Plastic Soldier Company 1/72 Germans overview

With my US Infantry and Armour completed it's time to get back into my comfort zone and do some Germans. It was a toss up between doing some SS or Heer, but as between having a nice selection of Plastic Soldier Company stuff to hand, and wanting to do something more generic first a Heer Infantry platoon seemed to be the ideal start point.






I've assembled this force with the Battlegroup rules in mind, though it's layout is virtually identical to my late war Heer army for Bolt Action too, all be it in a different scale. This is a 300 point Battlegroup force, put together using the Infantry division list in Battlegroup Overlord.








To build the force I have used the Late War German Infantry and Heavy Weapon sets from Plastic Soldier company, as well as a single StuG and a Zvezda Pak 40. Much as I like the American sets, I found the German Infantry to be much better sculpts, with crisper details and more expressive faces, and the heavy weapons are more to consistently sized.





The Late War German infantry set contains 54 hard plastic figures on 3 sprues, and consists of 6 NCO/Command type figures, including a radio operator. There are also 36 Rifle men, with a couple having the option to be equipped with either MP40's or K98's. Finally there are 6 2 man LMG teams, consisting of 3 redeploying teams, and 3 prone firing teams. To round out the set there are a few spare heads, some wearing M43 caps, some wearing helmets both with and without covers, and finally a head with a bandage.

I've used these on my command squad to help them stand out and add a little distinctiveness to the squad. Poses are great, being a mix of moving and firing, with a few kneeling figures but no prone apart from the LMG teams. The Figures wear the standard late war uniform of M43 tunics and a range of field gear. Most wear helmets with a mix of plain pots and and helmet covers being present.

The German Heavy weapon set is a fantastically useful set, I've barely begun to touch the contents of mine, however it contains  45 plastic figures who crew 3 tripod mounted MG42's, 3 82mm Mortars, 3 120mm Mortars, 6 Panzerfausts, and 6 Panzershrek teams.





 



The Mortars and MG's are designed to have 3 man crews and the set comes with a range of poses to support this. I've modelled my MG42 with a loader team as well using a few spare figures from both the PSC sets.  These are again very nice figures, with nice looking weapons.

I've not built any of the heavy mortars yet, or the moving Panzershrek team however you can see the 'Fausts, MG42, firing 'Shrek crew and the 82mm Mortar in my force. at around £12 this set is so useful to have in the spares box as an extremely economical way to add a bit of heavier fire support to your platoons.

If you've followed my work you'll probably be aware that the StuG III is one of my very favourite armoured vehicles, so whilst putting this force together having at least one had to be done, so I tagged a single reinforcement one onto my order (This has now been joined by another 3...).

 I've long wanted to do a StuG with some missing sections of track guards, so as the track detail is rather nice I trimmed the right fender off. Technically I should have done this after test fitting the parts, but luckily the way the kit is designed this wasn't an issue...




Plastic Soldier Company's StuG III is an extremely simple kit, however it comes with a nice range of options allowing both mid and late production variants, with both box and saukopf mantlets, and a 105mm Howtizer too for building a StuG 42.

 Schurzen is provided with a very clever one piece rail system. This is a little thick for the scale, but is sturdy and still look good in place. The set vehicle is rounded out with a commander figure and a run of spare tracks, no decals are included. PSC's StuG III comes either singly at £6.99 or as a 3 vehicle set for £14.95.









Rounding out the force I have used Zvezda's 1/72 Art of Tactic PAK40, and an Academy models 1/72 Kubelwagen. The Kubel is a very simple kit, and can be obtained as part of a set alongside a Willy's Jeep, Kettenkrad and some stowage items for around £5-£8 on eBay.

The Zvezda PAK40 is designed as a wargames kit but is very detailed, and didn't come with instructions, so was a bit of a fight to assemble, and there are some odd moulding decisions with the crew, with hindsight I'd replace them with a metal set. Plastic Soldier Company have just brought out a very nice looking set of a PAK with RSO tractor though which could also be an option. The saving grace of the Zvezda PAK is that I think it cost around £3.50 including postage.

