2nd Afrika Korps Panzer III

Below are a few photos of my second Panzer III for my Afrika Korps force. Originally I intended this Panzer to be in early war grey but as I packed on the stowage on the rear of the tank, I changed my mind! The machine gunner on the turret is from the Plastic Soldier Company German Alte Halftracks set. The paint scheme is my standard Afrika Korps mix of Games Workshop paints - a Tallarn Sand undercoat dry brushed with Ushabti Bone and inked with Nuln Oil. At the moment I am using decals in a representative way - I don't think the German crosses were actually applied to the turret roof or hull front in reality, but I'm happy with the end product.

M3A1 Halftrack with 75mm gun

This is my first of two M3A1 Halftrack models from Italeri. These are stopgap fire support Halftracks armed with the versatile 75MM, employed before the Sherman tank became widely available in the desert theatre. In my desert forces I want to be able to use them as either British or American, so I have omitted decals. Using the One Hour Wargames rules I have the option of using it as an anti tank gun. I tried battle damage on the sides of the vehicle with my clippers and with a fair bit of weathering, I thought it looks ok. The crew are one Revell Australian Bren gunner sans gun, and a Revell 8th Army NCO figure with a Thompson SMG; I figured the crew would carry some smaller weapons for close encounters with enemy infantry.

DAK Project - Panzers finished!

Here are the finished Panzer III Ausf G and Panzer IV Ausf F2 Special for my Afrika Korps force. The desert odyssey has started!

DAK Project - DAK Infantry, Fallschirmjager and support weapons

Here is my rough plan for my Afrika Korps army (tanks, antitank guns and heavy artillery not included). The models are Revell Afrika Korps and Italeri German Paratroopers (Tropical Uniform). Looking at using Bolt Action rules in the future I have created support weapon squads to bolster my standard infantry formations. I have a small command section of 3 men at the top of the photo, and can field 3 infantry squads of Afrika Korps infantry, 3 squads of paratroopers (Fallschirmjager), with a Paratrooper Mortar team and Sniper team. I will also base up an Afrika Korps flamethrower team, a team of machine guns (the infantry lying prone in the main photo) and another Mortar team. That makes 11 units and an optional command section to take on the Desert Rats. Sehr gut!

DAK Project - Panzers continued

Both of my desert panzers are starting to take shape. After an undercoat of black and a solid coat of Tallarn Sand, I decided to go for a lighter shade than the usual Panzer sandy brown, using a liberal drybrushing of Ushabti Bone, and a diluted inking to bring out all the bodywork details. Not pictured, I have also gone over the tracks in a light grey and gone over the petrol /water tanks with Tallarn Sand to highlight them.

The next step will be to use darker browns and a pale green for the remainder of the stowage items, and ink the tracks a weathered brown.

8th Army infantry

I've recently acquired some Allied infantry from a local model shop and I like sorting the individual troops out into squads I want to see on the wargaming table.

The squads are made up of Revell Australian and British 8th Army infantry. Each line represents a section that will be mounted on my standard 100mm x 50mm bases. The Australian Vickers machine gun teams may be mounted on a smaller base, I haven't quite decided yet. Looking forward to seeing these lads take on Rommel's Afrika Korps!

DAK Project - Panzers

These mark the beginning of my Deutsche Afrika Korps army. I've been meaning to start desert WW2 armies for a while, and whilst my BEF British are not complete, I took the plunge anyway.

I have started with two Plastic Soldier Company models, a Panzer III Ausf G and a Panzer IV Ausf F2 "Special".

The former was the workhorse of the early war German tank force. A medium tank that combined decent protection and a respectable 50mm gun, the Panzer III could hold its own against most Allied tanks. It's primacy was challenged by the appearance of the upgunned Crusader III and the Lee / Grant tank, both giving the Allies some respectable firepower.

The Panzer IV Ausf F2 "Special" is a late version of a tank that took over from its older brother. It has a long barrelled 75mm high velocity main gun, and good armour protection, able to match Allied medium tanks of the late war period. This model has no "Schurtzen" side skirts as these would have been impractical in desert conditions.

I've customised both with a variety of stowage and items on the back of the turrets. Why so many jerry cans? Well, they weren't used exclusively for fuel - in desert conditions it's easy to run out of precious water.

In terms of paint scheme I'm going to try my own desert scheme or combining a Tallarn Sand undercoat with an off-white drybrush. Combined with inking I hope by the time they're finished, Rommell would be proud to have them.

A9 Cruiser tank (Desert, 1940)

This is my third and final A9 Cruiser from the PSC box set. As the other two were painted up for the disastrous Battle of France, I opted for a desert colour scheme, to try out a few painting techniques and begin an early war British army in the desert. I stuck with the classic 2 pounder gun in the main turret but heavily customised the tank with some furniture but also two fuel tanks that came with the set, but I couldn't find any online photos of where exactly they go. So I opted for positioning somewhere between a T34 and a photo of an A10 Cruiser.

With regard to the paint scheme, I initially tried the slightly strange blue and grey green classic British desert colours but used a completely wrong shade of blue! In the end I deleted it and kept to a standard sand colour, in this case Games Workshop's excellent Karak Stone. Highlights were done with Ushabti Bone again, and I kept the tracks grey. For the weathering / subtle camouflage I used GW's Typhus Corrosion. When I finally got on with the painting I was pleased with the end result.