Dieppe Infantry Rifle Platoon

Finished the Rifle Platoon for the Dieppe Infantry Tank Company.
I tried to paint the bases to look like a pebble beach. Could get the colour right but the look and feel wasn't. So I decide for an other look.
For the platoon I used the BEF Rifle Platoon (BR702) blister because the look of these models came most close to the most desired look. Only problem I had with these models was that they were badly cast and a lot of the bayonets were broken off or bend, which broke off when I tried to bend them straight. At the end I could only save 4 models with a bayonet.

The Infantry Rifle Platoon

Anti-tank Rifle team, Command team, Light Mortar team

Rifle teams front

Rifle teams back

Now I am going to start my search for six Churchill III.
And still trying to find a solution for the decals.

Thanks for looking.

Dieppe Infantry Rifle Platoon WIP.

A WIP picture of the Infantry Rifle platoon for my Infantry Tank Company from the Dieppe PDF. Only a few tiny things have to be painted and the skin colour need some highlighting.



Then the last thing are the bases.
As the main attack of the Dieppe Raid was made across the pebble beach in front of Dieppe I want somehow give the bases a pebble beach look.
The colour should be something close to to the picture below.



The biggest problem will probably finding the right colours to use. It shouldn't become too dark but also not too light.
If I can't get it right I probably will be using a more normal beach look.

Thanks for looking.

A new look and a new painted miniature.

Hello there.
It is a long time ago that I posted something. Mostly because I hardly have been on the internet. If I was on the net then it was because I had to check something for work and so now and then I take a look at a few forums. But now it is time for a new post.
As you can see I changed the look of my blog. I first wanted to use a new dynamic version but i couldn't get it work the way I wanted it to work. So in the end I decided to change the look of my old blog with the look as it has now as a result.

After more then 6 months I did paint something.
It is a Renault AMR-35 that I had laying around and didn't know what to do with. First I wanted it to turn into an objective but later I decided to just paint it up because I can always use it as the HQ for the Escadron de Reconnaissance Compagnie instead of the Panhard AMD-35. This way I can have a bit of variation in the list.
Mostly bad pictures because of the light.

Also I started to work on the Infantry platoon for my Infantry Tank Company from the Dieppe PDF. It is still in an early phase. So far only the base colour and highlight of the uniforms are done.
The highlight can't be seen to well in the pictures.

Same goes for the Stretcher-bearers and medic for Battlegroup.

Thanks for looking and reading.

Churchill I OKE platoon painted.

After the tanks were primed black it was time to paint them. The only things missing are the decals and the names on the tanks. To write the names on the tanks I am going to use a white fineliner pen (if these exist). The decals is another problem because there are no decals for this company so I have to paint these on the tanks or print the decals myself. Already found a site with a few examples of the markings that I need: 14th Armoured Regiment (Calgary Regiment)
To paint the tanks I used Russian Uniform as basecoat. Then I highlighted them using Russian Uniform mixed with a tiny bit of Iraquian Sand.
The tracks, cables and shovels are painted with German Grey and I used a 2B pencil to highlight them.
Note: the tanks may look little shiny on the pictures but that is because they don't have a layer of matt varnish yet.

Also painted are the Churchill I (CiC) and Churchill II (2iC) needed for the Company Headquarter.

Thanks for looking.

The making of a Churchill I OKE

For a moment I was afraid that I had to abandon the painting project of the Infantry Tank Company from the MW Dieppe PDF. Not only put it on hold for a while but abandon it completely. But gladly I saved some money and could buy a few blisters. I ordered 4 blisters with Churchill I or II and a blister with an infantry platoon (BEF) only to found out that the store owner forgot to order the infantry blister.
Two of the Churchill blisters are set aside these will bes used to form the Company HQ. The other two blisters are used to converted them to Churchill I OKE.
Using the prototype that I built earlier, that can be found here: here, and also using this webpage Modelling the Churchill OKE on the BF website as references I set to work. Not saying that this is the best or easiest method to convert the tanks but it is the method I used.
I am not going to write down every little detail because some can be found in the above mentioned website.

Materials used: 2 Churchill’s I, cardboard (I used a cardboard that is used to protect photo,s when you mail these,brass wire, greenstuff, small tubing, plastic of blister, wood-glue (can also be pva), super-glue, pliers, cutter, ruler pencil with a very sharp point, hobby-knife, ruler.
Of-course when you take a picture you always forget to include some of the materials.



