Tom Willoughby's Tamiya 1:48 Pershing

This is the 1:48 Tamiya Pershing which is size compatible with 28mm wargame models such as Bolt Action. The tank has been made and painted by modeller Tom Willoughby who was a tank commander in another life.

Tom has sent me a few notes on his techniques.

'I drilled out the cupola vision blocks and replaced them with crystal clear, also opened the periscopes. A pet peeve of mine is modellers who show a tank in action closed down but no periscopes up: also a tank with the crew standing around with closed hatches. We never closed the hatches if we were off the tank eating or pulling maintenance. The only time hatches were closed was to lock it up.'

The M26 Pershing was, like the Comet and the Centurion, a tank that could have been available and should have been available for Normandy '44 were it not for incompetence. It lacked the great reliability of the Sherman but was capable of matching the Panther, Tiger or T34/85.

Dragon M26

This was built a few years ago, 1997 to be accurate, and took 2nd place at an IPMS regional show.


It is the Dragon M26A1 as used by the USMC during the first year of the Korean War.


The individual track links were a pain. I modified the model to show a tank with the fenders removed. I also opened all of the periscopes. As a tanker, I notice little things on other peoples models that bug me, number one being a tank closed up for battle with no open periscopes. Is anyone looking out?


Thomas V. Willoughby

Sherman M4A3E2 Jumbo by Tom Willoughby

This is the old Tamiya M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo by Tamiya. It has some accuracy issues but when I built it it was the only available model.

I replaced the front transmission nose piece with a resin alternative as Tamiya had not remodelled it from another Sherman kit. The replacement was several inches thicker. I had to make weld seams on the new front and on the side plates. I also added photo etch tail light guards and the MG clips.

Another modification was to open the periscopes and add guards. Its markings show it to be part of the 6th Armoured Division.

The tank commander figure is Verlinden and is slightly over scale. He must be a Texan (it's all those BBQ dinners to blame, JL). I hope you guys like the model.

Tom Willoughby









Additional Note from John:
I have noticed how historical modellers treat a kit as a starting point and then go on to quite extensively modify and improve it. I think maybe there is a lesson for us wargamers there.

British M3 Grant by Tom Willoughby

The American built Grant was a very important tank. It was a stop-gap measure in that it added a 75mm gun in a sponson. That was needed to fire high explosive shells at German anti-tank guns,

The Grant was a key weapon in the British Army's victory at El Alamein. It was later used by British forces in Burma where modern armour was unnecessary and it was highly valued for its reliability and robustness.

This example is in the colours of the 7th Armoured, the famous desert rats.

The kit is an old Airfix 1:32. This is not a great kit and it is interesting to see what Tom has had to do to make such a great model.

Firstly, he has filled all the gaps. Secondly, he has added baggage. Real tanks are home for the crews but there is very little room inside and so luggage goes on the outside - lots of it.

Tom has also added rivets. I hate adding rivets and never get them right. So, Tom, how did you add the pox-cursed rivets?

John

Mud Spattering a Tank Model

The pictures are of a Tamiya Cromwell kit from Tamiya, modelled and painted by Tom Willoughby.

Note that Tom has improved the kit by adding seperately purchased crew, gun barrels and grills.

This very nice model illustrates a point about real tanks: they get very, very dirty and the crud sticks and dries brick-hard. Tom tell me that no one who has ever had to clean a tank will underestimate the crud factor.

The mud spatter in an environment like Northern Europe is actually a mix of mud and ground up vegetation - in some parts of the world they still make housing bricks out of the same material.

Tom makes his own using the following formula: ground florists foam, white glue, Polly-S dirt paint, rail road grass, some cut up longer railroad grass and water thinned to desired consistency.

He advises spreading it liberally on the running gear and letting it dry like you would apply a wash dries like a wash. The aim is to get clumps like real mud.

The Cromwell was Britain's last cruiser (cavalry) tank. It was designed in 1941 to replace the Crusader and was extremely fast and manoeuvrable. It served in armoured reconnaissance regiments. It was the main battle tank of the 7th Armoured Division (the desert rats), Ist Polish Armoured Division and the Czech Armoured Brigade in NW Europe in '44. The last variant of the Cromwell, called a Comet, had a variant of the the superb British 17pdr fitted. The 17pdr was the best allied anti-tank gun of WWII. It was also retrofitted to British Shermans, the variant being known as the Firefly.

FV101 Scorpion Light Tank by Tom Willoughby

This is the AFV Club Scorpion Recon Tank. It was built nearly out of the box with an added Chieftan stowage box from the parts bin. The crew are remodeled from the Tamiya Challenger 1. Tom replaced the mud flaps with thin plastic sheet. He notes that kit tracks are pretty poor but at the time no after market track was available.

These AFVs are very fast. I have passed them bowling along at 60mph or so on British roads. They served in the Falklands War because they were capable of crossing ground too boggy to cross on foot. They were usually equipped with 76mm cannon. Around 3,000 were manufactured by Alvis-Vickers and sold around the world.

Scimitars were withdrawn from the British Army in 1994 but the aluminium hulls were refurbished to use as the Sabre.

My thanks to Tom Willoughby for allowing me to show his work.

John

M48A5 by Tom Willoughby

Another fine display model from Tom Willoughby.

It is an Acadamy M48A5 built to represent one of the American National Guard tanks that Tom crewed. It is a commission for an old treadhead veteran. It's in summer verdant, MERDAC cammo used into the late 80s. Tom has deliberately been light on the weathering compared to most National Guard tank as he wanted to display the model in clean condition.

Tiger 1 by Tom Willoughby

"Guys, this was a 21st Century Toys 1/16th scale Tiger 1 that a friend asked me to update. You can see the work in progress and the final model. I forget what panzer battalion this was but the markings are accurate. I applied zimmermet and painted and detailed it. My brother Stephen, who was also in my unit, did the decals. Taking it apart to rebuild was almost as much work as building from a kit.

I've done 3 of these so far: a Panther, this Tiger and an M48A5 - converted from a M48A3."

Tom Willoughby

The Conqueror by Tom Willoughby

The Conqueror was designed at the end of WWII to counter the Soviet JS IS-3. It was the last heavy tank designed for the British Army when the Tiger was still in the Royal Tank Regiment's collective memory. It was the first British tank to mount a 120mm gun.

The tank was heavily armoured and heavy with overstressed mechanicals so it was unreliable. It was suprisingly manouvrable in the field. It mounted a rotatabe target selecting cupula for the commander, a feature not seen again on western tanks until the Abrams and Challenger II.

The army lost interest in the Conqueror when it was clear that the contemperary Centurion was endlessly upgradable.

John

M60A3 by Tom Willoughby

Tom takes commissions to model vehicles. He served as a tank commander in the US Services so he has personal experience to bring to his work.

This is his version of a Tamiya M60A3 in 1:35 scale.

If I can quote directly from Tom: "It is airbrushed free hand and dry brushed weathering. I haven't gotten into the fad of using filters and under coating that the model rags and web sites say are all the rage.....I used each cammo color gradually lightened and dry brushed until it was nearly white on each area."

I was very impressed by the way the camofluage pattern is built up. I find that pattern very difficult to achieve. I also admire the subtle weathering.

I hope that I can persuade Tom to allow me to put up more of his work.

John