M8 Grizzly Medium Assault Walker - Konflikt '47

Finished M8 Grizzly

Konflikt '47

Konflikt '47 is a weird war spin off of Warlord Games' WWII Bolt Action game, and a joint venture between Warlord Games, Clockwork Goblin Miniatures, and Osprey Publishing.  Many of the troops used are standard late war WWII, but with the addition of armoured walkers, super soldiers, beastmen, and the walking dead. I was sold on it the moment I saw the first walker; there'll be more Konflikt '47 models in future posts.

M8 Grizzly Medium Assault Walker

One of the early models released was the Allied forces "Grizzly" medium assault walker, and I've been wanting to make this up since I got it. Recent builds and a little experience now with my airbrush gave me the confidence to stop putting it off and have a go at this lovely model.

The predominately resin model was cleaned up with clippers and knife and then washed in warm soapy water and lightly scrubbed with an old toothbrush. The parts fitted together very well, with good surface and contact for superglue. The only exception was some warping in the thin top plate that was easily fixed with hot water.

After assembly the Grizzly was primed with Vallejo US Olive Drab surface primer. In hindsight keeping some of the parts separate would have made basecoating easier - some of the nooks and crannies of the arms and legs were a bit difficult to get into later.

For basecoating, because this was going to be an almost single colour model, I thought I'd have a go at colour modulation. Having a look at what more experienced painters had done with Olive Drab it seemed the base colour should be darkened with a black (most used NATO black) and lightened with a yellow. The reason for these is that US Olive Drab is a mix of black and ochre, and lightening with white turns it a green-grey shade.

I didn't have NATO black but RLM 70 Black Green seemed similar enough, and for lightening Yellow Ochre seemed appropriate. The darkened shade was airbrushed onto the lower parts of the walker and into areas that would be shadowed while the lighter shade was used on upper and outer areas. A lighter again shade was drybrushed onto top edges.

The photo doesn't show it all that well but the colour variation was visible when looking at the model and helped break up the single colour.

 

The leather gun surround was painted in Army Painter Fur Brown, shaded with their Soft Tone ink and highlighted with a lightened shade of the same brown.  A few limb joints along with the machine gun were painted black and then parts drybrushed with VMC Oily Steel which was also drybushed over the Olive Drab on the edges of the fists and in a few places were the paint could have been completely worn away. Chipping was applied with a foam sponge in VGC Charred Brown.

Deciding what markings to use on the the walker, and where to put these was interesting. It's an AFV but humanoid in shape with different places than a tank has to apply markings. In the end stars were applied on the top to the shoulder pads and to the rear butt plate, a vehicle number on one leg and a bridge loading weight number to the other. In a deviation from AFV markings I also added an American flag to echo the shoulder patches worn by US solders.

With the basecoating done and decals in place the walker was given a coat of varnish before weathering with enamels.

The whole model was given a filter wash using AK Interactive Dark Brown for green vehicles. Pipes, bolts, and some other areas around the engine and fists has Light Rust applied, and then Earth Effects and some Dark Brown dirt deposits (not shown) where added around the feet.

I still need to add a final varnish, but otherwise the model is complete.

Finally, not a great photo, but to give an idea of the size of the M8 Grizzly, here it is with a US Heavy Infantryman (on a 25mm base) and the M5A2 Coyote light walker (both from the US Konflikt '47 starter set).