From JasperO: It takes a village… (100 points)

It seems we’re already at the end of another Challenge. When did that happen? I’ve got quite a few more bits and pieces on the workbench, but I guess they’ll be finished some other time. Thank you Curt and the Minions for organizing the Challenge and keeping all the insanity in order.

I’m surely not the only one who’s found it a strange time, even more so than in 2021. I completely understand how some in our community are less inclined to put paint to plastic, as it were, but I’ve found the gentle pressure of the Challenge encouraging. Getting things done is rewarding and satisfying in itself and focusing on a mini project at hand is a pleasant distraction of things going on elsewhere in the world. So thank you again for offering that, and thanks to everyone for the kind responses to my posts (oddly enough I don’t seem to be able to post comments myself). 

That said, on to my final submission. Volume-wise, it’s certainly the biggest I’ve ever managed in any Challenge. It’s, again, part of a project for WSS that in my hands has ballooned beyond all reasonable proportions (I’d like to blame Guy, but that wouldn’t be fair). At least it should allow me to produce some decent photographs as and when we need them in the magazine.

For storage reasons, I’ve always made my terrain modular, with separate buildings, fences and ‘scatter’ that can be assembled at random. That absolutely takes up a lot less space, but I’ve recently come across some wonderful examples of based buildings on Twitter. So I figured I’d give that a try. I originally planned to leave the buildings themselves separate, but that plan went out the window when basing material was applied. Separate garden bases may be the golden mean. Something to try another time.

The buildings - well included - on these bases are mostly from the First Corps range, which are lovely, sturdy, and characterful resin castings. The house with the rusty corrugated iron roof is a 3D print by Patrick Miniatures. Apart from some scale garbage bins, it’s the first printed model I’ve ever painted and I’m very happy with how it turned out. I’ll definitely try more!

The bases are made from bookbinder’s board, cardboard that’s been treated to withstand moisture, with fences from Rubicon and Renedra, and various bits and pieces from Warbases and the ‘spares bin’. The cabbage patch is a metal and resin piece from Architects of War that had been languishing in the ‘to-paint’ box for a decade or so.

I’m always a bit uncertain about point calculation for terrain, but I can at least give some measurements, and leave the final judgement, as always, to Curt and the minions:

• the field with storage hut is about 9*12” and 2” high at its highest point
• the well is about 4*6”, and apart from the post is only about 1.5” high
• the house with the rusted tin roof is about 7*11” and about 5” high
• the house with shed is about 8*13” and the same heigh as the other

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What a wonderful assortment of terrain pieces, Jasper.  Like you, I always think of how I'm going to store my hobby stuff (having a few examples that are ridiculously large and hard to tuck away), but I do admire these based vignettes, with all their attendant detail and character. I especially like that cottage with the rusted steel corrugated roof and all of the various gardens (I recognize that turnip patch!!). :)

Thank you for being with our merry band once again, Jasper. We may be in Europe later this autumn, and so I hope I'm lucky enough to see our paths will cross then.

- Curt

From JasperO: Convoy through the smoke (45 points)

I’ve had this resin Maultier sitting around for years - I believe it’s an Anyscale Model, but it’s a one-piece casting whereas the model Anyscale currently offers consists of three pieces, plus the tilt. Anyhoo… I’m still working on that some trucks for WSS and this qualifies. I filled it up with various bits and pieces from many sets, and added a Perry sitting German from their set for the SdKfz 7 for some extra interest. 

I have built a Rubicon and a Warlord Games Opel Blitz as well, which left me with an extra towing hitch, which this model was lacking. So I added that, and I figured, since the triangular marker is up, it needed to have a trailer as well. As it happens, the Rubicon Flak30 comes with an optional ammunition trailer, so I suppose this Maultier belongs to a Flak Abteilung.

Finally, and unrelated to the above, I have some nicely 3D-printed smoke markers from Sabotag3D. I just based them and airbrushed them from dark grey to light grey. I suppose that, like trees, you never have enough smoke markers, so I’ll need more, but this seems like a good start.

Bit of a rambling blog… The deadlines are coming thick and fast these weeks, trying to catch up with Covid-related delays. The Maultier should be 25 points (including the passenger). Five more for the trailer? The smoke markers fill about a 3x3x3” box, so that’s 1/8th of 20 points? I’ll leave it up to the gentle mercies of the Minions…

From DaveD - Well who doesn't appreciate a half track truck . The trailor is a nice extra piece , and the smoke works well - i will make this a 45 pointer

From JasperO: low budget fun on Babylon 5 with some T34s (72 points)

Tamsin asked me on my previous post where the “lovely vehicles” (her words) were. Well, here they are. The Red Army is often portrayed in (older) books and movies about WW2 as a giant sledgehammer, rolling forward with hordes of cheap T34s racing out to meet the German defenses. I believe that idea has now been discredited thoroughly, but I’ll happily claim it today to claim the score for Babylon 5.

