Never mind the medievals, here's a Pz.Kpfw.38(T)!

As usual, instead of getting on with my Lion Rampant retinue I am thinking about starting yet another gaming period. I have been surrounded by boxes of Zvezda kits for the past couple of weeks and I eventually cracked and picked up a couple just for "scale reference purposes" (cheers David!). They look so much like the Revell kits of my youth and I am not made of stone. The first one built and painted is the Pz.Kpfw.38(T) (1:100 scale or usable with 15mm figures) which I have left fairly generic so it can be deployed in France 1940 or in the Soviet Union in the following year or two.

Zvezda 6130 Pz.Kpfw.38(T)

Scale wise, they seem pretty good, I don't have any other 38s around to check against but the other kit I picked up was a Sdkfz.251/1 Ausf.B which is so close to the Plastic Soldier Company Ausf.C model that I would be happy to mix and match in the same unit. The PSC is maybe 1-1.5mm longer (difficult to say due to the difference in the shape of the nose) but the width, height and heft are identical.

Back to the Pz.38T. There are a few problems with the kit - the prominent trench in the front glacis that needs filling and the joint across the rear that is difficult to get rid of (I didn't bother, its a wargame tank, not a display model) but the kit goes together in a few minutes and looks a whole lot better than any resin or whitemetal kit I have.

For painting I removed the tracks and painted them separately, same for the turret. I gave everything a spray of Halfords Grey Primer, followed by a basecoat of Vallejo 70836 London Grey. This was washed with a very thinned Vallejo 70950 Black and then drybrushed up with London Grey again and a final light brush of Vallejo Game Color Extraopaque 72144 Heavy Bluegrey. The wheels got the same treatment while the tracks were basecoated in Vallejo 70872 Chocolate Brown, washed with Citadel Shade Nuln Oil and then lightly drybrushed wth Citadel Colour Chainmail. Balkenkreuz and turret numbers were painted in Vallejo Black, 70951 White and the numbers filled in with Citadel Base Mephiston Red (what would I do without it). I then put it all together again and used a drybrush of Vallejo 70875 Beige Brown to muddy up the tracks and the rear deck (the bit that gets stood on a lot).

I am very happy with the finished article and should be putting together at least a couple more for my 15mm Bolt Action force, alongside some Pz.Is and Pz.IIs from the same range.

Right that's enough of that, back to medievals...

Ottomans!

I have been needing something to kickstart my painting mojo and David Ryan at Caliver Books needed some of his wonderful Matchlock Miniatures Ottomans painted so here they are. These are NOTT53, 54 and 55 - officer, standard bearer and soup carriers which I have painted as Omar Sharif, ginger hipster and The Chuckle Brothers (to me! to you!).

These are beautiful sculpts (Mark Sims I believe) and they paint up well. I love the soup carriers, makes a change from pack mules and camels for the non-combatants.