Rapid Fire in 20mm! Filling gaps in WW2 - part 3

A few more German vehicles for several periods, Blitzkrieg, Barbarossa, Western Desert and 43-45. Most of them are my friend´s Mário Laranja Resin 3d prints and the rest is MiniGeneral and S-Models.  

A few more Sdkfz 11 for towing the 75mm and 105mm guns of the DAK. They can also serve for the tows of the HG in Sicily if you ignore the specific symbols and markings. 

The drivers are my usual soft plastic torsos with Milliput arms and legs. This one is from the old school of Bodybuilding in which only one of the arms was worked out (the one necessary to punch someone). 

This is the S-Models Sdkfz 253. The usual plastic and photo-etched parts gives an incredible detailed result. The figure is PSC. 

More Sdkfz 11 for the Panzer Grey period. The original period of these is France 1940 but they can go up to the beginning of 1943 if you ignore the green jackets of the drivers.  

Nothing was left behind on Mário´s design of these models as you can see from the very complete interior. 

This Befehls PzI PLA 3d print from MiniGeneral  will go to the artillery as a FO. The PSC figure got an artillerist uniform in conformity. 

The other S-Models Sdkfz 253 was painted in the 3 colour camouflage and it was the last model I needed for the Seelow Heights book by Steve Shann. 

As a gift in Mário´s last parcel came this Opel Blitz.  A bit of Blue Board was used as the truck´s canvas cover. Don´t forget to cover the Blue Board with PVA before aplying the primer. 

Mário is a true artist! (I need to grease him as much as I can for obvious reasons!...)

Next: more of this series or a jump to France 1940, Eastern Front or HG in Sicily. 

Rapid Fire in 20mm! Filling gaps in WW2 - part 2

 

Now for some more Eastern Front/ Barbarossa and beyond goodies in the form of Mário Laranja resin 3d prints and one of the last Luppa aircrafts everything in 1/72nd scale. 

The Resin 3d print of the BT-7 is another marvel of detail. Some of them were printed with hatches open and crewed with Orion figures from their Modern Russian set. The horse-shoe aerial came from Fabbri T-26s as not all needed them. 

Also a DT machine gun made from scratch was pinned to the roof of the command vehicles. 

Getting ready to face the Germans at Dubno!

One of the PzIII H became a Befehlspanzer with the addition of the rear aerial railing and the repositioning of the vertical antennas. 

These ones looked to have carried many times a large wooden box held some how by the aerials. 

Also the small deflector in front of the turret was carved out as the originals. 

The gun was fake in the real one but I let the model with the original as the difference are almost non-existent. The figures on all PzIII H are PSC. 

A "Line" PzIII H. Well, these ones are also getting ready for Dubno!

The Die-cast Luppa IL-2 Sturmovik is a bit anachronistic for these 1941 tanks as it has the later two seats, while the Barbarossa period IL-2 had only one. 

Next: more gaps filled or some Epic ACW.

Rapid Fire in 20mm! Filling gaps in WW2 - part 1

After 40 years of frantic modelling there would be one day in which most of the necessary stuff for many of my wargaming periods would be done. This is in fact what is happening with most of my WW2 projects with a number of them on the "complete" stage. The problem is exactly the "complete" thing: there is always a FO that is missing, a command car unbuilt or a specialist vehicle to order. Then there is the problem of books. They always carry problems and that is why the Inquisition was probably burning them! There is always a new unknown unit or even a group of vehicles that are much better if they are BFG version instead of the GBF. 

So here starts a group of posts with bits and pieces for many places and periods, sometimes even entire companies or more, built and painted to make the already big units look nicer. 

From Valiant you can see here the metal Von Luck, Bandomir and Kurz from the 125th PzGren. regiment of the 21st PD in Normandy. They are made to stand side by side with the other Valiant big figures (not the 2nd run of them which are 20mm). Even if a bit big they are adorable figures which captured very well the atmosphere of the famous photo in which they are based. 

A  Sig-33 150mm IG from S-Model with Valiant crew from their German Howitzer. This one was painted in post Feb/43 colours in order to be used by the Heer in many places and it seconds the ones I made for the SS. The shirt colour is the grey one that was more used instead of the white as the war progressed. 

This StuH finishes the HG armour for Sicily. In the shelves there are already 9X PzIII M (I Abteilung); 7X PzIV G (II Abteilung) and 6X Stug/StuH (III Abteilung), this one being the second StuH of the group as the HG in Sicily counted with 9 of them (2 in RF terms). 

 

The model is an old Esci one that was patiently waiting for its turn (I know it as it never moved for years). The Esci model got a piece of necessary extra protection to the sides and a stowage holder at the back, typical of the HG Stug IIIs. 

Another Esci kit is this Sdkfz 251/8, one of the most common armoured ambulances of the German army. Up to now I only had one Opel Blitz ambulance for the post Feb/43 actions and this one comes handy, even if I don´t know exactly what to do with it on the RFR tables. 

