LATE WAR GERMAN VEHICLE PAINTING GUIDE and my GERMAN ARMOURED ARSENAL

Here is a tutorial for painting  German tanks in the later years of the war with brushes.

Hope its helpful.

All these tanks are 28mm.

Completed 2 Panther tanks.

German  Tanks include 2 x Panthers, Tiger, 2 x Panzer IV, 1 x Panzer III N and Luchs.

 2 x  Sd.Kfz 251 D halftrack, 1 x Sd.Kfz 250/9 Neu, 1 x 1 x Sd.Kfz 250/1 Neu, 1 x Puma  and a Schwimmwagon.

Tiger tank (Italeri 1:56 scale plastic kits,)

Rubicon  plastic model

The tank models I used were the Italeri 1:56 scale plastic kits, "nice little models".

 Image shows the Panther assembled with the lower portion of the vehicle  coated with fine pumice. follow the link for "How to simulate mud and grit.

Coated with Rustoleum Black Flat Primer.

2 thin coats of Vallejo Model colour Middlestone where applied with a brush.

Apply Agrax Earthshade wash over the whole of the vehicle.

Use a older brush , one you would normally use for dry brushing (hopefully with more bristles than  my  one in the image, I picked up the wrong brush for the photo) .

Use a old brush with short bristles  to apply the base coat (Middlestone).

Apply VMC Middlestone paint on the brush then wipe on a paper towel to remove some of the paint.

In a very light circular motion start applying the paint in the middle of the panels and work out towards the edges as desired.

I recommend practicing this Technic on the underside of the tank first.

You should be aiming for the edges of the paint work to fade into and blend with the already applied base coat that has been washed over with Agrax, Earthshade.

Red squiggles show the areas to target with the Middlestone, note that I have avoided going over the Zimmerit.

Next step is to paint in the brown camo lines using Vallejo Model Colour Chocolate Brown.

As you can see I have not made a great effort in blending the Middlestone on the Panther  as most of the vehicle is covered with  Zimmerit but I do recommend taking care to blend Middlestone on vehicles without Zimmerit ,as can be seen with the Panzer III N below.

Following these easy steps, will help with applying the camo on the tank.

1. paint a thin curvy line.

2. enlarge the curves by painting another line just on the curves.

3. fill in 

4. thin down the paint to apply a wash over the camo,

 you can vary the thickness of the wash as you please.

Note: Its up to you how thick or thin you want the camo lines to be.
and you can also chose not to go to step 4 and make the camo more define.

Once dry use VMC Reflective Green to paint in the green camo on the vehicle.

At this stage I highlight the previously painted VMC Middlestone circular areas in the middle and lightly ran my brush over the areas of Zimmerit that have Middlestone colour.

Be careful not to block out the detail of the Zimmerit.

I used a mix of VMC Middlestone and VMC Ivory ,1:1 ratio.

Using a mix of  VMC Middlestone and VMC Ivory 1:1 ratio, apply a very thin  highlight  on the edges of the tank but only over the Middlestone base colour.

(you can further highlight the middle of these already highlighted areas with a mix of 1:2 Middlestone/Ivory if desired)

I like to leave the brown and green camo areas as they are and don't go over them with the Middlestone /Ivory highlight. 

Using VMC Black Grey paint the tracks, tools, MG, tow line etc.

Paint the handles of the tools using VMC Brown Beige, highlight with 1: 1 ratio VMC Brown Beige and VMC skin base.with a further highlight by increasing the ratio of VMC skin base.

Wash the tracks and some of the lower portions of the panel where pumice was added with a thin wash of VMC Earth.

Once dry, use a brush with VMC Earth to pickout and highlight some areas over the Earth wash.

Lightly go over the tracks with VMC Black Grey to highlight them taking care not to eliminate the earth colour that is already on the tracks.

To finish off the tracks use Citadel Leadbelcher to give a hint of highlight to some of edges of the tracks.( add a bit of this colour to any metal parts)

Add a bit of rust to the Tracks or metal tow cable using VMC Calvary Brown and around any hatches,hinges and a few vertical thin streaks on the vehicles as desired.

Add the transfers.

Used to add some wear areas on the vehicle use a very thin pointed brush to place  tiny spots using VMC Black Grey , I also like to go over the insignias as well.

The last task to do, use Citadel Thraka ink wash to apply vertical thin random streaks over the vehicle.

Rear view of the Panther tanks.

Panzer III N

Cheers John 

IeIG18 INFANTRY GUN 28mm

Scratched build IeIG 18 German Infantry gun with modified crew members.

In Chain of Command It's positioned  on the German Support,in List 4.

Completed gun with a Junior Leader and a crew of 5.

The start of the DIY gun project.

I used mainly Evergreen styrene sheets,spare infantry sprues to construct the gun.

I decided to make another 3 guns which I may use later in other German theaters of war.

The wheels where constructed using infantry bases.

step I 

trace a coin on the plastic base that would be close to the size of the wheel.

