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Where do you get those bushes/how do you make them stand straight like that?

It looks so realistic. What is it?

Great work, lovely to see some more WW2 stuff on Dakka (even if the scale is different!).

Love what you've done with those Shermans, the markings are great.

Considering the scale the basing is also excellent. Must have been quite a challenge!

Thanks Gundam - hopefully we'll spur some more WW2 stuff

Paul Atreides wrote:Where do you get those bushes/how do you make them stand straight like that?

It looks so realistic. What is it?

Those are two-tone 4mm Scilfor / MiniNatur clumps. They come on a big sheet, you peel them off and glue them on. The flowers are some german manufacturer. The flowers are a bit too large for the scale so I had to squash them down and cut them in half, but the 4mm clumps work perfectly. 40k would need 6mm clumps (or larger). The static grass is just 2mm autumn blend from MiniNatur.

The clumps come on sheets like this


Mininatur have a lot of cool terrain products, check them out here

It's very nice to see some of your FoW stuff, Legoburner! You did an excellent job on the tanks, especially for your first time working in 15mm scale! The weathering is quite nice, and you did a good job making the decals look weathered too.

The dismounted tank crews are also well done.

What size bit did you use to drill out the magnet holes in the turrets? Did you use a dremel tool or a pin vice type thing? I haven't magnetized any of my tanks, (I usually use blue tac, or nothing), but if it's a pretty easy procedure I might magnetize them. Do you think it would be a big deal to magnetize a few tanks that are already painted?

I can't wait to see more of your FoW stuff! I've got a few pics of some of my older Afrika Korps infantry in the gallery now, I might post a thread with them if anyone wants to see them, and I should have a lot of stuff to post throughout next year when I'm back in the US....I've got some Russians waiting for me at home, and a third DAK platoon that didn't quite get finished before I left the US.

Hordini wrote:What size bit did you use to drill out the magnet holes in the turrets? Did you use a dremel tool or a pin vice type thing? I haven't magnetized any of my tanks, (I usually use blue tac, or nothing), but if it's a pretty easy procedure I might magnetize them. Do you think it would be a big deal to magnetize a few tanks that are already painted?

Thanks 5 more Shermans to make a legal armoured company and then I am thinking Hawker Typhoons in a couple of months time for some support.

I used a 3mm drill bit with 3mm magnets. I tried using a pin vice with a 3mm bit but it took forever and gave poor results so I switched to a dremel and it was amazing how easy it was. It took all of 5 minutes per tank from start to finish to magnetise. Just drill, put in first magnet with a dab of superglue, drill other part, put second magnet on top of first magnet and paint the top, then put the painted side of the second magnet facing down into the new hole with a dab of glue (paint them so that there are no matching poles).

The pin vice method was very dusty and messy and I would not advise doing it that way on painted models, but the dremel just ejected a string of resin which was very clean and easy to remove so that would probably be safe enough to do.

I'd like to see more of your afrika korps, I've looked at everything you've done in the gallery so far and enjoyed it.

The tank crews look great!

This has made me buy the FoW books and I'm planning on getting a LW US armor force, as WW2 models are what I started modeling on.

Did you buy the MiniNatur stuff directly from the website?

Metsuri wrote:Did you buy the MiniNatur stuff directly from the website?

Thanks, I got it from a UK supplier: http://www.barrule.com/workshop/products.html but might get it direct from mininatur next time if possible to save money.

I am always happy to see more targets for my panzers, nice job.

These models you painted up are amazin!!! i really want to buy my-self some now!! But what is the game actually like ?

I've got 5 more tanks painted up now and am taking pictures in the next couple of days so expect an update then. As for the game itself... no clue I've not played it yet, but I'm more of a modeler than a painter. I've read the rules and made a few theoretical lists and can say the game is kind of similar to epic and 40k. The biggest difference is that you dont roll to hit based on your unit skill but you roll to hit based on the skill of the target (to represent more skillful units making better use of cover, etc). Things are pretty simple in terms of stats. A stand of infantry for example has Skill level (conscript, trained, veteran), Motivation (like LD in 40k), Range (inches/cm), ROF for Rate of Fire (number of dice to roll for how many shots they can fire), Anti-Tank for armour penetration capabilities, Firepower for the roll needed to destroy tanks after penetrating and a notes field for special items like bulldozers, etc. All infantry stands have the same save roll (3+). As a result, most of the complexities in the game come from tactical rules such as digging in, pinning, command, cover, air support, artillery, etc.

