Wednesday, 6 March 2024

More Painted Blitzkrieg Germans

I have finished off another batch of 1st Corps Fallschirmjaegers, and the final section is just awaiting their basing to be completed. So that is the platoon that arrived a month ago basically done and dusted - I might add a couple of support weapons such as sustained fire MG34 and a mortar, but don't think I "need" more than a platoon of paras for 1940 type games!

First though, I really liked one of the close-up images gaming mate John took of my Kraftradschutzen at our recent inaugural Blitzkrieg game - I thought it was really evocative of the era and could, in fact, have been an actual period photo - so I put it into the photo app on my laptop and removed all the colour - looks even more like a news/propaganda photo from 1939/40 now, I think!


"Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt“ 


OK that's the arty farty bit over - here are the newly painted toys!


First of two LMG teams


Rifle section 1




Rifle section 2




LMG team 2


And finally, tonight, my second 3d printed halftrack tow - this one I hope is an SdKfz 11!



A nice bit of detail in the rear crew compartment!



Thats all for this evening - more FSJ shortly, no doubt, and the first of the Opel Blitz trucks has now been sprayed feldgrau, ready for detailing!

31 comments:

  1. Lovely painting Keith. That photo has turned out great

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  2. Great stuff Keith and that black and white photo is very evocative. The row of trees alongside the road also puts me in mind of many French rural roads.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence - as soon as I saw the colour image, I thought it would look cool in B&W - and I agree, it looks like the bikes are on some small French country road!

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  3. I am of the generation (just) that pretty much everything I saw was black and white. I can recall at aged 16, a wargame magazine still having colour only for the centre fold pictures. ….. although by then, we had had a colour telly for a few years. We are so used to colour now, now we think of it as totally normal in all things.

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    1. I remember getting our first colour TV in the early 70's Norm...it was EEC if I recall and very unreliable...colour every so often but not consistently...I am pretty sure the installer had to return almost daily fir the first week or two to make adjustments!
      My counter point to yours is how strange it is to see the really well done "colourised " WWII footage...somehow, it seems unnatural to see WWII film in colour...it is a b&w war!

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  4. Keith, Nice B&W image, good eye for selecting it for the treatment. Your german forces are swelling quickly. I chuckled at Norm's response...I remember the first color set. The NFL games were to be in color that season, my father was from Texas,we kids could see Disney and football in color. Game,match,&set.

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    1. Thanks a lot Joe....as soon as I saw that particular image, I had the b&w idea! Nice pun at the end, too!

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  5. Continued, impressive progress, Keith! I agree that the sculpting (hands and arms) on the FJ is a little weird.

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    1. Thanks Jon! I console myself that, although the 1st Corps sculpting is a bit idiosyncratic, it's better than anything I could do myself!

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  6. Very nice indeed. I always felt sorry for the shutze at the business end of the MG34. All very well improvising a barrel rest with your shoulder but I bet he was blooming deaf after the first belt was expended - probably had a face full of hot cartridge casings as well.

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    1. Totally agree JBM...had this conversation with Steve of Disgruntled Fusilier last time I posted an image of this mg pose. It would not be much fun having a red hot barrel 6 inches from your cheek, either!

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  7. Nice work, the half track is a cracking sculpt and nicely painted as are the troops, very nice indeed!

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    1. Thanks a lot Donnie, once again, I am very happy with how the 3d print has cone out.

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  8. Love the black and white picture (neat idea for WWII blogging)--but I can't help but imagine that we're looking over the shoulder of Lt Gruber and his "little tank" (of "Allo Allo" fame).

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    1. Haha.....thanks Ed...that was a great show!

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  9. Nice new additions Keith…
    I wonder how many times the MG 34 was actually fired like that when the camera wasn’t around…
    Nice black and white work on the photo…

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly, and that is a very good point....maybe the Propagangakompanie had a platoon of experts they took around from front to front, dressing in different uniforms, just so they could get this image in every report?!

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  10. Great to see more figures for this project Keith, the figures look great!

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    1. Cheers Ray....some figures are nicer, but they will do for me....I remember Hinchciffe and Minifigs (and worse!)

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  11. Great additions to your FJ force, Keith. I can see them assaulting Eben Emael someday.

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    1. Thanks Dean....that would be a cool scenario to do!

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  12. Amazing paint work and love the "period" photo Keith.

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    1. Thanks Richard, I thought that particular image worked really well in b&w!

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  13. ya certainly are cranking these out! 😁

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    1. Thankz Stewie! More to follow soon, but first, a Sharpe Practice AAR.

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  14. That B&W photo is very evocative and does have the film of a Wochenschau film still from WWII. I've always loved the LMG firing over the shoulder, ever since seeing the Tamiya figures doing the same. Lovely work on both the FJ and the half-track:).

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    1. Thanks a lot Steve - I have similar fond memories of the Tamiya model - and that one climbing out of the back of an SdKfz 251 - happy days! I just found your comment hanging around all on its own in the spam folder - don't know why that happens every now and then - most annoying but at least now know to check regularly and release any genuine comments back into the land of the living!

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    2. "at least I now know".....

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