Warlord Games 1/56 M10 Tank Destroyer & Rubicon 17pdr SP Achilles

 Some time ago I bought the Rubicon M10/Achilles kit for my stash, but only decided to build it when I received the Warlord M10 model as part of my recent Bolt Action £100 Bargain Box.

My thinking was I'd compare the two to see which I preferred.

To be honest, there was little to pick between them, as they both went together very well and are almost identical in size, so could be used on the table together.

The Rubicon model is in the lefthand tray and the Warlord model in the righthand tray - Primed ready to spray

There are pro's and con's with both, but nothing that sets one apart from the other. It's down to what do you need in a model? I've tried to summarise the comparisons in the table below

If it's variety, then the Rubicon allows more options. If it's a crewed vehicle, then the Warlord model has this covered. You'll need to invest in aftermarket figures for the Rubicon - as I did. Don't forget to watch what glue you use. The ABS used by Rubicon needs something like Tamiya Extra thin cement - not standard polystyrene glue.

Incidentally, these figures came from eBay, 3D resin printed by Garrison Miniatures. They needed very little clean-up (just an odd bobble of resin where the supports were attached) and painted up extremely well.

Nice figures, depicted in their cold weather "Pixie Suits"

I painted the vehicle in almost identical schemes for initial comparison. I pre-shaded with a dark panzer grey, before over-spraying a couple of coats of thinned Olive Drab.

I then sprayed the centres of each panel with a slightly lightened Olive drab to add some depth. The panel detail was brought out with a Dark Brown pin-wash, before a light dry-brush of Iraqi sand.

17pdr. SP Achilles - Rubicon

Finally I added some dark Chocolate brown chips and a dusting of AK powders. All paints were Vallejo. Finally both received a coat of Lucky Ultra-matt varnish.

M10 Tank Destroyer - Warlord/Italeri

I had already decided I'd paint the M10 to represent a Battle of the Bulge vehicle. To do this I masked the big areas of the vehicle that I did not want covered in whitewash, with decorators tape. Then areas like the open turret top and vehicle markings were masked with AK masking putty.

This is weird stuff to use, but works well. As I masked it one evening and painted the following day, the putty settled until it completely filled the turret! Easy enough to remove, but weird.

I then sprayed with AK Washable White Paint. I haven't used this before, but I'm really impressed! It does exactly what it says on the tin. Once dry I washed some off with water and a stiff brush to give a very realistic worn finish. Finally another coat of Lucky Ultra-matt and some AK powders.

Both of these were good models to build, I'd recommend them both!

M36 90mm Turret included with Rubicon model

Warlord Games 1/56 Jagdtiger

 Next from my ever growing stash of 1/56th scale AFVs I chose to build the Jagdtiger from Warlord Games/Italeri.

Moulded in the usual grey polystyrene, this is a very simple kit that would pose no problems for any level of modeller.

The running gear come complete which greatly reduces the time taken to assemble the kit, at th cost of some loss of detail to the wheels. The tracks come in four pieces that wrap around the running gear, which allows them to be painted off the model. I'd already decided I was going to represent a vehicle in an "Ambush" camouflage scheme, so sprayed some of the wheels in red brown and olive green.

I'm learning and trying out new techniques all the time. To enhance the rolled armour plate and the cast mantelt, I applied Mr Surfacer 500 and stippled the surface with a stiff brush as it dried. All this was applied over a coat of white primer. I opted to assemble the model in stages and paint each before final assembly, which worked quite well.

I decided to have a try at pre-shading once again and sprayed earth brown on the areas where I wanted shadow to appear.

I then sprayed the base coat of dark yellow. I thinned the paint with Vallejo thinners and flow enhancer. This seems to have made the paint coat thin enough for the darker areas to show through. I then sprayed lightened adrk yellow (just a few drops of white added) to spray the centre of every panel and any raised areas. This gave a good finish with some nice variety of shading - I think the term is colour modulation?

