Rubicon Models US armour reviews

In these reviews, I'm doing something slightly different, and rolling several reviews into one, as I built all the kits at the same time, and most of the comments are the same of each of them, though I'll cover each individually too. In the interests of integrity, Rubicon have been kind enough to provide me with review samples of each of the kits below, however these particular vehicles were part of a work commission.

Rubicon Models have quite an extensive line of mid to late war US armour in their catalogue now (I do keep harassing them to make an M4A1 too...), and whilst I've already looked at their M5 Stuart and M4A3 Shermans, this time I've been building the M3 halftrack, M8 Scott, M10 and M36 tank destroyers, and the  M20 armoured car. 

All of these kits come with Rubicons standard packaging of a letterbox type packaging with each sprue individually bagged to prevent loss of parts, as well as an extensive decal sheet, and well laid out instruction booklet. Each kit contains multiple variants, so it's worth taking a few minutes before cutting things to identify which variant you will build, and what parts you will be using.

All of the vehicles were painted the same way, using a black primer as a base, and then airbrushing Vallejo Brown Violet over most of the vehicle, leaving some black visible in the recesses. around the edges and raised areas I then airbrushed Vallejo Green Grey, before weathing them using some Burnt Umber oil paint used as a wash around the details and recesses. 

 

M3A1 Half Track

The M3A1 kit actually gives the option of assembling the vehicle as either an M3, or an M3A1, with a choice of winch or bumper at the front, deployed or stored stowage racks, open or closed radiator grill, and open or closed armoured wind shield, as well as pose able machine guns and a choice of interior radio fits, and also comes with 2 crew figures. 

 

Decals are also note worthy, as they contain some nice Free French markings,  as well as a good jumble of codes and stars too, so will be useful for future projects too.

I found the kit to be a fairly quick build, with some very nice detail and good fit to the parts. The only part of the kit that failed to impress me were the crew figures, although fortunately these are barely visible.

I still opted to use the driver and omit the other passenger. Some inevitable comparison will be asked with the Warlord Games plastic M3A1, and there's very little between the two, though Warlords is probably a marginally simpler to assemble kit, and comes with less decals and no choice of variants. I'll be adding Rubicons kit to my own DAK force as an M3 variant at some point in the none too distant future. 

M8 Scott

Another nice kit, the M8 Scott allows you to build either an M5A1 Stuart, or M8 Scott. 

There's little cross over here either, but with a bit of care and creativity you could build both and swap parts as each variant is required if that's your thing.

Between the Stuart and the Scott, I prefer the look of the finished M8, the spare track parts on the turret have slightly more impact and definition than on the Stuart parts, and the finished vehicle just has more impact. Turret interior is pretty good too for the M8, although it's lacking in crew and you'll have to convert some up if you want to fill their void. 

Assembly is straight forwards,  and rounded off by another well stocked transfer sheet with a good selction of markings, with options for several nationalities covered, including the USA, Britain and France. 

M10 Tank destroyer

This one comes with some fairly notable options, namely the choice of building an M10, an M10A, an M36 and finally an Achilles tank destroyer. 

Parts for these are all fairly specific,especially due to the way the turret rings are constructed, although you could potentially work out a way to make them interchangeable with a bit of work, the kits not really designed that way.

Interior detail for the M10 vehicles is good, though no interior is provided for the M36 turret apart from a gun breach.

Oddly, whilst ammunition racks are provided in for the hull, there is no floor, which is a fairly visible part of the fighting compartment. Sadly, no crew or stowage are provided, though once again the decal sheet is superb. 

M20 Scout Car

The final kit I'm looking at today, the M20 kit also includes parts to build the M8 armoured car as well. This was a bit of a surprise kit as it has some really superb detail.

 

It's not an easy kit to switch between versions however, so be mindful of that if you're intending making it as both. assembly is a breeze though and the finish model is superb to my eye. 

Of the 4 of these, I think my favourite is probably the M20/M8, although I really like the M3 kit too. the Scott is good value for money, though I have to admit to being disappointed in the M10, as I felt it a little lacking, though I'd struggle to put my finger on what precisely. 

 

Rubicon Models can be obtained through Plastic Soldier Company in the UK, and from their US distributor for those in America, and as ever you can see more examples of my work or contact me regarding commissions at Volley Fire Painting Service.

Warlord Games 28mm Volksgrenadier

One of Warlords most recent releases for Bolt Action is the Volksgrenadier pack for the Germans. This set contains 10 28mm sized figures in Warlord traditional style.

