French Voltigeur 1812-1815

If there is a uniform of the Napoleonic French Army that interests me, it is that of the Voltigeur. I love the yellow trimmed shakos and epaulets. The Perry plastic French came with several Voltigeurs in dynamic skirmishing poses. These will make a visually interesting contrast when flanking the march attack posed centre companies and Grenadiers. The figure seen here is my first tester Voltigeur.

I am excited to get these figures painted, as the would make for a great small warband for a Skirmish level game, and should pair well against British Rifles.

Another bit of fun the Voltigeur figures offer is the chance to dirty up the model a little. In addition to the usual bit of stain at the bottom of the trousers, I've added some dirt stains on the knees to give the impression he's been skirmishing out in front of the main columns and off roads in the wild.

French Officer on Horse, 1812-1815

Being a bit of a lead scrounger, I dug up what appears to be a Wargames Foundry Napoleonic officer in a used bin at a FLGS. With some cursory research, I decided to paint him  to lead my French Line Infantry, though it is difficult to make out what he acutally is. Painting horses is always fun, and I enjoyed the watchcloak as well.

French Infantry, 1812-1815

I have begun to dabble in the Napoleonic period since the uniforms are just so very interesting. My first venture is with a box of Perry plastic French infantry. The build was simple, only attaching packs and heads, and the poses and casts are comparable to the best offerings in lead. I tried to paint toward the campaign look, and appreciated the numerous covered shako options. I'm afraid that my own knowledge of these uniforms is not entirely up to scratch, so things like plume colors and march order may be a bit off. I've left off the ensigns and drummers for now.

Panzershrek Team

Just a quick update on my LW German Grenaider  force: Panzershrek teams for the command platoon. Tubes drilled out for dramatic effect.

This single team also shows a bit more detail of how i have been basing my Grenadiers, which is meant to look like pastureland. The mixture of lush undergrowth beneath taller brown grasses is inspired partly by photos of the French countryside, and partially on my grandparents' farm in Northern California.

StuG III G no.3

Another blister kit of the StuG IIIG. This time I've given it some of its side skirts, and those in various conditions. I also experimented with creating my own stowage. Plastic sprue boxes are covered in a piece of toilet tissue doped with white glue. Florist wire stands in as ropes holding the stowage on the rear deck. Another fairly straightforward build and paint up, using feathering in place of an airbrush for the 3 color camo.

StuG III G no. 2

This is a build of a proper StuG III G model from Battlefront, with the separate track parts and additional options not available on the Open Fire models.

Given the opportunity, I went with a lot of the options, including camo nets, tarps, extra stowage, and spare tracks, not to mention the crew member manning the pintle  MG42. The tracks are painted in rusted brown colors, and highlighted with a very light application of No.2 pencil lead. They are reflecting a bit more in the photo than in real life

Jagdpanthers, Part 2

As I began to paint the second vehicle in my Jagdpanther platoon, I decided to go give each hunting panther its own individual paint scheme, within the usual guidelines. Research showed that many were primarially green in color, as opposed to the mostly dark yellow panzers and StuGs. Using the same 3 camo colors found throughout my German force, I gave this one more of a tiger striped look to it, something somewhat common among the assault guns in operation. some of the details are a little off; mainly some grating that is molded in its inverse.

You can see in this photo that the barrel did not straghten as much as I would have liked. I may replace it with tubing as well.
On the whole a fun paint-up.