FNN's WWII in 20mm

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

Getting this project officially started with an 8th Army Jeep, as well as an Afrika Korps Sd.kfz.251/1 Ausf. B (which I've only painted the interior of so far). Waiting on some AB Figures for crew, as well as fighting miniatures.

Kits are the Italeri fast-build 1/72 for the Jeep, and the Sd.kfz.251 is a First to Fight model, which I've converted from Ausf. A to B by filing down the crew vision slits. Planning on scratchbuilding an MG shield for it soon.

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

C&C appreciated, I'm pretty happy with the Jeep overall, but I'm not sure about the interior on the half-track, I'm not "feeling it" too much. Not sure how to do the chipping on the floor, the idea was that, since the guys in there have to be walking through that spot quite a bit, the paint's gotta be fairly chipped. Same sort of idea with the gun holders, surely taking them out and putting them back in there multiple times must've scraped the paint in some spots.

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

Hanomag basecoated and panel lined, now to do the weathering, probably my favourite step of the process

Painting the entire vehicle yellow with a brush, after priming it in black, was just annoying, it took a stupid amount of coats. The cleanup of the wash was painful too. But what can you do, I didn't have any other primers on hand, no airbrush either.

[CapnJim]

So far, so good!  Nice job on those.

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

Thanks, CapnJim

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

Done with the Sd.kfz.251, at least until the AB figures I've ordered for it arrive. Really quite happy with it overall!
I need to up my photo game though.

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

Is the weathering too much for a vehicle like this? I like how it looks visually, but considering the fact that (afaik) in North Africa these were used slightly differently than later (as in they didn't really fight in these but they were just used for transportation) I'm thinking there might be a bit too much chipping. Also kind of unsure about the dust on the tracks, again I'm thinking it may be a bit too much.

[Fitz]

Whether they fought or not, vehicles in North Africa suffered a lot from sandstorms and the like. There may be more chipping there than you'd see on a real-life vehicle, but I think it gets across the degree to which the environment degraded equipment in the desert theatre.

[fred]

Good stuff

I think for desert vehicles you can’t really have too much sand and dust on them - I suppose the tricky bit is making it look like sand. It may be on the tracks of the 251 it is a bit heavy and looks a bit mud like? But this is really looking in detail as you are asking for feedback.

As to chipping - not sure how common it was on military vehicles - between thick coats of industrial paint and short usage lives (due to combat losses). But I know it is popular on military models and certainly gives the lived in look. It’s perhaps one of those modelling tricks that creates the right overall impression of age and use, even if not strictly how age and use would present itself?

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

Yeah, I think the chipping gives more of an impression, rather than being 100% realistic. On the earlier Afrika Korps vehicles, the paint was applied basically on the field, over the factory-painted grey these vehicles came in, so I'm assuming it might chip easier.

As for the dust, yeah, it does look like mud in some areas – I thinned down the "Desert Sand" AK texture paste a lot with water, to use as a sort of glaze, for the dust/sand effects – evidently I went a bit too heavy on some areas.

Don't ask me why I did that, I didn't have any other sand colours (I painted the Jeep in Iraqi Sand, so I needed something lighter to make it stand out. Also now it'll be colour-consistent with the basing but I think I might try to remove some of the thicker sand with a toothpick or similar.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

[CapnJim]

I think it looks good.  Sufficiently weather-beaten, I would say...

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

Thanks! Yeah, I may go a tad lighter on future vehicles (might get a Kettenkrad next? not sure, but it's a cool vehicle) but generally I'm happy with it.

[fred]

Once you start looking at how many sand coloured paints there are you will end up owning what seems like half the Vallejo range!

I guess with adding sand to vehicles it’s mainly about the wheels - as if the body is already sand coloured a bit of slightly different sand coloured paint isn’t going to make much difference.

Good point about the early DAK vehicles having locally applied desert paint, which I’m sure would rub off pretty easily

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodNerd]

After a long and arduous journey through multiple postal systems, my order of AB Figures has arrived!

Slight problem; while the figures are wonderfully scaled and sculpted overall, they don't fit in the vehicles somehow! Extensive leg surgery will be necessary, I fear.

[Basementboy]

Look wonderful! Hope your impromptu amputations go well