Today’s offer consists of two T34s. One (the one with the tank commander) is the Rubicon T34/76 with the later turret that comes with the T34/85. That kit comes, fortunately, with two /85 turret tops that each have a commander’s cupola. I carefully cut one out of a spare and attached it to the M1943 turret to make it into the final version. TL;DR: I glued some plastic on other plastic and stuck a Rubicon plastic commander in it, and provided a saw from their new Soviet Stowage set. 

This T34 is one of the earlier Rubicon plastic sets, somewhat simple, but far more detailed than the Warlord Games offering. It is only let down by the very simple tracks, and the driver’s hatch in the front hull which requires a lot of filing and putty to fit well. The Warlord T34 is equally old, quite a bit simpler (but with nicer track details) and comes with a very specific rounded late model turret , a somewhat odd choice. For some added interest, I painted two tank rider figures, ready to defend the tank from Panzerfaust-wielding ambushers, or jump off and take the fight forward. 

Two tanks, two-and-a-half figures and the Babylon bonus should net me another 70-something points, I think!

From DaveD

Very nice T34's - always one of my personal favourites, and a fine job you've done 

From JasperO: Two female WW2 Russian PTRD crew and escorts for Sarah’s Star Yacht (45 points)

Having just visited the Caprica and the Death Star, the next destination isn’t immediately clear, so I figure we’ll just take a ride on Sarah’s Star Yacht. Hopefully we’re allowed to get off when I make up my mind.

There are two female figures here, though they’re well-wrapped up in their Red Army uniforms (Osprey tells me they often wore men’s uniforms as the Soviet leadership couldn’t keep up, or be bothered with, uniform production for women in the armed forces).

The figures are 28mm Bad Squiddo miniatures from their recent Kickstarter to expand the Russian Women of WW2 range. As I needed a PTRD anti-tank rifle team anyway, these fit the bill just right. 

Eagerly hoping to catch a lift are three Crusader Miniatures figures. I think I had enough figures for a complete Russian platoon already, but I figured I’d just paint them up and get the stock down as a participant in the Twitter Six Month Mountain Reduction Painting Challenge which overlaps with this Challenge (no points on that one though!).

Compared to the very lovely Bad Squiddo sculpts, these are certainly simple figures, but they fit the general image of the Red Army quite well. And as Comrade Stalin supposedly said “Quantity has a quality all by itself”, so more soldiers for the Red Army never hurts. With the Yacht bonus, this should net me another 45 points.

From DaveD

                     A great addition to the collection and a fine start to Friday. Taking on tanks with a rifle must have been a daunting affair!

From JasperO: 1/56 Jagdtiger on the Death Star (40 points)

I mentioned before I was on vacation when the Challenge started. As it happens, there’s a FLGS nearby where I always like to drop in to see how they’re doing. This time around, I was more eager than normal, if only to hear their Covid survival story (fortunately it was survival). As these things go, I seldom leave the store with empty hands. Choice was a bit limited thanks to supply issues and my lack of interest in Italian WW2 armor. They did have the Warlord plastic Jagdtiger. Definitely nothing I needed for any project, I have to admit, but I think it is one of the best possible fits for the Death Star. Granted, there are many historical constructions of questionable design that smack of hubris, so it’s not alone.

 At nearly 72 tons with a 128mm gun, it was the heaviest armored vehicle in the war to see at least a small production series. The Spielberger Schwere Jagdpanzer book has one of those penetration tables listing about a dozen allied tanks that couldn’t penetrate its frontal armor at all, while the gun could take them out at over three kilometers. Of course, it was huge, underpowered, and with a fixed casemate, so any allied tank that took a detour could easily take it out from the side or rear. Not a small exhaust port, sure, but definitely Death Star-like.

The Warlord model is alright, though it’s not easy getting the upper casemate parts to fit well. The interlocking plates are nicely done, though the limitations of the plastic mould do show. I tried to extend them over the sides. Not sure if I’m really satisfied with the result, but it works. The very large side plates are perfectly smooth, so I painted them with very thin Vallejo plastic putty to give it some surface roughness. Most of the painting was done with the airbrush, followed by some washes, sponge-chipping, pigments, and detail painting.

 

From DaveD\

Well you don’t see many of these in this scale - so yes I agree a perfect Death Star entry . .It’s also  another fine camo scheme done too .

From JasperO: 1/56 234/1(/2) Armoured Car - Caprica 45 points

I’ve painted a Warlord resin 234/2 (Puma) in a previous challenge, but I just love these giant German reconnaissance vehicles, here to sniff out (or set) ambushes! So I made another. They were, of course, only made in small numbers in 1944 and 1945, which doesn’t stop any wargamer wanting to field a bunch of them.

Unlike that previous model, this is the Warlord plastic 234/2 Puma, which I have wanted to convert into the /1 version with the 20mm turret. As it happens, that turret is exactly the same as the one on the 250/9 Neu, and Rubicon makes a conversion set. The space for the turret ring is slightly too small on the Warlord model, but only by 1mm or so. Nothing that can’t be fixed by some judicious application of a file.

