Tag Archives: scale modelling

28mm: German Wehrmacht By Black Tree Design

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I recently got back to my 28mm World War II projects with some Wermacht from Black Tree Design. After painting up a bunch of German troops in camouflage smocks, I wanted to get some more Heer infantry into the mix. And so, on the back of a big sale this summer, I’ve just about doubled my Axis forces at this scale.

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I was really pleased when I received my large order and marveled at all the detail on these figures. Lots of varied poses, weapons, equipment and personality make these casting from Black Tree Design stand as equals with all my other troops. As always, the customer service from the company was superb with nice hand-written notes included in each order boxed up in a little metal tin.

WehrDecalsGerman infantry decals from Company B

Along with my figure order, I also went back to Company B to order up some decals for the helmets. Even though it might not be as historical, I went with the national colors of the double decal helmet configuration which was phased out fairly early in the war. I really just wanted a bit more color on the otherwise monotone color scheme. And, while I’m on the subject of color, I really liked how the Skavenlight Dinge from Citadel Paint captured a nice mix of grey-green-blue tones of the standard German uniform.

IMG_6375A painted figure gets decals applied

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 pants, helmets, soft hats, officer greatcoats and gas mask containers with Skavenlight Dinge.
  5. Paint faces and hands with Tallarn Flesh.
  6. Paint packs ans straps with Baneblade Brown.
  7. Paint boots and equipment straps Black.
  8. Paint bases, gun stocks, water bottles and helmet straps with Dark Brown.
  9. Apply Agrax Earthshade wash to webbing and packs.
  10. Dry brush pants, helmets, soft hats and officer greatcoats with Light Grey.
  11. Lightly dry brush bases and gun stocks with Baneblade Brown.
  12. Paint metal gun and water bottle parts with black and finish with a light dry brush of Metallic Silver.
  13. Dry brush gasmask containers with metallic Silver.
  14. Paint eyes with small dots of Off White and Dark Brown. Clean up around eyes with Tallarn Flesh.
  15. Mix 50/50 Tallarn Flesh and Off White and brush highlights on cheekbones, chins, forehead, nose and hands.
  16. Cover bases in white glue and cover in 50/50 mix of fine light green and dark green grass flock.
  17. Glue small pieces of clump foliage to base.
  18. Spray coat completed models with matte finish.

I really like how these models scale with all my previous 28mm miniatures from Artizan Designs and Warlord Games, and my Wermacht forces will fit nicely in the defense of Europe from the tabletop assault of my Allied troops.

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28mm: M4A3 Sherman By Rubicon Models

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I’ve been quickly fitting out my 28m World War II infantry over the past few months with models from Artizan Designs, Warlord Miniatures and Black Tree Design. With scores of figures on the table, I thought it was high time to add some hefty support to the mix. So, at my recent journey to the excellent NJ Con I picked up a copy of the Rubicon Models M4A3 Sherman tank

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Retailing for under $40 USD, the 1/56 scale Rubicon Sherman comes on three sprues of well cast plastic. The very detailed instructions allow for the construction of three versions of the tank with 75mm, 76mm or 105mm guns and multiple turret variations. As this was my first at this scale, I opted for the most common 75mm gun, and the assembly allowed for loose gun for elevation at multiple angles. The interlocking turret also enabled easy rotation as did the top machine gun when left unglued but snuggly fitted into the turret. No stowage parts were included, but since this was my first model, I didn’t mind keeping it a relatively clean, right off the assembly line version of the workhorse Sherman of WWII.

IMG_6250My go-to basecoat for my US wargaming miniatures

After a quick assembly, my Sherman was hit in a basecoat in the US olive drab color from the Plastic Soldier Company. I’ve gotten a ton of mileage out of this product as a foundation for 15mm Flames of War models in the past, and it worked equally as well at this larger scale. Following the base spray, the treads got a black and then metallic drybrush. Seams in the hull were washed with a black-brown, and the hull received layers of dry-brushed rusty metallics and layers of varying brown mud. The included decals were easily applied and then washed and muddied up before the whole model was dull-coated in a final protective spray.

The resulting M4A3 Sherman armed with a 75mm gun is shown below in detail from a few angles and is ready to operate in support of my Allied models in the months to come.

