StuH 42 Complete

Warlord Games StuH 42

 This little gem is the StuG III - Sturmhaubitze 42 10.5cm SPG, or more commonly know as the StuH 42. I have had this model for a few years now just sitting around for my non-existent Bolt Action army.  I had originally chose this tank for BA because of the Medium Howitzer it counts as having.  Good against infantry.

I know this tank was not featured in the North African TOW. However the visual theme for my Germans will be DAK. The Deutschland Afrika Korps lead by Rommel himself.  While I love the armor from Warlord Games I am not too thrilled with their infantry models.  When the Perry Twins started to release their DAK range I knew it was a match made in heaven for me!

This tank has been somewhat of a soap opera for me.  I have stripped the paint from it 3 times now.  Having problems with colors or paint texture.  I usually dilute my acrylics with regular old rubbing alcohol.  But the paint kept coming out "stringy".  Prior to trying to mix my own color. I tried the AK Interactive DAK Airbrush Paints.  I found these to be extremely translucent and I was not happy with the extremely bright sand color. I do have the filters and washed to bring that back down but I wanted to get this guy done quickly.

So here is where it sits after a painting session tonight. I still have all of the wheels and tracks to paint and a few other details. Then on to the weathering and pigments!

Chasseur à Cheval de la Garde

Chasseur à Cheval de la Garde by Andrea Miniatures

So this guy is taking up all of my current paint time.  I was hard at work on a 1:35 scale kit that is well over 600 pieces.  That is a special project I am documenting and will do a series of posts on later.  I have decided to take on some larger scale models to try and work on some of my techniques.

So far with this guy I am torn.  The greens look much better in person and I had to really play with the picture settings in Photoshop to get it close to natural.  I need to re-adjust my camera too.  I am not sure if I like the face so far or not. I have tried to add a few more colors to my palette here. I may re-do his eyes and try to eliminate the hard shadow edge on his left cheek with his smile line.  I think a little smoothing between transitions may help here.

I have started to put down the base colors for red, white, and gold as well.  The red and gold I think are going to be my biggest challenge because of location.  There is some extremely fine details I need to go over with them.

Anyhow I hope you like it! Let me know what you think and I will keep on posting!

Just a little photo dump

 So it has been well over a year since I have posted anything here on my blog.  It's been a busy one as I have a son now who is 10 months old.  I don't have nearly as much hobby time as I would like anymore but I still work on projects.  Here is a small smattering of the things I have worked on in the past year and some current projects.

Tiger update and Fallschirmjager for Bolt Action

I noticed, while in editing, that I forgot to spray the brown on the right side wheels...

Salutations everyone! Here you can see the camo has been added to the tiger.  I am not the greatest with the historical camo patterns yet. But practice makes perfect.

I used Tamiya Nato Brown XF-68 and Olive Green XF-58 for the camo.

 Originally this tank was supposed to be numbered 222 for Wittmann at Villers Bocage but this project has been riddled with errors on my behalf.  All of which will be revealed in my next post.  While the tank still looks great for table top. My snooty self is not all that happy.  I see another Tiger in my future!

Below you can see a test paint on a Fallschirmjager with FG42 Assault Rifle.  The only things I have painted are the trousers, smock, and helm. The skin is just a base coat. Originally I was playing with the thought of doing a different camo that the standard Splinter Pattern.  I even played with painting them for Italy.  But the Splinter camo was used quite a bit on both the Eastern and Western fronts.

I didn't have the Luftwaffe uniform blue color. So I achieved this by painting a base color of German Grey, then added a little bit of Vallejo Field Blue to German Grey for a highlight.  I feel this is very close to all the pictures and color plates I have seen of the Fallschirmjager and Luftwaffe.  I feel like many people just paint a regular dark blue too often for zee boys!  

I hate painting camo!!!!

Some BIG news... and a Tiger...

Here we go! I have assembled and primed Wittman's Tiger from Warlord Games.  Here you can see me mediocre modulation attempt that is just ok. I am curious how it will look.

Next up however is the brown and green camo. Which I will need to do some sort of modulation on as well. This is the portion that has me a bit nervous.

 I will be sure to get that done up this week. Sadly after that I will most likely have to put the project on hold and await transfers that fit this tank.

I believe I am going to go with Tiger 222, which was the one he did his most damage in. Tiger 007 is the one he and his crew were killed in at Villers Bocage.

And now for my big news...

Finally! Someone to eat my models, and assist when needed!

28mm M4A3 Sherman from Warlord Games

Happy New Year!

I got to celebrate my 35th Birthday along with the New Years this past weekend. But I spent my spare time working on this bad boy for Bolt Action.  I have the beginnings to a respectable German Fallschirmjager Army but have only just started on them. I am currently awaiting on my Tiger I and an additional squad. I have stared work on the command and some of the specialty units as of today. So look for some updates on them soon. Not to mention some Confederate Dismounted Cavalry from the ACW. 

 

I airbrushed my base coat of US Olive Drab Surface Primer from Vallejo over the whole model. Next I mixed a highlight for modulation with 10:4 parts Olive Drab to Whites. Followed by 10:3 Olive Drab to Black for the shades.  I then tried my hand at 2 layers of the Armor Filter from MiG for Dark Green Vehicles.  Then I applied my decals using MicroSet and MicroSol. 

On to the washes! I then gave the crevices and fiddly bits a wash of MiG Dark Wash, trying to keep it all around the edges and in the cracks.  After letting that dry a bit I then used a flat brush with Mineral Spirits to remove the excess and begin the streaking. I found a large bottle at my local craft store for $7.  After letting that dry I gave the tank a spray of DullCote. 

Next was chipping. A piece of sponge with a bit of Citadel Doombull Brown was then carefully dabbed on where I thought the tank would have the most chipping.  A brief and minor touch up with a small brush finished this portion. In hindsight I forgot to take a lighter color to the chipped edges to create a layered feel but I think it still turned out alright. Next I used the MiG Rust wash and streaked the rust from these chipped areas as if the rain had created the streaks. A dampened brush in more Mineral Spirits gently dragged over this in a vertical motion, top to bottom, helped make it more subtle and realistic. Another layer of varnish to protect it was then applied.

Finally a gentle few strokes of another MiG product, Rain Marks, was applied to give the tank some more contrast.  The tracks were painted a Burnt Sienna color from some random craft paint I have just for treads. A wash of the treads and wheels in the dark wash to give some good shading brought me to the home stretch of the lower section. Followed by a nice dusting of MiG's European Dust pigments. I did mix a bit with Acrylic Resin and Plaster to create the dried and caked mud.  And there you have it!

Now I really want to paint up some US boys to go with it. Which route do I take? The plastic US Rifles? Or the metal US Airborne. Regular infantry vs Vet's. If I go Rifles I will most surely have to add a few Half Tracks for the boys.  But the Airborne could give me a good compliment to my Fallschirmjager. Tough decision.  What's your thoughts?

The above photo I used for some references on my Sherman.