Thursday, June 5, 2014

Even More IDF Halftracks

Old-school rides for IDF mech troops in '73 - Peter Pig on the left, other two are from Battlefront
It's been quiet on the painting table for the past couple of weeks, as summer-ish weather has suddenly appeared (weeks and weeks late) on the Canadian prairies, following a winter of Retreat-From-Moscow-pocalypse proportions.  And even though I love this hobby, I love a cool glass of wine outside on the patio even more...however, Prairiecon 2014 is almost here, and I needed to complete my preparations!  Here are some more IDF halftracks.

Two of these models are mixed resin/plastic/metal from Battlefront, and one is a metal model from Peter Pig, with the addition of a ball turret conversion piece from Battlefront.  The Peter Pig one had been painted last year, and so it has my older style of painting "Sinai Grey".  They don't quite match up, but Sinai Grey always looks different every I see it in pictures anyways, so I'm not too fussed about it.

All of the stowage pieces are from a Battlefront conversion pack - they are very nice


The Battlefront models were OK to work with, but Peter Pig makes a much better M3 halftrack. You really notice it on the cupola MG in particular - the plastic .50 cal from Battlefront is heavy on the seam lines and light on detail. With hindsight, I could simply have combined Battlefront's excellent halftrack conversion kits with Peter Pig models. Oh well. But they are just 15mm, so it doesn't stand out too much.

I left the extra stowage off of the Peter Pig track...just a way to mark it as a command APC

Where I do give Battlefront more credit is the decals - the air recognition stripes look MUCH better with the decals than with my weak free-hand painting on the Peter Pig model (how hard is it to paint a white stripe? jeez Greg). The decals look a LOT better.

Ready to roll for Prairiecon!

I now have five of these IDF halftracks completed - enough to mount a full platoon of IDF mechanized infantry.  These will take to the table on Saturday morning in Brandon Manitoba as Dallas and I will be staging a scenario set at the Battle of the Chinese Farm during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. I am looking forward to another Prairiecon!
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6 comments:

  1. Stan M.June 5, 2014 at 3:17 PM

    Those look great Greg...I must admit, looking at how my painting is progressing and your old style of Sinai Grey, I think I prefer the older style. However, your paintjobs on all the tracks looks outstanding and variance is often the key in realism. Looks great. Stan

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  2. Allison M.June 5, 2014 at 5:13 PM

    If it's any consolation we got a million cm of snow here in balmy southern Ontario too this winter... I literally ran out of places to pile the snow around my driveway.

    Half-tracks are always cool, and yours are both historically interesting and well-painted :)

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  3. ChrisJune 5, 2014 at 10:56 PM

    Very nice. I don't think the differences are all that bad. Extreme differences can make a force look disjointed, but I have to echo Stanley that a little variation is more realistic.

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  4. Bartek ZyndaJune 6, 2014 at 7:35 AM

    Yours halftrucks looks very good. I wish to see them in action!

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  5. Greg BJune 6, 2014 at 10:18 AM

    Thanks very much guys.

    @Allison M - it is a small consolation to know the winter was a horror show for other folks too :)

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  6. Moiterei_1984June 7, 2014 at 1:17 AM

    Excellent painting! Your weathering is spot on again.

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