Konflikt 47 Whalestorm's First Foray

For my next additions to the Axis force, I am building some options for weapon teams, medic, spotters and forward observers. To that end, I am using the Victrix German Heavy Weapon Support bag to make (very) late war Germans.

The “Problem” –

This version of the late war German bag provides:

3 Weapon team sprues – 12 bodies for 3 Mortars and 3 MMGs, that’s 2 per weapon

2 Main Infantry Sprues – 20 bodies, where 6 would ordinarily be added to the team bases to bulk them up to a Konflikt 47 3-man team. Additionally, each sniper (I want 2) or panzerschreck (just 1) would remove 2 more bodies each. Leaving 8 bodies for additional spotters, Forward Observers (and friends), Medic and a Platoon Commander and their buddies.

At this point, I need to add that, while this kit is really nice, with great detail and a lot of options, some bits are very much designed for certain bodies and I am not confident enough to sculpt or reshape to increase my options.

I don’t want to limit myself by sticking down my third man on the weapon teams. I want to maximise my options. What if I want to run Binocularman as a Forward Observer instead of sticking them to the Mortar team base? Or even, run him as a spotter while still using the Mortar team. I would need to add someone else to the mortar base to act as the third member of the team.

Lets cut to the chase, the plan is to add a slot to fit a 25mm base into the larger 60mm base.

The solution:

At this point, I added some cut-off sprue bits to raise the ammo boxes to puddle height while keeping them secure. This will help me make them look like they are sitting on the base material by squishing it underneath, and I can angle/pose them to look like they are leaning or sitting on a mound etc.

Finally, I added my first layer of basing material.

It is a mix of approximately:

• About 1/2 total volume of Play sand (nice and fine)
• Wall filler
• PVA glue (1:1 with the Wall filler)
• A dot of Black craft paint
• Same but with Yellow craft paint (just to make it a bit of a dirty grey, I will eventually just do brown and add the paste after priming but my local crafty shop was out of brown and I have these colours for now)
• Water and/or more sand to taste

I keep this in a small plastic tub and if it starts to dry out, a bit more PVA and Water tends to sort it out. I also use water to thin it for certain areas e.g. around feet, using a bit of paper towel to absorb some water once I am happy with the location/coverage.

Once dry, I will see if the height is ok, maybe add some more paste and then I can prime and paint them up.