Guards - Cromwells

Well this is the first post proper for my new project, and I've started by focusing on the stars of the show the Cromwells and Challengers.

These tanks do look very cool IMHO. There is something about their silhouette and speed which just wins out to me over the Sherman (even with jumbos etc available). On the other hand the Cromwell just seems strange with it's giant boxy turret.
I tried one completely new thing when painting these guys, and that was dipping. Having prepared the models, I base coated them with the PSC 'British armour' spray - it's not quite Russian uniform but very close and a lot nicer green than the army painter 'army green' spray I used for my Canadians - once again please would they do dropper bottles of a matching colour!

Having got this base, I did quite harsh dry rushing of Russian uniform, then a 1:1 mix of Russian uniform and khaki, before finally pure khaki. I then picked out the details, hessian strips were green brown with a bit of buff for highlights, wood was purposely very light with US tan, and metal with GW mecharious Grey, with white for highlights, and cables etc were green grey with added buff for highlights.

Next I added all the decals etc to show regiment and role, as well as some allied stars.

 Having done this I got hold of some cheap brushes from Wilko's and applied some of the army painter 'dark tone'. I'd had a bit of a chat in my FLGS about these, you need good ventilation as the fumes are vile, you need to also mix very well. I looked at some examples of the dark vs strong tone, and think that for dark green vehicles the dark is needed with the strong too pale, but for say German yellow vehicles the strong would suit them better. Strangely the one real thing I liked about these especially compared to a wash, was that when I realised I'd missed a bit or two and retouched the model, it went on more even than using a wash which I really liked.

However you don't finish there, as when the quick shade has dried the model looks atrocious! They come out so shiny, that they would even dazzle Patrick Stuart's head! Thankfully I also had some testors Dullcoat which really sorted that out. I ran out with my last platoon - and used the paint on army painter Matt varnish - and had a great result, but didn't apply as well in nooks and crannys

I'm very pleased with the finished result, and i'm really looking forward to trying them out.

Anyway until next time