Posts Tagged ‘Bocage’

Normandy Bocage test builds

Posted: June 1, 2014 in 15mm, Battlefront, Flames Of War, Painting, Scratch Built, Terrain, WW2
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2

Deep in the depths of my shed I have been experimenting

with the bocage and have finally got a winner, perhaps ?

Step One:

Polystyrene was used for the banking(light and dirt cheap)

and cut to shape, then pva glued. I based one on 3mm mdf

and didn’t bother with the other. The cocktail sticks

are just to hold it together while gluing.

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Step Two:

Add some twigs from the garden as tree trunks and glue

into place.

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Step Three:

I used standard house hold filler to smooth off the bank

and any sharp edges. I then cover everything in pva glue

and added a mix of sand and stone for texture. Let dry.

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Step Four:

Paint brown with house hold paint.

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Step Five:

More pva glue over all and add your flock/scatter mix.

I tried all green at 1st but found the brown gave it a

better look.

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Step Six:

Grab your self some rubberised horse hair(ebay was cheap)

and separate it out into thin bits. It comes as a thick

section and reminds me of horse jumping hedges. Now with

your pva glue again thread between your twig trees and glue

down. I found you had to put weights on the horse hair while

gluing as it springs up otherwise. I added a bit of moss as

well.

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Step Seven:

Using a spray bottle(50/50 pva glue and water) spray the

horse hair with your glue mix. Now sprinkle on your scatter

so it looks like leaves. Leave it dry over night.

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This is what it looks like next to a field and with a tank in:

Click on the image to get a bigger version 🙂

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I tried two other methods of making bocage from moss but

was not happy with the outcome.

Also the bocage next to field is not 100% finished and

needs a bit of airbrushing here and there.

What do you think ?

Bocage Jagdpanther…no thanks I will take the Stug !

Posted: May 1, 2014 in 15mm, Battlefront, Flames Of War, German, Painting, Terrain, WW2
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4

Just finished by Battlefront plastic Jagdpanther and I`m very

pleased with it. The cheaper plastic kit(there is a metal version) is

just as good and comes with a ruined building(not shown). Once again I

really could not be bothered getting the airbrush out for a couple of

minutes use and then spending an hour cleaning it so free hand time

with the camouflage.

Please click on pictures for larger size.

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The interesting part about this small project for me was the bocage

itself. I knew what bocage was and have been all over Normandy and seen

the stuff first hand. What was compelling was the constant argument on

various forums about should bocage have stone at the bottom of it ? Well

the first hand and most accurate answer is yes and no. Some bocage is built

up on age old(Middle ages or later) walls and some is not. Quite often stone is

used on hill sections of bocage and deep cuttings. Farmers in general clear fields

and push stone to the side and leave it. It is then overgrown by weeds and becomes

part of the bank/hedge.

The second compelling bit of information I came across after reading up on the

subject was the way enemy tanks were killed in the bocage. First initial thought

was great big dirty tank destroyer behind a hedge kills all(the Jagdpanther for example),

but you couldn’t be more wrong.

In bocage country 54% of tank kills were caused by gunfire(tank,anti tank,td and arty),

20% by mines,13% by non combat(stuck in mud or mechanical failure),7% by Panzerfaust

and the remaining 6% by miscellaneous.

If we then look at the 54% in more detail ,Britsh and American studies show that half

of theses kills were attributed to Stugs and by direct frontal penetration at an

average 800 yards. Forget the Jagdpanthers,Panzer I`Vs,PAK 43 man handled and arty the Stug

was the main man in the bocage!

Anyway I`m building a Normandy board as we speak to look out for hand crafted bocage with

and without stones and a few lurking Stugs.

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