15mm WW1 French infantry and support

Completing my WW1 French, these are soft plastic figures from PSC. My painting technique was heavily influenced by James White's lovely Peter Pig French. I've based them on 15mm washers and used Vallejo Dark Earth Paste with a VJ US Tan drybrush.

First, les poilus.

Squad supports: Elites, grenadiers, marksmen, and Chauchat LMGs.

Hotchkiss MG teams on 25mm washers. I redid the front tripod legs using green stuff and 1mm plastic rod, as the original sculpts just had a flat triangle.

Crapouillot ("Little Toad") 58mm Trench Mortar teams.

Flamethrower! I hadn't done this before- I soaked some foam foliage in black paint and PVA, then drybrushed white/ yellow/ orange/ red.

Ammunition handler and engineer.

Officers and spotters.

Staff Officer- this is a metal figure from PSC's original Kickstarter. I based him on General Foch, and think he came out well!

75mm artillery- two white metal pieces from Battlefront on 40mm bases.

On ne passe pas!

Foch Poster source

15mm WW1 French tanks

From my previous post showing comparisons and how I did conversions, these are the PSC Schneider CA1 and Saint Chamond, and the two Battlefront Schneider CA1s. I made up the camouflage based on other schemes, and am happy with the appearance. The colours were:

• Army Painter Ash Grey
• Vallejo Model Color 394 Russian Green
• Vallejo Model Color 984 Flat Brown
• Vallejo Game Color 72.097 Pale Yellow
• black

Then Army Painter Strong Tone wash and drybrush Vallejo Model Color 70884 Stone Grey, and add mud! (Vallejo Dark Earth paste drybrushed Vallejo US Tan)

PSC Schneider CA1 and Saint Chamond

PSC Schneider CA1

PSC Saint Chamond

Schneider CA1s: PSC on left, Battlefront centre and right.

Schneider CA1s: PSC on left, Battlefront on right

You can't really tell the Schneiders apart at a glance, I need to compare the rivets and MGs.

I'll put up my French infantry at the end of the week.

15mm Schneider CA1- PSC and Battlefront side-by-side comparison

PSC and Battlefront both make 1:100 models of this characterful early tank. I've compared them to each other, and made some minor additions.

The PSC model is pre-assembled and undercoated green straight out of the box. It comes in a pack with a Saint Chamond, and is available from PSC for £16.50 at time of writing. Neither model has machine guns, so I drilled 1mm holes with a pin vice and used some poly cement to add 1mm plastic rods which I then cut to length. I added a wire-cutter from some Evergreen H-column styrene. (This had been cannibalised by me from another project, so it is painted rather than the original white plastic.)

PSC Schneider CA1 with added wire cutter and MGs

PSC Schneider CA1 with added wire cutter

Battlefront's model is a resin hull with white metal tracks and MGs. The resin didn't need any clean-up, but the tracks needed work. (My trick is to cover flaws in mud post-painting). I added the wire-cutter in the same fashion. You get two for US$30.

Battlefront Schneider CA1 with added wire cutter

Side by side, the models are the same size. There are subtle differences in the placement of panels etc. The details are a little more exaggerated on the resin model- panel lines, front grill, and rivets. The white metal MGs are nicer than my plastic ones, but more fragile.

Watch this space for painted pictures!

(Here's the St Chamond with added plastic MGs)

15mm modern armour- starting a Russian force

I found Zvezda's 1:100 tanks tucked away in a corner of my local hobby store, and picked up three of each of the BTR-80s and T-72Bs.

You may be surprised to find out how few vehicles I have in my miniatures collection. I'm happy painting infantry, even horses, but I'm rarely happy with my AFVs. I can never get the effect I'm looking for.

So, whilst the inspiration was upon me, I decided to get my tanks done in a factory production line. After assembling the Zvezda miniatures, I put together five Battlefront T-54s I had picked up in their recent Vietnam sale. The plastic tanks are much, much easier to assemble than the resin/ metal ones! One of the T-54s was missing a gun barrel, but I'm too impatient to wait, so I assembled it anyway. I left the wheels off the second and third BTRs.

The project so far

I've got a Matchbox diecast I threw into the spray queue as well (it's been sitting around for two years!), which will be my test piece to experiment with. It's already got a few coats of paint on it, having had an earlier aborted paintjob.

