Sd.Kfz.10 tows for German Anti-tank Guns

Having bought the Plastic Soldier box of 15mm German Pak 40 with Raupenschlepper tractor, I belatedly discovered that the appealingly eccentric looking tracked tow vehicles were predominantly used on the Eastern Front. Although a few seem to have appeared in Normandy. I thought it would be better to have the more common Sd.Kfz.10 half tracks as my tow vehicles. 

At that time, the only option was from Skytrex so I bought two of these. The body, wheels and tracks are cast in one piece so there are inevitable compromises with undercuts. Perhaps the moulds are getting a bit tired because my copies suffered a bit from rough excess metal between the track wheels and some mismatch along the mould join. Overall though I think it gives a reasonable representation of the vehicle.

One of the issues with Wargames open-topped vehicles is whether to make them empty, with only the driver, fully-occupied or double up and do a set of both. Another option, where applicable, would be to have the canvas roof up but that seems odd in action and suggests the weather is one thing whilst everything else on the table suggests something else. 

For A/T tows, I tend to think they are mostly there as 'set-dressing' for deployed guns so empty or with just the driver is OK - maybe best with a driver so they don't look like ghost vehicles on the rare occasions they do need to move the guns. For variety, one of the drivers is from the kit, whilst the other is from Peter Pig. I also added a roll of canvas to one vehicle to break things up a bit - I wish now that I'd added more stowage and removed the moulded on roll of barbed wire from the back, having read that these were not fitted to later vehicles.

These are the first German vehicles I have painted using Mig Jimenez Ammo paint. I'm impressed so far - I like that they come ready-thinned to use with brush or airbrush and also that my local model shop in Coventry, The Paint Rack, stocks them. I'm also really impressed that common colours, like Dunkelgelb, come with a full range of colour-modulating shades, saving me the trouble of mixing up all the varieties and finding empty dropper bottles to store them in.

These are also the first models where I have tried to free-hand airbrush a soft-edged camouflage. Although I have a fine 0.2mm nozzle and needle on my airbrush, it all looks a bit fuzzy and oversized but the general effect is OK. I'm not sure whether the answer is more practice or to go for hard-edged masks in future.

A third first is that I applied some dust and mud effects to the lower parts of the model. Again I used Mig Jimenez Ammo, trying to follow the how-to guides from Heresy Brush. I don't think this is entirely successful. It is easy when camouflaging and weathering these small models to lose definition and make everything blend in too much. Again more practice is probably the answer but I might dial it back a bit in future.

German battalion HQ

 

For a variety of reasons, I've not managed to make much progress on my Wargames projects for some time. However, back on the horse now and here is the first thing to actually complete - an HQ base for my German infantry battalion in Normandy. 

This uses the field kitchen that I made last summer, along with some Peter Pig figures arranged around a table and Torn.Fu.d2 radio, both scratch-built.

I've always been impressed by the way some Wargames modellers try to tell a story through these vignette-type bases and have tried to do this a little of that with this base. I'm not sure whether the three officers are arguing over why their map has a river whilst the table they are fighting over clearly doesn't or the poor quality of their ersatz coffee but I'm certain the radio operator wishes they'd do it with their indoor voices so he could hear what the forward company commander is trying to say.

'O' Group has a concept of HQ orders that can be saved to improve your chance of gaining the initiative at the start of the next turn or spent as additional actions within the current turn. This requires the use of a die on or beside each side's battalion HQ to keep track of them. I don't really like having a rather artificial looking square die holder on bases, and didn't include one for the British, but I must admit to having sometimes forgotten that it was a special die, picked it up and rolled it then not being 100% sure how many HQ orders I had in hand! 

After some thought, I've made a couple of extra die-holder bases that I will* magnetically attach to my HQ bases. It looks a bit awkward and I'm not 100% convinced but I'll give this a try. 

* When I can remember where I've put some offcuts of steel paper to create the link - the underneath of the bases are already magnetised.

