28mm Afrika Korp HMG team

 The summer painting frenzy continues...

 I have always been happy with the quality of the sculpting of Artizan Miniatures, however there does seem to be a bit of a size discrepancy between the gunner and the loader... It looks like the loader bought his kid to work!

As always, a mix of Vallejo and Citadell paints and varnishes were used.

Next on the table, sentries and greatcoat wearers!

28mm Afrika Korp Mortar crew

 Below are photos of the latest addition to my 28mm WW2 Afrika Korp; a mortar team.
The figures are from Artizan miniatures. I'm not a big fan of basing support weapons and their entire crew on a single base, so decided on each figure and the weapon based separately on 2p pieces.

As ever, the figures are painted with a combination of Citadel and Vallejo paints and varnishes.
The main paints used for the uniform are Vallejo Desert Yellow, Vallejo Iraqi Sand, Vallejo German Field Grey, Vallejo Khaki and Citadell Agrax Earth shade.

Next on the paint tray, a HMG team, Afrika Korp sentries and infantry in greatcoats.

Converting Western Europe to North Africa part 2

Now that the summer holidays have finally arrived, it means just one thing... PAINTING FRENZY!

Below are pictures of  the completed sandbagged guard post that I started months ago... the transformation from Europe to Africa is complete. The model was painted with a mix of Citadel and Vallejo paints and varnishes.

Converting Northern Europe to North Africa

 If you are anything like me, you will no doubt have drawer fulls of terrain and models that have never been out of storage since it was first painted! With my current focus on North Africa (and whilst waiting on miniature deliveries from Artizan) I decided to look through my old terrain pieces to see if any could be converted.

The piece below is a tin roofed, sand bagged check point built against an old fence. It also features a downed telegraph post. I figured that this would look like something found on the outskirts of s French colonial village.

The first step involved soaking the model in warm soapy water, which made the flock come away from the model easily. The residue of the glue can be seen at the base of the telegraph post.

The next step will be to paint the model with a base coat of Vallejo Desert Sand.

More 28mm Afrika Korps

 Here is my second batch of Afrika Korps. I really like the Artizan Miniatures, it is just a shame that it took almost four weeks for the figures to arrive! Whilst waiting for the figures to arrive, I painted n old Solido Puma that had been sat on a shelf gathering dust.

As per my last blog entry, the figures were painted with a mix of Vallejo and Citdel paints and varnishes.

Next on the paint table are 4 NCOs armed with MP40s. I have also ordered a HMG team, an 81mm mortar crew and a first pack of SAS raiders.

28MM fox holes for North Africa World War 2

 Whilst I was waiting for my second batch of Afrika Korps to arrive from Artizan, I decided to paint up two old two/three man foxholes that have been in the painting mountain for a while. I bought these several years ago from the now defunct Snapdragon Studios. I painted several up for Northern Europe, but for some reason left these.

I started with a base coat of Homebase exterior paint 'sandstone' and then washed it with Citadel Devlan mud. I followed this with progressively lighter drybrush coats using Vallejo Desert sand, Vallejo Iraqi sand and finally Citadel Dry Tyrant Skull.

The wood started with a base of Citadel Base Mournfang Brown,followed by dry brush coats made up of the base and iraqi sand.

 "Vere ist der Englanders, Heinrich?"

"You dumkopf Fritz, Mark has not painted any yet!"

 

 

More Afrika Korps are due on the paint table next, just as soon as they arrive!



28mm Artizan Afrika Korps

Ever since I started wargaming I have always wanted to game the North Africa campaigns of World War Two. (My Grandfather served as an infantryman in the Lincolnshire Regiment, part of the 8th army, before transferring to the LRDG). I recently bought a copy of Call of Duty and there were some pretty good skirmish scenarios for North Africa and this prompted me to look into figures.

 

I opted for Artizan Miniatures range of metal figures, purchasing four packs of their DAK to start with. The miniatures were well sculpted and had no flash or cast lines on them. The picture below shows some of them glued onto 2p bases, the bases covered in polyfilla with cork rocks added.

 As ever I added sharp sand which I then painted because it didn't look enough like sand (am I the only gamer that thinks this way?). The figures were then painted with a range of Citadel and Vallejo paints. I deliberately varied the colours uniforms to give them that faded, in theatre look. The pictures below show the figures painted and gloss varnished (awaiting a final matte coat). I used grass tufts for the fist time with these figures and was really happy with the results.

 

I'd be really interested to know what you think.