Monday, 15 March 2021

From Chris K - US Vehicles in 1/56 - 90 points

 Hello - time to come in from the cold!

In Real Life, I'm a high school teacher here in the UK, so the last month has been almost comically busy with the return to the new normal. This has meant that the batch-painting of vehicles has had to take a back seat. 

Frustrating? - yes. 

Insurmountable? - NEVER!

Please find here a modest collection of vehicles intended to act in loose support of my US 92nd Buffalo Soldiers as they move up through Italy...and a little something extra, too, for the Sherman 105 doubles-up as a British Firefly IC!

I've claimed 90 points for this, as it's really three full vehicles (20 points each) plus two hulls and one chassis (10+10+10) - that seems a fair bid to me.

Firstly, we have an M8/M20 Greyhound (Rubicon):

(The non-turreted version isn't pictured here - I forgot!)

Next, to work with the sneaky recce element above, an M18 Hellcat (Warlord Games):


Now this is an M4 High Speed Tractor (a beautiful model from RKX Miniatures with additional stowage from Rubicon):

And finally, the US Sherman 105mm, which (due to the awesomeness of Rubicon kits) can be re-hulled as a British Firefly IC, which here I've painted up in Polish colours. After a LOT of thinking and planning, I worked out that the differences in shades of green could be mitigated by a cunning combination of blended weathering and some artistically arranged Warlord Stowage on the glacis plate, necessitating a shift of the Firefly's insignia to the upper hull:


And here's how the sausage gets made:

Here's to the sprint finish, eh?

Thanks for all of the inspiring work, Everyone!

- Chris K

14 comments:

  1. Wow, wonderful work on these vehicles Chris! I really like that M4 (why is seemingly everything an M4 in the American army?) High Speed Tractor. Cool!

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    1. The M5 was supposed to be the M4 light tank, but somebody got wise that having separate Mserieses for light tanks, medium tanks, tank destroyers, halftracks, etc would result in lots of M1s, M2s, M3s, and mass confusion. So in 1942 they went with sequential numbers.

      But you still have the M3 halftrack, M3 light tank, M3 medium tank, M3 scout car, etc.

      Then, of course, they rebooted the series in the 1980s, so more M1s, M2s, M3s and M4s!

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  2. Nice work mate! I'll look forward to be blown up by these in the near future.

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  3. Smashing work there! I love the M8 armored car.

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  4. Great work on the weathering and stowage, they add a lot to the minis.

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  5. Wow, I wish I could do vehicles this well!

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    1. Crikey - kind words indeed! Just a shame I can't do justice to infantry too! Cheers, Barks.

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  6. Smart work on the firefly and an excellent finish on all the vehicles!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks, Iain. It's a bit grungy for some people's tastes, but I like it, and it keeps good cohesion in my forces.

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  7. Wow, great idea on the flip top Sherman! That tractor thingy is great too. How fast is High Speed, is it like high speed snail?

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    1. Ha! 35mph, apparently (according to wiki)...although I suspect that was a "best-case" scenario!

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  8. Thanks, Sanders - much appreciated.

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