Saturday Workbench 24 November

I've been taking things fairly easy for the last couple of days, taking time out for reading and some gaming, rather than painting. I've still managed to get some things done though.

For starters, the tank commanders for "Ace" and "Demon". These are from Warlord, and as you can see I did head-swap one with a Chindit head.

I also painted the stowage racks (and stowage) for the tanks:

And repainted the unit insignia on "Demon" to show it as 2/1st Armoured Brigade Reconnaissance Squadron.

As there was a "Devil" in 6 troop, I thought that "Demon" should be in that troop.

So, here are the three Matildas with stowage racks and commanders:

While I was priming the stowage and commanders, I also primed the M3 Stuart from Blitzkrieg Miniatures:

During the week, I realised that I needed to order some more MDF bases from Warbases. While I was doing that, I decided to order some of their 28mm SF terrain. I assembled them last night while watching TV:

Today I bought a cheap 4-pack of 330ml fizzy drinks from Poundland (the taste is not brilliant, but not disgusting). I just need to drink them all to complete the pieces:

I do need to get some 2mm MDF to make bases for larger terrain to go on. That calls for a trip to 4D Modelshop during the week I think.

Finished: 15mm Panzers

I wasn't expecting to post this until tomorrow, but they're already finished. That was as much of a surprise for me as for you guys and gals.

Panzer IIIs

 Ausf E

Ausf F

 Ausf G

Panzer IVs

Ausf F

Ausf F2/G

Ausf H

I also got some bases made up for all the tanks to go on. That's more for storage and safe transport than for aesthetic reasons:



I'm sure I'll end up adding some other tanks in the future.

Finished: 28mm WW2 Aussie Matildas

Well, they're done. apart from adding commanders and stowage. But as they still need to be painted (after possibly doing head swaps on commanders to give them slouch hats) that is fine for now.

Matilda II Close Support

Mounting a 3" howitzer instead of a 2-pounder, this will be great for supporting infantry assaulting entrenched/bunkered Japanese forces.


Matilda II Frog

The "Frog" variant of the Matilda was a flamethrower tank, also useful for taking on Japanese troops in bunkers or caves.

Both have been painted up as 1st Armoured Regiment. "Ace" was an actual name used for one of the tanks in 1 Troop of A Squadron, but I don't know if it was ever a close-support variant. Although the various "specials" (flamethrowers, bridging, dozers, "hedgehogs") were mostly assigned to the 2/1st Armoured Brigade Reconnaissance Squadron, it seems that some "Frogs" were assigned to individual armoured regiments. As there was no evidence of them being assigned out to the squadrons, I've painted "Demon" with RHQ/HQ Squadron markings and made up the name and hull number.

Edit to update: Strewth, sport! Well, would you believe it - "Ace" was a CS variant (troop commander's tank). On the other hand, it does seem that the "Frog" tanks with 1st Armoured were attached to them from the 2/1st Armoured Brigade Reconnaissance Squadron, so I might have to go back and repaint the markings on that one....


You may have been wondering about the extra fuel barrel. That was for the original Matilda I painted a few weeks back. Here it is glued in place:

I'll need to do a bit of touching up on the paintjob to blend it in.


I've also been doing some work on the Panzer IIIs and IVs today. They've all been primed and I've airbrushed the base colours. I still need to do the camouflage on the ones for mid/late war, and then do all the detail painting. That should keep me busy for the next couple of days.

28mm WW2 Aussie Tanks

As noted in a previous post, I had taken pictures before muddying them up. This post is to show them with the mud.

 

The "mud" I used was a mix of Vallejo Dark Earth texture paste, brown ink and some "scrub mix" (static grass, clump foliage, foam flock and chopped lichen) that I'd prepared a while back. This was applies using a brush. After applying it around the tracks, sides and the lower hull, I then went a bit stupid and started lightly stippling mud further up the tank. I did that slightly too much and I'm not overly happy with the result, but the only way I can get rid of it is to strip the tanks back to bare resin/plastic.


I did finish painting and washing the batch of Aussie infantry last night. I took a couple of pics this morning before brushing on a coat of Klear.

I've also primed the 15mm tanks black today. My plan is to get the main colours down with the airbrush tomorrow. If I have time, I'll also try to paint the details, but that might be a job for Saturday.