Allied Forces in Blitzkrieg Europe, 1939–1940: British, French, Belgian, Dutch and Polish Forces

By Andy Singleton

Professional figure painter Andy Singleton provides a concise guide for painting Polish, Belgian, Dutch, British and French forces.

This series of hobby guides is aimed at assisting those new or unfamiliar with historical figure modeling and war gaming by providing them with a range of simple tips and techniques to assist them in putting together good looking collections using methods that won’t take an age.

Beginning with an introduction to the range of tools and materials commonly found in modeling, the main part of this book comprises of concise guides for painting Polish, Belgian, Dutch, British and French forces. The step-by-step guidance covers all the common variations of uniform used during the period by the various nations, as well as tips on specialist forces such as Polish cavalry, French Colonial troops and Dutch Marines.

Illustrated with hundreds of photos, each stage of the guides has a combination of text description, photograph and list of both paint and brush size used to make the steps as easy to follow as possible, as well as stunning images of the figures in period settings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: Aug 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9781399005685

Andy Singleton

Andy Singleton has been modelling and painting since childhood, having built subjects across a broad range of subjects, scales and genres. In 2014, Andy decided to stop having a proper job and picked up his brushes full time to become professional figure painter, with his business Volley Fire Painting Service. In addition to painting legions of figures, he has worked with many manufacturers across the industry and examples of his work can be found in many rule books, magazines and websites. Andy is also a co-host on the podcast ‘A Few Brits and the Hobby’.

Book preview

Introduction

The early war period in Europe offers some fascinating scenarios for gaming and modelling. The transition in technologies across Europe during the period gives rise to a huge array of uniform and equipment across the various belligerents, all of which lead to some fantastic gaming opportunities.

The book covers Polish, Dutch, Belgian, French and British forces, as well as guides on skin tones, horses and basing. Although the figures used are mostly 20mm and 28mm, the guides will work with any size of figure.

This book, written by an experienced professional painter, attempts to break down this difficult subject into a guide suitable for those new to historical gaming and those gamers aiming to get their forces onto the tabletop. The author provides simple step-by-step guides for the most common uniforms and camouflage patterns, as well as tips on tools, basing and painting skin tones.

1

Tips and Tools

GETTING STARTED

Between the two world wars, the level of technological advancement was really quite staggering. Aircraft went from canvas-covered biplanes to fast, cannon-armed aluminium monoplanes, radar entered service, machine guns became lighter and easily portable, and tanks had begun to evolve into incredibly powerful war machines.

In a similar vein, there is a huge and ever increasing array of hobby products on the market. This array of products is quite overwhelming, even if you have been involved in the hobby for a long time. I’ll also attempt to cut through some of the technical terminology, giving a bite-sized description of what is required for a few of the most commonly used techniques. Over the last few years there has been the rise of contrast or speed paints by several manufacturers. Now, however, due to space considerations I’ve not been able to provide guides for these as well.

As a solid rule of thumb, when it comes to buying tools you’re better off buying better quality. These may prove more expensive, but will work out cheaper in the long run and the results will be more than worth it. That said, it’s probably also worth scouting the internet and club mates or friends for reviews to see if it sounds like something you would find useful and fulfils your specific tastes and needs.

Readers of the other books in this series will be familiar with the following chapter; however, for completeness I’ve repeated it here for those new to the hobby, as well as updating some of the information in line with recent changes.

PLASTIC, METAL OR RESIN?

The Second World War is probably the most widely supported period for models, in any and all scales, with thousands of different products available. Generally speaking, for gaming purposes these are provided in either white metal, resin, or hard and soft plastics. Recently, thermoplastic has started to appear as a material from several manufacturers: this combines the features of both metal and plastic models, although it requires assembly with superglue.

Plastic figures are typically provided on a frame called a sprue, from which they need to be removed. Since about the 1960s, many extremely popular and classic sets of figures from the likes of Airfix, Esci and Revell have been produced; predominantly 20mm sized figures produced in a soft, polythene type of plastic that required a vigorous scrubbing with warm water and washing-up liquid before painting.

Thankfully this is becoming less prevalent and modern miniatures are typically being produced in hard plastic which is far less prone to warping and bending, has better adhesion for paint and is also far easier to glue. The 28mm size figures are most commonly a hard plastic, though there are also several hard plastic 15mm and 20mm ranges. The majority of 28mm figure manufacturers provide each figure in several pieces to allow you some variety in their posing, and I’ll go into more detail in assembling these a little later. Plastic figures are best assembled with special-purpose plastic glues, again something I’ll discuss later.

Probably the most common material for the production of war games figures, however, is lead-free metal and this dominates all the various gaming scales. Most historical ranges are produced in this material, the figures are usually supplied as single-piece castings and typically come with a small stand attached to the figures’ feet to facilitate placing them on their bases. Both plastic and metal figures can have moulding lines along their sides and occasionally excess areas of metal or plastic called flash as a by-product of the production process that will need to be removed. This is a simple task and requires scraping along the line with the blunt side of a blade or a quick sanding down with some files; again, I’ll cover that a little later too.

Metal models require assembly with superglue or an equivalent, and larger models such as artillery and cavalry will require a degree of patience as they can quickly become somewhat frustrating if you try to rush putting them together. When assembling any figure though, patience and test-fitting will always pay off.

Relatively rare, although some ranges are starting to introduce it as a material, is resin. This is at first glance much like plastic, though is a little more brittle, and is often supplied with casting blocks that need trimming away. Resin is light with crisp detail and is best treated as working with metal, using superglue for assembly.

Thermoplastic appears very much like a soft plastic at first glance, though it is far harder, more resilient and not prone to bending or flaking paint; it is incredibly durable. Unfortunately, this also makes the material very hard to clean up. If you attempt to remove moulding lines with a file, you will end up simply tearing the figure rather than sanding the lines away. Instead, use a very sharp knife blade and carefully clean up the part. You can also use very fine wet and dry paper, at least 1000 grit, to polish the part to a smoother finish. Thermoplastic figures are a type of resin so will not bond with normal plastic glues and you will need to use superglue.

KNIVES, CUTTERS AND FILES

The first thing you’ll need to do, unsurprisingly, is