"The Sherman Firefly Was A Medium Tank..."

"...Used by the United Kingdom and some armoured formations of other Allies in the Second World War."

These three 10mm metal models by “Pendraken Miniatures” were bought as part of a cheeky order in May and are Product Code BRV25 - M4A4 Sherman 'Firefly' 17pdr, no skirts. Consisting of a separate hull, gun turret and pair of tracks, the trio were originally simply going to form part of the British contingent for my ongoing Battle of the Bulge campaign. However, having discovered that the Second Canadian Armoured Brigade famously used them "in Northwestern Europe", I decided to 'decal them' with the D-Day veterans in mind.

All of the tanks were therefore individually super-glued onto plastic 40mm x 60mm rectangular stands and undercoated using "Vallejo" Leather Brown primer.. They were then layered with a double-helping of "Vallejo" Russian Uniform WW2, before being doused in "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, and later dry-brushed with (more) "Vallejo" Russian Uniform WW2. I also 'picked out' their predominantly covered tank tracks using a combination of "Vallejo" Gunmetal and "Citadel" Abaddon Black, before later returning to the hull with a smidgeon extra of "Vallejo" Russian Uniform WW2.

"Wargames Foundry" WIPs - These Chasseurs have been primed and "shoddily" base-layered

Alongside my latest Late Second World War Winter additions, I have dusted down and based ten 28mm metal light infantrymen from an old "Wargames Foundry" blister labelled Code FN54 - Chasseurs In Campaign Dress Advancing. These Napoleonic French figures are all exactly the same and were discovered in my loft during a rummage through a horde of seriously dirty packets which horrifyingly dated back to over two decades ago - when I very first started painting in earnest.

Having recently pigmented a few of the Nottinghamshire-based company's Nineteenth-Century British Riflemen, Russian infantrymen and French Fusiliers, I thought the miniatures would make a nice subject with which to try batch-painting an entire unit. Now admittedly, the different colours ordinarily needed for such a vibrantly uniformed soldier might make such a challenge ludicrous - especially as I really struggle to paint more than three figures simultaneously as it is.

"Wargames Foundry" WIPs - The soldiers' sabre-briquets are slowly being 'picked out'

However, the beauty of these particular models being in Campaign Dress means, at least according to the official "Wargames Foundry" palette and a uniform plate I found depicting their attire at the Battle of Quatre-Bras, that the Chasseurs will predominantly just need to be pigmented blue. Indeed, even their trousers and tunic's turnbacks appear to have been cobalt in colour, leaving me with a fair few less headaches than I'd normally encounter applying my brush to a light infantryman from the Black Powder period.

Resultantly, all the miniatures have been cleaned up with a modelling knife, super-glued to some plastic circular 25mm bases, and undercoated using a combination of "Vallejo" Surface Primer Black and "Citadel" Abaddon Black. With these preparatory measures done I have also started to apply a couple of layers of slightly watered-down "Vallejo" Heavy Blue to the ten-model unit, with the hopes of getting them all completed before the month is out...