38(t)s Pzrgt. 25 of the 7th PD

[Raoul Kunz]

It's Stalin . His real name is subject to a ton of weird transcription variations, from Georgian to Russian to English every time having a ton of variations, so naturally google would freak out .
Often the B becomes a V, often it's the English transcription of the Russian transcription of the archaic pre-20th century Georgian name and so forth .
He understandably preferred the be the Man of Steel anyway...

Don't force yourself, the mojo will come back eventually!

I made zero progress with the figures this week too, so there's that .


Best regards

Raoul G. Kunz

[Raoul Kunz]

Phew.. now that was... something of a chore... I selected, trimmed and test-glued (utilizing masking fluid) all 25 heads... it's MAIM, Hornet and OOTB heads.
I structured the figures in a roughly contextualized pattern of poses to avoid having another "25-figures-in-a-heap-photo" .

The dismounted tank crew =>


"Keeping heads low" =>


Riflemen and NCOs (and an either high ranking NCO or third field officer with the riding trousers) shooting and reloading K98s and MP38/40s (though some will be PPSHs eventually) =>


"Keeping even lower" =>


MG-34 users (with crazed "moar dakka" heads and exluding the rationally lying Gunner)=>


Officers =>


Others (ammo guy, dying dude and freaked out fellow)=>



Phew.. next up is equipping them then dismounting the heads again and priming and painting heads and bodies... this might take a while with 25... ah well... it's my own fault and hopefully eventually worth it .


Best regards

Raoul G. Kunz

I'll also have another update for you Steve some time on the weekend.

[Steve Hutchinson]

Morning Raoul

The madness begins

You are going to be a "Jedi" of paint soon, young padawan

or possibly "Of paint, young padawan, Jedi you will be"

Head, heads, heads, and more heads

One new idea, I have found, to be tried, very soon, is

Radical, but makes a good deal of sense, black primer for the head,
white dry brush to raise the detail, and here it comes, leave the eye black, and dot a single side, so the eye is looking
left or right, once poses are established either a left or right look can be a more natural look, it is easier to do
and reduces the too small or too large pupil issues or the crossed look too

It is one of many tips I have collected from Peter Day, and will be put into practice, very soon, trying not to jink a recent twinge in the painting mojo!!!

Plan B have been stripped and cleaned up

All the vert best with your figure marathon, Raoul

Catch up when you are ready

Regards

Steve H

[Raoul Kunz]

Thanks Steve - the-white-contrast-on-black-as-a-base-method sounds really interesting, I might try it out and see how the result turns out...

Though most of the hornet heads feature sculpted eyes with pupils so the direction thing won't work, however it might well work with the MAIM heads or the ootb ones.

I'm still looking for the "right" (id est something that doesn't take forcer ) balance between look and effort needed for the heads, I think I might go ahead and try to go a bit beyond my usual three-skin-tones-and-brown-oils pattern... eyes I do occasionally, so I think this is indicated here and as I said, I might try out the black base method, thanks for enlightening me in this regard Steve .

But first: The equipage!
I re-sorted the figures a bit because some turned out to actually be a "function figure"... think of MGs as chess turrets and their assistants as bishops, acting in their support .

Again, the dismounted tankers, not much new here, a couple of P08 and P38 holsters, that's pretty much it =>


The casualty about to be and the panicky pal, turns out the other fellow was an assistant gunner, carrying ammo =>


Shooting and reloading =>


The moving blokes - some of them carry their equipment in the style of the assault engineers which by this time was actually fairly popular, probably because it's somewhat sensible in that it distributes less weight on the hips and more on the back... and of course assault engineers where prestigious, being the linear descendants of the Great War era Stormtroopers =>


Officers - the binocular-using one sports a PPD-40 drum magazine pouch as he will have a PPD-40, not, as earlier suggested by me, a PPSh-41 which, as the name suggests, was only entering production in November of '41 =>

(not the fact that both sport entrenching tools which were not issued to officers but very often acquired by field grade officers because.. .well... it's ever so useful both as an entrenching tool should the need arise and as a superb close quarters weapon )

Heads down blokes - note another one sports a set of assault engineer type setup =>


And the much enlarged assortment of machine gunners, once they are greyed most of them will get a (badass) set up ammunition belts hanging around the neck =>



Tomorrow I should be able to give them a base coat. Maybe.


