Reinforcements

 Having acquired some German half-tracks and painted them in early war colours I decided that they needed a crew.  having done that, using some old Airfix Germans, I then thought that some passengers were required.  This then took on the shape of an early war Panzer grenadier battalion:

I am now working on some additional elements, such as anti-tank, mortar and heavy machine gun sub-units.  The half-tracks are from a mix of manufacturers.  One came with a rather large and ugly anti-tank gun mount, which I replaced with and Airfx PAK anti-tank gun with the base removed - still inaccurate but better looking!

Classic Airfix german infantry

 I am sure everyone has had at least one box of these figures during their wargaming lifetime.  they have been around for decades.  I have lost count of the number of Airfix Germans that I have owned, painted, sold, bought again and painted once more over the years.

This lot have been in my possession since the 1980s, which is when they were first painted.  Recently I dug them out, tidied them and rebased them.  They are seen here with other Airfix classics, including the 88mm gun and half track as well as the PAK 40 and Opel Blitz truck. 

I have converted a few of the figures to give me some anti tank guns and the 88mm crew is also not Airfix:

I am working on some tanks and support troops to create a battle group.  More to come

Hinchliffe 20mm German Infantry

 In the catelogue, Hinchliffe list G2 as a figure advancing with SMG.  This early Hinchliffe figure, I suspect, is meant to represent an NCO wearing a field cap.  In my opinion this is the worst figure brought out by Hinchliffe.  The casting is crude, the pose is strange, with limbs out of proportion and the sub-machine gun is very crude to say the least.  However, the figure is part of the 20mm WW2 range and part of the history of this company.

I decided to paint this figure (and his colleagues) and an officer and ammunition carrier, in tropical uniform as I could not see him fitting in alongside my other figures:

 

 

Hinchliffe WW2 20mm Figures

In the 1970s my brothers and I purchased a few of the then emerging range of Hinchliffe WW2 figures and they have been sitting in drawers for decades. Recently with my introduction to Memoir '44 I have started using these figures, as seen in the recently played out Pegasus Bridge scenario.

The discussion following Pegasus bridge led to some very kind gifts of Hinchliffe Russians and Germans from fellow bloggers. This has allowed me to expand my collection, and of course given me the opportunity to paint some different figures.

Here are some samples of German infantry, notably some support weapons and a few infantry:

An Mg 42 team and an 8cm mortar with crew:

Anti-tank teams:

German infantry:

German elite troops:

I have already painted a number of British infantry and I am near to completion of a large group of Russians. More pictures to follow.

Easter Project

I have been thinking about producing a WW2 German recce group for my army, and just before Easter I acquired four eight wheel heavy armoured cars:

When I removed them from the packaging I found four plastic and basic vehicles that would need a lick of paint:

There are three versions of vehicle. One is a Puma 50mm armed vehicle and the other three have the option of either a 75mm support vehicle, or 20mm armed recce vehicle. I decided to have one support, two recce and the Puma armoured cars.

The vehicles needed to be properly assembled so I took them apart, creating a huge pile of bits:

There was quite a bit of flash that required cutting and filing down:

Anyway, after a couple of days of building and painting the re-assembled armoured cars now look like this:

The 75mm support vehicle:

Two 20mm armed vehicles:

And the Puma:

To support this group I also painted a unit of elite German infantry, using the old Mark 1 Airfix German infantry:

Now Easter is over, back to my ACW battle.

WW1 German Army - Airfix and others

Having painted three Airfix German Regiments I have given up due to the amount of flash on the figures. The most difficult areas being around the spiked helmet. I needed four more regiments and so I have resorted to Hat figugures and a few Emhar.  For artillery I have used Hat guns and a mix of Airfix abd Hat crews.  I now have a completed army ready for my Mons battle:

The whole army:

Artillery:

High Command:

More casualty markers:

Hat infantry:

Hat Jaegers:

Heavy Artillery:

Advance!

Airfix WW1 German Infantry

After a fair bit of heart ache I have finally produced my first Airfix regiment from the boxes bought recently. I think this will be my last though as the remaining figures will be a real challenge. If I need more, I will buy second hand figures off ebay where I can see how much flash they have.

Anyway, I have a unit of Airfix Germans ready for action along with some casualty markers:

I have painted up two Hat regiments and I am currently working on two Hat Jaeger regiments, these will join the two old Airfix regiments that I already have in my collection.