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Mad Max In Miniature

MadMaxOriginal Just as my early-1980s adolescent brain was feasting on a steady diet of Dungeons & Dragons, comic books and all things Star Wars, Mad Max raced out of the Australian wastelands and into my world. I caught The Road Warrior at a local theater, only to realize there was an earlier film which I tracked down on video cassette. In the years to come, the Mad Max movies and their sequels tucked in nicely with my other adventure film mythologies. The Conan movies held the sword-and-sandals spot, Star Wars filled the sci-fi niche and Indiana Jones was the retro heroic adventure serial.

It was the the Mad Max films which brought the genres together in a barbaric, sci-fi tale led by a charismatic hero who always seemed to be losing right up until the final moments of the film when you realized he’d just won. The Mad Max movies also held a certain raw immediacy to me, especially in the final dangerous decade of the Cold War where a Road Warrior-esque post-apocalyptic future seemed like a possibility. Thirty years after the third film, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, I (thankfully) am not surviving in a souped up car on a murderous desert highway, but I did get another new Mad Max film that thrilled my inner teenager while satisfying my now more adult brain with story and message.

I’m also thankful for being a part of Metropolitan Wargamers which is filled with passionate, creative gamers who put together stunning games like the Road Warrior miniatures event this past weekend at the club. IMG_6151 The game was based largely on a modified set of rules available at the Third Point of Singularity website which have been popular during late night games at some conventions the past year or so. The basics of the rules were maintained with simple sticks for movement, and combat and damage results resolved with D20s and D6s cross-referencing tables. The tabletop itself  used an extra large canvas desert mat, rocky outcroppings and some custom blacktop roads made from roofing material. Dust, smoke and fire markers all come in handy as the carnage builds rapidly. The pics below give a pretty good feel for what the game looks like as the cars race and battle across the table. IMG_6156 IMG_6150 IMG_6162 IMG_6160 IMG_6161 The really wonderful aspect of the game is the cars, made for the most part from Hot Wheels and Matchbox toy vehicles. Cars are tricked-out using bits left over from other military models plus a lot of special 20mm parts and figures made specifically by Stan Johnson Miniatures for post-apocalyptic gamers. Each of the unique cars gets its own stats card and name, as shown in some of the examples below. IMG_6159 IMG_6153 IMG_6152 IMG_6154 IMG_6155 IMG_6158 IMG_6157 With a couple dozen cars, trucks and vans, bunches of good guys and bad guys, and a raucously absurd game, there’s going to be a lot of Mad Max-style roadside carnage in the weeks to come in Brooklyn.

28mm: US Airborne Pathfinders And Characters By Artizan Designs

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Among the US 101st Airborne Division, the volunteer pathfinders were a particularly hearty group. Parachuting into France just after midnight on June 6, 1944, the pathfinders were among the first allied troops to set foot on French soil as the D-Day invasion commenced. Tasked with marking the drop zones, the mission of the pathfinders was hampered by poor weather, heavy German defenses, flooded fields and faulty equipment. Despite the challenges hampering the pathfinders on the ground, the Allied air invasion of more than 13,000 men behind the beaches of Normandy proved key to the day’s success.

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In continuing to round out my 28mm US Airborne collection, I went back to Artizan Designs for their pathfinder models as well as some additional characters. Two of the pathfinders feature the signature mohawk hairstyles and I added “war paint” markings on their faces as seen in some historic photographs. The other character models will serve as officers since their poses display confidence in command.

AB Paint Scheme

Painting 28mm US Airborne

  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. Base coat models and bases with flat black spray primer.
  4. Paint uniforms and bandages on helmets with Tallarn Sand.
  5. Paint helmets and knee and elbow patches with Waaagh! Flesh.
  6. Paint faces and hands with Tallarn Flesh.
  7. Paint webbing and packs with Baneblade Brown.
  8. Paint bases, boots, gun stocks and helmet straps with Dark Brown.
  9. Apply Agrax Earthshade wash to uniforms, helmet netting, webbing and packs.
  10. Mix 50/50 Baneblade Brown and Off White and lightly dry brush packs, webbing and socks.
  11. Lightly dry brush bases, gun stocks, helmet netting, holsters and elbow and shoulder patches with Baneblade Brown.
  12. Paint metal gun parts with black and finish with a light dry brush of metallic silver.
  13. Paint eyes with small dots of Off White and Dark Brown. Clean up around eyes with Tallarn Flesh.
  14. Mix 50/50 Tallarn Flesh and Off White and brush highlights on cheekbones, chins, forehead, nose and hands.
  15. Cover bases in white glue and cover in 50/50 mix of fine light green and dark green grass flock.
  16. Glue small pieces of clump foliage to base.

