Big Spanish Civil War Project Part 7: The Legion, Republican Trucks and POUM

 I made a lot of progress on the project this week. I finished the Foreign Legion company and got some Republicans done too. The Legion were quite a challenge, and I ended up painting their uniforms a few times over before I was happy with them. It was fairly frustrating at times. I'm happy to have them done, as they'll be very useful in many different battles of the Civil War.

Squad 1. There is a broken stone cross on the officer's base. 

Squad 2. The barbed wire was made of guitar string wrapping spun in a drill. 

Squad 3

Foreign Legion Company Command. The flag was hand painted using my usual method 

Company Command for my company of standard Nationalist Infantry. 

I also finished two Soviet trucks this week. They are resin 3D prints, part of the payment I received for a commission. They'll be used to transport Republican ammunition in the Jarama scenario. 

I painted the second squad/ platoon of POUM militia next. I'm doing them in between other units to keep myself motivated, as I really enjoy painting "irregular" troops. I can paint them as individual characters, even in 15mm, and I don't need to worry about the accuracy of their uniforms! 

Standard rifle base

Command base

LMG base

I painted a Schneider CA1 tank to go along with the POUM. It's not part of the Jarama scenario, but I've wanted to paint one ever since I saw this picture :

Spain bought several CA1s from France after World War One, and they were used by the Army of Africa in the Rif War. A few were in Republican hands at the start of the Civil War. A pair of CA1s were used against the Alcazar at Toledo by the JSU (Socialist Youth). I'm not sure where the one on the picture was used. The graffiti seems to show that its crew came from several different ideologies, with the POUM (revolutionary Marxist) , CNT (anarchist) and UHP (trade union) represented. 

The tank was another resin print. I added a lot of extra details with Milliput, guitar string and high-quality homemade photoetch (aluminium cut from a Coke can I found by the road). These included a man hold cover which was welded to the front as additional armour. 

I weathered the tank with a fairly heavy oil dot filter to give it a grimy look. It was a really fun model to build and paint. 

Project Checklist as of this post:

Republicans 

Infantry

XV International Brigade 

POUM Militia (2 squads done, 1 to go)

Vehicles and Transports

T-26

Polikarpov I-15

2 donkeys

2 trucks

Nationalists 

Infantry 

Foreign Legion

Moroccan Regulares 

Nationalist Infantry (extra) 

Vehicles and Transports

2 Panzer Is

Captured T-26

Heinkel HE-51