Wednesday, 16 August 2023

"The Panzer I's Design History Can Be Traced To The British Carden Loyd Tankette..."

"...Of which it borrowed much of its track and suspension design." 

This pair of 10mm metal German Panzerkampfwagen I tanks used to sold by “Pendraken Miniatures” as Code GR77 - Panzer (2). But nowadays appears to have been superseded by a much more detailed multi-piece product under Code GRV1 - Panzer I, Ausf. A. Incredibly, these tiny models were ordered as part of a large 'Battle Of Moscow" project I was working on approximately twelve years ago for "Blitzkrieg Commander", and were only recently discovered when I (once again) searched through my 1/150th scale backlog for any Early World War Two units.

Having super-glued the armoured vehicles onto some 30X40mm plastic bases, and simultaneously discovered that one of the Panzer's 7.92 mm MG 13 machine guns was hanging off, I gave the two 'stopgaps' a couple of coats of "Vallejo" Neutral Grey. The duo were then doused in "Citadel" Nuln Oil, before being dry-brushed in (more) "Vallejo" Neutral Grey.

 "The Panzer IV was partially succeeded by the Panther medium tank."

Copying the colour scheme I felt had worked so well on the special purpose vehicle 101s when I originally painted several of them over a decade ago, I subsequently treated the light tanks' wheels/tracks with a combination of Gunmetal and "Citadel" Nuln Oil. Lastly, having taken the time to carefully 'pick out' their shovels with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and Gunmetal, I also added a single German cross onto each Panzer's hull using a transfer taken from the WWII German Insignia and Swastika sheet by "Decal Details".

Sticking with both "Pendraken Miniatures" and my aforementioned Early War project, I have also pigmented two of the company's old Panzer IV tank sculpts - namely Code GR200 -Panzer IV D Short 75mm and GR9 - Panzer IV F2. These aging sculpts also appear to have been replaced by GRV13 - Panzer IV D, short 75mm and GRV15 - Panzer IV F2 respectively, and were painted almost identically to my Panzer I armoured vehicles.

"Warlord Games" WIPs - These two Mounted Commanders are at various stages

Finally, I have started working on a mounted commander for my 15mm 1st Florida Infantry Regiment by "Warlord Games". This plastic horse rider is from the Nottingham-based manufacturer's Black Powder Epic Battles American Civil War range, and is surprisingly the third identical sculpt I've put a brush-tip to since I first got my hands on a free sprue of miniatures with Issue 397 of "Wargames Illustrated".

Furthermore, I've actually got another primed 'carbon copy' of this figure waiting in the wings, to be used alongside a metal model of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson as my Confederate army's General. Unlike my other mounted officers though, this horseman has been temporarily super-glued upon a wooden stick, as he'll later be attached alongside "one of the most gifted tactical commanders in U.S. history" on a large(ish) thin-lipped 40mm circular base instead of the 30mm ones I've been using.

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