Scratch Built 88mm guns in 1:144 scale

88mm Flak Project

Okay, so I need like 8 German 88mm AAA guns for my 1/144 Kasserine Pass battle and I am too cheap to go out and buy that many so I decided to make some. I don’t so much need the prime movers (Kfz half tracks) although I did break down and get four on eBay.

The first thing I did was research the weapon. I did actually go out and look at prices for these figures. Here are a few websites I went to:

Weapon Details:

8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37/41

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.8_cm_Flak_18/36/37/41

https://web.archive.org/web/20030117011324/http://wnet.suomi.net/kotisivu/harri.kaarre/88series.html

http://www.lonesentry.com/new88mm/index.html

http://www.lonesentry.com/battleoftheomars/appendixa.html

http://www.lonesentry.com/tacticalstudy/index.html

http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/woundblstcs/chapter10.htm

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196233/flak-36-88mm-multipurpose-gun/

Figures:

20GBP for 4 at http://www.pitheadminiatures.com/single-product.php?id=341 10mm

11.65 GBP for 4 at http://pendraken.co.uk/world-war-ii/german/artillery/ 10mm

16.25GBP for 4 at http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/Catalogue.aspx?ScaleID=1&CategoryID=1&SubCategoryID=5 10mm

12.60GBP for 4 KFZ. 10 half tracks – Pithead is 10mm (I bought 4 Pegasus 1/144 on eBay for $20.47)

Next I figured out what the gun scaled out to:
            Length    Barrel    Height
Feet        20'           16' 2"    6' 11"
Meters   5.791       4.938     2.1
1/72       80.4         68.6       29.2  mm
1/120     48.3          41.2      17.5  mm
1/144     40.2          34.3      14.6 mm

I want it to look a little realistic so not just a tube sticking out of a blob but basically I thought to use two different sizes of brass tubes for the barrel and recoil mechanisms and then either card or thin plywood or bass wood for the shield and the rest of it.

I needed to see what it looked like in scale, for found a blueprint here and saved it as a picture:

http://drawingdatabase.com/flak-18-8-8-cm/

I have used Powerpoint for scaling stuff for years, so inserted the blueprint picture into a blank presentation. I printed it out then reduced it to 1/144 to work with. This was basic math – I printed out the blueprint on normal 8.5 x 11” paper, measured how long the print out was (11.8 cm) and divided 40.2 (the length of the gun in 1/144) and ended up with a scale factor of .34. Then I copied the image in Powerpoint and pasted it onto a new page and reduced it by .34 percent. I printed out that reduction and voila a 1/144 blueprint of the gun.

Just to check it against reality, I compared the 1/144 scale printout of the 88 to a “real” 1/144 Pz IV. The Pz IV is 5.92 m long and 2.68 m tall versus 5.79 m and 2.1 m for the gun so the scale tank should be just a bit longer than the scale blueprint, and a bit taller. Perfect! Well, perfect enough for my purpose.

Then I discovered that a standard round toothpick cut in half and with the first couple of mm sliced off is the perfect size and shape for the gun barrel! The barrel scaled out to about 35mm. More toothpicks cut to size are perfect for the recoil mechanisms (8mm for the two lower and 10mm for the upper). No need to mess around with brass tubes.

I wasn’t satisfied with the gun barrel, so found a plastic tube from an old aerosol can that just fit over the toothpick gun barrel and cut it into 10mm lengths and just slid it over the barrel with superglue holding it in place. This at least gives it some appearance of the nesting tubes used for the barrel.

I used a 5mm diameter dowel cut to 5mm lengths for the gun mounts. I used flat toothpicks cut to 22mm to represent the loading mechanism and glued them on top of the gun mount dowel, with the two lower 8mm recoil mechanisms on either side of it (I used superglue rather than wood glue for speed of drying time).

 I then glued the gun barrel on top of the flat toothpick – it fit nicely between the two lower recoil mechanisms. When that dried I glued on the top recoil gizmo.

