More painted Sturmis

A quick post showing my progress with the Sturmikomppania, I’m getting the hang of it somewhat and I even managed to put the decals on with the right side up!

I also tried my light box for the first time so the pictures has improved somewhat, but I need to play around with the ISO setting of my camera or add more light to get rid of the graininess.

For further progress I need to await some reinforcements from the Plastic Soldier Company, but then they will have to compete with my cravings for a German StuG battery, but I think there will be StuGs enough for everyone…

I’ll try to throw in a quick review when they arrive.

Sturmi camouflage tried out

At last I have actually finished a tank! And it’s even painted with hard-edge camo, it’s not perfect but I learned a lot, so hopefully there will be more of them in a not to distant future, I’m mainly waiting for The Plastic Soldier Company to release their StuG IIIs to re-sellers (to get 10% off, yes I’m a cheapskate).

Here are some pictures, but of course they suck, I actually have a new lighting setup but I haven’t had the time or space to test it out…

Forward view.

Side view.

Rear view.

Some details, a Battlefront StuG IIIG “finnified“by me and painted with Lifecolor Airbrush paints, with some GW Badab Black added on top, and decals by Doms Decals. I also tried to add some weathering using Tamiya powders with limited success.

Going east

Speaking of deviations, here is another one, East front Germans, but not my 1942 Fall Blau 5th SS project, but Frontschwein in greatcoats, most likely for EW Barbarossa siege of Leningrad but they will probably also be suitable for MW Stalingrad.

I’ll base them on frosty early winter urban bases.

I’m using a mix of Command Decision, Peter Pig and Battlefront miniatures which mix quite well in these ranges.

Some german riflemen in greatcoats, primed grey.

Watch this space for maybe some more,  if I don’t get carried away again, and start another project…

Over the hills…

As always, I never seem to finish a project before jumping on the next, so here is my recent deviation; hills.

Enjoy this sort of step by step instruction (excuse the somewhat blurry pictures though.):

Shape the EPS sheets roughly, don't worry about the rough surface.

The material is 20mm sheets of extruded polystyrene foam roughly cut into shape and glued together.

I’m using an Japanese razor pull saw for this, but any saw or rough file would probably work since the surface finish doesn’t matter.

As you may notice this makes quite  an mess, especially since the polystyrene gets static and sticks to everything…

Everything about StuG IIIs…

Can be found in the book series from Muller History Facts that I just couldn’t resist buying, and I sure don’t regret my temptation, they are filled with useful information on the history and development of the StuGs including a gigantic double-sided poster with a spreadsheet detailing the various characteristics and changes made in the production run of the StuG III making it much easier identifying vehicles from photographs.

The books are of course brim filled with illustrations and photographs printed in high quality.

The two-part book is aptly named Sturmgeschütz III and is companioned by a  book series named “Vorwärts Immer, rückwärts nimmer!” which details the history of the different Sturmartillerie units, part one deals with the development of the first units and their fighting in France, the Balkans and the initial part of Operation Barbarossa.

Both series are highly recommended for stugophiles, and I’m eagerly awaiting the next part of the Sturmartillerie history.

Basing continued…

Part two of a guide over my current basing method, last I showed the advantages of light weight spackle, now I’ll just round up with some finishing touches.

This shows the base after the paint/spacle mixture has dried, I'm also dryfitting the PaK 38/97. I actually did this as the spackle was half dried so I got some depressions from the wheels on the base.

As you may notice the bases of the figures shows slightly, this is because I added a bit to much water to the mixture so it actually shrunk a bit…

Yet another basing method

I have tried a few different ways of doing my bases so I would like to show you the way I prefer at the moment.

This first part deals with the basic ground to which different types of  materials can be added depending on the type of terrain that is emulated, but it works fine uncovered for deserts and similar grounds

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of bases showing the groundwork under the flock right now...

Quick Forged in Battle review

I’m working a bit on a MW 5th SS Panzergrenadier list so I’m currently struggling with painting planetree camo on Battlefronts excellent MW SS figures.

But since that range is somewhat limited (to only one panzergrenadier platoon blister in fact), I’ve been looking around for some alternatives and found FiBs SS range.

So here are some notes and photos of what they have to offer.

Recommended products

My new air compressor and my cheapo airbrush.

As you’ve probably noticed I’ve mostly been painting infantry models since I’ve found painting vehicles too tedious and slow, and also the end-result hasn’t been that satisfying.

So I got my act together and got myself a cheap air compressor (I’ve actually owned a cheapo airbrush for years).

The result is fantastic, I’ve primered over a dozen vehicles in a few hours, and then base-coated them the next evening.

Not only is that way faster than any painting I’ve done before the result is great even thou I spent less than 800 SEK (~80€) on the setup, the secret lies probably in the products I’m using, Vallejos Acrylic Poliurethan primer and Lifecolor Acrylic Paints.

Both are highly recommended and worked fine for me poured directly into the airbrush.

The Lifecolor series has a great range with several special sets with colors (even a set with Finnish WW2 Armor colors!) and color matching many  FS and RAL codes.

I will probably get myself an Iwata airbrush eventually but it’s amazing what you can do with even a cheap airbrush as long as you can adjust the air pressure to match what you are painting.

The only drawback is cleaning the airbrush between color and at the end of your session but In my opinion  it’s nothing compared to painting vehicles with a brush…

So you will probably see quite a lot of increase in my vehicle production and you will maybe even see a part three of my “Sturmi pimping” posts.

A quick base-coat with Lifecolor RAL 7021.

Books, books, books…

Lately I’ve been spending money and time on books instead of  miniatures, these are the latest spoils:

Some research for my next army...

So coupled with my last spending spree I think I have most of the affordable books on the Wiking division.

If you are going to get one of these books on the 5th SS then I recommend the Klapdor book, It has just  been translated to English and should be readily available. My only complaint about it is the paper quality which makes the photo quality suffer.

Now I’m hopefully done buying books so that I can get back to painting instead…