I decided to freehand the markings on the tanks. After a bit of research to get them (just about) right, I sat down this afternoon and carefully painted them. Yes, there were some errors which had to be corrected.
Once they were all done, I used the airbrush to give both tanks two thin coats of Klear, then a coat of matt varnish. Here is how they looked at that point:
Matilda II
This one uses the markings of an actual tank - "ASP" from 1 Troop of A Squadron, 1st Australian Tank Regiment (the regiment changed names a few times during WW2).
M3 Stuart
This represents a tank from 7 Troop of B Squadron, 2/6th Armoured Regiment. I couldn't find any information on actual names given to Stuarts, so made one up. I went with B Squadron as they were (with C Squadron) involved in the fighting at Buna and Sanananda.
I decided to take these photos before the tanks got muddied up. I've done that this evening, but the mud effects need to dry overnight before I decided if they need painting or washing.
Very fine work Tamsin!
ReplyDeleteGood attempt at freehanding the letters and div signs. I have long since given up trying and use waterslide decals!
ReplyDeleteVery nice indeed Tamsin! The Matilda is my favourite tank of the war and you've done a lovely job with it.
ReplyDeleteVery good details for this scale !
ReplyDeleteBravo !
:-)
Wow, they look great. I'm still agonising over whether to paint or use decals for some 15mm vehicles I have underway (currently chickened out and left them blank).
ReplyDeleteLove me some tanks. Great work Tam :-)
ReplyDeleteExcellent work - personally, I always paint rather than use transfers (old fashioned, don't use that American decals word). I just think that, even if looks a bit 'rougher', the finished article is more 'mine'. A worry you don't have!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to see the markings painted. Looks great
ReplyDeleteThat's just a superb job on these Tanks. It looks like the cover of Tamiya Magazine. I have a picture some where of me siting in an Australian Matilda from the 70's.
ReplyDeleteVery nice work on these two tanks, Tamsin! I'm tempted to get a Matilda - had a Tamiya 1/35th one when I was a wee lad - messed up the painting horribly :)
ReplyDeletelove the name bogbrush
ReplyDelete@ Francis - thanks! :)
ReplyDelete@ Herkybird - cheers! I did look at available decals, but none of them were correct for the units I wanted to represent, so freehand was the only option :)
@ Millsy - thanks! I do quite like the Matilda II - I might have to get a couple more :)
@ L'Empereur - cheers! :)
@ Sun of York - thanks! I can understand not wanting to freehand on 15mm vehicles, but decals shouldn't be too bad to do :)
@ Carl - cheers! Who doesn't love them some tanks? :)
@ Rob - thanks! I think painting the markings myself was a good exercise; much more of a personal effort :)
@ Dai - cheers! :)
@ David - thanks! :)
@ Dean - cheers! :)
@ Scotsgrey - thanks! I've since found a source of names used on Aussie Stuarts, but I thought "Bogbrush" was amusing :)