First I cleaned the model and removed all flash from the hull and tracks (a lot) and removed at the back of the hull
those little piece that are no longer needed there. Make sure it is flat. On the picture below you can see at the right tank which pieces are removed from the back of the hull. Then I drilled a little hole in the front of the left track the size of the brass wire. When this was all done I glued, after dry-fitting, all pieces together.



Next I take the plastic of the blister and cutout a piece with the size of 15mm x 4.5mm. This piece is then glued to the back of the hull in such way that it sticks out a little above the hull. Most importantly is to keep the top of the plastic strip horizontal.

Painting the JU 87D Stuka (MW) part 4.

The final part. After I have tried to save more of the painting, I painted the details and gave the whole model a layer of gloss varnish to give it a hard sturdy protective layer. Next I applied the decals. The decals may not be the correct ones for a JU 87D Stuka but these are the ones I got with my model. After applying and drying a thin layer of diluted gloss varnish was painted over the decals. Last thing to do was to give the Stuka a layer of matt varnish (I use a spray can for that).
The end result is not good. If you look from a distance it looks pretty OK. The stuka does look as it has been fighting in the desert for a longer time and not for just 2 or 3 days. But if you take a closer look you can see the mistakes and even much more the disaster that happened, as you can see on the pictures. For now it has to do. Maybe in the future, if I have the desire, I will repaint the model.

This is one of the worst painted models I ever painted!

The end.

Painting the JU 87D Stuka (MW) part 1.
Painting the JU 87D Stuka (MW) part 2.
Painting the JU 87D Stuka (MW) part 3.

Thanks for looking.

Painting the JU 87D Stuka (MW) part 3.

DISASTER!!!

It is time to aply a thin layer of wash. For this I am using Vallejo Game Color Smoke.
After taking a drop of the wash I deluted it with water to get the right mix. And everything went wrong. When I applyed the wash I noticed that something was wrong. The was didn't run out smoothly and looked very grainy. With a dry brush and tissue I tried to get rid of the more thick layers on the model hoping to save the painting. After letting it all dry I tried to "repair" it by using the proper colours. The results can be seen below.





Before painting the details and applying the decals I am going to try to save more of the primary colours.

End of part 3.

Painting the JU 87D Stuka (MW) part 1.
Painting the JU 87D Stuka (MW) part 2.

Thanks for looking.

Painting the JU 87D Stuka (MW) part 2.

Time to paint the bottom and top of the Stuka. As said for the bottom I am using Vallejo IraQuian Sand. I hoped that 1 layer would be enough but it isn't. I had to paint 2 layers.



As you can see at the picture above even 2 layers isn't enough. But I don't want to paint a third layer to afraid that details of the model will be lost. Besides the model will get a wash layer over it later on.

Next is the top of the plane. For this I used Vallejo Yellow Ochre. Again I have to paint 2 layers and again 2 layers is not enough as you can see at the picture below. As I don't want to loose too much of the details I didn't paint a 3rd layer. But as with the bottom part the top will also get a wash layer over it later on.



After all paint has dried time to paint the Camo on the top of the Stuka. For this I used Vallejo German Camo Orange Ochre. I wanted a camo of vertical irregular lines. I didn't want clean neat lines but lines that give some sort of dirty look. The end result can be seen on the picture below.



End of part 2.

Painting the JU 87D Stuka (MW) part 1.

Thanks for looking.

Painting the JU 87D Stuka (MW) part 1.

This model has been waiting on my painting-desk to get painted for a long time. I wasn't sure what colours to use to paint this Stuka. As you can see at the picture it is a second hand model.



First thing I had to do was to remove all the old paint. The former owner hadn't given the model a proper treatment before painting with as result that the paint chipped of the model. I placed the plane in a little container which was filled with a cleaning product named "Blue Wonder" and left it in there for a full 24 hours. After that I scrubbed the model with a thoothbrush. All paint came of the plane very easily. Next I sanded the plane a little using fine waterproof sandpaper. Then the only thing left to do was to clean the plane with warm water and a little soap and glue it all together. (Sorry forgot to take a picture how it looked after cleaning).

Next thing to do was to prime the model and here I may have made a mistake. At the time I primed my models (most of the time I prime all my models in 1 go) I didn't know what colours to use to paint the Stuka. So the model is primed black as I usually do with all FoW models.



Now that I know which colours I want to use to paint the Stuka (more about this later) I realise that it was maybe better to prime the Stuka white or grey.

