Primer Painting

It's Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars primer day.

I use Rust-Oleum 2X primer in gray.

It covers plastic, metal very well.

It's also only $4 from Wal-Mart for 12 ounces which is very inexpensive.

Mars rovers being repainted.

Photo Techniques

Black and white version.

Since most of what we see from WWII is black and white, taking black and white photos makes them look more real.

This was taken in color, but the figures, terrain and base are grey.

It makes it look almost like a black and white photo.

Play with the settings on your camera, and try different lighting techniques.

You may be surprised at what you find out.

Photo Effects

Part of my George Washington Legion in sepia tone.

Sometimes a photo effect can make an interesting model photo appear more period.

Two A-T guns and a bazooka.

Troops move up.

Troops in the ruins.

Geo. Washington Brigade

This figure has a US Army bazooka from an Esci hard plastic Marine set.  Figure is Afrika Korps in hard plastic from a Matchbox kit.

I changed the right arm of this figure, and gave him a Thompson SMG.  Many of these figures are Imex WWII Germans and US Army Paratroopers Easy Company.  They are molded in a glueable plastic that made the conversions much easier.

US .30 caliber water cooled machine gun on a German MG-34 tripod.  Figure in the back has an M-1 rifle.

.50 caliber machine gun on tripod.

The whole unit together.

George Washington Brigade

This is the well known PaK 38 37mm anti-tank gun, withe the large shaped charge projector on the end of the barrel.

Here is the same shaped charged projectile on an American 37mm anti-tank gun.  Note the troops are wearing US packs.  I got a set of US Army from Valiant.  They were listed as 1/72nd scale but I think they are too big.  I kept the packs but got rid of the rest.  The packs found their way to these guys.

Bazooka with loader.  Bazooka is American and the loader has an M-1 rifle.

Another soldier with a US Army pack.

A captured Sherman tank.  Jerry can rack and Jerry cans on the rear hull.  Side skirts added, and an MG-42 is mounted on the turret.  The Germans captured a lot of Shermans and used them for their own.  Typically they did not do this much conversion work on the tanks.

Geo. Washington Legion

In World War Two the Germans had all sorts of foreign troops serving in the Army and the SS.  Often they were brigaded together as a national legion.   They included Indian Legion and the British Legion.  The British legion was mostly propaganda, but they did have a few troops.

I decided to make an American Legion, called the George Washington Legion.  There were a few Americans who agreed to serve the Germans in WWII.

In this unit there is a small platoon of troops.  They have been given a mixture of American and German uniforms and equipment.  They are an anti-Communist unit and won't fight on the Western Front.  Just as the Indian Legion was anti-British and did not fight on the Eastern Front.

This figure has an American Colt .45 and German helmet.

American pack with German helmet.  Each figure in the unit has some American gear or weapon.  Just as the Russian units that fought for the Germans often wore Russian clothing and carried Soviet weapons.

Primer Painting

Once a Matchbox car has had the paint stripped off, it's time for painting.  I use Rust-Oleum from Wal-Mart.  Very inexpensive and four times the amount of paint most model paint cans have, 12 ounces.

I put the model upside down and paint the bottom first.

Then I flip the parts and paint the top side.

Paint the interior too.

These are resin wheels.  I paint them by attaching them to blue tape to hold them in place while I spray paint them.

These have the axles on them already.

Paint Removal

A Matchbox Coyote 500.

Drill out the rivet and separate the metal hull from the plastic parts and wheels.

Soak them in Purple Power.

Rinse off after a few days soaking.

Soak again if the paint still remains.

Use a toothbrush and even a dental pick to get out all the small bits of paint.

Artillery Limber

Four pin Lego bricks.  Cut the pins off.

Sand down the blocks and glue paper thin plastic over the block.

Trim the edges.  Use Plastruct Plastic Weld, works great on Legos.

Use Evergreen Plastic angle pieces 1/4 inch sides and cut to the length of a Lego brick.

Glue them to the bricks like this photo shows.

Glue the wheels and center pole from a HaT Industrie Napoleonic wagon onto the bottom of the brick.

And you have a generic limber that will work for the last 200 years.