Manda (Amachan) goes to the Eastern Front

That is the first shading pass done on the second batch of 15mm WWII Soviet Cossack M1891 riflemen and I have 1 rifle to repair…

I started on the second set of 15mm WWII Soviet Cossack riflemen.

Here is a little scale comparison of a 15mm model for those unaware of how small a 15mm model is.

What do you need:
A Base
AK Interactive Diorama Terrains Wet Ground (AK8016)
AK Interactive Summer Kursk Earth (AK080)
Cotton Buds
Static Grass Applicator
PVA Glue
GaleForce 9 Hobby Round: Green Static Grass (GFS001)
GaleForce 9 Hobby Round: Parched Straw Static Grass (GFS002)

Apply the Wet Ground to the base liberally. You can use various tools with some water to make simple tracks or footprints in the ground. And then let it fully dry.
Apply a liberal coat of the Summer Kursk Earth over the base and remove the excess with some cotton buds. Again, let that fully cure.
And then for the final step prepare a mix of roughly 50-50 Green Static Grass and Parched Straw Static Grass in you static grass applicator. Then apply a coat of PVA glue to the areas where you want the grass and the use the static grass applicator to apply the grass. Shake off the excess and when dry that’s your base done.

Obviously this will change somewhat in the future as I change the static grass. AK Interactive Diorama Puddles (AK8028) can be added in places as well before applying the static grass.

First of all I am redoing all the paint schemes I designed before for this project. Currently I just have the Soviet infantry one done and that is also what I am focussing on first. I will still be doing the 5th SS Panzerdivision “Wiking”, but let’s focus on one thing first. I have changed the basing scheme I am using, something I will address in a different post with a tutorial. I will be using the miniatures as individual miniatures for the most part and prepare the Flames of War bases as magnetic movement trays. This way I can still use it for Flames of War, but I am not stuck to having a set amount of miniatures glued to a base. Apart from that nothing has really changed. I am still going to torture myself by sculpting 15mm Papakhas on miniatures…..

Step 1: Cutting the miniatures of the sprue, cleaning them up. Drilling a hole in the base and gluing a 2x1mm magnet in the base. And finally sculpting a Papakha on 2/3rd of the miniatures.

Step 2: Apply a coat of AK Interactive Primer and Microfiller Grey (AK758).

Step 3: Apply a basecoat of Vallejo Model Air German Green Brown (71.272) over the whole model.

Step 4: Apply the acrylic base coats according to the following scheme:

• Bags/Canvas: Vallejo Model Color Green Grey (70.886)
• Belts: Vallejo Panzer Aces Leather Belt (70.312)
• Boots: Vallejo Panzer Aces Dark Rubber (70.306)
• Hair: Vallejo Model Color Chocolate Brown (70.872)
• Helmet: Vallejo Model Color Refractive Green (70.890)
• Komissar Cap & Trousers: Scale 75 Scalecolor Mediterranean Blue (SC-51)
• Metal bits: Vallejo Metal Color Burnt Iron (77.721)
• Papakha: Vallejo Model Color Flat Red (70.957) on top and Vallejo Model Color Black Grey (70.862) around the rim. And then a cross of Scale 75 Scalecolor Sol Yellow (SC-40) on top and dot with the same yellow up front.
• Pouches: Vallejo Model Color Red Leather (70.818)
• RGD-33 Stick Grenade: Vallejo Model Color Brown Sand (70.876)
• Skin: Scale 75 Scalecolor Golden Skin (SC-19)
• Trousers: On a roll of a 5+ on a D6 the model will get the Cossack trousers which will be painted with Scale 75 Scalecolor Cantabric Blue (SC-53) and the a Vallejo Model Color Flat Red (70.957) stripe on the side. The other trousers will just be in the basecoat from Step 3.
• Wood: Vallejo Panzer Aces New Wood (70.311)

Anything I missed will be added later.

Step 4.5: Kind of part of Step 4, but better to separate it. I will use the rim of the base in different colour to easily differentiate between the different types of units on the tabletop. This is my base rim colour chart:

• Riflemen – Scale 75 Scalecolor Black (SC-00)
• SMG Infantry – Vallejo Model Color Refractive Green (70.890)
• LMG/MMG/HMG – Scale 75 Scalecolor Irati Green (SC-43)
• Anti-tank – AK Interactive Acrylic Colors Dirty Yellow (AK11043)
• NCO – AK Interactive Acrylic Colors Medium Orange (AK11078)
• Officer – Vallejo Model Color Flat Red (70.957)
• Morale Officer – Vallejo Model Color Medium Blue (70.963)
• Artillery – Vallejo Model Color Blue Violet (70.811)
• Recon/Observer – Vallejo Model Color Mahogany Brown (70.846)
• Medic – AK Interactive Acrylic Colors Grimy Grey (AK11008)

Step 5: A thinned coat of Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylic Mediums Matt Varnish (3040802). If the model contains any metal bits it will be preceded by a gloss coat of whatever I have available.

Step 6: 2 coats of AK Interactive Streaking Grime (AK012) drying it in between using a hairdryer and after that remove most of the excess using cotton buds and mineral spirits.

