Hi folks,
A few weeks ago I'd posted some pics of the first batch of painted Shermans V's which had been traded on to Scotsgreys in exchange for new Sherman I's. A few people had commented on the camo netting on some of the tanks - and having used the same netting on some of my Churchill Crocodiles I thought I'd do a quick post on what I'm using.
First up, a quick shot of how it looks unpainted:
So the netting seems to be this stuff, although I can't be 100% sure as I bought it years ago from a small modelling shop in Glasgow. It was labelled as (I think) 1/72 scale netting.
Some close ups of the netting:
I use my trusty nail scissors (a very useful modelling tool!) in order to snip small sections of the netting to roughly the size and shape I need for the surface I'm applying it to. I then put a coat of superglue on the tanks surface and apply the netting. Don't worry about the fit, you can always trim the netting to the shape you need afterwards. I think I should then have applied a thinned down coat of PVA, but I just went right on to priming and painting.
Some more pics of the Croc turret (with some Sherman track links as extra armour on the front turret):
This particular look was based roughly on this picture of a Churchill Crocodile in Normandy:
I've actually got a odd number of Churchill Crocodiles, due to 2 of the models I had bought having very rough and badly cast/pitted fuel trailers. I had emailed Battlefront Customer Services for replacement trailers, and I was sent two whole new tanks!
While prepping a couple of the Crocs for my next wave of painting, I hit upon the way of sorting the pitting on the fuel trailers... Hide it!
This involved putting a couple of bits of stowage on the trailer, then using the same technique as above to drape the netting over it. Obviously, this is just with the base colour on, and not the finished article!
Lastly, some pics of the primed Croc:
6MMRPC wise this week I have also:
- primed and base coated the vehicle crews I prepped last weekend. These now just need helmets, webbing and flesh (and a few other details) painting.
- detailed another Churchill Crocodile with Stowage and got this primed and base coated.
- added steel paper to the bases of my Universal Carriers. These are now stored away securely awaiting Army Painter varnishing.
Things to think about for the coming week:
- basing for the Churchill Crocs and trailers? How to have the trailers remove able? Magnets? Some sort of hole drilled and paper clip 'hook'?
- finish off the vehicle crews.
- get the other three Crocs started.
Posted with Blogsy
Hrm, your netting almost looks like it came from sack cloth of some kind originally. I'll have to see if I can find something similar cos it looks great.
ReplyDeleteMy Crocs got the magnet treatment for their trailers. It works pretty well, but was a sod to make work properly as drilling into that trailer hitch was tricky indeed.
A mate went with some thin but stiff wire and that worked well too, though I didn't get any pics.
It's very light and soft Dai, not the type of material I would expect to see in a sack cloth bag. It's almost more like a very loose bandage material. It is very light and easy to cut. If I had to guess I would say that the thread is cotton.
DeleteI'm also leaning more towards wire as magnets might be quite obtrusive - and I've got no Dremel like tool to drill the required holes with.
DeleteThat looks pretty convincing to me. Got me thinking about alternative materials too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lee. It's a fairly easy technique as well - I've seen similar things done with people using green stuff that they have then textured themselves.
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