Tanks everywhere

Latest update from Steven...

'Quick update. Decided to get some intensive practice with the air brush by doing the colour modulation on my German tanks... all 77 of them. Even though they are a long way from finished, they are still quite a sight. I like how the Maus' turret is larger than some of the smaller tanks in their entirety.'

Steven's prehistoric project complete...

 'Hi Dad,

It has been ages since my last update, again. However, I have ‘finished’ the prehistoric project, at least for now (yes, there are still some things unpainted, and some things I would like but don’t yet have). However, my WW2 Germans are calling for attention again.

Since my last update I painted some cavemen ( Figure 1 ), hunting dogs ( Figure 2 ) and flame-bearers   ( Figure 3 ) by Irregular Miniatures. The latter only came in a single pose (a surprise coming from Irregular), so I did a few minor conversions adding furs, beards etc, and even made one of them into a female ( Figure 4 ). To go with them, I made some flame markers from cotton wool and painted them using the airbrush ( Figure 5 ). The flame markers have more general use, of course.

I spent a lot of time on some essentially scratch-built models. Firstly, I did a jub-jub bird (from a scenario in the Palaeo Diet rules) based on a 25mm Pendraken duck modified and painted to look a bit like a golden pheasant ( Figure 6 ).

I also scratch-built a pair of huts using the modelling putty you gave me, following a very usefulguide online, here. It was also fun putting a few extra details on the bases such as the firepit and a pile of mammoth tusks. I based the (previously posted) Baueda orc house too whilst I was at it ( Figure 7 ).

As an army review ( Figure 8 ) of sorts, I think it all comes to:

 18 cavemen (Khurasan) 

 Six converted Libyan archers (Khurasan)

 10 hominids (Khurasan)

 10 cavemen (Irregular)

 Seven flame-bearers (Irregular)

 Eight hunting dogs (Irregular)

 10 flame markers (scratch-built)

 Three large herbivores: mammoth, rhinoceros and hippo (toys, possibly Mojo)

 Three sabretooth tigers (Khurasan)

 One cave bear (Khurasan)

 10 small herbivores each of: horses, deer and goats (Pendraken)

 Three rabbits (Pendraken)

 Twelve 10mm wolves (Copplestone)

 Two 15mm giant wolves (Demonworld)

 Three animal lairs (Copplestone)

 One stone circle (Copplestone)

 One jub-jub bird (Pendraken)

 One hut (Baueda)

 Two huts (scratch-built)

So that is a total of 131 items. Given this was supposed to be a little side project, I may have gotten sucked in a bit too much.

Figure 1 Irregular Miniatures cavemen.

Figure 2 Hunting dogs. I tried to paint some of them as sort of transitional from wolf to dog.

Figure 3 Flame-bearers. The original is third from left; the rest have had some sort of conversion. I painted a reddish glow from the flame on their face and chest area, although it isn’t very clear in the photos.

Figure 4 The converted female. In addition to the obvious, I trimmed slivers off her limbs and body to try and give her a more feminine body type.

Figure 5 Fire markers made from cotton wool, airbrushed with white, then yellow, orange, red, and finally black to hopefully give a reasonable fire effect.

Figure 6 Jub-jub bird. The base was scratch built - the tree stump was green stuff over a wire skeleton, and I added a few other bits to the base to make a mini diorama. Spot the rabbit and the cotton wool spider web.

Figure 7 Stone-age huts. The middle one is from the Baueda, the other two were scratch built from putty, as were the items around the huts. I tried to make the fire look like proper fire.

Figure 8 Everything all together. It does look quite good, I think.

'Even more prehistoric miniatures'

 'Hi Dad,

It has been a long while since an update so I thought I would share my progress again. A lot of these miniatures were Christmas presents from various people (including you and Mum, of course). These 15mm prehistorics are addictive. I do feel bad about my other currently abandoned projects.'

Figure 1 Slightly converted Libyan archers by KhurasanMiniatures. I cut the feathers off the heads (except the chief, who got to keep his, along with a flashy sabre-tooth tiger skin cloak) and added green stuff to make the clothing more like furs.

Figure 2 An Orc House from Baueda, but it works well as a prehistoric dwelling too. I may scratch build some more using the modelling putty you gave me. I found a good guide online to follow.

