Raising the 20mm German Army

No, not like a Necromancer

 

Facebook reminded me I got back from Ireland 10 years ago and I think it is time I bring the German army back to life. I made it for Normandy, but there is no reason why it can't work for Russia 44 onwards, so...

Grabbed some old bits and ran it through primer.

I made these aeons ago from Britannia figures for foxholes (in Battlegroup moving out of them removes them) and I like the visual aspect of proper things on the table. I can't remember if I made more, but these are a nice start. I still have my old notebook so I know what paints to use, always handy. 

Also picked up some boxes of PSC 20mm GAZ trucks (been promising myself those sinced April 2021) and will copy this prime bit of Beute AA. The keying on the bed to the frame could be better (well, there is basically none) but otherwise I'm not having any real issues and I like it. As soon as my new greenstuff arrives (I'm out) I'll rebuild the tarp as in the  photograph. I need to find my AA mounted DHsK that is in my stash ....somewhere. The open part of the bed isn't correct, but this looks better visually as the inside has no detail. I'll grab my scribing tool and do the next ones proper, easily done when when on the sprue. Now, not so much, but hey, challenges!

Also, nothing is stopping me from making a German and a Russian gunner of course on a drop in base. Well, maybe.

Victor, Charly and Bob - WIP

Did not feel like building more stuff, so decided to grab the brushes and have a bit of painting fun while I still can. So, Victor, Charly and Bob.

The other 3 are still in various states of conversion, so those are for a later date.

Why go the easy way when you can take the hard route?

Britannia has quite a few sculpts I like. But when the owner died nothing new appeared and the range is in dire need of some upgrades.....so I'm making my own.

At least Britannia is something I can match my skill level in sculpting to, fortunately.

All conversions off of the same bike, and a NVA gunner turned into a WW2 Soviet one

Farmer Jan

Conversion of a Britannia Vietcong Porter bicycle. Now it is Farmer Jan, the refugee. Or Farmer Jan, the smuggler. Who knows.....

My first skin paint in years. I could not find my triade of paints and it showed, so that is a bit shit. The blue overalls are a bit shit but will make great Chemsuit overalls for my future Iranians. The rest is fine.

30 day kit challenge! With a bit of a review too!

Took a day off to get over the stress of my Bussiness Math and (English) Language exam on tuesday (which I passed with an 8.25/10) and that started digging into my cabinets to go over my endless suplly of metal and resin kits. Well, not endless, but there is a lot. Some of it was bought when I just started out in the hobby, as well as much newer stuff.

Anyway, I've got a large box of resins and metals set aside, together with some painted stuff, that can be sold in the near future to fund future (and past) purchases.

Yes, past purchases.....

Last week, I actually bought some stuff again for a combined value of 150 euros (which I really should not be spending!)

• A once used 6x4 Quarantine Zone mousepad gaming mat from GameMat.EU. Seller agreed to 50 including shipping for a 70 euro excl shipping mat new in the shop. I have been looking for a nice Necromunda suitable one so I didn't want to pass this one up. A bit of long term planning as I don't really have much suitable scenery yet, but that can be remidied in time.

 

• A fellow gamer buddy of mine (one that actually is a teacher like me but still works as one) put up a lot of Americans and Afghans up for sale last week. I managed to talk him down to 100 euros for the lot, and as you can see from the photo's, they are more then worth it as the paintjobs are very, very good indeed. Beter then mine even, dare I say it. 56 figs painted to this level for this price is a steal, and I will cherish these. Yes, they are on 2 cents bases but that is not the end of the world, I'm the odd one out for using 1 cent bases anyway.

 Yeah, more goats. I haven't got a vlue where my painted goats are tbh, they are "somewhere" in the attic. They will turn up someday.

Civllians, lots and lot's of civillians, Great paintjobs, very colourful.

I'm not in need of US troops perse, but decided not to pass up on these as they will come in handy when I want to play with friends who don't have miniatures of their own. I like these Elhiems.