 

 

All the models are wearing the late war M43 uniform with ankle boots and gaiters, and carry a mix of MP44's, K98's and Panzerfausts, as well as a 2 man MG42 team. 

 

Poses are a little mixed, with some being breathtakingly good, my favourites being the guy holding the Panzerfaust with the slung MP44 standing and waiting,  the whole body language and pose suggests tiredness and tension.  

The Machine gun team too is another favourite, they really convey the weight of carrying the gun and fatigue of constant combat. 

Most of the other figures are fairly standard fair, advancing to contact or gesticulating in an NCOish fashion.

 

 The only figure I'm not so keen on is the stooping guy holding his rifle across his body. I suspect if he were posed against a building or a wall he'd look excellent, however standing alone on a base he looks a little odd. 

The set retails for £15, and also includes bases. As these were a pre release copy of the figures I can't comment on packaging, however cast quality was excellent. I suspect I shall be painting some up as very late war SS grenadiers too at some stage too. 

My thanks to my friends Warlord for providing the models, and you can order a set of Volksgrenadiers either through your local games shop or direct from Warlord Games. As ever you can see more of my work or contact me regarding commissions at Volley Fire Painting Service. 

Trenchworx T-28 review

Earlier in the year American manufacturer Trenchworx were kind enough to send me one of their new (at the time) T-28 tanks. The kit is scaled to 1/56 so fits nicely with other 1/56 vehicles such as those produced by the likes of Warlord, JTFM and Rubicon etc. 

Very cleanly cast in a dark grey resin, the the T-28 comes in minimal parts with neat plugs to hold all the parts in place. 

Assembly took around 10 minutes. All the parts fit flawlessly, and it's worth mentioning that the main gun can be magnetised to allow you to switch between the early and late versions. (I glued mine though as I always loose swappable parts). 

Speaking to Nate at Trenchworx the resin they use doesn't require washing, however mine had a bath in the ultra sonic cleaner through force of habit as much as anything else, and was then primed with black automotive primer. This worked very well, and adhered nicely. 

For paints, I used the Vallejo Russian 4BO green paint set, and I discuss this in my Warlord Russian armour review here. 

 Trenchworx T-28 retails at $38 US, and represents good value for a kit of this quality, with international shipping at $15. 

 

As ever you can find more of my work or contact me regarding commissions at Volley Fire Painting Service, and you can order Trenchworx kits direct from their website.

Warlord Games Veteran Grenadiers review

Tonight I'm looking at Warlord games Veteran grenadier set. These figures have been available for a few months now, and I've finally gotten around to writing up the review!

The Figures
The set contains 10 metal figures, wearing a variety of uniform suitable for representing German soldiers from 1945 onwards. Although billed as Heer veterans they could at a pinch also be painted as Waffen SS. 
Each soldier is wearing very light fighting order, consisting of a bread bag, waterbottle, and ammunition pouches for the MP44 (StG44) assault riffle that he carries.  Some are also wearing Zeltbahn ponchos, that could also be buttoned together to make a tent. 
Uniforms are very accurate, and I really like the light order that they wear as this is the most frequently seen way of wearing field equipment seen in photos of the period. 

Each figure has a separate head, with 7 in helmets, and 3 in M43 forage caps.It's worth spending a bit of time matching heads to figures, as some of them work better with particular bodies. A couple of the faces I wasn't to keen on, however once they were on the figures and painted they have since grown on me. Some of the helmets also have molded on foliage as well, which further reinforces the 'in the field' look of the models.

Figures are clean and crisply moulded, and I found clean up to be very quick and hassle free. 

10 25mm MDF bases round out the sets contents.




Painting

I decided to paint these figures in Heer uniform, as I want to field them as Volksgrendiers alongside the new plastic set. 

As a base colour I use Vallejo's Russian uniform for my field grey. Reflective green is used for helmets, pouches and gaiters, whilst I use middle stone for the bread bags. 

For the splinter pattern camo I use a base coat of khaki, highlight and shade this, then use Vallejo either Flat Earth or Leather brown, (depending how dark I want to go), to do the bulk of the angular disrutpive pattern. Onto this I then paint smaller patches of reflective green.  Once the camoflage pattern is in place, I give the camo item a thin glaze of a mix of army painter soft tone and green inks, then do some highlights of the base colour mixed with increasing amounts of pale sand. Splinter camo is very time consuming, but can be striking! 

