Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) Panzer Mk IV H

As the beer advert goes, "Probably the best ... experience I have had putting a Panzer IV kit together"! Another bullseye for the Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) and no I am not on a commission (see below): 

The side skirts have been temporarily left off, but for late 1944 Panzer IV's they certainly look the part!

The only mysterious (where does this go?) part was the 'exhaust(?)' filter that goes on the rear, top left side of the engine compartment. A dream to fit together and I think it will even survive the roughest of wargamers hands. I still have flashbacks of putting the side and turret skirts on an Esci Pz IV (Ausf H) together.

All part of the Command Decision OrBat for my "1944 Panzer IV German Tank Battalion" project, to be continued.

PS My plastic"heap" is at last shrinking :)

1/300 WW2 German Panzer IV F2 Battalion (Spearhead/BGC)

The Panzer IV F2 kit laid out in a battalion formation two companies up (plus leading recon Pz IV platoon) and one company back in reserve. The HQ Pz IV platoon plus AA and Engineering Hanomag 1/251 mills around in the middle (see below). One feature of this compact formation is that all the individual platoons are within three inches of the Battalion HQ (central to the picture below) and thus would get a +1 rally from suppression modifier. The command radius of the HQ is twelve inches (on the attack, doubled if defending a designated static position), with the exception that the recon element can still be in "command" (double)twenty four inches away:

Sweeping down for a closer look at the leading elements. I still have to put unit marker notation on the rear of each stand, along the brown strip where I have left a "space".

Even closer still. This is about as in focus as I can get with the Blackberry's camera. The jury is still out as I am perfecting my factory painting technique. I think it looks too spotty, or when things are so small as this who cares, they are going to be viewed from six foot away!

Trouble is I care too much!

Painting Tray (continued) 1/300 and 28mm Renaissance

There's nowhere to hide "Four Horsemen" (+ Charles V Holy Roman Emperor), the paint is going to catch up with you (see below) no matter what you do: 

Except the GHQ Panzer IV H's jumped the queue and took a coat of Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow for the team (see below). The level of detail again is quite frightening for the small scale (1/285). Again I started and finished the phase in "battalion" production mode.

Flesh, flesh (see below)! The "Four Horsemen" are officially started. OK, quite a tame start but from small seeds come great trees!

Next: Painting Tray 20mm distraction diverts my attention from the "Four Horsemen".

1/300 Panzer IV Battalion's painting cont ...

The Panzer IV F2 battalion gets the Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow effect (base coat), a little too much of the Afrika Korp look about them in the first instance but nevertheless a decent base colour (see below):

A close up (yes again  I need to use my camera not the Blackberry). Despite the 1/300 scale the Heroics and Ross figures have a fair amount of detail to them  that comes out with a touch of selective painting (see below):

Now in their "Anita's Acrylic Metallic Black" (watered down wash/paint mixture) 'undercoat' the GHQ Panzer IV H's models stand as a definitive standard of detail (almost too much fine detail, to the point of seeing spare track links laid over the front of the hull and coils of spare wire hanging off the back of the engine cowling). Slightly bigger at 1/285 scale but a lot smaller than the Skytrex 1/200 early war stuff I have (see below):

I am still working on a "factory production phase" all of one per battalion through a stage at a time. Hence the Pz IV F2's are all yellow base coated and the Pz IV H's are all metallic black undercoated. Next up, time to base coat yellow the GHQ Pz IV H's.

The 1/300 Panzer IV Hoard Revisited

Take II: Heroics and Ross Panzer IV F2's laid out in a Spearhead/BGC battalion formation (there is an engineering half-track and AA PzIV lurking in there somewhere too). The Panzer IV's are getting an Anita's Acrylic Metallic Black undercoat over which the Tamiya XF-60 Sand Yellow base coat is being laid. 

A GHQ Panzer IVH battalion(+) equivalent formation. Barrels now straight (or as straight as I can make them) with a Tamiya XF-1 Matt Black undercoat applied to the barrels over the original Panzer Grey (yes, wrong period paint chosen by the original owner, but it's all getting redone anyhow).

The whole painting tray (including my 28mm Renaissance Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, again avoiding the paint). The thing about 1/300 or 1/285 scale is that there are lots of them that need to be painted at the same time! The factory style painting operation commences. (Note: The fifth horseman below, is not an additional member the troublesome foursome [Famine, War, Pestilence and Death], but the Holy Roman Emperor himself  Charles V [from Redoubt Enterprises], chosen as a suitable Renaissance commander for my Impetus Army)

Note: I am working from the left hand side of the table over the the right hand side :)

Painting Tray Update: 1/300 WWII and 28mm Renaissance

A 1/300 Heroics and Ross Panzer IV F2 (see below), donated to me from a very  good friend at the Hartlepool wargames club. This was part of an exchange of 10mm Pendraken ECW miniatures one way and a profuse quantity of assorted 1/300 Heroics & Ross and GHQ 1/285 models the other way. I am just left wondering how to paint these mini little beasts, so here are my first stabs (see below). 

It is a pity that my Blackberry camera does not seem up to taking photographs of things very small, losing the fine focus needed.

I was trying to go for that late war three tone camouflage look using Tamiya paints and left over odds and ends from my drying up Games Workshop pots. I discovered no point trying to micro-manage every brush stroke. Inks and washes may be the way forward.

Overall I m not convinced with my first attempt (even though I have not yet flocked the base which makes a huge difference). I cannot afford to take too long on each model but at the same time want to have a little highlighting and character if possible. I am not convinced that dry-brushing alone is the answer, inks and washes, hmm, successive layers? Model wise I am not far off the OrBat of a 1944 Panzer Division (Spearhead) so that is quite a lot of stands to do (100+) so I do need a mini-factory production process, rather tan an artisan approach.

Behold my painting tray  organised chaos (see above). Two 1/300 Panzer IV battalions, one H&R (Left Hand Side) the other (Right Hand Side) GHQ. Yes I know the 1944 Panzer Division OrBat has one Pz IV battalion and one Panther battalion, so effectively I have a 'spare' Pz IV battalion, which is nice. Lurking in the background are my "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" (28mm Renaissance fro Redoubt Enterprises). These will constitute a much needed Impetus Mounted Crossbow (CL) unit in my renaissance army. However they have been lurking around my painting tray for some time now successfully avoiding any contact with the paint brush. The goal is to get them painted in time for my next game of Impetus!

One slightly negative comment to make about the 1/285 GHQ models is the darned bendy barrels they have. They are finely scales, so fine in fact that the slightest touch of the gun barrel means that it twists and out have to come the tweezers. I sent several hours straightening those sixteen GHQ Panzer IVH's and they are still not quick right. I can see that handling and storing them will be a pain!