Been making some 28mm Kits

For my Chain of Command 28mm British Infantry the welcome sight of a Sherman Mk I (see below, the ubiquitous Western Front armour support): 

She came up nicely, less parts in 28mm than most 20mm kits (see below, looking ship shape and ready for battle): 

Keeping with the 1944 theme, my Crusader originally bought as a Western Desert AFV had a course change and became a AA D-Day+ addition to the British Armour inventory (see below, the Crusader had an extended career with the various specialist functions it found itself in): 

The Western Desert armour support was provided by the Valentine Mk II/III variant (another nice Rubicon kit). I did briefly toy with the idea of a Soviet version but decided that could wait for a 6pdr later variant (see below, 2pdr and 3 inch turret options shown):  

Assembly of 28mm kits is faster than 20mm! Painting might take longer though!

Painting German WWII Three Tone Camouflage the Vallejo Way! [Shade-Base-Highlights and Washes]

As part of the preparation for the Pendrakon Battleground Middlesbrough Wargames Show, I had to practice my late-war German three tone camouflage painting scheme. The idea was to use Pendrakon 10mm miniatures for the Wargames Development (WD) "A Bridge Too Far" participation game. For my 20mm models I had previously used Tamiya colours (Sand, Matt Earth and Deep Green/Olive Drab, highlighted up with Yellow and White) but for smaller scales the Vallejo paints are a much better to paint with. The Flames of War (FoW) painting guide gives a very good Vallejo recipe (see below, this is "Issue Two" which was the "German" edition - with lots of Panzer (and other things German) painting guides):

The Late War German Three Colour Camouflage Vallejo Recipe:

Shade:

Y: Green Brown (879)

B: Flat Brown (894)

G: Luftwaffe Camo Green (823)

Base:

Y: Middlestone (882)

B: Chocolate Brown (872)

G: Reflective Green (890)

Highlight:

Y: Buff (876)

B: Beige Brown (875)

G: Russian Uniform Green (924)

Tracks: 

German Primer undercoat Cavalry Brown (987)

Brown Wash

Gunmetal (863) Dry Brush 

Black Wash

Final Gunmetal (863) Highlight

Washes: 

Watered down Black and Brown Vallejo "Dipping Washes" (the big vat ones) 

For my first subject matter "test case" I chose a couple of 1/200 Skytrex Action 200 WWII German AFV miniatures I had (see below, two Stug IIIGs, nasty when coupled with close support Panzer Grenadiers. I was pleased with the result but wanted some more experimentation before I jumped up to 10mm):

For my second subject matter "test case" again I chose some 1/200 Skytrex Action 200 WWII German AFV miniatures (they had been around for ages, purchased from a hobby lot on eBay and I have been meaning to repaint them for absolutely ages - no better time than now). In fact these were used in the WD "A Bridge Too Far" participation game I hosted with John Armatys at Partizan, Newark (Second Partizan in the vernacular I think) earlier this year (see below, a Panther [with added foliage] and a Pz IVH, looking for Shermans, or anything with a White Star on it for that matter. They are are old [1980s?] but I think they still hold their own!):  

I always thought the Skytrex 1/200 Action 200 AFVs were nice kits, but I was less taken with their infantry, although perhaps to scale they are a bit spindly. I do have the infantry but I prefer to use their early war 1/200 AFV models freely with Pendrakon's "slightly larger" 10mm infantry figures. I think it works really well for Spearhead and Command Decision level games, wheer a base is a platoon of infantry or a troop of tanks. I use this combination for my France 1940, Russian 1941-42 [while German things were painted grey] collections, however for my new Western Desert project [British, Commonwealth, Italian and DAK] I am going full in for 10mm (Pendrakon and Miniature Figurines being my current figure sources). I have not quite decided for late war, originally it was going to be big-boy 10mm kits in 1943-45 in Europe and the East. Quite unexpectedly though, I acquired two battalions (one Sherman and one Cromwell) worth 1/200 1944 British Armour and a 1944 Panzer Division's worth of German Armour (Panthers, Pz IVHs, Stug IIIs, Half Track 251s, Tigers, King Tigers and various assault guns). eBay, a blessing and a curse! The same old dilemma [same period and multi-scale hell], but in my heart I know I will do what I usually do and - collect both, so late war Eastern Front beckons in 10mm methinks [unless a large 1/200 set of Russians appear]. Which means I will have to double up on German 10mm late war kits - which I think I can live with (see below, I do like the way the camouflage blends into the terrain board):  