To finish my models I’ll be adding decals to shoulders and helmets from Company B, followed by a coat of Solvaset decal fixative from Walthers and a spray coat with matte finish. After that, these guys will relive the heroics of D-Day on a tabletop soon.

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28mm: German Anti-Tank Weapons And Command By Artizan Designs

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After a few months taking a break from painting, I came back to my 28mm World War II Germans by adding some anti-tank weapons and command figures.

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I’ve been so pleased with the German infantry from my first and second platoons using models from Artizan Designs that I returned to their miniatures again to round out my collection. The panzerfaust and panzerschreck teams gave a nice mix of poses on the move and in firing positions. Likewise, the command molds make for a nice grouping including a radio operator and a stern officer with battle plans in one hand and the other hand planted confidently on his hip.

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As always, the Artizan figures required little flash clean up before being glued to metal washers. Here’s my battle-tested steps in detail for painting my latest Germans.

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 pants, soft hats, officer greatcoat and gas mask containers with Skavenlight Dinge.
  6. Paint camouflage on helmets and smocks with alternating Waaagh! Flesh and Dark Brown.
  7. Paint faces and hands with Tallarn Flesh.
  8. Paint packs with Baneblade Brown.
  9. Paint boots and equipment straps Black.
  10. Paint bases, gun stocks, water bottles and helmet straps with Dark Brown.
  11. Apply Agrax Earthshade wash to uniforms, helmet netting, webbing and packs.
  12. Mix 50/50 Baneblade Brown and Off White and lightly dry brush packs, webbing, socks and holsters.
  13. Dry brush pants, soft hats and officer great coat with Light Grey.
  14. Lightly dry brush bases and gun stocks with Baneblade Brown.
  15. Paint metal gun and water bottle parts with black and finish with a light dry brush of Metallic Silver.
  16. Dry brush gasmask containers with metallic Silver.
  17. Paint eyes with small dots of Off White and Dark Brown. Clean up around eyes with Tallarn Flesh.
  18. Mix 50/50 Tallarn Flesh and Off White and brush highlights on cheekbones, chins, forehead, nose and hands.
  19. Cover bases in white glue and cover in 50/50 mix of fine light green and dark green grass flock.
  20. Glue small pieces of clump foliage to base.
  21. Spray coat completed models with matte finish.

So, with some simple steps I’ve got a bit more punch and leadership for my Germans as they hit the table soon.

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Flames of War: Najewitz Modellbau 15mm Pegasus Bridge

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Most of my 15mm wargaming terrain building I do is generic enough to be used throughout Western Europe during World War II. Even with a large collection of buildings at my disposal, there are a few iconic WWII landmarks that have long stood out in my imagination as projects I should tackle at some point. One of those is Pegasus Bridge at Bénouville, France.

The bridge was made famous by a brief but important battle in the early morning hours of D-Day on June 6, 1944. Glider units from the British 6th Airborne Division landed near two bridges just past midnight and quickly secured the Caen Canal crossings with minimal casualties. The quick nighttime action ensured movement and counterattack by German forces would be significantly limited in the coming days and weeks after the Allied landings in Normandy.

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Building Pegasus Bridge would turn out to be a number of firsts for me. The model I picked up from Najewitz Modellbau in Germany is laser-cut, a model material I had not worked with before. The nature of the model and its situation crossing the Caen Canal would also necessitate I create surrounding terrain. In all, the project allowed me to try out a bunch of new things on a signature set piece which wound up being much more of a project than I originally envisioned.

Building the Bridge

The Pegasus Bridge model shipped in plastic bag folded into a flat, short cardboard box which had definitely shown some wear and tear during its journey from Germany to Brooklyn. Some pieces of the model had come loose from the MDF sheets during transit, but everything was there and unbroken. The rest of the model was easily punched or carefully cut out using a fresh blade in a hobby knife. With all the parts cut out, I sorted them on a tray to get a handle on the task of things before me. The model does not ship with assembly instructions, but they are available for download once registered to the Najewitz Modellbau website. The instructions are pretty spare, relying on simple wordless graphics and some imagination to put all the pieces together. I found referring to historic and contemporary images of the bridge online was just as helpful as the actual manufacturer instructions. Since there were no images online of the bridge being constructed, I decided to offer up a visual step-by-step for others looking to add this model to their terrain collection.

