Note to Self: 28mm Warlord Games US M3 Lee Assembly Instructions

I am still wading through the Warlord Games AFV "sprue sale" bargains I picked up. I have to confess, despite my initial forebodings (post purchase click, "Did I need this?"), I am glad really I purchased this M3 Lee. It slotted together perfectly. which is a plus, as a very easy model build and the end product looks quite imposing. In fact it was far easier to build it in 28mm than the multiple Airfix and Hasegawa kits I have put together in 20mm (1/76 and 1/72  in old money). The M3 Lee is an intimidating beast despite its archaic sponson mounted 75mm howitzer (see below, in assembly you could be forgiven in thinking you were putting together a medieval castle): 

It suddenly comes together as a tank when the top is placed on (see below, the M3 Lee 90% there, or there until an 88mm gets the Lee in its sights): 

Complete with radio aerial (and like the Tiger I model I wonder how long the radio aerial is going to last) and a few more fiddly bits - front and rear lights, handrails (see below, the finished "monster", possibly for its crew survival potential rather than fighting ferocity, although a 75mm high explosive shell is highly respected by infantry and anti-tank crews on the Tunisian battlefield): 

Primed in The Colour Forges (Renegade Green) as a primer (see below, using this colour also as a shade colour, with a Vallejo dipping wash to follow in teh recesses, then a new set of greens [Olive Drab and highlights] should lighten its appearance up): 

 

Although "cheap" by buying a loose sprue these online assembly instructions from Warlord Games saved me from stupid errors. Despite the cleaness of the build I had to make study of these, particularly in reference to the turret build and the M3 Lee commanders hatch (see below, Warlord Games M3 Lee Assembly Instructions link): 

https://assembly.warlordgames.com/files/4070200017_M3_Lee_Grant_assembly_booklet.pdf

Another interesting Blog post comparing the plastic kit version (much better IMHO) versus the old resin version!

https://www.goonhammer.com/goonhammer-historicals-warlord-games-plastic-m3-lee-grant-review

1/72 Scale Airfix Sheridan - Vietnam Era

I have been quiet on the blog posting front but I have been pottering along quietly in the background, with of all things the "Vietnam era", courtesy of an Airfix 1/72 scale Sheridan (see below, now this thing had been assembled for ages [a decade?] and primed black but I had not been given a reason for it's final coat of paint): 

So instead of Cold War era Europe paint job it swings across to the jungles of South East Asia instead. I know from photos an ACav style gun shield and turret topped ring of sandbags, plus a few on the front are scheduled modelling additions. Heavily armoured it was not, so the crews improvised additional measures. 

1/72 ArmourFast M18 Hellcat US Tank Destroyer WWII

This made me a happy man, a US 20mm WWII M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer (see below, a long lost prize is found):

The M10 Wolverine and M36 Jackson have been acquired but I held getting the M18 as it was only available in expensive metal to my knowledge. I think now my WWII US Tank Collection is complete .. unless you want an M6 or T14. The kit is quick and simple to build (see below, it is a boon getting two kits in a box):

These will be perfect for those late 1944-45 battles into the Reich (see below, now get on with that painting):

My wish list of "tanks I want to get" (in 20mm) now is reduced to:

• American: None (Note: I am foolishly forgetting about the Pacific)
• British: Archer Tank Destroyer (probably end up getting a metal one)
• German: Pz II FlammPanzer (Pink Flamingo), Pz I "Heavy" Tank, Dicker Max SP Gun, (another) 35t, Pz IIIC
• French: To be fair "numerous" ones from Early War Miniatures inclusing a Char 2c
• Soviet: Aerosans
• Japanese: "Various little Tankettes", Type 28
• Hungarian: Turan
• Italian: L6, L3-33, M11/39

Not that big(ish) a list anymore!

