SdKfz 251 ambulance

 

This 15mm (1/100 scale) Hanomag SdKfz 251 half-track ambulance is a model I designed and printed some considerable time ago, but the print was a partial failure — the nose of the vehicle is distorted, and the wheels didn't print at all. I just got around to making some new wheels and gluing them in place.

I'll add it to the rest of the ambulances I've been modelling over recent years. I've got a few of them now. 

Pantherturm (15mm)

 This is a freebie STL of a WWII German Pantherturm, an emplaced Panther tank turret used extensively in the Italian campaign and during the fall of the Reich as a (relatively) cheap protected anti-tank bunker.

 https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/mojobob_hoochyman_pantherturm

The model is designed at 1:100 scale for 15mm, but it will scale up for 20mm without any issues, and even 28mm at a pinch. It'd also scale down to 1:150 or 1:144 for 10-12mm gaming, though the gun barrel might start getting a little fragile then.

Both the turret and the base have sockets to accommodate round magnets up to 10x1.5mm.

 It printed successfully on my Ender 3 FDM printer, but the print failed on my Mars Pro resin printer — I don't know why. That printer's been getting quite flaky in recent times, and the failure rate has increased markedly. 

The base will need to be embedded in an appropriate terrain diorama. For Italy, that would be most often rural terrain, but in the invasion of Germany they were often dug into city streets to overwatch important road junctions. 

 Here are a couple just sitting on top of a terrain sheet, and they look okay just like this. I'd still like to embed at least one of them in a scenic base though.

2026-03-13

I've now included a groundwork STL that the base piece can be pressed into, for those who don't want the trouble of making a scenic base the traditional way.

 2026-03-14

Here are my prints, now encapsulated with grass and dirt collars so they look more dug-in. 

These are 3d-printed bases, but really it would be a trivial matter to make the exact same thing out of air-drying clay or the like. 

 2026-03-16

Here's one in a base better suited for urban rubble, this time created from scratch using traditional modelling techniques and materials (polyfilla, kitty-litter and matchsticks). 

Raupenschlepper Ost 1942 - test print

Quite some time ago, I designed this model in Blender. It's a simplified version of the Raupenschlepper Ost, with the cab made from plywood instead of stamped from steel, and with a canvas roof. They went into production in 1942, with the aim of making production faster and cheaper.

But I never did actually get around to printing it. Mainly because its hollow cab would have made printing quite difficult.

Today I filled in the cab and cargo bed with a solid block, but in the cab I kept half of each of two crewmen visible, so that they could be painted in a kind of bas-relief style. It seems to have worked reasonably well, and the model printed on my Ender 3 without any issues at all (except that I initially assembled the running gear the wrong way round, and had to tear it off and re-glue it). 

It means, of course, that there's no interior detail visible, but for a gaming model that doesn't disturb me too much. 

 Several days later...

I've got it painted now, in a post-1943 colour scheme. All in all, I'm reasonably happy with how it turned out. 

Flak 36-38 88mm (15mm)

 

This is the 3d printed 15mm Flak 36-38 88mm gun that I've been working on the last couple of days.

The crew are all Command Decision 15mm metals. 

Overall I'm reasonably happy with it, except that the groundwork is a bit garish. I might hit it with the airbrush and see if I can tone it down a bit. 

 A bit later...

The groundwork is now definitely less gaudy, but I don't know that it's really any improvement.

Ah well, never mind. 

Germanic Test Painting

I've been trying to find a set of pre-mixed paints that I'm satisfied with for painting my 15mm WWII German foot-sloggers and artillerymen. They've almost always turned out too dark, sometimes too light.

This bloke, a Command Decision 15mm artilleryman with a binocular rangefinder, I base-coated in Vallejo ModelColor 759 German Tank Crew, and then dry-brushed (or moist-brushed really) fairly heavily with 886 Grey Green. I added an overall wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade (my favourite), which darkened everything a tad, and then came back in with 886 again for the highlights.

This method gives me a field grey that I'm satisfied with. I know that German field grey is a vague and uncertain colour anyway, but I do want something that looks good to me.

I could have done the base coat in 830 German Field Grey, which is tonally similar to 759, but warmer. Once the wash has gone on, I doubt that it would make much difference.
 

Old Gun

 

This is a WWII German 105mm LeFH howitzer, 15mm (1:100), 3d printed quite a long time ago and finally finished off.

The crew are a mixture of Peter Pig metals and 3d printed, and the base is a honking great big fender washer. The big washer may have been a mistake; it adds a lot of weight to the group, and it may imperil the figures a bit under the mashing of great sausage-fingers.

The gun is a later model, with pressed-steel wheels and a muzzle brake, but painted in Dunkelgrau for pre-1943 service. After then they would have been in Dunkelgelb, and most likely in a three-colour camo scheme. 

