With the con a fond memory, I have begun to finish up some project that have been languishing for awhile namely, a Soviet 82mm mortar section, a few more platoon HQs for Soviets and Germans, a Soviet Assault squad w/PPSHs (part of a platoon in the works), a Soviet 1st Line Squad, a Pzkfw IVF2, and a couple T34/76B M41s. In total 22 figures, 2 mortars and 3 tanks.
The M41 T34/76Bs are Battlefront SU052 T-34 obr 1941 and are to complete an early Soviet T34 platoon I started about 2 years ago (Holy crap Ritter!). I added brass barrels, a tow rope and not much else. Minimalistic. I have a single T34/76A M40 finished (bottom of pic) with the L11 main gun that I bought a few years back but it doesn't seem to be available anymore. The M40 was a rare bird indeed (less than 150 completed) so I doubt Bf will reissue soon but maybe when they add the BT series, they will reissue...I think the difference in the models will be negligible on the game table and its plausible that the platoon may have had mixed types as I have seen this in pictures.
The base color is Tamiya XF-58 Olive Green but this will be brightened with additional colors as it its too dark. While terrible for brushwork, Tamiya paints seem to airbrush best at least better than Vallejo Model Color and since I have a bunch of old Tamiya, I plan on using them up first before trying Vallejo Model Air. I thin with water and Isoproply and get a dead flat finish.
I did a bit of cutting and gluing of heads, arms and weapons on a fair bit of the figures in this group - I will detail these changes in a future post - mostly to add interest to the teams. I also picked up a few more LW Soviet Infantry to add some interest to my MW teams - simply remove the shoulder boards and maybe point the end of the collar. Overall, detail is exceptional and more realistically proportioned than the early offerings. There are some excellent detailed faces in the LW blisters but many field-capped figures are too skinny to be used with the MW figures. There are some great original poses though especially the Officers!
The Pz IVf2 (ok, early G) has a new barrel and recoil sleeve made from brass (the originals are very out of round - more oval really and have a rough surface and bad flash), a few helmets and a tow cable.
I may add a pail too. I think I will paint it up to look like vehicles seen at Stalingrad - perhaps with camo bands. Not too sure of the camo color but I have done some in 6mm like these below:
They color may be right but I have recently found a few good color photos that show more of a dark yellow or brown over panzer grey...
Is that Dunkelgelb??! I think it may be! Comments?
I scratchbuilt a Soviet mortar (right) , only using the baseplate from the original (left). I backdated it to the 82mm PM-37 model, adding a new tube, shock, and elevation mechanism.
A cool thing that I found while searching the 'net is a wet palette setup for acrylic paints. Simply a piece of wax paper over wet tissue (toilet) paper. Keeps Vallejo paint usable for about 2-5 days - no seriously! Even longer when you cover at the end of a painting session. Just keep the tissue wet.
I have been dabbling in some of Vallejos other colors (Game color line) and have found that there are a few good colors that fill the holes in the Model Color line namely;
72042 Parasite Brown: Good base color for rust (add black), lighter wood on rifles/smgs (add Tan Yellow)
72145 Heavy Grey: Good starting base for fieldgrey - much better than 830 Vallejo Fieldgrey model color as it is too dark for 15mm.
72031 Camoflaged Green: That 'in between green' not too yellow and not too blue. Great for many different things.
Cheer!
Troy
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