Coming soon ... Airfix Shermans v Hasagawa Tiger (and PSC Panzer IV)

Airfix Battles Scenario Three: Shermans v Tiger (and a Panzer IV). The long standing heros of my modelling youth, I give you the venerable Airfix Sherman (see below, the one on the left is from my "fair hand" the other two [with more professional/better highlighting] are from a very skilled model maker called Denis):

The sinister forms of a PSC Panzer MkIVH (first saw action in 1939 and still going strong through all those production upgrades, from the Plastic Soldier Company) and a "Terrible Tiger" (the coveted Hasagawa special of my teenage modelling days). Will these be too much for the Allied tankers? (see below):

I do intend to paint up the original Airfix kits to honour these rules, The Tiger poses a problem as it required considerable "pimping" (aka the rear turret stowage bin was the hardest part) and I still need to add some mud-flaps. Something (as in a project) to keep me interested in the forthcoming long winter nights (as well as Game of Thrones).

Hint to Airfix: If you can add a little extra sprue of special bits to your other kits to make interesting variants such as the:

• Sherman Crab
• Sherman Calliope
• Churchill Crocodile
• Churchill AVRE Bridgelayer
• Matilda Hedgehog

Then the iconic Tiger I surely deserves a rear stowage bin and mud-flaps - so the damn thing does not look so bloody naked!

Constructed at last, the "Last American" Sherman (Manic Laughter)

The skirts and spare track assemblies have finally been added (see below):

Paint it black again and this is what you get, ta da! (see below):

Was it worth the wait, well if it manages to get on a wargaming table, yes.

OK I still need to paint is green, but there is a queue of 1944 British Tommies in the way. They have been patiently waiting for some time now (years in fact) on the 'Painting Tray' frantically shouting "Oy! No blooming queue jumping mate!"

Is this really still the "Last American" Sherman build still a WIP?

I can literally "smell" the finish line (of the 'construction phase' anyway) but the danger is my stamina may fail me. The "silver track" has now been assembled onto the chassis (see below):

For the track assembly it is the classic style "do it with the office paper stapler" (no messing about with hot screwdrivers of super glue). The staple is just visible in the track assembly photograph (see below):

So if it looks like a Sherman, if it moves like a Sherman, if it shoots as poorly as a Sherman and if it gets blown up as easily as a Sherman, then it must be a Sherman (see below):

It sure looks like a Sherman to me! But I still have to don the mud skirts and assemble the "fiddly strange spare tracks assembly" as per the instruction booklet before I officially finish. Tune in for the concluding episode.

Paint It Black (undercoating the "Last American" Sherman)

The interior engine detail of the Esci/Italeri Sherman implied interior painting (ho hum) which in turn implied first of all a black (Tamiya XF1) undercoat inside and out (see below): 

With the undercoat duly administered the interior engine compartment was daubed liberally in Anita's Acrylic Metalic Black, which was then mixed with Anita's Acrylic Silver, in three step up shades (percentage of Silver to Metalic Black being increased to suit the eye). The turret was popped on for the complete Sherman look and feel, although I still have to connect the tracks together (see below) 

I can almost hear the engine turning over (see below):

The close up detail looks nice, but the only way I will ever see it is to ensure that tehe engine decking can be lifted off. That means expect a future blog post complaining bitterly about "how stupid I am" when the said 'engine decking' and 'Sherman' part company, ending up in separate boxes in the loft!

In many ways the Sherman kit reminds me of the awful Esci/Italeri M6 GMC truck transmission (including the M6's  37mm AT variant). That was nightmare model to make for the sheer complexity introduced for a completely hidden feature, but then again "I made it anyway" because it was there! Later Italeri to their credit produced kits (like the M8 Greyhound) that had a simpler 'wargamer rather than modeller' assembly option with less fiddly parts.
.  

Can you see what it is yet? It's my last [American] Sherman: (Part III)

And it came to pass that I put the turret onto the hull (see below):

And then I put the hull cover onto the chassis (see below)

Now:  "Can you see what it is yet?" The Sherman form is emerging.

But I still have to complete the rear engine deck (but I also need to paint the insides first) and put the tracks on ... this is a modelling diary in a 'stop-start' mode, more 'bitty' than usual.