4 KSLI Carrier Platoon Part 2

Of course I also needed a dismounted version of the carrier platoon. In 'O' Group this is represented as three infantry sections, the same as a normal rifle platoon (but with a firepower bonus in some circumstances) and an attached PIAT section as well as the usual platoon A/T capability.

I wanted to show a clear visual difference between this and the platoons in the rifle companies. I normally avoid using kneeling and prone figures - there just seems to be something odd about having a unit advancing across the table with figures that are lying down. There is no great logic to this since it also means that when the same unit is seeking cover or pinned down, they are all walking upright but it did mean I had a number of such figures spare so I used these plus a pack of kneeling bren gun sections.

The design of the prone figures and choices on the mould split gave them very poorly defined faces and large areas of excess metal. In the case of the 2" mortar armed figures, the face was little more than a flat blob with almost no undercut from the helmet edge and the PIAT operator wasn't much better. I was very reluctant to use these at all and then wondered about trying to do some sort of head swap so they would have some facial features but thought that would be difficult. In the end I decided to try them as they were and suggest facial features just with paint. Whilst not perfect, actually on the bases and from the viewing angles possible in a game - ie. from above - they look acceptable. 

Prompted by a conversation with John Boadle, of the Hand Built History blog, about basing for Northern Europe whilst I was admiring the bases on his latest Franco-Prussian War figures, I decided I wanted to have less of the bare ground visible and use a greater variety of tufts. This would also make it easier to place some tufts to make the 'faceless men' less obvious. 

Having been unable to find anything suitable in local model shops, I ordered some Gamers Grass tufts online from The Model Workshop. The flower tufts are rather big for 15mm so I cut them down and used them rather sparingly - less is definitely more in this case! I'm not 100% happy with the 'tufts with leaves - the leaves look very big and are only really present on the top of the tufts rather than giving the all-round small bush effect I was hoping for but they do add variety. 

German Field Kitchen in 15mm for HQ Base

From looking at Second World War German forces as depicted in Wargames one would think that they were mostly superbly equipped elite troops. Far more SS Panzer troops than Ostbattalions, more Hanomags than horses. I suppose it is a general trend that Wargamers tend to choose better troops but that seems to go much further with Second World War Germans. Of course in reality most infantry fighting on the German side was, at best, average and relied on horse transport right up to then end.

Whilst my British forces depict specific units of 11 Armoured Division, with named individuals for the Infantry commanders, I always intended my Germans were to be anonymous and general purpose to represent the variety of opposition that 4 KSLI encountered. 

My British HQ base has a Jeep and a camp stove but what to provide for the Germans? A Kubelwagen, let alone a half track, suggests one end of the scale whilst a horse places it at the other. John Boadle suggested a Citroen Traction Avant but the only one I could find in 15mm or 1/100 is a rather crude representation from Peter Pig that would be great to add some interest to a barn or garage but doesn't quite cut it for an HQ base. 

John's other suggestion was the iconic Field Kitchen, 'Die Gulaschkanone'. Again depicting that in model form is a challenge. QRF actually make a 15mm model of the complete kitchen set up, with both wagons, horses and cooks but I wasn't happy with the level of detail and sharpness of the model and didn't think the figures would blend in with those I have from Peter Pig. Scratch building was the only other option but I needed some dimensions and that proved difficult. There is a book which appears to have detailed plans or I could have bought a copy of the Tamiya 1/35 kit and down-scaled from that but those seemed rather expensive and wasteful options for a novelty feature on a command stand. Finally I struck lucky and found a photo of the parts for a 1/35 scale resin model with a ruler for scale so my model dimensions are based on that. 

