10mm WW2 German Support from Red3

I'm always happy to have the chance to pick up some stuff from Redders at Red3 when I go down to the PAW show in Plymouth, and this January with the show returning after a Covid hiatus that meant a small but perfectly formed purchase of half track support options for my existing German Panzergrenadier force.

Having managed to remember what paints I'd used to do the last lot I managed to get these three done fairly quickly - it's always motivating when the casts are so crisp and go together so well.

Here you have two late-war 251's (the single sloped back to the body apparently gives it away) with the 251/9 75mm short support gun and the longer barrelled 251/22 with Pak 40 options, along with a 250/7 with mortar team included.

As is usual with Red3, the guns and crew are a separate, one-piece casting that just slots straight into the back of the vehicle really neatly, so you can paint it before dropping it into place.

And now all three are ready to support my Panzergrenadiers as they roll into combat on a 10mm tabletop in the near future !

 

A few festive bits and pieces

Over the festive break I managed to do a bit of painting whilst avoiding getting myself any more wargaming stuff (there are 3 armies in the paint queue already...), and also fit in a trip to Guernsey.

The end result is a rather random mix of WW2-themed photos for your delight and delectation! 

First up is a pair of Sdkfz 251/9 engineer vehicles in 10/12mm scale from Redders at Red3. These complement the rest of the German force I painted up last year, and give me some guys to jump out and blast their way through any field defences I might encounter in BKC or O Group.

Next up was a dog-walking excursion to Batterie Dollmann in Guernsey - strangely enough the first time I've managed to get to it on many trips. The restored French 10 tonne, 22cm gun sits overlooking the coast in the nicely restored open bunker

There is also of course also the nearby Pleimont Observation Tower, which I think is open for visitors during the summer months,

The battery is defended from the landward side by a load of refurbished trenches, and what looks to me like it could be a Somua turret (although I've since had it suggested that it's more likely to be from an FT17) dug in as a bunker.

You can get into the turret from the adjacent trench, but as it was about 6 inches deep in water when I visited, there was no "Madaxeman in a Bunker" photo opportunity this time around!

More bunkers make up the complex, overlooking some seriously impressive cliffs. 

The biggest risk now however is not the big guns, it's falling into the well-camoflaged trenches!

Back on the small scale stuff, these M3 half tracks with British crew from Red3 again were a joy to put together - this shows all of the bits, as vehicle is pretty much cast as a single piece, with the turret gunner and cupola all cast as a single drop-in item. 

Using Vallejo Bronze Green as a base coat is pretty simple - and here you can see the cute strips of crew as well all painted up in British Khaki ready to be glued in. 

 

Some weathering and a few stars that I have accumulated over the years - most of these are spares from the Victrix Shermans I did last year I think

And this is the full set of 6, ready to take the Tommies into battle.

  

10mm WW2 - the refurbishment project begins

Almost exactly a year ago, at the PAW show in Plymouth I picked up a handful of 10mm WW2 AFV's from a company I'd not seen before - Red 3 Miniatures - kicking off a long-thought-about plan to replace my eclectic and randomly painted collection of WW2 10mm stuff for BKC. 

A year later, some more purchases from a variety of companies and some eBay sales to clear out the old stuff and the new toys are finally starting to make it onto the table, and also to appear in the rather neglected 10mm Photo Gallery on Madaxeman.com as well. 

Here's a Red 3 Hanomag - a really crisp casting with well designed separate crew who are cast in 2 strips and just slot into the back of the cab. The gunner is cast as a 3rd drop-in piece tother with his gun and mantlet making this a very robust bit of kit

Top down view

I now have a half-dozen of these, and some Engineering variants are no doubt going to be ordered soon too - but I'm waiting to see if any more variants get released so I can put in a bigger order. 

The numbers are from Pendraken. I know they may well not make sense as s system, but they are all different and they look cool to me so that's basically OK I reckon! 

250's for Recce, one is a 250/11 with 28mm gun, but could easily be the 250/9 with 37mm I think. 

The crew and gun drops in as one pre-cast unit, but I've added an extra perching Arrowhead Minis tank rider crewman for more variety 

This is an old Pendraken StuG, originally an infantry support version with a short barrel gun but I managed to mislay the barrel when I stripped the old model down for a repaint so ended up adding in a rather large Arrowhead Minis long barrel gun, as their StuG's come with two barrels with different mantlets. 

The guys on the back are Arrowhead tank riders. Huge variety, really detailed castings

Here you can see the variety of poses and weapons. 

Butlers Printed Models resin print Opel Blitz. 

Opel Blitz Command from Red 3, and Butlers standard Opel Blitz

Repainted Takara kit of a Marder. 

StuG and a Takara pre-painted Panther.  I might end up repainting it to better match the cammo on the rest of the force, but it's pleasingly close to what I've managed to do myself. 

There will be more of these to come in the next few months and weeks !