Friday 30 June 2017

DAK Panzer II Zug



I have finally painted my Panzer II Zug for the 8th Panzer Regiment, 15th Panzer Division, Deutches Afrikakorps.

The models used are from Blitzkrieg and they are Panzer II Ausf F for the circular hatches however the base of the tank is no different to Blitzkrieg's Ausf C model.  The crew are from Perry Miniatures.

The 15th Panzer Division tank companies all displayed their company number on the side of the turret.  I decided to make these guys from 1st Company, 8 Panzer Regiment, 15th Panzer Division.  The decals are from Company B and Rubicon.

1/56 DAK Panzer
Blitzkrieg Miniatures Panzer 2 Ausf F modelled as an Ausf A-C

Blitzkrieg Miniatures Panzer 2 Ausf F
Perry Miniatures Panzer Crew

I particularly like this Tank Commander

1/56 DAK decals 28mm DAK decals
Rubicon Decals are nice but leave a slight outline.  The " is from Company B

28mm DAK Panzer 2 II
A commanding presence

Blitzkrieg Miniatures Panzer 2 Panzer II
Some damage to the side railing - Not intentional but looks good

1/56 DAK Panzer Zug
Rear View

28mm Panzer Crew
Tank Commander has swagger

1/56 Panzer 2 II Zug 28mm
The Panzer II Zug

1/56 Panzer 2 Afrika Korps DAK Panzer II 28mm
A nice angle showing the Panzers




Thursday 29 June 2017

Day 40 of 100 Days of Hobby

Well its day 40! Its going so damn fast!

Recap...

Day 31 - Highlighting


Day 32 - More Highlighting

Day 33 - Reinforcements in 20mm Arrive!


Day 34 - Final Highlights

Day 35 - Weathering the Panzer IIs


Day 36 - Black lining

Day 37 - Decals and gear chipping to go

Day 38 - Just the bases and decals to go!

Day 39 - Finished! See separate article for photo shoot

Day 40 - Panzer IIs Finished! - Photo shoot to come

Day 40 - Blitzkrieg German NCOs and MG34s! It never ends!

All up pretty happy with these last 10 days.  Next 10 days should be interesting, no real plans, just going to crack on!

Remember to check out twitter.

https://twitter.com/LefthandedPanzr



Offensive Miniatures DAK Squad 2

These took way too long to paint! On and off I have been working on these over the past 3 weeks! It is probably an all time new slow record for me for painting figures.  Offensive miniatures really have some beautiful sculpts and I am really happy with how they turned out.  I now have a basic platoon for Bolt Action and am nearly there for Battlegroup.

I shot these with my Samsung S8 and used the built in editor to crop them.  Pretty happy with the photos.

Offensive Miniatures DAK 28mm DAK
Offensive Miniatures EGDK306 DAK Squad

28mm DAK NCO
NCO and Rifleman - Great Poses

28mm DAK infantry sun hat
I love the look of Sunhats and Shorts

28mm DAK infantry
Some nice variation in the DAK uniforms

28mm Offensive Miniatures DAK
I like the chap on the right


28mm DAK LMG
DAK LMG team - I really like the pose on the gunner



Monday 19 June 2017

Day 30 update of 100 Days of Hobby

Well what an interesting 10 days.  I came out with a flying start however I really dropped off the pace in the last few days due to long hours at work, lack of sleep and being fatigued.

Saying this I have stuck it out and still managed to achieve a little bit each day.  The last couple of days I only did maybe 15-20 minutes a day but that's all I could do.  I am a little disappointed I haven't finished the DAK troops and the Panzer 2s but I will push to get these done before the next update.

I did get the AB figures finished so that was a win in my books. Time to get some more.


Day 21 - AB Test Figures

Day 22 - Rest of AB figures blocked and washed

Day 23 - Panzer 2s Washed

Day 24 - AB Figures complete and a 3D Printed Garage Painted

Day 25 - Photo Shoot

Day 25 - Panzer 2s Chipped

Day 26 - Primed 3D printed House, blocked in some colours

Day 27 - More Blocking

Day 27 - More Blocking

Day 28 - and more Blocking

Day 29 - Blocking complete!

Day 30 - Army Painter strong tone added

Looking back I kind of have achieved a bit, not as much as I wanted to.  The next 10 days are going to be more of a push! Stay tuned.

As always follow daily updates on twitter.

https://twitter.com/LefthandedPanzr





Wednesday 14 June 2017

Scaling It Down - Part 1 AB Figures

What is all the fuss about?  Why is this scale so good for wargaming? Are AB Figures Really that good? The curiosity got to me.., and yes, AB Figures are that good!

Inspired by the Battlegroup ruleset and the quest to get more on the table without it looking like a crowded space I have taken the plunge.  Really I had no excuse not to test the waters with 20mm figures and the 1/72 scale.  Being Australian I have an advantage with regards to 20mm wargaming and that of AB Figures, they are locally produced right here in Australia.

Setting the Theme - Panzer Lehr Operations - Normandy, France, June-July 1944.

I embarked on a project to do 28mm Panzer Lehr.  There is only one problem... there is bugger all available in 28mm for the Panzer Lehr.  I have read a couple of books now about the Division and their conquests and defeats in the Normandy theatre of operations post D-Day.

20mm is the perfect scale to do the Panzer Lehr in.  Why? Adler Miniatures have recently released some beautiful sculpts for the Panzer Lehr and are releasing more soon.  Elhiem Figures is re-doing their 20mm Panzer Lehr range and Wartime Miniatures (another Aussie Company) is branching out with some more Panzer Lehr soon.  Compare these ranges to 28mm and the decision was obvious.

I am holding out on getting my Panzer Lehr miniatures as I want to see what the above mentioned companies release in the hopefully not too distant future.

One of the Panzer Lehr's enemies in Normandy was the British 7th Armoured Division and I have decided to go with them first.  I won't go into too much information regarding this Division but I will be focusing on the 22nd Armoured Brigade and the fighting around Tilly-sur-Seulles and Villers-Bocage.  Combined with my new 3D printer I have loads of nice 3D terrain to print to suit my theme.

Lets get on with it.

AB Figures British AB-INB09 painted
AB Figures British Infantry on Patrol AB-INB09 with a Bonus figure they sent me

20mm miniatures eyes painted
Painting 20mm miniatures eyes - why not! AB figures are fully detailed

AB Figures 20mm British Infantry
My infantry will be painted as 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade
20mm 1/72 Normandy 3d printed terrain WW2
A British Patrol clears a derelict French Garage


20mm AB Figures British Normandy WW2

A note on Painting...

AB figures really are excellent sculpts.  I decided to paint the eyes, some people do not like this but I really like it.  It is more than possible in 20mm and gives the figures a little more character.  Not sure if I can achieve this in other figure ranges but I will have a crack!

Anyway I intend on doing Part 2 soon... not sure if its going to be a look at 1/72 vehicles or 1/72 3D printed terrain.  Stay tuned.


https://twitter.com/LefthandedPanzr