Hands, eyes and The Great Patriotic War

[Ithoriel]

Having not painted anything from scratch for almost a decade* and in view of the number of brilliantly painted armies appearing in the photo's on the forum it was with a little trepidation that I set up my painting table, bought paints, brushes and a Rolson magnifying visor and set out to find out just how bad my eyesight and hand-eye co-ordination had become. To my surprise, despite the sight being noticeably dimmer and the hand considerably shakier, I was still able to turn out something that I was happy with.

So, I've decided to post some pics - primarily, to be fair, to act as a spur to keep me painting! Plan is to have two battalions of panzergrenadiers (one armoured and one lorried), a battalion of Pz IIIs and IVs and supporting artillery, aircraft, engineers, etc.

When I'm finished/ bored I'll add some opposing Soviets - both regulars and partisans. Might be tempted by some Soviet Naval Infantry too. 

I'm using BKC2 for rules, with a stand representing a platoon.

I have the first battalion completed, though they'll have to walk for the moment as there's no transport painted yet! Pics below.

*The stuff posted before arrived assembled, undercoated and (badly) painted so just needed touched up - detailing, highlights and similar.

[Leon]

Looking good to me!

[Ithoriel]

Also have a number of command stands done - many more to go but it's kind of one of each for the moment.

The numbered dots are the command Values of the stands for BKC. It's just piece of grey board punched out with a hole punch and glued in place before painting.

There is my CO (GR207 Sdkfz 251 with map table and crew) passing orders to a Pithead motorcycle rider while covered by a flakvierling (GR56 20mm quad A.A. with crew).

An HQ consisting of an officer in a halftrack (GR93 Sdkfz 250/10 37mm AT gun - without the 37mm, long story) urging a couple of riflemen forward.

The FAO stand has a scratchbuilt wall corner and rubble heap peopled by a pair of spotters (GR64), a radio operator (GR16 with an aerial made from a map pin with the plastic bead top cut off)) and an unused periscope while a kettenrad (GR74) stands ready for them to cram onto and leg it if spotted.

Finally there's an FAC stand with a Pithead artilleryman standing in as the fliegerleitoffizier while various Pendraken infantry act as his Luftwaffe team manning the halftrack (GR205 Sdkfz 251/3 with frame aerial ). This is "Kursk and before" version there will be another for post-Kursk midwar armies with a one lower CV.

   

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Very nice kit there sir!

[Techno]

Very nice work I.
Cheers - Phil.

[Zippee]

They look very good to me,

The only suggestion I would make (if I may be so bold  ) is that the single colour (and rather bright - at least on screen) green flock bases are a bit gauche. I think a more muted (and thus lighter) sand and green mix would set the troops of much nicer.

then again much depends on the terrain you'll be using them on 

[Ithoriel]

Zippee, I suspect you're right about the basing but it's now being done to fit in with the rest of the stuff I have.

Last time I was painting regularly life was .... "interesting" and so painting time was limited.

Basing technique in those days was paint the base earth brown, coat with PVA glue, dredge with fine sand, flood sand with dark brown ink, heavy dry-brush of dark earth, lighter drybrush of beige, very light dry brush of bleached bone, add rocks/ boulders/ debris, paint and highlight rocks/ boulders/ debris, dab pva glue in strategic places, dredge with flock, flood flock with leaf green ink, dry brush flock with light yellow, light highlight of unbleached linen. Looked great. Took ages. I wound up with half painted armies I never used because the guys I played with had moved on to new rules/ eras/ scales before I had an army ready to use.

So, to speed up production I painted the base green, coated with PVA glue, dredged it with green-dyed florists sand and gave it a quick drybrush to highlight. Quick and dirty but I got figures on the table and I got to use my own figures rather than borrowing stuff.

Now of course I have plenty of time but am still wedded to the quick and dirty basing method.  Old dogs, new tricks and all that

If I move on to another period I'll probably revert to a simpler version of my original basing.

[Hertsblue]

I see you've painted in the officers' maps where applicable, so your hand/eye co-ordination can't be that bad, Ithoriel. I love the little touches, like the pennon on the command half-track. 

[Matt J]

had a close look at these and I think they are bloody good, particularly the little set-ups on the command bases. nice one

[Maenoferren]

Looking good. Regarding the bases... evidently a spring offensive.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Looks great, the maps are a great touch! :-D

[Ithoriel]

Firstly, thanks for the encouraging comments, though I remain all too aware (and envious!) of the beautiful paint jobs posted by others here.

Finally made time to get some more things finished!

First up, my landsers finally have some transport - though their colleagues with heavy weapons await half-track mounted equivalents. 

[Ithoriel]

As well as transport I've added some artillery.

Second batch of pics is of the three 75mm PAK 40s providing rather more effective anti-tank firepower than the 37mm's mounted on the half-tracks

[Ithoriel]

Finally, some heavier firepower in the form of a couple of LeFH 105mm guns

Looking good. Regarding the bases... evidently a spring offensive.

Our games are nominally set in April to July 1943, covering the run up to Kursk and the battle itself.

The only suggestion I would make (if I may be so bold  ) is that the single colour (and rather bright - at least on screen) green flock bases are a bit gauche. I think a more muted (and thus lighter) sand and green mix would set the troops of much nicer.

then again much depends on the terrain you'll be using them on 

The bases also look much worse in action now as we've moved from a bright green felt cloth bought from a local dressmaking fabric shop to a more "grass green" cloth bought at Claymore this year. Alas, way too much to paint and way to little time to paint it to go back and redo the bases

I'll just have to claim to be part of the Naive Art Movement

[Hertsblue]

You might try toning the bases down with a black wash. I'd experiment on an expendable piece first, though.