AS I’m sure you all know [;)] it’s my birthday on November 4th and I’ve just had the phonecall from my LHS telling me that the kit I want for my birthday is in (Dragon kit# 6228 - Sherman IC Hybrid Firefly).
Now then - I want this to be my best yet, no matter how long it takes. I’ve got my Verlinden Olive Green netting for the barrel and stowage and I’m planning on putting her in a round topped case on a base. My Grandad drove a Firefly into France shortly after D-Day so it’s partly in homage to him and his courage (he got shot in the leg by a German sniper but made it home and apparently the Firefly he commanded did knock out a few German Panzers too - Sadly I’ve got very little information on his WWII antics other than what my Dad and Gran can remember, I don’t even know if it was an IC - it was probably a VC Firefly) and it’s partly a great looking kit that I’ve been promising myself to build for AGES! I know he served with a Northampton Division and, IIRC, there are Nothampton Yeomanry markings with this kit so this is the best I can do I think? I’m sure that he’d have been honoured, even if it isn’t the right type of Firefly.
Right, I’m waffling. I understand that British and German Shermans need painting a slightly different colour? I have been told on excellent authority that after some sun exposure the American Green changed to a different shade of green colour than that of the British painted Shemans?
I want a relatively sun-exposed Sherman, not a freshly painted one so I need to get this colour bang on!
I’ve STACKS of various Tamiya XF Greens and my LHS keeps the full range too so I’m not stuck if I don’t have the required colour in my stock of paints.
If YOU were painting this build what XF colour would YOU use? It doesn’t have to be Tamiya, I’ll happily order Gunze or Vallejo if needs be.
Your lucky. I’ve wanted to build this kit since it first came out.
About the color. That is a pretty good question. IMHO, I’ve always thought they were the same color as the U.S. Shermans. But I’m not really the armor nut though. (No offense to the armor guys.)
The Sherman Is were painted US Olive drab from the factory. There is some indication that in the upgunning process, the process to make them Fireflies, the entire vehicles were repainted in British Olive Drab (officially SCC15), which, fresh from factory, mimicked US olive drab. There is some anecdotal evidence that when subjected to sun, the SCC15 faded to a tiny bit of a greenish hue.
If I were you, I’d paint it OD as you typically do for your American subjects. Then if you feel like it, apply a dark or medium green filter over the main parts of the vehicle.
Remember, British SCC15 should not vary too much from typical US Olive drab (XF-62) especially in 1/35 scale.
Ben, if you want to be really anal about it White Ensign Models makes a paint they call OliveDrab BS987C SCC No.15 which they claim to be correct. It’s at the bottom of the page:
It is however enamel paint. Once you finish weathering the tank I’m not sure you’ll be able to tell it apart from US OD. Frankly if I were you I’d just go with Roy’s suggestion.
Cheers for the, as usual, very helpful replies chaps [Y]
I’m not determined to use a different colour from regular OD whatsoever - if regular OD will do the job then I’m very happy as I’ve got about 3 pots of it that (2 stock jars and another for my ONTOS that never was! )
Thanks for the links: I’m going Enamel as all of of my rattlecans and MIG Filters etc are geared toward Acrylics and I do like my Acrylics! I’ve got Green SIN Filter btw.
I’m going to go with standard OD but I might look into the Vallejo ‘Air’ range and see what they have to offer.
At least I’ve determined that standard OD is ok which was the main thing that I wanted to gain from this thread.
I can’t wait to get my mitts on this little beauty!
Thanks for the help guys - I’m off to assemble Magic Tracks and get this Panzer I on the road to completion now!