Thursday 22 January 2015

From MichaelF - 20mm Shermans (36 points)


For my second entry I'm continuing with some more 20mm stuff to reinforce the freshly painted infantry platoon. For the first game in December we cheated and ordered some pre-painted tanks from Grubby but hey, nothing beats playing with your own painted minis so let's see if I can get a decent amount of armour done.







I'm always impressed by what you can do with an airbrush and regularly I'm staring at beautifully models thinking one day I need to give it a try. But I don't even own an airbrush and I lack the skills and time to master it so I ordered some enamel washes and pigments, grabbed a few brushes to see if I could get a decent enough result. I had great fun trying all sorts of different techniques and the next batch with slightly larger barrels is on it's way as well.








Models are from PSC with the tank commander from Sgt Mess I think.



Ouch, just noticed I still need to add the antennas. Well, will do that later, now we have a thursday deadline...





From Curt:

I completely sympathize with your 'airbrush envy' as I've never tried using them and have always envied the look others have achieved with them. Old dogs / new tricks, eh? Nonetheless, you've done a marvelous job on these Shermans, Michael. Masterful brushwork with the smooth blending and shading. I also find the weathering to be nicely restrained yet still effective. Excellent. I have a trio of SPC's later Sherman IIIs to do and now, with these, I have a sobering benchmark to work towards. Thanks for the incentive!

Great work Michael!

14 comments:

  1. Oh, fantastic work with those sherman. The understated weathering is brilliantly done

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  2. Can't knock a nice Sherman... And these are nice!

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  3. Classic tanks done exceedingly well. Love em.

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  4. Who needs an airbrush when you can get results like this without one. These are great looking mini's.

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  5. The tanks look suitably roadworn, no need for an airbrush. I like the grime it looks embedded in the crevice and crannies!

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  6. Absolutely wonderful work Michael. Why use an airbrush when you can produce work like this without one and have fun into the bargain? The weathering is spot on and little touches like the crud round the commander's hatch really set the tone.

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  7. Awesome looking tanks. Your weathering looks spot on. I tend to over do it...

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  8. Great Shermans there Michael :)

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  9. These are brilliant. Follow your instincts, and leave the airbrush on the bench - just not worth the hassle!

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  10. Great work, they could have been done with an airbrush it's that smooth

    Ian

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  11. A Sherman can give you a nice ... edge. These beautifully painted and weathered tanks will give you a great ... edge. (With apologies to Oddball).

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