I decided to pin the whole mess together to keep it from coming apart when being handled on the wargame table, so used a Dremel and a 1/32 (#68) drill bit to drill from the top of the recoil mechanism through the gun barrel and the flat toothpick into the gun mount and glued a brass jewelry pin through the whole shebang, cutting the pin flush with the top of the gun.

I made gun shields out of cardboard (I use old beer coasters – sturdy and thick enough) – they scaled out at about 13mm square. I cut the slot for the barrel in the center down about 8mm with a pair of sharp scissors, and used a very small hole punch to cut out the little “T” at the bottom of the slot for the two lower recoil tubes I slid the shield over the barrel and recoil tube and superglued it to the gun mount and the barrel etc. Upper part done!!

I did not need to depict the guns in travel mode, so only needed to make the distinctive X shaped gun trail. I used flat toothpicks cut to 40mm length and just glued two of them together in the center. Since this yields a sort of wobbly frame, I cut more flat toothpicks a bit shorter than 20mm and glued them to the trails to make a thicker, more stable base.

The gun base plate scales out to 10mm square, so I cut those out of my trusty beer coaster card and glued them to the trails. I glued this structure to a 40 x 40mm square of 2mm thick craft plywood (comes in bags of different kinds of squares). I put these on thick magnet sheets that will then attach to metal strips in my storage tray. I like Aleene’s Magnetic Sheets available at Michael's – these are 1mm thick and in addition to protecting the models during storage and movement add a bit of heft to them.

My original plan was just to glue the gun to the base plate but I got the idea to just pin the gun to the base plate so that the gun would be able to turn 360 degrees. I drilled a hole into the center of the gun mount dowel and through the center of the base plate, toothpick trails, base and magnet. I then inserted a brass jewelry pin into the gun mount dowell and through the base, snipping it off where it protruded under the base. This has an added benefit of allowing the gun to be removed during play to signify a destroyed gun.

I spray painted the lot with Model Masters 1955 Afrika Mustard and then washed it with Minwax dark walnut wood stain thinned down. I spread wood glue onto the bases and slid them into a tray of beach sand. Then I hit the finished product with Dull Cote.

I added some Perrin DAK artillery crew and voila! Two 88 batteries!

And here they are defending the village of Sidi Bou Zid.

The 8Bw Project

So I have been playing DBA since 1.0, and have a ton of Persians I painted in the 1980s and used with WRG 6 and 7, and then morphed into DBM and then Warrior. I also have lots of other 15mm ancients, including Assyrians and Babylonians. When DBA 2 came out these mysterious 8Bw creatures appeared… (Other lists with this mysterious creature is III/7 – Pre-Samurai Japanese but I don’t have any of these painted nor am I particularly interested in this period).

Not wishing to rebase 8 perfectly good 15x40mm bow/spear into a 40x40mm base, I chose to ignore it all and just fake it with two 15x40mm bases sort of hanging out together.

When I won the 2017 Enfilade DBA Open and qualified for the US NICT, and decided to field my Early Achs at Historicon I decided to actually do it right and base up some 8Bw.

I dug out some unpainted lead from the garage and created four 8Bw for list I/60 Early Achaemenid Persian and another four for my I/44b Neo-Babylonians. The latter morphed into six as I had more lead.

For the actual 8Bw, the DBA rules call for the front rank to be some sort of spear with large shield or pavise, so I found some of these in my unpainted lead stash.

I spray painted the Persians a light green (because I already had some Persian bow in that color and was looking to put them all in the same unit for Warrior/FOG)...

 Then I glue each figure onto a popsicle stick (3 or 4 per stick).

 

and the Babs in red (just because).

 I painted up the details on the figures and decided to keep the shields relatively plain (blue with bronze rims for the Babs, yellow with red stripes for the Achs). I only had 12 Persian spearmen with pavises but had an old partially painted Minifigs command group with the large figure-8 shield (called a gerron) so decided to use these in the front line.

 Then I made the bases using old beer coasters. Note the square I use to make sure the lines are straight.

 Cut to the appropriate size using a Fiskers paper cutter.

