GHQ Models Forums

I'm glad you have begun reposting your work which is great! Keep it coming.

Wonderful work Bege, please post more of your work. You abs Pete especially seem to get the tones exactly right.

Gentlemen - Thank you very much. More on the way.


Begemot

M1 Abrams

Here are a couple of pictures from a platoon of M1 Abrams I painted up for my friend Pete Skaar a few years ago for his (very large number) birthday. I wasn't able to file down the mold join lines because the mold shifting was pretty significant. This is a quality issue I wish GHQ would give a little more time to.

These are painted in Forest Green, which in the photos I looked at appeared to have a grayish tone to it.






Begemot

Nice, I like them.

Begemot wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 31, 2021 5:48 am

M1 Abrams

Here are a couple of pictures from a platoon of M1 Abrams I painted up for my friend Pete Skaar a few years ago for his (very large number) birthday.

Begemot

Shots fired Pete!

And I agree on the mold lines. Have a set of Churchills & Shermans that I relegated to test models for sizing rather than taking the time to try and fix the mold lines. Have to image that at this scale there are just some limitations as to what can be done consistently in the casting process?

Flight deck, I would agree with you, but there are some sculpts that the mold lines are light or non existent. Seems the older the model, the worse the mold line.

As far as mold seam lines and "mud" in the roadwheels and other areas of the model, it is true that the newer the mold, the less these will be in evidence. Another thing I learned was that the skill of the person casting can also be a contributing factor in how the models turn out.

Pete

My good friend, Begemot has gifted me with a few pieces over the years. He has given me my 1980s American starter force of 5 M-1s, 5-M60A3s and some Egyptian BTR-152s for my Arab-Israeli project.

Here are a few pictures I took of these excellent models. The M-60A3s are painted in the 3rd Armored Division modified MERDC which deleted the 5% sand and substituted 5% more black in the pattern. I served in 3AD from 1981-1985 and was CO of C Co. 2/33 Armor in 1983-84. My tanks looked like these M-60A3s very skillfully painted by Begemot.

pmskaar ,

I also agree that skill level also contributes. I have new models that were just released that month that had mold lines.. then older models that were clean as a whistle. I also bought several packs where some of them are clean, somwhere in the middle and some really bad.

Love that Abrams! Nothing fancy - just a good lookin straight up green tank that will kill you!

Love that MERDC camo too. How long does it take you to paint that pattern on a vehicle, Begemot? It's fantastic!

Redleg - It probably takes me about 5 to 6 hours for a MERDC vehicle, all told, from base coat to details. And not in a single session. I paint in oils, so there is usually a day or two between color applications. I paint first an over all olive drab as the base color, then the field drab, then the green, then the sand and then the black marks. The stage of MERDC painting that is the most intense, from a concentration stand point, is the sand and black "birds" or squiggles, trying to keep them the right size for the pattern. I also try to follow the specified patterns for each vehicle. firstly because this is how I remember them being painted in my unit and secondly, it guarantees that each color is in the right proportion for the MERDC scheme.


Begemot

Begemot,

Love the MERDC, keep it coming. I am hoping to try my hand here real soon. By real soon, probably some time this year. LOL

Mech Infantry Company circa 1977 - MERDC

This is a project where I built a mech infantry company circa 1977 as would have been found in Germany. Painted in the Winter Verdant MERDC pattern which is what the vehicles wore year round. I used the officially prescribed patterns, which is how I recall the 1-39 Infantry's vehicles were painted. The canvas covers were not painted, which is a departure from the official MERDC schemes. While I include the M578 recovery vehicle as part of the TOE here, they were actually consolidated at battalion level. I only saw them in the motor pool, never in the field. But then, when the battalion deployed, I never saw any of the battalion outside of my company. The wonders of camouflage and dispersion. Only once did I see a large chunk of the battalion in the field on exercise. Elements of the battalion were crossing a small open valley at the same time. If you looked down the valley you could see them moving across the open space, from tree line to tree line. It was quite a sight: seeing all that power moving to a single directed purpose.


The whole company. From left to right: company HQ and maintenance; three rifle platoons (4 tracks each); and the weapons platoon, with three mortar 81mm mortar and two TOW tracks.




M578 recovery vehicle.




Gamma Goat.


M35 2 1/2 ton trucks. It wouldn't be the Army without these.


MUTTs


M113A1s


M125A1 81mm mortar tracks


TOW tracks


Full rifle platoon


Full weapons platoon

This year I intend to do a tank company for the same period with the Winter Verdant scheme, representing either a company of the 1-68 or 2-68 Armor. Have to be able to cross attach platoons been the mech and armor units.


Begmot

Excellent looking vehicles all around, Begemot! You are the King of MERDC and your attention to the proper pattern and proportions is on full display here.
I also enjoyed your recollections as well. Being in a tank company and cross attaching to infantry there was even a greater sense of isolation in the field except for a couple times when I got to see the full might of the battalion in action.