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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

British Airborne finished!

The 2nd run of British Airborne figures went down much smoother than the first.  The Artizan figures were a treat to paint, with much detail and character.

Piat Team: Great set, with 2 shooters and 2 loaders.
Specialists:  Sniper, flamethrower, mortar and a sten gunner with binoculars. Which specialist would you rather face?
British Airborne Section II:  You gotta love the Bren gunner.
British Airborne 6 pdr antitank gun by Warlord Games.  It was a bit of a bear to glue up but looks nice at the finish line.  I did mud and splatter it up, in addition to washes.  The base that comes with the kit is  too small so I used a piece of basswood.

Closing out the British Airborne project, I'd like to share a couple of resources on the subject:

1.   "It Never Snows in September: The German View of Market-Garden…"  This superb book is a great companion to Cornelius Ryan's "A Bridge Too Far."  The Germans had nothing but praise and respect for the superbly led and motivated 1st British Airborne at Arnhem.  The Germans suffered from shortages of everyone. Their tanks went in without radios and it cost them dearly.  They had no tracked transports so their 75mm antitank guns were deployed on the shoulder of Hell's Highway.  Every gun was knocked by the Allies rolling barrage during the opening of the campaign.  It goes without saying that the Germans were also suffering from a shortage of men.  One account has an officer leading WW I vets.  Before going in, the vets complained they'd not seen action since 1915.  Highly recommended!

2. Here's a link to a great British Airborne painting guide in PDF with photos of the uniform and kit.

19 comments:

  1. Great work Monty! I like the painting guide link thanks for that.

    cheers,

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  2. Fabulous work allround! Your take on the Denison looks spo on.

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  3. Excellent work Monty...the gun is really great!

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  4. Great looking Red Devils, Monty! Another great unit. Dean

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  5. Monty, this is way outside my current painting experience (last WW2 stuff I did was in 1984), but it looks the business, alright! Gets me feeling all nostalgic, it does...

    And very considerate of you to include links for further reading as well!

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  6. Super stuff Monty. The Artizan range really is wonderful.

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  7. Outstanding Brits! Your rendering of the camouflage smock is especially nice. Great gun and crew too!

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  8. Great work Monty, the denison smocks aren't the easiest to paint, but yours look the business. Cheers for the painting guide too.

    Steve

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  9. Very nice Monty! That camouflage looks ace.

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  10. Tremendous work Monty, really top drawer.

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  11. Very nice miniatures, Monty!
    That reminds me of the Paras that I should have painted soon...

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  12. Thanks for the INSiN recommendation, Monty. I'm going to have to look that up. I quite like the scenic base on the gun, nice work!

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  13. Thanks everyone for your kind comments, and apologies. I'm rushing to get a new ancient army painted for next week. I have to paint like the devil to pull it off and I've fallen behind in my blogging and comments. :-(

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  14. Sorry for not replying too much in the past weeks... I was too busy working on the Challenge! Looked at your last entries and man... are they sweet. Funny thing is I did the 6 pounder the other week as well. As you say nice model but not the best to put together.

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  15. Greate paint work !

    Like the Timber cover for the gun very much !

    Best regards Michael

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  16. Great work! I also like Artizan Airborns. Your's are pure awsome!

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