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Winter Sherman. Battle of the Bulge Veteran.


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Well at long last I have my TAMIYA 1/35 M4A3 (105) Sherman done (well, close enough to call it done :)/> ). This was my first time ever attempting weathered winter camouflage. I had to strip the model because of a disastrous initial attempt. What you see here is the second and final product.

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It’s a Sherman of the 6th Armored Division (U.S. Army) as used during and after the German Ardennes offensive in December 1944 and January 1945 (70 years ago this month). During what became known as “The Battle of the Bulge” armored units on both sides hurriedly applied winter camouflage by any means possible. Brooms, bed sheets, rags, mops, paint brushes and rollers of all sizes, even hay tied together to make a crude brush was used to apply the whitewash paint. It was relatively rare to have a nicely applied airbrushed winter white camouflage scheme.

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As you can see above, the paint weathered extremely quickly. Crew and soldiers repeatedly mounting and dismounting the tank caused wearing, chipping, and fading. Removing and replacing gear and stowage, refueling, rearming all contributed to the worn appearance. Operating in heavy brush also eroded the camouflage. Snow and ice accumulation necessitated that the crew sweep off their mount, further damaging the whitewash. Basically, these vehicles looked quite forlorn very quickly. To some extent, this is why armor modelers often shy away from winter schemes…they don’t look particularly nice.

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My Sherman is shown crossing a field during a thaw, which brought about extremely muddy conditions. Base is stained pine, various static grasses from Woodland Scenic, mud is scultamold mixed with Mig Pigments, snow is powered plaster compound (it looks o.k. but not stellar).

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Evergreen trees would really set the scene...but 1/35 evergreen trees are really cumbersome and quite tall :lol: .

As always, thank you for looking and I welcome comments, questions, suggestions.

Kindest regards,

Don.

*Please excuse the photographs, I am terrible at taking them!

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aha, tank pop-sickle! laugh.gif

dunno about the 1st attempt but the result here is a great looking winter camo on the tank Don.

my only complaint would be the stowage items looking relatively pristine against the entire scene.

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...my only complaint would be the stowage items looking relatively pristine against the entire scene.

Good observation and looking at the pictures I tend to agree. I will go back and hit them with a few swipes of pastels to tone them down a bit to make them less vibrant. Thank you for the feedback...I do appreciate it :thumbsup: .

Regards,

Don.

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