Finished - German 5cm Pak38's and 7.5cm IG 18 guns

Hi folks,

I had hoped to get this posted over the weekend, but only managed to finish the models last night.

I've a whole host of German artillery in the painting queue currently - a load of AA to help fend off the Tiffies I painted a few weeks ago. But at the moment I've focused on the infantry guns and lighter A/T guns.

A small amount of foliage added to the guns - these are Battlefront plastic Pak38's from their mid war plastic boxed set. I've only used a couple of the new plastic figures, and replaced most of the crew with spare metal ones I picked up. That new plastic holds detail OK and were fine to paint, but the facial details were terrible and getting the mould lines off them was a real nuisance.

I applied the camo with  a sponge, but ended up toning it all down with the highlights. Again, this is a technique that looks much better in person at a bit of a distance. The camo does come through...

The infantry guns are much more likely to be used in more of a support role, so I've not added foliage. I did complete the spotter team for these, but no command teams for either (yet). I might paint some, I might not. I'm pretty sold on 4th Ed at this point, and I'm unlikely to be playing 3rd any time soon. If I did, I'm sure I can steal a command squad from somewhere!

Again, a mix of crew figures, but mainly those that came with the pack. The 89. Infanterie Division apparently had Russian infantry guns in Normandy, so these are not quite correct. But as I've already got a load of spare French gun crew due to this project, I didn't want to add random Russians as well!

I've got a lot on with work currently, having started a new job and doing training. I had planned to get my ACW Limbers done before the show on the 25th, but can't make that now so the motivation has fled. I've also got a book to edit for my sister, which I've not looked at in months. So not sure what I'll move on to next!

State of the collection 2017 - Part 5 - Germans

Hi folks,

Finishing off my run of videos with a quick overview of my Germans. I've not really added much to this army painting wise since last years video, but I do have a lot of unpainted stuff hanging around waiting for me to have motivation...

Again, for those of you not bothered about videos, here are some snaps:

The Stugs are from Sturmgeschutzabteilung 1344. - which I could not remember while filming! Tigers are from 101 Heavy Panzer, infantry are all III/Grenadier-Regiment 1055, 89. Infanterie Division. This picture shows the Mortars (10 of them!), 5 PaK40's , MG Bunkers, StuGs and Tigers. 

Pioneer infantry front left, Fusiliers in the centre, MG42 Platoon on the right. Infantry platoons (3 of them) behind the MG42's and Nebs. Also present are the two 88's, command elements for the infantry and snipers. 

The Nebs will be from Werfer Regiment 83 (a German Corps level formation),

Almost Finished! German 15mm Battlefront StuGs

Hi folks,

So this is an 'almost finished' post as other than hull numbers, which I am waiting on from Doms Decals, these assault guns are done!

These are plastic kits from Battlefront and are 15mm scale. Two are older 'open fire' plastic models while the one with the commander is a much nicer newer plastic kit from the same manufacturer. 

This particular unit is representing (roughly) Sturmgeschutzabteilung 1344. 

This unit was the Panzerjager component of  344.Infanterie-Division, but was ordered to proceed to Normandy independently in late July 1944. One source I have states "Stu.Gesch.Abt.1344 reportedly crossed the Seine during the night of 2./3.August. it was reportedly marching from the area south of Elbeuf and arrived with the 89.Inf.Div. on 7.August."

Two vehicles of this unit were knocked out by the Highland Division/33 Armoured Brigade in Tilly-la-Campagne on 8/7/44 and a intelligence report dated 12/8/44 mentions the wrecks and identifying markings. The village was cleared on the morning of 8/8/44 so the wrecks seems to have been there for a few days when the report was published. During the battle for the village '3 German SP's were knocked out, 25 Germans killed, and 85 prisoners taken'.

This evidence then does put the the unit in the correct area at the correct time. There are also references within various unit diaries to German SP guns operating during the night attack phase of Operation Totalise. In addition to this, in the days immediately prior to Totalise being launched 10 German PoW's were taken by the Canadians in the vicinity of Tilly-la-Campagne belonging to this unit. The report is a little confusing, stating that the PoW being interviewed was captured on the 5th, but that his unit arrived on the 6th... It does state that the PoW had provided information that his unit was supporting the 89. Infanterie Division. So good enough for me!

3 x Stug III G's finished:

Need to sort the end of the gun barrel out on these guys! Base is slightly chipped already as well!

Also need a light dry-brush on the decal - but I'll wait till the others are on first.

From Wiki:

StuG III Ausf. G (Sd.Kfz. 142/1; December 1942– April 1945, ~8423 produced, 142 built on Panzer III Ausf. M chassis, 173 converted from Panzer III): The final and by far the most common of the StuG series. Upper superstructure was widened: welded boxes on either sides were abandoned. This new superstructure design increased its height to 2160 mm. The back wall of the fighting compartment got straightened, and the ventilation fan on top of the superstructure was relocated to the back of the fighting compartment. From March 1943, the driver's periscope was abandoned. In February 1943, Alkett was joined by MIAG as a second manufacturer. From May 1943, side hull spaced armour plates (Schürzen) were fitted to G models for added armour protection, particularly against Russian anti-tank rifles, but were also useful against hollow-charge ammunition. Side plates were retro-fitted to some Ausf. F/8 models, as they were to be fitted to all front line StuGs and other tanks by June 1943 in preparation for the battle of Kursk. Mountings for the Schürzen proved inadequately strong, as many were lost in the field. From March 1944, an improved mounting was introduced; as a result, side skirts are seen more often with late model Ausf G. From May 1943, 80 mm thick plates were used for frontal armour instead of two plates of 50 mm + 30 mm. However, a backlog of StuGs with completed 50 mm armour existed. For those, a 30 mm additional armour plate still had to be welded or bolted on, until October 1943. 

