Allied air support for Bolt Action

Hello guys,

I really like painting historical aircraft models, althought I have painted only a handful in all my life, I  especially  when they tie into a themed wargaming force (this time, Bolt Action force).

 For my Mediterranean theatre army, I recently finished painting a Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk in RAF desert camouflage — specifically representing an aircraft in British service during the Sicilian campaign of 1943.

For the  kit I used the 1/72 scale P-40 from HobbyBoss, a solid kit that goes together quickly, because it is a begginer model,  and while it’s simple compared to more detailed aircraft kits, it’s perfect for tabletop use — light, durable, and looks great from a distance.

The painting process was as follows;

I wanted the plane to reflect the classic RAF desert scheme common in North Africa and Sicily around 1942–43, so for the  base colors: I primed the whole model in light grey, then sprayed the underside with a pale Azure Blue.

Then began the masking process with masking tape and black masking  putty for the topside camo. I applied Mid Stone and Dark Earth and achieved the hard edges between the two tones.

The weathering was simple, oil dots fading in the fuselage, panel lines were lightly washed with a brown wash, and then some streaks on the wing roots and cowling. I used RAF decals from the model.

To simulate the aircraft in flight for Bolt Action, I made a custom flight stand with a mdf round base, clear acrylic rod.

I glued a small neodymium magnet under the fuselage, this connects to a clear acrylic rod, which is inserted into a custom MDF base.

The base itself is textured and decorated with static grass and flowers.

While Bolt Action’s air support is abstract and often limited to one die roll, having a painted aircraft on the table adds atmosphere and narrative value. Whether it represents a strafing run or just serves as thematic terrain, this P-40 helps root the force in its historical context — British and Commonwealth troops fighting their way through the sun-baked hills of Sicily in the summer of ’43.

I hope you like this little plane.

Cheers

Bolt Action: Jagdpanzer IV/70 (A) and Volkssturm soldier

 

Hi guys,

I just finished a a couple of 3d printed models, a test model of a Volkssturm young soldier and a Jagdpanzer IV/70 (A) from 2021, so not as detailed as latest 3d models, but with some improvements it does the job. 

I added mesh schürzen from a Rubicon Models Panzer IV J, and a couple of bits like the caterpillars as an extra defense in the front plate of the armor.

This Jagdpanzer variant was armed with the same gun as the Panther Pak42 L/70, and only 278 were built by Nibelungenwerke from August 1944 to March 1945.

The painting was the usual method;

Airbrushing the colors with some color modulation using zenithal light technique, all the weathering ( filter, oil dots fading, pin washes, scratches and streaking grime and dirt, then some pigments and mud) and matt varnish.

The volkssturm man is by (I think) 3d models by Propylene Foliescu and I like it very much,  easy to paint model with a rare weapon, Volkssturmgewehr , a last ditch line of rifles and assault weapons.

I have already a Normandy force German and US, and an Axis forces for Sicily 1943, now I wanted some late WW2 in 1945 wester front force, for Remagen, Ruhr Pocket etc.

I hope you like this little WW2 update.

                                        

Finally a picture I took back in 2015 of the real vehicle at the Saumur tank museum in France, as far as I know, is the only surviving example of this type.

III century 3rd legionary unit.

 

Hi guys,

I have been working on a third century legionary unit. For this unit, I have exclusively used plastic and 3d printed resin miniatures, both from Wargames Atlantic, plus a couple of plastic Gripping Beast bodies.

I'm very pleased with the quality of the Wargames Atlantic Digital sculpts, specifically the chainmail hoods and Lorica Segmentata bodies are very well done and researched in my opinion.

The shields have a "Relic Miniatures" decal sheet  used on them, I really like the design that this Canadian company has made, so I placed an order from Spain and it arrived quickly and without any problems.

The unit is based for Impetus, because I love this basing system, but I also play Hail Caesar.

I painted the unit by airbrushing dark metal vallejo paint all over the primed miniatures,  then basecoated all the colors, washes and highlights using the good old triad method with Foundry Paints and Vallejo. After that, I applied Ultra matt varnish with brush in all the non metal parts.

This is my "army" so far, 3 heavy infantry bases, I also need archers, mid and heavy cavalry, a general, Praetorians, Palestine clubmen, Palmyrene dromedarii...  so a lot of work to do, besides my many other projects.

I hope you like this little update.

Tercio de Zuñiga : Franco Dutch War & League of Augsburg War

 Hello guys,

Finally I managed to finish another unit for late XVIIc. wars, Tercio of the Duke of Bejar or Tercio of Zuñiga.

This unit , also called Tercio del Duque de Béjar or Departmental Tercio of Brabant. It was made up of native Spaniards, and was stationed in the Netherlands until the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, so it saw a lot of combat in the period 1672-1710 aprox. 

the uniform was light gray or off white with blue facings, and we know that some of his flags had the emblem of the Duke of Béjar and another one is well known, and depicted here with the unit. The flag was kindly made for me by Clarence Harrison, and he did a superb job, as you can expect from him.  Sometimes a similar flag design has been mistakenly attributed to Bavarian regiment Mercy, but August Kuhn failed when he assigned the flag to that Bavarian regiment (War of Spanish Succession).

Coming back to the miniatures, they are mostly a mixture of Northstar 1672 old and new ranges, with a lot of conversion work with plastic bits of Games Workshop (Empire), Warlord Games, Avanpost, and Front Rank. Also the flag bearer is from Warfare Miniatures, and the officer is a custom sculpted miniature.

This Tercio wore a natural wool grey uniform with red facings for years, but in the later part of the century changed its design and color for grey white and blue facings, as depicted here.

The Drummer wore a red coat with blue facings and white laces, with the Duchy of Bejar's blazon in the drum. 

I started this unit some years ago as an storming party, but I painted the rest of the miniatures and finished it as a full unit this january, the earlier post is in this blog with all the information here:

https://spanishleadpainting.blogspot.com/2020/12/28mm-storming-party-enfants-perdus-from.html

I hope you like it !