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I just wanted to show off my Captured Sherman Firefly VC for my D-Day German Panzerkompanie from Earth & Steel. Last step is to apply decals and fabricate a drapped german flag. C&C are welcome.

Very nice paint job

Very nice paintjob.

You can go mad with the decals...

Thanks. This is the fastest panting project I ever had. Start to finish in 2 hours. I wanted to decal it like an American Tank and drape a German flag to show it was just captured. BUT my plans changed as I just won a painting prize from a tournament I played today and the prize was Itlaian or British decal set. So, now it will be a brit captured tank.

Well kinda has to be a captured British tank as the Americans didnt use Fireflies and the wavy barrel disguish you have painted was only used in Normandy.

(Well actually they did use them for a limited period in Italy but thats a little OT...)

Late war the Germans didnt use flags for recog due to enemy air superiority, but I have seen pics of captured tanks on display in rear areas draped with a flag over the hull front.

The sherman has a ridiculously high profile, I always forget this but then I see pictures like above and I do wonder what the hell were the allies thinking. But then it didn't matter because it just had to be adequate, but produced in such vast numbers that it doesn't matter.

mwnciboo wrote:The sherman has a ridiculously high profile, I always forget this but then I see pictures like above and I do wonder what the hell were the allies thinking. But then it didn't matter because it just had to be adequate, but produced in such vast numbers that it doesn't matter.

It was principally because the initial Shermans had a massive radial engine, which took up a lot of space. There was also the drive train that ran under the turret to the transmission in the nose - the turret basket sat on top of the drive train. One of the many innovations that the Soviet designers came up with was rear-mounted drive sprockets, which saved internal space. Unfortunately, they blew most of the advantages of that with poor internal layout, but that's another story.

The Firefly's long gun sort of compensates for that high profile. It's the best looking Sherman (IMO) until the Israeli 'Super Sherman'.

Warlord Imp - as Big P said, your Firefly should have British (or Polish) markings, then it would have prominent crosses so it's clear that it's under new management. Once of the vehicles in Big P's selection of photos has actually been re-painting in the German 3-colour scheme.

Ok thanks, good thing I got my British decals before my American. Also the reason why I wanted to do the flag is because I was thinking that the Germans just captured it and were still on the move thus, had no access to paint or even the time to paint. Also, give me the chance to experiment with flags.

Like this?



“Nicht Ausschlachten, Für Okh-Wa.Pru, Erbeutet durch I/Pz.Rgt.5", which translate roughly to ”Don’t cannibalize, for Okh-Wa.Pru, captured by I/Pz.Rgt.5.” Thats from Nortn Africa though, but its a captured Sherman with a flag...

mwnciboo wrote:The sherman has a ridiculously high profile, I always forget this but then I see pictures like above and I do wonder what the hell were the allies thinking. But then it didn't matter because it just had to be adequate, but produced in such vast numbers that it doesn't matter.

Well the German tanks like the Tiger and Panther were taller, they just don't look it because they are so big in every other direction.

Yeah, but their armor made up for their height.

the Sherman didn't have armor to compensate for its height.