Road to CONflict – Part III

The tanks for Road to CONflict were built, all Warlord Games tank kits, 4 Shermans (one of which was a Firefly) and a Hellcat (this is the Italeri model produced for Warlord Games).

Next up would be to modify these tanks and add lots and lots of bits and pieces to them, to make them fit the post-apocalyptic setting. I used various regular plastic and metal bits, as well as 3d printed items. I will link the 3d printed items below, a great source was Imitation of Life, who offers a lot of items that are Fallout and Necromunda themed, so a great addition for this project.

• Imitation of Life - Gas Canisters and Cylinders
• Imitation of Life - Plastic Barrels
• Baschz - Milk crate
• TontoTraveler - Beer crate

All items were printed on my Anycubic Mono 4K in regular grey resin.

Beyond that I went through my bits box and grabbed some remainers from various sprues

• Rubicon Allied Stowage and British Stowage
• Dead Mans Hand Plastic Gunfighters
• Stargrave Crew, Mercenaries and Troopers
• Various Warlord Games Tank Stowage sprues

And while I allocated some bits to the tanks I needed more structure, so I went tank by tank.

Beginning with the M18 Hellcat. I had some issues with missing tools from the sprue, so I wanted to cover those gaps up.

I didn't want to go too much overboard with this one, more like a post-world war two equipment and obviously had to fill the racks around the turret with bags and packs. As I had no intention to make painting them harder than it needed to be, I would later on close the turret with a tarp.

The first M4 Sherman, I build before will stay like this, regular replacement parts, like addition track sections and a few rolled up tarps here and there. Overall pretty close to the standard issue, that you would see roll out the factory.

The next M4 Sherman, call sign Fortress, should look more salvaged and pieced together with things the driver found in the wastelands to keep the tank going. I had a gunshield, that I cut into to sections and want to paint up like street signs later on, beyond that tools and practical equipment would be something, that should be on that tank. The owner even managed to get his hands on an MG34 and replaced the pintle mounted with it.

A lean aspect would this Sherman Firefly, Red 5 be, a very personalized vehicle, with a teddy bear and I cut up a Stargrave miniature to make him fit the hatch, but gave him the arms of a Cowboy / Gunfighter from Great Escape to keep it post war and not move it too far into sci-fi. The driver would keep it practical, some tools, some spare parts and gas cans.

And then there is M4 Sherman "Rusty". This one would go full on wasteland warrior. Everything he can find should be added to the vehicle, and I had something special in mind for the driver himself. I used the body of a German soldier in smocks, added the head and arms from a Gunfighter and tinkered quite some time to build a fitting seat.

Beyond that, I wanted a huge speaker on the tank, along with various beer cans, bottles and even an iron pan.

In the last step I used some tissue paper, that I dipped in thinned down pva and used it as tarps and rolled up blankets, to cover the open turret of the Hellcat along with some of the boxes on other vehicles.

That's it, we have five very different vehicles waiting for paint and that should provide enough choice for the players to do either team co-op or open deathmatches of either game.