Making 'that' last American 1/72 scale Sherman for my US Tank Battalion (Cont)

Edging ever closer to completing that last American Sherman (see below) ...

Bit by bit, one sprue down, with the tracks and turret still to do! The cup of char (French for tank, get it? Groan!) comes in handy ;)

I will have to do a bit of interior painting before I seal the superstructure to the chassis (unheard of in my past modelling experiences ;)

Making 'that' last American 1/72 scale Sherman for my US Tank Battalion

Here I am trying to make that "last American Sherman" for my US Armoured Battalion (Tank Division) and I hit the "how many parts is in this kit" bottleneck. I have gone back in time from the streamlined PSC production model to the 1970's, "many little fiddly parts" of the Italeri (ex-Esci) M4A1 Sherman 'Calliope' kit. For my purposes I am ditching the 'Calliope' part of the construction and just making a regular Sherman, my teenage self would shudder at this heretical thought.

The multitude of parts is shown below: 

The track assembly starts, thirty four parts in total for the two 'sides'. I assemble them on the sprue in order to try and keep a "limited spread" in modelling terms as I will be making this over several nights and don't want to lose small parts (see below):

An engine transmission and tank engine? Interior detail. Why am I bothering with all this hidden detail. All I can say is that is because it is there! I would obviously be less of a modeller (but more sensible) if I didn't. I now will have to let the rear engine covers be "lift-able or removable" in some fashion (See below):

That's as far as I got in one night, whereas I would have at least have had a PSC or HaT Sherman in my hands.

At least once it is done the armoured battalion will be done ;)

20mm Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) US Sherman 76mm

Again the PSC "quick builds" comes the rescue of my flagging WWII Command Decision US Tank Battalion from the US Armoured Division Orbat. I cannot think of a more contrasting experience, the Airfix/Esci/Italeri/Matchbox/Revell (and worse, Fujimi or Dragon) 80-100 parts per Sherman versus the PSC 20 or so. Instead of months of hobby time, three M4 76's took less than a nights attention (see below):  

These Normandy+ "Tiger Tamers" (well that's what they were supposed to be) can add offensive weight one per US Sherman company (see below): 

The US Sherman Tank Battalion "box" suitable from when the Americans threw away the concept of having a separate "light M3 Stuart battalion" in the Armoured Regiment and instead integrated a light "Stuart" company as one of the companies in a Sherman battalion (and padding the original Stuart battalion up with displaced Shermans, thus retaining the same number of tank Battalions, for use in their Combat Commands). This allows me to field a force ranging from "post-Tunisia (Italy) to Berlin (Normandy, Break-Out, Aredennes, Germany)" (see below):

Note: As per my earlier point it is still waiting for one last, in this case Italeri (aka ex-Esci), Sherman to be made.

Left hand side (Light Tanks):

• 3 x M3 Stuart Company (1942-43)
• 3 x M5 Stuart Company (1944+)

Right hand side (Medium Tanks): 

• 5 x M4 75mm Shermans (1943-45) + one still to make
• 3 x M4 76mm Shermans (1944-45)

Top row (Command Company): 

• 1 x M4 81mm Mortar Half Track (1943-45)
• 1 x M8 Howitzer Carriage "Close Support" (1943)
• 1 x AA Recon Jeep 
• 1 x M4 Sherman 105mm "Close Support" (1944-45)
• 1 x M4 76mm HQ Tank (1944-45)

Note: An additional Sherman could be useful to downgrade the Command Tank in 1943-44 scenarios to a 75mm Sherman (in teh meantime the Sherman 105 can take its place)

The remaining US AFV's now fit into a separate box, which I will carry up into the loft very, very carefully (see below):

Also of interest are:

• 3 x M3 Lee (Tunisian Campaign, somehow making "another seven" does not appeal, for a tank formation that was quickly phased out of service. See bottom left)
• 3 x M24 Chaffee's (Late 1945 "Bust Berlin". See bottom middle)
• 2 x M36 Jackson's (1944-45, see top right)
• 2 x M10's (1944-45, see top left)
• 1 x M6 Pershing (1945, see top middle)
• 1 x "Easy Eight" Sherman (1945, middle right)
• 1 x Sherman Calliope (1945)
• 2 x M8 Priests (1943-45)
• 1 x M12 (155mm, 1944-45)
• 1 x M40 (155mm, 1945)
• 1 x 155mm "Long Tom" Artillery Piece (1942-1945)
• The 'mis-filed' DUKW (Interestingly for which I have not as yet found/devised a table-top scenario to fit in for 20mm, though candidates from reading various history books 'could be' D-Day, Market Garden and the Rhine crossing. Trouble is I may need more than one and my stamina to make another is not that great!)

There is another box full of US soft-skin/half-track transport to ferry the infantry about, but there is also the case of time to paint that infantry first.

Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) 20mm M5A1 Stuarts and Stuart Reece

I really like the Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) 1/72 or 20mm kits. They balance a very high level of detail in an easy assembly model. IMHO they are the best value and quality on the market. In addition you get plenty of 'out of the box variation' with the models. For example the 20mm M5A1 kit comes in three different 'models' (early, middle and late production types), with or without the "Sgt Cullen" patent "bocage" hedgerow strimmer, therefore the 'basic' number of permutations is six without breaking into a serious modelling sweat (see below):

In fact there is so much extra kit included in each box means that there is almost enough to make "double the number of models" which stands at a generous three as it is. The only thing stopping the 'six models for the price of three' is the lack of a turret and a couple of 'simple' body parts, namely a basic squarish box to attach the hull cover and tracks onto.

However as a 'M5A1 Stuart' without a turret is in actual fact a 'M5A1 Reece Stuart' British battlefield modification, the lack of a turret is therefore not such a big issue after all. It is just a case of scratch building a box of a body and then "milliputting" a round "front end" on. From this musing struck a germ of an idea that grew and grew. Thus began a plasti-card missing body part production line (see below):

I did briefly think/experiment on casting a "household DIY sealant productbased" body but my "injection moulding" capabilities were sadly lacking, but at least the 'undefined' shape that resulted convinced me I could make a basic "plasti-card' chassis to drop the extra hull cover onto (see below):   

Assembled together: the spare hull cover, spare tracks and 'custom' hull (see below):

The Result: 

The three M5A1 Stuarts in the background are fully complete and the three M5A1 Reece Stuarts in the foreground have the "outlined body construction" complete, needing just a little extra tidy up to the front and back "TLC modelling" (see below):

Concept proven to hold water methinks, Browning 50 Calibre HMG, sandbags, stowage and extra crew still needed.

;)

The Horror, The Horror ... Stop Press "Law of Gravity stiill holds true

I never thought I was very good at the practical side of physics. It turns out that my coordination coming down a ladder is also getting a bit dodgy as I am getting older. I was coming down from the loft with a "box of toys", then gravity took control (see below).

What you see below is not a 'fix-it bargain' on the 'bring and buy' stall but the after effects of said 'Law of Gravity' on my US WWII 1/72 armour collection (of about twenty years of slow, slow accumulation).

Yes it's the "Spot the model and rate its damage competition!" I nearly cried my tiny little eyes out! 

Lots and lots of stuff broken ... but 'mostly cosmetic' (broken barrels) and it was easily sorted. Not so for two M24 Chaffee's and an M36 Jackson. They ended up literally as 'bits all over the place'.

The Dr's Surgery opened went into the small hours of a Friday night

:(

There was a happy(ish) ending (see below):

Several 'Jack Daniels and coke' sustained me through this troubling time ;)

More Shermans (ArmourFast and Tank Magazine)

Coming out of the box two at a time from the ArmourFast range, the Sherman M4A2 version, destined to be painted up in 8th Army desert camouflage for Operation Supercharge in the Battle of El Alamein 1942 project:

They will round up a composite tank battalion. To go with my:

• Three painted Hasegawa Crusader Mk III's.
• Three partially painted Airfix Crusaders
• Two unpainted Hasegawa Grants
• One Airfix unpainted Grant
• Two unpainted Matchbox (yes they are old) M3 Honey's. 

Against which I plan to throw an assorted bunch of Axis DAK and Italian armour + Anti Tank guns (the latter of which needs to be fleshed out somewhat).

Meanwhile in France near the borders of Germany:

This ("too bright a green" which desperately needs some weathering and application of mud) M4A3 Sherman of the 756th Tank Battalion of the US 5th Army. As its gun is shorter than my other US Sherman's it will probably be designated as the 105mm Howitzer of the battalion (yes, yet another 20mm Tank Battalion project).

PS: This was another £2.99 bargain at the Yorkshire Trading Company store:)

The Long American: M40 155mm Artillery Piece

When you see one you don't have, don't you get that "must have" craving? I never had the M40 Matchbox (now released by Revell) as a kid, but I do in my second childhood :)

Taking the antiquated M12 155mm mounting from a deprecated M3 chassis onto the latest Sherman M4 sprung version, it had a few pokes a Cologne but saw more action in Korea. Something nice to call in (if you can) on your radio net.

Yes, more painting to do, all backed up on the tray ;)

The Joy of Airfix (2): Sherman power the "Calliope"

Joining up a bit of the 'old' Airfix with a bit of the 'new' (as in the tubes on top) product line. Raw plastic shown below:

More of a US artillery piece than a tank really, delivering the Western Allies response to the "moaning minnies" Nerwerfer blast. Nice of Airfix to be as resourceful as this, bringing out a curiosity kit, but nice clean lines for the new sprue :)

Things to note: New plastic track a considerable improvement on past "track plastics".

Trumpets out for Trumpeter: The M26 Pershing

Finally the Western Allies delivered a decent heavy tank, albeit too late for the Second World War, but incorporating lessons learned (the hard way). Seen here in raw plastic is the excellent Trumpeter kit.

Model assembly completed, nothing much to say other than it was a "peach" to build. Everything fitted together perfectly :)

The only down side being the kits are quite pricey (£10.99). Ow! That's two Airfix Sherman's and a pound sterling spare :(

An unusual aspect of the kit being the large amount of small plastic parts associated with the suspension of the beast. Sturdy enough in the end result, decent plastic track and exquisite detailing. All I have to do now is paint the darn thing, trouble is I have not quite got my 'painting head' on.

Something for another time or quiet night in :)

The British and American Sherman Response

Just to prove there is more to my AFV collection than late war German heavy panzers.


As they came. Three decoys (the Airfix 1/72 Sherman) and the one that stood a chance (Matchbox Sherman Firefly 1/76) of a return kill on a German heavy. Nice to see the latter is back on the market through Revell. I will have to do the cunning Tommy paint trick (as per the Revell box art) of fore shortening the length of the 17pdr main armament with a bit of light sky blue on the underside of the barrel. Also to do is some work on the tracks to weather them down from that plastic look and naturally, the decals.


These come straight out of the wargames cupboard. I painted them over ten years ago with a ubiquitous base coat of Tamiya Olive Drab (XF-62) then highlighted it up. The rub being, for the three on the left I used Olive Drab (XF-62) with increasing amounts of Sand Yellow (XF-60), while the Sherman on the furthest right was painted at a slightly different time when I used Olive Drab (XF-62) with Yellow (XF-3) having forgot my previous recipe. Only later seeing the subtle difference!

The same Olive Drab (XF-62) with increasing amounts of Sand Yellow (XF-60) scheme was used for my American Shermans (All 1/72 Esci, although two slightly different types, the left and middle one type, the right hand one another) below:


They are begging for White Star decals and the US tank commander can do with a bit of shading and highlight.

The moral of this story: Paint all your tank troops together at the same time, even if it takes longer

:(