I can never pass up on contractors, especially well painted contractors/ "undercover" SF

Right, back to the 30 day challenge. It is currently the 20th day of the challenge (if my math is still correct) and I have added the following:

I got a free partially built and sprayed Airfix Spitfire Mk 1 with a kit lot a while back, so I took that from the box, removed the spinner, the prop and the canopy. I magnetised the nose and the prop, removed the blades, drilled a hole, inserted a flight plug, epoxied that plus 2 magnets into place, and replaced the canopy. Perfect for the BEF list. Which, if I had checked it earlier, would have told me that it wasn't in the list.....feg. Well, counts-as-Hurricane then it is!

SandS models French AHN truck - ordered when they were released, now finally built. Did notice mine are considerably less straight then the painted model on the shop listing, both my fueltanks are angled down at the front. One for Early War, the other for Late War. Currently10 Pounds eac . LINK

SandS models Toyota Hi Ace van - ordered when they were released, now finally built. One will be an Middle East ambulance, the other 2 generic civillian suitable for world wide usage. Currently 7,50 Pounds each. LINK

 Sgts Mess greenhouses and outhouses. I picked these up 2 years ago at Crisis I think, now finally cleaned them (not that there was any flash on the outside, these are superb castings!) and washed them with plenty of soap to get the release agent off. I've decided not to base these as to increase their usefulness on the table. The Greenhouse currently retails at 5.50 Pounds LINK and the Outhouse at 3.00 Pounds LINK and I can reccomend these highly. Superb castings for a very nice price.

Sgts Mess French WW1 Memorial. Completely different resin from the previous items,with a white metal figure, none the less a nice addition to any French town when built. I think I have some white metal wreaths in my bits box "somewhere" that would look nice, else I will use flower tufts to enhance this a bit. Currently retails for 4.50 Pounds. LINK Seeing that they do a British WW1 memorial as well, I will put one on the list for the next Crisis show to enhance a Britsh village for Sea Lion.

Sgts Mess Generic 1939 single decker bus of a typically British design. Superb casting, again, very few faults for a rather affordable vehicle. Will make a great troopcarrier for the BEF, Home Guard or even VBCW games. No idea what I will paint this one. Currently retails for 7.50 Pounds LINK

 Frontline Wargaming makes affordable vehicles, even if they take a bit of work to get up to specs due to the amount of resin bubbles and holes, and they can be a bit rough but once cleaned and painted they are very nice indeed. I can only give you the Frontline link LINK as the webpage does not have a direct link to the vehicle, and it is listed as C4 Dlivery Van at a cost of 4.20 Pounds. It must be severely overloaded though as it sits very low on the rear axle. Must be carrying explovives for the 5th Column or something.

I'm not quite sure who made this, I think Red Star? Long OOP, this is a M47 tank with questionale trackwork, and I drilled holes in the barrel to make it look like the real thing. It's going straight into my Yugoslavia box as I have seen some used by the Bosnians, but I will most likely make it as generic as possible. No idea what it cost, I know I picked this up years ago. Now finally built and based.

ICM Zil-157 with shelter. Half built and based, it had rested on top of a old resin kit that had partially melted and melted the plastic base of this truck as well. Rebased it and I am looking for spare parts  for it as it is a bit incomplete. Not sure if this will be green or sand, could go either way atm

Progress on the T-55 turret. It is magnetised and finished, I will fill the few holes when I need to paint this and all external fitting have been removed as this one is meant for a dug in or bunker mod. The wreck has been fitted with the T-54 turret, I just need to make a Oyumaru mould of the correct hatch and then I can start banging up the fenders etc.

I also based a metric shit ton of figures.

 Frostgrave Ice Gorrilla that when painted will work as a albino for the current rostgrave setting and the new one. Not sure if the base is too large though. The other large base is some kind of steroid mutant that I will put into my Big Trouble in Little China box. In the back are Copplestone Neo Soviets, a few will need helmets instead of fur hatsand will be painted up as Chinese remnants for Fallout/TNT games. The 20mm Police box is from Sgts Mess as well as the Cold Frame, both will make lovely add ons for a British table.

 I was gifted these African milita troops and based them asap. They will go into my Mogadishu box. All RH Models.