Trim the sides with a model trimming tool

Then file smooth with a modelling file.

Step 2

Use a hobby knife to trim out the middle of the filed base.

chamfer the edges both inside and on the outside

chamfer the base so it looks more like a tyre

Step 3

Using the modelling knife make v shaped cuts along the edge of the tyre

Glue another base on the bottom your tyre and continue to transfers onto this base as well.

Not pictured:

cut a circular sprue and glue in the middle of the tyre 

Last step is to use green stuff to reproduce the bolts on the wheel.

Images showing all the little bits and pieces stuck onto the gun.

The base is a magnetic sheet with some thin wire glued on-top for strength and Milliput placed on the surface to create some texture.

I also used Brass wire.

 Plastic surgery was performed on the crew to create unique postures. 

The other 3 crew, also went under the knife. 

Top view showing the crew manning their gun .

The crew member assembling the ammo at the rear of the gun is holding two pieces of the shells.

The shell boxes where scratched built while the shells where made from thin metal wire. 

 The gun based and painted with this crew member glued in place.

He is looking thru and making some adjustment to his gun sight. 

 Crew painted and flocked.

 A strap was added to the Junior Leaders binoculars using green stuff.

 2 other crew members.

Close up of the guy  assembling the shells.

  

Cheers John 

SMOKE GRENADE,MORTAR SMOKE AND BARRAGE MARKERS.

These are  my smoke markers I will be using for Chain of Command game, they include markers for smoke grenades, mortars and Barrages.
There was a need to  be able to differentiate between smoke from a smoke grenade and smoke from a 2" mortar or off-table mortars.
As smoke grenades do not block LOS but add a -1 to the die roll To-HIT a target behind the smoke while smoke from a 2" mortar or off-board mortars does block LOS

SMOKE GRENADE

British Infantry throwing another smoke grenade to cover their advance.

Filter made from Polyester sheet cut into  circles 3 inch diameters.
(Stryene material can be used for the base instead of the sheet filter material see Smoke markers for Mortars below)

Plastic tubing or model plastic sprues can be used to represent the smoke grenade.
here I have used Evergreen plastic tubing painted black and cut in small segments.
Polyester pillow filler is used to represent the smoke.

A small portion of the Polyester pillow filler is glued onto the tube and onto the fiber base using super glue. 

Set aside and allow the glue to set 
Having a base that is the right measurement is a good gaming aid that helps with clearly, marking out the area that is covered by smoke and avoiding any disputes. 

I was inspired by Ste Sheeran who made these great smoke markers unfortunately I can't find a link to where I saw his markers.

MORTAR SMOKE

  

Smoke from a 2 inch mortar covering the advance of  the same British Infantry.

I used thin dense styrene for the base.
Sheets were cut into  circles 3 inch diameter with a hobby knife.

The edges where tapered using the hobby knife and then smoothed with fine sandpaper.



PVA glue was placed on top of the base and the Polyester pillow filler was placed on the glue and set aside to set. 
I turned the marker over so that the Polyester filler was on the bench and the base was on top , 
I then placed a light weight over the stryene base to increase the contact between the PVA and the Polyester filler and set aside for the glue to set.

Completed smoke marker.

BARRAGE MARKERS

Unlucky British section caught in a Mortar Barrage.

The Mortar Barrage in all its devastating glory. 
The dreaded weapon of CoC.

Items needed: 0.90 mm metal wire  and large mud guard washers.

Cut 3 wires of different lengths with the longest being 18 cm . 

Bend the wire at the base 90 degrees and glue in place with a hot glue gun.

Coarse turf ,clump flock and a mix pipe cleaners to construct the smoke..

Cut the pipe cleaners in a variety of lengths and start gluing them onto the base.

First stage finished.

Top view on stage 1.

Position some of the clump foliage in the middle of the pipe cleaners using the hot glue gun. 
An alternative to using clump foliage is to use the larger shaped bits of pipe cleaners spray them with adhesive and roll them in coarse turf.


Secure the thick pieces of pipe cleaners onto the metal wire length ways using the hot glue gun.
Ensure that the metal wire is covered with these pipe cleaners on both sides.

Next step is to use the thin pipe cleaners around the recently covered wire and secure with the glue gun.

The red line show how the thin pipe cleaners are wrapped.


To taper the thinner individual pipe cleaners projecting out of the clouds of smoke. 
Use a match and run it underneath the pipe cleaner starting from the tip to the base.

Carefully spray the 3 long areas with spray adhesive and flock with coarse turf.

Next step bind the surface of the Barrage Marker with either Spray with watered down PVA or a spray can binder  such as Fixative ..

You can use a cheap black spray can  to coat the marker
and fill in any missed spots with cheap student acrylic black paint.


Using Student white acrylic paints dry brush the black areas to create a bit of depth and finally paint the base a Earth colour.
 Once dry I give it a coat of Spray Dull coat to matt up the surface.

I have to thank Mark "The Tactical Painter" for Inspiring with his  Barrage Markers.

Cheers John.