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.