Further Experiments with Weathering...

This will be the first of two posts tonight - as this one is post #99!

Looking at the model I was experimenting with the other night and the feedback I had received I decided to go back and try again.

First, a wee pic of the Tamiya Weathering Master compacts:

The nice thing about this stuff is that a simple wipe with a damp paper towel and it comes off, allowing me to try again. At this point I am going to have to give serious consideration to either building one of my Open Fire plastic StuG's or picking up a cheap plastic 1:72 model to practice on.

This time I started with the Mud colour and built up first to Sand, then to Light Sand.

So the comparison pics. First up is the earlier version:

And the new attempt:

I think the second attempt is a lot nicer - much more subtle.

Here's the other side:

Not quite as subtle, but still better than the first try I had. Note on this one you can see the blackening around the end of the barrel as well.

I'm not too sure how to treat the turret. I've done nothing to it and it does look a little clean (and dark) in the pictures. Without the daylight bulb it doesn't look as dark, and the pigment effects are a lot less bright as well. The joys of trying to photograph models!

Anyway, again, thoughts are welcome. I may try and pick up some of the liquid pigment washes that replicate dust effects. I would also welcome any comments on how exactly the rainwater streaks can be done. I've tried google and youtube, etc, but no further forward.

Experiments with weathering

A few weeks ago, I picked up a couple of packs of the Tamiya weathering master packs. These are little packs of pigments that are in some sort of wax suspension. They can be applied via brush or sponge and theres a couple different types of pack. I got a Type A and a Type B.

Type A contains Sand, Light Sand and Mud. Type B has Snow, Soot and Rust.

So far, here's what I've got... I'm not too happy with it, but it looks better than drybrushing.

Again, thoughts on the pics would be helpful - I really could do with sitting with someone to show me how to do this. (Looking at you Paul!).

Sherman I Hybrid conversion vs Battlefront Sherman IC

As I mentioned in a previous blog, just a few weeks after I completed my Sherman I hybrid conversion, Battlefront have released their Sherman IC model. Here's a quick comparison of pics.

Mine:

Versus theirs:

• I don't think I did too bad! 

15mm Sherman Hybrids Completed!

Finally, after several months, I've completed my troop of Sherman I Hybrids and my Sherman I Squadron command vehicle.

It's been a bit of a trek to get to this point, but I'm pretty pleased. At the same time pretty annoyed! On the Flames of War website just now they have a new release listed for April: a Sherman IC. Which is the Firefly version of the Hybrids I have been doing.

Ho Hum.

Anyway, here's some pics.

These tanks have been assigned numbers based on their position within C Squadron. The 3 Hybrids have been divided up between troops, with one in the Squadron HQ troop and the others scattered over the other troops in the Squadron.

I've started working on my Sherman ARV mk 1 conversion.  I'll try and take some pics as I go along with that. Progress continues on the M5 halftracks and my M5 halftrack ambulance. So all in all quite happy that I seem to be back on track!

15mm Sherman Hybrids WiP (Part 3)

Another of my projects that's turning into a never ending story!

In my last blog entry, I mentioned that I had decided to sort the decals on some of my vehicles. Some of my early vehicles has suffered from having 'silvering', and I had been loath to go back and do them. However, as I had decided to re-badge my Shermans as being part of 'C' Squadron, 144th Regiment, RAC I had gone ahead and fixed many of my Universal Carriers as well.

The Shermans were all changed during this process from having 'B' Squadron markings to 'C' Squadron markings.

Now, I caused myself a bit of a headache with this, as in my heart I had wanted to model 'C' Squadron from the start. The reason for this was that I know, by a process of elimination, that my Grandfather was either in the HQ Squadron or 'C' Squadron. The Regiments war dairy indicates that these were the only two units that were ones based in the part of Scotland that my Grandmother lived! However, I could not remember why I had chosen NOT to use the 'C' squadron markings origionally, and to use 'B' Squadron markings instead...

After I had swapped the decals over, I remembered.

My research has indicated that 144th Regiment, RAC had used Turret numbers - and it seems like many books seem to say these should be red. Remember the only pictures that exist are in black and white!