I got cold feet and still wanted to keep them based for use in other rule sets, so decided to put them all on 15x40mm bases. In order to be DBA street legal I’d have to put them on a 40x40mm base. So I found some old steel 40x40mm bases put out by Wargame Accessories that I had picked up somewhere and did some math [(40-(2x15))/2 = 5]. I cut up 32 strips of  coasters into 4mm x 40mm slices (I subtracted 1 mm per strip just to be on the safe side), spray painted them my standard brown (well, actually I painted them before I cut them up), and super-glued them to each side of the steel bases.
Then I put magnets on the bottom. I use Alene's Tacky adhesive magnets (get them at Michael's). I put the cut bases on the magnet sheet then cut along the lines of the bases with an xActo knife.
I put a line of wood glue on the top of each strip and into the sand tray.

 This is the final product of 15 x 40mm bases for the troops.

 I use wood glue with some brown acrylic paint added to affix the troopies to the base.

 Make sure the base is covered well - I spread it around with a toothpick.

 Then just put the figures on the base. Slide them around a bit to make sure there is a tight bond.

Use the toothpick to dab glue on the entire figure's base (being careful not to get any where you don't want the sand to stick).

 Here is what a full base looks like, ready to slide into the tray of sand.

 And here are three elements in the sand. I generally let them stand in the sand overnight so the glue is mostly dry. I can fit two stands per tray compartment - the tray is what cookies come in - I think these were Chips Ahoy. The best ones have close to vertical (not rounded) sides.

 Here are the Persians ready to go - on the 40 x 40 movement stand. The front element on the left are the old Minifigs command figures; the rest are Essex.

The Neo-Babylonians. The two extra groups are on each side of the ones on the 40 x 40 movement stands. 

Closeup of the Babs. All of these are Essex.

And a face off between the two units.

I needed some camp followers and found these in my partially painted box.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in conference with Nebuchadnezzar.

 Or maybe Cyrus. Or Darius. Or I'd even flex a bit earlier and say Jeremiah to go with my Later Hebrews.

Painting Guide

So I've been painting toy soldiers for wargaming use for about 50 years and I've evolved my technique over time. Here is how I do it now:

I use mostly acrylics but some oil based enamels as well - start with one or two of the plastic model paint kits carried in many toy stores (pick up one acrylic set and one enamel set – or you can even start with one of the inexpensive craft acylic sets available at toy or hobby stores). Pick up a couple of good brushes (start with 0 and 00) – most hobby, craft or art shops carry them. You can add various colors as you go along (standard craft acrylics work great, craft shops are certain to have any color you need - also useful to pick up some metal colors there or regular enamels in model stores - silver, copper, bronze for starters, 'steel' and gold can also be useful). You will also need a clear gloss paint and a can of clear flat spray paint (i.e. Dull Cote) - both in model stores. For the final wash, get a small can of Minwax stain, dark walnut best, and a small can of thinner. A full list of materials is at the end of this article.

First thing to do is clean up the figures - use a sharp craft knife (X-Acto or similar) to cut away any flash, 

and a flat file to level out the bottom of the figure's base (so it will stand up on its own) and the file, knife or an emory board (filch it from your wife) to get rid of any misalignment of the mold or unwanted lines or other imperfections. Look especially between the legs of the figures (horses are terrible for that). Next, wash the figures with an old toothbrush and warm soapy water (this removes any flux left over from the molds). If you don't do this the paint can peel or flake off very quickly depending on the brand of figure. Once you have washed them, do not touch them with your (greasy) fingers since the oil from your hands will also detract from the adhesion of the paint to the white metal. Once washed handle the figures with a piece of cotton cloth or a paper towel, or only touch the base of the figure.

 









Next glue the figures to a Popsicle stick with a small dab of white glue. Some folks use putty ('Blutack' but other brands are available - find it in the school supply section, it is used to stick pieces of paper to reports, etc). I put 3 or 4 x 15mm foot on a stick – 2 or 3 cavalry – 1 elephant.

