheels far stronger than the original plastic one. So fitting the tracks after that was a breeze. I just use some thicker wire superglued into the wheel and then into the lower hull at the right spot. You just need to drill corresponding holes where the wire fits. Anyway a great investment go get a pin vice, I think I paid about $15 for mine. What a life saver!!!

The rest of the kit was very straight forward. The Stug is a simple looking tank and so a simple model. All the hatches are moulded shut on this one and the hull details also mostly moulded on. So a great kit for someone who wants a fast easy build, but if you want a challenge I think Trumpeter make lots of Stug versions that are more interesting.

I tried a green and brown camo scheme just kind of blotchy patchy random. I did go back afterwards and respray with dark yellow to fade out my painting, a technique which seems to work well. A new aerial was added using my washing up brush aerials and a whole heap of stowage to the back to make things a bit more exciting. I also built a Revell Stug at the same time, so he is up next. The last photo shows all my Stugs, one Trumpeter kit and now three from Dragon. They are cool little tanks.

Modelling Waffen SS Figures by Osprey Publishing

I picked up this excellent book from the Book Depository for less than $20. I am currently working on stack of figures for my German forces from CP Models and AB Figures and needed some more inspiration for my camouflage uniforms.

Although aimed at the 1/35 scale figure modeler there is still a lot to like for the smaller scale hobbyist like me. And probably you too if you are reading this. The author details three or four different German SS figures and his process of building, converting, adding and finally painting. What he does with converting some of the figures and the detailing them with extras of his own is quite amazing. There are definitely tips and tricks to be learnt for the 1/72 scale figure modeler and painter from this book.

I was most interested in his guides for painting camouflage schemes. He does a great Oak Leaf, Plane Tree, Pea Dot and Italian camo on various 1/35 scale figures. It gives you an excellent guide to what colours to use and what patterns to apply. I will be trying this out on my pile of little guys soon when I get the chance. This book is a nice quick read but definitely worth adding to your library, especially if you are keen to keep perfecting those camo schemes.

I have been up to my neck building more German armour and have not managed to finish anything so posts have been a bit scarce this month! A Stug III and a Stug IV should be at the finishing line soon!

Tiger Terrain Country Walls

A very quick update on the other walls I bought from Tiger Terrain

You can buy this set to complete a walled paddock, including an open gate. I just glued them onto some MDF and added fine sand. Then just flocked and static grassed everything. I used the excellent rubbing a balloon trick to get the static grass to stand up once I had sprinkled it onto diluted PVA glue. I have all the eBay bits to make my own static grass applicator but have not got around to it quite yet.

The walls are great, very finely cast with great detail. I will be getting more of these for sure from Stephan at Tiger Terrain. I am hoping he expands his 20mm range to do some more stuff. I still have a small ruined cottage to paint from him, but it would be good to see some more buildings in this scale.

Armourfast Hanomag Halftracks in 1/72 scale

I finished up a couple more halftracks from Armourfast. These come two in a box and are really reasonably priced. But they do lack detail, especially in the one piece track and wheel area. But if you want some good value vehicles to bulk up the numbers then look no further. They go together in minutes and you can always dress them up with extras and crew.

So that’s what I did with these two. I had a spare Pak 36 gun from somewhere which I added to the top of one vehicle (I think it was a Plastic Soldier Company spare I had). This was teamed up with some Zvezda crew men from their 88mm gun kit. On reflection I would change the position of the crew as it looks a bit like they are doing a loading conga in the back of the half track. For the other vehicle I used my favourite AB figures for the crew, including a machine gunner and a couple of seated guys. Spent way too long doing the camo schemes again but it’s a fun past time.

I tried something new with my camouflage on the half tracks by first painting the green pattern in dark green with a brush, but then giving them a fine respray with my dunkelb spray can. It fades the camo quite nicely. Since I refuse to think about an airbrush this is as far as I will go without breaking my own strict modelling rules of engagement!

 

Ready To Roll German Vehicles in 1/72 scale

I wanted to buy some more alternative German vehicles that I could not find in plastic model kit form anywhere. One of the companies who make a few of these rarer vehicles is the Rapid Fire Ready to Roll Vehicles you can find here Rapid Fire. These were two Hotchkiss German SPGS, one 75mm and one 105mm. Also a halftrack with a Pak 40 75mm gun. Rapid Fire is a ruleset I have, but have not yet tried out yet. Their website is a great source for all sorts of things and worth a look.

Their vehicles come in resin and metal, with the tank barrels usually being in metal. They are pretty inexpensive and have a decent range of British, German and American vehicles. I haven’t seen so many other resin castings to compare them to, but i was pretty happy with the detail. They come on bases already moulded. All i had to do was file down a view bits here and there and then superglue the barrels onto the main chassis. Hey presto the vehicle is finished.

The open top SPGs and halftrack were crying out for some AB figures crew and so I happily obliged with a few guys in camp and black jackets. It took me about two weeks to finish off painting all the camp on the crew men due to the camo pattern i did on all their pants. Then of course, once they are in place in their vehicles you cannot see so much of all my painstaking spotty came schemes……… Plenty of photos below!