DIY Zimmerit

The Zvezda art of tactic kits are good value, I bought some of the later war offering to go with my BG Fall of the Reich games and late war eastern front.  Despite the box art the models don't have Zimmerit so I have had to improvise.  GW Liquid green stuff was applied very thinly and then the panther "square" blocks were added.  Once dried I then scribed on a series of horizontal lines.

Not quite finished, as usual, I need time to do the mantlet and turret front.  A few lessons learned for when I move onto the PSC ones like that the lines should be vertical.  But as this was a test piece happy with the concept

Getting through the plastic (Pt 2)

Zvezda Panther G with home made zimmeritt.  Need to finish the mantlet and turret front (One kit down)

With a box 251 ausf D it was time to work on a pair of 251/9s.  The one on the left has the superstructure that I ended up cutting off an incorrect kit bash when I erroneously mated the 251 D option with a C chassis.  The one on the right came from the 251D conversion kit.  (Three Sprues down)

Zvezda Jagdpanther with extra tracks from the PSC Stowage set (One model down)
PSC T-34/76 modelled as  wreck (one sprue down)

PSC Sdkfz 251/7 Ausf D with Pzb 41.  Engineer bridges kindly donated by Guild member  NTM.  A 251/7 Ausf C in the background again with the Pzb 41.  The Pzb 41 is on the PSC 250 Alte sprue (two sprues down)

8 Models completed in under 8 days. Problem is the frame box doesn't look any emptier

Having a work bench has meant also getting to grips with some unfinished painting and basing.

Getting through the plastic (Pt 1)

One issue of moving house is that it sometimes takes a while to get back into the swing on things.  No difference here then. Having my gaming collection, paint, brushes, tools and references books in three different rooms including the garage haven't helped the situation.

Having my best mate around for game prior to christmas made me clear out the spare room, which also doubles as my office.  I found that I could have a 5' x 4' table in their without too much a squeeze, it is "Compact and Bijou".  Putting it all away again afterwards game me the opportunity to try some different layouts and by turning my trusty IKEA units through 90 degrees to form base and then put the other two units on top of the gaming board as a counterweight meant I had a 30" x 60" work desk good to go with some storage space underneath.

Swapping around the storage boxes meant that I didn't need any access to the 8 on top as they contained painted collections.  This would give me something to get on and fight through my plastic pile that has built up, not least with the Christmas additions.

My frame box isn't all 15mm Armour, there might be a couple of Tau sprues and Tomb Kings components as well.

Still in boxes (because there isn't any room in my frame box are this lot

The brown box has all the additional sprues that PSC have sent through as part of the pre-order reward scheme plus a couple of additional single sprues I though I needed.

With everything now back in one place it is time to restart the 20 minute challenge, or in this case hopefully a sprue/model a day.

Battlegroup Army list tracker

Battlegroup Army List tracker

Battle Group - Bekaa

Ummm just a thought, but why don't I pull my Lebanon 1982 forces into Battle Group Bekaa.  Squad Platoon games.....?

28mm Task Force Black

Something new as a result of my trip to Colours 2017 last weekend

Battlegroup Market-Garden 1st Airborne

Bit of progress made today. Lightining isn't great so will update these tomorrow. Essentially these are the rest of the infantry and basic supports for the Infantry Platoon I started a couple of weeks ago.

A mix of Peter Pig and PSC as usual.  Hopefully I will get around to basing them all in the coming week

Battlegroup Market Garden - Next Batch

This is the next batch to head off to be undercoated.

This will be the first aid tent.  Yes there isn't a tent.  Stretchers from the Generic range, smock figure from the gun crew set and the three other medics will have para helmet head swaps

This is what the Airborne 6 Pdr gun should look like.  Peter Pig did their research and it is a cracking model.  Behind it are the first of the figures in trenches. Waiting for the trench obviously.

Couple of other pieces
Welbike
Combat Medics. One is for my LW Brits the other is for 1st Airborne. Same concept use a dead figure from the casualty set and then add the kneeling medic for the LW Brit set. 1st Airborne will have a head swap either a beret of a helmet.

Battlegroup Market Garden - 1st Airborne assembles

First test figures have been painted and are now waiting to be based.  These are two sprues worth of PSC plastic with a couple of Peter Pig thrown in for testing size.

Painting Scheme (so I can remember later)

• White Undercoat
• Thinned coat of VJ English Uniform
• 50:50 Mix Green Ochre/Khaki for the Denison Smock
• VJ Russian Uniform for webbing and gaiters
• VJ Black Grey for boots and metal parts
• VJ Beige Brown for wooden parts
• VJ Reflective Green and VJ Flat Earth for the Denison Smock
• GW Mecharite Red for the Maroon Beret (Black line painted on first for the leather band)
• Army Painter Strong Tone for the wash

Battlegroup - Market Garden (Progress report)

Bit of light reading for inspiration, very kindly provided direct from the Regimental museum

Jeeps start to move along

Basecoat added to the first two sections and a pair of objective markers

Battlegroup Market Garden - 1st Airborne assembles

Not at the airfield just yet, but this is what I have to work with

First up is the plastic sprue forest.  12 Sprues of Infantry, 4 Sprues of Heavy Weapons and a sprue from the 6 Pdr and Lloyd carrier set as it has the 6 Pdr legs in the towed position which I am going to need for the towed conversion.

Lead Mountain grows.  Orange are the heads and stretchers.
6 Jeeps, 6 Drop Canister "things", 2 75mm Pack Howitzers the rest are infantry to add more variety to the plastic core as well as a couple of packs where I want specialist figures for things like the 75mm gun crew.  Also included are a pack of casualties to use on the Combat Medic base.

Couple of things I have picked up already. The 6 Pdr in the airborne set isn't the airborne variant. It is the some model that is in the 6 Pdr and Lloyd carrier set. It will need some conversion to turn it into the "right" model.  The picture on the box shows it modified or is from the 20mm version.

The jeep models are moulded with crew mounted (3 or four figures).  They have the option for using separate heads, which I like, but it means that my thoughs of using a mix of mounted and dismounted figures doesn't quite work.  What It means is that I will probably make up a marker for when I have dismounted, no point in giving my opponent easy chits.