Although small and fiddly, making the model was quite straightforward. It is basically a cuboid of laminated plastic sheet, 10 x 13.5 x 4.6 mm with things stuck on it. Most parts are simple rectangles so it is just a case of cutting them neatly and getting the sides square, vertical and burr-free. This takes practice but I've had plenty of that scratch building parts for 1/1250 scale waterline ship models. To help with this, I used a simple MDF jig, that I'd originally made for those ship models. It allows me to hold small parts at a fairly accurate 90° or 45° angle whilst sanding them with fine sandpaper fixed to the side of a wooden block. 

When working with such small components it is vital to keep a clean and well-ordered working area if you hope to achieve accurate, clean and sharp details. Not to mention to minimise the risk of losing small pieces on the floor.

Alternatively, let a large ginger cat take up residence whilst you are making a cup of tea, then spend ages looking for lost pieces that have been relocated and re-make those that are irredeemably lost.

The 4 round components for the cover on the main cooking vessel were quite a challenge as they needed to be specific diameters of quite thin plastic. The solution I came to was to cut a rough, slightly oversize circle and superglue it to the head of a round nail. I then held the nail in an electric drill and gently pressed a sanding stick against it whilst it rotated. Every so often, I'd stop and check the diameter with a vernier. It took a bit of trial and error to get the technique but I soon got the hang of it and I was able to do the dome of the top piece and rounding off of 2 of the lower sections by the same method.

I cheated with the wheels and just used some of approximately the right size - I think they were originally from a 17th C artillery limber by Museum Miniatures. They just needed a bit of filling and filing to clean up some dry parts of the casting qnd make them narrower.

 

I did most of the painting by airbrush, starting with Vallejo Brown-Violet then Middlestone with a highlight of Middlestone and White. After that I did a top highlight of Middlestone with more white by brush and painted the wheel rims. 

After varnishing with Mig satin varnish, I applied a filter of Mig Tan for 3 Tone Camo (AMIG-1510) then a pin wash of Mig Brown Wash for German Dark Yellow (A.MIG-1000).

Completed model sitting on a one Pound coin.

Decals for 11th Armoured Division - 15mm

In the course of making my 4 KSLI Carrier Platoon vehicles, I had to order some more decals and ended up ordering from both Plastic Soldier Co. and Skytrex so I thought I'd use this as an opportunity to do a mini-review and comparison. Battlefront Miniatures also make decals for 11th Armoured Div. but, as far as I can see, these are only available bundled with their own models so not a general-purpose solution and I have no experience of them.

Soon after I started with 15mm Second World War models, Skytex launched their 'Command Decision' range of vehicles with complimentary transfers. The latter were of a type that were placed direct on the model and dampened on the reverse to release them. Later they released some more conventional waterslide decals. I ordered some of these and have been using them ever since.

Second World War British vehicle markings is a complex area. Given that I just wanted to give a reasonably plausible appearance to Wargames pieces, I've not made a great study of it, referring to online sources and 'D-Day to Berlin' by Terence Wise. 

Skytrex offer individual sheets for different divisional emblems, arms of service signs, allied stars and the squadron symbols for armoured units, giving the great advantage of flexibility. The detail and print resolution is good and I've had no problems with adhesion or getting them to conform to the model surface, albeit I have always used Microset and Microsol to help with these.

Plastic Soldier, by contrast, offer a pack containing "4 sheets with divisional insignia, arm of service markings, bridge signs and tactical markings.  Enough decals for at least 50 vehicles". 50 seems a bit optimistic to me - for a start there are 77 divisional symbols and with two per vehicle... 

Again the print quality was very good. A few significant differences to Skytrex were apparent. 

• The divisional signs are somewhat larger and, I think, oversize, to the extent that they are larger than the mudguards on their Universal Carriers.
• The arm of service markers don't include the infantry brigade - green background with a white 60, 61, 62, 63 or the engineers.
• The armoured squadron markings  are somewhat smaller than Skytrex - I don't know if one is correct or they just varied in real life.
• Obviously with smaller multi-purpose sheets there are fewer duplicates. For example there are only enough armoured squadron symbols for 5 vehicles from the same squadron and 10 from the same regiment - if you are playing a set of rules at a higher formation level with just a few vehicles per sub-unit that is great but would be a problem as you get closer to 1:1 representations.
• The set includes bridge classification signs - Skytrex don't offer these and, as far as I can see, nobody else does separately to buying a pack of vehicles. They aren't easy to paint freehand with acceptable results so this is a big plus. Unfortunately the weight options don't include all the necessary options, for example: 5 for Lloyd Carriers. Again there are quite small numbers - only enough for five Shermans and M10s, for example.

