15mm Afrika Korps

 

I've had these Battlefront 15mm Afrika Korps sitting around, based, primed and waiting for paint, for years now. I don't know for sure exactly how many years.

I've finally pulled finger and got them sufficiently finished that I can use them in a game without being utterly ashamed.

For some reason, and I can't quite put my finger on exactly why, I just don't enjoy painting infantry. So they tend to get shoved to the back of the queue again and again.

Note: The idiots have assembled the tripod for their MG34 back to front. You just can't get good help any more. 

For reference, the paints I've used are as follows:

• Helmets and other metalwork, plus trousers — VMC Desert Yellow
• Jackets — VMC Green Brown
• Helmets, jackets and trousers all dry-brushed with VMC Iraqi Sand 
• Rifle stocks — VMC Flat Brown
• Gun barrels etc. — VMA Gunmetal 
• Boots, ammo pouches, water bottles — VMC Saddle Brown
• Faces and hands — VMC Flat Flesh 
• Bases — VMC Iraqi Sand 
• Overall wash — Citadel Seraphim Sepia 

 

The wash tends to pool on the top of the helmets, creating a blob of the darker colour.

Ideally, I should have just wicked it off with a brush while it was fresh and wet, but I often forget.

So instead I go back afterwards and paint a highlight in Iraqi Sand on top of the helmet, and at the same time I take the opportunity to crisp up the lines of the flared brim of the stahlhelm.

 

The Seraphim Sepia wash isn't usually my first choice — that would be Agrax Earthshade. However, in this case the Agrax would have darkened everything too much; the Sepia remains brighter.

 This is a 28mm model, a freebie from a Kickstarter, scaled down to 15mm to fit in with my BF metals.

For the most part, the scaling worked without issues, but the rifle definitely should be replaced with something a bit chunkier and sturdier — the barrel just printed, but the sling is nearly all gone. 

Also, I need a much better macro photography setup. This is taken with my iPhone, and none of my fancy-schmancy DSLRs would produce anything as sharp.

 2026-01-31

I've taken that Kickstarter STL and done some head-swapping, as well as giving it a beefed-up rifle that should print a lot better.

I haven't tried printing them yet, but since the original printed just fine I don't anticipate any major issues. 

DM Screen for AD&D2e

 

I've printed out and assembled my new DM's screen for AD&D2e.

Structurally, it's 2mm grey-board covered with some of my home-made book-cloth. I didn't have enough of a single pattern to do the whole lot, which is why it's in two different patterns.

The most useful in-game charts are on the two centre panels. The outer panels are less likely to be needed day-to-day, and I've added some hinged smaller pages (to the left) with other less important information. If I find there are other charts I feel the need for instant access to, I'll put other hinged panels on the right.

The main thing is to learn where everything is, so that I minimise searching time and garner a wholly undeserved reputation for omniscience.

The pages on the outside are more or less temporary; that's where I'll put any player info. In this case they deal with how I'm handling saving throws and critical hits / fumbles.

NOTE: I laminated the sheets before I glued them to the panels, and in hindsight I think that was a mistake. The glossy surface makes the content more difficult to read due to annoying reflections.

Strelets Streltsy

 

Strelets includes this little guy, or a mini like him, in all their soft plastic 1/72 figure sets, regardless of the actual subject matter of the set.

He's a member of the Streltsy, the Russian firearms troops from (I think) the 16th century up until the 18th (I think).

As you may have guessed, I don't actually know anything much about them, though I'm sure that Wikipedia could help, if I could be bothered to look.

He's been sitting on my painting desk for quite a few years, so I gave him a very quick speed-paint, just for the hell of it. 

Will I ever have a use for him? I kind of doubt it. 

Note: the paint-job looks kind of crappy in the main photo, but bear in mind that the figure is only about this size, as shown to the left. 

It's still kind of crappy, but not as crappy-looking. 

Ambulance

 

Once upon a time I had an Airfix kit of the Austin K2 ambulance, from the RAF Emergency Set I think. I have no idea what happened to that model.

Now I'm taking Bergman's 1:100 model of the same vehicle and titivating it a bit for my own purposes.

The dark yellow bits are all the original model, all the other coloured bits are my replacements. 

It has a separate cab roof, to ease both printing and painting.

I think they more usually had a tin cab roof, but I like the look of slightly flappy canvas, so I've modelled it like that.

 

I'm painting it in all-over SCC2 (Service Brown), so it will fit in all over the place for mid-WWII service: Tunisia, Sicily, Italy. Later on the base colour changed to SCC15 (Olive Drab), but older vehicles weren't repainted unless they'd gone in for fairly major repairs.

SCC2 is a slightly tricky shade. There seems to be quite a lot of variance in what people think it should look like. The official description, of (I kid you not) "slightly milky tea" is pretty vague. This model is sprayed with Vallejo Leather Brown surface primer. 

I find I need a much better circle cutter for cutting my masks. My ad-hoc compass-and-craft-knife is only barely adequate. 

2026-01-11

Finished.

And I've about had a gutsful of painting crosses for the moment.

Model Storage Sabots

 

I have a number of relatively cheap plastic storage boxes that I use for a variety of purposes, one of which is to store wargaming models.

The models can go straight into the box's compartments (I've removed the dividers from this one), but that's not completely satisfactory — the models tend to get shoved around a bit, and they can't be stacked without risking damage to the ones on the bottom.

 I made my first ones out of heavy grey card, about 2.5mm thick. The later ones are all made from 3mm MDF.

The card versions have one advantage: the PVA I use to glue them together sets quite quickly. However, cutting the thick card with a craft knife is a bit laborious.

Since I'm lucky enough to own a small table saw, cutting the MDF components is as easy as pie, and repeatable precision is simple. However, the MDF isn't as absorbent as the grey card, and as a result the PVA takes a lot longer to go off. The sabot is more solid than the card version, but for the weights involved, that's not really an issue.

It would be an ideal project for a small laser cutter, but I don't have one of those. One day maybe.

The main reason to use a system like this is that it makes the storage modular. I can secure everything for transport with chips of soft foam, and get only the items I want in and out of the box without having to disturb everything else.

AB-41 to kick off 2026

Base colour applied

Resin print from Elegoo Mars Pro

I'm starting 2026 with a model I've done before, the Italian WWII Autoblinda AB-41 armoured car. However, those earlier models were FDM printed, and painted up for the Italians in North Africa.

This time I've printed it on my resin printer, and it is intended for service with the Germans in Italy and/or the Balkans.

So far I have its basic camouflage paint applied. Getting consistent skinny lines with my airbrush is a bit of a task; the paint has to be just right or else spattering or spidering becomes unmanageable. These paints are all from Vallejo. 

 

The base colour is German Green Brown surface primer. 

That was dry-brushed with 70847 Dark Sand

 Then it was panel-shaded with 70.031 Middlestone and 70.117 Camouflage Brown.

The green disruptive stripes are 70.017 Russian Green 4BO. 

The usual Agrax Earthshade pin-washing to bring out detail, and a bit more dry-brushing.