A couple of Shermans

Here's a couple of US Shermans I recently painted and assembled. They were on sale at a local model shop that was closing down, & I only bought them because they were so cheap. They are Italeri Fast Assmebly kits- two in a box.
Inspired by fellow blogger Thanos' weathering efforts I have had a go at a spot of weathering on them.
Hope you like them. Many of them are quite large images, so click on 'em to get a close up :)

Humber IV

My first Humber IV for the recce regiment of 43rd Wessex Division is complete.
I would like to get some more of these to make up at least a troop. The only 1/72 Humber IV I've found so far has been this resin Ready to Roll version- if anybody can let me know of an alternative I'd be grateful, I was hoping Blitzkrieg Miniatures would have one soon, but alas, it's not on their current release schedule.
That top bloke and fellow antipodean, Paul of Plastic Warriors, has been churning out the Humbers of late and has a fine collection: HERE .

The RTR Humber comes with a cast resin crewman and stowage, all I have added are some fishing line aerials, paint and some grassy stuff. So, for all you fans of the humble Humber, here's my contribution:

Next post I hope to show you some US Shermans which I've just finished. Inspired Thanos's great weathering and chipping on his three Panthers, I've tried to give these Shermans a dose of the same.

US M10 Complete

I have been a bit slow on the wargames/modelling production front of late- got a bit distracted by some PC games and life in general. However I have completed the US M10 Tank Destroyer for my son's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON :) 

If you remember from my last post, this is a resin Ready to Roll AFV with a converted crew made from Airfix & Italeri plastic figures. Most of the stowage is made of greenstuff apart from a jerrycan & shell from Sgts Mess. The loader figure is a plastic Airfix Marine who has had some replacement hands made of greenstuff so that he could hold a shell.

 The whole thing was painted with acrylics- mostly Vallejo, but also artist's tube acrylics, Secret Weapon washes, and other assorted paints. Most of the weathering is done with paint effects with a bit of MiG European Dust for good measure and an 8B pencil for highlights on the tracks- the whole thing was then sprayed with Testors Dullcoat.

On the workbench - WIP

Have been painting up a bunch of US figures for my son recently, so I don't have any newly completed stuff to show you. I do however, have a number of things on the go on the workbench.

First a Ready to Roll US M10 Tank Destroyer for my son's birthday. I have drilled a hole under the turret and super glued a screw into the base of the turret so that the turret will be able to turn around without falling off! Also drilled out the barrel supplied and added some homemade stowage plus a jerrycan. I have been converting a crew from plastic figures.

Next, some more British being painted- trying to fill out two platoons plus a recon section. These figures are from TQD Castings , Wartime Miniatures, and Battlefield/Blitz. The TQD stuff is particularly fine- I cut off the slotta base protrusions, and glued them to some plasticard.

I purchased a couple of Italeri fastbuild Easy Eights (for a bargain price), to help bolster my son's US forces- here's one he assembled which I will be painting:

These are some terrain oddments I have been working on. Experimenting with a bocage section which incorporates roadside ditches, plus some stone wall sections using printed paper for textures:

Finally, a Quad with 25pdr from Italeri/Esci which has been waiting for some time to be finished- it will have an AB crew: