Brushes Vor!: Finnish 76mm Artillery Battery

Sunday, February 14, 2021

Finnish 76mm Artillery Battery

I just completed a 76mm artillery battery for the Finns. I tried some new tricks and ran into so issues, but these came out looking OK in the end.

Top down view

I tried something a little different with the snow bases on these. I figure an artillery piece can't be set up on the snow, they would need to dig down to the hard earth for stability. I also modeled these in a fortified position.

Comparison of the image I used for reference.

I added white bed sheets to the guns as camo. After the guns were painted, I used tissue paper (the kind used for wrapping) and brushed on watered down PVA glue to make it hold the shape I wanted. Last step was to put a few coats of white paint on the dried tissue paper. It is not very durable, but I think it will be OK in this case as that part of the miniature shouldn't get handled. Time well tell...

Setting up the log fortifications

The trench line was made using toothpicks. They were attached to the base with some green stuff. After than a layer of putty was added in front as filler.


Putty added as filler. Once dry, I cut down some of the excess.

Next step was adding something to represent the dirt that would be exposed under the snow. This is where I done goofed. I used a darker mud past by Vallejo. I should have only applied it more sparingly in areas that would show exposed dirt.

After the mud/dirt layer was applied

Once I added the snow on top things looked great...at first. a yellowish/brown pigment from the mud layer started to leech into the snow layer, causing it to turn...well, into yellow snow. I was able to mostly save things by adding a few layers of white and another top coat of foam putty (snow).

Next time a try a unit like this (PaK40s incoming) I'll use that mud layer much more sparingly, give it a few days to dry, and maybe a few coats of varnish before I try to add the snow next time.

More closeups...