From Millsy: Bolt Action Italian vehicles for the Western Desert (125 points)

G'day All,

Having knocked off my Aussies for the Western Desert I have started work on the Italian opposition. I decided to mix things up this time and paint all the vehicles first and really enjoyed working on these, especially the weathering and battle damage.

M13/40 Tank(ette) x 2 (40 points)

Technically classed as a medium tank these mobile pie tins were loaded with MGs and most effective against infantry and soft skins. These are both the Warlord Games plastic kit (licensed from Italeri), one for me and one for a mate.

AB41 x 3 (60 points)

One of my favourite WWII vehicles is the ABx range of Italian armoured cars. There's just something about the lines and the huge sand tires that really appeals to me. I've got one each of the twin MGs and 20mm autocannon by accident. Perry Miniatures mistakenly sent me the wrong one twice(!) so I ended up converting the turret on one of them to the autocannon rather than ask for yet another one. Green stuff to fill the holes intended for the MGs, plus wire and paper to craft the gun does a pretty convincing job I think. These are Blitzkrieg Miniatures models, all in resin and with a nice weight to them.

The third version one is the Warlord Games version painted for a mate. It's quite different from the Blitzkrieg Miniatures version and appears to be closer to the real thing, especially the wheels.

One of these ACs is not like the others...

Fiat AS 37 Sahariano Truck/Transport x 1 (25 points)

This will be a transport vehicle for my engineer section once painted. It's also Blitzkrieg Miniatures via Perry Miniatures and a nice looking vehicle overall, although the cab assembly needed a lot of work to make it fit and still has plenty of flaws which I am treating as battle damage. The cab is resin and paper thin in places which caused a few hairy moments when cutting to fit. It had to be painted separately and glued on at the end so I could reach the driver but the alternative was painting him through the windows and that was never going to work.

Next up all the infantry and support weapons. Thanks for looking!

Cheers,

Millsy

 

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Fantastic work on all of these Millsy, what a treat to start the day here in North America. You have really nailed the colours and the weathering on all of these vehicles. I can feel the heat of the North Afrcian sun radiating from the hulls and engine blocks, and imagine the sand and wind wearing the paint and primer right down to the metal. Also some fine conversion work after the retail fiasco with the Perrys - I never would have noticed the difference unless you had mentioned it. 

 

Look forward to the poor foot sloggers to follow - great job!