20mm Ivan for Winter War (updated 18.5.)

[Verderer]

Thanks Poco, I am a Finn myself, so I got plenty of sources.

[pocoloco]

Haha Should have guessed. Will you be doing the Finnish counter-parts as well?

Have you read the Punaiset panssarit - a quite recent book about the armours of the Red Army from the 1918-1945? That one should have good listing of the types of tanks Red Army used in the Winter War.

Postivaunu (T-28) should have been the heaviest tank around back then... not sure about the experimental tanks if there were those in the frontline use.

[Verderer]

Zwerch, there are a couple of useful houses in the Pegasus line, although in the main I would say they don't look too Finnish, even for Karelia. I am guessing they'd be more suited for Eastern Karelia on the Soviet side than the Karelian Istmus? And my versions would be useful elsewhere on the WW front too.

Poco, there's evidence of at least some experimental heavy tanks used, there's  photo of on SMK taken by Finns (although is mostly incorrectly identified). In any case, I am going more by what's handy and looks cool on the game table, than absolute historical accuracy (which seems hard to establish anyways). So I have one T-100, two KV-1s and two T-28s. When you look at it from the Finnish side, it's pretty much all the same which heavy tank you're facing, they're all monsters anyways, when you have only 37mm gun (if you're lucky) or kasapanos/Molotovs to deal with them.

[pocoloco]

I had to check the Punaiset panssarit (being a some sort of a historian I had to ):

It states that two prototype KV-1 tanks were sent to the front and they took part in the battle on December 17. Had numerous hits from 37mm antitank guns that caused no damage. Prototype armour thickenss was 75mm, also in turret. No sloped armour in turret.

SMK/T-100 were also tested on Dec 17, results were bad and where as the decision to take KV-1 into production was made already on Dec 19, this didn't happen on SMK/T-100 tanks.

Only two T-28s were captured in the Winterwar as there were no capable equipment to get the damaged tanks to the Finnish side. All in all 92 T-28s were destroyed during the Winterwar.

Sorry for the heavy armour splash... What's in the pipeline for you after the buildings? Will you be making a static terrain board with trenches etc?

[Verderer]

Yes, some modular trenches and a couple of bunkers are probably what's next, once I get a couple of sources at hand. Maybe even one of those big bunkers like Millions or Poppius? And some terrain like woods, swamp and scrub (all covered in snow of course). I won't be making any of those board sections where the trenches are sunk in. While they look definitely nicer, I think separate pieces on a winter mat are more versatile and easier to store and carry around (should the need arise).

I should really complete all the things I've already started, like painting troops and tanks, but I feel I get more done when I do whatever I have inspiration for at a given time. It looks pretty fragmented right now, but I will get there.

[Vonkluge]

Great project Verderer!

really nice work on the wrecks! I have many times been accused of being slightly off my rocker for doing detail like this for a war games table so its nice to see that there are other doing it in 20mm as well. 20mm is the scale of the gods for WWII! just enough detail to make it fun with out using all the space of 28mm. What rules do you use for gaming? I and my lads have been doing WWII games for over 20 years, we have played a dozen different systems and several even wote a set that became very popular in our neck of the woods. We have after all this settled into playing CROSSFIRE a somewhat unconventional set of rules as they use no rulers or fixed turns. They are very good at eliminating the 10,000 foot gemeral that plagues most WWII games. I have a huge collection of WWII 20mm and you are pushing me over the edge to do a "winter war" battle fiel, somthing I have always wanted to d but needed some inspiration to try.

I do mostly Northwest Europe 1940-45 and Russian front 41-45 but I hav also done a Pacific Island.... and have all the buildings for "Berlin 45"

Bill W

A column of American Shermans moves through the Normandy hedgerows.

[Verderer]

Things are proceeding onwards, although at the moment I have very little to show as pics. Here's a shot taken with my cell phone. One of the houses I am making, they're all primed by now. But this one shows how I have added a base, and bulked it up a bit with cork and a lot of hot glue. This is to portray some snow banks around the house. I will next proceed with painting the houses, before I add the window frames and make roof etc.



I am also moving on with painting all those tanks, finally all of them are primed with Vallejo 4BO Russian Green shot with an airbrush. Works a treat I must say. Then I will use Lifecolor Russian 4BO modulation set to shoot the highlights (or actually the two lighter shades of that set). More pics instead of boring text soon I hope.

Vonkluge, that's a very atmospheric pic of Normandy setting, I have one old project waiting far, far down the line... maybe some day I will actuall complete it.

[von Lucky]

Looking good - any update on this project?

[Verderer]

Sorry folks, nothing new to show right now. 

I hope to get some modelling time this weekend, though, and I haven't given up on this puppy yet.

 

[Verderer]

Ok, managed to get the barns and fences done this weekend:









I used two different kind of snow scatter, one was Magic Snow which I think I mentioned before, and the other a local shops own 'no brand' of micro balloons. After trying these out, I can say I prefer Magic Snow by far. I couldn't really get the no brand stuff working at all. It's far too light, and doesn't really stick to white glue at all. The MS stuff is apparently aluminium oxide, and it's much heavier and settles on white glue pretty good. The no brand stuff is silicon oxide, and it gets airborne very easily, so there's dust all over the place. The MS is easier to use in this sense too, it doesnt' fly all over the place. Plus it has this nice lisght shimmer like real snow (doesn't really show in photos though). I don't know about aluminim oxide, but I have this idea that airborne silicon particles are very bad for your lungs, and in fact the use of a mask is recommended in the package.

Given negative aspects of the no brand microballoons, I can't really recommend it at all. In fact I gave up using it after initial experiments. Maybe I will try it out by actually mixing it with the white glue instead of scattering it on top of it? Might be at least moderately useful that way. If that doesn't work, then it's bit of waste. Too bad I don't know where I can find the Magic Snow at the moment, I have two tins, but they're bound to run out soon...

[von Lucky]

The search for the perfect snow scatter is one I can relate to. Nevertheless - nice work.

[pocoloco]

Looking superb, that last pic is very atmospheric... just turn it into black and white, little bit of wear and aging on it and you have "authentic" image from Winter War. Thanks for the info on different snow types, should prove useful.

[janner]

Excellent progress 

[Verderer]

Thanks guys, here's another small update, my first Finns:









These are Fantassing ski troops, some with heads swapped from Eureka minis. I cannot say that I love the Fantassin minis, they're a bit rough, have bad heads, and over-sized rifles etc. But they will have to do.

By the way, the whites look a bit funny in the pics, I guess should have had proper light and white balance set, right?

I'd also like to ask you opinion about the bases. I wanted to sink them skis a bit deeper instead of plonking them on top. More like proper winter you know? What do you reckon, do they work?

[Dolmot]

I'd also like to ask you opinion about the bases. I wanted to sink them skis a bit deeper instead of plonking them on top. More like proper winter you know? What do you reckon, do they work?

Probably yes, but I can't help thinking that they look like GW's double-slotta cavalry bases. Sorry.

I think I have one of those hats. Looks accurate to me.