 Foundry (French) Partisans. Rather expensive for the amount of figures that you get, they are rather lovely, I would love some more of their MG teams to convert to other weapons like a Bren etc. LINK
9 Pounds for a pack of 10 figures. I might pick up another pack or 2 next Crisis and do head and weapon swaps with them.

A lot of Britannia MIniatures Taliban I bought off a friend. I know have plenty to a orther Alliance vs Taliban game. Also 2 Lancer figures, a fez weraing commander with a sowrd that will be my Partisan leader, and a WW1 British trooper with a pigeon that will be converted in a partisan for a Comms Team, he just needs a second person and I need a Oyumare cast of that pigeon to use as a base to make my own flying version to base up.

And that's it for now. Started a ton of things, but untill all the holes have been filled in the resin vehicles, they don't count for the challenge. So that is my job for tomorrow evening. Same goes for the figures, no spackle and no sand means they are not finished. So for now only the Spitfire counts!

I finally played another game btw, a solid game of Gaslands in the Memorial Zen Garden and Racetrack at Modhails place. Safe to say, I didn't make the finish line as Modhails mini gun ripped into my after I had spun out of control 3/4 along the track. I had the last laugh though as my rocket ammo ( I had not fired a single rocket) and my remaining molotovs detonated in a large fireball, destroying his car and burning off the remaining paintjob on Ozymandas his car (that I had put on fire twice before with molotovs). I really should have not given him a car with a HMG turret though, that is nasty.... Next game in a few weeks :)

Partisan Progress and darnit, I've been banned from another shop

Well, no more Britannia for me it seems. I've been kindly asked to take my business elsewhere as Andy was saddend that he cannot give me miniatures with the standard that I'm looking for. He is disheartend by my dissappointment.

Ehm, ok. So I'm informing him of the high miscast rate that he keeps sending out in every single order since last year, with pictures and ideas about the causes (worn moulds, mould slippage, defective vents), not asking for refunds (the very badly cast Panzerjagers were a exception to that norm, and cost me way more money and time in shipping them back as I was ever refunded, but I don't even mind that) and just kept orddering again and again when I had the need for certain figures.

Well, no more it seems. I think this is a shitty way to treat a repeat customer.

So, since I've buying my kits 2nd hand, it seems it is time again to buy my miniatures 2nd hand online again then, is it. I'll enlist some of my UK friends for that though, as most Ebay sales seem to have the Ebay Shipping program, which must be the biggest ripoff on their side of the continent....12 quid shipping for a few miniatures, just cause it saves you informing customs and insurance. For inter EU shipping, which isn't even a thing, you tossers.... anyway. I've asked Chris to bid in my name on a Taliban lot and I will keep my ee on Ebay for a bit to see if anything suitable pops up.

I've switched shops straight away and I will now give Lancer Miniatures a try. I've had some of his stuff on my checklist for a while now, and when SP over at the Guild informed me they have a guy with a homing/carrier pigeon the decision was quickly made to buy that and the things on my wanted list.

Homing/Carrier pigeon you say? Yes.....

REW to WW1:

Carrier pigeons were used to transport messages. Heck, many famous pigeons were used in WW2 were used as well, so my Partisan Radio Team is getting carrier pigeons, dammit. Considering the Germans were pretty good at finding radio signals, not too far fetched of an idea so I'm sticking to it.

I also ordered a sniper to convert for the Partisans, and an officer with a raised sword to convert to a bad ass Balkan Partisan offcier, cause, you know, sword! And some other things like small 25mm and 47mm AT guns for my 8th Army.

Also, after the buyer dragged his feet for almost a month, I finally got my payment for 10 old GW publications, and exchanged the exact amount for the cheaspest Italeri church I could find. Yes, this one:

It's for the Mediterranian and the Balkans are in that area, so a nice thing to put on the side of the table (or in the middle) and make houses around it.

Piers is highly motivated atm to get his anti partisan force done and I'm highly motivated tyo get my partisans painted, with the caveat that I work much slower, but most of the guys I have are primer ready so I might get some painting done next week, I hope. I'm still woefully short of troops and support staff to make at least a viable force. Oh, and we have to add rules for mines to the Partisans.

