Beginner with a Panzer Co...

Hi Folks,

DiceHex here with some excuses for not finishing my Normandy Table! I got pretty distracted by my first FoW army project!

I have a background in 40k and other GW games, and I became pretty exited at the prospect of trying a painting project which was very different to what I was used to. I bit the bullet, after months of talk, and purchased a fairly balanced panzer company.


Assembly was not particularly difficult (the schurzen are pretty fiddly though), but as with all miniature products, there were a few rules to follow...
If resin: wash in warm soapy water. (I used a drop of dish washing liquid in a tub of warm water, and an old tank brush).
If metal: Check diligently for mould lines or flash which needs to be cleaned off. (I have unfortunately missed a couple of spots on the panzer IIIs and infantry). If I had've noticed in the first place I would not have to go back and correct the problem now, after painting.

After assembling my force (apart from the side skirts), I gave it a black spray, and set off blocking in the base colours. My local store does not stock a very good variety of paints, so I did some research online for equivalent colours in the Citadel range.
Gretching Green Foundation is pretty good as dunkelgelb, and Charadon Granite is perfect for German Grey.

I took particular care assembling the Armoured Panzergrenadiers. By adding a few ordinary toothpicks to the bases, I was able to get the infantry to look like they were bracing their guns on farm fences.

And then I built up the texture and colours, step by step...

And I'm very happy with the results. I'll be adding more foliage and greenery, and maybe some dark washes to dull down the earth and grass...

The tanks were all "Gretchined" and "Mudded" as you see here:

Then I brushed some "Dried Blood" weathering powder into the tracks. This shade is fairly good for simulating a red oxide primer coat, and looks pretty good as reddish dirt as well. A careful drybrush of Bleached Bone defines the edges, corners, and details.

I tried my hand at airbrushing for the first time! I am far from what I would call competent as yet, but I had so much fun! I'm fairly pleased with my first results. I used Scorched Brown (below), then Camo Green...

Here are a few shots of my nearly completed panzer company! After a fair bit of worry about weather I'd get them looking okay for the Breakout Tournament, they are now coming together rapidly, and I'm very pleased at my fist attempt.

I might try to slap together a basic display base before I pick out the stowage details and apply transfers.

Cheers

PS: please forgive some of these poor snap shots, my better half has commandeered the nice camera.