Painting SS-Scout Tank-hunter platoon Schwimmwagen GE819 Part 3 (Flames of War FOW 15mm)

I've looked at painting the Schwimmwagen vehicles up in the last two posts. Had a couple of really useful tips via the Flames of War forum (painting the wheel hubs yellow and toning down the metallic tools by mixing a silver colour with dark grey), and I need to see if I can use them, either now as a post pain fix, or in the future.

What I've put in the pictures here is the basing of the men.

 My biggest struggle in coming to Flames of War is arranging men on bases. Well maybe that and those moments where two fiddly parts on a vehicle wont superglue together, but my fingers will (thank goodness for green stuff!)

I've found members of the Flames of War forum incredibly useful in pointing me in the right direction. With small platoons it is relatively simple. You can find the item in the shop and see how the guys at Battlefront display the men. You can also see squad pictures in the game books and diagrams that give you the right understanding of the number of men a squad has in it, and whether those men are on one base, or like my SS infantry are across two bases (one with four men on it and one with five).

 Some kebab skewers make good tree stumps, plus kitty litter for boulders and spare bits from a German stowage blister. Green stuff also means you can make extra barrels, packs and storage crates. I've also done a lot of customisation work on my Nebelwerfer infantry to make them into what I see as SS units instead of Heer.

 Anyway, off topic. In these pictures I've based my men on a generic polyfilla. I found the cheaper ones better because they are more coarse and give a rougher finish.

I have to admit to making a mistake with the basing of these. For all my SS infantry I score the bases with a craft knife in a diamond pattern. I attached the men, then very carefully with cut down coffee stirrers (your friend) applied the filler. This time I got carried away with more detailed bases and adding the detritus of war, and forgot that putting the men on was a problem.

I had an idea to fix it, but didn't use it. I thought you could use a toothpick and dig out the base disc, so the men would go into a hole in the filler. I think it's simpler to do it right the first time! Each man had a little superglue and greenstuff to hold them down in the end.

Despite the mistake I reckon the end product with the men is good enough. I added more filler and textured it. Then when it dried I painted up the bases with eight layers of acrylic. I'll do an article on that, and why I like it, at some point.

In this final picture you'll see I haven't flocked. I'm in two minds over that and may still flock small areas on the squads. If you're wondering what the two larger round bases are at the top, I had a go at objective markers, with lots of tank treads in them. They are both meant to represent a rough store area where Germans may have dumped items. I love the fact we can use our imagination for the battlefields. The barrels of my Nebelwerfers are sneaking in the bottom of the picture, but that's for another time too!

Painting SS-Scout Tank-hunter platoon Schwimmwagen GE819 Part 2 (Flames of War FOW 15mm)

Following on from the last post, here are some closeup shots of three of the Schwimmwagen. At this distance, which is about 4cm away, the detail is overly close, which I think takes away a little from what they look like on the battlefield.

Anyway some painting information - I've base coated the green stuff additions in Middlestone, same as the body, but then tried to do some contrast with Vallejo Khaki 988.

 I haven't flocked these bases yet, but as I'm using an autumn uniform scheme for my SS, I've got a suitable mix of autumn flock to put on (eventually)

 The helmets are painted according to the colour scheme you're using for your uniforms - I'm using Oak leaf autumn so each helmet gets the three colours for that camo scheme - info I don't have to hand but it's definitely in the Cobra source book and I'm sure on the flames of war website.

Lots of detailed camo work can be done with 5/0 or 10/0 brushes. I've also seen an article in one of the newer FOW books about triangular shaped spots on late war Panthers - I've tried something else which I'll write about when I put up my Panther painting articles.


I put the men into the vehicles before varnishing them. Each vehicle seems designed for 3 men, including at least one with a panzerfaust. The pictures below are prevarnished, but the men have been dipped in quicktone, hence their slightly shiny finish. Once finished off with two coats of matt varnish they lose the shiny edge.

 The other thing I did on these vehicles was decals. There clearly were some hard and fast rules in the real world. I doubt my solution is anyway authentic, but I thought it out and I like it. Each vehicle in this platoon has a German star on the bonnet and I've put a SS 2nd Das Reich logo on the driver's door.


I'll put up a Part three to this platoon and show you some of the stuff around the basing of the infantry units, perhaps a bit of painting info too.

The nice thing about a platoon like this is that there's no assembly and it's a straightforward way into painting your army - some platoon or company boxsets are a lot more complicated that this!

Painting SS-Scout Tank-hunter platoon Schwimmwagen GE819 Part 1 (Flames of War FOW 15mm)

As I've been building up my SS army I saw the Painting SS-Scout Tank-hunter platoon Schwimmwagen GE819 and wanted one (even if it doesn't get a lot of battlefield use).

The four vehicles (Schwimmwagen) are quick to paint, and simple too in comparison to a tank - because there isn't as much fine detail or panelling on them.

Here they are front end on:

Here they are at the back:

Once seeing them I decided to use some two part moulding epoxy, often called "Green Stuff", to customise each one. For example on the rear of the second Schwimmwagen you can see the start of an SS infantryman's helmet above each wheel arch, and a camo net in the middle. I'm still getting to grips with using green stuff, but I think the limits of it are primarily skill based.

For painting the vehicles I'm using Vallejo Middlestone (882), with camo patches of Chocolate Brown (872) and Reflective Green (890). I've used small pieces of sponge to create the patches of the camo colours.

I'll finish this article off soon and show you the finished product.

Keeping a simple paint set (Flames of War FOW 15mm)

I have no airbrush, I'm not sure I'll ever get one. It isn't that they aren't good, quite the opposite, but I'm aiming to do the best I can with normal brushes, reading what others do, and my own ideas/sense of creativity.

Here's my paints:

I've bought most of the different Flames paintsets, and then added extra bits to them. I love the look of those fancy paint holders some people use, they make you feel like you're in a shop. However, I simply use a biscuit/cookie tin and a labelling system. Currently that system is as simple as using marking the top of each pot with a code: Q-Quartermaster; US- American; H- German regular army known as Heer; B-British, SS-German SS; S-Soviet.

In addition I ordered a different Vallejo flesh paint, Medium Fleshtone (860), I think it's better than flat flesh (955). I'll add bits of flat to the medium and I prefer the finish. I also ordered Leather Brown (871) for my boots, again I prefer it. Then there's three of the colours I use for basing miniatures - I'll talk about them another time.

In the tin are also a couple of pots of pigment and some regular acrylics, which will probably end up on my boards (once I start making them).

If I was starting this system again I'd probably add the Vallejo number to each paint. Currently if I'm painting SS, which is common, unless I line the paints up for the platoon (a habit I'm beginning to use) then I end up lifting and checking pots until I find the right one.

Work out what fits for you, but keeping it a little organised means you'll spend less time getting frustrated and more time enjoying the hobby.

Here are the next couple of pictures from the painting of my first tanks, Sherman platoon boxset. I thought I'd cut my teeth on them.

Hulls undercoated

This next picture makes me laugh. Now when I paint a tank I'd block paint the areas and ensure shadow and contrast, but this is where I started.

Getting the green on

Putting the details on

I've recently started painting (and rarely) playing Flames of War. My first set of goals are to paint late war SS and Soviet armies. I'm no expert in painting or modelling, but I'm enjoying trying my hand at Flames of War.

Having said I'm aiming for SS and Soviet, the first things I painted up were a British Sherman platoon, as you can see in the picture .