Now on to the first stages of painting. The pre-shading is completed with thinned Tamiya German Grey laid over the grey primer of the driving sections.
The fighting section is given a cost of Beige Green primer and highlighted with AK Interactive Olive Drab 50. I tend to run my airbursh light, normally at 10-15 psi, this prevent splatter, mid-air drying and gives you far better control at the business end of things.
Pre-shading with AK Interactive Olive Drab 50 continues over the top of the M10 Hull as well as part of the lower hull as can be seen behind.
The fighting compartment floor and engine bulkhead now receive several thin coats of AK Intercatve Olive Drab No 22. This is laid down thickly enough to merge the edge of the pre-shade with the top coat whilst not obliterating the overall effect.
The turret interior is primed grey before the AK Interactive Olive Drab 50 pre-shade followed by Drab No 22, again by AK interactive. This is intentionally slightly darker than the external colours. The shells are painted with a mix of Citadel and Vallejo acrylics. Top tip apply yellow as a series of very fine washes. Once the final coat was applied the ridge line of paint disappears.
The lower hull is now assembled with the contrast between driving and fighting compartments surface finishes clear to see. The black surfaces are Vallejo Black Grey. Note the worn Fibre shell canisters that line the sides of the fighting compartment and the subtle weathering of the chequerboard flooring. The finish for the extinguisher is Citadel Goblin Green, which is a useful colour to have for all sorts of detailing work, especially periscope optics.
Above is a shot of the driving compartment showing the drivers tiller bars and cockpit dials. The round containers, which were often seemed to ‘disappear’ in the field, are starting to bed in nicely. Any mould lines that appear can be removed from view by gently rotating the container.
Lower hull overview; the interior of these early AFV’s was surprisingly uncluttered by today’s standards where fire control computers and complex sights fill the fighting areas.
Christopher Woolford says
My dad’s first trip abroad was as an M 10 driver/gunner. He rarely spoke of those days, but he did tell me that the metal trunking and waterproofing sealants designed to allow carriages to wade ashore had taken weeks to fit and check. Minutes after landing, batteries were marshalled off the Normandy beach into a nearby field. There, pairs of REME engineers, stripped to their waists and wielding sledge hammers, leapt aboard each carriage to bash off its trunking in a few noisy seconds. Men on the ground dragged the battered trunking to be flattened by arriving and departing carriages. Within minutes of landing, M 10s were ready to fight.
I have learned more about the M 10 from your great build than I knew until now. Thanks Ben. There might be an Airfix M 10 diorama in the offing for me.