Finished: 28mm Waffen SS Panzerknacker Teams

 

As promised yesterday, here are the photos of the latest batch of Waffen SS - two Panzerknacker teams. In Chain of command each team is made up of four men with three charges, three smoke grenades and a MG42 with two crew (there's no note about what weapons the other two men have - I've done a rifle and SMG for them). 

The chaps with MG42s, grenade bundles and mines are from The Assault Group, the other two are from Artizan.

At 2 support points, each team is worth considering taking as supports, even if the opposition doesn't have any armour. With my weapon allocation, two teams (=4 support points) will put out 18 shooting dice at over 12", 22 at 6-12" and 26 at 0-6". A regular infantry squad (=4 support points) would have 15, 17 and 19 dice; a regular panzergrenadier squad (=5 support points) would have 21, 23 and 25 dice. The downside is that each team would need a 1 on the command dice to activate or an order from a senior leader, whereas the squads can be activated on a 2 or 3.

Wednesday Workbench 28 September 2022

 

In case you're wondering about the lack of a "finished" post, have no fear - the panzerknacker teams are done and I will be posting photos of them tomorrow.

So, what's next in the painting queue?

Medics (as a Jump Off Point and as a support option)

Three extra figures to complete the tripod MG crews

I'll be starting work on them tomorrow.

3D Printing

"Bitz" printing continues:

I've printed some more arcade game machines plus a bunch of SciFi doors and windows. I also found some mutant heads and printed them at 100%, 110% and 120% to see how they look.

I also printed some jet bikes this morning. I've had to scrap these as they took too much damage from removing the supports. They were also a bit undersized - I'll be reprinting them at 150% which should be about right for 28mm.:

I've got a couple more days of bitz printing before I start printing other stuff.

Paint Table Sunday 25 September 2022

 

After easing up on Thursday, my cold returned with a vengeance on Friday so I ended up not being able to crack on with the next batch of Waffen SS until today. I've actually got them much further along than I'd expected to:

I just have the camo dots, metals, eagles and the base left to do. However, I don't expect to finish them tomorrow as I need to head into central London for some bits and pieces; I'll also be out gaming in the evening. They should be done by Tuesday evening though.

3D Printing

I'm still busily printing off "bits" and small scenery pieces:

You might have spotted some box girder bridge trusses - those are actually for my jungle terrain. I want to do an engineer-made bridge to add to my collection (they were used in the 1943-44 campaigns).

Finished: 28mm Waffen SS Squad 3

 

I said they'd be finished today, and they are. It's quite a relief to get these out of the way.

Riflemen

MG 42 Team

And a shot with the previously painted figures for the squad:

With this squad finished, that completes my core platoon so here's a photo of the full platoon in all of their glory:

Next onto the table will be two Panzerknacker teams (I'll probably only ever use one, but I had enough figures for two). As I only have support options left to paint (for now) they will mark the swap to the spring/summer oak leaf pattern - light green dots instead of orange-brown ones!

Wednesday Workbench 21 September 2022

 

I haven't quite finished the third squad for a couple of reasons. For once it's not because I've managed to distract myself. I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday (it's a cold which broke out properly this morning) and I'd also managed to strain my right wrist slightly thanks to a quite large and heavy book I'm reading at the moment. 

However, I rallied around today and almost got them finished today - I've just for he camo dots, metals and the breast eagle on one figure to paint before they get varnished. Oh, and the bases need to be drybrushed as well.

3D Printing

I've printed a few odds and sods since the weekend:

Jukebox and arcade games

Junction boxes

Hangar taxi and load lifter

I also printed the Judge Dredd bust at 50% and 75%:

One of them will become a terrain piece - the Statue of Justice.

Over the next few days I will probably be printing a lot more odds and sods, mostly little bits for tarting up buildings, scatter terrain and bits like that.

Paint Table Sunday 18 September 2022

 

I've made quite good progress on the third squad of Waffen SS today:

Assuming no interruptions tomorrow, I should have them finished on Tuesday.

3D Printing

Here's what I printed today:

I decided to print a "slice" of the Judge Dredd helmet file I have to see if it will fit me when scaled down to 90% to fit on my printer. It does, with just enough space for foam padding. Printing it did highlight a few setting issues which I'll need to address when I do actually print a full helmet. Overall, I think I might wait until I have a larger printer so I can print it full size.

Inside the slice is a bust of Old Stoney Face himself:

It's scaled down to 25%; I've got another one scaled to 50% printing right now.

During the week, while browsing on Thingiverse (a site for free 3D printing files) I stumbled across a few pieces that evoked a strong nostalgic buzz. I've printed a couple of them since Wednesday:

No, not some kinky toys. Those who are old enough (and likely British) will recognise these as props from Blake's 7 - a teleporter bracelet and blaster from the Liberator. At some point I will reprint the coiled bit and "wand" stem in clear filament - I did them in this purple to see how well they printed. I'll also need to order some DIN connectors and black curly cable to complete the blaster. I might even get some leather to do the belt for them...

Finished: 28mm Waffen SS Squad 2

 

A day later than anticipated, but still quicker than the first squad! Yes, this is the riflemen and second MG42 team for the second squad of my core platoon. As they ended up being finished today, tomorrow will be Paint Table Sunday.

Riflemen

MG 42 Team

And a photo of the full squad (including the NCO and first MG42 team):

The figure without camo is from The Assault Group, the others are all from Artizan.

I'm all set to begin painting the third squad tomorrow; with luck they'll be finished on Tuesday which will complete the core platoon. After that I'll probably do some of the non-squad supports before doing the support option squad.

Wednesday Workbench 14 September 2022

 

I'm making good progress on the second Waffen SS squad. If all goes well, I should have them finished before the weekend.

3D Printing

I've printed two more models since Sunday:

The model on the left is a very early 1:270 design by 2nd Dynasty; the one on the right is a new 28mm aerospace fighter that they've just released to tie in with another creator's cyberpunk campaign on My Mini Factory.

I have now bought a filament dryer to see if that fixes the problem I was having with the grey filament. It arrived today and I've got the grey spool drying in it at the moment. I weighed the spool before putting it in - 896g; after four hours it was down to 893g so it does seem that my suspicion about the cause of the stringing was correct. I'll weight it again at 8 hours (about 11pm tonight) and again tomorrow afternoon after 24 hours.