Empress LK-II Light Panzer

 The Leichter Kampfwagen II (LK-II) was a German light tank developed towards the end of World War 1. Two prototypes were built by June 1918, but no more were completed  before the war ended. The design lived on, illegally exported to Sweden as the M/21-29, one remained in Swedish service until 1938.

There were two weapon options, one armed with an MG08/15, the other with a 57mm Maxim-Nordenfelt gun.

The Empress kit comprises four resin mouldings and a bag of white metal pieces (two gun options and the rear step). I think it was originally sold by Mark Copplestone.

The kit is easy to put together, the main issue is ensuring the track units are aligned - super glue is not very forgiving. There're two gun barrels. The one seems extremely short (the surviving M/21-29 has a short barrel and appears to have a short cannon rather than an MG. What is confusing is that there are photographs that show the short barrel but appear to have a barrel sticking out of the centre - this may be a plug inserted to keep dirt out).

The model was undercoated with Citadel Chaos Black, followed by Citadel Mechanicum Standard Grey. Unfortunately, the Mechanicum have changed their standard as the spray and the paint are noticeably different colours, so it needed to be given a full coat of the paint.

The tracks were painted with a wet mix of Vallejo Hull Red, Army Painter Black and Vallejo Black Grey. The tracks were dry brushed with Army Painter Stone Golem.

The Iron Cross decals were from the I94 WW1 German aircraft set and the numbers from another I94 set (20mm WW2 German numbers).

The windows were painted Humbrol White, followed by Citadel Warpstone Glow.

It needs to be weathered.

German Witch

 

German Infantryman for A War Transformed

 As mentioned previously, I had picked up a box of Wargames Atlantic Great War Germans for use in the forthcoming Osprey Games "A War Transformed".

North Star published an article about painting World War 1 figures for A War Transformed which I found useful.

The figure is based on a Rendra 25mm round base, smoothed in with Milliput and a layer of Woodland Scenics fine cinder ballast added over PVA glue.

It was undercoated with Citadel Chaos Black spray. For painting a lot of them, I will probably give them a sprayed base coat of either Citadel Mechanicum Standard Grey or Army Painter Uniform Grey. For this single figure it was painted with Citadel Mechanicum Standard Grey. This was highlighted with a mix of Citadel Mechanicum Standard Grey and Army Painter Stone Golem.

The gloves and mask are Citadel Steel Legion Drab.

The rifle wood work, grenade handle and parts of the entrenching tool are Citadel Rhinox Hide. 

The pouches, belt and boots are Citadel Dryad Bark.

The Bread Bag was Citadel Tarth Flesh.

The helmet was first painted Citadel Zandri Dust, then patches of Citadel Rhinox Hide and Citadel Death World Forest were added.

Metal work (rifle, bayonet and grenade head) were painted Vallejo Black Grey then dry brushed with Army Painter Stone Golem.

The lens surrounds of the gas mask were given a re coat of Vallejo Black Grey, then the lenses were first filled with Humbrol Matt White then Citadel Warpstone Glow.

Everything was given a light dry brush with Citadel Terminatus Stone.

The mask, helmet, boots, gloves, bread bag and woodwork was given a wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade/

The photographs were taken fairly early in the morning and had a distinct bluish cast that was corrected via software, some untreated photographs are below.

Wargames Atlantic Great War Germans

 Wargames Atlantic have a slowly increasing range of Great War multi part/multi-pose figures.

With the imminent release of A War Transformed from Osprey Games, I picked up a box of the Germans.

Each sprue contains six bodies (five standing, one kneeling).

There is a good selection of heads on the sprue, enough to fit all figures with the same heads

There is a selection of weapons, rifles, machine pistols, pistols (including Mauser broom Handles) and a machine gun.

Flak Tower - Vienna

 One of the surviving towers in Vienna.

Reconnaissance

At Salute in 2019 I bought a number of packs of Empress Miniatures' Late War British and German.

