Bolt Action Bunker, Marder AT Gun Crew, Afrika Korps PaK38!

 

Reposting my first entry to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. These are some models for continuing projects - WW2 in the Western Desert and NW Europe/Russia.

First up is the bunker. This is the Coastal Defence Bunker from Warlord Games' Bolt Action range. The model is from Italeri and while it's nominally 1/56 scale, I think it's more like 1/72, which would fit with Italeri's other production. Anyway, it's a pretty nice model - let's take a closer look...

Well, maybe don't look too closely... I found the model somewhat difficult to assemble squarely as there are few locating tabs on the parts, and there's no floor included to secure everything to. So you have to assemble the thing as best you can, trying to keep all the walls square. I mostly succeeded in doing this.

Of course the roof of the bunker is removable and that's where you can have some fun in detailing the interior. Here's the Hauptmann studying a map, overseen by the ubiquitous image of the Fuhrer. The carpet brings a homey touch though eh?

The posters are images sourced from the Internet and printed out, cut to size and glued on the walls with white glue. I did the same with the Persian rug.

Had some old furniture laying around that fits well in the bunker.

The doors open and close but you get a sense here that they are somewhat underscale, right? 

Next up are some more WW2 Germans - no, not the Marder III, but just the crewmen! They are 3D-printed models from Trenchworx and fit well in the armoured vehicle, a 1:48 prepainted diecast model from New Millennium. 

I needed to do a bit of fiddling with the bases to make the crew fit the vehicle - the vehicle floor is somewhat sloped but no problem. These two models retail for about $5USD and they really bring these vehicles to life. 

Lastly, here's an addition to my Western Desert project - a German 50mm PaK38 antitank gun. This one is from Bolt Action/Warlord as well.

Quite a nice little model but you're on your own to figure out how to put it together, no assembly instructions in the package or on the website. Fortunately the Internet has lots of pictures.

I added a few spent shell casings just to show that the gun is "im einsatz".

This is a really nice kit - not cheap, but very nice. It'll be a good addition to my Afrika Korps force.

Anyway stay tuned to the Challenge blog to check out some great painting projects!