Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company with Painting Guide

Blitzkrieg Cover Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
with Painting Guide
Since showing off Gary’s Light Panzer Company, we’ve had a number of requests asking us how he painted them. So we got in touch with Gary and he was kind enough to share with us how he about creating his Panzers for Early-war.

One of the things I like about World War Two is that it is full of such variety. You can go from stories of a small group of men doing some daring action right up to an invasion covering a 1000 mile front. It involves true heroes and the most evil of men. Now there are two types of these stories that I like the most, the desperate last stand or the story of innovation and new thinking. The second of these is what lead me to choose a Light Panzer Company for my first Early-war force.
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
The Germans didn't have the best tanks when they invaded France, they didn't even have the largest number of tanks. Instead they out thought their opponents and changed the way tank were to be used from then on. The concentration of armour onto a small piece of line and smashing the way through the enemy sounds like a fun game, so it’s Panzers for me. Also the idea of a force that had Panzer III tanks as your heavy hitters appealed to me.
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
So where to begin, well probably the same place as most of you painting German Armour, The Art of War II. Looking at the German Tank Colour Timeline (page 42) I decided to go for the early grey and brown scheme to fit in with the invasion of Poland or France. After assembly and a black undercoat, I applied a base coat of Worn Rubber (FWP302) over the entire model. I then dry brushed highlights by adding small amount of Dry Dust (FWP364) to the mix each time and then a small amount of White (FWP301) for the final layer. I did this in about 4 different layers which left the model looking a bit pale.  Don't worry about this just now as we will fix that later on.

Learn more about the Art Of War II here...

Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Next, I applied stripes of Boot Brown (FWP323) over about a third of the model. These were then high lighted using the same mix of Dry Dust (FWP364) and White (FWP301) as before. The tracks were next and for this I used the guide on page 71 of the Art Of War II, a base coat of Oxide Red (FWP382) then a dry brush of Devil Red (FWP381)and a final highlight of Dark Gunmetal (FWP480). At this point I picked off some of the small detail like the picks and shovels using Battlefield brown (FWP324) and Dark Gunmetal (FWP480).

Find out more about the German Early War Paint Set here...
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
By now you should have some pale looking tanks with the tracks and some detail complete. To fix the colour and blend the high lights together I applied a Mud wash to the whole tank. You want to apply this as an even layer, doesn’t over do it as you don't want the ink to pool.
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
When dry I painted the crew using a mix of Black (FWP300) and Whitewash (FWP307) to highlight the uniforms and a mix of White (FWP301) and Artillery Red (FWP380) for the Waffenfarbe (see page 70 of the Art Of War II for more details). The skin has a basecoat of Rust Orange (FWP360) a brown wash and the highlight with European Skin (FWP385). Some transfers were added before the tanks were given a couple of coats of matt varnish.
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
You can weather your models if you like to at this point. I went for some splashes of mud and very little else as the tanks should be relatively new. I like to put my tanks on bases as it helps protect the models and I like the extra details you can add to them. I used some static grass and grass tufts to give the bases a look like the tanks are rushing over the French country side.
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Now that’s the tank company finished and ready for battle.  I will be looking at adding some armoured infantry, Stukas and Recon to help flesh out the force.

Now what way is it to Dunkirk?

~ Gary.

Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
Gary Martin's Early War Light Panzer Company
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