I have just based them, and I am beginning to paint them.

So what am I going to do with them?

Last year at Campaign, I bought The Zone. Although it is a Retro-Ultramodern set of rules, it should be perfectly adequate for WW2 skirmish.

So then I needed something for them to fight over.

So out with my trusty DBA board (24" x 24") and pieces from the Warlord Games Ruined Hamlet and their wall set.

So this is the battlefield. I might add some trees and other cover.

Of course, having assembled this on the DBA board, I also thought it would work for The Walking Dead: All Out War (WW2:AOW).

Now just have finish the painting.

Goliath Tracked Mine

At Salute I bought the Rubicon SDKFZ-2 Kettenkrad which came with a Goliath mine on a trailer. At Colours, I bought the deployed Goliath Tracked Mine.

The Goliath Tracked Mine was a wire controlled remote mine.

Here are the sprue and the instruction sheet.

This is an example at the IWM Duxford.

Considering its diminutive size, it tool me a long time to paint.

The hull is Citadel Zandri Dust, the tracks are a wet mix of Vallejo Black and Black Grey together with Army Painter Chaotic Red.

I thought it looked a bit plain, so I added some Balkenkreus on the side and rear.

Warfare 2019 - Rubicon Models

Rubicon had a stand at Warfare in Reading this weekend, and on the stand they had a number of new releases - which I have dutifully added to my stack.

 The big news was the presence of the Loyd Carrier. I have not opened the box yet, but I expect good things of it.

 I also got the tank commander sprue and the M4 Bulldozer,

They had the forthcoming Tiger II in "exploded" and painted form.

That looks very good.

Puma Schützenpanzer (IFV) - Empress Miniatures: Research

At Salute 2019 (amongst other things) I bought Empress Miniatures recently released Puma IFV.

I have been waiting to buy some books on the vehicle before starting assembly - and now I have them.

The Tankograd books cover the development and entry into service of Germany's new Infantry Fighting vehicle, replacing the venerable Marder IFV.

The books contain colour photographs including walk rounds and interior shots that will make assembly and detailing a lot easier.

While I was at it, I also bought another Tankograd book on a 2017 German exercise. No Pumas were involved, but it does have useful information on current German equipment.

 Now I just need to get round to assembling and painting the Puma.

Rubicon Jagdpanzer 38(t)

I recently bought a second Jagdpanzer 38(t) from Wayland's Forge in Birmingham. The first one is assembled and has been painted but not finished.

The kit comes in one of Rubicon's standard boxes.

It is a three sprue kit. It includes options to build early, middle and late versions plus a flame thrower version.

The decal set includes examples of the vehicles seized by the  the Soviet backed Czech army.

The kit went together well, though there was an issue getting the gun mount to stick properly, and the exhaust silencer assembly would not go together properly. The latter resulted in the loss of the part and a replacement had to be fabricated. I did look for the part on the previous model's sprue, but I could not find it.

Rubicon use an ABS based plastic which is more robust, but it is not very impressed with normal liquid poly. I normally use Tamiya thin liquid poly, but assembling the kit at the height of summer makes it more difficult, the glue evaporating before it gets a chance to soften the plastic.

For the gun mount, I painted Tamiya thin liquid poly on both parts, and then used some Humbrol liquid poly. The combination seemed to provide a grip. Once the parts were joined, I put more Tamiya thin liquid poly into the gap to ensure there was a good bond.

The replacement exhaust part was made with a piece of Evergreen plastic tube, supported by a piece of plastic rod.

This would then be wrapped in green stuff.

 Here is the original Jagdpanzer 38(t) partly painted and the new one.

The story behind this particular paint job is that the vehicle has been undercoated and issued to the troops. Balkenkreuz and vehicle numbers were added before issue. This example had a damaged exhaust silencer repaired with asbestos tape.

Detail shot of the exhaust.