From SylvainR: Tray 6 - D.A.K. Half-tracks and Completion of Projects (73 points)

I apologize if this post is a little longer than usual, I just feel like celebrating and I hope you will forgive me for indulging.

 First, let's get this unit of motorcycles out of the way. Above are three patrols of motorcycles for the desert for which I will not claim any points because, if I did create the bases, I did not paint the models. I wanted to show them because the bases are sculpted as "road" instead of "cross country". During last year's challenge, the Italian army was my first attempt at basing miniatures in 6mm and I sculpted all the bases more or less the same. But soon it felt weird to see trucks riding "off road" and from then on I decided to sculpt my bases for wheeled vehicles as "roads". In the pictures with the motorcycles, you should be able to see the road pattern and, when the bases are lined up, it creates a small stretch of road. In the close up, the road seems quite rough for a motorcycle to ride on. It's interesting to see how the fine sand I use for my bases becomes soccer ball size rocks at 6mm scale. Another obvious advantage of the bases, in this case, is that they really help find your tiny puny 1/285 motorcycles on the board when you play.

 

Now back to business! Tray number 6 is about the armored rides for the D.A.K. Panzergrenadiers, namely the half-tracks. The half-tracks for blue company were already painted by my buddies from Montréal, so I am only showing red and green companies, which I painted.

I decided to add Balken Kreuz decals to each vehicle, as it really improves the cool factor. Each decal is about 1.5 millimeter wide and this is an excellent test to check if 6mm is a scale for you :-).

These tiny decals can easily peel off and be blown away by air movement, so don't forget to use "Decal Fix"!

 Here is the half-track complement for a "historically accurate" D.A.K. Panzergrenadiers company. In O'Group, there is no platoon HQ, so platoons need only 3 half-tracks, not 4. Furthermore, the "historically accurate" Company HQ section had two vehicles, but only one will be needed for O'Group. I decided to build the "historically accurate" battalion in case I decide, down the road, to test another rules system.

 

Here is a close up on models of Sd.Kfz. 251/1, the common armored troop carrier of the German army, armed with an MG34.

Some models have crew inside, but I will not claim points for painting helmets, because that is all I could reach with my brush.

The units above are Sd.Kfz. 251/10, armed with 37mm guns, that were given to platoon leaders. They will not be used in O'Group.

The Sd.Kfz. 251/2, shown above, each carried an 81mm mortar. The 2 models on the left are from GHQ while those on the right are from CinC. The latter are a bit narrower, and have less pronounced details. But all in all, from a distance, there is not much difference.

Here are 75mm infantry guns mounted on half-tracks (Sd.Kfz. 251/9). The forefront left one is an auf. A, B or C model, while the one on the right is an auf. D. As I was cropping this picture, I remembered (with a snappy "Oh s**t!") that there were no auf. D models in North Africa since they were only produced from 1943 onward. Oh well, I will make a discreet model switch when I will be painting my half-track battalion for Europe.

Here is a comparison between three different makers, from left to right: Heroics & Ros, CinC and GHQ. Not much difference if you look at the models at arm's length. But I still prefer GHQ for close ups.

With the half-track battalion now completed, not only do I have 4 trays of new D.A.K. units, but I also finished my D.A.K. project! How so? Well, since most of the models I inherited were already painted, or just needed some touch ups, and since I could not claim points for them anyway, I decided to finish basing the painted models before the challenge.

The units I completed before the challenge are on the left.

Here is a breakdown of the content of the trays, all for the D.A.K.:

1. Prime movers and various transport, like Kubelwagens and Kettenkrads.

2. Support vehicles: PanzerJager 1s, Marder IIs, Lorraines, Dianas, Tiger Is, etc.

3. Recce units: motorcycles, 222s, 223s, 231s

4. Blue company of the half-tracks battalion.

5. Dedicated transport for a full Panzergrenadier Battalion.

6. 2x Tank companies with a mix of PzIIs, PzIIIs, PzIVs.

 

I should not show pictures of models painted before the challenge, but I can't resist teasing you with Rommel, beside his Sd.Kfz 250 "GREIF", escorted by staff on bikes and cars ready to dispatch his orders to front line units.

The completion of the D.A.K. project is my first reason to celebrate. My second one is the completion of a bigger project: "North Africa I", which I started in January last year, with a bunch of Italians. I also spent part of the summer working on the British 8th Army.

 

Here are all the trays I completed for "North Africa I" since last year's challenge. There are 32 trays in the picture, including some filled with fortifications or play aids, but once I consolidate everything, there should be 5 trays for the Italian, 12 for the British and 9 for the German.

This final picture shows the D.A.K. Panzergrenadiers in their "natural tabletop environment", ready to assault the market place before storming the mosque! Now it's about time to play with all these new toys!

As for points, there are 40 vehicles in this submission, but 6 needed only some touch ups, so should not be counted.

34 vehicles => 68 points.

Thanks for reading!

Fantastique mon vieux!  And congratulations on completing this project.  Finishing a project is a milestone few of us ever reach.  What have you got ins store for us next?

Your teeny tiny vehicles look great on their textured road bases.  My mid cannot handle painting 6mm vehicles, let alone fussing over the fact that I've done the wrong Aus model.  I also can't handle decals in 28mm so will gave in wonder at your work in 6mm.  I've added a few points for all time car and detail involved here.  And I can't wait to trashing all this stuff on table.