Painting Panzers

Sorry for the lack of updates everyone, but I've got some good progress to report! As was promised quite a while ago, I finally settled on a method for making Normandy bocage that I'm really happy with. A lot of the time, I see hedges as waist-high decorations, but the bocage of the Normandy campaigns were truly formidable obstacles. I've modeled these as having a dirt berm a bit taller than the mini, and then having the foliage extend an inch(ish) higher. These bits of bocage are in about 1 1/2 foot segments and designed as scatter terrain for a Normandy table that I am building up slowly. I took some photos on a smaller piece of board I am using as a mini-photo set. Enjoy some of the bocage pictures, and let me know what you think! Terrain Experiments! After finishing the bocage, I was looking for another mini-project to work on while I waited on some bits for the final display board to arrive. Walking around Hobby Lobby one day, I noticed

Take your vehicles to the next level in a few super simple steps! I have recently bought some vehicles, sprues, and bits from a friend and member of the local Bolt Action community, and thought that his paintjobs could be enhanced with some weathering. (Plus, I had some techniques that I really wanted to try...) With more forethought than normal, and some before and  after pictures, I'll break down the process I used to take the tabletop standard models to the next level with only some super simple weathering. Panzer IV. Ausf. H Before The Panzer IV already had some decals applied and had its dunkelgelb base and camo stripes applied.  To start off, I took an old hobby knife and carefully scraped off the star wars Imperial decal. As much as I wish my Star Wars: Legion forces could have some armor support, I wanted to try out more battle damage, and thought that the decal would be distracting. After gently scraping it away, I took som e Vallejo Luftwaffe Camo

Triumphant Return?  I've always wanted to try my hand at American armor. The monotony of all one color presents an interesting challenge in itself, and I think I have a lot more to learn. The model is Rubicon's Easy 8/76 (W) kit. It was the first Rubicon kit I've put together, and I think it went together quite well! Not to mention all the extra parts, options, and the lower price too! This tank, named after my amazing dad was my first ever attempt at freehand. The writing came out alright. The star was an emergency repair after the decal ripped. D'oh! We're WW2 wargamers: Of course we've seen Fury, and yes we all love the dirty old tanks covered in stowage. I decided to paint this up as a veteran tank that has seen the muddy, dirty horror of Spring '45. The rear presented some challenges as to how to make this large, open area more interesting. I tried adding some washes to simulate oil & fuel stains, but it didn't come out too

The finished King Tiger of the 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion is ready to defend Normandy to the last! This kit is Warlord Games' new King Tiger model, which went together really well and was nice to paint up. The kit comes with options to include the side skirts or not, and options to build either the Henschel production turret or the Porsche turret, which was nice. I chose to go with the Henschel turret, as I thought it was more of a "classic" look, and there exists some photographic evidence to support Henschel Tiger IIs being in Normandy. After building and priming the model in grey, I started on the Dunkelgelb using AK Interactive's Dunkelgelb modulation kit. I've never done any color modulation before, so this was a great introduction to it. The AK colors need v ery little (if any) thinning for the airbrush, and were fantastic to use. The modulation worked really well in my opinion, and gave some good coloration. I know it isn't the fi