This really should say "2 Troop, C Squadron 13/18 Hussars heads off the painting table." I now have 7 of the 13 Shermans that I started a month ago completed. These turned out pretty well. They are Sherman IIIs vice the Vs that I did earlier for 4 Troop ("Ignorance is bliss" I suppose. . . ). I used a black pen to outline some of the tools, hatches and equipment as I had done this for 4 Troop. I think it looks nice but it is a pain to do, especially when your steady hand slips. On the other hand a quick dab of paint and its easily corrected. I used a back wash on the road wheels to help bring out the shadows. Next up is the HQ troop as since it is only 2 Sherman IIIs it should be relatively easy to finish. On the other hand the road wheels are still annoying. The hull numbers are still very neat so that is my motivation.
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| The troop led by its Confident Trained Platoon Commander. |
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| The Platoon Commander and mighty Sherman Firefly. |
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| Another view. |
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| The Firefly deserves its own tank commander figure looking out of the turret for pesky Hun anti-tank gunners who will invariably shoot at him first. |
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| A top view of the rest of the troop. I haven't put any spare barrels, tarps and sandbags on this troop as 4 Troop is pretty bare as well. This is not historically accurate. |
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| The platoon commander again. |
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| A rear view. |
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| The aft end of the Firefly. The hull numbers on the turret equipment box is neat. |
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| You can see some of the road wheel shading on the Troop leader here. |
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| The entire troop poses. |
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| The other Sherman IIIs. They are the spares if the Jerries hit the Troop Leader. |
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| Off to action! |
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| Fewer Shermans populate the painting table. |
Well, I am making progress, little by little. On the other hand I built 4 M-10s and a Sherman ARV to support the next attack on Caen. The ARVs didn't show up until very late in Normandy but it looks neat so it made the cut.
7 comments:
Very nice, I very much appreciate the fact you've gone to the effort of trying to use the correct model of Sherman. I did the same with my 144RAC Sherman I's.
Thanks. I won't go back and redo the incorrect ones (I'm not that crazy!) but I try to stay as close as I can to what the units had. Admittedly at 15mm the differences may be small (my eyesight isn't what it used to be) but I try to stay on target. Of course there is always the feeling of "Oh @&$%#!!" when you either make a mistake or find out better information on OOBs or markings. I would say my painting/modeling has improved over the past decade so I can be happy about that. Plus it is fun to try new methods and ruthlessly steal other's (such as yours!) to make your units look better. I hope to try some of your radio antenna and stuff piled on the hulls for the M-10s and Sherman ARV. Since the ARV typically had lots of "stuff" piled on it it should be easier to do.
I still hate Sherman road wheels though. Any suggestions?
Unfortunately I am that crazy, as that's exactly what I did! Glad my stuff has given you some ideas. I don't spend too much time on the road wheels, I just give the outside surface (where they contact the tracks) a coat of dark grey. Once it's washed I go back and do a basic highlight. From these pictures the tracks look great. I'd suggest a light drybrush of your tank hull colour on the decals, just to make them look less factory fresh - but the look great as is. Oh, and for my guys I recently discovered that as they used turret numbers they did not use the squadron symbols on the hill - you might want to check that out for yours!
I am always glad to find someone crazier than I! The decals are a tad bright so I see that this needs some additional effort.
I am using the pictures from thenArmoured Acorn site
http://media.wix.com/ugd/279ff1_303ae33c93074a6aa471de5427d0e124.pdf
for the decal locations. Admittedly, that may be incorrect also . . .
I need to do some research on the Stuart's and AA Crusaders for the 13/18th. I do not think they had the turret numbers, but I could be wrong. Back to priming and painting.
I think your decals are correct, I had a little look around and found this:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/mmcalc/compositewithnopistolport.jpg
There is a bit of debate about this picture - it's variously stated as being of a 27th Armoured Brigade tank or of a 33rd Armoured Brigade tank. It could be either and both, as after 27AB was disbanded it's tanks were sent to other units as replacements - as was 148RAC's, who were the 3rd Regiment of 33AB until they were disbanded and replaced by 1st East Riding Yeomanry. It's unlikely that markings were changed very quickly in a combat replacement situation.
You can see behind the guy on the left the little squadron marking. I've checked some other pic's of 144RAC/33AB I have, and neither of the other two regiments in the brigade have any hull squadron markings... I think that shows that a) it is (or was) a 27AB tank, and b) 27AB used squadron hull markings, and 33AB didn't. And I need to take all of my hull squadron markings off... ;)
My comment was only cautionary - I only realised a few months ago that my markings are wrong. Generally, it appears that where units used turret numbers, they did not use the squadron markings... or at least, that's what I thought!
I think the soldiers changed the unit markings just to give us mental anguish 70 years later. Realistically, a lot of really tired soldiers are just trying their hardest to keep up with any regulation marking changes while they are really busy trying to do their job and survive. As such when my camouflage jobs look somewhat pedestrian I just think it was done by a very tired crew who were poorly supervised by an equally stressed NCO.
The British rotation of units in the armored brigades can be a challenge. I had an interesting conversation on the Miniatures Page on the East Riding Yeomanry when they went to the 33rd Armoired Brigade after Normandy:
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=407553
Once again a more knowledgable poster helped me out. I will probably continue with the most recent decal lineup to be consistent.
Bottom line: I try my best with what I have and what I know.
That's all any of us can do I think! It doesn't help that some sources are contradictory - as are some photos! And for every 'rule' there are contradictions.
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