Practice run complete and I jumped up in scale to the 10mm Pendrakon AFVs (see below, a 10mm Stug IIIG - it is very nice, it naturally takes more time to paint but it is very satisfying and the metal pieces went really well together - nice casting Pendrakon!): 

When the camouflage painting is done there comes the tactical markings and/or national insignia, so do you decal or go free hand paint? I decided to give the free hand a go [it was only a single tank], with the aid of a new secret weapon! A Posca Art Paint Pen I had picked up ages ago, in a back to school sale (see below, sadly I discovered the pen nibs were a tad too large for meaningful detail work [OK for 20mm-25mm-28mm-54mm] but all I could get was a blob that was useful for the outer white cross area, so I could then fill in black and touch up round the edges (see below, the finished product, which in the end I am quite proud of):  

Altogether a satisfying project. I intend to finish the rest of the 1/200 German battalions (Spearhead and Command Decision Order of Battle) in this scheme.

Airfix Tribute Forum: Military Kits Listing

As of late, basically a spin-off from Xmas activities, I have kept on assembling some of my collected kits concentrating on the Airfix ones (it was basically a case of "do it now, or never"), also the box was getting too big and unwieldy in the loft for its own good. I came to thinking, "How close am I to completing the wheel?" - as in for my Airfix military vehicle collection - one of each kit there is (hands up here - I am talking vehicles only, as I am nowhere near the same kind of collector for the aircraft and ships, for wings and water I just dabble)? 

The Airfix Tribute Forum seems to have the "definitive vehicle" list:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/airfixtributeforum/military-vehicles-t1679.html

Considering only the [1:72, 1/76. HO/OO] kits I seem to be good on all the WWII (excluding the airfield utility stuff, RAF Emergency, Refuelling, Recovery and the RAF/USAF "bombing up" kit) and with a sense of pride, I have most of the modern stuff too! The exception being the mysterious SAM 2 missile launcher (now a lost mould) and a West German Leopard 1 (although I do have the "very business like" ESCI one). If I include the JB Models stuff as well, I am missing the modern (as in post WW2) British Army 105mm Howitzer, Soft Top Land Rover and again modern Bedford Trucks (but there is little chance of getting them now unless Airfix decides to re-issue them). 

Heller Footnote: I remember that Airfix picked up some [1:72] Heller kits too, Willy's Jeep and the GMC US Truck from off the top of my head, but no mention of the other Heller kits so I presume they didn't buy the right to use those moulds. I know Heller also did a Sherman, Tiger, Somua S-35, AMX-13/105, AMX 13 DCA, Churchill, LCVP, VAB and AMX-30/105. Heller seems to have had it's ups and downs.  I did find this interesting blog post on the web though:

https://modellersofballarat.wordpress.com/articles/armour/hunting-down-heller/

Back to Airfix .. so with the completion of the "build" of the Bedford Trucks (2010) I call this "inner wheel of Airfix" now completed (see below, these Bedford trucks were an absolute joy of engineering to make, the paint and decals still to be done though): 

If I see them again in the shops I would happily buy them in an instant (see below, I love the subtle touch of the AA Bren gun on its casual mount, plus the bicycle slung on the back of the lorry - it would be nice somehow to fill those infantry seats up with infantry though): 

Does this mean I should move onto "other" vehicle manufacturers and completing their 'wheels' - this seems too big a task for my tiny pair of hands. But once the thought has been put into my ting mind smaller ranges might just become a target? As much as I enjoy a cautious "Vintage" Airfix retro-kit build, I am more of a fan of new Airfix, their new tooled kits are masterpieces as they almost fit together by themselves!