I proceeded with spraying the red brown and olive green camouflage patches.

And then applied the same process to these. Spraying a slightly lightened colour in the centre of each patch.

Finally, I added the dabble effect over the base coat using AK Paint pens. These are awesome, and made this job quick and easy.

All that was left to do was assemble the sub-assemblies and then weathering could take place.

I gloss varnished the points where decals were to go and then applied them using setting & fixing agents.

Then all the tools and other gear were painted  along with the crew figure.

I kept weathering subdued as I was quite happy with the effect of my "Colour Modulation" work. I just applied a pin wash using Vallejo dark brown wash. Followed by a very light dry brush of Iraqi sand to pick out the raised edges. Finally I dry brushed some very dark brown to simulate chips and scuffs here and there, and it was finished.

An excellent kit, easy to assemble, sufficient detail and fun to paint.

Rubicon 1/56 M5A1 Stuart

 As part of my cut price stash from the IPMS Avon show, I bought a Rubicon M5A1 Stuart for £12.

I decided I’d paint this up as a British vehicle but in its delivered Olive Drab colour.

As with every Rubicon kit I’ve made, it comes with two sprues & decals bagged separately and a very clear and detailed instruction booklet. The parts are moulded flash free in a light grey hard plastic and offer a number of options for the builder.

Turret completed with hatch open and test fit for Warlord figure

There’s early, mid and late production engine deck details, turret MG armour shield, turretless MG armed recce version, mudguards on/off, Cullin hedgerow device, turret hatches open/closed…… plenty of choices.

Track units before assembling inner drive sprocket and suspension details

I built the model more-or-less following the instructions; however I left the track units off to ease painting.

Main lower hull components include a checker-plate floor which you will see if you opt for the turretless recce version

The completed sub-assemblies awaiting primer

There really weren’t any issues during assembly, it took less than 30 minutes including cleaning up the parts! The only small point I’d note was that the front mudguards are moulded as part of the hull, whilst the rear mud flaps form part of the combined side mudguards. I cut these off and attached them individually as this is where divisional and unit markings would be displayed.

Matt White primed sub-assemblies

Parts just clipped together to illustrate the Recce Version. You have the choice to swap turret for MG ring after you've finished the model so you really have two vehicles in one!

Once assembled, I spray primed all the finished sub-assemblies with matt white. I thought I’d try my hand at “pre-shading” so sprayed all the areas of shade with a dark Panzer Grey before giving the whole AFV a spray coat of Vallejo Olive Drab. I’m not convinced this made any real difference though, so I need to experiment more.

Track units carefully sprayed in Olive Drab, to leave tracks dark grey

I was careful to only spray the running gear Olive Drab, leaving the track in Panzer Grey as it is of the rubber pad type.

All the weathering finished prior to pigments and matt varnish

Weathering consisted of firstly dry-brushing the entire model with lightened Olive Drab to give some variation across the AFV’s panels. I then painted the pioneer tools and applied the decals.

What the vehicle looks like in Recce mode there were another two .50" MGs you could add!

Next, I used Army Painter Dark Tone wash around all raised detail and shadow areas. When all was dry a light dry-brush of Vallejo Iraqi Sand was applied overall.

After the first application of pigments

I used Army Painter Rust Wash to treat the track joining pieces and ran a few rust streaks around the tank where I thought they’d naturally occur.

Finished model with re-applied pigments😅

Finally, a new one for me, I used some Vallejo Earth Pigment powder to further weather the vehicle. This looked really good until…..

In the colours of a Guards Division Brigade HQ vehicle. Note the rear mud flaps taken from the side mudguard moulding

Last job was to spray an overall coat of AK Lucky Ultra-Matt varnish which promptly blew off all my pigment powders!!

I waited until all was dry and re-applied the pigments and this time fixed them in place with dilute PVA.

I added a spare commander figure from the Warlord Sherman Firefly and I was done.

Fantastic little model, highly recommended.