From KevinS - 28mm US 3" Anti-Tank Gun (30 Points)

Here's another submission this week: a US 3" anti-tank gun and crew of four by West Wind. 

While not as detailed as those of some other manufacturers, I still like West Wind's "Berlin or Bust" range. The gun is nicely cast, and the crew show some uncommon poses. I particularly liked their obvious desire to make as much as they can out of the meager cover offered by their gun. 

Once I get a little more painting done, we'll see how these guys stand up against advancing Panzers. Pretty much everything was painted with Vallejo Colors, with the exception of the skin tones which are Foundry. I used Games Workshop flesh tone wash to give depth to the American uniforms, before highlighting with original colors.

From KevinS - 28mm WWII Hetzer and Pak 40 (42 Points)

Here's the result of my painting efforts over the past few weeks. The Waffen-SS PaK 40 with three-man crew was painted up using late-war camouflage colours. The figures from Warlord Games' Bolt Action series were nicely sculpted. I'll probably use these, along with a few others you can see lurking in the background, for a game I'm working towards set during Operation Market Garden. 

I used Vallejo colours for the uniforms, and combined them with Wargames Foundry's basic three-part flesh tone set of paints. In recent years I've struggled to find just the right three-colour combination for painting my figures, and after some experimentation I've settled on Foundry's set as the one that gives a subtle variation in tones that are relatively quick to produce and still stand out on the tabletop.

The little Hetzer caused me more than a few headaches. I tried painting it three times, initially using an airbrush, but I just couldn't seem to get it right. I started with Vallejo Aircolor's Dunkelgelb. The airbrush produced a wonderfully smooth and even colour. But when I tried masking and applying camouflage, that's when things started to go downhill. I stripped off the paint a couple of times using Simple Green. I finally settled on a basic airbrushed coat of Dunkelgelb, followed by hand painted camouflage patches of red-brown and green. Then I added in the contrasting triangular touches of colour to produce the ambush camouflage pattern. 

I finally applied a wash of AK Interactive's filter for Nato tanks (AK-076), followed by shadows in the recesses with AK Interactive wash for Nato tanks (AK-075). I painted the tracks with Vallejo's German Grey, and then textured and weathered them with umber and rust coloured MIG pigments.

From Curt:

First, welcome to the Challenge Kevin! It's great to have you back with us this year.

This is a great debut Kevin and a bit of a change of pace from your WWI project.  All troubles aside, the Hetzer's dot pattern ambush camo came out brilliantly and the PAK team is a great piece as well . What rules are you going to be using for this lot? 

Again, it's great to see you on the roster!