WW1 15mm specialists

I painted some WW1 'specialist' troops for PSC's Great War. These are a soft plastic and came with the French Army expansion. I've rebased them on 15mm washers.

British

Lewis Gunners, Elites, and Marksmen

Officers and Spotters

Ammo bearers and Engineer

German 

MG08/15, Marksmen, and Elites

Officers and Spotters

Ammo bearers and Engineer

Flamethrowers!

I made the flamethrowers the same as my French one- with some clump foliage soaked in black paint and glue, and heavily drybrushed white/ yellow/ orange/ red.

The German helmet camouflage was painted over black in a green, a reddish brown, and sand, leaving the black showing between the gaps.

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)

Plastic Soldier Company Great War Tanks

This collection of tanks are from PSC for their Great War game. They are single piece precoloured 1:100 models, and are very cleanly sculpted and casted. I highly recommend them.

The Mark IV comes in Male and Female varieties, with and without a pair of 6 Pdrs respectively.

Mark IVs

Mark IV Males

Mark IV Females

The British also get a Whippet.

Whippets

To make up for the scarcity of their A7V panzers (see last week's post), the Germans salvaged British Mark IVs and repainted them as Beutepanzers.

Mark IV Beutepanzers

These are all great sculpts and a pleasure to paint. I really like the asymmetry and oddball appearances of these early beasts, and I hope that PSC does a French range at some stage.

All the PSC WW1 tanks

I used Vallejo Dark Earth paste, drybrushed with US Tan, for the mud.

These were painted for AHPC VII.

A7V Mephisto

The A7V was introduced in the last year of WW1. Only twenty Sturmpanzerwagens were built, compared to the well over 1000 British tanks which fought.

These tracked and armoured fridges are 15mm A7Vs from PSC. They are very precisely sculpted pre-built models and I recommend them. I made up the camouflage and markings based on an amalgamation of historical vehicles. You can see the origins of the iconic Hinterhalt (ambush) colours. I stippled it on using an old brush. The crosses are decals I picked up from eBay- I would try to freehand one, but not a dozen!

Of the twenty A7Vs, only one survives- No. 506 Mephisto. It was stolen by Australian diggers (Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!) and is currently in our national war memorial (unmissable if you are in Canberra). Fellow Aussie blogger Kaptain Kobold has plenty of info and pics of his visit here- here's one showing the 'nose art'. The demon Mephisto is cheekily running off with a British tank! I tried to replicate this freehand, along with the name. Mephisto has a lot more green to it than mine, but I can live with that.

Photo by Kaptain Kobold

I confess I haven't seen Mephisto in the flesh, and I would love to do so someday.

[This post was my 'Armour' theme entry for AHPC VII]

The Great War- British artillery

This is an Ordnance QF 18 pounder in 15mm from PSC.

I based it on a FoW medium base and used Vallejo Dark Earth paste for the groundwork. The wheels look a little too clean for the ground!

15mm WW1 Germans

Here are my 15mm Germans for PSC's Great War. I based them on washers and used Vallejo Dark Earth paste for the basing.

Riflemen

Support weapons

MG-08 and crew

7.58cm Minenwerfer and crew

10.5cm FH 98/09

Metal commander

I still have another four artillery pieces to paint, don't hold your breath... Looking forwards to getting some AV-7s!