The standard anti-tank gun of German forces in World War II was the 7.5 cm PaK 40. Used throughout the war in every theater, the some 20,000 guns produced were the bane of every Allied tank. As the modern video below shows, the PaK 40 was fearsome weapon.

After modelling so many German infantry figures over the past year, I very much wanted to mix things up. I picked up a deal on a few blister packs of 28mm Warlord Games Bolt Action metal miniatures at last year’s HMGS Fall In! 2015 convention, including a PaK 40, a forward observer team and a German high command set. As always, the 28mm metal models from Warlord go nicely with my other Germans in both scale and sculpting. The artillery piece and the high command set both allowed me to create little tabletop battlefield vignettes while deployed with other individual models.

My painting approach is pretty standard for my German forces. Individual figures get a little flash clean up before being glued to metal washers. The high command set went on a 60mm plastic base from Proxie Models. The PaK 40 and its crew went on two of the 60mm bases which I cut and glued together. From there, here were the steps in detail for painting my German infantry.

Painting 28mm German Infantry

1. Clean flash from metal models with a sharp knife and glue to metal washer or plastic bases.
2. Apply filler putty to bases. When dry, scrape off excess with a sharp knife.
3. Basecoat models and bases with flat black spray primer.
4. Paint smocks and helmets with Tallarn Sand.
5. Paint PaK 40 with Tallarn Sand.
6. Paint pants, soft hats, officer uniforms and gas mask containers with Skavenlight Dinge.
7. Paint camouflage on helmets and smocks with alternating Waaagh! Flesh and Dark Brown.
8. Paint faces and hands with Tallarn Flesh.
9. Paint packs with Baneblade Brown.
10. Paint boots and equipment straps Black.
11. Paint bases, gun stocks, water bottles and helmet straps with Dark Brown.
12. Apply Agrax Earthshade wash to uniforms, helmet netting, webbing and packs.
13. Mix 50/50 Baneblade Brown and Off White and lightly dry brush packs, webbing, socks and holsters.
14. Dry brush pants, soft hats and officer great coat with Light Grey.
15. Lightly dry brush bases and gun stocks with Baneblade Brown.
16. The high command table also gets painted Dark Brown followed by a a dry brushing of Baneblade Brown. The map on the table is painted in Off White with lines drawn on in varying colors with a very fine brush.
17. Paint metal gun and water bottle parts with black and finish with a light dry brush of Metallic Silver.
18. Dry brush gasmask containers with metallic Silver.
19. Paint eyes with small dots of Off White and Dark Brown. Clean up around eyes with Tallarn Flesh.
20. Mix 50/50 Tallarn Flesh and Off White and brush highlights on cheekbones, chins, forehead, nose and hands.
21. Cover bases in white glue and cover in 50/50 mix of fine light green and dark green grass flock.
22. Glue small pieces of clump foliage to base.
23. Spray coat completed models with matte finish.

 Figures are cleaned and glued to washers and plastic bases

 Primer and base coats to uniforms and the PaK 40 are applied

And here’s the finished results. With a new Brooklyn Bolt Action group holding their first event this weekend at Nu Brand Gaming with some of us from Metropolitan Wargamers in attendance I can’t wait for some of my 28mm models to march into battle.