Normandy

Revell King Tiger in 1/72 scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 3 Comments

Ooh so as working from home continues, working on model kits also continues at a feverish pace, if you will excuse the term in the current pandemic. I bought this Revell King Tiger from eBay for not much as it was missing a box and decals. No box means cheaper postage anyway I guess too. Win win.

Boxart Tiger II Ausf. B Production Turret 03129 Revell

This is a great kit. So much in a tank kit boils down to their treatment of tracks. This monster of a tank has excellent link and length tracks. They are nice big track links to begin with, but very easy to put together. I always start with multiples of two and around the sprocket wheel. The running gear and tracks you can make as two units before attaching them both, left and right, to the lower hull. Wheels are individual but are easy to get nice and straight. You can model the hatches open or closed which is always nice when you want to put in a couple of AB figures tank crew like me.

A few tow cables for the sides look good. There is also some spare track to put on the turret, but they don’t include hooks. So I added some of my own just by gluing small squares of plastic card where the hook would stick out. I left the spare tracks off until I had painted the turret so the rusty effects would not interfere.

For painting I loosely followed the plans in an excellent book i have called “How To Paint 1:72 Military Vehicles – The Weathering Special”. They actually use the Tiger II for one chapter so I went through the majority of the techniques in the book. Another guide to painting that I can really recommend.

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I chopped off some of the side guards for battle damage, like they had in the book, and copied best I could the colour schemes. Lots of chips, dirt, mud and grime using various sponges, powders and other products. AB tank commanders to finish him off. Great little kit and great fun to spend a bit longer on the paint job and all the weathering effects.

OTP Terrain Houses in 20mm

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 10 Comments

I think I am totally addicted to making buildings and creating a tiny world, rather than actually playing a game in that tiny world! I found OTP Terrain while looking for the great designs by Jens Najewitz. So they make a whole heap of Printed 3D terrain in a hard plastic. I bought three houses, the Normandy Hotel, Small Building and Town House. They each have removable roofs and floors perfect for your wargames. The detail is excellent and easy to paint. The only additions I made were chopping off the chimney stacks and adding my own metal ones. It has become a thing, I need to replace every chimney pot on any bought building model. I get mine from S&D Models in the UK. They do not cost much and are way better than any of the attempts at chimney pots you get with kits or ones you can make yourself.

These houses are not cheap compared to their MDF counterparts, but they paint up really nicely, have good detail, and they have a huge range. Check them out at OTP Terrain

Photos below. Check out the French Boulangere called Brien. Weird.

I have my eyes on a farm house and barn and bridge. But so much else to get painted first.…….. Good thing we are locked up at home………

Superquick Card Model Houses HO Scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 4 Comments

I figured I would need some more houses to build while the world goes into lockdown. These card kits from Superquick are just pure nostalgia. My big brother had built some for his railways in the 1980s and they were swiftly borrowed to be used on my ping pong table for battles. After 35 years they have not changed. I will get to build them this time. I am sure I can make them look a little more French and a bit less cardboardy this time around. My aim is to have enough buildings to have a full town on a 6 x 4 sized table.

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Charlie Foxtrot Models Houses in 20mm

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 5 Comments

So I have painted up the first three of my new houses, starting with three kits from Charlie Foxtrot Models in England. The Brasserie, Dormer House and Shed. These kits are pretty reasonably priced and come in pieces in plastic bags with a stapled cardboard header and a single sheet of instructions. The main structures are MDF with other bits and pieces being plastic, like chimneys, and balsa wood shutters.

My first impressions were excellent with nice clean bits of MDF which all fits together well. But the instructions are terrible. They could easily write and print much clearer and precise instructions. It must be the smallest outlay of the whole kit, one sheet of paper, but they have not given the modeller much help. So you kind of have to wing it. Luckily most buildings are just a box so you cannot go too wrong.

Armed with PVA glue everything fits together and the kits can be built quickly in an evening. Now as always with MDF kits i have to add and amend plenty of things to get them up to scratch. First up is a layer of plaster over all the outside walls. I did this on the Brasserie and the Dormer House. For the shed i coated in textured plastic sheet to look like stonewalls. You will need to sand the plaster to get it smoother. It covers up all those annoying MDF corners. I also added some tiled roofing, some pantile, some slate, as I really cannot deal with the MDF roof that comes 100% flat. You could also use cut up cardboard for the roof tiles. My last pet hate for MDF kits is the chimney pots. So i added all my own metal chimney pots I had purchased from an excellent model store in the UK.

Once I had made all these additions the buildings came up a treat I think. One last tip for doing gold letters for the Brasserie was to buy a gold paint pen from the newsagent. This made it much easier than trying to paint with gold paint which does not cover very well.

Even with all the additional work I think these Charlie Foxtrot kits are very good and measure up with other MDF producers like Sarissa. If you need buildings quickly and not too pricey check out Charlie Foxtrot

 

Armourfast Stug IV in 1/72 scale

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 5 Comments

You always know what you are going to get with a Armourfast kit. Two tanks in a box for something like seven pounds. Great value at about seven Australian dollars a tank for me down here in the Southern hemisphere. There are only a few parts to each tank, so they are super quick to build. Nothing wrong with a fast build tank. The detail is good enough for a wargame, and if you want a large number of tanks in quick smart time, then these kits are for you. You cannot beat value for money to bulk up an army.