The main colours I am going to use to paint the Stuka. These are Vallejo Model Color.
Base colour: Desert Yellow. Going to paint the whole plane using this colour mainly to "hide" the black primer so I don't need 3 or more layers of the main colours because the main visible colours are bright.



As you can see on the picture one layer of Desert Yellow isn't enough to cover the black primer. I hope that one layer of the following colours will be enough to cover it all.

Bottom of the Stuka will be painted using IraQuian Sand.
Top and sides of the Stuka will be painted using Yellow Ochre.
Next step is to paint Camo on the top and sides of the Stuka using probably German Camo Orange Ochre. The Camo will be painted on the Stuka in irregular patterns and stripes.

End of part 1.

Churchill I OKE conversion.

This model lay in a box for about 10 months. This Churchill I was bought to start a long term army-building process. The armylist that I had in mind can be found here. At the moment I am thinking about changing this list.
I ordered only 1 Churchill I because I wanted to use it as an experiment to see if I could convert it into a Churchill I OKE. I am not very good at converting stuff.
When I opened the blister I already faced the first problem, the blister was missing a hatch. A quick email to Battlefront and the problem was solved. Weeks later (I had to move away from this project because of work and other things) I noticed the biggest problem, the tracks. When I took a closer look they where bend and warped and the front of both tracks had holes in them. Badly cast. At that moment I decided to throw all parts in a box and stack it away.
That was until a few day's ago when I saw the nicely converted Churchill I OKE tanks done by Ben at his blog Breakthrough Assault
This gave me the idea to see if I could convert my Churchill even with such badly cast tracks. First I did the easy part glue the separate pieces into the turret. After that the hard work started by trying to get the tracks as straight as possible. After many hours of slogging I managed to get them a little less bend and warped. It had to do. Next I drilled a little hole in the left track almost at the front. How to convert a Churchill I to a Churchill I OKE can be found on the Battlefront website or in the Dieppe PDF briefing.
Next was to glue the tracks and hull together. With lots of glue and a few clamps I managed to do this. Now all that was left to do was to built the fuel tank, fuel pipe and flame-thrower.
The fuel tank is made out of thin cardboard (yes really), wooden sticks, plastic from a blister and Green Stuff. The fuel pipe and flame-thrower are made copper-wire. When I am going to convert the next Churchill I to a Churchill I OKE I will show with pictures what I did. But because this is a long term project it can take a while. You may always ask questions.

The end result

Top view. You can see the holes in the tracks filled with Green Stuff.

Right side view.

Left side view.

Painting will be done when I have all 3 of the converted Churchill I OKE and the other tanks and infantry.

Thanks for looking.

Finally the long wait is over!

Although it was still cold outside and the wind was blowing the garage was, because the sun was shining through the windows, at a suitable temperature to prime my miniatures. So with no moment to loose I grabbed my black spray-can and my miniatures and went to the garage and started to spray. Finally after a long wait.


At the back we see from left to right, A staff team for my Canadian Artillery. This one was never painted because I didn't need it. Now with the new rules it may come in handy. Then in the middle there is a M18 Hellcat tank-destroyer and a scout car. These are the last models for my tank-destroyer platoon. The rest of the platoon I already painted about 5 years ago but because I never were going to use them I never painted the last models. Now this platoon can be used with my 101st Airborne Division from the NUTS book which give me reason to paint these models. At the right is a Stuka D for my Mid War 90. Leichte Afrika Division DAK army.
Next row we have 3 25mm SA-34 guns + Command team for a 25mm Anti-tank gun platoon. An addition for my Early War French Escadron de Reconnaissance Compagnie. These were a gift. Thanks Les.
In front of those we have a Rocket Battery, RCA with 4 Land Mattress and 2 Command teams and 2 Observers. For my Market Garden Canadian Infantry Company.
And last in the front row, Easy Company. An addition for my 101st Airborne Division. Also from the NUTS book.

The plan was to paint the M18 Hellcat and a scout car first but because the weather put me behind schedule and I am going to play in a small tournament in June using my Canadian Company, I have no choice then to paint the Rocket Battery, RCA first.

Happy New Year

For 2013 I have no specific plans made or goals set. I just take it as it comes. There will be no New Year's Resolutions. But as usual that doesn't mean that there is always something that must be done before a certain date. And this certain date is getting closer rapidly.

