Undercoating some vehicles: [28mm. 1/56] M3 Lee, Tiger I and King Tiger

Making full use of the spray can to its last spluttering gasp I managed to cover three of my 28mm AFVs (see below, the US M3 Lee Warlord Games sprue sale bargain at £12, well worth waiting for): 

The mighty King Tiger (see below, I know it is totally overkill for Chain of Command but for £12 in the Warlord sprue sale I could not say no to my inner teenage school boys' "yearnings". It still is a beast!): 

Side by side you can see the "huge" difference in size, but remember their combat introduction/debut was but two years apart (see below, 1942 for the Lee, and 1944 for the Tiger II):  

Finally the spray-can's splutter finished in a timely fashion over the Tiger I (see below, again another steal from the Warlord games sprue salem guess what £12):  

I am please to say that the vivid green dries to a dull, dark, camouflaged dark green. 

Audible Book Finished: Tiger Battalion 507

Albeit a freebie with Audible (for a monthly subscriber) I found this book a really good listen. It went through the miscellaneous details of the unit organisation, the tank's technical capabilities, battalion and crew personnel structure and training, maintenance needs r rather foibles, plus the combat experience of a late war Tiger battalion. For the majority of its combat life Heavy Tank Battalion 507 fought on the Eastern Front - though in its deaths throws faced the Americans at Paderborn (see below, highly recommended as a casual read that gives you a flavour of the attractional nature of the Tigers demise, their Achilles heel was that they broke down through mechanical maintenance issues, unrecoverable for an army in retreat. They burned too, AT guns with flank shots and teh JS II's [and ISUs 122/152] were hated opponents or close range T34 duels):   

The original source material came from Battalion 507 reunion conversations, that were collated and fact checked where possible. The material was of relatively current interest (for the Cold War that did not  come in teh 1980/90s) to the US Army in the 1980s. So much so the information was presented to the US Armour School in West Germany (circa 1987) on the experiences in fighting the Soviets. It was noted with dark humour, that the reaction to the drubbing of an American Tank Company in 1945 [Paderborn] was greeted with some distaste and brushed aside as an ambush. The German historian pointed out to the Americans that they were guilty of very poor reconnaissance and the Germans responded to a planned American attack in the German rear with a level of professional agility that should be respected (and learned from).    

Panzer Commanders

In response to my pedantic "is this the right type of yellow" paint brush fiddling (which to be honest felt very much like hard work) I was at least allowed to tart-up the "Green Tiger" crewman and commander figures. I felt obliged to go back and add a few extra details to the King Tiger commander, after all this was a piece of kit with an even bigger clout. Hence I give you Panzer 'Kurtz' Senior in the King Tiger with his Junior Panzer friends in the "Green Tiger":

I am still not completely sure about the "Green Tiger's" overall look ("You wouldn't let it lie" - Vic Reeves). In this photograph I noticed that the difference between the two yellows is quite stark. I used much more white in the late war "ambush" scheme. However the mid-war tones of Dark Yellow from all the illustrative plates that I have seen (and I try to bear in mind these are only artistic impressions not real period colour photographs) do not show the yellow quite so bleached. I may come back and tinker with another whiter highlight (of a highlight) to the "Green Tiger" later (Er, much later). If I did anything more now I fear I would just spoil it.

At least I've managed to get an "in focus" Tiger crew if you click into the above photograph, tank commander and lance corporal so to speak. I have not cracked this miniature photography lark at all as I was really trying to focus on 'Kurtz' in the King Tiger!

Painting Tray Update

Behold (at last) the behemoth King Tigers have rolled away to strike terror into the hearts and minds of the Western or Eastern Allies alike. Or alternatively presenting a plum target of opportunity for a young Jabbo fighter-pilot (Mustang or Sturmovik) to make his name. In convoy below (a faked wargame moment):

Or deployed, ready to dominate a wargames table near you ;)

Meanwhile a further batch of German heavy armour presents its profile under the painting lights. These pair of Tigers (1/72 Hasagawa and 1/76 Fujimi [early version]) pose a slight problem for me as I will have to move away from the three tone camouflage scheme I was enjoying. Something either Dark Yellow with Green or Brown irregular lines to break up the profile. The 1943 summer look as it were.Currently they sit in the Oiled and Metallic stage ready to take their camouflage markings on:

Meanwhile up in the skies the Airfix Battle of Britain single engined fighter project continues in a stop start fashion. The Hawker Hurricane MkI stands in its shade colours as:

While the Boulton Paul Defiant (viewed broadside) is shown here. It packed a surprise rear-punch to a Hurricane profile (seen from behind), but once bitten twice shy in combat as a 12 o'clock attack was its undoing.

