From ScottR Early War French for Flames of War

 A couple of years ago I was fortunate to be given an Army Box of the Flames of War, Early French.  I spent the next few years tracking down the metal and resin tanks, trucks and extras.  So over time I have managed to collect everything that was available from Battlefront.

This is a pretty Big project and I had planned to get it all done and post up.  But life and work soon take over.  So in order to get a post in before the first deadline, I have to do a Part 1 and Part 2.  So Part 1 will be all the the trucks and the first half of the tanks.

To get the project rolling I did open every blister, cleaned them up including sanding and removing as much flash as possible.  It included 164 infantry figures which included the gun crews, mortars and HMGs.  Plus 71 vehicles made up of Trucks and tanks.

The blisters to be opened for cleaning and prep.

So this took a couple of days to open, clean and glue together.

The work begins, Day 1.

So two days and all the blisters are now cleaned, built and undercoating.

Day 2, final build and a mahogany brown base coat.

So pulling out the trusty airbrush I undercoated the whole collection with MIG paints Mahogany Brown. This was a slow process doing each piece individually.

Next up was choosing a base green that would suit the French Armour vehicles of the period.  One of the things about 15mm is colours tend to darken too much so i wanted a colour that would add a bit of brightness to the overall look.  So I chose Gunship Green from Vallejo as the base for the vehicles.

Base Gunship Green for all the vehicles and British Uniform for the French Infantry and crews.

So next up was choosing some suitable camouflage patterns for the vehicles.  I decided that all the transports i would keep as the base green with just a highlight to help them stand out.  

A bit of brown camo for the recon vehicles.

Detail work done, wheels, canvas, crew, tools and seats.

Now the final wash and clean up with a Matt finish.

Last step Decals and another varnish coat.

 

Next up the tanks and reconnaissance vehicles, tankettes etc would have a camouflage pattern.  So checking my bookshelves, online for inspiration I got started on the tanks.

Base Camo down for the armour.

Decided to do the guns as well.

Along with the detail work, I magnetised all the tank turrets.  Well I magnetised the small turrets on the recon vehicles as well.  With a gloss varnish after the wash I added the decals.

So the downhill run. 

Last of the decals for the armour is done and the final Matt Varnish coats to finish off Part 1.

Ok so here is Part 1 complete.  Just ignore the mortar crews at the top, never got them based so they will be in Part 2.  When Part 2 is done i will do a small final post worth zero points just as a photoshoot of each platoon.  But for now hope you enjoyed Part 1.

So ended up with 52 x 15mm vehicles for Part 1.  (Points ?)

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Hi Scott

Oh wow ... this hurts my head! What a whole lot of little vehicles which must have been tedious and fiddly to prep and assemble and then to do camoflage and then add decals ... madness! 

Full disclosure, I know nothing of Flames of War  and even less of French Army vehicles, but these look super good.

8pts 15mm vehicle x 52 = 416

I do see that there are seated figures in the vehicles, but as no 'body count' provided I will just round up to 450 points. 

- Sarah