zaterdag 30 april 2011

Burned out Blitz wreck

My best wreck to date.

Number 2 of a series of 3 I'm working on for Early War, 1 on its side, 1 with a burned cab and 1 extra done. Again using the very cheap Heller Blitz, with scratchbuilt remains for the bed and Dremel trimmed wheels for that nice burned effect. Fire was used in harming the model.

Colourpics:














No progress on the other parts of the Early War build.

zaterdag 23 april 2011

German Early War force for Barbarossa, part 4

With great weather and a busy week at work I haven't done that much this week, but there is some progress. I finished the Blitz wreck and the first 3 trailers. The MMS double barrel has arrived, but I find it a bit fiddly so it is not finished yet. Small progress on the IV's, and did some primary work on the CO's ride and the 2 Beute.

Enough chatting, piccy time:
With a nice shot of the engine block. Too tall for a Blitz, but it looks nice :)

Fuel trailer 1

Fuel trailer 2


Spares trailer

Progress is slow

But I'm getting there!

donderdag 14 april 2011

Pop smoke!

Had this stuck in my head, so built them. Didn't turn out the way I wanted but they are acceptale as is I think, but these things are not worth the time and effort they take. Based on 1 cent coins, core of twisted wire with clump foliage superglued and then coated in thinned down woodglue. Messy as heck. Might add green, white and grey but not right now.

Smoke markers:






They have a decent size (20mm SandS V-100)




And I've added the grenades to every base as well:
:
They will come in handy for Vietnam and Modern games.

dinsdag 12 april 2011

Aerials

Aerials. They are a finishing toutch to your model. I've been adding them for a few years now, started out with clipped guitar wire (hurts), then went over to trimming a brush for the hairs (flexible), even chased after the cat for a few whiskers (you see the problem here, right?), then ended up using 0.5mm brass wire.

After the last big battle the lower tray in my army transport had shifted and crushed all of the aerials in that one, which was a bit of a drag, but motivated me to fix another problem: with aerials added the vehicles take up a lot of room in a transport and they waste a lot of space.

The solution turned out to be very, very simple. Don't glue them in. Sounds obvious, I know, but it took me a while. As I've been asked quite a few times now to supply people with my aerials I feel it would be easier to tell you how to make them yourselves.

What do you need?
-0.5mm brass wire, I buy 1 metre lengths at the local model shop. I use it for other things as well as pinning and replacement barrels.
-0.4mm soldering wire. A spool of this stuff with shipping tends to set you back anywhere from 5 tot 10 pounds depending on your location. I also use it for wires and cables. 1 spool will last you forever, trust me.
- superglue, a clothesline pin, a file, a ruler and a pair of clippers.

Step 1:
Lay out a section of brass wire and solder wire.


Step 2:
Twist the solder wire around the brass wire. I do this 6 times, then fold over the front bit that I was holding so you get 7 twists.

Step 3:
Cut off the remaining wire and push the twists together. Don't worry about the tips standing up a bit, this will be fixed later.

Step 4:
Add a small drop of superglue about 5mm from the end of the brass wire and slide the soldering wire over it. Try to keep 3-5 mm distance from the end of the wire., this more then enough for most projects. As the superglue sets you can use a knifetip or a toothpick to curl in the tips. Then add a small dab of superglue on both ends of the wire spool. Capillary forces will draw the superglue in to the spool and this will be set in no time.


Step 5:
Align the wire with a ruler or grid and cut it off at 30mm including the wire spool. Use a sanding stick or a file to trim the sharp edges a bit. You can vary the sizes of the aerial if you like but through trial and error I found 30mm to work best.

Step 6:
Clip the end into a clothes peg and add a drop of superglue to the end of the aerial.

Step 7:
Suspend this upside down so the drop keeps it shape and covers the sharp bit. I usually repeat this last process twice for a nice solid tip.

And that is it. You can churn these out pretty fast if you get the hang of it, and I always make a few extra for later. Paint them black, varnish them and they are ready to go whenever you need them. Adding pennants is a breeze now as well, no more damage during transport.

They have turned out to be pretty durable, no casualties yet. Best of all, you can get em all out, put them in small storage box and put them on again in no time.

Hope you can use this tutorial and put it to good use, and good luck on the battlefield with your new addition.

maandag 11 april 2011

German Early War force for Barbarossa, part 3

I'm trying to spend an hour per evening on these when I'm done with cleaning and sorting stock for my sale, but that plan isn't really working. Still, for my own motivation, a current status report:

HQ:
Done as is, ready for paint. Note the 2 front wheels, something went wrong in the mould that day, the other one from the box had the same problem. The rest are fine. I don't care, model is good enough as it is.