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I started by laying out the parts into subsections, including the little control house which sits adjacent to the bridge and the two large sections which are found at the top of the bridge. I dry fit all the pieces to test them at first and then used carpenters wood glue to put the pieces together. Getting the stairs to the control house together was a little finicky. The curved roof on the small structure at the top of the bridge was achieved by scoring the flat roof and carefully bending it to the shape of the arched roof line.

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Next, I tackled all the trusses and supporting elements of the main bridge structure. This is where the fine lasercut detail really started to pop as I glued pieces together to resemble the plates and seams of the metal work on the bridge. After each section dried, I glued them to the main deck. The fine railings which run all around the bridge again were a challenge to figure out which went where, but some careful test fitting before gluing everything in the correct place.

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To finish the bridge, I glued the small gatehouse to an extra piece of square basing, attached it to the main bridge and cut some of the railings to fit around the building. The separate piece of the road approach on the other end was glued to the main bridge using a thin piece of cardboard glued to the underside to create a flexible hinge-like connection. The model doesn’t come with crossing guards, so I used extra pieces of the kit’s wood to cut some simple shapes. The cross guards were simply painted white with red stripes. The entire structure got a grey sprayed base coat and was then dry brushed in an off white paint to produce a worn look to the entire bridge.

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Building the Terrain

As I was constructing the bridge I quickly realized it was going to need to be elevated off the table to accommodate the graded approach and a span over the canal. I went to the trusty standby of foam sheets in order to create sections of terrain on either side of the canal to create roads to the bridge and banks of the canal.

Using a ruler and marker, I outlined the areas to be cut away and sculpted. After making the rough cuts, I smoothed the edges out using wood filler and then sanding everything to a relative smooth shape. The foundation under each side of the bridge would also feature stone sections which I gently carved by using a pencil to create rows of masonry. Everything got an undercoat of brown spray paint followed by a coat of watered-down white glue and mixed flocking. The stone foundations received several coats of gray and off white dry brushed paint to create a realistic. The roads were likewise dry brushed in various shades of browns. Small chunks of foliage were glued here and there around the stone sections to add a little detail.

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Pegasus Bridge

With all the painting and construction done, everything got a dull coat spray to seal the model and terrain. I decided to keep the bridge and two terrain section separate and unglued from each other to ease transport and storage. Laid out on the table, the bridge spans the canal with approaches on either side. The only thing left to do is get the model on the table, and the heroic early morning raid on Pegasus Bridge will be ready to be replayed on the tabletop soon.

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Flames of War: Novus Design Studio 15mm City Block Ruins

ruinsWar is destructive by its very nature, and World War II was the most destructive war in history. Aside from the tens of millions of military personnel and civilian deaths, the war brought unprecedented ruin to the thousands of villages, towns, cities and industrial areas through and over which the war was fought. The nearly immeasurable physical and financial impacts of WWII rippled for decades to come, including enormous effects on buildings and other physical spaces worldwide.

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My 15mm European terrain during a recent game

For my 15mm WWII wargaming using Flames of War and I Ain’t Been Shot Mum rules systems, my terrain has been modeled almost entirely on Western Europe using buildings from numerous manufacturers collected over the past few years. In all my 15mm modelling, destroyed buildings have largely been absent so far, so I’ve been really happy to add my new city block ruin models from Novus Design Studio to my terrain collection.

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NDS was founded just about a year ago in April 2014 by Robert and Nancy Rumfelt, the founders and original owners of JR Miniatures. Like many wargamers, I’ve got a long history with models from JR Minis and so in many ways I knew what to expect from NDS when the company’s launch was first announced. I watched their inventory grow in the past year covering 6mm, 15mm and 28mm scales across WWII, sci-fi, fantasy and modern themes, and they’ve continued to add new products in the new year.

IMG_4969A complete set of four 15mm city block ruins from Novus Design Studio

The two and three story 15mm urban ruins retail for $26-31 USD each but I picked up a full set of four in a 40% off deal NDS ran at the end of 2014. The straight and corner buildings match up nicely together in a row or bunched into a city block in various configurations. The models also look great placed among buildings from other manufacturers, especially other city row houses from JR Minis. The castings in a creamy resin require a little flash clean up with a sharp hobby knife and air pocket holes show up here and there but don’t distract from the destroyed nature of the structures.