Last but not least a second metal Goblin, The Great Goblin King himself gets painted and the Moria Goblins HoTT Army project takes an oh so small step forward:

In the background I have almost uncontrollable urge to paint 20mm WWII plastic infantry in large industrial batches, after all in the northern hemisphere the nights are beginning to draw in.

:)

Painting Tray Progress (KonigTiger)

Well the King Tigers are now done and dusted, ready to roam and wreak havoc on East or West Allied formations, deserving the title "heavy metal" if ever there was one. En route to mischief:

Then deployed for effect:

• That leaves two oily Tigers to play with
• The Battle of Britain single engine fighter project
• And those green-skins of which I can announce to the world a second Metal Moria Goblin is painted, this time the Great Goblin King himself. Eight to go!!!

In the back of my mind I am thinking "Plastic 20mm WW2 Infantry" your time has come :)

Thin stripes and no spots

The Porsche turreted Royal or King Tiger stalking its Sherman prey in Normandy shortly after the D-Day landings, well at least in my mind's eye.

My 1/76 scale Fujimi Prosche turreted King Tiger is shown above (caught with the setting sun behind it,too far from the invasion beaches to make a difference). I remember the classic photograph with the Esci kit showing a King Tiger unit with mixed turret versions hiding under trees in Normandy, trying not to attract the attension of passing rocket-firing Typhoons of the RAF.

The side view is shown above (be warned the click-in photograph is fuzzy and may blur your eyes).

Instead of the full three-colour spotted "ambush" pattern I used previously I went for the slightly earlier, thinner (hence more) striped three-colour version. It also helps me tell from a distance Henschel versus Porsche on tabletop. All this means, and an audible sigh of relief follows, I am done with making and painting my King Tiger kits, Henschel or Porsche until in the distant mists of time I come back to decal them.

I can now claim a reinforced (very) heavy German tank company! As a footnote, tanks of this sort in CD3 and Battlefront etc, really distort ground scale effects. Making in the worse case tanks look "silly close" on  table. So why did I bother? I guess it was because I already had them and they was there. I should really move on now and paint something sensible and reusable on the wargames table ;)

Hunting Pack of "Big German Kats"

And so I come to the final bit of painting ...

After the stripes comes a quick attack of spots, lots of yellow in the dark brown and dark green areas, then (a few) green in the base  yellow area and (again just a few) brown in the base yellow area too. This certainly breaks up the defined regions very well. Nice! The finished 1/76 Fujimi KonigTiger (with supporting band of LOTR Moria goblins in the background[eh?]) is shown below:

This means I now have a hunting pack of Big German Kats (yes "K" for Kongtiger).

This would be a company strength formation for Command Decision or Battlefront (or even Spearhead) and realistically I need no more for any feasibly historical wargame. True, I still have a model of the Porsche turret version (found in combat to be a weakness as it trapped rather than deflected some incoming enemy shots), but I file that under the category of variety not necessity. To mix in with the Henschel variants and Tigers in early D-Day+ Normandy 1944 battles for instance.

These boys are good for late 1944 in the Ardennes/Rhine and late for the 1944 and 1945 eastern front battles. However, if truth be told, the unit is great to model and look at, but a rarity on the battlefield and askew to the typical historical Order of Battle I prefer.

Fujimi KonigTiger (Henschel) get its stripes

A quick flurry of activity on the painting table resulted in the Fujimi 1/76 (Henschel) KonigTiger nearing completion, getting the following done to it:

• First some brown stripes

• Then some green ones

• Then some highlighting is added to the brown stripes

• Followed by some highlight to the green stripes

 

• The back to highlight the base dark yellow bits that still show through

• Finally for tonight some Games Workshop "Boltgun Metal" to highlight the tool and track

 

Now time for some coco :)

Note: Also Updated

Previous Painting Link Post

Danger: KonigTigers on the prowl in the twilight

The king of the jungle in that three tone "ambush" camouflage again! Nasty beasts to come up against even in a JSII. Decals still need doing, will have to wait for the time being at least. I sense a mass decal production line at the end of my painting spree.


