Aerosan OSGA 6

More stuff for Whiteout, this time 2 Aerosans from Baker Company.

In Whiteout you can have Sno-Cats as equipment or find them as terrain-encounters. My take on the game is more pre-WWII Pulp, so I was after something else. These Aerosans looked just right.

The Aerosans were used during WWII by the Soviets, and captured ones by the Finns and Germans.

The kit, especially the metal parts, are not the best, and I changed the tin-rods for plastic ones to get a more stable and rugged model. The rig for the motor isn’t very like the real part, but this being pulp I just didn’t bother to convert it more than I did.

We’re in the Arctic, and I already got some Winter War Russians painted, so my baddies in Whiteout will be Russians. I painted the aerosans to work here as well as in WWII-winter conditions.

Finally I 3D-printed a hatch for when I need an unarmed vehicle. It’s hatch + plug so I can just drop it in place when needed.

They were this week’s painting challenge.

Carden Loyd Carrier from Warlord

Evil Overlords seem to have a big budget for transports for their (lazy) minions and correspondingly tiny budgets for firearms- training. When one of them get their priorities right then whatever hero is after said Overlord will be in for a surprise. A short-lived surprise.

Anyway, I bought the Carden-Loyd Carrier from Warlord for a Sealion campaign that never took off, and it’s been in the resin- and tin-mountain since. I thought a slight repurpose in its life would give it a reason to meet the paintbrush, and it was promptly relocated to a suitably evil overlord’s car-park. In the off-chance that we will actually build all those other minis for Seelöwe I painted it in a colour that could pass as proper for a home-guard unit somewhere in southern England.

"And I thought the Komsomolets was cramped"

The integral crew had British helmets and that sealed their fate as they were promptly decapitated and got replacement-heads from the bits box (I think they came from Perry Italians… must be a horror for a British WWII-soldier…). The resulting chaps could still pass for home-guard as their uniforms were painted in a suitable colour for British infantry, which works equally well for minions.

The kit was so-so. The resin body needed quite a lot of work to be presentable while the metal tracks and tow-hook were rather good.

A bit of a disappointment overall but the Overlord is more than pleased.

Komsomolets from Baker Company

I have a bunch of vehicles from Baker Company and the Winter War kickstarter they had a couple of years ago. Our Winter War project was placed on hold and the vehicles just laid there.

I had an idea of using some of them for pulp gaming, either 1930’s Pulp alley or 60’s/70’s 7TV. I did a truck a while ago and this time it was the Komsomolets tractor that got some love.

Evil minions are often seen riding on strange wheeled or tracked vehicles in their masters lairs (they seem unable to walk even short distances in cult movies) and a Komsomolets looks just the part.

I painted it dark green, so it could be used in an actual WWII game without looking totally out of place and an evil overlord would probably be pleased with the paintjob also.

I got two sets of crew; one could be used as Soviets while this one got a suitable minion-look paintjob.

Just as with the truck we have a really nice resin-body, but the metal parts are rather crappy and the crew are not the best out there. A pity as it’s a fun little vehicle.

Italian Breda 37 machine gun and crew from Perry Miniatures

My final minis for our participation game at Gothcon, now I only have to finish some terrain pieces.

These guys from Perry Miniatures will help their German allies against the unprovoked aggression of the British forces.

I haven’t had time or reference books enough to get the colours the way I want them. I usually prefer to go from photos of the real thing and try to match that, but this time I based the paint job on Osprey Men-at-Arms 349 The Italian Army 1940-45 (2) Africa 1940-43. Good enough.

Paints used:

Uniform and headgear: Vallejo 977 Desert Yellow, a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone ink, heavy drybrush with 977, light drybrush of 819 Iraqui Sand.

Ammo pouches – 984 Flat Brown

Belts – 988 Khaki

Shoes and straps – Formula P3 Bootstrap Leather

Puttees – 886 Green Grey

All above washed with AP Strong Tone ink

Collar insignia – 975 Military Green

Badge on helmet – Citadel Mechrite Red/White/975 Military Green/Bronze

Avanti!

Italian Autoblinda AB41 from Warlord

Another Italian AFV in 1/56 scale (or 28mm), this time the Autoblinda AB41 from Warlord.

A very nice metal and resin kit that goes together easily. I painted the wheels separately to reach every part of them and the car.

Paints used:

Body – Vallejo 912 Tan Yellow, a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone ink, a heavy drybrush with 977 Desert Yellow (I made a mistake here, in my mind I used 912, but the result was so good I will stay with this combo), a final light drybrush of 837 Pale Sand.