Novus Sample Front BackFront and rear view depicting multiple removable floors of a typical city block ruin model

All the NDS city block ruins feature removable floors molded with plank floors, piles of rubble, walls and interior doorways. The buildings have staircases and walls on the interior, broken window panes and more rubble on the attached sidewalks at the front. Everything about these make them very usable for 15mm gaming whether it be for 20th-century historical scenarios or contemporary and near-future gaming in European or even American urban settings. Getting multiples of the models on the table would easily allow setting up a truly impressive cityscape ravaged by the impacts of war.

IMG_4987Cleaned and primed corner city block ruin model

After cleaning up the flash on the models, I washed them all in warm soapy water to remove excess casting residue. The main building structures got a spray of flat gray as a base coat followed by layers of dry brushed tan, light gray and off white paint on the exteriors. Sidewalks also received grays and off white to highlight piles of ash and broken masonry heaped on the ground. On building had shutters which were painted in a dark blue and green and then highlighted with the same color mixed with a bit of white.

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For the interiors, the removable floor levels were base coated in flat black. Plank floors were built up in layers of browns ranging from dark to light in each coat. I went basic on interior walls, using an off white to create a simple plaster look. As with the exterior, the rubble and tile floors on the ground floors were built up in grays and off white.

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After a finish of a few coats of clear matte spray, the city block ruins were done. Arranged in a square block or stretched out in a row, these models easily blend in with other 15mm terrain manufacturers and add a great bit of variety to a tabletop set up. Bringing a bit of destruction to my overly neat wargaming battlefields is a welcome addition with my first buildings from Novus Design Studio.

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28mm: US Airborne By Black Tree Design

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My new 28mm World War II project is marching on, and I’ve recently added some US 101st Airborne models from Black Tree Design. The UK-based BTD offers a diverse line of metal miniatures from various historical eras, fantasy, science fiction and a nifty Doctor Who offering. The WWII US Airborne line offers a nice selection of poses and weapons, so I bought into my first BTD models averaging about $2 USD per figure during one of their frequent online sales.

BTDIMG_4977Nice packaging from Black Tree Miniatures

The BTD miniatures were quickly delivered in the US bagged and packaged in a little tin with a hand-written ‘thank you’ note. Compared to my earlier Airborne from Artizan Designs, the BTD models are a tad smaller and thinner but scale well on the table. Detail is a bit more sparse with less equipment slung on the backs of the paratroopers and rifles which read a bit more like that on toy soldiers. Aside from rifles, the models also came armed with Browning BARs, Thompson submachine guns and one guy hurling a hand grenade. While most of the models are set in generic poses, a few of the models show a lot of individual character with one officer calmly smoking a cigarette and another charging forward without a helmet.

AB Paint SchemeOne minor bummer was the delicate nature of some of the BTD models cast with both feet held tightly together, and one snapped off the base when I attempted to straighten his pose more upright. With the rest of the models successfully glued to bases, I painted up my first group of BTD miniatures using the same quick and simple process from my previous 28mm paratroopers.

Painting 28mm US Airborne

  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. Base coat models and bases with flat black spray primer.
  4. Paint uniforms and bandages on helmets with Tallarn Sand.
  5. Paint helmets and knee and elbow patches with Waaagh! Flesh.
  6. Paint faces and hands with Tallarn Flesh.
  7. Paint webbing and packs with Baneblade Brown.
  8. Paint bases, boots, gun stocks and helmet straps with Dark Brown.
  9. Apply Agrax Earthshade wash to uniforms, helmet netting, webbing and packs.
  10. Mix 50/50 Baneblade Brown and Off White and lightly dry brush packs, webbing and socks.
  11. Lightly dry brush bases, gun stocks, helmet netting, holsters and elbow and knee patches with Baneblade Brown.
  12. Paint metal gun, bazooka and mortar parts with black and finish with a light dry brush of metallic silver.
  13. Paint eyes with small dots of Off White and Dark Brown. Clean up around eyes with Tallarn Flesh.
  14. Mix 50/50 Tallarn Flesh and Off White and brush highlights on cheekbones, chins, forehead, nose and hands.
  15. Apply Company B decals to shoulders and helmets, followed by a coat of Solvaset decal fixative from Walthers.
  16. Cover bases in white glue and cover in 50/50 mix of fine light green and dark green grass flock.
  17. Glue small pieces of clump foliage to base.
  18. Spray coat completed models with matte finish.