I had a lot of fun doing a lot of weathering to my two Stugs. I really wanted to try the hairspray chipping effect on these two to add a bit more interest to them. So after building, and leaving the side skirts off, i sprayed everything with a red oxide and a dark brown spray can. Then i gave it three thin coats of hairspray, letting it dry in between each layer. Oh and do this outside….. It can get smelly. Once this was all dry i did the usual dark yellow dunkelb  spray over the top. Once that’s all dry you can grab a stiff brush and a toothpick, wet a small surface of the tank and give it a rub and a scratch. The trick here is to do this in areas that would get worn out, like hatches etc, and also not to over do it. I was impatient as usual and went overboard. It’s a fun process and can look really good but you need to remember less is more. Next time i will take it easy.

I gave it all a gloss varnish and a dark wash. Plus some decals. You don’t get decals with the tanks so you need to source elsewhere. I added my favourite AB figure crewmen plus a home made aerial and also some camouflage foliage. These Armourfast tanks really do improve greatly if you take a bit of extra effort and make some modifications!

“Setting The Scene Volume 2” by Pat Smith

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 1 Comment

I was lucky enough to discover Pat Smith’s amazing wargaming blog a few years ago and also grab a copy of “Setting The Scene Volume 1” a while back. Pat’s work is just outstanding and inspirational for anyone with an interest in small scale modelling.

Volume 2 is jam packed with techniques and invaluable skills for the terrain making modeller. Accompanied by buckets of excellent photos Pat runs you through all sorts of building projects from large rocky hills, orchards, terrain mats, to roads, buildings and bridges. Even though the style of terrain is based around the Mediterranean region, it is totally applicable to anyone making terrain for wargames or railways or any small scale project in any geographical region or historical era. It is so much more rewarding to make your own terrain rather than buying it. A whole lot less expensive too!

The photographs are great and accompanied by easy to read text that make the jobs look simple to do, but give you amazing looking results. This is the kind of book that makes me want to run to the hardware store and craft store and then spend a week making new terrain! If you can still find a copy I would recommend getting one!

Sentry Models Ruined Terrace

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 8 Comments

My last building from Raventhorpe all done. Another awesome sculpt from Tony Raven. This one is a big piece, half intact and half demolished. The remaining roof and first floor is all removable for easy access of troops. I glued it onto a large MDF base and gave it the same treatment as the other ruins with plenty of smashed up bricks and MDF mini bricks. Painted with acrylics and then liberally weathered with all sorts of powders and charcoal dust. I added some flock and tiny leaves for the foliage and grass round the back.

Next time I am in the UK i will be filling my suitcase with a few more of these awesome models. Need a spare bag for 10kg of resin from Sentry Models!!! The last picture has all three of the buildings I bought together. I am excited to get them on a table and have some excellent house to house combat.

Sentry Models Ruined Building

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 5 Comments

I painted another fabulous resin building from Sentry Models I bought from Raventhorpe. Its a two storey and a one storey wrecked building. I made my own base from MDF and added heaps of extra rubble to the base to blend them in. The second storey is removable to allow a squad into the ground floor.

I used my normal cheap acrylics to paint over a spray paint undercoat of dark brown. Plenty of dirt and dust added to finish them off plus some flock and tufts.

If you do not want to build your own buildings these really are the best things since sliced bread. I am happy to mix them in with my home made stuff as they really add an extra bit of detail and realism to your table. The last photo has my first ruin and a Jagdpanther creeping around looking dangerous. I have a finished farmhouse from Sentry next up. Check out Raventhorpe on Facebook, there is a massive range. On their Facebook page there are heaps of inspirational photos of amazing looking table setups using these buildings. It’s a closed group but you can sign up.

Sentry Models Ruined House

~ Colonel Mustard ~ 6 Comments

So after quite a long time searching for Sentry Models fantastic buildings I stumbled upon them on a Facebook page. Very excited I ordered a few from Tony Raven who makes these great resin models. Not cheap to get them all the way to Australia, but to be honest they are so good, I really didn’t care about the postage. I picked up a ruined house, a big ruined terrace and another two storey ruin. Sculpting is just beautiful and the detail much better than anything I have managed to scratch build.

My first effort is the single ruin. I glued to an MDF base and then added a heap more of my own rubble to blend it in. This included some bought bricks and some home made rubble carefully crafted from smashing up house bricks with a ten pound hammer. A good coating of PVA glue and then a black and grey primer spray coat on top.

Painting was done using cheap acrylics and a couple of washes and highlights. I did also use some weathering pigments to blend things into the base. Oh and some charcoal for the charred bits here and there. Last touch was the flocking and a few tufty bits. I was very happy with how it turned out and cannot wait to get cracking on the others. I would recommend getting onto Facebook and finding Sentry/Ravensthorpe miniatures ASAP and picking up some of these for your table top.

I still haven’t managed to play a game in 2019, I guess I am just more of a modelling and painting nut than anything else……….