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| The whole unit of six tanks |
Here are a group of six late 1944 British Sherman Tanks, from the North European Front, the aim was to represent battle hardened unit that consists of a number of older vehicles that have been through the campaign, plus a couple of newer replacements to help maintain the strength of the unit.
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| Left and Centre, two older Shermans and right a newer replacement |
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| Centre & Right two newer tanks plus a more veteran one on the left |
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| More close-ups of the tanks |
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| Two veteran tanks centre and right, replacement left |
So these tanks are old diecast toy tanks obtained back in the early 2000s for a project to build a British Armoured force that was around in the lead-up to the Rhine crossings. The project never went anywhere because the majority of the club's WW2 gamers were (and still are) fixated on early war Brits / French v Germans OR mid war German invasion of Russia.
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| Side view of a couple of the tanks |
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| and another two |
These models first given a series of modelling 'upgrades' to add stowage, tarpaulins, tracks and chains before they were given a couple of coats of US Olive Drab from Vallejo before mixing same with some white paint to lighten and applying a dry brush over the upper surfaces.
Tracks were painted with Gunmetal, as were machine guns and a light dry brushing of same around edges of the vehicles to represent wear and tear on the paint work.
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| and last two |
Running gear and tracks were then washed in brown and black inks to give appearance of dirt, oil and general grime. Mud was also applied to the tracks and running gear in the form of a dry brush with khaki paint and other browns.
Markings were added using transfers - red boxes with a white 51. To be honest I'm not sure if these would be historically correct!
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| Example view of the detailing on the tank decks |
I have based these models, using my usual techniques, as they have annoying 'runner wheels' underneath then to allow kids to push them on the floor, the bases are primarily to hide these.
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A final scale comparison between the toy diecast tanks and the RAM Kangaroo seen in an earlier post
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