Paints used were Vallejo's Russian uniform as a base for the field grey, with increasing amounts of Vallejo deck tan mixed in, with a final highlight of pure deck tan, then a wash with a mix of army painter green and soft tone inks with a further final highlight of deck tan.

The StuG was painted with Vallejo Middlestone with some airbrushed highlights of Pale Sand, and a disruptive pattern of German Camo Dark Green and Black red lightly airbrushed over, with weathering achieved using a range of AK and MIG pigments and washes.

As ever you can see more of my work at Volley Fire Painting Service, and you can check out the Plastic Soldier Company range at their website.

28mm, 1/56 StuG Variants reviewed

In today's finale article of StuG week I will be looking at The Die Waffenkammer StuG I, in the camoflage with the foliage, and  Warlords StuG III D which is in grey primer (For now...!)

The StuG III D Was produced between May and September 1941and carried the short barreled 75mm gun, origionally intended to support infantry attacks but suppressing enemy positions and bunkers.
 As more StuGs were committed to Operation Barbarossa and the fighting in Russia the StuG proved itself to be a very effective tank destroyer, and this lead to it's evolution into the Ausf G as seen in the other kits I have reviewed earlier in the week.

Warlord released this kit last year and it's very simple, the hull and tracks are resin, whilst the hatches, gun, headlights and gun cleaning rods are metal. Apologies for not actually getting this one painted for the review, however I'll probably do a step buy step guide to how I airbrush a Panzer Grey model.

I really do love this model, there's something cool about the short barreled StuG, but this kit is very nice and cleanly cast, with very crisp and delicate detail, it just feels right. No instructions or decals are included, but it's simple enough not to require instructions.

Also reviewed here is the StuG IV from Die Waffenkammer. I've had this one done for a while, but wanted to include it for the sake of completness. The StuG IV was built to supplement production of the StuG III following heavy allied bombing on the Alkett factory outside of Berlin in late 1943, and the StuG IV was simple old or refurbished Panzer IV hulls with a StuG superstructure attached. They were issued from early 1944 up until the end of the war. Notabley the 17th SS Panzergrenadier division used StuG IV's in place of panzers during the battle of Normandy.

The comments used to describe Die Waffenkammers StuG III all apply to the IV as well, and I believe it even comes with a similar quantity of stowage. Again, it's a fantastic little model, and a fairly unique way to add flavour to a late war force.

There are other kits of the Ausf D and StuG IV on the market, however I've not been able to get my hands on them, I believe Army Group North do kits of both vehicles though, and I did do another StuG IV for a mate, but it was molded an orange resin, and was very crude. I'm not sure who produced it so I've not reviewed it here.

I hope you have found my series of StuG reviews interesting and useful, and if there are any other vehicles you would like me to provide a similar themed review series on let me know either in the comments section or though the Volley Fire Painting Services Facebook page.


Warlords StuG III D can be purchased here at Warlords website.

Die Waffenkammer kits can be purchesed either through the website here Or through one of their regional distributors such as Campaign Games and Logisitcs in Australia, and Great Escape Games in the UK.

I'd like to extend my thanks to Warlord Games and Rubicon Models for providing the plastic StuGs that were reviewed earlier on, keep up the great work guys!

28mm 1/56 StuG III Ausf G kit round up and comparison.

Day 4 of StuG week and here is the round up of all 4 kits reviewed. I'm not sure if Warlords resin kit is going to remain available, however I have included it in the comparisons as I'm sure many people will be familiar with this model. 



In the attached photos the vehicles are as follows, the plain sand vehicle is Blitzkriegs, the sand and green vehicle numbered 221 is Warlords new plastic. The sand with heavy over spray of brown, large number 13 and heave covering of foliage is Warlords old kit. The sand green and brown vehicle numbered 222 is Rubicons and finally the vehicle with the heavy brown over spray and missing Schurzen panels is Die Waffenkammers.