Anyway, here is an update on my MG08 team and my Messenger / Partisan Mounted Scout Leader.

 New head for the MG08, added a scarf and a beard to hide the join. Not too bad I say.

"Fat German on a horse" as he is called, converted with new hair, a moustache and a eye patch. need to clean up some mould lines, smooth the areas where I removed the canteens and stuff, and maybe add a Ppsh in his hand, I have some PSC ones spare, just change the round ammo box in a banana clip. Actually, he would make a brilliant leader too :) ... but I have other plans for that. Piers has some Britannia spare for me, including horses, that will come in handy for him as the rest of his unit.

This might get a bit Technical

Just to help out my buddy Ferry a bit :)

(click on the pic for a bigger size)

I have more in storage, just not in easy reach, so this will have to do for now.

1. S&S Lada Riva saloon car. Super generic resin car, fits in everywhere and as everything. Taxi, police car, civillian, car, target car. S&S even makes African and Arab half figures to glue on the windows for a drive by. S&S Lada Riva Currently retails at 6.50 UK Pounds. Single cast with 4 metal wheels. Casting is typical for S&S, so be prepared to fill in the air bubbles with some greenstuff. This one is painted as a Yugoslavian decoy for aicraft.
2. Same S&S Lada Riva saloon car, this time painted up as generic TV crew car, fitting for any warzone since the 70's
3. JB Models (now Airfix) Landrover. Plastic kit, you can buy a verson with a hardtop or a soft top, and they come with a trailer, which is supereasy for loads of armies. Price varies from a couple of euros second hand right up to some stores asking as much as 15 euros for a single kit (which is a bit ridiculous ans a proper diecast can be had for half that). Again, super generic, as a civvy, Technical or as these 2 WIP's, British Special Forces rides for the Cold War.... I really should finish those someday, even though I'm no longer in big scale Cold War conflicts, they would be very handy for TW:2K
4. Same as 3, but with AT asset, The other one will get a minigun, thx to a former SAS friend who wants to remain anonymous.
5. Hobby Den Toyota 4x4. I have a ton of these, all based up and ready to go, just paint them black, add a magnet in the back so I can slide on a Back off sign in Arabic, add a magnet in the roof so I can put a MMG/HMG/Minigun/Grenadelauncher on it. They are meant for my Blackwater project, but can double as unmarked black cars for any location and any faction, be it intelligence, government, drug lords or warlords, anything goes really. Very affordable too, these are currently priced at 6,50 euros for a single resin cast with 4 resin wheels.  Hobby Den 4x4 Toyota  Bryan also does a Technical version of the same vehicle, I reviewed that back in 2012: Hobby Den 4x4 Technical
6. This SUV is made by Britannia/Grubby Tanks, and would be a very good deal at 6 UK Pounds each, as it comes with 2 Taliban and a 12.7mm Dhssk. It has 4 metal wheels and the veicle itself is a single resin cast. Therein also lies the problem, as in the last few years I've been let down by the terrible casting quality from Britannia's caster. Having said that, this is a very smooth model, nothing like the hard cornered armoured vehicles, so it could be less affected. Although sold as Taliban, there is nothing stopping you from using this as a Special Forces ride. Afghan Technical
7. RH Models aka Liberation Miniatures Technical. Very nice ride, but due to getting my entire country blacklisted by our benevolent Dictator Rolf Hedges, no longer available to us. Included for completeness.
8. Britannia/Grubby Tanks M35 truck. Really old casting, upgraded with a aluminium tubing exhaust to bring it up to M35A2 specs, and a miscast BRDM-2 hull, cut down, added in the back, as a makeshift convoy protection vehicle for TW:2K. I didn't like the way it was going with my add on door armour, so took that all off and forgot all about it. Suitable from Vietnam up to present day, as a Government or Rebel vehicle, easily converted and less costly then the Academy M35 truck. But yeah, their current castings are shite so order at your own risk. Britannia/Grubby Tanks M35 truck
9. ICM ZIL or Jiefang truck - I picked up a dozen or so of these way back when shipping was still affordable for less then 4 euros per truck. Pretty generic truck, multi role use, civillian to military, plastic so easily converted by adding drop in loads or a baby wipe tarp.
10. RH Models Saxon. Also added for completeness, I picked up some second hand ones for use with TW:2K and was surprised a few years ago when Ukraine got about 2 dozen from the UK to help with the war effort.....and that was the last thing I ever heard or saw about them. Not really a Technical but makes for a great militia/marauder vehicle.

