Early WW II German 7th Panzer Division Vehicles

With the nice weather yesterday I was able to get the light box out in the garden and take some pictures of my fledgling Early WW II collection.  I have been planning this out for a few years now and with a wargaming colleague the incentive to get painting started about two years ago.

As ever things stalled a bit as work and family life got in the way but, hopefully, after SELWG, I can get back to adding to these.

A quick note concerning the camouflage of these vehicles. Vehicles, and especially tanks, used in 'Fall Gelb' may have had a two tone, panzer grey/brown, pattern. Contemporary pictures of the invasion are not easily discernable as to what vehicles had this pattern. The Concord range of books elaborate a little on this subject but I prefer to use a single colour for my vehicles. This is in no way a historical statement of fact on my part, just a personal preference. I also require my vehicles to be used for scenarios in Russian as well which I believe were panzer grey only.

This is a Sgts Mess Pz 38t tank fitted with a radio antennae. The commander is a MMS early war tank commander. The decals are from Skytrex. I could not source a command tank from anywhere else so plumped for Sgts Mess. The only down side, I feel to this vehicle is that the original master appears to have been a 3D printed item. If you look closely on the model there is a series of parallel lines on the casting which have come through of the resin model. To the naked eye this is not a problem but when you drybrush the model these lines do tend to show up. This is not visible unless you look very closely at the model, at a 'wargames distance', (6 feet), it cannot be seen.  An illustration on page 76 of 'Blitzkrieg' by Steven Zaloga was used when painting this model.

This is a Hobby Den SDKFZ   247 armoured car. I was able to source the 6 wheel version but wanted the earlier four wheel version, seen here. It came aa a kit of four separate wheels and the body. I added it to a base. I removed the shovel moulded to the body, as it was not well defined, and replaced it with a plastic item from the 'bits box'. The aerial is a cat whisker. The swastika flags came from Sgts Mess as well.

Here is an SDKFZ 7, similar to the SDKFZ 8 excepr for the carrying capability and shape of the holes in the wheels are different, 'German Half Track Vehicles of WW II by John Milsom' This is an old ESCI model which had been sitting in my plastic stash of shame for many years. I added a canvas windscreen cover made out of tissue soaked in PVA and water mix. The other stowage is from SHQ. The driver and soldier are both 20mm Dixon figures.

Here a Ceasar Miniatures Krupp Protze Kfz 69 Towing truck and a SHQ Pak 36 3.7cm anti tank gun with SHQ crew. The driver is an MMS figure. I am part way through making an anti tank company but have a way to go yet! These guns were practically useless against the larger and heavily armoured French tanks. I read that at the Battle of Stonne the German gunners realised that the large louvred panel at the rear right side of the Char B1 was unarmored and then made the most of the knowledge. Still I would have preferred something more effective!

Here an MMS Adler Fu-Kw Kfz 13 armoured radio car with frame aerial and MMS figure pointing. I felt the frame aerial was not going to last long on the war gaming table so I tried to strengthen it by adding some camouflage netting. Something probably not present in reality, such was the German confidence in air supremacy during the campaign.

Lastly for today, a staff car. I cannot remember the source of this model. I thought this was an MMS model but looking through their catalogue I cannot find it. The figures are a mix of SHQ and Dixon.

I prefer to base all my vehicles. This is because it aids storage and provides an alternative way to pick the model up. You can also add clump foliage to hide any problems with the model, not that this a problem here!