234/1 during conversion - blue-grey is Warlord plastic, the other from Rubicon

The original Puma turret is entirely unaffected by all this, though a strip of plastic around its ring insert helps it sit better in the ‘reamed’ ring. In all, I figure this is one Caprica bonus, plus one 1/56 vehicle and a few points for the extra turret?

From DaveD

Well that's the second cracking camo scheme of the day . There is always something about these big armoured cars. I have gone with 5 for the extra turret for you . always good to have options . Great job Jasper.

From JasperO: Is this thing on? 1/56 Kfz 19 - 20 points

So the lesson is, despite not having been on vacation for two years until last December, probably don't if you want to participate in the Painting Challenge. You may get time to paint while on holiday, after you recover from the jetlag, but then you get back and have some more jetlag and if you're out of luck, like we were, you pick up some RNA that decides you're a nice host and you spend a week being sick. Net result, it's the last bloody day before the cut, but at least I recovered on time. Anyhoo...

For my please-don't-cut-me post, I present Blitzkrieg Miniatures' Kfz 19 telephone truck. For a far-too-vague scenario Guy is planning, I need to paint a German convoy on the retreat in the Summer of 1944 and I figure this would make a nice addition to a bunch of Opel Blitzes and such. It's a lovely resin cast with only the wheels and the top aerial frame as separate parts.

These vehicles were conversions on top of the Krupp Protze, with a wooden superstructure built on top of the existing chassis. Since construction of the Protze ended in 1941, I figured the vehicle would originally have been finished in German grey. You can in fact find a few photos of a vehicle later in the war that’s been partially overpainted in dark yellow, which makes for a striking pattern that I decided to try and copy. Pretty happy with the result!

From DaveD

Welcome along Jasper - its that time of the challenge for various "my dog ate my homework" posts but hey - your under the wire - and in style too . thats a fine bit of work for the  look of a tired old workhorse of the Third Reich.

And your off and running!

From JasperO: Shermans for The Armoury (63 points)

Hurray! I've made it to the end of the Challenge without burning out and despite waylaying myself with several (still unfinished, of course) projects along the way. These two Shermans, however, had been properly planned before the Challenge started, and had been ready to go, primed and all on December 21st, ready to slot into the Armoury when, actually really if, I got there. But I did, just in time, and I finished them, just in time (about 15 minutes ago, in fact).

Both models are from the wonderful range of Shermans that Rubicon offers. I used to build tank models, a long time ago, and I felt almost stymied by the bewildering quantity of super-detailing options on offer. These are just right: the mix-and-match features of the kits allow you to build just about any Sherman variant you might want, and come with enough detail that is fun to paint without 'requiring' weeks of work to get them finished to some hyper-detailed level. (This is just how my brain work, your mileage hopefully varies).

I'm glad I included some crewmembers to provide scale and color, as an olive-drab tank can otherwise get a bit, well, drab. Rubicon includes driver/radio operator busts that have to be installed during construction which makes painting them a bit awkward, but if you leave the heads separate, it's fine. The shoulder area is hardly visible at all, in the end.

Contemporary photos always seem to show especially American Shermans festooned with stowage and as that adds color and interest too, I grabbed bits from a variety of sets and stuck them all over liberally. It's a bit of extra work in the end, but adds a lot to the final impression, I think. Points-wise, two tanks are 40 points, 20 points for the armoury and one each for the 'head-and-shoulders'?

The Challenge has certainly allowed me to stay focused better than I might otherwise (it's relative, but still...), and a certain pressure does help to get things done. So it's been good! Thank you so much to Curt for organizing it again, to the Minions for being encouraging and doing the hard work, to Lady Sarah for allowing me to skip Chambers I didn't want to deal with, and to all the other contenders for the inspiring work! 

From JasperO: a flying dogleg to the shrine, act III (Lady Sarah, 25 points)

In the final act, all is revealed. Who fired the shot? A decorated Red Army sniper appears, but did she fire the shot, or is she stalking the culprit? I'm afraid we'll never know, as the Challenge is about to come to an end...

I'm not entirely sure which brand this miniature is (Guy to the rescue: she used to be available from Warlord Games) - she was painted at the same time as Anastasia, very early in the Challenge - but a lethal sniper never hurts as a support choice. Another witch-ride back should get me to the armoury for my last post of the Challenge and another 25 points.

From JasperO: a flying dogleg to the shrine, act II (The Shrine, 25 points)

Having arrived in the Shrine, and continuing our mini-story, Anastasia's aid has clearly come too late. The Soviet Union's Marxist ideology may consider religion the opium for the people, but a preacher has appeared nonetheless. 

This is another Black Hussar Miniatures figure from their Seven Years War range, but it'll do just fine to inspire my minis on the AWI battlefield. Perhaps he's conservative in his religious leanings and in his clothing choices as well? That should net another 25 points with the Shrine bonus.