Posts made by sgtwiltan

Rasputitza and panzer divisions down to 25 panzers made that almost impossible.

@Flashman:

Still waiting for Panzer III/IV for early war German light/medium tanks. Starting off with Panthers in 1939 is just wrong.

Wonder what happened to the molds for the more detailed units shown on the 1984 box - or were they borrowed from a different game?

As has been said, PzIII are available from HBG and I am totally with you on panthers for 1042. That is what led me to scratch build my own tanks for the original game. The original game had painted GHQ pieces on the back cover and was actually deceptive in insinuating that the game pieces were the same as the picture in the back. Here is a link to my game piece modifications and replacement thread. I try as much as possible to use original game pieces but sometimes only HBG pieces are available. HBG also make 38Ts for early war tanks along with PZIIs to go with the PZIIIs. I use the PZIIs for the Liechte divisions while the German Panzer divisiona use the Panzer IIIs. Those equipped with Czech tanks (which made up 1/4 of the Barbarossa panzer divisions and Rommels 7th Panzer prior to the DAK during the French campaign) get the 38Ts.

@LHoffman:

@knp7765:

That may be a mistake on my part. I did NOT wash my pieces first. I just went straight to painting.

It probably will not end up being catastrophic, but it is beneficial to wash your pieces before painting; removes excess oils from the molding process and surface contaminants that might otherwise be problematic for the integrity of the paint and its ability to adhere.

It seems you are having problems with the softer plastic infantry pieces. As Hoffman said, wash the mold release and finger grease off your pieces or any paint with be more likely to slough off because the grease and mold release act to prevent sticking. Soft infantry pieces are the conundrum since soft plastic is just that…Soft. Paint, when dry is not flexible and will break after a certain amount of flex. Some techniques used for gaming pieces require multiple base coats and even white glue to help stiffen the soft plastic before even painting. The nature of the material make them poor painting canvases and the only recourse is to use hard plastic to get rid of the flex. Sorry but you will always get chipping on paint from the infantry figures. I am actually replacing my own with hard plastic 1/100 scale Plastic Soldier Company pieces which are smaller than the standard 1/76-1/72 infantry that is in the games. The smaller size helps with the visuals in my opinion and brings the scales to a more even keel. The fact that those pieces are hard plastic also will keep paint maintenance less frequent. The only problem is that PSC only has Russian, German, British and American figures at the moment but they are in both 1/100 and 1/72 scale and multi-posed as well with ~100 figures per pack.

They are not carved like CNC pieces but rather soldered layer by layer. They use a plastic powder that gets lasered almost like a layer cake similar to the way toner is heated and bonded to paper in a printer. It’s called 3d printing because the “ink” is the plastic layer and a laser melts it to the previous layer to build up as a 3 dimensional “print” rather than just the 2 dimensions that we see on paper.

Been busy with other things so this is not a picture update.
Just wanted to clarify the last batch of prototypes.
Italian M13/40 or M14/41, US M3A1 Half-track, More detailed US 105mm Howitzer, Russian 76 mm divisional gun M1939 (USV), Sherman Firefly of the type used mostly by the Canadians and finally the short 25 pounder modified by the anzacz for jungle fighting.

PS 24th anniversary of Desert Storm

Hoorah and Semper Fi

Since you’ve had experience in 1/72 you will need to realize how much contrast plays  in smaller scales in order
to make the pieces look less of a painted blob and have the color differences really stand out. Remember that in
smaller scales, true colors don’t necessarily work and that there is a “darkening” effect when applied to smaller scales.
Use a lighter shade, a dark wash and then a very high contrasting drybrush. they may look ugly in close ups but they
are quite effective at gaming ranges.

This is a great idea!!

Some new Prototypes at the bottom of the first page.
The M15-42 from Europe 1940 was converted into M13-40/M14-41s since the Germans were basically the main user of the M15-42.
You can guess what the new artillery is. If you get it right, I did my job. Enjoy

Excellent work Lucas!!!
I know what you mean about the ridiculous amount of time you put into each.
The effort shows though.

And Congrats on the life sentence.

Gotta give creds to WotC.
They started listening to us who vote with our wallets.
The game pieces have become more varied and, to me, better sculpted.

We were, but we got Army M1s as loaners as well.
Here’s a pic of our M60s in Kuwait. Taken by my now deceased Staff Sgt.

