First up, the Germans from Zvezda Set 6153, German Reconnaissance Team. I have added greenstuff to their legs so as to hide their jackboots and give them a late war appearance. The set was an impulse buy, I liked the poses and their potential usefulness in Battlegroup Overlord for calling in artillery against the Yanks ;) The set was easy enough to assemble but there is a distinct lack of detail on the chests of these figures, which is OK for some of them as they are prone or hunched over- overall I found the detail not crisp enough, even though the poses seem very lifelike. See what you think:
Next up are the finished commandos. These started as prone Battlefield miniatures, but needed a figure to accompany them on the base- I used a couple of converted plastic British (Caesar I think) with resin commando heads from Dan Taylor Modelworks, the prone bloke with rifle has had an arm donated from an Italeri British figure. I was quite please with how the resin heads went with the plastic figures, especially the figure kneeling and firing- let me know what you think:
If the figures seem less matt than normal, it's because I couldn't go outside and spray them with dullcoat this morning as it is cold and raining.
On the painting table at the moment I have two more commandos that need their bases doing, and a squad of metal Germans from a company that's new to me .....stay tuned :)
Stunning conversions! I really like the terrain you're modelling them on, too.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of detail in certain spots is Zvezda's achilles heel, I reckon. I've only had experience with their Napoleonic products, so it's interesting to see that it's true of their WWII products, too.
Hi Rosbif, & thanks for your kind words.
DeleteI wonder why that is with Zvezda, something to do with their manufacturing process perhaps? I expect the master sculpts would be fully detailed. I have painted a few of their Napoleonics in the past and found they tended to suffer from a bit of scalecreep, mind you, so did some of Italeri's stuff. Their WW2 stuff seems OK so far, and I have their 88mm with crew to build yet.
Lovely work on these guys Sarge!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rodger, glad you like the look of em.
DeleteI think they look bloody excellent John!
ReplyDeleteThe Jerries look spot on (have I told you that I love your basing method)?
You did a wonderful job on some 'neglecteed' plastic figs with the head conversions. Spot on for the commandos! :)
Cheers T.
DeleteThe basing method has been trial and error as well as getting ideas from the Guild.
Stunning, especially the Germans!
ReplyDeleteG'day DHC - Germans seem to be popular with most wargamers :)
DeleteThanks for the compliment.
I agree with Thanos, Give ua a rundown of you basing materials or even better a tutorial.
ReplyDeleteHi Greg.
DeleteFigures glued to washers, base covered in PVA, dipped in coarse sand, once dry use tube acrylics-earth tones- building up from dark to light, dabs of PVA, static flock, then spruce it up with some tufts from Army Painter/Minatur.
Hope that makes sense.
What brand of flock?
DeleteHmmm, not sure, as I've had it quite a while- it could be Heki or Noch?
DeleteVery nice as usual.
ReplyDeleteReally nice work, I have tried to get into 20mm before without success, I really should give it another go.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I really like 20mm for WW2, I used to play it in 15mm, what is your favored scale?
DeleteVery well done. The Zvezda figures look nice but at £3 a packet for 4 or 5 figures, they don't seem good value for money. You can buy metal figures for the same price ! I do buy them and the guns seem good value but I can't say that about most of the packs.
ReplyDeleteTrue, but metal figures cost me extra with postage to Tasmania - I only purchased the zvezda set because I found it in a model shop. :)
DeleteLovely work and great photos. Surprised to hear the Zvezda figs lack detail..definately not their usual exceptional standard.
ReplyDeleteMust add your site to my list of favourites.
G'day ogilvie, thanks for the positive feedback.
DeleteThe zvezda stuff is well posed and some of the detail is crisp and clean, but other parts are a blur and tricky to paint-could be this set I suppose.
Lovely, quite inspiring
ReplyDeleteThanks very much Och :)
DeleteLovely, lovely stuff. Specially the map of the observer, that's outstanding! You should take commissions mate! :-)
ReplyDeleteCheers Bro :)
DeleteI think it's not a map, but a notebook for observations, as he has a wee small pen in his hand.
Mate I'd be happy to take commissions if people were happy to pay the post from Tasmania ;)
Masterful as always John, brilliant!
ReplyDeleteMaaate, very kind of you to say so :)
DeleteA good looking bunch of models there Sarge. Those Commando head conversions are working really well, they nicely fill a gap that most manufacturers don't seem that interested in. I've not tried any of the Zvezda models yet, they seem to do some interesting sets but for me the poses sometimes look a little 'stiff' (although this German Recon set look pretty convincing to me).
ReplyDeleteCheers Alan for your kind words.
DeleteYes, I'm quite pleased with the way the resin heads look so far. Not sure if I'll be picking up any more of the Zvezda "mini-kits"- although I do have their 88mm + crew still to build.