Welcome to entry number 2 of the challenge which was supposed to be entry number one ! Safe to say everything did not go well with these at the start, they were primed and ready to go, I thought when at the first sight of paint they did this,
So after some swearing and throwing of models down the garden, I called down and did some light sanding followed by another wash, we got there in the end.
The tanks themselves are 28mm from Blitzkrieg Miniatures with Italian Tank Crew from Perrys. The M11/39 tank was a pre war design made for Colonial warfare where the enemy weren't really chucking anything bigger than a large rock at it. It wasn't made for WW2 warfare, but then most of the vehicles in the Desert at the start of the war weren't either.
The tank commander has a flag to communicate with other vehicles which is unusual so I did a bit of research and found out that the first M11/39 was made with a radio and shown to Mussolini who authorised the vehicle, the next 99 tanks which the Leader didint look at, were minus a radio !
Painting wise they are the same as the last entry, layers of progressively lighter sand, some chipping and some washes, these have an additional green camo pattern common to this vehicle type.
Points wise it's a solid 65 points, 3 28mm vehicles at 20 points a piece and two 28mm crew at half points for a further 5 making a total of 65.
The paint problem continued after the initial problem but just in smaller patches, there is even some bubbling on the finished models, there is a good couple of mm of varnish on these to try and keep the paint on !
I've got a unit of Italian Wars shot done this week so they will be up next giving me a couple of days to work on a small number of Landsknechts I have to do before Saturday and tank day comes round again !
Cracking job here Ken, especially having to recover the base coat .. I look forward to seeing yet more roll off your tank factory production line!
That added history of the first 1/100 being the only radio equipped task is fascinating, thank you. That paint bubbling looks like the stuff of nightmares, what do you think caused it?
ReplyDeleteCheers Tom, the bubbles are a common problem with Blitzkrieg unfortunately, it must be in the resin mix or the release agent, it only happens on models every now and again, 1 in 10 maybe.
DeleteCool, resin can be a pain
ReplyDeleteAgreed Martin, when it works it's great, when it doesn't it's a right pain
DeleteI do love your Western Desert stuff Ken. I do hope that you’ve got Skinners Horse to face off against these behemoths. Great story on the radio. Italian kit reminds me of my mum’s first car after she and dad separated, a Fiat that worked just as much as you’d think it would.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Peter, sadly the scenario book we are using doesn't include horse, it's a real shame. I might add some just for the hell of it in the future.
DeleteSkinners was truck mounted by WW2 Ken. There’s a scenario in the Lardies IABSM East Africa campaign book.
DeleteCheers Peter, that's not a Book I have, maybe when we've done the 23 scenarios in our Op Compass Campaign (on number 8) and the 13 from our Crusader Campaign 😁
DeleteNice recovery job on these, Ken. I wonder if the resin might still be outgassing on the ones which flaked/bubbled?
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Tamsin, I was definitely "outgassing" or swearing as I prefer to call it when it happened 😁
DeleteNice recovery! Lovely finish in the end!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Cheers Iain, got there in the end.
DeleteWonderful work, Ken. As a suggestion, you may want to look at getting a heated ultrasonic cleaner. I find mine to be indispensable. It always gets all the release agent off the models and if you have any bent parts the liquid based heat preps it for being bent back into shape. You can get them cheap on Amazon.
ReplyDeleteCheers Curt, it's a nice idea 're the ultrasonic cleaner, the biggest pain is that this only happens once in a while so it's a bit of a mystery. If I ever embark on a massive amount of resin stuff again I might go for one 👍
DeleteGreat work on these Ken. After a similar thing happened to me I took to attacking my Blitzkreig tanks with fairy liquid and a tooth brush, I recon they likely use a silicon mold release agent that sometimes is left adhering to the vehicles.
ReplyDeleteCheers Paul, these are after, soaking in soapy water and scrubbing with a brush !
DeleteGreat looking tanks Ken!
ReplyDeleteChristopher
Many thanks Chris 👍
DeleteAs recoveries go, Ken, this is pretty much a five-star performance!! They look terrific, and there's no sign of the battle you've just won! And bravo for not just dropping the whole lot into the bin - as I am sure so many of us have done in the past! I love the commander with the flag - ahhh, the modern face of warfare, indeed!! Great work!!
ReplyDeleteCheers mate, after launching them down the garden they very nearly did go in the bin, it's only the tight Yarkshire Genes that stopped me "paid brass for em, they're getting finished"
DeleteToo bad about the painting issue, but the final results were definitely worth the wait! As I said before I love Italian armour and yours looks spot on.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, only 3 more Italians to do sadly. Lots of British and Germans coming up.
DeleteGlad you sorted out the flaking - the tanks looks great.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks we got there in the end 👍
Deletethese look great, excellent work on the resin as that can be soooooo frustrating.
ReplyDeleteCheers Jamie, job done, in the end !
DeleteExcellent work once again Ken (despite the resin issues). These look fantastic and the story about the radio was fascinating.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Peter 👍
DeleteGreat job Ken. I started swearing in sympathy as soon as I saw the "flakegate" - have experienced that rage-inducing phenomena a number of times myself. But as others above have noted, the results are fantastic in the end.
ReplyDeleteI love the story of the radios...sounds so similar to the process VW has used more recently to pass the emission control checks on their diesel engines...
Thanks Greg, thankfully it's only happened on 6 of the 50 odd tanks I've prepared !
DeleteVery fine Ken, well recovered from flakegate.
ReplyDeleteJust primed my first blitzkrieg tank, forgot to wash it, oops!
Curse you Blitzkrieg 🙄
DeleteTerrifying flaking!
ReplyDeleteFull on R18 rated!
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