writes:Sometimes, when I show pictures of minis that I've painted on TMP, people tell me that my painting isn't that good. And you know what? That's fine. By sharing my 'ordinary' talents, I hope to make people comfortable with the idea that they don't have to be master painters in order to get their figures out on the tabletop.
M60A3s?
Now, here are some models that I finally got on and off my workbench. Only took me about 25 years. Really. After I read Bolger's Dragons at War about exercises at the U.S. Army's National Training Center, I've wanted to run some scenarios based on that. He wrote his book in 1986, and I read the paperback a few years after that, I was playing a lot of Command Decision back then so I did some force lists and ordered some figures. Then I changed jobs, moved across country, and these primed models ended up in a box. About a decade later, they got a basecoat before I changed jobs again… and finally, I pulled them out and put them back onto my workbench in 2015.
I'm pretty sure these are M60A3s from Scotia, but I could be wrong. 
I'm only showing a few of them; there are 25 in the full set (five packs). I don't remember if I ordered them from the U.K. or the U.S., but I do remember that the turrets arrived looking like a spider's nest, and I carefully untangled all the guns. The guns are still not 100% straight! One of the tanks has a repaired gun that I expect will fall off at any moment, but I can't figure out which model it is!
I remember worrying about what the 'official' color should be, but then I watched several military videos (yes, back then they were videos) and realized that in real life, colors varied and I could just use a cheap craft paint. I accentuated the shadows under the treads after watching video of tanks in the desert. I did use a wash and highlights, but they might be too subtle to be visible…
M125?
I'm also rebasing my older models. I used to use steel bases but I find that the bases are too thin to be easily handled, so I am rebasing to 3mm wooden bases with FlexSteel on the bottom (from Litko).
I'm pretty sure these are the M125 with 81mm mortar from C-in-C (they also make the M106 with the 4.2" mortar, but I think this is the 81mm because the mortar is smaller).
I probably painted these in the early 90s, and now they've been rebased. They were some of my first modern 1:285 vehicles to paint.
The lines of black camo were done with pencil, which I thought was a clever technique at the time.
Hard to see the mortar in there, as I 'shadowed' the interior to hide the fact that the mortar has no crew figures.
Now these models are ready to soldier on for future decades.