US airborne 75mm pack howitzer battery

An entirely Pendraken unit of 75mm pack howitzers crewed by US airborne troops. They are the Ardennes airborne figures - which I really like and will be doing and airborne infantry platoon in the Ardennes equipment at some point.

I have most of my US artillery done now except for the Priests which are half way through.

The supply / objective marker is made from the odds and ends that come in the various Takara versus sets.

US 57mm anti-tank guns

Something else that has been on the work bench for a while - waiting to paint the rest of the crews, which became much easier when I got my new glasses!

Two 57mm anti-tank guns platoons, one for normal US infantry and one for the Paras. The guns are Takara which I have repainted (the Takara Pak 40 and Russian 76mm I just give a wash and a dry brush but the 57mm does not have quite the right colour so I repaint for the Americans and British).

Bog standard infantry version is with Pendraken crews:

The crew for the Paras/ Airborne platoon are Arrowhead (actually bought when they were still called Wargames South):

US 105mm artillery and trucks

Just finished my 105mm howitzer battery for the Americans. This is a real mix of manufacturers. The guns themselves are Minfigs but their crew are a bit small compared to my infantry (from Arrowhead and Pendraken) so I have used Pendraken crews - as I have said in earlier posts Pendraken are really helpful and will provide any mix of individual figures on request to make up artillery crews. The trucks are Pithead - the GMC 352 105mm artillery tractor; this has just been released and it looks truly excellent. To be honest I was surprised I could be so please with a truck!

The overview of the battery:

Some close ups of the guns and crew:

The staff stand with a makeshift table made from a crate that comes in the Takara versus sets (I forget which one). Map is a print of a real WW2 map found on the internet scaled way down.

And now those lovely trucks:

M12 self propelled 155mm artillery

I have finally finished my M12 battery. This Pendraken model came out in summer 2012 and I picked 4 up at the Birthday Bash event when they were first released. I did one to work out how I wanted to do it and came second in the single vehicle category of the 2013 Pendraken painting competition. But the rest have sat half done for over a year and a half. I have been trying to finish off everything that is on my work bench (a terrible habit I have of getting distracted with the latest thing!). I have also done some crew figures on a separate base to indicate when they are in firing position - again Pendraken figures.

I really like this model and it comes up extremely well - I think my favorite Pendraken vehicle.

PaK40 auf RSO

4 PaK40 auf RSO  from Metal Troops (1/144).

As they are metal, even though pre-painted, I have glued on to bases to protect them and then added lots of tufts to give the effect of skulking in high grass. I gave the vehicles a wash first to enhance the detail.

Sherman DDs - swimming

Another unit towards my D-Day armies. These are Gramodel Sherman DDs in swimming mode. Resin kits and they are waterline with the canvas sides up. A British tank commander is part of the turret casting. While they will only be on the table for a short time (either getting sunk or making the beach), I couldn't resit them when ordering other vehicles.Very happy with how they have turned out.

Gramodels are actually 1/150 but can be used quite happily with 10mm and 1/144 scale (see Sherman comparisons post).

Marder III and Marder III M

Some more Panzer Korps 1/144 kits - the Marder III and Marder III M.

I have had the Can.Do (that is the pre-painted versions) before but could never get enough for a unit so I sold them. But during a recent trip to the Far East I manage to get hold of quite a few Panzer Korps kits so I can do full platoons. Each kit comes with two vehicles and this set has both a Marder III and Marder III M.

The Marder III I painted in panzer grey. I really like panzer grey when it can be used appropriately and it really suits the Marder III. The kit itself goes together very well and is very nicely detailed

The Marder III M I painted in German sand and green camouflage. Again a nice kit with lovely detail but this is a bit more of a pain to put together, but the effort is certainly worth while.