However, there has been some research done which indicates that the turret numbers color did not match the color of the AoS badge on the rear fender. This is known to be a red square with white numbers, without any doubt. The tone of the turret numbers in these black and white pictures does not match the red - nor does it match the white. The consensus is then, that as the second senior regiment (at the time of Totalise) the colour of the squadron markings would be yellow - and that the turret numbers were also yellow.

Sooooo.... where am I getting with this! I could not find any decals that had yellow numbers (of the correct size) and that would allow me to number the tanks as per 'C' Squadron. The only numbers I could find in Yellow were German ones from Doms Decals, and they would not allow me to do 'C' Squadron. A lot of digging the other night, however, turned up something that I think will work (fingers crossed!).

Some historical Info:

33rd AB Units 13/6/44 to 13/8/44:
Headquarters (172) - White squadron markings
1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry (173) - Red squadron markings
144th RAC (174) - Yellow squadron markings
148th RAC (175) - Blue squadron markings

Units 16/8/44 to 18/1/45
Headquarters (151) - White squadron markings
1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry (152) - Red squadron markings
East Riding Yeomanry (153) - Yellow squadron markings
144th RAC (154) - Blue squadron markings

Interestingly, many books have 144th Regiment, RAC leaving 33rd Armored Brigade in  August 1944, when in fact they just changed seniority from 2nd to 3rd regiment in the brigade.

Within the regiment the Squadrons had their own markings:

HQ Squadron - diamond

A Squadron - triangle
B Squadron - square
C Squadron - circle

And the 144th Regiment, RAC used the following turret marking range:

Recon Troop (M3A1 Stuarts) 1 to 11
AA Troop(AA Crusaders) 12 to 17
Regt. HQ.(Sherman I's) 20 to 23
A Sqnd. (Shermans I's) 30 to 49
B Sqnd. ( Ditto. ) 50 to 69
C Sqnd. ( Ditto. ) 70 to 89
Allocated for spares 18 to 19 and 24 to 29.

And finally, some pics of the 4 tanks awaiting turret numbers and a matt varnish.

Sherman I closest to the camera, with the three converted Hybrids further away.

Sherman I Hybrids - note the AoS says 124 - this will be altered to be 174

One of the things I would have liked to change was that the Hybrids all came with turret hatches that seemed to be part of the turret casting. One of these will be a Squadron HQ tank, but will only have the 2 aerials to distinguish it.

Sherman I - soon to be one of the Squadron HQ models (hatch open).

Sherman I Hybrids bearing 'C' Squadron markings

15mm Sherman Hybrids WiP (Part 2)

I'm not doing too great at keeping the momentum up with either the blogging or the painting this year!

Toady's little bit of work has been spurred on by a little text from YD - "You'll need to get your Shermans done and a couple more typhoons, thats me done 3 Tigers."

So it seems like there's some sort of arms race going on!

Anyway, tonight I made a determined effort to get some work done on these many unpainted figures. Specifically the Sherman I Hybrids I've been working on. There are a few bits that are a bit rough, but I am having to just accept this. So, here's the pictures from tonight:

First coat of Russian Uniform Green (Vallejo 70.924) - standard Sherman I on the far right.

Standard Sherman 1 on the right, my Hybrid conversion on the left.

Note the rough hull on the Hybrid on the left - something I did a bit of work on later.

The three Hybrid Sherman conversions

 

So that's it for now. In other news, a trip to Worlds at War over in Livingston at the weekend saw me pick up a couple of Churchill Crocodiles, some Wasp Universal Carriers and another Daimler A/C. Had I known I was entering into a arms race with YD, I might have considered some M10C's!

15mm Sherman Hybrids WiP (Part 1)

Another quiet few weeks. Since Amy moved in all I've really done modelling wise is some bits and bobs with the Sherman Hybrid conversions I've been working on.

I got all three of them to a point I thought I was happy with and gave the new additions to the models a coat of primer. 

Here's some pics of the first model with the first coat of Russian Green.

After looking at this painted hull, I wasn't happy with the smoothness of my work with the green stuff. So since taking these pics I've used some liquid putty and then a file to try and smooth out some of these areas. More pics to follow once I've applied another coat of primer.