Warlord Games Tiger and StuG Part 2

Thanks to the Easter break I've been able to put some good modelling time into the new tanks and get them closer and closer to the battlefield. 

Here they are assembled. The Tiger turret was finished but then I realised that the gun was off centre due to the mould line I mentioned in the last post. I snapped it off before the green stuff had cured, filed down the base and then reglued it. Now it's much better.

Here's my StuG with tank commander and machine gun mount included. Because the machine gun mount isn't originally included in the model kit I drilled a hole for it and then glued it down over the right hatch, as was historically done.

While it may not be really obvious here I had some issues with the tracks fitting the hull. Both tracks were slightly curved, which I tried to fix with hot water (didn't make much difference) but more than that, the hull itself was convex on one side. It was too big of a job to try and file down without a dremel or the like so I decided instead to greenstuff the gaps and help hold the model together this way. It took a fair bit of green stuff but I hope I managed to make it look like there were just some welded parts in the joints. 

Here are both models on the painting table. They both got two coats of Vallejo Dark Yellow Surface Primer to start with and the StuG has had a wash of Agrax Earthshade with a bit of Nuln Oil added (my attempt to replace Devlan mud). For some reason my camera added a flash to this picture. Still, it gives you an idea of the colours.

Here is a natural light colour showing how the wash really tones down the yellow and makes it a nice battlefield tone. The plain primer is a bit bright. Now I plan to add brown and green camo stripes to go with something of the German tricolour scheme. 

Looking forward to getting these on the tabletop and if anyone has any questions about the models or the game please just drop a comment. 

Pete :-)

Warlord Games Tiger I and StuG models unboxed.

My tank reinforcements are here. Thanks to Warlord upping their usual 10% sale (buy 3 vehicles, get 10% off each) to a 20% last month, Gergely and I decided to get some reinforcements. His Russians will now be bringing a cute armoured car whereas I added to the might of the German army with a Sturmgeschutz assault gun and the mighty Tiger tank. 

I'm excited about both of these models and while the StuG will be more useful in game, the Tiger is just too iconic not to have in the collection.

Here are the bits from the Tiger I kit. It's a simple construction that shouldn't take me long to get assembled. In this picture all I have done is take a couple of the metal pieces off the sprues and washed the kit in soapy water to help with the painting later.

Here it is just balanced together with other models for scale. It dwarfs the poor little Sherman tank (also from Warlord) games and Asmodai is just helping to prop up the gun because he's a strong space marine!

The barrel has a mould line running down it but I don't expect there to be much cleanup involved. The metal parts are pretty clean,

Here is the flash on the turret. It's on the underside so shouldn't be visible and I don't expect any major problems cleaning off these resin gates and bits. 

On the hull I can see a few cleanup bits on the front left, again due to resin gates. There should be a quick cleanup and I think they will be covered by the tracks when I glue them so no worries there.

The StuG has more parts as it comes with various metal fittings, a tank commander and schurzen (armoured skirts). I'm not sure whether I'll fit the latter but perhaps. It was quite common historically I think.

***The machine gun in the bottom right is not included in the kit. It's from the Warlord Hetzer kit. The StuG should have a machine gun included but it currently doesn't. I contacted Warlord to ask about it, they took our order number and popped the machine gun in for free, telling me they'll talk to the model makes about updating the model with a gun. Thumbs up.

Again with the scale shots. The only issue I see here aside from some small, fiddly parts, is that the tracks don't fit on squarely because of two detail parts at the back of the hull. They lock in nicely with the superstructure but don't quite have the clearance for those back details (riveted plates of some sort). I might have to remove the plates to make sure I get a good connection.

That's all from me for now. Still enjoying the gaming a lot and trying to work on painting up the last bits of the collection. 

Best wishes

Pete