They look very nice,is it a game with a big fan base or not?

That Barrule website is the most amazing website. Its a dream, and everything is really cheap compared to other sites. Incredible. Thanks for that.

The FoW models are pretty awesome, i may have to look into that myself. What is the game actually like to play??

ok, long time coming but I finally have a few updates.

First off, I painted another 4 Shermans and 1 Firefly Vc. This makes the army a complete, legal 745 point force which was my initial goal.

Apologies for the rather uncropped photos, click on the image to go to the gallery and zoom in if you want to see them in more detail.

Command Tank:


Firefly:


Standard Sherman with Box on rear of turret:


These were painted in exactly the same way as before, except I managed to lose some of the transfers so had to hand paint the guard symbols on the rear of four of the tanks. This meant I then had to heavily weather the rear of the tanks to hide the fact my freehanding is not very good.

I took a couple of pictures of the entire company too. I didnt use any extra light for these so the colour is bit more lifelike - my other photos are a bit bleached out by having a daylight bulb so close to them to aid in photography.



And while this was my original goal - to get a small, useable armoured force, I have enjoyed painting them so much that I have got the next pile of things lined up already. It will take me many months to do them as I am ridiculously slow at painting, but it means that this project log is not done yet. As a preview, here is the first thing I have to do:



If you've never bought anything from battlefront, you wont know how awesome their sets are. As a matter of policy, they include everything you'll ever need for a platoon and a bit more. This means that you never have to buy multiple blisters for infantry platoons or companies, and you dont end up with loads of odd one-off tanks and troops which is very welcome. The contents of the typhoon box were a nice surprise:


You actually get a nice, free dice for air support. Was not expecting that The models are fantastic too. They use a different type of resin than the tanks, but it is a lot more slick so will take a lot more preparation, but at the same time they are immaculate so wont need to be heavily sanded or filed down anywhere which is a big plus as I hate working with resin. I'll need to wash them, give them a light rub with some abrasive paper, and then a light spray of matt varnish to help paint adhere to them. After that the only unusual things should just be a case of using a lot of masking tape for invasion stripes and careful application of transfers. I'm really looking forward to painting these, so I'm using them as a reward for finishing some other boring stuff first. I'm hoping to start on these in mid to late June.

Looking good.

Their kits seem to be of good quality,how are they priced compared to GW's stuff?

Not too bad. The starter box kit is very cheap. The other kits are similar prices to GW but you dont need much to build a useable army so overall it works out quite a bit cheaper (depending on your army choice of course). Because WW2 cant be copyrighted there are plenty of cheaper manufacturers out there if you want to flesh out your forces though which keeps downward price pressure on battlefront and ensures the need for higher quality sculpts.

The quality is ok. More plastics would make things easier as you get some bad casts or bumpy resin from time to time, but on the whole it is roughly comparable with GW. Defects are a lot more noticeable because of the smaller scale which can be an issue, but it is not enough to discourage me from getting more.

Ok I see.


Hope to see more FOW stuff,it seems rather cool.

Looking good Legoburner, can't wait to see the Typhoons painted.

No offense Legoburner but the Sherman are actually American because the star is the Americans badge that was used to represent them in ww2 also they are tiy and the detail is awesome well done.

The star was used on all allied nations vehicles in Normandy to aid air recognition.

Really nice work through out. I love the flowers on the bases!

Very cool stuff Legoburner! I havn't painted any of the crew models for my panzers yet, I really should. I dig the Shermans! How did you like painting the minis after gluing them to the bases? I have been using the popcicle stick method with some success. I get about 4 - 5 Panzergrenadiers onto a coffee stirrer, and using normal PVA glue, they come off pretty easily when I am done painting them.


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acullen626 wrote:These models you painted up are amazin!!! i really want to buy my-self some now!! But what is the game actually like ?

The turn sequence is similar to 40k - Start up phase, movement, shooting, assaulting..

The comment above about shooting being based on the target's skill is accurate.

The way that the rules that delineate units work is pretty elegant. Generally units of different nationalities are very similar with in their class (infantry, tanks, artillery, ect.), but with national rules that give them their own traits, and behaviors. Coordination, and balance between units are the games strong points. It is a VERY well supported game with a rule set that is quite clear, and well written. The newer books have army lists that are super easy to use. Each nation has several different army lists to represent Armored, Infantry, Mechanized, scout, or specialized companies. There are a lot of units that you can get from other lists to support yours as well. A US paratrooper Company can be supported by a platoon of Sherman tanks for instance.

