20-23mm ww2 Normandy Long term work in progress

[sundayhero]

Hi,

Finally I made the choice to abandon the 15mm scale, and go for 20-23mm WW2 instead.  

For this project, I'll use 1/72 vehicles, and for infantry I will mainly use Valiant miniatures,wich are more or less 22-23mm from feet to eyes.

I bought these infantries sets knowing what I was purchasing, and made my own choice instead of asking internet permission  :grin:  I'm really happy with the figures, they are great looking, in this typical "heroic metal" look and feel I like, and the boxsets contains everything you would need (LMG, MMG/HMG, mortars, radio, officers, etc...) + a lot of optional parts and heads.

Searching for special offers on official valiant website and ebay, I have been able to build big starter forces for german and americain for a very low budget.

I also decided to stop buying new minis, or to be more specific (and honest), not buyin new ranges of minis. Now I will only do Chronopia, Warzone, classic fantasy, WW2, french modern, portuguese modern, shadowrun, generic super heroes, 100years war (and also finish my space hulk set, and the few last battletech and zombies plastics I have left). Plenty enough, probably still too much...Everything else I have will be postponed for my (hypothetical) retirement days  


So here we go with the ww2 :



Here's my starter forces :

German :

3x STUG3 (armourfast)
2x tiger E (italeri)
2 pak40 with crew (italeri)
1 german howitzer (armourfast)
2 sets of normandy germans (valiant), including 120mm mortars, LMG and MMG and panzerfaust, officers
2 sets of "classic germans (valiant), including 81mm mortars, LMG and HMG, panzerfaust and panzershrek, radios and officers

American :

3x Sherman m4a2 75mm (armourfast)
2x M36 jackson (armourfast)
2x AT guns with metal crew (armourfast/valiant)
4x sets of american gi (armourfast), including 60mm mortars, LMG and HMG, bazooka, radios and officers

Everything will be organized on the RapidFire orbat. This way it will be easier for me (I don't know **** in WW2, except hollywood movies   ) and also great bases for any kind of games.

I will base the figures individualy on metal washers, and I will also build magnetic sabot bases for element-based games (like french games "Blitzkrieg", "Guerre Eclair" and "Section d'Assaut").



 The plastic plateform will be removed from the valiant figures (see the example above), and the vehicles will be based on thick MDF. The goal is obviously to minimize scaling effects between vehicles and figures.

The guns come with their own crew : valiant metal for the american, and Italeri for the pak40. The italeri pak40 figures are pretty big, and feet quite well with the valiant ones (valiant on left, italeri on right). Playing with the bases and head swaps (since valiant boxes are full of optional parts), it will be OK  





I started working on the US tanks, I'm currently detailing them, in the same time I'm learning about 1/72 tanks modelling : for instance next time I will know that I should better detail the hulls before gluing it to the chassis  


I'll post pics later on day, since today iss my rest day  (a lot of "days" in this statement)  

[sundayhero]

Here's first detailling results 













I first added some plasticard to "close" the chassis so we cannot see thru, and added some weight inside too.

Then, I added some details on the tanks, made from metal wire.

Once the glue dried, I will finish the machine gun details, add the "welding" on the metal wire details, and  on turrets (I added some plasticard there too), add the antennas (probably flexible steel) and of course, clean/sand everything needed, and add stowage.

Very fun project, even if I think in the future, I'll probably go for resin vehicles, for obvious time saving reasons (today was my "day off", and I didn't progress as much as I expected).


Concerning extra details (stowage, camo mesh), I'm not sure what would be more accurate : for what I observed, US tanks in normandy were "workhorses", used for battle and also as some kind of "supplies carts". I didn't find much pictures of us tanks with camomesh/foliage on them   

Foliage camo seemed a lot more used by germans in Normandy ? Is it a good interpretation ? What do you think ?

thanks !

[sundayhero]

Hi,

Tonight I progressed a bit, with the stowage. I decided to go for a medium sized stowage, using scratchbuild crates, some s&s stowage I had left, and valiant bits from the US set optional parts :











I also (and it was the longest work) created the "welds" using acrylic mediums on the metal parts I added. Here's a close view, not very easy to show since the mediums are clear. I also created some kind of "light bulb" effect, using a more fluid medium.




I still need to add a few ropes/straps, and tarpaulins, and maybe a few green stuff additions. And finish the turrets details and clean/sand all glue and defects too, as I said before.

[von Lucky]

I can't believe this thread is empty of a vocal audience. A nice start (more than I'd do for 28mm!). Will terrain be part of this project?

[sundayhero]

Thanks !

Of course there will be terrain, specific to Normandy. I have to show that I can make sedious trees and bocage, not only firs, rivers and vineyards  

[sundayhero]

This morning I received my US tanks hunters :





M4 size comparison :






TOnight I hope to progress a bit more


edit : I made a mistake, I confused the M36 and the M10  The M36 was not in normandy, too bad 

[Norm]

I am watching with interest - thanks

[Calimero]

I am watching with interest - thanks

Me too! C'est un très bon début! 

[sundayhero]

Thanks

i made some progress, actually I almost finished the detailing. 

[sundayhero]

Here's current progress :






I finished the stowage, adding milliput tarpaulins (but I still have to add straps : I already made the "footprint" for them on the tarpaulins)

I finished detailing the turrets, adding some plasticard under them (I still have to add a weld effect for 2 of 3 tanks). I also added some antennas, made from flexible steel (recycled from folk guitar string, stripping the braided ones).

Tonight I'll finish them, so it should be ready for painting this week end.

[Ballardian]

Looking good, it's fun watching an interesting project progress.

[sundayhero]

thank you !

This evening I almost completed the stowage :






I still need to add some greenstuff details (like straps buckles, etc...), and if not too lazy, some details for the rear face.

[sundayhero]

Here's final pics. I could go deeper in detailling, but the concept is 1 unit= 1 week, so I must stop somewhere.









Now a bit of cleaning and sanding, and primer. Then I'll paint it, probably next week.

[von Lucky]

Looking good!

[sundayhero]

Thank you !

I primer coated the tanks, here's a preview pic :



A detailed pic of the command tank stowage :



I plan to paint them next week end.


Cheers