As far as actual wargaming goes, it's largely pointless, as guns like this are almost always going to be off-table. Never mind though. 

Marder 1 (Lorraine)

 

I started work on this model, a German WWII Marder 1, quite some time ago. But then I forgot all about it, until I happened upon the beginnings of the project a few days ago, and finished it off. Working on the digital file zoomed in all the time, it was easy to lose track of how small these vehicles were.

I've put the STLs online at https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/mojobob_hoochyman_marder_1_lorraine_ 

I did a test-print this evening, which was mostly okay, though there are a couple of things that I think might need attention.

 

The main issue is the gun shield:  printing at the angle I did meant that it was lying pretty flat to the platen, and I got some delamination and distortion at the corners. I think it might be best to detach it and print it as a separate component.

Nashorn Crew

 

I like to include some crew figures in my little 15mm (1:100) model tanks, both to give a sense of scale, and also so that it doesn't look like a bunch of autonomous robot machines tootling about on the wargames table.

I think the Nashorn actually had a crew of about six, but any more than these two in the fighting compartment would be unfeasibly crowded, so these guys are symbolic of the crew rather than actually representative of it as a whole. 

I kitbashed these figures from a bunch of others. The main bodies came from 3dBreed, but things like hats and helmets and shells and so forth I made myself and added to the cut-up original figures. They were printed on my Mars Pro resin printer.

Nashorn #2

 

Nashorn No.2

This is another model I printed quite a while ago on my Ender 3. Compared with similar prints from my Mars Pro, the FDM layer lines stand out like dogs' balls.

I've painted this one in a three-colour scheme suitable for  Kursk or Normandy or Bagration or later. 

I have to do some crew for it, as I do for the earlier Nashorn and the Hummel I completed recently. 

Hummel (15mm)

 

This is a 1:100 (15mm) model of the German 150mm SPG Hummel (Bumblebee), a 15cm gun-howitzer mounted on a PzIV chassis.

I've painted this one for North Africa, but it would also do for Italy. 

I still have to do some crewmen for it (and for some other models as well), and they're in the pipeline. 

Hummel WiP

NOTE: photos will be displayed from newest to oldest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5) Initial dry-brushing, plus an oil-wash and some streaking.

4) I'm painting the Hummel for North Africa and/or Italy.

Primed in dark brown, then a base coat of VMA Yellow Brown, and panel-shaded with VMA Camo Brown.

3) Primed overall dark brown. This is a 50/50 mix of red-brown and olive-green Vallejo Surface Primer.

2) Printing did not go entirely smoothly.

The body and superstructure both printed on my Mars Pro in resin without issues, but the running gear component absolutely would not work, even with several changes of position and orientation.

I ended up having to print them on my Ender 3 in PLA, and in fact they're not too bad.

1) Ages ago, I took someone's existing Hummel model (I think it was Zac Kuvalich, though I'm not sure) and split it up for ease of printing.

However, I don't think I ever actually printed it, which surprises me. I've looked all over the place, but I can't find a printed model anywhere, so that's my printing task for today.

Nashorn

 

I've been rummaging in amongst a bunch of stuff that I 3d printed ages ago and never got around to painting, and one of them is this 1:100 (15mm) WWII German Nashorn SPAT, also called Hornisse. It was a very potent anti-tank weapon, with the long L71 88mm, but it had a real glass jaw, with very light armour. It was intended for long-range sniping rather than mixing it up with other armoured vehicles.

 I'm not sure who originally designed this model, though I think it might have been Zac Kuvalich (TigerAce1945 on Thingiverse). I took his model and cut it up into several components to ease printing, but not until after I printed this one, which was printed in one piece on my Ender 3 FDM machine.

I've painted this one in a scheme that would be suitable for Italy. 

ADDENDUM

 At about the same time I did the Nashorn, I also cut up the accompanying Hummel model.

I thought I had printed it, but having looked all over the place, I haven't been able to find it, so I guess not.

 Now I've done some initial printing, and the body and superstructure both printed fine, but the running gear components need a bit of tweaking.

 I printed the body and superstructure just fine on my resin printer, but I absolutely could not get the running gear components to print successfully on that machine. So I had to do them on my FDM Ender 3, and though not as crisp as the resin, I think they'll do fine.

Assembled and primed

 

 

Making Tracks

 

PzIII J-N running gear

This project has been on my back-burner for quite some time now.

I decided to make a set of decently detailed running gear for a 15mm (1:100 scale) Panzer III.

The hull is from an old PzIII model by Zac Kuvalich.

I haven't yet done a test print, because it's currently winter in New Zealand, and my workroom, where the printers are, is bloody freezing. 

