British 8th Army Konflikt ’47

The Merlin Heavy Walker starts from the techniques/colors described in the Picking Paint Schemes post and it finished off with the following elements:

• Brown Tamiya Panel Liner is used to accent panel lines and darken recesses.
•  Hashut Copper (Citadel) is used for piping.
• The guns are painted with Gunmetal Grey (Vallejo Model Color)
• The ‘head’ is painted with Underbelly Blue (Formula P3). I’m not sure what the reason is for it to be a different color, but that is how the official art has it so I opted to replicate it.
• The glow of the Tesla power plant is done with a base of white and then washed with a thinned down Arcane Blue (Forumla P3)
• The eye lenses are are based in white, painted over with Mephiston Red (Citadel) and then a spot of white is added as a lens reflection.
• Secret Weapon Pigments Dark Yellow is used for caked on dust and sand.
• The grass tufts are Mountain Tufts (Army Painter)

The Automated Infantry start with the techniques for painting armor described in the Picking Paint Schemes post.

• Brown Tamiya Panel Liner is used to accent panel lines and darken recesses.
•  Hashut Copper (Citadel) is used for piping.
• The guns are painted with Gunmetal Grey (Vallejo Model Color)
• Brass Balls (Formula P3) with a wash of Nuln Oil (Citadel) are used for the ammo belts.
• The finned area on the lower back is on the lower back of the robots is painted as a Tesla power cell and is painted with a base of white and then washed with a thinned down Arcane Blue (Forumla P3.)
• The pressure gauge on the chest are painted white with a red band with Mephiston Red (Citadel) for the danger zone.
• The eye lenses are are based in white, painted over with Mephiston Red (Citadel) and then a spot of white is added as a lens reflection.
• Secret Weapon Pigments Dark Yellow is used on the lower legs, particularly in the joints.
• The grass tufts are Mountain Tufts (the brown ones) and Jungle Tufts (the green ones) are from The Army Painter.

The Six Pounder starts from the techniques/colors described in the Picking Paint Schemes post and it finished off with the following elements:

• A dry-brushing of black is applied to the end of the gun’s barrel.
• Brown Tamiya Panel Liner is used to darken and accent panel lines and around some of the rivets.
• The tires are painted with Tire Black (Secret Weapon) and highlighted with Rubber Highlight (Secret Weapon)
• The skin on the crew is Midlund Flesh (Formula P3) washed with Reikland Fleshshade (Citadel). I lazily didn’t paint the eyes, but the wash gives decent definition to the facial features.
• The shell is painted with black for the tip and Brass Balls (Formula P3) for the rest.
• The ammo cans are painted with the same paint scheme as the armor.
• Secret Weapon Pigments Dark Yellow is used on the tires and the ammo cans on the ground.
• Army Painter grass tufts are added as accents to the bases.

The Tesla Turret Emplacement starts from the techniques/colors described in the Picking Paint Schemes post and it finished off with the following elements:

• Bastion Grey (Formula P3) is used for the concrete base under the turret.
• A dry-brushing of black is applied to the power plant stacks to give them a smoke stained look.
• Brown Tamiya Panel Liner is used to darken and accent inset corners and panels lines. It is similar to using a wash but capillary will draw it through channels in the model rather than slathering it over the whole thing.
• Hashut Copper (Citadel) is used for piping and metal accents of the Tesla weapon system and power plant.
• The glow of the Tesla weapon is done with a base of white and then washed with a thinned down Arcane Blue (Forumla P3)
• Secret Weapon Pigments Dark Yellow is used as a weathering powder around the lower parts of the power plant and the concrete pad to give it a sand caked appearance. This powder is a bit more yellow than my basing colors but I feel it still fits in well enough. I believe the Secret Weapon brand is no longer in production but other brands should have similar pigments.
• The grass tufts are Mountain Tufts (the brown ones) and Jungle Tufts (the green ones) are from The Army Painter.

Next up for this project is settling on the color schemes to use for the main elements of force.