Now, there are a lot more Technical suitable vehicles available in 20mm. I've made a order with the Hobby Den as well as some samples to paint up for their shop,  and like I said, I have loads in my stash I need to dig out as well, but that is for a next installment.

Now, comparing these to diecasts, the diecasts are of course much cheaper, especially when bought second hand. The wheels tend to be a bit of a let down, but you can always rip them off ond base them on suitable resin wheels. Shape wise, they tend to be a bit hit/miss, I've got more then a few who look suitable but when measured up, turn out to be way oversized. Caveat Empor, bring a 20mm fig with youy when shopping, I say.

Hope you find this helpful.

Spending Easter in a proper fashion, sans eggs.

Right, after clearing a bit of the atic and a lot og my hobbyroom like a rabid ferret on Red Bull, I've got in my hobbyroom this monstrosity....

...and all of this needs to be sorted, bagged, tagged and put online for sale. Of course, that will happen after Easter, cause right now is family time. And after a day spent with Kim and the kids and a guest and delivering a killer cola marinated chicken I spent some time in the hobby room with todays arrivals. Cause yes, I have bought stuff. And all of the stuff that had arrived today is now cleaned, built and based.

I received some Viet Minh, to be used as low class VC. Just sanded the bases smooth and stuck them to 1 euro cents with the exception of the LMG, that I put on a miscut 2mm MDF base. When everything has dried I can get to work on the mould lines and find a solution for their heads as every single one of them, with one notable exception, comes with a straw hat. And the bareheaded guy has it on his back...... So I need to find somesuitable heads and use Oyumaru on those to get some proper heads, and I can remove the straw hats or slide them onto their backs, but booney hats would be nice too. I think I have some of those in my Liberation Models box. All Britannia figures these, rather nice, and they should look fine with some work.

The tents, firepits and well are from this set:

The set is from 2010 but easily found on Ebay, not so much in local stores. Not that I need more then 1 set now. Built in all in less then 30 minutes, then some cleaning after the glue had set, cut bases, added and and aned the tents sides smoorth. When ready it will go right in the 20mm Desert Village/City box, until needed. Really nice items, should set you back around 10 Pounds for a box.

Also found a ladder that I had made back then when Mordheim was released. It was bases straight up ona  piece of 3mm plastic foamboard I've long since given to Modhail. Removed that base and made a new minimalistic one for Morheim. I also found some really thin wood that I will use in the same manner for fences etc as it is perfectly 20mm scaled.

One of my pick ups for today from the charity shops, besides 2 more bags of very thin lenghts of wood, are a bag of beads for 5 cents, a cookbook holder which is perfect for mty book collection and a large sheet of woven grassy fabrik, and the pattern will not look out of place on a building from a county in the Pacific. The beads make very fine for sale items at the various shops that I want to build.


That is all for now folks, might be back tomorrownight with more news! Enjoy your Easter!

Where's the earthshattering kaboom?!

In short, I'm in a foul mood :D. For the past few days I'm having a lot of problems walking as my knee really, really hurts, I really should rest it more the coming week. I've noticed I've become easier to anger, and quicker to reply when I think something is not right.

This week, I had received my Britannia (Grubby Tanks) order and found all of the metal castings to be ok instead of one who had a mould shift right across his face.....but I will behead him and replace his head. The resin castings however......

Yes, I can spend time filling each and every single hole there is. I had high hopes that the bad casts from 4 years ago were a thing of the past but clearly they are not. The other Panzerjager was just as bad. I sent a email to Grubby explaining that I was not happy with the castings, slept a night over it, and then sent him another email that I would be returning the casts to him. I have not had a reply yet.

