Next models finished in the Flames of War/Western Desert project... this is the last of the "Dietrich's Ghosts" box from Battlefront. I'd already painted the Pzkpfw IIIs and IVs so on to the leFH 18 10.5cm light howitzers.
There were four models in the box and since they're "mid-war" and not North Africa-specific, they came with metal crew in European uniforms. This was a problem! The solution: order some specific Afrika Korps crewmen from Peter Pig.
The Piggies sell their models in packs of 8, there are three crew poses. Since I had four guns to crew, I ordered two packs to give four crew per gun.
The new Battlefront bases have six round depressions to fit the round bases of their figures. Of course the Piggie models have rectangular puddle bases and all of 'em fit well in the holes except the waving dude. The hole in the base needed to be filled in where he went.
I always have a dilemma when painting multi-based models. Do you paint them separately and then stick them on the base? The painting is easier but if you've painted the base already, you have an issue with attaching them. You have to build up the groundwork around the figure bases and paint that separately. Or do you stick the figures to the base before you paint them? Much easier because you're undercoating and painting the whole works at the same time, but it can be an issue getting your brush into all parts of the figures on the base.
I went with the first option - I stuck the figures on popsicle sticks to paint, glued the gun to the base and did the groundwork on the base (leaving space for the figure bases), then painted the figures and gun/base separately. The last step was to glue the painted crew to the base, then carefully fill in and paint groundwork around their bases.
Colours used: gun - base XV-88, overcoat with Tallarn Sand, washed Agrax Earthshade then Tallarn'd again. Groundwork - Steel Legion Drab or a darker tan, then Khaki, drybrushed Rakarth Flesh, Crew - allover Khaki, washed Agrax, then spot highlighted with Khaki, Tallarn, and other random khaki green/olive or lighter colours on jackets and caps.
That's it for the field guns. I still have four 88mm Flak/AT guns to build and paint plus some 50mm PaK 36 AT guns so the Afrika Korps artillery park will be amply filled.
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