The canvas cover and and the red cross flag was made of kitchen paper... well, I confess, in fact toilet paper was used in a thick layer and I promise that it was never used before!

This one was less tricky as its a very nice Collection Model die-cast from Italy. It only got a wash of black and some light dry brushing of Panzer Grey. Its ready to join the Barbarossa actions, particularly the ones around Dubno.  

Another one for the Panzer Grey period, specifically thinking about France 1940 but with a much larger scope in time if necessary. This is again S-Models with Valiant crew.

So, where is the Valiant 105mm FH18gun? Here it comes glued together with Matchbox and Fujimi converted artillerists. It will complete the guns of my medium artillery regiment for Blitzkrieg but they can be towed up to USSR if you ignore the green jackets. The Sdkfz 11 tows will show up in one of the next posts of this incredible series of yours. 

Last vehicle is another Esci model, a Sdkfz 251/7 for the German engineers between 41 and 43. This one is one of my favourite versions of the 251 as I have one for every theater of German operations. 

Finally a gift from my friend Mário Laranja who does not only makes the best 3d Resin prints of the world but also makes this kind of very good MDF kits.

It will go straight to the NA theater of operations, obviously. What can be done with MDF is incredible and painting this one will help me paint others I have on the cue. 

With the lift off roofs. 

The MDF kits paint as any other models: I used a wash of black all over applied with a large brush and then some ochre followed with diluted and drybrushed white. In the end, wood and bricks were painted in different shades of brown and brick red. Do this stage carefully so the original black can be seen shining through. 


Next: part 2 of this series. There will be a number of them like this. 

Rapid Fire! Sicily 1943 in 20mm - The second battalion of PzGrenadiers of the FPD 'Hermann Göring'

Second battalion ready, and one still missing to finish the division. One of the four battalions of the HG didn´t go to Sicily so only three are necessary. 

One again very old plastic figures were used from several soft and hard plastic brands that you will easily recognize. Well, if you didn't, from L to R:

- "Chinese' Airfix as the firer of the MG-34; 

- Esci No2 with rifle cut out and feeding the MG-34; 

- Revell; 

- Matchbox; 

- Hasegawa; 

- Revell with extra rifle on the back; 

- Hasegawa 

- and Matchbox DAK.

The only big change were the usual baggier trousers made from GreenStuff. The SS camouflage smock used by the HG grenadiers was painted in a different scheme as this division had access to some 10 different types.

The heavy weapons company is a full PSC unit. Only on the Mg-34s are two Hasegawa hard plastic figures.

Some GreenStuff was also added to the bottom of the trousers of the Hasegawa figures as they had high boots originally. 

More baggier trousers for the command group. The officer holding the pistol doesn't carry a MP-40 as it belongs to the radioman but it looks like it :) 

Next: I'll have a solo game now but also I'll add some more WW2 Germans to several projects.

Rapid Fire! Market garden in 20mm - Oddities and such (part 13) - Last few models for the Germans

This post is about the last few German vehicles and figures still missing for the new Market Garden RF! book. It´s again a bit nostalgic post as it marks the end of a project started many years ago with the first OMG book and with a few converted Char B1bis into German flamethrowers. Here there are also some extra guns and vehicles that  will be used in other 1943-45 campaigns. 

The vehicles are 3d prints in resin (Sdkfz 11s) and PLA (RSO). The guns are S-Models for the SIG 33, Resin prints for the Zis-3 and a scratch for the 75mm IG37.

These are the two Soviet Zis-3 for the FJ Regiment von Hoffman, part of KG Walther. 

The guns were printed by my friend Mário Laranja and the figures are converted Esci and Revell FJ. 

One of these Sig33 150mm guns will go to the SS Infantry gun Training Battalion of the SS Mattusch KG part of Von Tettau 'Division'.  By having a pair of these they can also become, for instance,  the 13th companies of each of the Regiments of PzGrenadiers of the 12th SS in Normandy.

The S-Model guns are crewed by converted PSC figures from the Support Weapons box. 

Again more PSC and an Esci figure to crew this IG37.

This one was made from a multitude of origins:

- trailer from a shortened Zvezda 75mm gun;

- plastic wheels;

- barrel from an old Esci 25PDR gun;

- muffler from a piece of carved plastic;

- shield cut to shape from a metal part of a Lorraine 75mm SP from Skytrex that came surplus by mistake. 

Another Revell command group for the FJ. 

A few more Sdkfz 11, tows of 75mm/ 105mm guns in late campaigns. 

The models are resin prints made in one (!) piece. Well, it has a separate steering wheel...

The RSO is a PLA MiniGeneral print, for SS Eberwein KG, very nice and sturdy. I have a number of them already with snow in the bases for a  1944/45 VG division but as everybody knows "It never snows in September".  A trick I´m nowadays using in 3d prints is to spray them with varnish before priming them. Somehow the printing lines get much more disguised. 

Next: More HG division fore Sicily 1943.