Bolt Action Normandy '44: Panzer Hotchkiss H39

 Hi guys,

I am back again, after several weeks of painting holydays, in August I did not paint any 28mm soldier, but I built some model kits, a 1/35 German Midget submarine, 1/700 destroyer Z-25, and finally a 28mm tank, a resin one, by Rubicon Models,  "Panzer" Hotchkiss H39,  a French light tank in captured in laaarge numbers by the Germans in 1940 and then put into service.

As I already have a "completed" German army in Normandy 1944, I like adding new toys for them, and I fell in love with an illustration of an Osprey Campaign book, dealing with the battles around Cherbourg, where a column of Beutepanzers or captured tanks, advanced with some infantry:

In Normandy there were several Panzer brigades armed with obsolete French tanks, which gave initial support to the infantry divisions in the firsts hours and days of the invasion, so I NEEDED at least one of these beauties in my army !

I painted a similar tank (well, a tank hunter) 7.5 cmm Pak 40 auf Geschutzwagen 39 (f) a couple of years ago, you can see it here:

https://spanishleadpainting.blogspot.com/search/label/Normandy.

Well now lets talk about the model, It comes in resin, super high quality resin, indeed, the best tank model in resin I have ever seen, so highly recommended. The detail is crisp, clean and very accurate in my humble opinion, so I could´nt be happier with my purchase.

The painting was made by primming the model in dark grey with Ammo Mig spray can, and then airbrushed with paints of the same brand; dark yellow modullation paints, and camouflage colours in green and brown.

Then I applied gloss varnish with the airbrush, and applied the decals, just Balkenkreuzes in turret and rear of the tank,  another coat of varnish in order to protect the decals... and then the funny part, the weathering!

-tan filter

-oil dots fading 

-pin washes

-chipped paint in two tones

-streaking grime with enamels

-dust and dirt with enamels

-dust and mud with pigments

-oxide and smoke with pigments

-matt varnish

-grease and oil in enamels (as they are glossy, I applied after the matt varnish, because I wanted them to stand out)

-Graphite to the tracks.

I have not done the base yet, but I will probably do one to match the rest of the army, I hope you like it!

Bolt Action: Manchukuo's Type 94 Tankette

Hello guys,

some months ago I decided to paint a small force for Warlord Games' Bolt Action, a defense force of the Empire of Manchukuo.  I know it is a rare subject, but I liked the idea of an auxiliary army fighting bandits, Chinese or Soviets in the steppes of Far East, with cavalry, outdated equipment and such. I started the project with a plane, a Japanese fighter in Manchukuo's service, you can see it here:
https://spanishleadpainting.blogspot.com/2019/12/air-support-for-bolt-action-manchukuos.html

And next miniature is a "tank" well, a tankette, a type 94, also of Japanese origin, we know Japan supplied Manchukuo with at least 10 of these vehicles throughout the war, amongst other vehicles, but I found this one was the nicest of all (imho).

The kit is in resin and metal, by Warlord Games, painted with Ammo Mig paints and weathered in the usual way of enamel washes, chipping and pigments. This time I think I did too much dusting on the vehicle, but it is not a big issue given the dusty and sandy terrain of the north China/Mongolian plains.

I downloaded a Manchukuo flag from the internet and added it to the tank, following the Japanese way of attaching flags to vehicles, in order to give some colour to the little model.  It's not my best paintjob, but I like it anyway.

I also like to use a picture of me with the vehicle painted, It is almost a tradition in this blog, so... here you have.

Cheers

Summer painting: Flames of War Sturer Emil (Stalingrad)

Hello guys,

Since late June I have not been painting too much, you know, summer in Spain is warm and it is beach time, also going out with friends, practice some sports... all that real life stuff that interrupts our hobby.

Nevertheless, I have been painting some random World War 2 stuff like this German tank destroyer, the "Sturer Emil" from Battlefront's Flames of War game,  I am slowly building a 1942 Panzerkompanie for Flames of War, Stalingrad themed, I also own a late war Panzerkompanie and an American and Russian armies.

I like to paint wargames tanks as If they were true scale models; with airbrush, oil washes, enamel washes, pigments, etc. I really enjoy weathering vehicles, I usually overdo this, but  mono colour tanks like this would be very boring with just its panzer grey paint applied.