Step 7: Add a coat of AK Interactive Diorama Terrains Wet Ground (AK8016) to the base.

Step 8: Brush on a coat of AK Interactive Summer Kursk Earth (AK080), dry that with a hairdryer and then remove the excess with cotton buds without mineral spirits.

Step 9: Add a little bit of AK Interactive Diorama Puddles (AK8028) if appropriate and do another coat over the rim of the base according to Step 4.5.

After that they will look something like this:

I will be adding a static grass coat to the models at a later date as I am not entirely happy with the colour of the static grass I have now.

I have been struggling with massive disabilities causing me to not be able to paint or build miniatures. The major disabilities limiting my hobby are tremors in my right hand making it very unstable and lots of pain in my left which I was learning to paint with. I am getting physiotherapy to try and help me cope with the disabilities, but I am not sure it is going to solve anything. I do not know if I will be able to return to miniature painting and such and for now I am starting a new project involving LEGO, something I can do with my disabilities.

A couple of updates.
A small correction from earlier on in the project. I said I was making 3 Panzer III Ausf. J and 1 Ausf. L, I got it wrong they are all Panzer III Ausf. L, the command one is just the uparmoured variant. The Panzer Ausf. J actually has a shorter gun and all of these were planned to be with the longer 5cm gun.
For the change to Battlegroup, until I actually have the rules and can make new army lists, I am still going to roughly follow my Flames of War armylists that I made before.

On to building some tanks.
I wanted to go over the way I apply the magnets to magnetize the turrets onto the tanks. A couple of steps I do just make it a lot easier for me.
In these Panzer III kits the top of the hull does have a hole where you mount the magnet, but the turret bottom does not. By adding a hole to it it makes it easier for air and excess glue to get out so you’re not pushing against that too.

I then put a bit of thin superglue on top of the magnet and force it in it’s hole and the magnets sit completely flush in the hole they are supposed to be in. For the top I can easily just press the top and the magnet on my desk, but the turret on is a bit more recessed. So I used a couple more magnets to push it in.

Now for the Befehlspanzer III, this is an uparmoured variant of the Ausfahrung L. I did not want to make one with the laundry rack on the back, so I went looking for command versions of the Panzer III.

I came across this one, which is obviously later than the one I am doing, but I decided to make something similar to this. The first picture itself is not very clear and that’s why I looked at other models doing a similar idea.

I used a bit of greenstuff to make the mount for the antenna on the rear and used the already existing mount on the side to mount one as well. I used some soft broom bristles as the antennas as I think this would be flexible enough for wargaming as well. I did not want to go for the forked antenna as I don’t want to make that at 1:100 scale and don’t think it would be strong enough for wargaming anyway. So these 2 antennas will do. With some of the excess greenstuff I prepared I did a couple more Kuban Cossack hats for the ZiS-3 gun crew on the Soviet side.

A couple of changes to this project. I am first of all not going to try to post everyday, like I did before. It is just not going to work with my health to do something everyday and there is a limit to how many WWII memes I can post. Secondly I am changing the game I am focussing on to Battlegroup. From what I have seen this is a better game than Flames of War. These armies will still be viable for Flames of War and I am still going to get the stuff to play Flames of War, but it is not my main focus. That means that until I get the rulebooks I am not entirely sure what I am doing with my armylists. That does not mean I can’t do anything, I can still get a lot build and painted following historical references I have and there is the pink panther as well. A new paint recipe for both armies will follow once I have that figured out. And then it is the basing. Battlegroup does work with individual miniatures so what I am going to do is turn the Flames of War bases into movement trays. Still valid for Flames of War, but also good for Battlegroup and maybe even 15mm Bolt Action which I have heard is also good.

To start off I have not very precisely marked the centre of each base slot for drilling.

I then drilled a 3mm hole in them.

Put 3x1mm magnets inside.

And put a bit of thin superglue at the bottom to help hold the magnets in place.

I then drilled a 2mm hole in the bottom of a handfull of models and just waiting until I can get some 2x1mm magnets to fit into them.

This will obviously work for my plans of magnetic carrying solutions for miniatures, I am just not sure yet how I am going to do that with vehicles. I am thinking of not basing the vehicles so I need to think of a solution. If you know one, let me know.

And that is how my Eastern Front project is going to develop from now on.

With my health getting worse and no idea if this or when this gets better, I have decided to take a break from doing any hobby for a while. While it boosts my mental health being able to do something every day, it is really detrimental to it when I try to do it and it is just getting more and more difficult to do any if I can do any at all. With everything currently going on with my health, I am not just struggling with my hobby, I struggle doing some of the basic things I need to do everyday. I am still awaiting the blood test results from my doctor which are taking longer as the sample had to be send to a different laboratory that could do the testing and even then that can only specify one thing that we hope is the issue, otherwise it’s on to a specialist to figure it out.

So when this gets better, or when I have good days, I might be able to do something and post something, but don’t expect regular updates for a while.

Alternatively, I could just post World War 2 related memes everyday…..