Matchbox Rocket Launcher straight out of the box

How green is my river

(Part 1 here; Part 2 here)

On my 'Realm of Battle' board

I really like this little island.

Cold morning light reflected over the ford

And... finished. I went for an olive-green river with a darker brownish deep section in the centre, and paler green to the banks. The execution is somewhat less smooth than I had planned, but it is preferable to the scratches and scuffing on my original set. The wet effect is solely from gloss varnish, which ended up catching a few bubbles, bits of dust, and paintbrush streaks.

Ford

Variable execution of blending techniques

I drybrushed grey onto the rocks to pick them out a bit better. I painted the fords, but failed to match the banks as closely as I would have liked. I flocked to match my existing baseboards. I thought of having some more lush green vegetation at water's edge, but decided against it.

Overall: B. Could have done better.

Still, at least they are painted, ready for gaming, and recognisable as water features. There's ten feet of river here, which should be plenty. I think a waterfall and rapids would be awesome additions. Still need to make me some marshes.

Some take-home thoughts:

• Gloss varnish is all-important. Multiple coats if necessary.
• If you're going to blend, take your time and don't rush
• Colour is less important than reflection
• Beware of brush-streaks

The essence of moisture is wetness

I obtained a lot of useful feedback on my previous post about painting rivers. I made an executive decision to stay with green, and to get the essential river appearance via several coats of gloss varnish.

This is still a trial/ WIP, and the rivers still need their banks flocked and rocks picked out. Here are my four trial pieces:

Plain green

Lighter banks, subtle brown/ green middle

Lighter green streaks

Lighter banks, darker brown middle

I think that the combination of darker and lighter shades works best, but it does require a degree of artistry to achieve an aesthetically pleasing result.

I used two coats of gloss varnish, which isn't really apparent in the above pictures. Here they are all together, with some natural light reflections. The subtle differences between pieces aren't at all noticeable in these pictures. I also put in the GF9 bridge with some of the FSS roads.

Feedback welcomed!

Edit: See the final results here

What colour is a river?

I picked up a few sets of GF9 rivers a while back, and am glad that I did because I understand the 'starter' set with the bridges is now hard to find.

The good:
Sturdy, durable, variety of organic shapes and fords/ island etc., pre-painted but not pre-flocked, decent width/ length

The bad:
Several of my pieces came stuck to one another and were scratched and scuffed. Several other people have had the same issue. Here are the worst:

Disappointing, but not the end of the world. So I'm going to repaint them- what colour? These pieces will have to stand for a variety of scales and environments, from desert to jungle.

I've never really been a fan of blue rivers and streams. I've seen some lovely model railway scenery with a dark bottle green, and was pleasantly surprised by some of Battlefront's repainted brown pieces:

Vallejo 921 English Uniform

I initially decided to go with an olive green. When I placed a trial piece on my board, however, it disappeared into the rest of the terrain- I then appreciated the benefits of blue rivers. I have just made a variety of different colours, and appreciate your input:

Olive green- looks nice, but blends into the tabletop

Blue with pale streaks. Cartoony, and closest to the original paintjobs. Clearly a waterway.

Flat brown. Realistic but boring, and too much like a road.

Bottle green with light green streaks. Too toxic SciFi for my tastes.

I cant decide between the olive green and the blue. If I do go for olive green, I'm not sure if I should go for a flat uniform coat, or something with a bit more variety in it. I only slapped on a little paint, and the streakiness is somewhat pleasing, if difficult to reproduce consistently. On the bottom two pictures in particular you can see where the factory blue paintjob 'rides up' the banks a little.

The gloss varnish helps, but isn't as glossy as I expected. A few more coats will help. These paintjobs are surprisingly gritty; don't entirely know why. I've have gone for speed over neatness. I've yet to flock and pick out the stones.

On the WWPD site, I found this sneak-peek picture from Battlefront which appears to show a variety of wider and narrower streams and rivers yet to be released. Looks good!

I'm still hanging out for a waterfall piece. Have a look at Eric the Shed's excellent rivers and waterfall! (I note he went for blue, and it looks great.)

Edit: see Part II here and Part III here