Normandy Farmhouse Painted.

Hello there and welcome back to another episode of this old Scratchbuilt House. This project started a long time ago and was completely scrapped at least once. That is, I built the original house and after several attempts at trying to make it with stackable floors, then gluing it back together, the whole thing began to fall apart. So I started again and completed it by applying the things I had learned on the first attempt. Then it sat for a while on my desk because I had other projects going on or was just making excuses not to paint it because I knew it was going to be a pain the ass to paint. Lots of windows and doors and details like the spouting were going to take more careful painting then I looked forward to.

When I finally started painting it I quickly realized I lacked the kinds of brushes that would really help me paint this efficiently and accurately without having to do too many touch ups. So I picked up a nice variety pack of flat brushes (both bristle and sable) and these really helped. They were also cheap because when you paint scenery it is really hard on the brushes. For $4.95 for the pack I had the brushes I needed but could stand to abuse.

Here it is with the painting completed, or at least mostly. There are some touch ups to do, and I haven't decided if I want to do detailed interiors just yet, so for now it is just hollow with a lift off roof and lift out second floor. I'm thinking of temporarily printing out a floor layout and laying it inside. Also, I haven't added any ivy on the outside like you see on old French buildings like this. I might use ivy to cover up some of the seams on the foamcore you see in my construction work. I should have taken more time to hide those joins better. I'll do that on the next project.

The Front of the Farmhouse:



The back of the Farmhouse:



Front Door Detail:



Chimney with exposed stonework:



Rain spout (I learned alot about doing these I hope to apply later. The tricky part was getting the spouting and the roof to line up. You really have to plan ahead.):



Farmhouse with 28mm Miniatures showing the actual footprint of the building (Miniatures are converted half squad of Battle Honors EW Germans):



Summer Kitchen:



Lift off roof and removable second floor:



Hope you enjoyed.

To finish this Farmhouse project off, I plan to paint the set of walls I built to go with it and which attach to the garage/barn I had built earlier. This will complete the farmhouse complex, after which I want to start building the first of a set of French Village houses and shops.

28mm Waffen SS platoon (Mid War).

Continuing with my forgotten Photobucket images theme: 28mm Waffen SS, also from Battle Honors. I love these figures, they are some of Battle Honors best. I still think they have one of the most extensive and well rounded WWII lines out there. Who else makes Dragons Portes, Chasseurs Alpins, Italian Alpini, and Early War Soviets in such variety?

Here is the whole platoon kitted out for the Eastern Front from the end of Barbarossa until Stalingrad. I did them in fall pattern smocks and with a dead grass look for the Autumn.











Platoon Command:




















The models are actually a mix of Battle Honors SS and Early War Germans in tunics. Some of them I did head swaps to give the guys in tunics helmet covers.

Rifle Squad:












Pak 36 37mm AT Gun. These guys were converted from Heavy Machine Gun crew and officers:


















The same crew serving a Pak 38 50mm AT Gun:
















The same crew can be used for the 75mm IG I have as well.

And an Sdkfz 10 to tow them (Army Group North Miniatures):

















Transports (Army Group North Miniatures and JTFM)

Opel Blitz (I have 4):














Sdkfz 251 C halftracks:













No SS unit is complete without some tanks to back them up. Panzer III early with 37mm Guns (Army Group North):


















And a Panzer IV D (Army Group North):
















Might as well throw in a Stug III D (Army Group North):

















There is a 75mm IG to go with this platoon, as well as an AT rifle team, 5cm Mortar, 8cm Mortar, and an HMG but I don't have pics of those. Some of the pics have turned the Panzer Gray color on the tanks to a strange hue. I edited these a long time ago on some wonky software that came with the camera.

Hope you enjoy!

28mm French DLM Motorcycle Recon Platoon (France 1940).

From the files of forgotten Photobucket images: pics of my 28mm Battle Honors French Dragons Portes. These guys can be used as Dragons Portes from a Divisions Légères de Cavalerie (DLC) or Divisions Légères Mécaniques (DLM). They can be part of the Dragons Portes Regiment or from one of the motorcycle recon units. I wish someone made French motorcycles and side cars to go with them. I have to finish some extra LMGs for the squads though. Hope you enjoy! I will also be posting pictures of the French armor I have to go with them.

The whole platoon:










The Platoon Command:
















One of the squads:











Hotchkiss Heavy Machine Gun:



















Viv La France!

Mid War Soviets.

Wow has it been a long time since I updated. The holidays have a tendency to sneak up on you and before you know it a new year is upon you.

I decided to start the year off right by cleaning my painting table from top to bottom and getting myself organized. I also started to work up a list of unfinished projects I wanted to get off the table and out of the way so I can start on the new projects I want to complete this year.

I have had several platoons on the table now for all of last year with just a squad or two unpainted. The first one to get out of the way is my Mid War Battle Honors 28mm Soviet Platoon. I had completed a command section and two squads for some time, but needed to finish off the third squad and the heavy weapons to make a viable platoon for the table top. That is now complete.

Here is the result. I used a new filter on my free editing software that gives it a grainy war time photo look. Not sure if I like the result or not yet...



I am also experimenting with new photography techniques for miniatures. The biggest difference was learning to take better angles. Down low and in close has helped give me better results for taking pics of minis. I might need to go back and start retaking a lot of pics of my other miniature projects. That will have to wait for now though.

Here is one of the three rifle squads:



And the heavy weapons to support them:



I'm not happy with the pics of the Rifle Squad or Heavy Weapons, but I will have to take better photos later.

This makes a complete Mid War Soviet Rifle platoon with the bare bones of support.



I have two painted T-34 early models to go with them and a Zis-3 76mm AT Gun, but I need to get some crew and add snipers and maybe a 4th squad. I also have some SMG models to finish to turn this platoon into a Desant platoon which brings a lot of drunken firepower to bear. These go against my Battle Honors 28mm Waffen SS to allow me to do post Stalingrad through Operation Zitadel and perhaps even up to and beyond Operation Bagration games.

Hope you enjoy!