More 28mm Late-WWII German Armor and Big Game Preparation Update #2

Here are a portion of the AFVs that were previewed earlier in my "Too Much WIP" post. These are the completed vehicles that aren't waiting on crews to be painted. Hopefully those that are waiting for crew figures to be painted will be completed soon. This is a mix of no less than three different manufacturers.

First up are two vehicles from Die Waffenkamer Miniatures. This is an SdKfz 121 Panzer II Luchs. The casting on this model was quite good. I did have to replace the barrel and muzzle break with a scratch-built one made of steel wire. Likewise, I chose to replace the antenna with steel wire with the kit-supplied birds nest antenna affixed on top after some slight modifications. I also chose to add magnets to the turret to help secure it during play. There were some slight bubbles in the tracks, but nothing that wasn't forgivable once weathering powders were applied.

The Kubelwagen was another story. The casting on this was much less acceptable, with many air bubbles in the resin. After filling some, I gave up and painted it as-is. They look a bit like battle damage, but honestly they mostly look like crappy air bubbles. Moral of this story is buy these at a shop or trade show so you can look over the castings. When the casting is good, they're excellent models.

 Next up is a Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind from West Wind's "Berlin or Bust" line. These are listed as 1/60 scale, and to be honest that's pretty accurate. They're a touch smaller than the Warlord and Die Waffenkamer models which are 1/56 scale. It's enough of a difference that I'll probably have to not use the Wirbelwind on the table at the same time as Panzer IVs or Stugs from the other manufacturers. This is probably an acceptable trade off for such a unique model. I may still add some foliage to this model similarly to how I added it to my 15mm ones. The four barrels were cut off and replaced with scratch-built ones made of steel wire. I'm starting to make this S.O.P. with anything I feel won't stay straight when used on the tabletop. Better to do the work now than after they break off!

 Last up for the newly-completed armor, a bog-standard Warlord Stug IIIg. Considering how common these and Panzer IVs were in the German arsenal, I think every collection should have at least one of each. I've chosen to leave off the schurzen but added some additional stowage to make up for the lack of 'stuff' on the sides. I just like the looks of Stugs without the schurzen a lot more than those with. I wasn't happy with the barrel of the gun after I cleaned it up. To fix this I cut off the muzzle break, drilled it out and replaced the lead barrel with one built from brass rod. I turned each end of the rod to the correct size by chucking it into my rotary tool and using a file on it at high RPMs - the poor-man's miniature engine lathe!

In addition to the above armor that I painted. I also added the finishing touches to 17 more German infantry that I recently purchased from the Veteran Painting Service on Ebay. Not much to say here that wasn't covered in my post from my previous purchase. I'm not sure I needed these for the big game. I purchased them well before I scheduled the big game because they were a good deal and I recently had some free hobby money from selling off some un-used 28mm ACW lead.

 Last up I laser-cut, assembled and painted up fifty (50) movement trays for the big game. I'm pretty sure I won't be using all of these, but I'm not exactly sure of how many of which I will need, so I cut up a bunch of each just to be safe. Time is getting short, so economy of scale is important. Below a quick shot of one infantry unit in a tray. So my total for tonight is four vehicles completed, 17 figures touched up for play and 50 movement trays cut, assembled and painted. Not a bad night's work!