@CWO:

I sometimes have trouble telling them apart too, depending on the lighting.  When I was reorganizing my sculpts recently, I took the darker tan British pieces from the older games and reassigned them to India.  Great Britain got to keep the lighter beige pieces from the more recent games.  This way, India ended up with less equipment-type diversity than Britain (no dive bombers or APCs, for instance) and it also ended up with older models (like the small-sized Royal Oak battleships) – kind of in the same way that the USMC sometimes gets hand-me-down older equipment from the US Army.

Or we stole em like the M1 Garands in GuadalCanal or Army vehicles in Marine “Amnesty” lots after Desert Storm.
The deal was, you dropped off vehicles not in your TOE, no questions asked and you didn’t get in trouble or have
to abandon usable equipment. The military is quite good about accountability during garrison but not as much during
a SHTF situation.

Hows this for “uniform”

Just checked my games.
CWO Marc, I think you happen to have a mismolded one.
I’ve got a couple Me-109s with the same short wing disability.
It seems the sculpt was subjected to some extra heat and the tips shrunk.
I’ve had that happen on some pieces I’ve tried to straighten out using the
lighter method.

GHQ are $10 per 5.
I have a bunch but I never used them due to weight and ability to shed paint and noodle guns.
8 1/2 1941 tigers= 1 ghq tiger.
Think about what they will do to your game box with hundreds of them in your game.

I’ll check my BotB Germans and compare as well.

Lucas the Panthers in my thread are from the 1999 Europe versions which are the ones I like.
Look at the panthers at HBG for the D-Day and Revised and you can see a huge width difference
from my modded ones. However, not all the panthers were made that way. They got skinnier while
retaining the same profile till the new panthers in BotB. The guns needed Viagra for sure but the
overall shape and size are the closest to the GHQ 1/285 model. The newer Panthers with sideskirts
are smaller in 1/300 scale and for some reason doesn’t excite me as much. I might change my mind
once I start modding them in more than prototype form. They can be backdated to earlier versions but
with sideskirts.

The evolution of the pieces have always bothered me somewhat.
The battleships have grown since the 1st gen 1942 from the mid 2000s for all the countries
except Japan whose battleship was actually the largest ever built.
The panthers? Oh my god!!! I love the original sculpt but as time passed to the new sculpt,
They got skinnier and skinnier. The Shemans did the same til they now look like the 76mm
gunned versions. The Me 109s grew much thicker wings compared to the versions prior to
1942 while the Spitfire went the opposite direction. They did manage to straighten out most
of the wing Bowing of many of the fighters and Bombers.

Being a modder, these changes make it hard to get consistency of pieces from generation to generation.
I understand the bulking up of parts for gaming and handling reasons but I have to have multiples of each
game just to build up my obsession of battalion/wing strength collections. I may have to convert old Battleships
into cruisers since some of the early ones are about the size of the destroyers.

I use dollar store superglue rather than hobby superglue due to price and size convenience.
I can get 3 small tubes for a dollar versus $12 for a small bottle of hobby cyano-acrylates.
The hobby glue also has a habit of drying out before I can use all of it which is even more of a waste.
I also use standard styrene glue for larger flat pieces. that aren’t going to get a lot of handling.
Paint adds extra strength for those pieces and acts almost like a second type of glue.
You’ll probably spend over $100 in supplies to include styrene sheets in different thicknesses and rods and block strips.
The multi-sheet packs are around $12, with the rods and strips about $5 per pack.
Tool-wise, you’ll need at least 3 X-acto razors, a pin-vise and multiple drill bits and different blades.
Then there are saws, metal rulers, hole punches of different sizes, micro files, sprue snips and storage containers.
The tools are where you will spend most of your money as the pin-vise alone is more than $20.
You will also need different grit sandpaper as well as many emory boards.

All this isn’t to dissuade you, just an FYI in what kind of commitment you will need in supplies. It is worthwhile for the long run but
A waste for only a few pieces. Considering your investment in painting supplies, it might be worth it for you and may even provide
many more hours enjoying our playing pieces. Beware, it’s a slippery road to obsession. I’ve found that I’m even modifying pieces
I have already put a basecoat on as I learn new techniques and modifications which might not even be noticed on the playing board.

I was about to ask which one but you changed the pic.
That is why i usually change out the barrels. Too hard to straighten with hot water without mis-shaping the sculpt
Funny though. It came that way so I am showing it along with the non-mis-shaped ones.

Here is a tip about Gun barrels. I used the teeth of hair brushes I buy at the dollar store. There are literally hundreds per brush
but using them forces you to glue with superglue.

Enlarged and increased the contrast of the pics a bit so the details show up better.

Yeah.
I use reading glasses now when I work on the models. and sometimes that magnification isn’t enough.
That pic was from 29 palms in 96