Artillery Observation Vehicles

 I finally finished a Panzer III observer tank that I originally built and base-painted about 10 years ago.  I went ahead and painted a Sd. Kfz. 253 observer half-track too, just in case.  I'm not sure why anyone would take it instead of the tank though, since they're the same cost.

This is an old resin kit and needed to be converted.  I started with an old Panzer III E and modified the mantlet, adding a MG and false gun barrel.

Simple green line camo so I can easily use it for Mid War or Late.

This is also resin and received a basic dunkelgelb to match my Mid War Grossdeutchland force.

West German TPz Fuchs Armored Personnel Carrier

Resin and metal builds with lots of little hand tools to paint, the top-mounted missile launchers are magnetized.

Crisp details all around, these were nice to paint.

Two units for the Pioniers to drive around in!

West German Marder Roland FlaRakPz 1

A pair of resin/metal AA Marders, simple to paint but the turret is a bit top-heavy.

Had to take some liberties with the decals so they would sit better.

More West German Marder 1 A2 IFVs

One more unit of Marder IFVs.

So many Marders.  Could be worse, could be Soviets!

West German Leopard 2A4 Company

These are all-plastic models from Battlefront and were fairly simple to paint.  I painted up two HQ tanks and two units of four tanks.

HQ tanks, not much for stowage on these.

All ten, ready to rumble.

West German Leopard 1A4

A single Leopard I, resin tracks were pretty beat up unfortunately.

This panzer is late to the party but I matched it up with the other Leopards I painted previously.

Japanese Type 94 TK Tankettes and Type 97 Te-Ke

These little tankettes can be brought as part of the HQ unit in Manchurian lists, and will go nicely with Hal's Type 89s.  They're so small!  Battlefront models.

I also painted up a single Type 97 Te-Ke tankette to go with a pair that I painted for Hal a few years ago.  This one is from Peter Pig.

japanese-chi-ha-and-ha-go-tanks.html

Went with a similar style camouflage to the Type 89s

Tiny tanks with only a MG.  What could go wrong?

Type 97 Te-Ke joins the party!

Japanese Type 89 I-Go Platoon

I painted a unit of Type 89 medium tanks for my friend Hal and used an early style paint scheme with ochre dividing lines.  These boxy tanks had quite a few parts, but went together with little effort.  I freehanded the camouflage and think it came out ok.  Models by Battlefront.

A Four-color pattern was used in the late 1930's and had been phased out by the beginning of the Pacific War.  Hal plans on using these for Manchurian battles.

I tried to freehand a regimental symbol I spotted online, think it came out ok.

Platoon party shot!

Polish C2P Artillery Tractors

These little armored tow vehicles were the nicest models in the bunch, too bad the rules for transport in Flames of War these days will probably keep them off the table.  Unknown maker.

Missing the windscreens, but none were provided.

Polish wz.34 Armored Car Platoon

Some reconnaissance, this time the wz.34 armored cars in all-metal.  Two are from True North, not sure about the other one.

Unit leader has a 37mm gun, MGs for the other two.

Polish TKS Tankette Platoon

These tiny little tankettes were easy to paint, but the gun barrels on the 20mm-armed leaders were impossible to keep straight.  True North all-metals, except one that's unknown and slightly different than the others.

First Platoon with the slightly more detailed oddball.

Tiny tankette swarm!

Polish Vickers Mark E Platoon

One unit of imported Vickers Mark E tanks, again from True North.

I made the unit leader stand out for these guys, had to cover up some already started camo work.

Polish 7TP Dual Turret Platoon

One of the platoons of 7TPs were the older twin-turret MG type.  One of these is from a different manufacturer than the other two, and has much more detail.  Others are from True North.

Again, similar paint schemes, with the odd-manufactured tank as the leader.

Polish 7TP Platoon

About half of a large commission of Polish armor consisted of 7TP tanks.  These came to me already assembled and base coated so please forgive any mold lines.  This is also the first time doing hard-edged camouflage by hand.  These all-metal models didn't have much detail or any panel lines, and didn't have any stowage.  Once the camo was done they finished up pretty fast.

One unit of three.  True North miniatures.

The company.  I kept the patterns similar except for some of the turrets to differentiate leaders.

LARS 2 Raketenwerfer Batterie and M113

Who doesn't like rocket werfer trucks?  LARS are resin and metal, OP M113 is all plastic.

Rocket trucks are always cool looking.

Full battery, used gloss for the windows.

Last minute addition to the list, so had to modify a US M113 into a West German one.  Swapped the .50 M2 for a spare MG3 and used a WW2 British tanker for the commander since they looked similar.

Gepard 1A2 Flakpanzer Batterie

A big battery of flak tanks, same all resin construction as the Leopard 1s.

Very nice models, I think they came out pretty good.

All of them together.

Luchs A1 Spähpanzer Patrols

The core of the second formation are the Luchs armored cars, four units of them.  Resin and metal minis.

You can really see the WW2 lineage in these.

One of the patrols.

The whole group!

Leopard 1A4 Platoon

Leopard 1s were part of Dave's second formation, I painted an HQ tank and a platoon of four.  The models have resin tracks and unfortunately were chipped in a few spots.

Black berets for the Panzertruppen.

HQ and platoon together.

M109G Batterie

Some armored artillery to support the Panzergrenadiers.  Resin and metal minis with magnetized gun barrels.

Red berets for the artillery troops.

One of the few vehicles with molded on stowage, broke up the tracks-and-guns monotony.

Jaguar 2 Raketenjagdpanzer

More tiny tank destroyers!

These are armed with TOW missiles, and finally got to paint a crewman.

These can be fielded as Jaguar 1s as well, and I'll be painting the optional tops.