Puma Schützenpanzer (IFV) - Empress Miniatures

At Salute I picked up the recently released Puma Schützenpanzer (IFV) made by Empress Miniatures.

The kit comprises a number of cleanly cast white resin components with a number of white metal detail components.

The resin is similar to that used by Rubicon for their Waffentrager  and P43 bis kits. Unlike those, you cannot slot them together.

The Puma is designed to have a modular armour package, which allows the base model to be air portable. Four A400M transports can lift three Puma (with the base armour package) plus the three upgrade packages to take then to class C. The kit appears to be able to model the base package and the class C side armour.

The Puma is armed with a 30mm auto cannon which can fire bot APFSDS kinetic energy rounds and airburst capable dual purpose rounds.

Adobe Jail - Sarissa 40mm scale

Sarissa have recently released a range of 40mm scaled MDF buildings.

The kit comprises three sheets of laser cut MDF.

Due to the nature of the building, I did not quite follow the instructions.

The interior includes two cells, built using two components, the long set of bars and the  short set. I glued them together, but did not glue them to the base plate (I used that as a jig to hold it all together).

Once the glue was dry, the bars were removed from the base plate and sprayed, first with Halfords Black Primer, followed by a light dusting of Halfords Grey Primer.

The four sides and the interior piece that provides the support beams through the walls was glued together, ensuring that glue was kept clear of the base, which was again used as a jig to keep everything square.

The etched side of the roof plate was sprayed with Citadel Ogre Flesh spray, as was the base plate.

Once the glue fixing the walls had dried, the joints were tidied up with Milliput. Milliput was also used to provide some surface detail, ensuring the etched detail was kept.

Once that was set, the windows and doors was masked (the window frame and shutters piece was left off). The roof plate was inverted and used to mask the roof space.

The exterior was first sprayed with Rustoleum Rust effect spray to add surface texture. This was then sprayed with Halfords Grey Primer followed by Halfords White Primer. The interior walls were also sprayed with Halfords White Primer.

The barred windows and the front window's frame was painted with Vallejo Black and dry brushed Vallejo Black Grey. The wooden supports and the door frame were painted with Citadel Dryad Bark.

The brick surfaces were washed with Citadel Gryphonne Sepia wash. The walls were washed with Citadel Agrax Earthshade.

Front face.

Rear face with barred windows.

View with the roof panel removed showing the cells (and Frank James - who appears to have smuggled Sophie in with him).

 Doc Holliday at the door.

Frank James uses the building as cover.

Modern Bundeswehr - Empress Miniatures

Last year Empress brought out a range of Ultramodern Bundeswehr infantry.

This infantryman is armed with a G36 assault rifle fitted out with all mod cons.

The camouflage is my first attempt at modern flecktarn.

From Wikipedia (see link above).

The colours used were:
Base: Vallejo German extra dark green
Camo:
Citadel Snotwomble Green plus Citadel Nurgling Green layer
Citadel Steel Legion Drab

I think the base coat could have done with being Field Grey with EDG etc splodges. I also think that Citadel Mournfang Brown might be better than Steel Legion Drab (though that is bordering on Australian colours.

I do need to redo the helmet straps.

Empress USMC at Hue

Here are the first two painted figures.

Colour Scheme

Uniform: Citadel Death Guard Green (spray).
Webbing and pouches: Citadel Karak Stone
Boots and Water bottle:  Vallejo Leather Brown
Rifle, radio and grenades: Citadel Abaddon Black
Flack Jacket: Citadel Death World Forest
Helmet camouflage: Citadel Steel Legion Drab and Zandri Dust

Empress Vietnam USMC

At Salute I bought the first two packs of the new Empress Vietnam War USMC figures.

Pack NAM1

Pack NAM2

Johan Krauss - Hellboy effect marker

At Salute I got a free figure (along with buying the Hellboy board game) from the Mantic Games stand.

One of the items on the original Kickstarter was an effect marker, a clear resin model of Johann Krauss. Having not been part of the Kickstarter, I thought the free figure would make a nice alternative.

I must emphasise that this is not the figure from the box, it was a "free" figure, and hence may have quality issues, like that mould line down the arm and across the chest that I missed when cleaning up.

Nice detail on the back of his containment suit.

The figure was undercoated with Humbrol spray white primer (which ran out, which might explain the slight additional texture).

It was washed with Citadel Nighthaunt Gloom, then dry brushed with Citadel Ceratite White.

Scale comparison shot, William Killian, Krauss and Brian - not the Governor.

Here is a comparison shot with a retail figure.

Rubicon SDKFZ-2 Kettenkrad

The SDKFZ-2 was the smallest German halftrack produced during World War 2.

Originally designed for airborne troops, it was designed to fit within JU52 cargo aircraft.

The Rubicon kit comes with a small cargo trailer and a trailer for the Goliath demolition vehicle.

The kit comprises one full sized sprue and two small sized sprues.

There is the usual illustrated instructions and a set of waterslide decals.

William Killian shows the Kettenkrad to be rather dinky.

Front view.

Side view.

Rear view.

Top view.

"Carta Armatura" Carro Armato P43 bis tank - part two

Having glued the turret base to the turret, the gun to the mantlet and the commander's hatch, I undercoated the parts with Citadel Chaos Black.

I then dry assembled the running gear and the hull. Using masking tape, I masked the running gear and sprayed the hull and turret with Citadel Zandri Dust.

Once that had dried, I masked the turret and hull with strips of masking tape. This was then sprayed with Humbrol Dark Green (30) spray.

The strips of masking tape did mean there were some rather large patches of Citadel Zandri Dust on the turret roof and the engine deck.

The masking tape was removed and the paint allowed to dry.

The running gear was masked again, and the turret was installed on the hull. Masking tape in thin strips was then applied, ensuring it covered both the yellow and green areas.

This was then sprayed with Army Painter Leather Brown.

I have still to determine what to do with the running gear.