From TomC: Minimags [DIY] (42 points)

Hello again everyone, a bit of time off has given me an opportunity to claw my lamentable progress up a bit and even add some labels to my posts (sorry Greg!).

Today's entry is a pair of Sd.Kfz 250 halftracks from Battlefront's Flames of War range which I've been working on to serve as part of a pilot for the colour schemes I'd be looking to employ on the German half of the Hit the Beach starter I've had for... some time now.

I haven't painted any vehicles since I was a teenager, when I gleefully slathered a variety of Space Marine tanks in Humbrol enamels, so these were painted with the Colours of War guide from Battlefront at my elbow and an experimental mindset. With that said, any feedback is gratefully appreciated!

Chief experiments were the soft-edged camouflage, which I did with a brush and by glazing in the colours (Citadel Straken Green and Vallejo Chocolate Brown mixed in with the base Vallejo Dark Yellow). The photos I've found usually show a much busier camouflage pattern but this striped pattern is much closer to what I'd be looking to replicate on my other German armour, so on it went!

The other was the splinter pattern camouflage, mostly one of the passenger's smocks, but also on inappropriate items of stowage I'd added from the Plastic Soldier Company set, which also donated the constipated-looking passenger on the right. I'm less convinced by how this turned out, work to be done here... 

Other peculiarities were the shoulder-boards: the 250 was generally the preserve of reconnaissance units, but they changed which colour they used throughout the war, but with different divisions required to adopt the 'new' colours (or so it seems). I went with yellow, which seemed broad enough in usage.

 A fair question is why we're in DIY and kitbashing is the answer. Firstly, our man above is a combination of one of the Battlefront tank commanders and the legs of a Grenadier: I wanted a studious scout crewing my halftrack (rather than a shouty officer-type which comes with the crew set). The other is the halftrack crew, the Battlefront kit has neither driver nor assistant and I wasn't keen on the self-driving haunted halftrack, so I appropriated some Plastic Soldier Company passengers. They required a lot of modification to fit!

For scoring, two 15mm vehicles should be 16 points and then there are seven crew members, but two are sitting and four are very vestigial so I would suggest 6 points for the lot perhaps, equivalent to three standing 15mm infantry? With the DIY bonus, the tentative total is then 42 points, which puts me just over halfway to my Challenge target... lots to do then!

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Others may have feedback and suggestions Tom, but I would say these look marvellous. Great work. It can be intimidating to tackle new subjects (or, "relatively new" - I mean, I'm sure your teenage years were not to long ago, were they? :). And German WW2 stuff is always extra tricky, as even basic research into their use of camouflage can easily cause brain spasms.

I think your approach here has done the trick! They look great, the crew look excellent too. Advice? I dunno, maybe a pin wash of a dark brown in some of the recesses of the vehicles in order to draw the contrast on the panels? But that's just fiddle-sticking - they would look damn fine on any table in my opinion!

 

The scoring all tracks for me - 42 points for you, well done!

 

GregB