Tinkering with.. Berlin Camo Chieftain

The progress so far.... Just finished the basic masking and airbrushing stage, these need to dry and be sealed before the detailing and weathering.

Here are two Armies Army Chieftains with pre shade prior to base coat, these are the Iranian ones so a slightly different approach to the Berlin two, below.

These have been also been preshaded but then had their base coat of white applied, now comes the masking.

The Berlin camo is a fixed pattern and applied universally, therefore both tanks needed to look the same. I've followed references so they should be spot on.

Masking being built up, these is really laborious!

Next up the light blue, you probably can't tell from the pictures but there's two shades in use, as usual mixed by eye using tamiya paints.

The blue is masked ready for the top coat brown.

Again another by eye mix, for the brown and green, it will darken on weathering.

The debris! 

So back were I started, pretty pleased with the result so far, a few errors in masking, but I'll rectify that later. 

Weathering to come....

Tinkering with..... Iranian Skytrex M113

The go-to 15mm M113 has to be the BF plastic offering, indeed am converting some now into IDF command posts, anyway.....

I had three skytrex in my stock pile so following on from the Armies Army  Chieftians (now drying, see below) I thought they could be usefull employed with my Iranians.

I am collecting a library of Iran Iraq war photos and the Iranian M113s seem to be fairly light on stowage generally and armed with a mixture of .50cals and russian Dshk mgs, admittedly,  probably not in the same units?

 

I'm aesthetically drawn to irregularity of the IIW, particularly in this case the Iranian forces. This usually expresses itself best in stowage, but that wasn't really an option here so it had to be the "crew", luckily the Iranians seem perfect for this.

So, using a variety of Peter pig figures, from various ranges, I started bending, cutting, filling and drilling suitable poses to resemble the infantry sitting on the m113, effectively using them as battle taxis.

You'll notice the missing heads!  these figures are awaiting a Peter Pig resupply, I will be using American ww2 helmets as that's the best I can find to represent what I think were West German m1 helmets in the main, but regardless, they lot "right" ( certainly in 15mm).

I thought I'd add some variety to the mix, with the commanders, in that there's a mixture of 50 cals and Dshk and Russian tankers helmets.

And finally for now... 

Here's the armies armies "batch" from earlier. I have performed standard prep:

- halfords primer

- halfords black base

- enamel black "touch up"

Once dry I will add the pre-shade. 

Kitchen Table Update #3

Just some quick and dirty Work in Progress shots, stuff i can do in front of the telly, the Pacific dvd being the choice last night, hmmm..... how to do all that vegetation and faded OD.... anyway.
Firstly, rummaging i found this Hetzer, an original Crouchie one so all metal and decided to do some minor mods/ upgrades and convert into the command variant. I have an idea for a special type of camo for this one :o) , more later:

( as always you can click twice on all the pics to expand and actually see what I'm rattling on about)

Next up is another Stug IV (JTFM), minor mods again, some conversion of the BAM TC figure, and after studying pictures for inspiration, and always looked to provide that "value add" have added some strung wire and attachment points used for appending foliage to the superstructure and finally all the usual "ToSh"stuff really:

Another side project this one, a conversion of the BAM Sdkfz 7 into a Flak bed, still WIP but you can see where its going (hopefully!)

Next up, another BAM conversion, this time the ubiquitous scrim netting seen all adorning allied armour in Normandy, this example being a Cromwell. Its not quite finished though, do i do the hull as well?????

The Flak 38 is the Company B one, which is by far one of the best examples in 1/56 i have seen.

And lastly:

Kitchen Table Update - WIP #2

Time for another update, combining most of my 28mm builds at the moment. I tinker in the evenings on the kitchen table. Currently the shots show,

• BAM Pzr IV , Schwimwagen and Sdkfz 9,
• JTFM Pzr IV, Puma and 234 8-Rads, 251/D's
• Army Group North , Stug III's
• Company B - Adler

All have mods some more than others. Following some comments, i will add that these additions and alterations are not always necesary and not a true reflection on the basic kit. I position my work at showcase standard and continually try and improve, hence all the mods and extras.

• Panzer IVs, not much more done to these, fiddled around with some more stowage and completed the schurzen on the JTFM one. Am toying with some camo nets but cant get it just right.
• Schwimwagen, i love this kit! although theres not to much you can do with a four seater. Added generic stowage, zeltbahn cover ( use of lead foil from posh wine, thanks Julia! ( who still looks at me funny when i ask for it!) and rope drop rope for the motor.
• SDkfz 9, this will be a SCW version so had to disguise some of the late war stowage, hopefully effectively with a "green stuff" discarded jacket.
• 8- RADs - I love these as well. These are just me playing, will be very late war schemes i thing. Metal foil fule can straps added and helmets and their straps
• 251/D - quite a bit of work here and very much WIP. The JTFM is the best 251 available and has lovely interior details. Downside is the assembling, i should really do a two part paint for these but that would double the time and increase the price accordingly. You will see green modellers putty on the body joints, still working on these. Have added internal rod bars for kit stowage and started to add green stuff kit etc. Nice advantage with these is that the rear doors can be cut open with a little bit of work.
• The Stugs are almost there. Interesting point with these, and my work in general, is where do you stop. I could do more, noticably the tools dont have any securing points which is bugging me but will stop on these now.
• Adler, not much added at the moment, added a BAM schwim/kubel driver. This will probably move right with a Horch which has just arrived.
  

Finishing: you'll notice several different finishes, from grey primer, to balck undercoat, to white metal and resin. With modern resins it is important to clean and prime correctly. I use an enamel plastic primer ( hence the grey) and then a black primer undercoat. Some have this already as they were "around" when spraying. These will all receive another primer grey and black undercoat. This will then be touched up with enamel ( Humbrol).

I havent posted pics of all the mods talked about here, however there is now a WIP folder up on my flickr gallery, which has more.