653. Schwere Panzerjägerabteilung - Elefants

Ever since I came across the Flames of War briefing for this unit I was keen to make one. And as I generally like to complete things I have done it at full strength. Not quite sure when I will get all 12 Elefants on the table but I am sure I can come up with some scenarios that require the Germans to move with tricky conditions so vehicles get left behind.

If you are interested here is a link to the FOW briefing.

I have done the more interesting HQ unit:

• Tiger (P) VK 4501 (i.e. the Porsche Tiger 1);
• Bergepanther with a stationary Panzer IV turret;
• Bergepanther with a quad 2cm anti-aircraft gun;
• Bergepanzer Elefant recovery vehicle.

 and for the Flak platoon:

• T-34 with a quad 2cm anti-aircraft gun.

I will talk about where these all came from alongside the pictures.

Can Do models are better painted than Takara but the downside is that it is then difficult to match colour if you want to change the tank numbers. For Takara it is easy to paint over the numbers and add new ones so a unit has a proper sequential numbering. I did not want to ruin the paint jobs so I made do with tanks having the same number.

This first platoon are all numbered 501 but I have added a Pithead crew man to one to indicate the command tank. All vehicles throughout have a wash of Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade and mud effect on the tracks and wheels.

The next platoon has three vehicles numbered 211 and the command tank with number 102.

The next platoon has three vehicles numbered 322 and the command tank with number 102.

The HQ

Tiger (P) VK 4501

This is a Takara model with a wash of Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade and mud on the wheels and tracks. There is a case special for the Can Do Elefant set (series 8) which is the actual tank for this unit but I have not managed to get hold of one. At some point I will do a Takara version with the right turret number.

Bergepanther with a stationary Panzer IV turret 

This is a Takara Panther hull with a Takara Panzer IV turret fixed to the hull. As normal a wash and mud on the wheels. Some crosses added to the turret armour.

Bergepanther with a quad 2cm anti-aircraft gun

This is a Takara Panther hull with a Minifigs 20mm quad painted to match and glued in place. A wash and mud applied. Some cross decals added to the front of the hull side.

Bergepanzer Elefant recovery vehicle

This is a pre-painted Can Do model (series 8) with a wash and mud applied.

T-34 with a quad 2cm anti-aircraft gun

This is a CDG model. I bought the pre-painted version. It is an early model so was when their 3D printing gave a fairly rough finish but it is not bad actually. I gave it a bit more of a dry brush and added mud.

For an easy way to see all my WW2 posts check out the WW2 Summary page.

British TOG 2 heavy tank

I got my first Shapeways models a couple of months ago and while the end result looked quite nice I was far from impressed with the quality of the casting. Those were in a reasonably expensive material, British Boarhound armoured cars, but the sides were like raggedly cut wood. It took 25 layers of acrylic paint to smooth everything out. That would have been the end of it but I got some Russian biplanes at the same time from the cheapest material and while a bit grainy it was consistent all over and does not look too bad. I decided to give the TOG 2 heavy tank a go after someone mentioned it over on the Pendraken forum. While the cheapest material it is still not cheap as a big item - just under £12, but there was a free postage offer at the time so that was the total price.

Unlike CGD at least Shapeways needs no removing of huge amounts of sprue and so it was quick to get into painting and I just sprayed it a few more times to help with the roughness and then did two layers of acrylic (with no flow enhancer) and that was sufficient to give a reasonable final finish. I decide to do the basic British green and not the 3 tone camouflage you can see on some versions - I was not convinced it would look that good at this scale with a reasonably smooth model (i.e. the large flat slabs have no detail like rivets or anything like that).

I am really pleased with the final model and may get myself one or two more next time there is a free postage offer on.

A few comparisons now of other monster tanks to give an idea of size.

First a Russian KV 5 (a resin kit).

Next a British Tortoise A39 (a CGD 3D printed model):

And finally a German Maus tank (a CanDo model):

For an easy way to see all my WW2 posts check out the WW2 Summary page.

British Congreve rocket unit

I have a huge pile of things to bases for Napoleonics - both my stuff, some repaints of eBay purchases and a load of things from Perfect Six (who has been a big boon on helping my armies along given the amount of 10mm WW2 I have to do). I am about to have my winter break - hate doing things when it gets too dark and cold - but decided to do this final Napoleonic item before I stop.

Everything is from the Adler 6mm congreve rocket pack.

The figures and horses were painted by Perfect Six. I made and painted the rockets and painted the two carts. I have just now finished basing it all up. I decided to do it as a diorama type base with everything on it rather than artillery bases for the two rockets and then basing the horses and carts separately. Basically because it is a single unit not one of many and the chances are the horses and carts would never see the light of day on the table otherwise (I don't use limbers on the game table).

In real life the horses would be much further back but it has to be a reasonable size for the games table - plus if you took into account gaming ground scale they are probably miles away!

[click on the photos for larger versions]

Also for an easy way to see all my Napoleonic posts check out the Napoleonic summary page.