Winter troops.

Hi everybody! After several entries writing about strange things like Warhammer 40K or other unusual scales, I feel you are expecting to see something WW2ish in the 1:16 scale. Am I right? Then, wish granted! Here come some German winter troops!

They are all Aliexpress figures that costed me peanuts years ago, which are, yet again, a clone of the marvelous but over expensive Jeff Shiu‘s work. I painted all of them like four years ago and I was planning to publish them last winter with the first snow flakes, matching the weather… but sometimes the things don’t go as planned, and look where we are now, in August, lol. I guess this goes in the line of what happened with those four poor figures; they were gathering mold at the end of my spares part box, but when I got them I had much better plans for them, of course. That change of plans made me leave them in oblivion… until now.

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German tank commander.

This guy was supposed to ride my Tamiya Panzer IV but sadly, I found he was designed to fit the “Heng Long” one. Among those two tanks there were several turret differences that made me put the figure aside, being the most important one the turret schürzen and Rommelkiste. I could not find an easy way of fitting this guy in the turret unless massive figure surgery or tank modifications and I did not want to do neither. For other tank brands it will probably be a straight fit making a strongly recommended figure of it. I like it, and it is very detailed. I believe it deserves a nice place in my diorama or troops. I guess I might fit him in my boat’s bow, but I won’t know until the boat is ready to sail.

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German sitting guy in trenchcoat.

This one was supposed to ride the Panzer IV as well, but the tank was already crowded and I could not find a place for him. I like this figure, and his trench coat makes a nice visual difference with the crew that is already riding the tank, but I believe the other figures fitted better. This one shares the same problem as the one above, it was created for the “Heng Long” tank, so, some modification was required. The Heng Long’s Panzer IV motor deck is built with the incorrect angle, so if you want to fit him in the “Tamiya” version you better sculpt a cushion for his soft ass or cut the soldier’s feet. I took the easier route of fitting another crew member instead. Not a big issue, I will place him somewhere else, probably in the scale city.

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German impolite sitting guy.

In one local RC meeting I managed to lose two parts, never to be found. One was a sapper shovel, and the other one was a K98 rifle, both belonging to my Panzer IV crew. I tried to get replacement parts, but the Chinese sellers did not reply, and Jeff Shiu did not want to sell me those parts, which, by the way, were going to be more expensive than order another entire figure from Aliexpress. For one time I wanted to support the original sculptor, but well…

3D printing was not as extended as it is today, so, I had no other option than ordering this guy. The shovel and rifle went to the current tank riders, and I modified him, sculpting some uniform and replacing his main weapon. I painted him in grey for making a difference with his twin brother I already have. I still don’t know what to do with him, besides presiding my particular hall of shame.

My Mamma always said it is unpolite to point at people!

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German Voyeur tank crew.

I believe you have already seen this guy, because he is briefly showed in my 88 Flak and Howitzer entries. He was supposed to ride my Köti, when I planned to make a dystopian Bergetiger II of it. That project never happened, neither will, but at least he found a decent and safe job place as an artillery spotter. Not too bad!

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Painting process.

Even when I painted them years ago, I remember the process clearly, because it is pretty much the same I repeated one zillion times. “Tamiya grey primer”, black airbrushed preshading, white uniform airbrushed, and rest painted with “Revell aqua colors”. Don’t forget a last coat of ultra matt varnish, and that is it.

I hope you liked the pictures, even when some parts are a bit blurry. It is still a pain to take good pics with a cheap phone.