4th Quarter Painting

Nice to have a camera that sort of works again..!

First of all, some Soviets:

Pegasus Maxim Crew

 

Pegasus Fast-Build T-26s

 Nice little kits these. Vastly superior to the Minairons offering.

Strelets Winter War Russians

They do what it says o the box, but no heavy weapons. I have painted a full battalion of these but have looked to Pegasus and Zvezda for specialists. Any more infantry I buy will be Pegasus, I think.

Next, a couple of guns for the Finns:

These are HaT Industrie hard plastic Putilov 76.2mm Field Guns

These guns were the mainstay of the Finnish field artillery during the Winter War. Obsolescent and short of ammunition, the Finnish gunners performed creditably with them.

Next up came some Prince August homecast additions for my son's little Saxon army:

Rump-a-tump-tump, rump-a-tump-tump

This is the narrow wheelbase version as I couldn't get the axles to cast properly!

 

 And finally, the DAK came to town. Kits from PSC.

Early mark PzKw IIIs

Everyone's favorite eight-wheeled armored cars:

What's not to love?

There's other stuff - some PSC PAK38s, a Horch heavy car and a couple of SdKfz 251s. Bit of a slow burner though and I don't expect to have them in a war-gameable condition until the second half of the year.

Plans? Oh, the Finns need a few tweaks. I'd like to get a few ski-companies, a couple of Reindeer drawn sledges and I am still waiting on a brace of AT guns. Surprisingly thy already have air support in the shape of an old FROG Fokker and a Blenheim MK1. The Soviets will need to expand to at least regimental strength with an attached armored battalion and other supporting arms. They have some Polikarpov fighters, but i would like to track down a Tupolev SB-2 bomber to try supplu drops into their mottis.

I want to get into some winter terrain. I have some white 'chino' cotton for base cloths and some 'winter' pine trees, but need to put field fortifications and a couple of bunkers together.

Another company of PSC PZ IIIs would be welcome too!

The Winter War

I have started collecting figures for a 20mm Winter War project.

For the Finns, I'm using Eureka Miniatures excellent figures. Apart from gun crews and perhaps cavalry and vehicle crews, the range includes pretty well everything you could need to make up a Finnish army.

I have painted a battalion so far. Here are a couple of pictures to get a taste of how they are coming along.

MG and Crew

 Very happy how they are coming out.

Riflemen in the snow

I have started on the Soviets as well. I've painted a box of the Strelets Winter War  infantry, but  the limited options in the box mean that heavy weapons and command figures need to be sourced elsewhere. I bit the bullet and went to Pegasus who have lovely great coated Soviet troops with anti-tank rifles, Maxims and 81 and 120mm mortars. naturally these are meant for the Great Patriotic War period and there are anachronisms - like the ATRs, SMGs and the M1940 helmets, but my options are limited and what the heck, I do have the Rapid Fire! supplements for the eastern Front, so what the heck.

I will be using Zvezda Senior Officers, 76.2mm infantry guns 76.2mm and 122mm M30 artillery.

Zvezda Winter Command. Love the chap with the pipe and the Astrakhan hat.

Wish me luck and have a happy new year!