M14/41s, almost finished and Jagpdanther hit with some matte!

New (and old) kit update

So I've been doing some work today, I've based the US Artillery I cleaned up last week, base coated and started my Brummbars that have been sat primed for 4 months, base coloured the 10.5cm guns I've had primed for 8 months, re-primed an ancient Ferdinand I had lying around to paint with the Elefant I just got as part of my Schwerepanzerjagerabteilung 653 Army!

VK4501(P) update.

So I got my hands on a lovely Battlefront VK4501(P) thanks to James as mentioned in the previous post. Here's some pics of it's current progress I've snapped in between working on my British stuff.

It's for a late war army I'm constructing which I'll reiterate at the bottom of this post. Gorgeous looking vehicle and you can really see where the Ferdinand/Elefant came from when you look at the drive train on this beast. I'll be painting this in a tri-tone camo that I'm going to be airbrushing on thanks to my brother in law has loaned me his compressor. The camo pattern will be hit and miss as it'll be made up on the fly and I've never used an airbursh with a compressor before only with canned air (which is crappy btw and ends up costing you as much in the long run). Below are two pictures, one of its base coat and one of its current state.

 

The base coat I use is a mix of Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green and some Vallejo 70882 Middlestone, this is beacause I love how Tamiya paints work through airbrushes but the colour is a little too vivid for my liking. To be honest the image still looks very bright and it doesn't look quite so stark in the flesh, I gave the model three coats of Mig Filter for Tri-Tonal camo to try and draw the shades together. This has then received a gloss varnish and a "pin wash" using Mig Abteilung black oil paint mixed with a small amount of white spirit, this achieves a black lined effect quickly, cleanly and most importantly reversibly. If you're too generous with the pin wash you can take a clean brush with white spirit on it and manipulate the section you've made a mistake on, you can thin it down, wash it off parts you don't want it to hit and even remove it altogether.

  Tomorrow once this wash has dried I'll give the model a thin gloss coat again to seal it in and apply decals then work on the detailing where I'm planning on making this tank look pretty worn and weathered. I plan to use Panzer Grey as the colour with which to pronounce stone chips and scratches as this would've been the original colour underneath the more recently added tri-tone scheme. After all of that I plan to hit it with some super matte varnish to dull down that shine and also some of the shades in the camo very slightly.

EDIT: I think you can see between the two pictures just how much the XF-4/Middlestone base has really toned down with the camo pattern on it and the coats of filter?

Todays Painting

I've got gloss onto almost all of my British armour and a Mig Abteilung oil wash over that. They're starting to look ok but I had to stop proceedings to give the guys a run out, I'd arranged to play at one of my local clubs against a guy who runs Germans. They're all green and recognisable so I was happy to field them as was and he was too, I ended up defending on a No Retreat mission and was really crappy on my re-enforcement rolls 5 dice and I finally got one platoon. Long story short, I lost.

I've unpacked the British again and I'm a good way into the process again, I've also constructed and primed 5 more T-34/85s to go with my existing 5 and my Tiger P which Starmonkee (James on here) gave me from the Mid War Monsters boxed set. The Tiger P is going to be the command tank for my 653 Schwere Panzerjager list which has been constructed from THIS Article and PDF. Flavourful force, probably insanely hard to play (for and against) but it's something else to have around and I love the option you can put into this.

I've got a few ideas in mind for my T-34s, and I'll show you my 653 Schwere Panzerjager force listing below any thoughts welcome:

Guards Tank Company

HQ Section, cupola - 80
Guards Tank Company, cupolas - 635
Guards Tank Company, cupolas - 635
Tank Killer Company, SU-85 - 190
Decoy Tank Company, PIV, StuG + Panther - 210
1750

Elefants

HQ Tiger P, Bergepanther and Bergepanzer Elefant and Bergepanther 2cm - 460

Elefant platoon (2) - 600

Panzer Platoon, 4 x Pz IV - 380

Panzerpioneer platoon, hq faust - 205

Grenadier Platoon, hq faust - 165

Rocket Launcher Battery, 3 launchers - 120

1750

King Tiger, almost finished.

After finishing work early today I decided to get some painting done and get my latest list complete. I've yet to finish 3 nebs, my Pioneer Platoon and this KT. The infantry and guns are all at a uniform base colour stage and all are based.

After selling my original "Ambush Pattern" King Tiger (see pic below) some months back I decided to finish the one I've had sat on the painting table for months half painted.

I've almost got her finished, I just need to finish off the stowage, decals and tank commander.

The emphasized wear is a little stylised but I think it gets the message across? Take a look at my latest KT below and let me know what you thin so far?

Hummels.

So heres a few pics of my Hummels from their various stages. From initial camouflage and my trials with recently purchased Mig Filter, my first attempts at washes with oil paints using Abteilung oils and then final detailing. The first picture shows different amounts of Migs P242 TAN for tritonal camo applied from 1 to what I think is 4-5 coats by the right hand vehicle, I think you can notice a subtle difference.