Finally, a few photos of my finished BTD US Airborne ready to hit the Normandy tabletop.

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Touching History at the Military History Society of Rochester

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I have logged many, many hours over the years visiting battlefields, historical homes, living heritage sites, reenactments, roadside markers and all sorts of art, history and military museums. Near the top of these experiences was a full day I spent at the Imperial War Museum a few years back while working in London for over a month. With over two million visitors a year and some 11 millions artifacts, the IWM is hard to beat for immersing yourself in the history of warfare.

This past week I had a very different, yet truly remarkable experience in my first visit to the Military History Society of Rochester. Located up a flight of stairs in a warehouse inhabited by various artist galleries and studios, the MHSR occupies roughly 2000 square feet of space packed with all manner of historical artifacts focused on telling the story of the US military through the local lens of Rochester, NY.

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A timeline of US long arms from the American War of Independence through the Korean War at the MHSR

Founded several years ago by Chuck Baylis as the American Civil War Artillery Association, the group’s mission has since grown beyond his original collection of Civil War artifacts to encompass American wars from the Revolution to the present. The first room still focuses on the Civil War including detailed displays on artillery, uniforms and the 140th New York Volunteer Regiment formed in Rochester in 1862. A timeline of American long arms from the American War of Independence through the Korean War covers an entire wall.

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A timeline of military uniforms from the American War of Independence through the present at the MHSR

In the rear space of the museum, the focus swings to 20th-century with displays on World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and present day wars. Uniforms, guns, swords, equipment hang from the walls, rest on shelves and lay slung over mannequins. Scale model airplanes hang from the ceiling, model vehicles rest on the floors and cases and a D-Day diorama sits nearby. Throughout the museum are some 2000 books as well as countless other letters, maps, photos, schematics, deck plans, prints, posters and other ephemera for perusal or research.

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 A US .50 caliber machine gun at the MHSR

Baylis has been joined by a number of passionate volunteers who can be found at the museum during its operating hours on Thursdays, Fridays and some Saturdays. Civil War reenactor, historian and wargamer Mike Vasile (co-author of the excellent Arena Games: Gladiatorial Combat rules) is responsible for many of the scale dioramas throughout the museum. Scale ship modeller Timothy Igoe of Historia Militaris Shipways has contributed several naval models to the collection and is currently undertaking a build of the USS Rochester (CA-2) for the museum. Retired Social Studies teacher Orton Begner rounds out the group with a deep knowledge of every object on hand.

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A US M1919 Browning machine gun at the MHSR

The one-to-one interaction with the MHSR’s members and the collection is what sets the museum apart from any other I’ve every visited. Everything has been well labeled, organized and put on display but hardly anything in the museum sits behind glass. Care to hold the various types of artillery rounds used in the Civil War? Want to feel the heft of a WWII era Thompson submachine gun or M-1 rifle? Would you like to take a look inside a pack carried by an American GI on D-Day? Want to lie down with a German MG-42? Ever wanted to hold a Japanese officer’s sword or 1913 “Patton Saber”? Just about everything in the museum, with the proper care, respect and assistance from one of the staff, can be touched, offering an incredibly rare opportunity to physically connect with past.

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 A German MG-42 and StG 44 at the MHSR

The mission to bring history alive beyond the walls of the museum also occurs with the exhibits members of the group bring to school groups and veteran events in the Rochester area. With its focus on celebrating the men and women of Western New York’s service in every branch of the military past and present, the museum is serving a unique and human mission of connecting today’s generations to a long tradition military service.

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My son gets some hands-on time with a Thompson submachine gun at the MHSR

In all my years of interest in history and military heritage, I have yet to find a museum as alive as the experience found at the Military History Society of Rochester. As a wargamer, the opportunity to see and handle so many objects up close is unparalleled. My time spent at the museum on my first visit was brief, but meeting the guys and seeing the collection at the museum will definitely bring me back my next time in Rochester.

Interview with Chuck Baylis of the MHSR

The Military History Society of Rochester is located in the Anderson Arts Building at 250 North Goodman Street on the second floor. Admission is free.