Figure 3 Stone Circle from Copplestone Castings

Figure 4 Animal Lair from Copplestone Castings

Figure 5 Another animal lair. It was interesting putting a lot of subtle colour variations on the rocks to make them look more realistic. Sensible people would dry brush them and be done in five minutes, but not me.

Figure 6 Animal lair number 3

Figure 7 A pack of grey wolves from Copplestone Castings. Most wolf miniatures are over-sized fantasy giant wolves. To get a more realistic size, I had to go down a scale to 10mm.

Figure 8 A close-up of one of the above.

Figure 9 I spent a lot of time looking at reference photos of wolves, and they are very varied in colour and pattern. For variety, I therefore did a second pack of brown wolves.

Figure 10 Another close-up. I also distinguished between the packs by giving the brown wolves more rocky bases, in contrast to the more vegetated, woody bases of the grey wolves.

Figure 11 The great white wolf. An actual 15mm miniature by Demonworld. This one is the pack leader of the brown wolves.

Figure 12 A giant black wolf, the pack leader of the grey wolf pack.

Figure 13 The two giant wolves together. Spent ages on their bases so this shows the other side of them.

Figure 14 I quite like this experimental overhead view of the giant wolves, and it shows some of the base details which are less clear in the earlier photos

Figure 15 Everything all together

Panzer IIIN

From Steven:

I finished a platoon of Panzer III Ns yesterday. I have continued use of colour modulation and working on weathering techniques. I think these are a bit better than the Panzer IIs. Using decals for the numbers and balkankreuze worked a lot better. 

 I have painted a lot of grey and brown recently, so I might mix it up a bit and try painting some of those Garrison Admins you sent me recently. I will aim for a bright, bold and cartoonish look.

Steven's Panzergrenadier company

Latest from Steven:

'I know it has been a while since I sent you anything from my painting desk. I’ve been holding off so I can show you the entire SS panzergrenadier company I’ve been working on. Here they are! 90 figures all based up (the thought occurs you can do a full DBA army with less).

The figures are a mix of Battlefront, Forged in Battle and Peter Pig. The three manufacturer’s figures are compatible – there are differences if you know what you are looking for, but the overall effect is fine – which gives a real variety in the poses.  The uniforms are about two-thirds summer (green) oak leaf camo to one-third autumn (orange) oak leaf camo, so there are very few figures the same. I painted some Peter Pig Afrika Korps figures as SS – the peaked caps instead of helmets provide more variety.

I also spent a lot more time and effort doing the bases. Baueda do a nice range of scenic bases, as well as individual crates, barrels etc. There are some tree stumps and fallen logs I modelled from green stuff too. I took a lot of inspiration from an excellent Fallschirmjaeger army I have seen online. I really like this guy’s stuff.

Some pictures below. As ever, photography has been a struggle. There are lots of details such as the SS collar insignia, and markings on some of the headgear, which just don’t show clearly.'

Figure 1 The whole company arranged into three platoons plus HQ.

 

Figure 2 A more ground level view

 

Figure 3 Figures on the Baueda scenic bases. The far-right (political views aside) figure is a Peter Pig DAK painted as SS

 

Figure 4 The middle base is another scenic base, whilst the other two have individual crates etc added.

 

Figure 5 Another closer view. The middle base has a bomb crater modelled with green stuff (although the SMG-wielding sergeant partially obscures it).

 

Figure 6 Close-up of the HQ (front).

 

Figure 7 Close-up of the HQ (rear). The company commander and the sergeant with the raised hand are each wearing a watch which I modelled with green stuff. They are tiny!

 

Figure 8 The figure kneeling to fire doesn't have a camo cover on his helmet (this is a Forged in Battle figure, and a number of them have camo-less helmets), so I painted the SS decal on the side. Again, it is tiny. I made good use the “psycho” paintbrush for these details. From my research, I think these decals were only on the right side of the helmets.

 

Figure 9 The same base from the other side. The prone LMG team are Peter Pig DAK. This shows the insignia on the Einheitsfeldmutze cap. The standing figure is Battlefront, so this base has miniatures from three manufacturers. I think the mix works well.

 

Figure 10 Close-up of the Lieutenant and his team, showing the SS collar insignia.

 

Figure 11 The tree stump was scratch-made from a lump of green stuff. I have also made use of ready-made flowers throughout the company to give the bases more variety and colour.