28mm Pacific wargame part 2 (of 6)

Pacific Game

So our Pacific theatre game is getting there and for the last few weeks here's what we have been up to...

P.S.   Storage Tip:
If you are stuck for storage and you like he taste of Ferro Roche chocolate - the empty boxes are a great fit for 28mm  LVT's...LOL

So with them safe in storage we moved to Sherman tanks....

First we needed to find a M4a2 Sherman. The Warlord Games version has all the extra armour on it....so we couldn't use it for our island.

There are some great online pics for some great inspiration...especially the Tanks in Hell book.

       

So we once again took to the 3d printer. I found a file and started printing . It was printed in three parts turret, chassis and tracks.

So the first tank I printed was actually an logistical error ....I actually thought the Zippo Sherman was used in our battle - but I found out later it wasn't. But it still printed out well and I can always use it later..

Check out Thingyverse for 3d prints.

So back to the Sherman M4a2' s...

 So in the picture above the 3d print is sitting next to a Warlord M4a2. You can still see the print lines but a brush with acetone and and then sno pak....and it usually cleans up. So now onto mass production! Well at least 5 more.

 So these are my six Sherman 3d prints painted (not finished but getting there)..

The actual tanks on our beach game have a very unusual image on the side. See picture below. But strangely the Shermans had no white stars on the vehicle ...these were removed by the Army when the tanks were given to the navy (Marines).

The company then painted their own tank names...

So I had to get creative and get a clear waterslide decal set. The name of the tank crew sits underneath a charging elephant. 

Below: This is a picture of my self made decals with a black background (which can be deleted). I will print these and apply to the tanks.

More pics of the decals on the tanks below...

Hint - The decals did not work on the clear decal water slide paper The decal disappeared when placed onto the tank. This sometimes occurs when doing home decals -the tank colour overpowered the white and yellow colours. - I then had to redo them on white decal paper and print them with a green background. Then re-paint and weather to match the tank. But they eventually turned out ok.

The green background now needs blended...

First - i repainted the original tank colour around the elephant and tank name...this took some time and a small brush! Those letters were murder!

Below: Then I blended the colour back into the tank

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 Picture below has a two pence for scale. The tanks now look very similar to the actual ones used on our beach. I still find it strange that they did not carry the usual white stars. 

We have six complete tanks, two swimmers (upper hull only), an engineers tank, and another two in shell holes (see text below).

So next I tried to simulate the tank in the sand/shell hole. For this I took a 3d file of a Sherman and tilted it on two axis in Tinkercad. Then placed  a 3d "hole" underneath it. It turned out ok.

Above - the actual photo of a tank at our battle....

Below a Sherman in the CAD package. I did two Shermans at different angles..

Below: The 3d print (which will sit in the sea hence the water effects).

Below - I then also did some "swimming" Sherman's for game markers as the tanks head towards the beach.

Note the usual rear snorkels kits were not used in our battle. Tanks were "thought " to  be going in at low tide.

I have now also added some Stuarts to the landing force as back to the Shermans

So that's were we are at the moment... would welcome comments or any information.

Any thoughts on which island the Shermans and Stuarts are headed for?

We did some Japanese 20mm AA in a enclosure.These are mounted on clear plastic -with some added ammo crates and oil drums.