You may find that you have to glue spears or shields on your figure. I use super glue although some folks prefer epoxy (I don't like the time and trouble of mixing the epoxy). I’ll usually do this now, before painting (if it is a large shield or pavise that will interfere with painting the figure I’ll wait on this). I also glue any riders onto horses now – some folks prefer to paint the rider and horse separately but I’ve found this just increases the painting time with only a nominal improvement in quality and sometimes the rider is just glued to the painted saddle and comes flying off at the most inopportune times. I do paint elephant and chariot crew separately and affix them to the model after painting (but before the wash and dull coat).

Unlike some outstanding painters, I do not use an undercoat or primer per se. I have experimented with different colors of primer from black to grey to brown to white, but I’ve found that this can fill in some of the details on the figures so now I just start painting. I do a production line operation, painting an entire unit at the same time and often will spray paint an entire unit a base color - if lots of skin is showing I'll use a tan; if a regular unit, I'll use the uniform color. Flat spray paint is best, but satin will do in a pinch since you will be spraying the finished figures with Dull Cote later.

I usually paint the major clothing items first, all the same color for regulars (historical if possible – do some research first!), different colors for irregs. The higher the class/quality troop generally the more colorful they were - hordes/Irreg E could not afford fancy duds!! So use various off-whites, browns and blacks for their clothes. Next I do the flesh, then hair & beards, then weapons, belts, shoes, helmets etc. Do armor last - I usually leave it the original white metal color if it is to be steel and coat it with clear gloss at the very end of the process (details below) - works okay and is quicker than painting it silver or steel. If there has been any paint spill over from clothes, skin etc onto the armor, you can touch it up with silver paint before clear gloss coating. Don't forget to paint the base of the figure brown or green (match the color you will use on the element base).

 When painting, I dip the brush into a little dish (paint lid works) of plain water (thinner if using oil-based enamels), dip off the excess on the edge of the dish, then dip into the paint jar, again stroking off the excess on the bottle edge. Then flow the paint on the figure. What you are trying to achieve is a shadow effect, where the paint flows into the folds of the metal and settles there in tiny puddles - thus the higher parts of the figure will be the lighter color while the deeper folds are darker in color. Many folks are skilled at using slightly different shades of the base color to add highlights and darken folds, but I have had success without resorting to this more advanced shading technique.

For shields, there are some good decals out there, especially useful for regulars (Romans, Macedonians, etc.). If you are going to use decals you need a perfectly flat surface (i.e. no raised points on the shield) and I paint the background color first, cover that with a coat of clear gloss, then put on the decal, then another coat of clear gloss. You can also experiment with making your own shield decals using a computer and decal paper (available from MicroMark amongst others). I’ve also had some success with creating my own shield designs on the computer using a graphic design program, and you can find some historic shield patterns on the web that you can use as a template. Instead of decal paper, I have had some success with regular printer paper (very thin glossy is best). If you try regular paper keep in mind that the ink will bleed if you get it too wet when you spray on the dull coat (see below), hence the glossy paper is better. Photo paper is generally too thick to use for shields.

I put a wash on some of my figures. I start with Minwax dark walnut wood stain, thinned way down with normal paint thinner although some others don’t bother thinning it. You will have to experiment until you get the right level of darkness. The purpose of the wash is to really fill in the crevices of the figure, darken them, and to bring out the details of the figure's sculpture. There are many different wash recipes out there – some folks use clear floor wax as a base and add dark brown acrylic paint added with an eye dropper – this really fills in the cracks so make sure you are completely done painting – this also provides an excellent and very durable finish that holds up very well on the table, and yields a very glossy finish that you can cut down with Dull Cote. You can also buy commercial washes in a variety of colors and some folks use colored inks. Note that this is a quick and easy yet effective substitute for the shading technique. It also dulls down bright colors, so be careful if you want those colors to stay bright. Also be careful if you want armor to stay bright - I normally do not put the wash on armor. Lastly, use care if washing over oil-based enamel as the thinner in the stain can wash away that enamel. I've also used just plain thinner on oil-based enamel to reduce the thickness of coat of paint and wash out the color - the effect is similar to using acrylics - the thinned enamel flows into the crevices of the figure, the thinner evaporates leaving deeper color in the crevices. If doing this, use care not to wash too much of the color off the high spots or into crevices where you don't want it (turning some guy's face green can be one result!). You might want to not put any wash at all on your figures (to start) and experiment with the wash on some hordes to see if you really want to go with that. If the acrylic paint is done well, you might not need/want to use a wash!

