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. 

FDM Bergman PzII

 

Carrying on with my plan to paint up a whole lot of old stuff that I printed ages — sometimes years — ago, I've whacked out this early-model Panzer II for my 15mm Afrika Korps.

This is an FDM print, and though it's serviceable enough as a gaming piece, it's pretty crude in detail. It was printed flat on the printer platen, and the layer lines on the sloping plates are pretty apparent if you look too closely. 

Being an early model vehicle, it doesn't have the turret bustle (Rommelkette, I think) that became ubiquitous on German tanks up until the Panther/Tiger II era.

Afrika Korps Tiger 1 - WiP

 

Next project: a 15mm Tiger 1 for my Afrika Korps.

I'm 3d printing an Afrika model, with the Feifel air cleaners, from TigerAce1945. It's the one in the middle, with an old Battlefront resin & metal model on the left, and a PSC plastic kit on the right.

I've given it new, more detailed running gear, and added a commander's head and some spare track on the hull front. Looking at it now though, I can see a few other places where it could benefit from some tarting up — it's missing the prominent seam around the turret top, and also the seams between the individual side skirt panels. Maybe if I do any more I'll take care of those details.

 Later...

I've added those details, and I think it looks a lot better.

When I'll get around to reprinting it I don't know, but it's ready for me when I do.

Later later...

Got the initial airbrushing done. Next will be to do a bit of dry-brushing and pick out some surface detail — tools, tyres and so forth — before gloss-varnishing for some decals and oil-wash.

The 2 pounder portee is there to remind me to pull finger and get it finished; it's one of those projects that has been hanging fire for far too long.

Later later later...

 I've finished it off now, and in spite of my hatred of waterslide decals, I'm pretty pleased with the way it's turned out.

Bison

I've been messing about with the Sturmpanzer II "Bison" from TigerAce1945's Panzer II Pack, bumping up the detail here and there and refining a bit of the geometry.

His models have been a real boon, to me and to hundreds and thousands of others. Sure, I _could_ make one myself, but then I am very lazy.

The crew figures are a couple of 3dBreed artillerymen that I have edited a bit — I got rid of the loader's Y-yoke, and gave him a better-shaped helmet. Most 3dBreed figures have wide open angry mouths, and I had a fairly limited choice from those that don't.

This will go to give my 15mm Afrika Korps a bit more artillery support. Who knows, one day I may even get that army finished to a state where I could put it on the wargaming table.

2024-02-19

I've printed it a couple of times. The one behind I did before I noticed that it was missing a set of road wheels, so it's actually a bit smaller than it should be. I'll just have to pretend it's further away.

Ah well, I've used less accurate models on the wargames table before I guess; it's still eminently usable, and I doubt that any except the very pernickety will even notice as long as they're not right next to each other.

2024-02-23

I've been fiddling about in Blender, doing a quick procedurally generated terrain to put the model in. It's not really relevant to 3d printing, or at least, not for my purposes. But it's an interesting way of teaching myself a thing or two about Blender's node systems.

New for 2024, the StuG IIIb

 

My first model completed for 2024.

This is a 3d printed StuG IIIb destined for my 15mm DAK. The water can rack I designed in Blender and printed on my Mars Pro, the tarps and ammo box came from the PSC 15mm German Stowage set.

Apparently the only StuGs sent out to Africa (only 3 of them I believe) were Ausf D, but the Ausf B is what I've got, both in a digital file for print, and in the shape of some Zvezda 1:100 kits. So Ausf B is what they're going to get.

Flammpanzer 1

The Flammpanzer 1 was a simple field conversion of a Panzer 1A, replacing one of the turret machine-guns with an infantry flamethrower. It was originally used in the Spanish Civil War, and later at Tobruk.

This is a 3d-printed model, designed by Zac Kuvalich and printed by me on my Ender 3.

Afrika Korps in 15mm — a beginning is made

Having made the decision to stick with 15mm for my Afrika Korps, I've had the 3d printer working overtime to get the core of the Korps established.

The only one of these models that isn't 3d printed is the painted Panzer IV F1 at centre rear; that's a 1:100 (15mm) PSC model.

I'll do another couple of Panzer IV D, and then I'll get on to transports and things. Anti-tank guns might be an issue, I'll probably have to buy those, along with some infantry. I think I might have a BF PaK 38 in amongst my stuff; I shall have to see if I can dig it out. And I have some other useful bits and pieces from the PSC 15mm early-war German heavy weapons box that can be painted in desert yellow and put into service.

The Dastardly (Sun-Tanned) Hun

These PzKfw II aren't much opposition to the Crusaders, but they're a beginning. I have some PzKfw III waiting in the wings.

They're all old GHQ models, and they'd all lost their guns some time in the past. I replaced them with lengths of brass wire (from 0.55mm sequin pins). Three of them have Rommelkette, the other two do not.

Later...

And here are the first of the Panzer III.

These are Heroics & Ros miniatures. I have a whole lot more Panzer III from GHQ waiting to be painted; they're perceptibly bigger than these, and better detailed. Nevertheless, I have a fondness for the H&R models.