PzIII E-F running gear

PzIII G-H running gear

The style of both the sprocket wheel and idler changed as the Panzer III was developed. I've done a couple of running gear modules that reflect those changes.

To a certain extent, it's possible to use an earlier style of running gear on later models, as existing vehicles were upgraded to later specifications. 

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.

T-26 Beutepanzer

 

This is my 1:100 scale model of one of the myriad WWII German conversions of captured equipment, in this case marrying the Soviet T-26 light tank hull with a French 75mm gun, the PaK 97/38 in German service.

The STL is available at https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/t-26-with-pak-97-38 

Not a great many of these were ever made. The project went as far as active troop trials, but it was never accepted for full-scale serial production.

There is a driver figure printed in the model (not visible here), but I need to find a couple more crewmen for it. I'm sure I have something suitable in the lead pile.

Tiger 1 (late production)

 

I've finished painting my 3d printed 1:100 (15mm) late production Tiger 1.

The airbrushing caused me to make some sweary noises — I'm getting a bit frustrated with Vallejo ModelAir, but it's pretty much all I have access to locally.

 This would be a vehicle of 1944-45, the type of Tiger that would most likely be encountered during and after the Normandy landings, or during Bagration. Except that apparently those late vehicles didn't use the smoke launchers, so I've deleted them from the current version of the model.

The STLs are available at https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/mojobob_hoochyman_tiger_1_late_production_

Tiger Time Again

After I'd finished off my Afrika Korps Tiger 1, I thought it might be handy to have some running gear for the later production vehicles, with the corrugated steel wheels. So I made some in 1:100 scale.

 The later production turrets changed a bit too, with a new low-profile commander's cupola like that used on the Panther and Tiger II. I don't know precisely when they first appeared, but I have seen a photograph of a Tiger with this turret in Tunisia, dated 1943. Anyway, I thought I'd better make one of those too. In fact, I made three, since I like to add crew figures where possible, as I think they add life and a sense of scale to the model.

I wouldn't be surprised if this cupola and those for the Panther and King Tiger all came off the same production line. Maybe not though; the Germans did seem to quite keen on bespoke re-engineering of elements for new vehicles.

 

And of course the hull of the beast changed as well, since the Feifel air cleaning system disappeared. So I had to make a new body as well. And now I have a whole new late-production Tiger 1 to print and paint and send into the Normandy bocage.

Test printing on my elderly Mars Pro confirms that everything prints and assembles as expected, which is always a relief.

The STLs for this model can be purchased at https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/mojobob_hoochyman_tiger_1_late_production_, all proceeds going to fund my modelling/3d printing/roleplaying/wargaming hobbies.

 2025-04-26

I've added some separate track armour modules. They can be printed separately and be glued in place, or else they can be added in the slicer and be printed in place.

15mm Afrika Korps paint test

Collage of various internet stuff

I'm not great at painting 15mm figures, but I do like them to look at least half-way believable.

So, I occasionally force myself to do some research.

Fortunately, these days the internet provides plenty of material to look at — though it can be of variable reliability, since it is subject to reenactment fads and AI bullshit.

Looks like an Osprey illustration to me

This is the method I've settled on that seems to work for me:

Primed with Green Brown surface primer

Then 914 Green Ochre for the uniform base coat.

Just Buff for the trousers. I'll use Iraqi Sand for the helmets and other painted metal.

After lightly dry-brushing with Bone White for highlights, and washing overall with Agrax Earthshade, another wash on just the jacket with Athonian Camoshade greens it up a bit without making it too bright.

Bison II

 

Apparently this self-propelled gun ended up being called "Bison II" due to a model-maker's error, and like many nicknames given to German WWII vehicles, it was never used by the Germans themselves.

Its proper name is 15cm sIG 33 auf Fahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen II (Sf), which is a hell of a mouthful. I'm just going to keep calling it Bison.

The base model I built this up from was by Bergman, though all that's left is (most of) the  hull. I replaced the running gear and gun, rebuilt the engine grills, and cobbled together a couple of crewmen from some figures by someone whose name I've forgotten.

As usual, when I've decided to do some paint chipping, I've gone completely overboard. This looks more like shrapnel damage than normal wear and tear. 

Scale is 1:100 (15mm)

PzJg38(t) Hetzer

 Continuing with my plan of painting all the stuff I printed ages ago and then forgot about — this time it's a 15mm (1:100) Hetzer, or to be pedantic, a PzJg38(t).

 I don't recall who designed the 3d model originally, nor how much fiddling around with it I did. There's an error with the track guides, which should be running either side of the road wheels and not down the centre of the track links, as they are here — I think that's probably my mistake.

I quite like the Hetzer. It's a very compact little bug-like thing. Apparently the ergonomics and survivability of the thing were appalling though, so I'm glad I never had to fight in one.