Along with these three I've also got the two Tigers 'mostly' finished. Just some weathering to do on the hulls, and turret numbers for the turrets. 

Turret is still glossed - waiting on the decals. 

That's all for now - onto assembling a detailing a whole load of very poorly put together Shermans now!  

Finished! German 88's, Nebelwerfers and Fusilier Platoon

Hi Folks,

With the end of the June challenge and the huge number of figures I finished over the two months, I took my foot off the pedal painting wise. However I have remained focused on getting this German list built before moving on to something else (probably a veritable horde of Shermans and Cromwells). Unfortunately I still had infantry figures to paint, but thankfully not too many of them. To round out the list I had a unit of 2 x 88mm AT/AA guns, 3 x Nebelwerfers and a small platoon of infantry (an infantry recce unit). I've still got a few bits to do, but at this point it's all vehicles.

So first up, the 88's. Going by the list in the Atlantic Wall book, these guns should probably be Luftwaffe guns. However, as the 89. Infanterie Division had two of it's artillery units equipped with 88's, I've painted the crew as Heer.

Each gun consists of the gun itself, an optional loader team (which increases the guns RoF) and the wheels for the guns. I painted the whole lot for both guns, plus scrounged up a command team. I worried for a bit about the paint scheme for these guns - but I couldn't find any references for possible camo on 88's in Normandy. I finally found some pictures of 88mm wheel units in a quarry during or after the Totalize battle, and there was no sign of camo on them - so i went with straight Middletone.

Next up the Nebelwerfers! Now given that this list was as much a focus on iconic German weapons of Normandy as it was on 89. Infanterie Division, I felt I just had to include these. The division itself didn't have any of these weapons on it's own strength, but was backed up by a Nebelwerfer Brigade which was in the area.

This unit is 3 x Nebelwerfers with command and spotter team. I still have to paint the Kubelwagon for the spotter unit, but other than that this unit is done for now. I might increase it to full strength with another 3 rocket launchers in the future.

Lastly we have the infantry Recce platoon. This is a small rifle only unit with no machine guns - only the command team is anything different being a SMG Panzerfaust team. These are all Battlefront plastics - nice models once painted but still some significant areas on each one which lack detail. Too much detail on the sides and rear of the models just blends in without any definition. Metal models and much better than this. These pictures have come out a little darker for some reason:

Next up on the painting table are the 3 StuGs and 2 Tigers. The Tigers from Lee are painted and just need tidied up to fit in (highlights, radio arials, bases, etc). the StuGs I'm a bit nervous about as they will be my fist attempt at painting German armour from scratch...

State of the Collection - June 2016 (Pic Heavy)

Hi folks,

In August last year, before my big move and my discovery of the Paint and Chats, I had done a video and some pics and a video of my British 15mm Flames of War collection.

With all the painting I've done in the last 8 months, I've had a lot of comments made about the size of the collection now, and requests to see the whole lot again. It's taken a while (the joys of living in someone elses house) but I've had a few days to myself and managed to lay the whole lot out.

I've made a video of this layout, with me droning on a little bit.

But I also took a load of pics, as I know not everyone likes YouTube videos and the quality can be a bit poor (especially with me holding the camera!).

So, here is what I had done up till August last year - this is A Coy, 7th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 51st Highland Division and 144th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps, 33rd Independent Armoured Brigade in early August (7th and 8th) 1944 - plus associated support units.

And here is a similar layout for everything done up till June 2016:

And panoramic:

I think I may have a problem... much more of this and I will need a bigger table!

Everything here I have detailed individually as I have completed it, but I have taken a load of close up shots as well (apologies for the lighting):

In addition to this little lot, I also did a similar layout and film for my painted German collection. These guys are for 89. Infanterie Division on 7th and 8th of August, 1944.

And pics (again, sorry for quality - some are blurry or dark):

In addition, over the last year, I have painted several Full Thrust ships and a load of 3mm armoured vehicles.

So where do I go from here? I've a lot of plans for my 15mm Flames of War project. Specifically expanding my forces to be able to represent other units and nations that took part in the Totalize battle. This includes units I already have models for or are actively purchasing models for:

Polish Armoured
Polish Armoured Recce
Canadian Recce
Polish Mechanised Infantry
SS Armoured
SS Heavy Armoured
a second HD Infantry Company
British Recce

And units planned/considered but with no purchases being currently made:

Canadian Armoured
Luftwaffe AA
Polish Infantry
Canadian Infantry
SS Infantry
SS Recce?

This is going to be a mammoth long term project, and involves army list and scenario writing as well as modelling and painting all these forces. Any and all help is appreciated! I'll be posting some blog articles in the future, as well as army lists based on this particular battle. At the same time... I'm going to need a lot more models! Donations or good deals are welcome!