Flames of War: JR Miniatures 15mm Arnhem Row Houses

arnhemstreet

I picked up two different 15mm JR Miniatures Arnhem row house models on my recent trip to the HMGS Fall In! 2014 convention at a real steal of 40% off the list price. At nearly 12″ long and up to 8″ tall, these cast resin models create a quick urban feel to a tabletop battlefield. Each model has lift off roofs and interior floor and wall sections which pull out to allow for stands of troops to occupy varying rooms and levels. The roofs on the models also contain open parapet areas where artillery spotters, machine gunners or other troops can placed to command the battlefield from high upon the rooftops.

IMG_4674Cleaned and primed Arnhem row houses from JR Miniatures

As with most of my experiences with JR Miniatures models, there’s a fair amount of clean up to flash before getting started. The castings also contain a few air holes here and there, but nothing that detracts too much from the overall models. If anything, missing pieces of a cornice or a small hole in a wall might be chalked up to gunfire.

Here’s a simple outline of my technique for painting resin buildings:

Painting Western European Buildings

  1. Use a sharp hobby knife to carefully remove extra resin flash from casting. Particular care should be taken to make sure interior floor sections lift out of the model easily.
  2. Wash models in warm soapy water to remove molding residues. Allow models to dry overnight.
  3. Spray prime roof and removable interior floor sections in flat black and main building sections in flat grey. Allow primer to dry overnight.
  4. Paint roofs:
    1. Tile roofs begin with a dry brush of 50/50 black and red paint, followed by a dry brush coat of red paint and finished with a dry brush of orange paint to highlight.
    2. Shingled roofs begin with a dry brush of dark grey, followed by dry brushed coats of lighter browns, light greys and dark green.
    3. Stuccoed areas in roof gables and dormer windows receive a dry stipple brushed coat of light brown followed by off-white paint dry brushed with the same stipple brush.
  5. Paint floor sections:
    1. Dry brush floorboards with layers of dark and lighter brown paints.
    2. Paint wall sections in off-white paint.
  6. Paint building facades:
    1. Stucco walls receive a dry stipple brushed coat of light brown followed by off-white paint dry brushed with the same stipple brush. Dab some random areas with more off-white to create areas of more fresh stucco to create variations along the street.
    2. Dry brush a slightly heavier amount of off-white paint over cornices and door a window molding to create more depth of highlights.
    3. Stone areas receive a dry brush of light grey followed by off-white dry brush highlights and a dark brown wash in recesses.
    4. Brick areas are dry brushed with 50/50 black and red paint followed by random dry brushing in off white paint to highlight.
    5. Paint doors and shutters with a variety of blues, whites, greens, reds and browns. Follow basecoat with highlight in same color slightly lightened with off-white. Dab doorknobs with brass paint with a fine brush.
    6. Window panes are all carefully given a light coat of black and then dry brushed with dabs of lightly dry brushed white paint to give the illusion of glass.
    7. Sidewalks are dry brushed with light greys over a medium grey basecoat.
  7. Ground areas at the rear of the buildings receive brown and green dry brush coats followed by grass flocking and small clumps of foliage.
  8. Coat models in several layers of spray clear matte finish, allowing each coat to dry before applying an additional coat.

I was able to achieve a pretty decent tabletop quality finish to my buildings with maybe three hours of work on each model using the painting scheme above. Since colors on buildings are rarely monotone (unless newly constructed), I use a plastic surface on which I dab a variety paint shades and mix colors from this palette as I go with my dry brushing. I then build up areas with heavier amounts of one color or another to pull out highlights, create varying textures and differentiate from one building to the next along the street.

IMG_4695A completed JR Miniatures Arnhem row house

IMG_4694 The other completed row house with corner shop

IMG_4692Close up of the corner shop

IMG_4698A view along both row house blocks

IMG_4697Rear detail of one of the blocks

IMG_4693Close up view of the facades

IMG_4696A German Stug parked in front of the row houses

IMG_4691Overhead view of the interior floors

IMG_4690A floor section being removed for placing troops inside

I’m really excited about these models which nearly double the footprint of my existing Western European buildings in 15mm. Models from JR Miniatures fit in nicely with my buildings from Mark IV Miniatures and terrain from a variety of other manufacturers. Although modeled on actual streetscapes of Arnhem, the buildings are easily usable in creating the look of many densely populated areas of France, the Netherlands or elsewhere in Western Europe during late war operations.