Yes, they are not expensive, but I've had plenty of casts from small to large businesses that are not expensive and bubble free. With a half decent vacuum chamber you can prevent 99% of the airbubbles, or so I'm told.

And today I took a trip to the Scale Model Convention - a weekend long event in Veldhoven and actually the first modelling event I have ever attended. I picked up 2 Panzerjager IV Lang and a SdKfz 140 kit I had traded for online, met up with our American expat Britt, spotted some familiar faces from Crisis that I could not put a name to, and had a nice walk around to find the Mig Ammo Filter for German Yellow and Dark Green. And no matter how well I looked, I could not find it! I only saw 3 stands carry Mig Ammo and none of them had Filters with them. So for trials I grabbed AK Interactive Nato Tanks and Light Filter for Wood to try them out, and I will be going over the Crisis listings this week to find traders who possibly could sell the Mig Ammo filters that I need.

Other then that the trading corner was a bit too much of the same thing? Couple of companies with tools, couple of companies with plints, couple of companies with paper stuff, couple of companies with tons of kits and paints..... I'm guessing I'm spoiled by Crisis and the great diversity that is on offer. Here....not so much. Hidden in the back I did find Mark from MBM, I grabbed a seat there for 15 minutes to rest my knee and talk to his gf about the selling season and Belgian things in general. I did buy a kit off him, Italeri T-34/76 m42 in the seal for only 5 euros. Will make a great wreck.

There were some offers kit kit sellers (most had 20% off) but I seem to have gotten used to the low prices of the trading sites as most seemed to be double or more of what I would pay on the groups. And there were massive price differences too, 1 chap was selling Modelcraft kits for 3,50-5 euros, and the stand across them had all the same boxes plastsred with 10 euro pricetags. It was a bit ridiculous at times.

2 traders or older kits had been placed opposite of each other but I seemed to find a lot of kits without a pricetag, or asking for more then I wanted to pay for them. All the way in the back, stuffed in a small discount box, I found a 1/144 Ju-88, B-25 and B-29 that I picked up for 10 euros total. When I turned around I was shocked to see a whole stack of 1/144 kist at the other seller, with the same B-29 having a 17,50 euro pricetag on it. Again, ridiculous.

In the end, not counting the pre-paid trade, I spent 15 euros on kits. The Ju-88 and the B-25 are for Battlegroup, and I have no clue what to do with the B-29. I guess I wasn't thinking when I bought that. 9 euros for 2 pots of filter, and my final purchase was a Mininatur box of Horse Tails for 4 euros (discounted from 15 euros) in a discount bin somewhere. Not many people had discount bins, and most in it wasn't even worth the prices they charged for it.

But this was just 1 hall! The other hall had row after row after row of modellers showing off projects or working on them, and a area beside that for all the people competing for prizes. The latter was pretty crowded when I got there so I'll grab a few pictures off the net of the ones I liked :)

In no particular order....I just picked the ones that gave me ideas :)

With that, the show was over for me, just too much pain. I actually arrived home in a empty house, Kim and the kids had gone downtown for a walk and a drink. So I took a few minutes to go over the stuff I had picked up.

And then found out one of the Hasegawa Jagdpanzer IV Lang was already started and all of the steel roadwheels were missing!!! Fuck! No such thing was mentioned by the seller.

After a good 45 minutes on Messenger, telling him of the problem, telling him again what was missing for more then 8 times! (he kept repeating the question: "What is missing exactly?") Showed him pics and all. First he said it was a packing error by Hasegawa (You have got to be joking mate!) and then he admitted he had already started it. He has now promised me to send the 4 steel roadwheels from the Revell kit so we'll see what happens when those arrive. I need those wheels to adapt the PSC Panzer IV chassis.

And thus ends my weekend. Kids will be at my parents for most of the week, I'm expecting a call from either the UWV or Maatwerk with an update, but other then that not much is planned. If my knee can take it, it might be a good time to leave my room behind for a minute and get cracking with making space in the back end of the attic to put up my spare cabinet and use it for all of the spare kits I have. Atm, with so many packed up, I'm rather clueless to what I have in stock and what can or cannot be sold off. I need to sort that. Anything else I find that can be sold before Crisis is a bonus.