Even More Random WW2 Painting - Big German Guns

Some serious late-war firepower for my 20mm Germans

More random 20mm WW2 painting as we arrive in December - back to the German side of things. Here is a Pak40 anti-tank gun with crew from Plastic Soldier Company, and a scary King Tiger panzer from Britannia Miniatures.

Pak40 Anti-Tank Gun & Crew

Here comes Ivan...

I have a slowly growing complement of T-34s for my Red Army 20mm collection. To counter the red tide, we start with this Pak40 and crew.  This hard-hitting anti-tank weapon is an iconic part of the late-war German arsenal. The gun, crew and accessories are all from the Plastic Soldier Company.

Gun commander figure on a square base.

I divided the crew for the gun among different bases to accommodate the various WW2 rule systems we play.  The "Battlegroup" rules, for example, have extra loaders as an option available for most crew-served weapons in the game, so I put two of the loaders on a separate base with an ammo box to allow that to be represented.  I also put the gun commander on a separate square base, which will help him stand out as a "junior leader" in games like "Chain of Command."

Extra loaders on a separate base.

Another view of the loaders.

The details on these PSC plastic figures can be a bit soft in places, but these kits are a great value (see more on that below). This Pak40 will be sure to put a few T-34s out of action - or at least it will until the Soviet players either blast it to pieces or simply run the gun and crew right over with one of their many, many tanks!

The crew prepares to load another 75mm shell...I think I positioned the loader a little too "behind" the gun...wouldn't want to be directly behind that thing when it fired...

The PSC Pak40 box set is really remarkable - you get two guns, two crews, and you might think, "hey this is great." But wait, there's more! You also get two raupenschlepper ost vehicles - which can you build using TWO different cabs, and also choose between an open or enclosed rear compartment! OR...you can use the guns and the RSO models to build the very odd RSO Pak 40 SPG! Really an amazing kit from PSC! I'm still working on my first RSO model to give this gun team a tow option and a chance to escape from Soviet retribution after they have fired on a few enemy tanks.

Tiger II

The Tiger II - model from Britannia Miniatures.

I know. Who needs yet another King Tiger for WW2 gaming, right? These vehicles (thankfully!) represented such a small percentage of the overall available German tank fleet in WW2 - and even when available in some force, they suffered badly from mechanical problems and breakdowns, such that very small numbers tended to make it to actual action in the front lines.

On close inspection you can see where the casting had some issues...on the exhaust, and the chain on the hull...not the biggest deal, but slightly annoying.

Even with these factors, what can I say...I have a weakness for scenarios that feature the "big cats" in the late war.  This model is a resin-and-metal Tiger II from Britannia Miniatures. I picked it up as part of a second hand offering on TMP, unable to resist a "great deal" to add some of these ominous vehicles to my budding 20mm WW2 collection. 

The sculpting of the zimmerit was well done...even showing a few spots where the zimmerit has been shot/scuffed off. Some nice character.

I was excited when I closed the deal, but it was a bit of a let-down when I received the goods. The model is OK...but it is small. It seems more like 1/76 scale than 1/72 scale (which is the stated scale of all of my 20mm Plastic Solder Company models).  It is still bigger than my PSC T-34/85s...but doesn't seem quite big enough - even though the MG34 on the cupola is as larger or larger than that carried by any of my other 20mm troops.  The size of the model just seems...off to me.  It reminds me of the feeling I get when I see 1/56 scale vehicles on a table with 28mm miniatures.

There were also some casting challenges on the hull, always a risk with resin casting. A few bubbles, a few holes here and there, and the exhausts were snapped off in shipping.

But for all these challenges, there are many positive aspects to this model too. For starters, the metal accessories all fit very, very well. That doesn't always happen with these mixed media kits. And I have to hand it to the sculptors, they really nailed the zimmerit finish on the hull.  I like the look of the zimmerit on the German tanks...makes them look even more ominous than they already are! Finally, I got a great deal on this tank (and two more which came in the lot), and at the end of the day every Winnipegger loves a good deal.

That 88mm gun, with the huge muzzle brake, looks scary as heck.

I haven't painted WW2 panzer camouflage in several years, so was pretty rusty when it came to executing on this model...but it was good to practice and get back into the swing of painting WW2 panzers in a larger scale.

That's all for now - thanks for visiting the blog, and stay tuned for more.  The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge will soon be upon us...always some fun stuff there!