To Crew or not to Crew

To Crew or not to Crew that is the Question… Adding crew and extras to your vehicles By Colin Craigie I have been asked by the team to write a quick how to for adding character to your miniatures by way of adding in extra crew and bits and pieces to give it an individual flair on the gaming table.

When I get a miniature I always try to see what else I can fit onto it to make it look cool. I look at what else I have left over from previous projects and add them as I see fit. For tanks I look to use a variety of crew in as many hatches as I can fit. You can modify the hatch to have the figure peering out as if he is having a careful peek out before popping his head up.

This looks cool and offers a bit of realism from a battlefield situation. Other options include drilling out the forward hatches and putting a driver or gunners head popping out and re-modelling the hatch with a small piece of plastic card available from any hobby shop. Some of our newer models Tiger and Panther have this option included. Battlefront miniatures come with crew miniatures included with half-tracks and self-propelled guns and I utilise these by chopping off heads or torso’s etc to make them suit my need.

Be careful not to cut your fingers, I have more scars than a Jack the Ripper victim. With Self Propelled Guns (SPG’s) and open top vehicles like halftracks, they give you more options to play with different poses and layouts. With SPG’s I try and utilize artillery crew and dismounted tank crew to give it that crewed look. For halftracks I use infantry figures to give them an action packed look.  Start by removing the bases from the miniatures, I use nail clippers now to save my fingers from the slashings. They are strong enough to slice through the base but be careful not to mark the miniatures. File the extra height from the soles of the boots so that they are smooth and are able to be stuck to the vehicle in an easy manner.

Have a test play to see how the miniatures will fit into the vehicle and don’t be afraid to cut legs off to make them fit better; you can’t see them once the other crews are hiding them within a vehicle. Once you have sorted out the layout and test fitted the miniatures mount them on whatever you use, I have a piece of 4x2" wood where I drilled out holes to fit 2" dowel plugs into. This allows me to stick the miniatures on the end of the dowel, usually three per piece. After painting them I then varnish them and stick them back into the vehicle.

Some of the packs are coming out with extra stowage, specifically the StuG’s, and I am sure we will have stowage packs out in the future. Seated crew figures look OK, but you can get a lot more realism into your finished miniature by adding action poses. Experiment and see what effects you can create. Have fun with it. Good modeling. Colin