For this one, I used paints from Ammo Mig range, very good quality products, I highly recommend them.

Sorry for the quality of the pics, I have a new iphone and I don't know how to use proper light for the photos with the new camera.

I have included a photo of me with the real vehicle in Kubinka tank museum in Moscow, in 2019.

Two prototypes of these tank destroyer (named after Max and Moritz) were built, both of which served on the Eastern Front. One vehicle was destroyed, the other captured at Stalingrad in January 1943, with 22 kill marks painted on the barrel (the one of my photo).

I hope to update soon again the blog with a Bolt Action tank (Manchukuoan Army) and Kriegsmarine stuff in 1/700 and Cruel Seas from Warlord games.

Cheers!

Fantasy Village PART IV: Merchant house finished

Hello folks,

I continue painting my medieval village project for Warhammer Empire or Renaissance.


PART I
https://spanishleadpainting.blogspot.com/2019/05/new-scenery-project-fantasymedieval.html

PART II
https://spanishleadpainting.blogspot.com/2019/06/fantasy-village-part-ii-house-finished.html

PART III
https://spanishleadpainting.blogspot.com/2020/01/fantasy-village-part-iii-another-house.html

So here it is, part IV, a Merchant house, by the now defunct ( I think) Tabletop Workshop, in plastic, with a few modifications.

The building itself is quite simple, but nice, it can be enhanced with some bits here and there... I added a chimney, in plastic, from Warhammer Mannorhouse, I used also some greenstuff in order to hide the gaps of the thatched roof, and the joints of the structure, which is snap fit, so there are some ugly holes If you build the house "out of the box".   There is also a wooden crane with a small wooden structure in the right, from Games Workshop laketown house, in plastic, as well as the signal post (or whatever is called in English the wooden structure over the door) with and old Bretonnian decal of a deer.

The painting was simple too, but effective, it was painted mainly with airbrush paints by Ammo Mig and Vallejo model air.  Then gloss varnish was applied all over the model, in order to protect the acrylic paints from the oil washes that came later. Some streaks of grime,  rust, dust etc give the creamy colour some chromatic variation to break the monotony of the house.

After all that work, I drybrushed the roof, and the wooden areas, painted the details and finished!

Another quick & easy scenery model finished.

Now there is only one last house to paint and the "village" will be ready to be based, flocked, add the walls...

I hope you like it !

Cheers.

28mm Sassanid Savaran cavalry

Hi guys,

This time I come with a heavy post, in all senses (bad joke), Sassanid heavy Savaran “knights”. The Sassanid Clibanarii armed with bows and hand weapons like maces or swords, I also have Cataphracts/Clibanarii with Kontos (very long spear) and bows but they will come in a future post, as they are not all painted.

The Aswārān (singular aswār), also spelled Asbārān and Savaran, was a cavalry force that formed the backbone of the army of the Sasanian Empire. They were provided by the aristocracy, were heavily armored, and ranged from archers to cataphracts.

I bought this miniatures second hand, unpainted, from a member of Lead Adventure Forum, some years ago. They are a mix of Armorum & Aquila miniatures with some Gripping Beast miniatures. In my opinion they are not as nice as most recent Aventine miniatures Sassanids, they are nice enough for me, and they are historically accurate, more suitable for Early Sassanid armies.

I chose bright colours, as I see this type of colours and patterns in several artworks from books and magazines, I also got inspirations from pics of painted armies like the one depicted in Warhammer "Beyond the Golden Gate" or Dr. Phil Hendry's own army.

I have 3 units or 3 bases in total,  based initially for Basic Impetus, but I also play Hail Caesar. I painted one of them in the last few days, but the other two units were painted some years ago. I took pictures of all of them yesterday.

The first one, painted in late May, 4 miniatures: 3 A&A miniatures, 1 Foundry horse, 1 Gripping beast rider and horse. By the way, the standard is Aventine Miniatures!

The second unit, painted some time ago, 3 A&A miniatures with a Gripping Beast

The Third unit, painted also some time ago, 3 A&A miniatures with a Gripping Beast

Family photo: Persian Panzers!