38(t) Group 1:
I'm leaving this group light on stowage, so besides some minor clean ups these are ready for paint.

38(t) Group 2:
More stowage, I'll try and give the anxious commander the biggest flag in my collection. 2nd tank has extra fuel and a spare roadwheel on the back, and a nice log for the first. Which is a standard match with the head removed.

Panzer II's:
Could use more stowage, have to fix up the mantlet on the second one and fix the MG-34 in place. Replaced both the guns with barrels from a 20mm Flak. I know, not correct, but I wasn't happy with the guns as delivered, and I had a spare pack. So sue me.

Panzer I's:
Hardly any work on these yet so pass.

Beutepanzer Cruiser A13:
Spent waaay to much time on these, but building all of the canister racks proved to be a bit more time consuming then anticipated. Still debating if I will do the same on the 2nd Cruiser (but I propably will)

Panzer IV's:
Move along here, not much to see yet.

Trailers:
2 fuel ones basecoated, 3rd is a cargo trailer with roadwheels and some other mechanical bits. This is actually meant for the Blitz but hey. I'm expecting another single barrel trailer from SHQ tomorrow, and MMS confirmed my order for the double barrel today so it should turn up soon as well.


And thats all for now folks.

vrijdag 8 april 2011

German Early War force for Barbarossa, part 2

Picked up the latest set of boxes with orders, washed, cleaned and based them. Minimi Panzer I's and II's, plus 2 A13 Cruisers (Pz.Kpf.Wg.A13 (e) or MK IV 744(e)) I picked up for fun and detailing purposes and those will stand in for the Early Panzer IV's I'm building right now.

Quite the neat little force.



Still think I need more fuel trailers, maybe I need to have a look at the MMS double barrel ones. Also I will need to clean the new tanks up, fill the (few) holes and add stowage. Spraypaint is due in the weekend, decals propably won't arrive before the end of April, Dom's a bit busy at the moment. Still, I've got enough parts for stowage now as well as 2 or maybe 3 wrecked 38's as I found a local auction selling them for 6 euro per tank.

vrijdag 1 april 2011

German Early War force for Barbarossa, part 1

Remember what I said about being easily distracted? Well, it happend again. I really should stop getting ideas from my chats with Piers, it is costing me money. On the other hand I'm enjoying this so why not.

Early War.....never thought I would get into that, but since my main interest is Russia, why not go for Barbarossa? I picked up the Rapid Fire book German Units in Russia 1941-1942 and looked at what was available, and chose the 29th Panzer Regiment, 12th Panzer Division as it stood on the 22nd of June 1941.

The force consists of the following:
HQ - Panzer 38(t), Panzer I
Light Company 1 - 3x Panzer 38(t), Panzer I
Light Company 2 - 3x Panzer 38(t), Panzer II
Heavy Company - 2x Panzer IV (75mm), Panzer II

Since cost is becoming a more important factor for me I've kept check what I have spent on these sofar. I picked up 4 boxes of Pegasus Panzer 38(t's) which is enough to make 8 of them, for 50 euros incl shipping, a old Befehlsversion of the 38 for spare parts, the antenna and a hull for a wreck. Bit more costly though, at 14 euros including shipping, but one of those is enough for the entire force. For the 2 heavy IV's I need teh D model that you can't get, but I found a really wonderful tutorial (later more on that one) that tells you what to change on the Airfix IV to make it a decent D model. As I still had 2 of these Airfix kits in stock they cost me nothing, but the local shop still sells them for 5,75 euro if I'd feel the need to get more. Leaves me with the I's and the II's, those are on order with Minimi and will set me back roughly 25 pounds including shipping. Decals are on order with Dom's decals, but 3 packs for 7 pounds incl shipping don't break the bank. Stowage will come from the spares box, and I have plenty of I-94 decals left to complete them. Just wish my Greenstuff order would come in, Wayland Games is pretty damn slow to fulfill their order, and shipping from the UK is still 2-3 weeks sadly.

Anyway, I built up all of the 38(t)'s in 2 evenings worth of work, based them and added Battlefield commanders on the CO and Company commanders tanks. Next time they will get stowage, and I think I still have 1 or 2 old fuel trailers I go from SHQ ages ago that should suit these nicely and fit in what I have read about their use sofar.

Here is what I have sofar:


And when that was finished I spent my remaining time on creating a wrecked Opel Blitz to go with them. Should look nice in grey. Just need to scratch an engine, a firewall and work a bit to get it ready for paint.



Old Heller kit that I picked up a bunch for next to nothing a long time ago. Better put em to some use, so why not add more wrecks.