First of all I have prepared a brief table to compare what I feel to be the salient points of the various kits listed to allow you to see at a glance what appeals to you most in a model. 

I'll let the pictures do alot of the work here as the models can speak for their own quality, all are very good though, and you won't be disappointed with any of them. 

  From this we can see the plastic kits are much more time consuming to build, however they are easier to convert and add battle damage too if that's your thing, and personally I prefer working with plastic as well, it reminds me of building the old Airfix and Matchbox kids from the newsagent as a kid!

In terms of price all the models are around the same, Die Waffenkammer though wins out through sheer amount of stowage and extra parts. Warlord however are offering their kit in a boxed set of 3 with some figures from their forthcoming panzer grenadier set for £50, and if your looking to get several vehicles it's very hard to beat this offer. 

In terms of detail, for me Warlords new plastic kit is the best of the bunch, with Die Waffenkammers a close second. It was hard to pic between them however Warlord crispness and finesse won it for me. 

Rubicon and Blitzkriegs models are both very sturdy, and Rubicons has a lot of flexibility in that you can interchange weapons and Schruzen without gluing the parts in place. Warlord does allow the swapping of weapons as well however. Also impressive are the amount of variants possible with Rubicons kit, although these do need to be fixed in place.

Warlord and Die Waffenkammers kits both come with crew figures, with Die Waffenkammer's having more men than hatches! 

Individual reviews of each kit can be found at the links below
Blitzkrieg
Die Waffenkammer
Warlord
Rubicon 

I think overall my favourite is Warlords new plastic kit just for it's sheer finesse, however Die Waffenkammers kit is superb, however the plastic is my preferred medium to work with. Rubicons is an excellent model as well, and great if you want a lot of flexibility out of a kit, whilst Blitzkriegs is marvelously elegant and simple, so there is no real out right winner, but hopefully I'll be able to help you in picking a kit that appeals to you.  

As ever more of my work can be seen here at Volley Fire Painting Services. If you'd like to contact me either leave a message on the blog or through Volley Fire, and if there are any other series of kits you'd like me to treat in a similar to StuG week let me know!

Rubicon Models 28mm 1/56 StuG III Review

Day 3 of StuG week and this time it's Rubicons new plastic StuG kit!

Today's StuG facts concern the operators of the StuG. Unlike most German vehicles the vehicle was operated by by quite a few nations. Apart from Germany, the StuG was operated by Romania, Finland, Bulgaria, Hungry, Italy, Norway, Spain, Syria, Turkey, Russia, Sweden and Yugoslavia.

Rubicon's StuG is currently up for pre-order with it's various distributors, and comes on 3 sprues along with instructions and transfers. The kit is smartly molded in dark grey hard plastic, and is very cleanly molded. You get options to build early, mid and late versions of the StuG, with optional super structure roofs, early square and late Saukopf gun mantlets, both types of Machine gun mount, optional stowage bin rails for the engine deck, optional open or closed crew hatches, optional spare tracks for the front hull, early and late 75mm guns, and also a 105mm StuH 42 weapon too. The kit also includes clip on Scurzen.

Detail is good, although the tread pattern on the anti slip decking is a little pronounced. If you wanted to you could lightly sand it so it doesn't stand out quite so much. Pioneer tools and machine guns are nicely done too, and quite delicate. I did find the late style V shaped remote control machine gun mounting a bit thick for my tastes though, and opted to use the earlier style mounting instead.



Assembly is fairly quick, and the tracks are one piece with separate wheel halves that attach at the rear to show the two part nature of the wheels. The only draw back to this is that there is no tread detail other than the teeth of the tracks, and the inside runs are smooth apart from the guide teeth.