These are Esci kits (the molds now released by Italeri), with the same story line as the PanzerJagd IV's mentioned previously in my blog, a long stay in the cupboard before their resurrection :)

Viewed from above in twilight:



Yes seventeen possibly eighteen years old with a long history of being on the "would be nice to do" list, usually at Xmas after The Battle of the Bulge had been on the telly. Inspiration for their camouflage comes from the cover art on the Arms & Armour Press book of Panzer Colours (ISBN 0-85368-450-2)

I will just add as a footnote, yes, honest I do have something other than German tanks! It is just that the urge has taken my this way, for this month anyway.

JagdPanzer IV Kit Information and Painting Description

As requested (and with a little bit of retrospective updating from other models kits done since)

The JagdPanzer IV's shown in the previous post are actually original Esci kits.
Something I bought "seventeen years" ago! (Ah, the shame of it all)

Since that time they hibernated in a box untouched (shall we call this a gestation period) before seeing the light of day, an instruction manual and plastic (liquid) glue. They then hung about in a draw with other naked plastic kits until about five years ago when the huge pot of black Tamiya matt came their way. Again another period of darkness (in the Pz Mk IV cupboard) until inspired by other WWII 20mm bloggers and a pot of Tamiya dark yellow XF-60 the late war paint scheme project came to life.

The painting went as follows:

Matt Black (Tamiya XF1)


Above kit being a 1/76 Fujimi KonigTiger (Porsche Turret).

Matt Dark Yellow (Tamiya XF60)- leaving lots of dark shady cracks black highlighted in rather an extreme way:


The above kit being a 1/76 Fujimi KoingTiger (Henschel Turret), just being started.


The above kit being a 1/76 Fujimi Tiger, primed yellow. As a footnote to this part, I use a a large (Size 3) brush, so I can be rather rough and ready but cover a lot of area quickly as I essentially wash over the model (and totally repaint it) in the next step.

Metallic Black (Anita's Acrylics) neat on track and tools

The above is the 1/76 Fujimi (Henschel) KonigTiger given base metallic shade to track and tools.

The radical bit: Black oily wash of a watered down Metallic Black, yes you get lots of floaty shiny bits but it suits an oily, dirty panzer look (IMHO). The Hasagawa 1/72 Tiger is starting to look raw, mean and hungry.

Likewise the Fujimi 1/76 (Henschel) KonigTiger above has lost that parade ground sparkle and starts to look roughly treated.

(Above) Matt Red Brown (Tamiya XF-64) blotches and stripes on the Fujimi 1/76 (Henschel) KonigTiger

(Above) Matt Dark Green (Tamiya XF-61) blotches and stripes on the Fujimi 1/76 (Henschel) KonigTiger

Then came the part Games Workshop can take credit for as I highlighted up a shade with:

(Above) Matt Red Brown (Tamilya XF-64) with Matt Flat Earth (Tamiya XF-54) on the Fujimi 1/76 (Henschel) KonigTiger. As a final highlight the the above mixture with a touch of Yellow (Tamiya XF-3)

(Above) Matt Dark Green (Tamiya XF-61) with a touch of Yellow (Tamiya XF-3) on the Fujimi 1/76 (Henschel) KonigTiger

(Above) Matt Dark Yellow (Tamiya XF-60) with a touch of White (Tamiya XF-2) on the Fujimi 1/76 (Henschel) KonigTiger

(Above) GW Citadel paint "Bolt Gun" to highlight the shiny metal part.on the Fujimi 1/76 (Henschel) KonigTiger

Then the fun bit with the spots (and a bit of touching up after when the blotches go amiss). Cover/leathers we painted initially Matt Red Brown and shaded with GW "Bestial Brown" and "Snakeskin Leather".

The final product with a quick twirl for the audience.


The kit above is one of the Esci 1/72 KonigTigers.

The only thing left is to decal it at some point in the future

;)