Sandy desert ground for the bases:

• Base coat of Tan Earth (Vallejo Model Color)
• Heavy dry brushing of Medium Fleshtone (Vallejo Model Color)
• For highlights a light dry brushing of Arid Earth (The Army Painter Warpaints)

For the armor (tanks, walkers, automata, etc) I used this guide for inspiration (https://www.goonhammer.com/how-to-paint-everything-ww2-north-africa-vehicles/):

• Base of Green Ochre (Vallejo Model Color)
• Heavily stipple on Dark Sand (Vallejo Model Color)
• For highlights a dry brushing of Pale Sand (Vallejo Model Color)
• For battle damaged areas where paint has been scratched off London Grey (Vallejo Model Color)

For the infantry I based my color choices on the recommendations in Warlord Game’s British 8th Army Paint set (https://us.warlordgames.com/products/8th-army-paint-set?variant=39441213980741)

• Uniforms: Iraqui Sand  (Vallejo Model Color)
  • Washed with a 50/50 thinned Agrax Earthshade (Citadel Colour)
• Webbing and backpack: Stone Grey (Vallejo Model Color)
• Uncovered Helmets: Dark Sand (Vallejo Model Color)
• Socks and Covered Helmets: Khaki (Vallejo Model Color)
  •  Washed with a 50/50 thinned Agrax Earthshade (Citadel Colour)
• Water Bottle, gun-straps and bayonet holster: English Uniform (Vallejo Model Color)
• Boots Tire Black (Secret Weapon)
  • Boot highlights Rubber Highlight (Secret Weapon)
• Wood (weapon stocks) Rhinox Hide (Citadel Colour)
• Weapon metal Gunmetal Grey (Vallejo Model Color)

The first stage for the project is assembly. Working from the easiest on up; I started with Tesla Turret Emplacement. It only needed the hatch to be attached. The turret itself is set in without glue to allow it to rotate.

The Merlin Heavy Walker was a fairly straightforward assembly. The torso was made of two parts and then each of the limbs were single pieces. The limbs are attached with ball and socket joints so there is a little bit of posability but I didn’t try for anything complicated.

Next up was the Six Pounder Anti-tank Gun. This one was a bit trickier. Warlord Games has an assembly diagram (https://www.warlordgames.com/british-6-pounder-anti-tank-gun-construction-diagram/) for it but the finer placement of some of the parts is a little unclear. The attachment of the gun to the carriage was a bit unstable (or perhaps I didn’t have the location quite right) but a bit of green stuff was able to resolve that.

Lastly were the Automated Infantry. I really like these models but they are a bit of a pain to assemble. Since all the limbs are separate pieces there is a lot of flexibility. I tried to go for a few dynamic poses. For many of them I wish I had done better at positioning the guns/arms closer to the body.

For one of Automated Infantry I decided to create something similar to one of the poses shown in the Konlikt ‘47 Rule book where the gun is shouldered and the other arm is pointed forward. Since the hands are actually part of the gun piece I had to cut one of the hands off of the gun and used green-stuff to create a pointing finger. I also gave it the war gaming classic foot-on-rock stance.

For my bases I use Vallejo Ground Texture – Grey Sand which is a gritty/sandy paste. I find it easier to apply than gluing on normal sand and I think the finer texture looks better for the scale of the models. Vallejo has a few colors of it but generally apply it before priming and then paint it my desired ground color.

Test

The first step for my Spring Cleaning effort was picking something to work on. With the Closet of Opportunity loaded with un-assembled and/or unpainted miniatures (along with the occasional finished product) there were plenty of things to choose from.

A lot of my hobby time goes toward Warhammer 40,000 since those are the models that hit the table most often for me but for this Sprint Cleaning effort, naturally, I wanted to go for something that had been languishing for longer but still might see so play time if I got it done. For that reason I chose Konflict ’47 / Bolt Action.

Several years ago when Warlord released the British 8th Army (I think it was the shorts that did it for me) starter army I picked it up with the intent of getting into the game but got pulled away to other things and never got beyond assembling a few things and getting them primed. More recently I supplemented this unused army of bits with stuff for Konflict ’47 but still never made any headway on getting an army put together. So now is the time.

I spent a little while clicking around in an army builder to get an idea for points and selected from my collection around 1000 of Bolt Action models and then about another 1000 of K47 specific things. I selected models with the goal of being able to make legal lists, though not necessarily effective ones, with an eye towards the sort of models I found most interesting and hopefully the most fun to work on.

So that’s the goal; let’s see how far I make it.