Review: Battlefront Pigments & Paint

At Fall In I picked up a set of the new Battlefront Quartermasters Pigment Set-QPS04 and Joe Krone hooked me up with a can of the new German Armour (SP06)
I had some old Panzer IV F2s around that needed to be re-done, so I broke out the Simple Green and stripped them down to give this stuff a try.

REVIEW - PIGMENTS

This is a pic of the Pazer IV F2s before applying any pigments. This being my first experience with pigments, I went with a platoon that I could afford to mess up. All of the reading I did online said to completely finish the model before applying pigments, so I did. I went for a very weathered Afrika look for these guys. I only used the European Mud pigment -- I read that mixing several is really the way to go. Baby steps!

Here you see the platoon from a distance after the pigments are applied. The effect is subtle and just barely noticeable from this distance.


Here are a couple of close-ups of the tracks - you can see the pigments now. They provide a more 3D type of look to the mud and filth. I only applied the pigments to the very lower section of the front and back. I did do both the upper and lower tracks with different levels of application -- the most on the #1 tank, less on the #2 and even less on the #3 tank.

The price is of course incredibly attractive! I got 6 Pigments for a very small $35 -- this is pretty cheap when compared to other pigments. There is a great selection of colors and they are very easy to apply with Mineral Spirits from the local hardware store.


Score: 12 out of 12 Cake Donuts

REVIEW - PAINT

Here you see the platoon sprayed down in the base color. It is hard to see here, but it is slightly darker than the Dunkelgelb of Late War.

The quality and price is the same as the other paints from Battlefront that I use all the time. However, the utility of this particular color escapes me. I even posted on the Battlefront forum for some guidance and got no reply at all. I do not think that I will be buying this color.

Finding no guidance for the use of this particular color, I painted these up with Green Ochre (on the left above) as the base color. This seemed to look ok, but I failed to see why I would need this particular spray can first - they released a Green Ochre for the Italians anyway. Battlefront seems to have little mention or guidance for this color. Until they make it clear what it is for, I'm giving it a fail.

Score: 1 out of 5 Hits in Defensive Fire

FROM WIKIPEDIA

On May 26, 1941, mere weeks before Operation Barbarossa, during a conference with Hitler, it was decided to improve the Panzer IV's main armament. Krupp was awarded the contract to integrate again the same 50 mm (1.97 in) Pak 38 L/60 gun into the turret. The first prototype was to be delivered by November 15, 1941. Within months, the shock of encountering the Soviet T-34 medium and KV-1 heavy tanks necessitated a new, much more powerful tank gun. In November 1941, the decision to up-gun the Panzer IV to the 50-millimetre (1.97 in) gun was dropped, and instead Krupp was contracted in a joint development to modify Rheinmetall's pending 75 mm (2.95 in) anti-tank gun design, later known as 7.5 cm PaK 40 L/46. Because the recoil length was too long for the tank's turret, the recoil mechanism and chamber were shortened. This resulted in the 75-millimetre (2.95 in) KwK 40 L/43. When firing an armor-piercing shot, the gun's muzzle velocity was increased from 430 m/s (1,410 ft/s) to 990 m/s (3,250 ft/s). Initially, the gun was mounted with a single-chamber, ball-shaped muzzle brake, which provided just under 50% of the recoil system's braking ability. Firing the Panzergranate 39, the KwK 40 L/43 could penetrate 77 mm (3.03 in) of steel armor at a range of 1,830 m (6,000 ft).
By August 1942, Rommel had only received 27 Panzer IV Ausf. F2s, armed with the L/43 gun, which he deployed to spearhead his armored offensives. The longer gun could penetrate all American and British tanks in theater at ranges of up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft)

IN FLAMES OF WAR

Name  Weapon	Mobility  Range	Front  ROF	Side  Anti-Tank	Top  Firepower	Equipment and Notes
Panzer IV F2 or G  7.5cm KwK40 gun	Fully-Tracked 32"/80cm	5 2	3 11	1 3+	Co-ax MG, Hull MG, Protected ammo.

... and we will pretend that I didn't number these all wrong and have to go back and fix it....(lighting makes these look a bit yellow)