The weekend is in sight so that means its time for Flames of War Friday.

This week I've busted out my airbrush and got stuck into painting up the Shermans from the Open Fire set. For painting the Allied forces I'm using the Vallejo Range. The key colours which you'll need are Russian Green, Green Grey, Black, Chocolate Brown, Light Brown, and Gunmetal, which are available in both the Model Colour and Model Air ranges. These colours will also be used a lot when it comes to painting the infantry.

Stage 1 Firstly I gave each take a coat of grey primer, but you could just as easily use a black or green primer as well. Primers adhere very well to the plastic and form the foundation for the paints which follow. Then I gave a base coat of Model Air Russian Green using my airbrush.

Stage 2 is applying the zenithal highlights. While it might sound complicated this airbrushing technique is actually really easy to pick up. I airbrushed each model with a 25% Green Grey to 75% Russian Grey mix at a 30 degree angle. This way the lighter paint only covers the raised portions of the Sherman and gives a graduated shading. I repeated this step twice more; each time increasing both the amount of Green Grey and the angle of spraying.

Stage 3 Now the green is complete it's time to paint the details. The tracks, road wheels and machine guns are given a coat of Black, as well as the handles on the top stowed tools. The edges of the tracks, tool heads and hull machine gun were then carefully painted with Gunmetal

Stage 4 Now the base coats and details have been painted its time to give the Sherman a wash. I mixed up a 50–50 Dark Brown and Black wash and applied this all over the model. Then I used a cotton bud to remove any excess before cleaning up the flat surfaces of the tank with a damp brush. You want to make sure the wash is sitting in the recesses and panel lines of the tank without pooling. After this had dried (you can speed this up with a hair dryer) I carefully used a Black Wash directly along the panel lines and deep joins of the hull and turret.

I prefer to use the washes after painting the details as it helps cover any slight mistakes made when painting the small details and gives a nice transition between the colors.

Stage 5 At this point the tank is looking great for table-top use but if you want to go a bit further then you can add some more highlights and weathering. For the highlights I've used a 50–50 mix of Russian Green and Green Grey and carefully painted it along the edges of panels and corners of the Sherman. You'll want to use a fine detail brush for this to get a nice thin line, I used the Army Painter Insane Detail Brush . Then the tool handles were given a highlight of Light Brown.

Stage 6 I then gave a quick brush of AK Dark Earth weathering powder on road wheels and around the tracks to show the build up of dust, dirt and mud on the tank.

So that's how I've painted our shermans using an airbrush and some more advanced techniques. If you're just getting in to Flames of War and are looking for a quick and easy Sherman painting guide then check out this great video from Battlefront…