This last image shows the size difference between Skytex and PSC squadron markings. It also shows Skytrex's Allied Stars - something missing from the PSC pack.

It is disappointing that there are no vehicle numbers or names available at this scale from either source. 

I think there are plusses and minuses for both suppliers and, to depict all vehicle markings you would need to use both makes and/or do some hand painting. 

One last point: Skytrex currently charge £5 to ship decals so make sure you work out all the different sheets you might need and order them in one go - and don't do as I did and keep thinking of additional ones!

4 KSLI Carrier Platoon - Part 1

The British Army in the Normandy Campaign 1944. © IWM (B 5990)

The Carrier Platoon was a unique feature of British infantry battalions of the Second World War, combining high mobility and firepower. Although classed as a platoon, everything about it was more generously specified than for a regular rifle platoon. By the time of the Normandy landings, it comprised more than sixty people and was commanded by a Captain with four sections, each led by a Sergeant. Equipment included thirteen Bren Guns, four 2" Mortars, four PIATs, a No.18 Radio and, most importantly, thirteen Universal Carriers. That's more machine guns and support weapons than a contemporary infantry company.

Quartermaster Section - Carrier Platoon 1944

Bayonet Strength - British Infantry Battalion from 19 May 1943

Although these references state one No. 18 Radio for the Platoon HQ, there are multiple occasions in an account of carrier platoon operations 'From Normandy to Holland' under the BBC's People's War archive where a section leader recalls using the radio, including one where he writes: "I radioed my Platoon HQ", so it isn't just that he happened to have the platoons sole radio. That each section would have been equipped with a radio, by this stage of the war, makes a lot of sense as it would have permitted more dispersed operations whilst maintaining communication. Interestingly the same account often describes the section operating independently or being attached to an infantry company to provide extra fire support.

Although I have bought multiple Universal Carriers of different makes, I have held off from making a table-top version until now because I was unable to find satisfactory figures for the crew. Most of my Second World War figures are from Peter Pig but, although I bought a few of their vehicles, I never found them satisfactory - a bit too bulky and lacking in detail - so I have mostly used Skytrex and latterly Plastic Soldier Co. I actually bought eight Skytrex Universal Carriers and a pack of crew. Unfortunately the Carriers are huge and the crew figures are just normal infantry snipped off just below the waist. They have considerable flash and are lacking in detail as well as legs. I tried several times to put them together but the results just never looked right. Peter Pig offer Universal Carriers with integral crew moulded in but these look extremely blobby and soft on detail. There would also be a problem getting variety in the platoon.

I was pleased then to get a box of Plastic Soldier Co. Universal Carriers. The box has no fewer than nine carriers, each with eleven potential crew figures. The box picture even has an encouraging picture of an 11 Armoured Division, Motor Battalion carrier with the crew wearing camouflaged helmets and armed with rifles and a Bren gun. Problem solved! Sadly not - the crew figures bore no relationship to the box art. Apart from those firing the 50 cal, Vickers machine gun or mortar, they are unarmed and look very relaxed - more like they are going for a ride in the country than into battle. There are no rifles or Sten guns included and the helmets are early war and free of netting and scrim. Most peculiarly the provided Bren gun bipod is too wide to fit through the firing port and there isn't enough space lengthways between the gunner and port. So they languished in the stash for a long time as I painted other things. Now however, I have all the other elements that I need for an 'O' Group British Infantry Battalion, I can't put this off any longer.

