Wehrmacht Scouts - Russia 1943, 1/35

[robgizlu]

I've bult Royal Navy ships for the last few years and normally hang out in the Maritime section, but several years back I built armour and tried to improve my figure detailing and painting skills.

These sat in a box and the digipics associated indicate that I began these in 2013, only to be abandoned!

I recall trying a dio in a tin lid that failed dismally and they were set aside

I've an abiding interst in wartime camo schemes, unforms, AFVs, ships, you name it.  I  like colour.

 

The inspiration was this picture

 

 

2 Wehrmacht scouts on the Russian front in a spring thaw.  The camouflage jackets suggest 1943 onwards.  The figure on the left wears a double sided winter Sumpfmuster Wintertarnanzug jacket - likely 1943 style camo and the figure on the right is either wearing the same or a Splittermuster jacket.  His trousers are again either one of the 2 schemes or less likely Italian Italienisches-tarnmuster.

 

These pics got dredged from an old Storage hard drive.

 

 

 

 

The ponies derive from the Masterbox "American Civil War series".  I cant recall from which Dragon set the torsos and legs came.  The rudimentary sculpting is done with Magic-sculp.

Heads are from where elese - Hornet.

 

They got painted to a point before being discarded.  I remember looking closely at horse painting

 

 

 

 

 

As a bit of a break from nautical modlling I'm going to have a try at finishing these.

These stirrups arrived from historex to scurry the project along.

 

 

Thanks for looking

Rob

[Matt Parvis]

I remember this project! Looking forward to seeing it progress once more.

 

Matt

[robgizlu]

7 hours ago, Matt Parvis said:

I remember this project! Looking forward to seeing it progress once more.

 

Matt

 

Hiya Matt - 7 yrs ago!!

Thanks for looking in - it's odd painting figures again - I'd forgotten how long it takes.

 

I decide to go for Sumpfmuster 1943 on the left hand figure - Trying to decide what base colour to use is always difficult - The variation in tones is enormous, from pale sand to almost  cedar brown

 

 

 

The Sumpfmuster pattern is a minor nightmare and despite practsing on a spare figure first, the result is less than I'd hoped for.  The trick is to use very dilute paint with glaze medium and be "loose" unlike with the  Splittermuster that's coming up.

Too much paint and the effect becomes overwhelming, the effect is to get the "halo" that the originals were printed with

 

 

 

The end result ends up being impressionistic rather than "literal".

 

 

 

 

 

The second figure needed a face repaint

 

 

And I elected to use both green and lighter earth shades on the  Splittermuster

 

 

3 hours painting later ets us to this

 

 

 

A considerably better effort than the Sumpfmuster

And this simple base got delivered today.  Perfect size and next to nothing in cost terms

 

 

 

I went to get my acrylic mud out but very sadly it had all dried up

So a quick build slows to await delivery of some substitute

 

And looking through my cupbards, I found this where some of the pieces came from and of course there were some etched stirrups in the box 

 

The figures certainly work better from a distance - macro photography is a cruel old beast 

More soon when some mud arrives.

 

Thanks for looking

Rob

[robgizlu]

Trial base which I'm broadly happy with.

 

 

Seeing the camo int he shots above made me go back and rework it on both figures

 

 

 

And horses tails.  The plastic kit bits neever look quite right so I lifted some thread from the needlework box and attempted to tease it out from it's ravelled norm to get to this which is OKish

 

 

Thanks for looking

Rob

[John_W]

Outstanding work on the camouflage. Erbsenmuster for the next build?

[robgizlu]

Thanks John - I have tried Erbsenmuster previously and I have to say find it easier than these!

Rob

[longshanks]

and now for something completely different.

They say a change is as good as a rest

 

Very impressive so far, I'll be watching with interest

 

Kev

[beefy66]

Well you kept this quiet something very different from the floaty things but looking very good  👍

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Dads203]

Lovely work Rob, the uniforms are top drawer stuff fella, really nicely done 

[06/24]

Wish I could paint figures as well as that!

[Matt Parvis]

Looking good Rob. 

 

The tails look a little fuzzy to me. I wonder if some PVA thinned with water and brushed over them might knock down some of the fuzz?

 

Matt 

[robgizlu]

7 hours ago, Matt Parvis said:

Looking good Rob. 

 

The tails look a little fuzzy to me. I wonder if some PVA thinned with water and brushed over them might knock down some of the fuzz?

 

Matt 

 

I agree Matt - but I've been puzzling what to use.  Too much and its looking matted and manky - je vais reflechir 

Rob

[Matt Parvis]

Rob, how about some unraveled speaker wire. Like so:

 

 

Matt

[robgizlu]

Thanks Matt - For next time as I'd already CA'ed the tails in.

 

The base was prepared with some AK scenic products that are easy and very convenient to use...

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dragon etch stirrups were fitted 

 

 

Some Archer dry decals were used showing Recce troops

 

 

And finally some snow products with an attempt to capture thaw conditions

 

 

 

And finally EZ line was used for reins - a little thick but easier to use than cut lead foil.

RFI now up

Thanks for looking

Rob

[beefy66]

That is looking rather good Rob like what you have done with the base must say though when I first saw the wet mud stuff I was reaching for the doggy poop bags  

 

That ice stuff is very convincing looks just like what I can see from my window best put the heating on I am starting to feel cold  

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[Markyp2015]

Love the finish you have done on both the ground and the figures

[MisterE]

Outstanding work, sir!

[Matt Parvis]

On 1/22/2021 at 9:34 AM, robgizlu said:

Thanks Matt - For next time as I'd already CA'ed the tails in.

 

 

Got more horses planned? 

 

For the reins, one thing I have taken to doing for rifle slings, so very similar to reins, is to lay lead wire on the bench and roll over it to flatten it out. It can be a little fragile, but, it has no spring so stays exactly where you put it.

 

Matt

 

 

[robgizlu]

4 minutes ago, Matt Parvis said:

Got more horses planned? 

 

For the reins, one thing I have taken to doing for rifle slings, so very similar to reins, is to lay lead wire on the bench and roll over it to flatten it out. It can be a little fragile, but, it has no spring so stays exactly where you put it.

 

Matt

 

 

Wish I'd asked!!!!

Thanks Matt - that is definitely one to remember

Rob

[TonyOD]

They look fantastic!

[nimrod484]

That is great work. Difficult to paint horses, too.

[Terry1954]

Wow, I didn't think I'd find you in here Rob! What a great couple of figures and horses. I dabbled in figures years ago (still have a few in the stash, plus a handful of part finished jobbies) Seeing those Historex parts brought back memories.

 

Really like the camouflage smocks, there a=have come out so well.

 

Terry

[Nick jode]

Look great. Iv only ever done tamiya figures 

 

The Dragon ones look good if I'm honest 

[James G]

Very nicely done

[Arjan]

Very nice Rob, I love the figures and setting ! I recognize at least one Hornet head, the Masterbox horses and the Dragon Cossack kit 🙂. Dragon have released quite a few horse kits over the years but most Dragon horses have very awkward and unnatural leg positions. Many years ago I built this one, the reins are made from paper :

 

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

 

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by Arjan