Operation Meerkat Allotment

This week sees a start to the airborne.  These are going to be a mix of British and Polish troops, the only distinguishing feature being the way in which the beret is worn.  Warlord helpfully provide their usual assortment of heads, therefore I’m going with a handful of Poles, a handful of Brits and the majority wearing helmets to bulk out either force.

Meanwhile, the Germans are going to need some reinforcements…

The second squad is done.

There are a few changes for the second squad.  I switched from black to a dark grey, experimented with a darker shade of flock in a couple of places and used the larger camouflage pattern.

The plan for the next phase is to move over to the Allied forces mustering for the assault.

It has taken a little longer than hoped but the second squad is now complete.

The main changes were to switch from black to dark grey and slightly larger patterns on the camouflage.  The assault rifles were painted a mixture of dark grey and gun metal then given two coats of black wash in order to dull the metallic shine.  I’ve also experimented with a darker flock for some shadows.  The skin highlighting needs a little more work next time.

That’s twenty soldiers done.

Next up, for a change, it is time to move to the Allied forces mustering in Southern England.

The second squad is a little different to the first in that they are armed with Sturmgewehr 44 (StG44) rather than Karabiner 98K (K98k) and Gewehr 43 (G43) rifles.  While the K98k is a bolt action rifle and the Gewehr a semi-automatic, the StG44 is an assault rifle.  The way to distinguish the rifles are the short magazines in the G43 rifles while the K98k rifles have none.  There is also significantly less metal at the front end of the G43s.

Consulting the manual, the gun is almost completely metallic black with the exception of the stock which is matt black.

The squad also has some camo nets on their helmets rather than the mix of plain helmets and camo covers of the first squad.  The manual shows these are typically the same dark green helmets with grey nets over them.

With the colours sorted and the models undercoated, it’s time to get painting!

There are a few obvious areas for improvement.

• The camouflage pattern needs to be bigger.  I was trying to avoid it being a chunky pattern but it needs more practise.
• The flesh could perhaps do with another lighter highlight.  The same goes for the main uniforms and the regular helmets.
• The black paint is past its best and wasn’t flowing quite right.  I may try a very dark grey next time.
• The EVA used to glue the scatter was not as sticky as hoped and left a few patches, despite a thorough covering.

Any constructive feedback for further improvements or alternative techniques are welcome!

Meanwhile a helpful paint summary to serve as a reminder for later units

• Undercoat – 50/50 Vallejo Surface Primer Grey and Black
• Uniform – VMC German Fieldgrey WWII 70.830
• Camo and bread bags – VMC German Camo Beige WWII 70.821
• Boots – VMC Leather Brown 70.871
• Straps, belts and metal – 90/10 VMC Black 70.950 and VMC Neutral Grey 70.992
• Helmets and grenades – VMC German Camo Dark Green 70.979
• Flesh – Panzer Aces Flesh Base 341
• Rifles – VMC Mahogany 70.846
• Metal highlights –  VMC Gunmetal 70.863
• Bases – Citadel Foundation Calthan Brown
• Washes – Citadel Agrax Earthshade, Flesh Wash, Red Wash

Next up is another German unit.

The first squad for this project will be German Heer Grenadiers from Warlord.

Next up will be starting the brush work.