Time for the next update. I've spent the past month getting the typhoons done so here are the results.

First I magnetised the models and the flying stands so that I could work with them easily:




Next, I gave the models a very light sanding, then a light coat of my dead purity seal which comes out cloudy. It is matt so helps the paint adhere to the very glossy resin. This resin was quite a pain to work with as it was so slick compared to the grey resin they use for tanks. The detail was great but there were a few tiny air bubbles, and one minor air bubble on the rear tail of one of the aircraft which is quite noticeable.


After this, I primed them with black spray paint, then did the base coat (camo on top, grey underneath). I painted, highlighted and detailed the rockets at this stage as well so that I would not have to do them later:


The next step was the invasion striping. This was a total pain. First off I tried using some hobby masking tape, but lifting it up ripped all the basecoat off down to the resin as this type of resin was simply too slick even with all the prep work. It happened about 1 in 6 times which was far too many and was very demotivating. In the end, I just freehanded all the stripes which is why they are quite bumpy and are of differeing widths. It doesnt look too bad but could be a lot better.


Things really started to look a lot better when I applied the decals. This was straightforward enough, but I did tear a couple of the side decals as I trimmed them back a bit too far in an attempt to reduce silvering from the unprinted areas, and they got too weak. It was easy to realign them but a 2 of the models have tiny gaps on the lettering on their decals which is annoying:


I couldnt figure out a good way to highlight these models as they are so small (1:144 scale) and already have so many colours that they would look very noisy very quickly. In the end I did what I always do when I cant decide and I covered them in devlan mud. You can see one with devlan mud on the left and one that is still 'factory fresh' on the right in the following picture:


And with the wash and a bit of weathering around the exhausts and machine guns, they were complete. The varnish is still a little wet in some of these photos which is why they are a little bit shiny.



This is the worst angle of the worst painted typhoon, but I was too lazy to dig them out after noticing what a bad photo it is!


And the underside:


And finally the whole force (minus the tank crews):

These are looking real nice.

Keep us informed

Thanks. A rifle platoon is next on the todo list and I'll update in about 2 months when I get it done. A few 40k bits that I want to finish first!

are they close to 1/72 scale?

No, they are quite a bit smaller at 1:100. Just putting the finishing touches to my rifle platoon so should have an update here within a few days now

sounds great, I also had a habit of slipping off warhammer for a day or two and doing ww11 troops and tanks, by the way, were did you get the FOW package


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sorry, just after reading more and you metioned where, never mind

Well once again I've been busy painting up more Brits so here we go... I purchased a late war British Rifle Platoon which is 6 medium bases of 5 models and 3 small bases of 2-3 models. The platoon came in a blister packet and was really packed in as you can see:



Cleanup and basing did not take too long. I used the gale force 9 tiny files and it made the job considerably easier so I can highly recommend them. I used vallejo pumice on the base again to save time fiddling about with sand and glue at such a small scale. I should have spent a little more time on the cleanup as there were a few places on faces that were a bit jagged which was annoying, but it is not too noticeable.



After a sprayed black undercoat, I usually paint the base first on 15mm models so that I can get the messy base drybrushing out of the way without mucking up the models. After that I applied the base colours using vallejo's model colour range:



Next came a wash of GW's Gryphonne Sepia to the whole model (excluding base), and then 1-2 stages of highlights for each colour. I played around with the hessian strips on the helmet a bit and used a few colours there, namely khaki and green grey over top of the russian uniform green that is recommended in the battlefront painting guides. I was a little disappointed with the models so far at this stage but this is mainly because they simply look boring due to a lack of texture and individuality which comes from basing at a later point.



I used a combination of 2mm static grass, silfor 2 tone short clumps and some tiny model railway flowers to add some interesting texture to the bases. After that and some minor touchups they were complete so here are the pictures. Apologies for the poor quality of some of the pictures but I didnt have enough light to get good photos at this scale, a proper photography setup is on my shopping list for the future.








And finally, here is the force so far altogether in one photo, excluding the tank crews. 1100 points and counting

Wow.
That almost makes mw want to start FoW

Do it Always good to see more FoW stuff on here!