US Armour Assembly Line

I got back from Cornwall yesterday and spent no time opening the boxes of model kits that had arrived in my absence, ready for undercoating and assembly. I've decided to use Halfords Ultra Matt Camouflage Brown spray paint as an undercoat, so that the tracks are already primed in dark brown and so the hull, turret and track units can be easily overbrushed in Vallejo Brown Violet or FoW Sherman Drab, followed by various dry brushed highlights. It should speed up the whole painting process no end and, if it works, I can re-use the same approach on my 15mm US tanks for IABSM (I'm thinking of starting the project that I planned last year, now that I have some decent Battlefront plastic US infantry to match the 1/100 scale Plastic Soldier Company tanks).

The initial production run will be of four Italeri M4A3(76) and two M4A3E2 Jumbo assault tanks, one up-gunned to a 76mm equipped version. I also have a couple of Armourfast M4A3(75) and M4A3(105) tanks but as these are less detailed than the Italeri models they may get left out. I will apply a shedload of stowage and sandbags to all of these tanks to give that characteristic late war look, using bits from plastic kits, white metal gubbins and the accessory sets from EWM. I've run out of spray paint now, so I've had to leave the PSC M5A1 light tanks in their box but I am going to build and paint them up alongside the various Shermans. However, the Armourfast M18 and M36 tank destroyers need a bit more effort so I'll probably tackle them later, as I still need to find some 1/72nd scale crew figures to add to the open topped turrets.