The Scurzen is clip on, similar in style to that found in Rubicons Panzer III and Panzer IV kits, and is designed more for strength and gaming rather than modelling, as it doesn't include any hanging rails or supports. The fit is quite secure, but I'd still suggest a little caution when handing the model with the Schurzen on if your not intending to glue them into place.




The main guns are also optional, and you can fit either the 105mm gun for the StuH or the StuG's 75 mm gun, and these are designed to be interchangeable, however the tolerances are quite tight, and I painted my weapons before adding them to the vehicle, and found that I couldn't get the 75mm out again once it was in place. the gun mantlet fits onto a bar in the superstructure, and I didn't want to try using too much force as the part could have snapped, and I didn't want to loose my weeks supply of gruntle.

Painting was the same as for the other models, so instead of repeating myself I'll talk about how I do the scratches and chips to the paint work.

1. Paint the model, all the camo and decals, but before any washes.

2. Get a piece of packing foam from a blister pack, tear off a chunk so it's a rough triangle shape then dip this in some dark reddish brown paint, I use Vallejo hull red, but any's good, then dab and drag the foam over the model in a random pattern, adding more dabs to areas of high use and anywhere you want to have more damage to the paint.

3. Get another peice of packing foam, and dip it in a dark metallic colour, I like Vallejo Gun Metal, though Bolt Gun Metal is equally as good. Do the same dabbing of paint onto the model, but restrict yourself to areas already hit with the dark red colour. This will give the impression of bare metal showing through the priming layers.

4. Mix whatever colour you used for the bulk of the model with some white in a roughly 50-50 ratio. In the case of these StuG's I used Middlestone and White from the Vallejo range. Then, using a very fine brush paint this onto the edges of the scratches you made using the foam, you don't have to paint around the entire edge, just a little dot or a scrape is fine as it gives the look of peeling paint catching the light.

5. Give the model a coat of gloss varnish, anyone you like. Personally I use Pledge Multi surface wax as it's none reactive to paint and very cheap, but whatever you have to hand works. Leave the model to dry for 24 hours.

6. Using artists oils Burnt Umber mix a thin wash and paint this into the recesses and also let it run to create streaking. Add  as much or as little as you like. to show wear and tear.


I found Rubicons StuG to be a quick and simple model to build, the details not quite as refined as on other kits, but it will be a sturdy model for the gaming table and does look nice.











The other StuG week reviews can be found at the following links :-
Die Waffenkammer
Blitzkrieg
Warlord

You can find Rubicon's distributor in your region here

As always more of my work can be seen at Volley Fire Painting Services

Die Waffenkammer/JTFM Enterprises StuG III Ausf G review

More StuG goodness now! This time with the JTFM/Die Waffenkammer StuG III.

The StuG III was actually quite a diminutive vehicle, even by the standards of the day being only just over 7 feet tall and 9 wide, and 22 feet long including the gun. The vehicle still managed to weigh 23 tonnes, and had a maximum armour thickness of 80mm's. StuG's carried a crew of 5 and 54 rounds of ammunition for it's 75mm main armament. 








The StuG had a top speed of around 25mph and used about 1 gallon of fuel per mile traveled. The last recorded combat use of a StuG III was in 1967 in the Six Day War when it was used by Syrian forces. Bulgaria also had some dug into it's borders as static emplacements until relatively recently.

JTFM Enterprises, or as is more correctly know Die Waffenkammer produce a fairly large range of exquisite resin vehicles in 1/56 scale. Much like the Blitzkrieg Miniatures StuH 42 I reviewed here the Die Waffenkammer model comes in only a few main parts, notabley the tracks, hull, Schurzen rails, Scurzen plates, choice of machine gun, and main gun, as well as figures and a bag of stowage. 

It's worth mentioning the sheer amount of options this kit comes with. Firstly you have the choice of building either a StuH42 or Ausf G with anti tank gun, then if you pick the anti tank gun you have a choice between the standard box mantlet, or later Saukopfblend rounded one. Also included are the earlier style plate gun shield for the MG34, and the later remote controlled weapon mount. Finally, the kit is the only one to come with separate Scurzen rails and Schurzen plates, allowing you to easily model missing plates of Schurzen. 

