1/72 PSC US Heavy Weapons

That alphabet soup title is interpreted as 1/72 scale Plastic Soldier Company's US Heavy Weapons teams for World War II.  I just figured the abbreviations fit better into feed readers. So, onto the update.  You know what it's about.

Here's a picture. Click for a much larger picture with details.

I didn't assemble everything in the box, as I don't need multiple chemical mortars or even multiple .50 cal MGs for the games I will play.  I have the sprues so I'm ready to add them as I need.

What I do have are plenty of machine guns: three M1919 .30 cal MG teams, two M1917 MG teams (got lazy and didn't do the third one), and one .50 cal MG. I love the size of that .50cal M2 Browning! Though I don't really need the other two right away, I plan to make those teams at some point.

The other essentials are the three bazooka teams. Seems like every US list has bazookas in abundance, particularly late war.  So I wish I had a few more but three's enough.  Then come the mortar teams. Again, three of each mortar is overkill though multiples of the 60mm mortar might be sensible. I've got a 60mm, 81mm, and a 4.2in chemical mortar. That's more than enough firepower for a single platoon!

Lastly you will see five BAR gunners hanging around the back corner of the photo. I had mistakenly assembled these a while back thinking them to be rifles. I was rushing and didn't pay attention to what I was doing. So I left them primed and sitting on my table. Since I had the paints out for US infantry I finished them.

That rounds out all my infantry in 20mm, though I have plenty left over for extra squads of both US and German soldiers. The next phase will be to complete some vehicles so these anti tank weapons have some purpose!

Tau Time Again

This represents the final installment in my Tau project for now. I think I have a bit more than 1,000 points of Tau all painted and ready for action. From here on out, I'll add units and models to expand my options and to get me up to 1,500 points total.

Without further ado, here are two Piranha skimmers.

So that's a bit underwhelming, I know. The largest challenge was painting the crew, and that wasn't exactly hard to do.  The drones are detachable and have magnetized flight stands. These skimmers were easy to paint, particularly when doing them in one solid color.

With the Tau done for the time being, next I'm going to touch up gaps in my 20mm US WW2 platoons. After that, we'll see where I go.

Tau Hammerhead Gunship

Work on the Tau continues this week. The largest model I have for this force is the Hammerhead gunship.  I don't have enough Graveyard Earth paint left to cover something of this size, so I used Plastic Soldier Company's US Infantry spray paint. It's not the same but it blends well with the Tau color scheme I selected. 

Here are the results. Click for a larger picture.

Not much to write home about, but it is a nice model. The main weapon is on a rare earth magnet and can be swapped out.  I don't recall what this other gun is, but it's nice to have options.  Here's a shot of the ship with the other gun.

Overall I'm pleased with the way this model turned out.  The drones also detach and have separate stands that I prepared.  I also painted five more gun drones and stands this week. I didn't bother with pictures as the drones aren't all that interesting.

I'll be working on the two Piranha skimmers this week and that will complete the Tau project for now.

Return of the Tau

It's a rather grand title for this week's post, considering I'm only introducing a unit of Fire Warriors. Anyway, I've decided to complete all my unpainted Tau from a few years ago and probably introduce a few more units and vehicles to bring the force up to speed.

Here's the Fire Warrior unit. Click for a larger picture.

I was able to keep their paint scheme consistent with the other two units of Fire Warriors I had painted a few years ago. As I mentioned in my last post, I bought a pot of Graveyard Earth paint once GW decided to take it out of production. The so-called equivalent today is not the same.

These models have already been assembled. I love painting models but hate putting them together, and GW kits grow more complex every year. So back when the project was active I had Saguaro Painting Service put them together. Tim had some leftover parts and threw together a quick conversion for me.  Here it is.

This guy is made from "tank commander" and Fire Warrior bits. Though he doesn't actually fit into any of the units I think he makes a great objective marker or special model. I imagine him as a Battlesuit Commander who has lost his suit. Anyway, I'm sure I'll find a reason to use him at some point.

Next I'll polish off my vehicles and some drones for the Fire Warrior teams. I won't have enough Graveyard Earth to cover the surface areas of the vehicles. I'll be looking for something similar to that color that I can also spray.  I don't want to be brush painting that Hammerhead railgun ship!