Team Yankee, A different kind of WiP

[knarthex]

So now that ReaperCon 2016 is over , my painting desk is clear of pretty much everything, as for the last few months, everything was directed towards that...

 

So I am taking on a project for a good friend, who recently had his first child, and no longer has much time for anything....

 

We play a game called Flames of War, which is 15mm WWII, and the company that released it, Battlefront,  has come out with a new variation called Team Yankee, The title comes from a novel by Harold Coyle about an American Tank team in Germany during World War III circa 1985...

 

Your humble Drow is taking this on as a labor of love, because if the events in the book would have been true, He would have been one of those tank crewmen involved in the  fighting.....

 

So I am painting his force as C company, 1st Battalion, 33rd Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Division....

 

I served in B Co and Headquarters cos while there, so that is what I will eventually do my troops as....

 

Anyway the kits are all plastic, just like the 1/35th scale models i used to build back when...

 

The sprues:

 

That builds 1 M1 Abrams Tank, depending on what version you wish to build, there are different parts....

 

He also shipped me the US paint set, and 2 cans of the base coat / primer for the US Forces...

(Aren't the bullet bottles cute? they are only 12ml though.....)

Battlefront originally had Vallejo doing their paints, and now I believe it is Army Painter...

 

So I assembled the hull and turret of one last night to use as my test bed, spraying overall with the Yankee Green spray, and painting the track pads and rubber of the road wheels with Vallejo Black Grey...

 

  

 

So tonight I am going to read up a bit on what BF thinks is appropriate colors, then mask the tracks and break out the airbrush for some 3 color camo, US Army style, 1985....

 

Thanks for looking!

Edited October 28, 2016 by knarthex

[buglips*the*goblin]

Don't screw the bullet-bottle caps back on too tight.  The bottle plastic is frail and easily torn if the cap gets stuck.  I tore the top clean off a bottle of Tommy Green.

[knarthex]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Glitterwolf]

Yuk! Tanks!

 

They don't even have wings..

 

Nice project George!

[buglips*the*goblin]

Heyyyyy...

 

I just noticed it looks like there's a 120mm gun option on that there Abrams sprue...  duly noted.  That's one step closer to my Fantasy Desert Storm game table.

 

It's fantasy because my Iraq can win.

[knarthex]

Yup, can do up to m1a1 I believe. ..

Gonna give em real armor and bullets aintcha!

Edited October 28, 2016 by knarthex

[buglips*the*goblin]

Yup, can do up to m1a1 I believe. ..

Gonna give em real armor and bullets aintcha!

That battlefront included the 120mm on the initial sprue strongly indicates future expansion past 1985. 86 brings us M1a1s... and also Apaches. The Arab-Israeli and Nam books are going to be updated to Team Yankee specs, and arab-israeli brought to 1973. There's a new T-55AM coming, and Syria had T-62s in 73.

 

I don't know if battlefront is thinking what I'm thinking, but that fills out a lot to cobble together a 73 Easting scenario. Rumor has it the M60a3 will appear down the road, and that might allow for the USMC at Al Khafji and the push into Kuwait.

 

But... yes... my 15mm Iraqis will have combat rounds instead of training shots, and actual armor instead of locally-produced steel. Otherwise it wouldn't be much fun to play.

 

All my tanks are on fire? What is this?

 

"I didn't even roll yet. They started that way."

 

Hardly worth unrolling the sand mat.

[Mr Melons]

So I took Great Zuniga's painting vehicles class and I got two really good tips for cammo. First...silly putty. Roll it string fine and you can make great patterns. Second tip was if you are going to paint in the cammo with an airbrush, put a finger near the desired spot, and start spraying on your fingernail and move toward the desired spot. That way it avoids over spraying the spot.

 

One of his other tips was if you are doing a big pattern (like tiger stripe), it's easier to paint the vehicle the pattern color first, mask the pattern, and repaint the vehicle color.

[Chaoswolf]

Neat project, Knarthex!

[Sergeant_Crunch]

Watching this one...

[sethohman]

I love these models.  But man is it a pricey game to play - maybe even more so than the Evil Empire.  $47 for 2 A-10s makes me sad.

[knarthex]

so a bit of work tonight...

 

I washed the whole 'track (Track is Army slang for any tracked vehicle, so I am not just talking about the actual tracks themselves....) with Ordanence Shade From the Team Yankee American paint set. I then did a quick dry brush, and some touch ups on the wide areas with Yankee Green from a bottle.

 

I mixed some Polly Scale Rust, with GW Boltgun metal,

 

and painted the end connectors and center guides on the actual tracks themselves. These parts are metal, while the majority of the track is coated with thick, stiff rubber.

I then touche the outside of each end connector with thinned Rust.

   

 

I then did the same to the other 5 hulls:

 

I also cleaned up and primed the resin M577 staff vehicle with the Team Yankee Yankee Green Spray

  

 

The back part of the object is a collapsable canvas tent, called an 'Extension' that is used to hold briefings, and do other staff work.

the mini only has 1 length of the extension shown, the full extension would be twice as long....

 

Thanks for looking!

 

George

[Glitterwolf]

Cool stuff...

 

I always loved panzers...I just love planes more, hence the Air Force career choice.

[knarthex]

To many officers in the CHair Force for me....

[Glitterwolf]

Officers I can handle...