On the above picture we see a Hellcat, a Scout Car and an US Glider Field Artillery Battery. As I have a great tourney on the 23 February, more about this later this year, and there is big possibility that I need this platoon and models, these models must be painted before that date. This is the first must of the year.
On the background there is a Stuka D for my 90. Leichte Afrika Division gladly this one can be painted later on in the year.

Next we have a blister containing Easy Company. There is a possibility that a few teams are needed from this blister for the tourney but it looks that I can paint all models in this blister sometime this year without any pressure on me that it must be painted soon.

Home made Barbedwire and Minefields. I made these about 31/2 years ago but because of bad handling it is time to repair and improve these. Probably going to make complete new barbedwire. This is also a must do because I need these for the tourney. I already know for sure that I will take 1 platoon with a supply vehicle.

For the rest I will just see what this year will bring me. One thing is certain I am going to enjoy it as much as possible because life is too beautiful to just let go by.

Thanks for reading.

I know I said I wouldn't start a new FoW army but.....

Yes I know I once said and promised to myself that I won't start a new Flames of War army. That was until I re-read the Battlefront Dieppe Forces PDF, BTW the PDF is not updated by battlefront yet so it is not a V3 Approved briefing, and all things changed.
Count up with this the fact that today it is exactly 70 years ago that the Dieppe Raid took place. And I was sold.

Now all I had to do was to decide which company to take: The Infantry Tank Company Dieppe, the Rifle Company Dieppe or the Commando troop Dieppe.
After some thinking my choice fell on this:

Infantry Tank Company Dieppe

Headquarters
CC Churchill I and 2iC Churchill I

Combat Platoons
Infantry Tank Platoon: 2 Churchill III and 1 Churchill II
Infantry Tank Platoon: 2 Churchill III and 1 Churchill II
Flame-Tank Platoon: 3 Churchill I OKE

Divisional Support platoon
Commando Company: 1 Commando section (HQ section (Command Rifle/MG team), 2 Commando squads (6 Rifle/Mg teams))

A 1500 points list that is a) Easy to paint and b) the most important part Relatively cheap to buy.
A negative point is that I have to convert 3 Churchill I to 3 Churchill I OKE Flame-tanks and if there is something I ain't good at it is converting.

I probably will start with this company after I have finished the French Reconnaissance Company.
But then I also like to buy some new stuff for my US Airborne Army.

Thanks for reading.

Two Aircraft.

Now that I finally get some more time on my hands because it ain't that crazy at my work any-more I can start posting again and also start on several of my FoW projects.
But first I have pictures of two aircraft that I got my hands on a couple of weeks ago.
First there is the P-40 Warhawk. This aircraft can be used with my US Airborne when I use them for Mid War. The aircraft is already painted and as it is painted at a nice level I see no reason to repaint it.

P-40 Warhawk

The second aircraft is a JU87 Stuka. This aircraft can be used in my Mid War DAK army. It can be assembled as a Stuka D (bombs) or Stuka G (Cannons). I probably go for the Stuka G option.
This aircraft isn't painted, it only has a base colour of SP04 German Armour (mid/late) or SP06 German Armour (desert) both spray-cans. I am not sure which one it is but I think it is the latter. Now I hope I can find a Vallejo colour that matches the base colour because some parts aren't painted. And of course find a nice camo colour and pattern.

JU87 Stuka

Thank for reading.

Fall Blau Mid War tournament after action reports.

On 16 June I was finally able to go to a tourney again. A Mid War tourney which meant that I could try out my DAK army for the very first time.
It was a 3 games tourney and each table had it's own mission. There were 7 tables.
Time for each game was set on 2.15 hours that is including army set up.
The army that I brought with me was:

90. Lichte Afrikadivision Schützenkompanie
288. sonderverband

Headquarters
-CC en 2iC SMG teams
-Machine gun section 2 HMG's
Combat platoons
-Afrika Schützen platoon 1: HQ section (Command Panzerknacker SMG team), 3 Schürtzen sections (MG teams), Mortar squad (8cm GW34 mortar), Anti-tank rifle
-Afrika Schützen platoon 2: HQ section (Command MG team), 3 Schürtzen sections (MG teams, Mortar squad (8cm GW34 mortar), Anti-tank rifle
Divisional Support Platoons
-Pioneer platoon: HQ section (Command pioneer Rifle/MG team), 3 Pioneer sections (Rifle/MG teams), 2.8cm sPzB41 Anti tank rifle
-Light Panzerspäh platoon: 1 Light Light Panzerspäh patrol (Command Sd Kfz 223 (Radio), 2 Sd Kfz 222 (2cm) )
-Assault gun platoon: 2 StuG D
-Anti-tank gun platoon: 4 5cm PaK38
-Motorised Artillery Battery: 4 10.5cm leFH18

