Konflict '47 Axis Stahltruppen

 With the latest issue of Wargames Illustrated there was a sprue of the latest plastics for the revised version of Konflict '47 - Warlord Games' Weird War Two game based on Bolt Action.

There were two sets of sprues, US jump Infantry or Axis Stahltruppen, I searched out the latter.

Here are the sprues.

There are parts to build three Stahltruppen (powered suits).

There are three right arms with twin-linked assault rifles (there is a loose twin linked assault rifle as well). 

There are three MG42 right arms and what I am guessing is a squeeze bore light cannon for anti-suit work.

There are also Panzerfausts for full anti-tank use.

There are an assortment of heads and ammunition, plus what looks like a grenade launcher and some scary looking knives.

Warlord K47 M5A5/6 Jackal Walker - construction

So I have started building the Warlord Games M5 Jackal walker for Konflikt '47 Weird War 2 system.

I decided to pin the legs to ensure they remained in place. I estimated the centre point on sockets for the legs and drilled a 1mm hole to take a brass rod. I then drilled a matching hole in the ball joint of the top of the leg. I then used a loop of greenstuff (with a small piece in the holes) and a brass rod to pin it together.

That was then left to set. William Killian for scale.

The greenstuff was not sticky enough on one leg, and I had to superglue it back in.

The arms were just glued in place as was the hand/claw pieces. The rear part of the body (with the arms attached) was then added to the front parts (with the legs).

I had not added the pieces to the legs (thrusters?) and unfortunately there is no room to get them in place.

There is a marked gap between the front and rear halves of the body, which will need filling.

There is an annoying join through one of the panels, which shows a lack of thought in the way the body was split for moulding.

Warlord K47 M5A5/6 Jackal Walker

On the Lead Adventures forum someone asked about the size of the Coyote Walker.

I do not have a Coyote, but I do have the jump capable Jackal which I understand is derived from the Coyote.

William Killian, a Domari trooper and a K47 Galahad Armoured Infantryman.

It is held together by blutack and is leaning against the liquid poly bottle.

Now I have found it, I might as well start assembly. I just need to find a base.

Here is the box and contents.

Automated Infantry - weapon system.

Way back when I bought a pair of British Automated Infantry from the Clockwork Goblin sub stand at Salute.

For various reasons I have not got round to build them.

A thread on the Lead Adventures forum was discussing weapon choices for the Automated Infantry.

Here are some comparisons:

First, here are the components (the components of the current Warlord Games version may differ).

The weapons (Vickers' medium machine gun and a US M2 HMG.

Now, to me they look rather large, so the following is a comparison between the Automated Infantry weapons and other versions of the same weapon from a different manufacturer, in this case an HMG and a MMG from Empress Miniatures.

So at the top, you can see the HMG from an Empress M113 model., at the bottom is a Carton Loyd MMG carrier.

In the depths of my spare sprue drawer I found an Italeri 1/35 modern weapon sprue with an M2 HMG.

It is clear the Automated Infantry weapon is slightly smaller.

Now, a quick measure shows the M2 is about 35mm long, which at 1/56 is 1960mm

Now Wikipedia says the length is 1654mm, which gives a calculated scale ~1/47, so it is probably 1/48.

The Vickers is about 25mm, Wikipedia gives a length of 1120mm, which makes it about 1/45.

SDKFZ 234/2 Puma revisited

A couple of items on the Warlord Games Puma.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, for reasons best known to the Italeri/Warlord designers, a decision was made to mould the tyres/wheels hollow.

I decided to fill the backs of the tyres with Milliput. Unfortunately I did not photograph them before attaching them to the hull.

Here are two photographs of the wheels in place.

 I chose the best ones for the front and rear.

 I do need to paint the joins , probably black/burnt umber.

 It is very difficult to photograph the inside of the wheels, but the effect is not too bad,

The other item was the lack of damage to the doors on the mudguards. I have added some chipped paint effects to the doors and surrounding paintwork.

It probably needs some more.

SDKFZ 234/2 Puma

This has been a long term project.

The eight wheels, the turret and the hull were undercoated with Citadel Chaos Black spray. The turret and hull were then sprayed with PSC Panzer Dark Yellow. The area of the lower hull under the mud guards had Citadel Stirland Mud textured paint applied. This was then covered with Vallejo Burnt Umber. This was then dry brushed with Citadel Steel Legion Drab. Citadel Agrax Earthshade was then washed over the whole body and turret.

After glueing the wheels in place (one needed a reinforcing bar added), the tyres were drybrushed with Vallejo Black Grey and a wash made from Citadel Nuln Oil and black was applied over the dry brushing.

The hull and turret were dry brushed with Vallejo Dunkelgelb. The wheel hubs were also painted with Vallejo Dunkelgelb. The hubs were washed with Agrax Eathshade.

The tyres and the mudguard were then dry brushed with Vallejo Burnt Umber .

As mentioned earlier, it has been fitted with an IR spotlight (made from a PSC Panther cupola) and two fuel drums (with a pump).

The "cracks" on the turret front (and elsewhere) are the result of a failing spray can.

 The Balkenkreuz is from the supplied decal sheet, but the numbers are from the Rubicon German AFV sheet (I am lazy and they come pre-assembled).

Konflikt '47 Galahad Armoured Infantryman

So here is a nearly completed Galahad Armoured Infantryman for Conflict '47 and other weird war two games.

He is armed with a Bren light machine gun fitted with the drum magazine, and carries a spare on his left hip.

Supported by a Cromwell.

Supported by an M5A1

 For scale, here he is with William Killian.

Rubicon SDKFZ253 as a Totenkontrolfahrzeug

Rubicon released a kit that could build the SDKFZ250/1 Alte or the SDKFZ253.

Unlike almost all SDKFZ250 family vehicles (and German halftracks in general) the SDKFZ253 has a roof. It is not too much of a stretch to make the vehicle airtight which would make it a perfect vehicle for SOTR as a forward observer vehicle for V-Gas artillery and as a pinger control vehicle (Pingers are a radio controlled zombie which allows the directing of the normally uncontrolled zombies in SOTR).

Of course, making it airtight would mean that the crew might asphyxiate rather than suffer the effects of the V-Gas. So it needs some form of air filtration system.

The Rubicon Tiger tank kit has the desert filters as an option, and I did not use it on the first one I built, so I have a set spare.

First, here are the sprue photographs (Rubicon publish the assembly instructions on their web site).

Because the 253 has a roof, quite a lot of the bits are not used.

The kit went together easily (the problem with the parts not gluing together I experienced with the Studebaker did not occur with this kit). I basically followed the instructions except I have not glued the wheel assembly to the body, I will spray both parts with Citadel Chaos Black spray and then the body with PSC German Dark Yellow spray.

Left side

Front

Right side

Rear. The structure on the rear of the vehicle are the cyclone air filters from the Tiger kit.

 Rear again. This shows the jerry can holder. It needs some smoothing out. The rack and the box on the door are inspired by the photograph on page 56 of the Terry Gander book on the 250.

Comparison shot with a Bolt Action SDKFZ251.

It shows the SDKFZ250 series is tiny.

Zombies, hundreds of them...

Okay, not quite hundreds, but quite a few, especially with my rate of painting.

A mixture of Studio Miniatures plastics, Mantic plastics, Bolt Action plastics and West Wind SOTR metals. The bases still need harmonising.

 Bolt Action and Mantic combo.

Studio Miniatures

 West Wind SOTR metal.

Studio Miniatures.

Studio Miniatures.

Studio and Bolt Action plastic.

SOTR metal.