In 'O' Group, the Carrier Platoon is represented by a normal 3-section infantry platoon plus a PIAT section with three carriers provided as transport. This seems to me to be selling the unit rather short in terms of strength and firepower but I will use this as a start and see how we get on. I can imagine adding a fourth section and applying the close range firepower bonus that is used for German Panzer Grenadiers - three Brens and 2" mortar v two MG42s seems reasonable - and close combat disadvantage to reflect the smaller number of riflemen.

For the dismounted platoon, I will be using Peter Pig figures but with prone and kneeling poses to distinguish it from the normal platoons. I will also include a 2" Mortar or PIAT on the section bases.

For the mounted platoon, I'm mostly using the Plastic Soldier Co. figures but with Peter Pig late war British heads and some heavy modifications to the poses, including cutting and re-attaching hands and arms. In one case I've swapped the upper body for a Skytrex figure with a Sten and also using a Peter Pig seated figure and one of their light order riflemen. 

As I mentioned there are no rifles or Sten guns included. Scratch building SMLEs seemed a bit too ambitious so I made a couple of rather basic looking Stens from brass tube and wire and a bit of plastic. This is easier than it sounds and only requires five pieces and two soldiered joints - the magazine at right angles to a length of tube and the shoulder rest at right angles to a length of 0.5 mm rod to represent the barrel and butt. 

I also made some stowage with blocks of plastic under superglue-soaked tissue then a jerry can or wooden crate or ammo box glued on top. On the right is a spare No.18 radio set from making my battalion HQ.

In the interest of getting an 'O' Group Carrier Platoon on the table as soon as possible, I decided to just complete three carriers as a priority then get the dismounted troops done with empty carriers and a fourth mounted one to follow later.

One thing that caused me some delay was the decals for the arm of service signs. I belatedly realised that the sheets I had from Skytrex didn't include the infantry brigade signs. Rather than doing the obvious and ordering the sheet that did, I ordered the full 11th Armoured Division decal pack from Plastic Soldier, only to find that this also lacked the arm of service signs for the infantry brigade so I ordered again from Skytrex. 

Skytrex don't offer bridge signs, so these are done by hand. After a bit of trial and error, I cut the tip off a cocktail stick and used that to dab a bit of white paint on at a time to make a circle of the correct diameter then repeated the process with yellow over the top - yellow just doesn't cover well enough on its own. The numbers were added with a 0.1mm Staedtler pigment ink pen.

So far the models are free-standing. I generally don't like bases for vehicles but I'm undecided on these - they are very small and magnetic bases would solve the problem of transporting them without risking damage and they could also go in the same box as the rest of the battalion.

Despite what I wrote earlier about these definitely not being little proto-IFVs, the chap with the 50 cal doesn't seem to have got the memo. One question this picture raises is how the bullets are supposed to get from the closed ammunition box into the gun - must do something about that!

This shows one of the scratch-built Sten guns, carefully positioned so you can't see that it has no trigger. Even so, from what I've read about their tendency for accidental discharge when knocked, if I was the chap sitting opposite, I would be nervous.

Second German company complete for Normandy 1944

I have just completed another six bases of German infantry, allowing me to field two companies of Germans to my latest standard of painting and basing, including having at least one figure with Panzerfausts in each unit. All the figures are Peter Pig Late War Germans in 15mm. One NCO is an old figure that was posed throwing a grenade but all the others are from the current range.

I had already painted the company HQ, 3 infantry bases and a tripod mounted MG42. which until now I had been using with 6 bases of 'old' German infantry for 'O' Group. 

To complete a full usable 'O' Group battalion I just need another company HQ, MMG base and a battalion HQ. The latter is the biggest modelling obstacle. Should I give the commander a horse, a stolen Citroen, a field kitchen - at least he could have a hot bratwurst - or should I be really generous and give him a Kubelwagen?

Next on my jobs list though is a Carrier Platoon for the British.