After all the painting and washing is finished I base the figures. For bases I use beer coasters pilfered from local pubs, cut to the proper size and spray painted brown. You can cut them with a pair of sharp scissors or a hobby razor knife, but I’ve found using a sharp paper cutter (Fiskars makes some great ones – use one with a knife blade and not one that just tears the paper). I also put magnetic strips on the bottom of my bases in order to keep the finished product from sliding around my old metal toolbox during transport. You can get the magnetic sheets in most craft stores - get the kind with adhesive on one side and just stick squared-off beer coasters directly to the magnetic sheet, then cut the whole shebang to the correct size with a pair of scissors or a craft paper cutter. If you find cutting the base/magnet combo too hard on your paper cutter, try cutting the bases to size first, then sticking them on the magnet sheet, then cutting the bases out with a knife. The best magnetic sheets I've found are Aleene's Magnetic Sheets available at Michael's craft stores. Some people do it the other way 'round - use thin steel sheet metal for the base (you can buy metal stands cut to the correct sizes from wargaming supply stores or cut your own with a pair of tin snips), and some people use wood, plastic, or poster board for bases - experiment! A is to keep all the bases the same thickness so that your troops will all march at the same height on the battlefield. There are also some great ‘laser cut’ wood bases out there (Litko for example).

To affix the figure to the base, use carpenter's exterior wood glue (plain white glue works also). Do NOT use “gorilla” glue as this expands at an unpredictable rate. Spread the glue fairly thickly on the entire element base using a larger size bristle brush, then set each figure on it and, using a toothpick, spread the glue onto the figure base being careful not to get too much on the legs or feet of the figure. Next, carefully slide the element base (with all figures affixed with the glue still wet) into a tray of sand. You can use craft sand, or get some from the local beach. I use sand collected from local sand dunes - I like this sand because it is a dark grey/brown and has bits of wood in it. Some folks use model railroad green flocking - that looks too unrealistic for my taste. I leave the stand of figures in the tray of sand until the glue is dry (overnight usually, but 4 or so hours is plenty, and half an hour is enough to get the sand to stick if you need the tray for more troops). 

 

When the glue is dry finish off the base by gluing on some moss, sticks or small rocks to give it a 'real' look, and by filing down any sand that has spilled over onto the edge of the base and finally painting the edges of the base a dark brown.

I then spray the entire thing with a dull/matte clear coat. I prefer Testors Dull Cote but many folks do fine with el cheapo Krylon. Finish the figures off by brushing on a clear gloss coat on anything you want to stay glossy (armor, highly polished leather, etc).

There are also tons of articles on the web now on how to paint...

Enjoy!

List of  materials:

Beer coasters

Magnetic adhesive backed sheets – I prefer Aleene's Tacky Magnetic Sheets

Clear flat/matte spray paint – I prefer Testor’s Dull Cote

Dark brown spray paint

Clear gloss coat

Paint in assorted colors (acrylics and/or enamels)

Metallic colored paint (silver, copper, bronze, acrylic or enamel)

0 and 00 brushes

Larger bristle brush (for glue)

Toothpicks

Carpenters or white glue (I prefer exterior grade carpenters glue)

Super glue and/or epoxy (I prefer super glue)

Walnut stain

Paint thinner

Hobby razor knife (X-acto type)

Flat file

Emory board

Toothbrush

Popsicle sticks

Blutack/Uhu putty (can use white glue instead)

Grey/brown sand

Twigs, small sticks, moss, gravel (for base texture)