I wrote a guide that can be accessed on the Warlord Games site called Painting Ostfront Germans that has some more reference photos and also a list of Games Workshop alternative colours if you can't access Vallejo.

Basing

To texture my bases I use Vallejo Dark Earth texture paint, and layer this on fairly thickly. On top of this I 
Use PVA to attach clusters of course olive green flock, and Gale Force 9's dead grass. Once this had dried I decided to add some snow, so mixed Vallejo water effect with baking soda and painted this on as a thin paste into selected areas. I didn't want to give the effect of deep winter, going more for an early spring vibe. 
To add colour, I also added a few dead leaves. I've no idea where I got these from, so they are being carefully horded on my projects! To finish the figures off I also added some green leaves onto the foliage of the figures helmets.




Conclusion

A great and characterful set of figures. Retailing at £15 for the set this works out at £1.50 per figure, and also includes the base, unusually for historical figures, yet very welcome. The separate head system also allows for more variety so you could probably get a couple of boxes without getting excessive variety if you wanted too. 
The figures also fit perfectly in size with the rest of Warlords range, and could be used to increase the amount of assault rifles in your existing units as well if you wished.

Warlords figures can be purchased from all good games stores, and direct from their webpage here, 
As ever, more of my work can be viewed at Volley Fire Painting

Terminator!

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a sprue of the T800 Endo skeletons for upcoming Terminator Genisys miniatures game developed by gaming legend Allesio Cavatore.












These figures are very, very simple to put together, and are fantastically detailed. I've always loved the Terminator films, and I'd probably put them as my favourite movie franchise of all time.
As such I wanted to do something a bit special with painting mine, so I did some light conversion work on both to make them look as if they are striding through the post nuclear war zone seen in the movies, as well as giving them that classical chrome look.

Simply using a silver paint wouldn't quite cut it, so I went back to m scale modelling stash and dug out some Alclad II Chrome lacquer. This stuff isn't for the faint hearted as it requires a truly immense amount of preparation work, but is well worth it. I've been asked a few times for a step by step, so here it is. I only have these two figures at the moment so can't do a stage by stage with photos...

1. Assemble the figures, prime with grey primer. Leave to dry for about 12 hours. I use a cheapish primer from my local hardware shop.
2. Spray the model with gloss grey paint (In future I'll use black as it gives a richer colour). Alclad II is a lacquer rather than a paint reacts with whatever is under neath. using a matt paint or a primer will give a dull finish, whereas a gloss base will give a shiny finish, which is what we want for Skynets finest. There is a TON of information on the net about using Alclad, so I'll not go too into it. 
3. After leaving the gloss layer to dry for a minimum of 24 hours spray it with your Alclad Chrome. Alclad can only be applied using an airbrush, and you spray it on by misting on layers and letting the metal effect build up slowly. The lacquer is pre diluted so you just have to spray it through the airbrush, it's quite a delicate finish until it hardens too, so take a bit of care how you handle the models. 
4. Cleaning the airbrush is worth it's own step as it's so important with Alclad. To clean the airbrush after you will need some cellulose thinners, and you'll need to give the airbrush a serious strip down and clean. Mines been in an ultrasonic bath for about 2 hours. after having a good soak in cellulose thinners and it's just about clean now. It's also worth getting a respirator mask when working with any airbrush, but especially so when working with Alclad.
5. Whilst you've been cleaning the airbrush your Terminator will be dry enough for the next stage. First up I paint army painter dark tone into the darkest resesses of the figure, as well as picking out the teeth in white, the eyes in red, and the plasma rifle in black grey, then leave this to dry. 
6. Mix some pledge multi-surface wax with some army painter soft tone to make a thin, but glossy glaze, and paint this over the entire Terminator to accentuate the detail, but retain the chrome finish.
7. After the glaze has dried, pick out the eyes with some bright scarlet paint, and paint the vents on the weapon white. 
8. Paint purple ink from the Army Painter over the vents of the weapon
9. Paint white dots along the center of the weapon vents, center of the eyes, and teeth, and your done. No need to varnish as between the Alcad  and the glaze the paint finish is now extremely tough.

You can check out more of Terminator Genisys Miniatures game at the River Horse Website, the game is being distributed by Warlord Games And as ever you can see more of my work at Volley Fire Painting. Alclad paints and even airbrushes and respirators can be purchased from SNM Stuff