Death Korps of Krieg Mortar Team...

To add to the growing army of muddy trench warriors I have recently finished this two man mortar team. A lot fiddlier than the larger, heavy siege mortar but a lot quicker to paint. Finished with AK Interactive and Mig enamels and powders over Games Workshop acrylics.
Melbourne Museum currently has a quite somber exhibition from the Imperial War Museum on the Great War. Worth a look if you are in town for some first hand references...

 

Krieg Turret Emplacement...

My recently completed turret...

Dust shook loosely in the air as the pounding autocannon turret spewed flaming shells across the trenches toward the Vraksian heretics. The firing signaled the charge and the Krieg infantry launched across the gap in the trench into the closing fray of horrors.

An exercise in weathering...

Death Korps of Krieg Hades Breaching Drill

Shelving a couple of my Krieg tanks to focus on the Hades drill allowed me to experiment with some of the techniques I plan to use later. This was airbrushed with Minitaire and AK Interactive acrylics with the odd GW paint pot also. Being Forgeworld resin, after a clean, it was primed with a dusting of autoprimer and then a smooth coat of Tamiya Fine Gray. This is then a perfect surface for AK's rust colours, a coat of chipping fluid and then the main colour. Brushes and toothpicks cut back the finish to a nice weathered heavy construction machinery look. This was all sealed well with a satin acrylic varnish ready for detailing and decals. Once sealed again with a matt varnish AK enamels were used to stain, streak and leave dirt/sand deposits. Final metallic surfaces were scribed with a 8B lead pencil and the pistons were finished with True Metal wax paint. I highly recommend the AK dirt and dust deposits for tanks and vehicles.

Death Korps of Krieg...

In action...

Death Korps of Krieg Heavy Mortar...

The mortar is almost complete. The icing on the cake will be some Forge World decals when they arrive. This has been weathered with acrylic washes- then sealed, then AK Interactive enamels with pigments/ground chalk pastels and fixative.

Hydra...

Disappointed by the new open top Astra Militarum Hydra kit I jumped onto the Forge World site to pick up the old closed top kit only to find it out of stock and after an email discontinued. I've always been a fan of this kit obviously taking its design qeues from the German Gepard.
After a couple of months I was able to find some parts on Ebay but with a major problem with the guns. They were damaged, bent and would require heavy remodeling. Next step was to source the parts from the new plastic kit. Here is the Hydra made from a Chimera, old Forge World parts and new plastic GW guns all magentised. I plan to modify the guns to look more like the original Kit and add some exhausts and extra details...

Death Korps of Krieg Heavy Mortar...

I have been working on this piece for a little while but shelved it to work out how I was going to make a base. I came across Secret Weapon's hollowed bevel bases- perfect for a support for what I had wanted to do. 

Bits and pieces like Tamiya barrels and sandbags were added with some Eduard razor wire for the details. The mud is a mixture of Gyprock topcoat with sand, flock, white glue, paint and water. This mix is coarsely applied and then sculpted with damp brushes and tools.

The ground plates were created with plasticard and once a master was cleaned up and primed, cast in resin (for another terrain project I have on the backburner).

Finally after priming I noticed a large amount of cracking from the plaster mix. I wanted a more muddy finish so mixed up some white glue, a very small amount of Hydrocal, paint and water to fill in the areas and unify the mud. Next stage- painting and weathering along with the final weathering of the mortar.

Destroyer Tank Hunter...

Tanks... I've always been a fan. From WWI iron behemoths to WWII's powerhouses they have always amazed me.
I have built a few scale panzers but for a Krieg mobilized army what could not be more interesting.
This is a work in progress of a Destroyer from Forgeworld. It's Stug 'look' is a favorite. As the story goes... it is supposed to be some sort of archaic weapon and I chose to weather the paint appropriately. For a Krieg army I am very keen to get hold of a filter for the rear engine cover but unfortunately these are not available separately from Forge World so I may have to rebuild one from a Super Heavy Tank filter kit. Back in the day- 20+ years ago- I seem to remember GW offering a service where each white metal part was itemised and could be purchased individually, if only Forge World could adopt this.
Next stage washes and dust...

Updates...

More Guardsmen finished and a slight update to the dragon's teeth tank traps- broken rebar. I am pretty happy with this piece and was thinking of re-sculpting the aquilas for a more generic/non GW look.
The old metal Cadian was great to paint- nice solid details and great gesture. More to come...