Monday 31 January 2011

M4A1 Platoon

I've completed a second project in the same month! My M4A1 Platoon for my Flames of War US Tank Company was a Post-Christmas present to myself. I bought it from Ebay and knew it wouldn't be long before they got painted.

Although I have again opted for utility over historical accuracy (I'm trying to keep these generic) I did try and add in some extra details to make these vehicle look a little more personalised. The crew of the fourth tank in this line-up for instance has painted over their white star on the turret, although they haven't obscured the star completely. One of the vehicles has retained its yellow Bridge Plate on the front (showing the vehicles weight in tons) although I found it impossible to paint in the numbers. I've no idea how other painters manage it but after several botched attempts I gave up and just left the yellow disc in place. All the other vehicles have extra stowage on their decks including barrels, extra lengths of track and bags.

This is the HQ Tank, christened 'Tex' by its crew. I used the name decals that are part of the US decal set on these models so every vehicle is unique in its own way.

This platoon went from box to table in under two weeks which is something of a record for me. I must be getting better at this painting lark!

The only problem with completing this platoon is that I now have no more FOW models left to paint! I've finished all the units I wanted for my starter forces and need to give some serious thought as to what to buy next. In the meantime I have a few terrain building projects in the pipeline (one of which will be revealed on Wednesday).

16 comments:

  1. Very nice work especially the decals, Ray is sitting beside me (bugging the shit out of me) and he said they were nice too.

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  2. Nicely done - I like all the stowage. As for painting small numbers I use a very fine marker 0.5mm marker pen and write the numbers - it works great for 28mm and ok after some practice for 15mm.

    Your force is looking very impressive. Might I suggest some armored mortars as a next unit - with Sherman tanks you need to get in fast and mortars are very helpful for pinning.

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  3. Good idea about the fine marker... I'll give that a try. I just couldn't keep my hand steady enough to paint the numbers... the yellow disc is only about 1.5-2mm diameter making the numbers VERY small indeed.

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  4. I love the work you've done on your Shermans. They give me a fine example of how to do mine. Keep up the good work Lee!

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  5. Better looking than mine BigLee !!!!

    Great job ... I suggest halftrack mortars to smoke enemy units and allow shermans to "dance"

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  6. Thanks for all the feedback and nice comments. I'm sitting here blushing!

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  7. They look great. I am working on the same tanks now (6 + 1 Priest) and your walk through from the 76mm Sherman's has been very helpful. Did you paint the ammo box from the 50 cal the body color? Are you have trouble keeping the 50 cal attached?

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  8. Yes the ammo box was painted same as the tank... can't remember where I saw that but I recall choosing the colour based on someone else’s painted Sherman’s.

    Yes, the 50 cal is a pain in the posterior. In fact all the heavy machine guns that fit BF models are a pain. I've had several barrels break off and the plastic is too weak to repair even with liquid cement. And the fittings to the tanks are ok if your not handling the models...but a little bit of game-play and next thing you know you have a small pile of weapons that have broken off.

    I didn't bother fitting the plastic guns on the rear of my SdKfz 251's for my Panzer Grenadiers for this reason. The fitting was just too flimsy to survive any sort of handling. The only thing I can suggest is that you try and 'brace' the weapon by fixing it at such an angle so that it has two points of contact with the rest of the model instead of just one.

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  9. Nice looking i really enjoyed it and Great job ... I suggest halftrack mortars to smoke enemy units and allow shermans to "dance"gun cabinets

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