"The M4 Sherman..."

"...Was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II."

This 10mm metal American medium tank used to sold by “Pendraken Miniatures” as Code A10 - Sherman M4A4, no skirts, 75mm gun. However, it now appears to have been superseded by a much more detailed product under Code AMV30 - M4 Sherman, 75mm. I believe I bought it as part of a much larger 'Battle Of The Bulge' project purchase to use alongside my already fully-painted German and Soviet World War Two Winter armies. But such an idea was clearly shelved a long time ago.

However, having found this particular model in an old plastic bag containing five more identical tanks as part of a large-scale clear-out, I thought I'd paint one up as a test armoured vehicle rather than see whether anyone wanted them on the e-commerce website "eBay". Indeed, I actually thought completing the little beauty might actually galvanise me into getting my old 'Battle Of Stalingrad" forces out and giving them some tabletop action once again.

"Battlefront Miniatures" WIPs - A Panzer IV Tank with passenger

Resultantly, the M4 Sherman's turret was super-glued in place, and then the two-piece ensemble stuck to a plastic 30mm x 40mm rectangle. It was then undercoated with two layers of "Vallejo" USA Olive Drab, washed with "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade, and dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" USA Olive Drab. Rather dishearteningly though, this tried and trusted method of pigmenting my 10mm tanks didn't seemingly work all that well, as having returned to the vehicle later to finish its basing, I discovered the "Citadel" Shade had somehow 'eaten away' large areas of the "Vallejo" USA Olive Drab to noticeably reveal the shiny metal surface underneath.

This meant I had to re-undercoat the entire model, this time using a mixture of "Vallejo" Surface Primer Black and "Citadel" Abaddon Black, before successfully repeating the aforementioned process all over again. I then 'picked out' the tracks and wheels with a combination of "Vallejo" Gunmetal and a double-helping of "Citadel" Nuln Oil. In the past I'd probably have left things at that, but eventually decided to go just a little further on so small a project by repainting some of its prominent track/wheel mechanisms with (more) "Vallejo" USA Olive Drab and "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade.

"Battlefront Miniatures" WIPs - Two 7.5cm Tank Hunter guns and crews

Finally, I decided to apply a trio of Allied Stars to the M4 Sherman using some supplied by "Decal Details", as well as the title "Bouncing TNT" from their 10mm US Armour Names and Slogans sheet. The model was subsequently flocked using a mixture of different snow products I've collected together in a bin since first starting my German WW2 Winter Army some thirteen and a half years ago.

Sticking with the Military theme though, I have also been busy progressing both a fifth Panzer IV for my "Flames Of War" German D-Day Defence Grenadier Company, and an accompanying 7.5cm Tank Hunter platoon. The "Battlefront Miniatures" 15mm plastic tank is actually quite close to completion. However, I still have quite a way to go on the two guns, albeit I'm about half-way done on the long-barrelled weapons' camouflage patterns...