In terms of accessories, the kit is very generously appointed, all the stowage on this one including the stowage rack around the engine deck were included, and the model comes with all the stowage shown both on this model and the Blitzkrieg one. So much in fact I even had some spare. The model also comes with 3 crew figures to give you even more options and spares.

Detail wise the kit is fantastic, and builds a spectacular representation of this vehicle. When assembling the vehicle with Schurzen though you may wish to reinforce the plates as they are quite delicate. It's not possible to have swappable guns straight from the box, however if you wished to magnetize the model you could do so.

To paint the Die Waffenkammer StuG I again used the same techniques listed in the Warlord Stug Review here.
It is even more important than ever to use a decent primer on Die Waffenkammer models however, and details of this are included on the models instruction sheet.
Foliage was seafoam, added as described in the Blitzkrieg StuH review.

The Die Waffenkammer website can be found here, however there can be quite a long wait between placing an order and receiving the models as Jeff has always got a vast amount of orders. It's worth being patient though as you'll get a very nice model at the end. Alternatively, if you can't wait check out the list of distributers on the page and it will list the stockists local to your country.

In conclusion, a beautiful kit, with no real flaws. As ever more of my work can be seen at Volley Fire Painting Services 

Tomorrow I will be reviewing Rubicons new plastic StuG, and on Sunday I will be writing a comparative piece of all 4 StuGs mentioned, and also including Warlords older Resin model too.  

Links to the other reviews can be found below:-

Blitzkrieg

Rubicon
Warlord

1/56 Blitzkrieg StuH 42 Review

Second article for StuG week sees me reviewing Blitzkrieg miniatures 1/56 scale StuH 42.  You can read part one where I review Warlords new plastic StuG III here.

The StuH 42 was introduced into service in March 1943 and served right through until the end of the war. It was designed to provide greater infantry support capability on the proven StuG III chassis, and all but a few prototypes were built using the StuG III G Hull, and fitting it with a 105mm howitzer, with nearly 1300 being produced by the end of the war.


Blitzkrieg have a growing reputation for producing excellent vehicle kits in both 1/56 and 1/48 scale. The models couldn't be simpler to build and come in the bare minimum of parts. The StuH 42 consisted of a solid hull, separate gun, and separate hatches and machine gun mount, the model took around 5 minutes to build, and required the barest minimum of cleaning up.

When working with resin it's vitally important to wash the models in warm soapy water, and use a proper primer. I use an enamel car primer from Supadec, you can pick it up for about £5 on Ebay, although Halfords do a superb primer as well. It's important to use an enamel primer as it's much harder wearing and acrylic primers don't tend to get as much purchase on the resin as these. 

Once I'd left the primer to dry 24 hours I sprayed the model with Vallejo Middlestone using the same techniques to bring light and shade to the kit as described in my review of Warlords kit.

To make the foliage I use seafoam sprigs and leaves purchased from Antenocitis workshop. To prepare them select a sprig, paint it with pva glue and sprinkle it with the leaves. Leave it to dry for a few hours and then cut off some small amounts using references as a guide to the sizes used on the real thing.

Stowage and crew figures came from the JTFM/Die Waffenkammer kit, which is reviewed here

The only negatives to the model are that it doesn't have any Scurzen plates, and I found in a few places the detail wasn't as crisp as I'd like. On the plus side though the model is very strong, and couldn't be simpler to build!Overall Blitzkriegs StuH is a very nice and simple model and if you are pressed for time and want something ready to go pretty much straight from the box, its a great model.

Antenocitis workshop can be found here


Links to the other StuG reviews for Stug week can be found at these links

Die Waffenkammer
Rubicon
Warlord
Blitzkrieg miniatures can be purchased from here

As ever, my work can be viewed at Volley Fire Painting Services