Wheels – Vallejo Panzer Aces 306 Dark Rubber washed with AP Dark Tone ink.

I haven’t brushed any pigments on this car yet as I have an idea of painting some signs on it, but that will be after Gothcon during the holidays. I don’t have time for that now.

AB41 and CV35

Another camera than my usual, this one is a Canon Ixus 140, a small compact that works surprisingly well. My old one died this weekend. Rest in peace.

Hey! You should really check out Con Man on Indiegogo. I’m just saying Firefly and Serenity. 

Italian CV-35 Tankette by Perry Miniatures

This Christmas I got two presents from my gaming pals Thomas and Laffe. I had my suspicions.. they were probably trying to snare me into another period with some cool figures. Been there, fallen for it, got the T-shirt (or at least a whole lot of stuff for my plastics/resin/tin-mountain)

I was right, the small boxes came from Perry Miniatures and contained a tankette and a machine gun with crew. Italians for the Western Desert and in 1/56 scale. Coincidentally the scale those two gentlemen are building British and German Desert War Chain of Command forces for.

Vrom! Vroom! Poor victim. No-one loves him.

I will not fall for the temptation! or something like that was heard from me.

Well, I will not buy a whole new force but we do need more units for our participation game at Gotcon.

Now this kit is quite nice. I have this soft spot for early war crappy AFV:s and this little tankette hits just the right buttons. Tiny, armed with twin machine guns (in the kit there is also an option for a 20mm gun and it also includes two crew-members), with paper-thin armour.  What’s not to like?

Anyway the metal kit assembles easily, it’s just a few pieces.

Paints used:

I undercoated it all with Vallejo Foundation White and a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone ink.

Then a coat of Vallejo 912 Tan Yellow followed by a wash of Army Painter Strong Tone ink, a heavy drybrush of Tan Yellow followed by a lighter one of 837 Pale Sand.

Tracks were Vallejo Panzer Aces 304 Track Primer drybrushed with 863 Gunmetal Grey.

Rubber is Panzer Aces 306 Dark Rubber

Finally a dusting of AK Pigments AK-041 North Africa Dust.

Ready to take a beating J

28mm Russians from Baker Company finished

These are the first batch of Russians I got from the Baker Company Kickstarter. Me, Thomas and Laffe got in on this together and split one Finnish and two Russian platoons, plus some add-ons.

 

1^st squad

2^nd squad

Anyway, the first box came a while ago, and I managed to finish these 28 Russians in record time. Record time for me, that is. You’ll find a short painting tutorial here. I tried a lot of different grey-green colours on the uniforms, not just those in the tutorial.

SMG-group

I’m not overly enthusiastic about these figures. The details are somewhat crude, some of the faces are, well, awful. I had to green-stuff a bit; a couple of miscasts and the LMG:s had to short muzzles.

On the other hand, when you have them at arm’s length, playing a game, they do look at least OK.

So, all in all, I’m satisfied with the outcome of the Kickstarter, but I will probably not buy more Winter War figures from Baker Company. Well, maybe a pack or two if we find that we need something more when we have played Chain of Command with them.

Command group

After this I need to relax with some fantasy figures, but after that the Finns will move to the painting table.

With this speed I might be able to actually paint all these figures in a reasonable time.

Painting tutorial – 28mm Winter War Russians

The first Russian troops from Baker Company’s Winter War kickstarter.

I have a very good reference book for the uniforms and equipment: The Soviet Soldier of World War Two, by Philippe Rio and published by Histoire & Collections. Excellent with colour photos of reenactors dressed in the real stuff. I can’t recommend this book enough.

The M.30 Assault Pack

The M.36 Backpack with rolled tent section.

Paints used:

Uniform – different shades of khaki: Mainly Vallejo 880 Khaki Grey and 914 Green Ochre, but I will also use 873 US Field Drab, 924 Russian Uniform WWII and maybe some others

Shoes – black

Belt and ammo puches – 984 Flat Brown

Wooden stock – 981 Orange Brown

Gun metal – 863 Gunmetal Grey

Assault Pack M.30 – 912 Tan Yellow

Backpack M.36 – 894 German Olive Green

Tent section – 924 Russian Uniform WWII, 873 US Field Drab

Entrenching Tool, cover – 876 Buff

Entrenching tool, handle - 843 Cork Brown

Water Bottle – 924 Russian Uniform WWII

Red Star – Citadel Blood Red

Everything washed with Army Painter Strong Tone.

More Russians will be painted in the near future (as soon as my Wild West figures are ready) and with them you will see some more uniform details.

Also some thoughts on the miniatures themselves.

And a short tutorial on snow – I’ve tried three different brands with varying result.