First German company complete for Normandy 1944

I've finished my third German platoon plus a couple of tripod mounted MG42s and with them a first company to my new basing (and painting) standard.

This time the varnishing went more smoothly. They were painted in two batches and one was finished with an airbrush application of Mig Ammo Lucky Ultra-Mat varnish whilst the others have my previous usual Windsor & Newton but with a bit of white spirit added - I think my previous problems with this varnish may have been because it had evaporated a bit too much and become too thick. To be honest, I can't now tell which were which.

One thing I did different this time is that for the figures I was going to paint with helmet covers, I smoothed over the helmet a bit with Miliput to avoid the sharp flare of the lower edge. I'm not sure this is 100% accurate or very visible at this small scale but it made me feel happier about the mix of hemet finishes.

All the figures are Peter Pig but they are a mix of older and new sculpts. The figure above with the Panzerfaust is one of the old ones and, to a degree, I prefer it to the new ones. The detail is more pronounced and the casting is cleaner with less filled in excess metal, contributing to it being easier to paint. On the other hand, the pose is more wooden, proportions less realistic and the face even more stylised than (the new) normal for Peter Pig. Swings & roundabouts!

I did a couple of tripod MG 42s to go with this company. Again these are the newer Late War sculpts. 

So that's a first company done and I'm heartily sick of Field Grey. I have another usable company with my old basing and painting so hope that will be enough German infantry to get started. I've a game of 'O' Group arranged for Monday so these will be on the table then. I'll try to take a few photos and post something on here.

In the meantime I've been busy with some Shermans - 3 RTR to go with my 4 KSLI from 11 Armoured Division. Airbrushing of colour modulation and panel high-lighting complete with filters and washes to do - lots of new techniques to explore.