Monday 9 December 2013

Finished! Sherman Crab Flails in 15mm

After far too many weeks of little progress I finally got the final touches done to my 15mm Flames of War British Sherman Crab Flail tanks!


Battlefront BR132 Sherman Crab - with alternative chains

I'm quite pleased with how the two of them have turned out, although I do really need to work on my weathering techniques.
Just to recap, when I first set out I used a 20mm (1:72) scale model as a base for how I thought a flail should look. I then tried to put this into 15mm scale. Here's a comparison with a 20mm model.

15mm Sherman Crab alongside 20mm Sherman I Hybrid Firefly

Sooo... the model I started looking at was this one:

Picture from http://rctlittlesoldiers.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/sherman-flail-on-d-day.html - a fantastic blog and I only wish I could get my models to this standard! - I claim no ownership of the picture!
Alterations I have made to the basic FoW model (which looks like this):

Picture from the Flames of War website - again, I claim no ownership of the photo.
First I added the canvas cover around the gun mantlet (the cover between the turret and the main gun). I also added the storage box onto the back of the turret as it was missing from both the models. This came from some metal sprue parts I had laying around.

I added my own stowage, a mix of mine and Skytrex. I also was unhappy with the scale of the chains that came with the model (as seen above). So I purchased some costume jewellery with thinner chains and cut that up.

I did try weathering effect with pigments but failed miserably. I think I might use one of my as yet unused StuG models just to try out different effects.

Decals were care of Doms Decals.

Large (elongated) base came from Warbases who did a custom order for me for very little cash and with no issues.

Radio aerial is some 0.3mm fishing line painted black. I decided to do both of these tanks 'buttoned up' with no crew figures, as I guess sitting outside the tank might not be a good place to be when those drums start spinning!


I tried the yellow turret decals before realising they should have been red. Also these are pre basing.



Again, sorry for the poor lighting. One of the things still on my 'to be fixed' list. I still have the 'gun tank' Sherman for this platoon to do, and then it will be all done. Hopefully it doesn't take anywhere near as long.

The bases for these tanks were special orders from Warbases that were cheap and easy to order.

8 comments:

  1. I think you have don't a very fine job with yer flails J, the chains are a big improvement and you have given it a nice finish!
    Cheers
    Paul

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  2. Thanks Paul. I need to get a handle on weathering though, it just looks too clean and fresh. Might need a tutorial at some point!

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  3. These are your best paint jobs yet Jamie. Really like them very much.

    One thing I'd offer though is the basing seems very uniform and unrealistic and lets the whole effort down some. Are you able to add some bushes or long grasses, rocky outcrops, etc to break it up some - it'd help make these even better looking I feel?

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  4. Well spotted Dai! I forgot the bloody grass tufts!

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  5. Ugh.... Typed a whole essay comment and stupid blogger deleted it somehow. >_<

    Condensed it was this:

    Tank = awesome
    Base = too plain.

    The end. :)

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  6. Thanks Dai, all my other bases have some detail on them and I just totally forgot with these two! Thankfully they are normally the last step anyway.

    Oddly enough my tank basing seems to cause some debate. At the shop games I attended one of the Battlefront Rangers present stated he didn't like it. I stated that I did, and it helped prevent that horrible parking lot look seen in so many games featured on the FoW site. You know the ones, with tanks parked side by side for the whole game. He stated he had never seen this anywhere!

    Anyway, I'll get the tufts on ASAP. Thanks for noticing!

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    Replies
    1. O yes, that parking lot effect is horrible visually - especially with Russian tank hordes - so unrealistic!

      Saying that, I'm not much of a fan of sticking tanks on bases, but that's more personal style and choice.

      I guess I'm just not an easy man to please. :P

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    2. Also - that "essay" comment I mentioned earlier seems to have appeared again. Weird. >_<

      Delete

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