Adding planes to my ground projects

Hi guys  

I bought a thing, most people in hobby circles know me as a builder/collector of WWII ground vehicles and figures, and I haven’t built a plane in 35-40 years, but I have been playing with the idea of adding a couple of planes, 1 fighter and 1 ground attack aircraft to each of my projects, unfortunately this side of the hobby is a whole new knowledge and skill set, so I am on a steep learning curve.

I took a stock take of most of my aircraft kits, half bought over the last few years, the other half bought recently, they have mostly been impulse buys with my ground projects in the back of my mind, but without much research, I’ll undoubtedly pay for this later with planes that don’t quite match their ground units in time periods or AOs, so I’m going to have to be flexible in my accuracy expectations. I need to add more British and US aircraft, but I want to research them a bit more to get the right ones, I only want Brit planes for 1940, North Africa and the far east, and US planes for Normandy and the far east, I’m going to find it tough to gain the knowledge, then source the required decals and paint jobs for specific units, so I’ve decided to stick with the paint jobs/decals supplied in the kits, I’m also going to try and reduce the work load by painting the canopies rather than keeping them clear, which I’m sure in aviation modelling is  taboo but quite common in wargaming.

I’ve started building the first few kits, a mix of French and German, even though they have half the parts as a 1/72 AFV kit, they are taking me longer to put together, and they are a lot more fragile, I’m finding I’m breaking a lot of small parts with my clumsy fingers, I’m wondering if I should replace antennas and such with wire, some of the kits are only designed to be built with wheels down, I’m making all of mine in flight and stowing the wheels can take work, so far I’m less than pleased with my results, but I’ll press on and take pics once the construction is done. 

Panzer kompanie (Funklenk) 315

 Hi guys 

I was asked a while ago if the 21st Pz Div had Stug IIIs, to which I confidently replied no, the unit having French funnies fulfilling that role, however, what I wasn’t aware of at the time, there was a sub unit attached to the 21st during D-Day, Panzer kompanie (Funklenk) 315, this was a remote controlled demolition unit, equipped with Borgward IV heavy remote controlled demolition vehicles, and Stug III control vehicles, I believe they had 10 Stugs and 12 Borgward IVs, this unit had escaped my attention, so the option for Stugs and Borgward IVs is a pleasant surprise. The middle Stug in the plate below is from this unit. Now I’m on the hunt for reference pics of the remote control box on the rear of the Stugs, if anyone has any pics of this I’d appreciate it. 

1st Batt, PzGren regt 125 half tracks WIP1

 Hi guys

The next batch of vehicles for the 21st Pz Div project have got their base coats, the Pz IIIL will become the 1st Pz Battalion commanders tank, the Sdkfz 10/4s will go to Flak battalion 305, and the half tracks will go to the 1st Battalion, PzGren Regt 125, I’ll be brush painting their camo.

1st battalion, 22nd Pz Regt, 21st Pz Div finished

 Hi guys

The PzIVHs of the 3rd Coy, 1st Batt, 22nd Pz Regt, 21st Pz Div finished, pretty relieved to get these done, they were taking a little long and I was getting antsy and eager to move on, next up will be the 1st batt (mech) of  Panzer grenadier regt 125.

I’m also starting to think about doing some French tanks in German service, I want to do a battalion of French tanks, but I’m torn between doing the 2nd battalion of the 22nd which technically wasn’t present on D-Day, it was off getting its French tanks replaced by PzIVs or doing the 100th Pz training and replacement battalion, my main focus is modelling rather than gaming, here are some pros and cons, which way would you go?

2nd Battalion 22nd Pz regt - Pros = they had mostly Somua S35s which are a pretty cool tank, 1 x 39H, some PzIVHs and some PzIVCs so a bit of modelling variety, also this unit falls within the scope of the 21st Pz Div project, but really shouldn’t be present during d-day

100th Pz training and replacement battalion- pros = the mix of tanks from a modelling perspective is much cooler, a Char B1, an S35, a heap of R-35s and 39Hs and some FT17, the battalion was actually present on d-day and suffered a shellacking at the hands of US paras, but it doesn’t fall within the scope of the 21st project, the battalion was attached to the 91st air landing Div, and I don’t want to be tempted into starting a 91st project, I’m keeping my Normandy Axis projects to the 21stPz Div and the 16th Luftwaffe field division.