Best regards

Raoul G. Kunz

[Adam Durrant]

Jeez and I'm struggling with a single figure for the light tank build.....

Might try the white on black thing Steve.

Adam

[Steve Hutchinson]

WOW

IMPRESSED Much, Master Jedi!!!

You are absolutely right Raoul, there are a few Hornet heads with pronounced pupils,

The specific physics of liquid surface tension does allow a correctly watered down drop of paint to be placed onto the pupil
after considerable practice, and a lot of luck, and a very good quality brush with high magnification

I shall try Peter Day, and Mark Bannerman's left or right eye'dea, today, with any luck

Love the "sports" equipment too Raoul,

Never really thought much about it, but it makes absolute sense too, and a mix and match amongst the figures works really well

Looking forward to seeing your figures with paint

Have a good day at the bench

Regards

Steve H

[Vincent Power]

You've made some good progress Raoul and splitting the figures into groups makes it easier to understand the whole picture.

Vincent

[Raoul Kunz]

So... contrary to what my behaviour, or to be more precise, the lack thereof, implies, I'm not again dead or sick or whatnot...I've been just... annoyingly busy with things that are utterly useless i.e. not plastic related!

ACTUALLY, some of them are plastic related, even plastic modelling related...just with different plastics an in 1:1... stuff like these layer-cakes of foot support =>

(there where also matters of online fraud, but that's neither here nor there...)
We had to construct a whopping 35 pairs before Easter because, you know, Easter is the end of time...

I hope you all have had a nice Zombie-Jesus-Bunny-Egg-festivity!

Anyway - back to topic!
First: it's war scenario, so everyone in it need guns for moar dakka!
Initial, un-weathered look, lacking the straps from lead foil =>


And here in the finished state =>


Now, the following figures may look a bit... off, I had to photograph them with flash because they came out looking even more weird in artificial light (it was late), so once they are all done (the tank crew is not done yet) I'll take another set of photographs under natural light... of course everyone looked perfectly nice when I set out to take the pictures, but now I feel they look like crap... oh well... at least there are many... quality, quantity and qualities in itself...

Anyhow, let's get the groups together, shall we?
(there are still some minor details missing)

Machine guns (gunners)=>


Machine guns (assistant gunners)They still lack the ammo boxes=>


Dynamic low profile poses =>


Loading and at the ready =>


Keeping low, also includes a designated marksmen (he has the Zeiss ZF41 4x optic on the K98K, the Wehrmacht did not differentiate between snipers and designated marksmen, however for the "proper" snipers there also where a Zeiss 6x and 8x optics, the 4x optics eventually went on G43 semi automatic rifles, further cementing the designated marksmen/sniper unofficial but present difference)=>

Of course the figure I talked most about is the one not in focus...

Officers and NCOs with portepee (senior NCOs entitled to wear a sword knot - a porte-épée, on their sword in full dress) =>


Traumatized bloke, has just pushed off his helmet, though it has not yet fallen off his back=>


Also:

Where's the falling casualty?!
.
..
...
Somewhere on the table... Shawn Ramsey was right... as much as I hate to admit it, the chaos on the table is starting to impede the building process...

Siggi disproves of my chaos =>


Next up is the evacuated tank crew, and then, at long last, it will eventually start to come together...



Best regards

Raoul G. Kunz

I'll have the story of the attempted fraud for you in the next couple of days Steve sorry again for not responding a little swifter...

[Steve Hutchinson]

Certainly achieving Raoul

I think Siggi is a little harsh with the critique

The figures are looking good, and plenty of them too

It really is going to be a stunning scenario

I guess you aren't too far away from the finish line?

Did you christen a lite tank, though 4 x 38t's is quite an accomplishment to achieve

Very well done

The supplement update has generated some serious research

My turn for a update, as I am off after tomorrow for 4 days

Regards

Steve H

[Adam Durrant]

There is some serious time dedicated to the work bench there Raoul! How do you fasten the slings to the rifles, a drop of CA?

Adam