Parachute rifle company Sherman Platoon

Got stuck into the sherman tanks for the parachute rifle platoon.

The tanks with the improvised armor moulded onto them are absolutely beautiful.

Interestingly enough you cannot get these any more.. the are OOP.

Nowadays you buy a stock standard tank and then buy the add on armour or sandbags.

Of course they have a M4A3 early and late version… the differences are in the angle of the front bow armour plate and he access hatches for the driver and the radio operator.

SO we have 5 M3A3 early tanks with there dry ammo storage.. so no protected ammo. But they have Detroits finest which gives a 14″ movement instead of the standard 12″ of most tanks.
The tank telephones rule is really cool… it allows standard infantry teams beside a tank to use a the eyes and ears rule to make target platoon not gone to ground. Which is pretty cool.. thats a basicly a long range Pack howitzer that can blow up dug in FJ .. er I mean enemy .. 🙂
There are two other tanks .. being a M4A3 without the extra armour and a M4A1 … which has the 12″move… those can be used as a armoured company HQ if the set is used to make an armoured company some how?
Anyways the photos show the tanks as they are today.

They are primed with KlearKote black primer (which is cheaper now in a new can hand has a different spray pattern and slightly less paint in the can)
Airbrushed with Tamiya Olive drab which is acclaimed as the closest commercial paint that matches the real colour.
It is then delicately dry brushed.
The sand bags have been washed with Devlan mud and then painted a dull OD colour.
I have applied some polyurethane on the places for decals.

Next jobs are to apply Decals and paint the black to rubber road wheels and tracks.
50 cals are to be fitted and the platoon command figure attached after painting and new hatches.

I have ordered some decals from Doms Decals in the UK because the BF ones are not worth the $13 dollars because of the five sheets of decals only one sheet has stars… which isn’t enough for 5 tanks. Besides I need some for my tanks later.

http://domsdecals.com/

Anyhow .. pics

Boots on the ground

A few quick shots of the US 82nd Airborne job.

Some Dukit molds for making some wooden crates on the Staff team bases

Dukit press molds

The radio operator on the staff team base.
I had two ammo feeder figs left over so I converted them to battery pack men for the radio. The wire is de-ravelled guitar wire.
Radio operator pair  -  staff team

same

Artillery pieces ready for basing
arty - two batteries of four pieces or considered as one 8 piece platoon

LMG’s and mortar platoon.
LMG's  - Mortars

The company command teams HQ and 2IC plus the three bazookas.
HQ pair and 3 x bazookas

A close up of a basic quality of the paint job

The two combat teams

Trying to see what source book matches the figures we have

Have glued some of the US airbourne to bases today.

Still playing around with arrangements on others to get the optimum field of figures and bases.
Will probably reduce some stands to three figs instead of four.. but they look fine.
Still frustrating between the army lists in “Road to Rome”(RR), “Hells Highway”(HH), Market Garden (MG), Nuts (NN)
HH has two artillery batteries in the 75mm pak howitzers but RR doesn’t
RR has 4 shermans with improvised armour but the combat platoons are reduced to 6 teams instead of 9.. and it has two command teams per platoon not one.
Problem is the US airbourne have really different options throughout the books.. subtle but massively game changing.
The HH list has no US armour.. only UK armour support from 30th Corp.
Funny thing is there is a ten points difference between the two books for the same list.
I use 82nd airbourne whenever I can .. I just think there cool and a I new someone who was all about the eagle being the best and I don’t like that.. plus the eagles were the get out of jail card
for the heros in the LOTR all the time .. so anti that! besides All American …. F$^&* yeah! lol

So if there was anything extra needed I would say… 1-2 carbine command teams. 1x60mm mortar team .. and that would allow you to make any of the following lists. Oh bazookas always help.. get some of those too.

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