Friday 25 October 2019

28mm Maxim Machine Gun

Visiting the painting table, Warlord Games' metal Soviet Maxim machine gun, with a two man crew and a junior officer directing their fire, posing in front of a HO/OO scale building.


The blister pack comes with three figures and a five part machine gun that goes together very easily, plus a round 60mm plastic base.


The figures were given a hot soapy wash and primed with a Rustoleum primer, block painted, washed with a slightly diluted Vallejo Umber wash and then minimal highlights were put back in. For the first time that I can recall, I have not put highlights at all into the face. I think the overall muted effects are in keeping with the subject.


Finally a short blast of matt varnish while on the painting sticks and then a second light coating once based, to secure the base material and add extra resilience to those parts of the figures that will get handled. I have tried to keep the base a bit ‘nondescript’ so that it can fit in with a variety of settings. 

If you are impressed by the base mat .... I have not gone posh! it is just a modellers bit of matting that cost £15 for just a 6" x 9" piece, great for photo shoots, but it would break the bank to start covering the table.


Good undercuts make the painting pretty straight forward and a ‘wargaming standard’ is easy to reach. The only problem that I had was that the gunner’s hands did not align with the gun trigger. I should have done a dry fitting run, but I glued the gun to the base before priming. The elevation of the gun is perfect for the ammo belt feed, but not for the gunner to keep his knees and boots on the base AND hands on the piece. I have checked photo’s on the internet and other examples seem fine ..... so it must be me! Overall though, a nice piece.

I have the building in both HO scale and N Gauge, with them being a model railway pieces, so I took the opportunity to take a shot of my Pendraken 10mm Maxim.
The 10mm Maxim from Pendraken with the
N Gauge version of the building. I do like resin!

This has made me think about revamping my 10mm stuff and be a little more inventive with the bases.

I also thought I would break open the 1/72 Russian Support weapon box from Plastic Soldier Company and build that Maxim for comparison. Anyway, it was fiddly, then a bit fell on the garage floor and it took ages for me to find it, then the arms / mg / base combo just wouldn't behave for me, then I pressed the gun shield on while the glue was still drying and everything collapsed. Giddy with glue fumes, I swore loudly and the bits are now in the bin!

22 comments:

  1. Really nice work Norm on a classic machine gun. I vaguely remember the Airfix one as a kid and always liked it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Steve, it is something of an iconic weapon for WWII gamers and collectors.

      Delete
  2. Your MG vignette is superb, great job...and presentation!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Phil - significantly helped by that matting i think :-)

      Delete
  3. Super brushwork, Norm! Your overhead photos shows off the effect of the wash you applied. Brings out the detail and recesses and makes the vignette pop.

    I have fallen to the same plight of having to scrap the construction of a poorly designed WWI airplane kit after having lost patience with the damn thing. Finding tiny pieces of a model on carpet with THESE eyes? Those pieces are lost until the vacuum rediscovers them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Jonathan, I am pleased with the ration of wash / highlighting without getting a too cartoony effect. I seem to have to continually re-learn the lesson of kit building over a piece of paper, so that mishaps are caught. How is it that light plastic can just fall four foot to the ground and then disappear forever! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice piece there Norm, looks great.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Phil, it reminds me a little of your SCW actions.

      Delete
  6. Lovely work Norm! That gun is an absolute Red Army classic.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks Mike .... at the moment, IT IS my Red Army :-) though I have an unpainted T34/85, which will double the size of my army :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. A nice looking units, the washes and highlighting worked out well.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks Peter, I am increasingly tempted to get something like your size of ECW / WWII game up on the table, with the bigger figures.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Norm, lovely work and a good read. I tried once to expand my Wings of Glory range with a load of kits including an FE2b. It had me almost weeping with frustration and the whole lot ended in the bin.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks Kevin, I think part of my problem was that I had tweezers in the house that could of significantly helped, but instead I stupidly persevered! I think that must be on a par with not 'needing' to read instructions :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nice work Norm and I like the scale comparison, you can hardly tell the difference. Slightly sad about the demise of the other maxim........you need some calm music while modelling 🤔

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks Matt, I would like to add a 20mm comparison to the article, so will probably re-attempt it, cutting the gun from one of the other sprues and most certainly having tweezers WITH me this time!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great models and brushwork, Norm. The HO/OO building works well with 28mm.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks Dean. In this instance the barn has typically big barn doors and that helps a great deal, but in any case, the small footprint is essential for my table.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Really great photography there! It’s like a photo shoot for miniatures. That ground cover is perfect for pics as well. 😀

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks Stew, I am really enjoying the 'photo diorama' aspect of gaming.

    ReplyDelete
  18. The HO/OO barn works well,I have too many Maxim's as I got a couple of black tree designs and then got another in a warlord games Siberian box and then got the plastic soldiers support box for 28mm which gives me four more! Lovely finish as you embark on yet another army in 28mm!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks Iain, the nice big doors on the barn makes it work well with 28mm. I am that butterfly!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment