Shermans Work In Progress Part Two

I have been doing some more work on my 1/72nd scale Italeri Fast Build Shermans and have taken a few pictures. I also got a bit carried away and did a repaint of an Easy Models pre-assembled/painted Sherman M4A1 76mm- attempting to turn it into a British Sherman IIa. Most of the vehicle markings are handpainted apart from the allied stars on the turret tops- I used the FoW website as a reference for the 8th AB markings & their positions on the tanks. All vehicles have had aerials added using a heavy gauge fishing line. The Sherman in the primer stage has had a lot more stowage applied, with a variety of boxes, tarps made from paper, a couple of wheels from another old kit, applique armour, blanket boxes, some miliput sand-bags and there's even a bucket from a Revell Nap Brit Artillery set. Just visible hanging off the blanket box on the painted tank is a British helmet and backpack which were cut off a spare infantry figure. I have included an image of what the Easy models tank looked like prior to painting (found on F&S Scale Models website). None of these models have been varnished yet. I shall post some more when all three are finished. Your comments are welcome.



Wessex Wyverns

Thought I'd post up some of my 15mm British which are mostly based up FoW style. In painting these guys I had the 43rd Wessex Division in mind- if you look really closely you might see some little wyvern badges, well more like blue & yellow blobs on some of them.
I can't post these on the FoW forum owing to the Peter Pig figures mixed in with BattleFront. Notice the radio operator sitting by the fallen tree? that is a BF British Para with his helmet replaced with a miliput beret. Also notice the PP officer chap with leather jerkin, just a repaint of a Para officer- I wish someone had made some regular infantry in leather jerkins. Enjoy.

Italeri fast build Shermans WIP

I picked up these 1/72 Italeri M4A3 75mm Sherman tanks the other day on sale at a local model shop, I wanted to use them to support some British infantry. A bit of quick research on the net revealed that the British had not deployed these in NWE in '44. I therefore posted on TMP to see if my fellow TMPers had any ideas for adapting them for British use. Now, I am not ultra obsessive about getting the details just right when it comes to AFVs (I have no problem with those who are), but I did want it to look vaguely right. One of the suggestions was that this tank could probably stand in for a Sherman III, and would be helped by the addition of a "blanket box" on the rear of the turret. With this in mind I made a box out of balsa and plastic card and added an aerial (or should that be antenna?). It has had a quick undercoat brushed on of Derivan Mattisse Pale Grey primer.  I'm open to suggestions as to how I can make it look more"British".
Ideally these tanks are intended to support 43rd Wessex Division sometime in '44. Not sure what markings they will need yet, I have the allied star decals that came with the kit and guess they might come in handy.

Upgraded Axis & Allies vehicles

Axis & Allies miniatures was how I got back into WW2, a couple of friends introduced me to it. I liked the miniatures but thought I could re-paint them and then I started collecting Battlefront and Peter Pig stuff. Below are some images of my re-painted Axis & Allies vehicles, some of which have bits added including some metal figures. All are 1/100th or 15mm.

1/100th "House of Easement"- scratchbuilt for fun.

Apologies to those who prefer their vehicles super accurate, I guess the A&A stuff is a bit basic. I don't have an airbrush either so it's all handpainted- don't look too closely :)

The start of the Arthurians...

Like many wargamer types I do tend to get distracted by other periods, this time for me it's Arthurian stuff. I guess my inspiration came from re-reading a Daniel Mersey article in Battlegames magazine and seeing that he was quite happy to mix LOTR figures with other makes to build up an Arthurian force. I knew that my son had a number of LOTR figures and perhaps we could play a skirmish game. So, to cut it short, I ordered a few figures from West Wind and Gripping Beast and converted some others and made a start. To help inspire me I bought a copy of Warhammer Historical's Age of Arthur book too.

Here are some pictures of where I am up to so far with my painting- unfortunately some of the colours are a bit washed out because of my poor photography, be assured the white horses don't look so stark white in reality...

WestWind's Arthur in 28mm

WestWind Arthur mounted on LOTR Horse

This figure has been mounted on a plastic GW LOTR horse because I preferred the look of it compared to then mount he came with. I had to superglue the front hoof to a small pebble for support and reinforce the rear hoof with metal rod.

Arthur's Standard Bearer. WestWind

  I actually prefer this Draco figure to the Arthur one and it was a real pleasure to paint.

A Gripping Beast Rider



GB 28mm

 I really liked the sculpting on the Gripping Beast figures. I think this guy came with a sword but I gave him a spear from a pack of WestWind spears.

Converted LOTR Rider of Rohan

The plasic LOTR Rider of Rohan figure has had his huge spear swapped for a more reasonable looking one, has had his Rohan shield decoration disguised by miliput, and is mounted on a chunky WestWind horse.



WestWind 28mm Arthurian Spearmen



The next couple of figures are conversions of what I think were once Essex Sassanid Persians. Both have been given spears and one has had a headswap from a spare WestWind head, they have also had bosses added to their shields and sword belts with miliput.

Next up is some Gripping Beast WIP and some close-ups of a figure which is mostly finished.

These Gripping Beast miniatures are great to paint, highly recommended!
All the shield designs were handpainted, I guess that's why I haven't made them overly complex.
In my next post I may venture back into WW2 with some 15mm stuff. Cheers, jacksarge.