New Stuart V’s

Two more tanks off the ranks.  Bought from toyworld where they were selling them about half price (clearing out their stock, again).  Since I needed a fourth anyway as some lists require four rather than three which was what I had.   Got the extra one because…. well you can’t really have enough light tanks, they always have served me well.  Anyway now I have five, painted in three batches so all a bit different but not to worried.  These were painted I think using Russian Green (surprising I can’t recall was only a week ago), I then gave them a bit of a wash with black, green and brown, (just trying to work out what looked best, for what it’s worth green wash is too bright, brown is good and dirty looking, what doesn’t devlan mud work with? and black looks grimey though can be a bit harsh, if I was doing it again I’d probably do two brown washes or a mix of brown and black).  After that I mixed painting on and drybrushing more russian green (or whatever green I was using) just to smooth out the areas where the wash shouldn’t be.  Drybrushed a little black in areas and khaki to simulate dust and grime.  Tracks were german grey, with black wash and then german grey again with a little bit of khaki drybrushed on later.  Anyway they’re ok.  Did photograph all five together but I mis-focussed and picked up the rear tank which mean the majority of the photo was out of focus.  I’ll redo it later.

Oh one other thing, I used a pencil to go over a lot of the metal bits (which I accidentally painted over some of).  Like the guy did on his terrain building site.  Worked really well, a lot more subtle than metallic paint.

 

Crusader III AA MkII

Having had my painting pattern broken up with work and bathroom renovations and struggling to get back into it.  So looking to knock off something quick and easy I dug out my base coated Crusader AA tanks.  Really not much to them really.  The only really standout thing is the placement of the air-identification star.  Maybe the radio aerials as well.  Apparently the difference between the MkII and MkII was the placement of the radio, from the turret to the hull to free up room in the turret.  Clearly the aerials on these are in the turret so presumably is the radio.  Reason for two aerials or one was that there is a molding defect on the one of the turrets.  That said don’t see any photos with two aerials (fact is hard to find aerials in the turret regardless)  Probably need to fix that up but haven’t decided on the right course of action yet.  Just hearth brush bristle so scissors could deal with that.

 

Parade USA!

I finished basing the US airborne platoon tonight .. and whilst sorting out the entire army.. figured it was worth the effort to show what is on offer.. especially for august.

So here is a shot of what is on the parade..

The key is;
A. Company HQ, 2IC and 2 Bazookas
1. Combat Rifle platoon 9 rifles, 1 HQ, 1 Bazooka.
2. Combat Rifle platoon 9 rifles, 1 HQ, 1 Bazooka
B. Company HQ, 2IC and 2 Bazookas
3. Combat Rifle platoon 9 rifles, 1 HQ, 1 Bazooka.
4. Combat Rifle platoon 9 rifles, 1 HQ, 1 Bazooka.
5. Ammo and pioneer platoon 6 Rifles and 2 Bazookas.
6. Weapons platoon, 4 HMG’s and HQ.
7. Weapons platoon, 4 HMG’s and HQ.
C. Airborne Company command, 1 bazooka
8. Airborne platoon, 9 Rifles, 1 Bazooka
9. Airborne LMG platoon, 8 LMG’s

and of course there are Sherman’s currently in the paint and panel shop

I won’t show any close ups just yet… but the airborne are some of my best ever to date painted figures.. yes really!

I still have mortars to paint but they haven’t arrived because the army bag hasn’t arrived from the states yet.

I also have the weapons platoon for the army… which are still undercoated black.. looking like little … chared men.