Ok I completed my Pershings last night. kudos to Battlefront but they really have leaned their lesson from Open Fire. These are a joy to assemble and everything lines up perfectly.
Here are a few shots of one of the tanks being painted . My paint job is a tad simpler than Grey Hunters but I hope people will still find it useful.
Firstly I undercoated the tanks with Halford's Black Primer. This was followed by a base coat of Humbrol Olive Drab spray. This is a quite an expensive option at £5 for a mere 150ml can but I find the Humbrol sprays give a very nice coverage and have the benefit of being more readily available as virtually all model shops stock them. It’s a very good match for Vallejo Brown Violet. Normally I paint the tracks on my Tanks in Vallejo Mahogony to give them a weathered appearance, however for the Pershings I decided I wanted to go for a more ‘fresh off the production line’ look so painted them in Matt Black.
Once dry I gave the whole model a wash in
GW Athonian Camoshade. As loathe as I am to recommended anything by
GW’s evil empire these days I have to give credit where it’s due, this really is an excellent wash. It doesn’t pool in the wrong places or dry in strange colours, which are problems I’ve had with other washes. This was followed by drybrushing the whole tank with Vallejo Brown Violet.
Once dry I thank painted the machine guns in Army Painter Gunmetal and gave the tracks a quick Gunmetal drybrush. Once dry I washed the machine gun with Army Painter Strong Tone ink. After that I applied the decals. For the large Star at the back I gave it a liberal soaking in Microsol after positioning the decal and left it overnight. I recently picked up a bottle of this stuff after a recommendation on the WWPD blog. It's brilliant and really helps the transfer set well against uneven surfaces and removes the silvery edging you often see on decals. I then brushed over the transfers with 'Ardcoat to help protect them, followed by a thin coat of Army Painter Anti Shine to remove the gloss effect.
I then gave the tracks and lower half of the tank a very light drybrush of Vallejo flat earth. Job done.
The complete platoon.