First game.
Mission: Hasty Assault.
Being the: Defender.
Opponent: Russians.
Opponents army-list:
Strelkovy Red Army
-Headquarters
CiC rifle + 2iC rifle + battalon commisar
Sapperplatoon (5 pioneer rifle teams)
Supplywagon
-Strelkovy company 2x 9 rifle teams, command SMG, commissar
-Strelkovy company 2x 9 rifle teams, command SMG, commissar
-Strelkovy Scout platoon 2 squads SMG + SMG command + commissar
-Strelkovy Artillery batalon
4 zis 3 fieldguns
4 122mm obr38 howitsers
-Support Tankdestruction company
4x Zis 2
-Heavy Tankovy company
2 KV1-e + 1 KV2

After deployment just before I place my Immediate Ambush (Pak38 platoon). Left the Russians. Right my waiting DAK.
In the first round the opponent already got his first reserve on the table (the rest followed in the second round). Even with his numerical majority the troops moved towards me in their normal speed. With his tanks he tried to kill my PaK 38 platoon.
With my artillery I tried several bombardments but it had hardly any effect

After several rounds. There are still no platoons of my delayed reserves on the table. The Russians are starting to close in but they are still far enough away to get worried. The tanks have managed to kill two of my PaK38 and almost contesting the objective. His artillery ranged in on 1 of my artillery guns but with no effect.

On the other side there was not much activity. The Russians even went into hiding into the houses later on in the game.

Finally 2 platoons of my delayed reserves arrive. Stug D and Light Panzerspäh platoon (almost at the end of the game the other 2 platoons arrived but these had hardly any effect on the game). After the scattered reserve roll they both came up at the less desired middle of the table edge between the bocage and houses. They rushed forward to help their fellow troops. After some shooting only a few of the Russian infantry died.

The Russians are closing in fast now the tanks killed an other of my PaK38 and contest the objective. The infantry killed the last PaK38. His artillery finally managed to kill a piece of my artillery. But by now time is running out. Can the Germans hold long enough?

End. The Russians wiped out the PaK 38 platoon and killed 2 of the Artillery guns. His tanks are contesting the objective.
The Russians lost some infantry stands.
Because both of us couldn't reach their goals the defender wins. It is a 5-1 Victory for the defending Germans.

Click on the "Read Or See More" link to see the other two reports.

Two quick and simple built DAK objectives.

Coming Saturday I go to a Mid War tournament and just in time I realized that I didn't have any objectives for my DAK army. Because I only had a few hours yesterday and today I had to come up with something that was easy and quick to built.
The result is this:


Sometime after the tournament when I have more time I probably will replace the yellow patch with a better looking copy.
Now all I have to do is writing a background. Piece of cake...Yeah right. :)

Thanks for looking.

90. Leichte Afrika Division Schützen Kompanie part 9: The Company

A slide-show of my 90. Leichte Afrika Division Schützen Kompanie.


With all options added the total of this Company is now 1530 points.
As said in an earlier post I will add trucks to the Afrika Schützen platoons and Pioneer platoon somewhere in the future. Also will I build some objectives.
Side note. Just saw that I started with this Company in March 2010. Never thought that it would take almost 2 years to complete it.

Thanks for looking!

90. Leichte Afrika Division Schützen Kompanie part 8: Light Artillery Battery

Finally a post of a new painted platoon. The DAK Light Artillery Battery.It took me weeks to get this platoon painted but now it is finally done.
The Battery contains: four 10.5cm le FH18 Howitzers, one Staff-team, one Command SMG team and two Observer Rifle teams.
With this platoon painted my 1500 points DAK Kompanie is now completed. In a later stage I will add trucks to the force. How my force looks on paper can be seen here: 90. Leichte Afrika Division Schützen Kompanie part 1: The List. Later on I will post a slide-show containing all the painted platoons.
One different thing about this platoon compared to the others is the base-edge. Where the other platoons had the base-edge painted the same colour as the whole base, for this platoon I used a different colour compared to the base itself, Vallejo Desert Yellow (977). This means that I have to repaint all the base-edges of the other platoons.
Now on to some pictures.

DAK Light Artillery Battery