Ok, thanks so whats the drop ratio instead of the % ratio?

Jim and G ...great stuff ...I'm lovin' it!
Brad I found a picture of those light guards ,so I learnt something new and yours look smack on !! good job ...
Jay , a filters is nothing more than tinted thinner..These articles might help a bit..

http://www.missing-lynx.com/rareworld.htm

and take a look at these videos too..



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxwE4M5KLn0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOLcQVBa87E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx1e6ooh8PA

Jon's a great modeller and makes it look easy for us...enjoy!

Ok, I was wondering, I've gotten a suspension piece done which is HVSS and was wondering if you painted them while at this stage or when they are on the lower hull. I've also gotten a picture of the suspension piece and am getting ready to upload it as soon as the camera gets here which is with my g/f and needed some advice on that. I didn't glue the brass/copper tube that goes on it in which it told me to but wasn't sure if I should of or not. I didn't really understand the suspension part assembly stage for the glueing and didn't really glue anything at all together. It moves at the spring area and didn't know if that was wanted or if it shouldn't move at all. I've actually learned alot from the first suspension piece assembly and am now understanding how to put it together a bit easier. Also are my tires supposed to be able to spin once on the suspension piece? Thanks and hopefully you get back to me on this.

Well the HVSS suspension is kind of hard to paint once it"s all put together but if you are good with your airbrush you could do it ..it really is up to you..(I'd paint before gluing them on the hull ..but that's me !)
As for the suspension and how it goes together I'm going to let someone else chime in on this since I've not built it yet ,but if it looks fragile or might break if it moves ..just glue it, you'll be safer...

Hmm...ok, well tbh there are really no fragile parts on the suspension. I've gotten the copper tube glued in place but was just wondering if the suspension is supposed to move as it doesn't tell me. For the painting portion looks like I'll have to prime everything then tape of the wheels and copper piece then spray it over with OD. If anyone has any other colors for the different pieces on the suspension just let me know. I'll have pictures of the suspension piece asap.

I agree Richard on the painting approach for the HVSS, but it's your call. Do what you feel comfortable with Jay.
Regarding the suspension assembly, the instructions should give you some kind of info noting moveable parts if applicable. If they are movable, I wouldn't play with them too much as they are still going to be relatively fragile.

Jay ...the copper tube is OD as well ..




Rick

haha sorry I didn't know that this is my first tank at this scale and didn't realize that thanks.

Did the M4, and the M4A1 have a different 75mm gun?

I have a Jordi Rubio barrel, that is considerably shorter than the kit barrel.

No same barrel ..there was an early and a late gun(flared muzzle on the early) but they were the same length ..I hate to say it but some of that Jordi stuff isn't worth the metal it was made from..

Rick

Great work by all guys.

I will be back on board in the next few days. It's been a very tough week. It makes you realise just how precious your loved ones are.

Thanks Richard and team for '"holding the fort"' it is much appreciated.

I will go back though all the posts I've missed later.

It's been a while, but here's an update on my M7 build.
First of all, let me express my deepest condolences for your loss Paul. I know how painful it is lose a loved one, and my heart goes out to you and your family.
As far as the build is concerned, I've finished painting the driver's compartment and detailing the interior of the rest of the fighting compartment.




Most of the painting was done with Pollyscale OD with a dusting of Doc O'Brien's weathering powders. The rifle racks were made with thin plastic sheet. The ammo storage racks were thinned to accept the 105mm rounds in their shipping tubes, and mounting strips with Archer surface detail rivets were added. The kit's rear bulkhead was for the late configuration, and thus completely wrong, so I scratchbuilt a new one. Some parts taken from an Academy M36, a few odds and ends from the spares box, some sheet plastic, and bit of stretched sprue did the trick. The cleaning rods and fire extinguishers also came from the spares box.
Next up is attaching the sides plates of the fighting compartment and final fitting out and detailing. It's taken a fair deal of effort, but it looks like the finish line is in sight. I'll post some more pics as soon as I get more done.

Amen to that. The Jagdtiger/Maus barrel I got a while back was... lacking..

Paul: Now worries mate, understood and you do what you need to.

Ed: How do you like the Pollyscale paints?

Hi everyone, been away fora couple of weeks.. Great builds here!
Got a lot of shermans in the works-

DD M4A1, almost done

M4A3 76mm just startede

M4, almost done

I'll post some photos soon!

Welcome back Cal!
Ed great job on that priest ...How was that Thompson fixed to the wall?

Rick

Jeremy : So far no complaints with the Pollyscale paints. They brush paint pretty well and aren't too difficult to thin for the airbrush. I've only used the two shades of OD in their line, so my experience is a little limited, but so far so good.

Richard : As near as I can tell from the photos I've seen, there are a pair of squared U-shaped mounts for a gun rack there. They don't show up well, if at all in the pic, and there's a bit of guesswork involved on my part as to what they look like. It may not be completely accurate, but I don't think I'm too far off, and it does dress up that spot nicely.

I had a very busy week at work but I managed to push on. Here's a few shots of the ready for primer build.

The front of the hull.



Turret





One reference was a good closeup of the field phone carried on the rear. This was wired to the tanks intercom so ground troops could communicate with the crew and call out targets.



I finally made it to a hobby shop and picked up some hex rod. I sliced this into sections and with some superglue made the bolts that held the slats to the hull.





I assembled the PE hatch cages. I believe there was more CA on me than the parts when finished. I haven't worked with PE much so this was a new experience.





She's in primer now and maybe paint tonight.

G

Ed: Great to hear mate, may be picking some of them up soon

G: Lookin' sharp there, can't wait to see the pain star flyin'!

Jeremy the paint is flying as we speak.

The base coat of tan is on, and I'm studying the books ready to paint the camo.

G

Dry enough to photograph.

Little exists as to what shades these tanks were actually painted.References say tan, black, brick red, and forest green.

I mixed the base color from Tamiya desert tan, buff and white. The sandbags are airbrushed deck tan straight from the bottle. I love my Renegade Velocity!
I have Vallejo colors that I will use for the remainder of the pattern, hand brushing them as the crew did oh so many years ago..











G

Good stuff G ...are you sure you want to hand paint it? Might be better just to just paint the edges and airbrush the interior of the colors or to mask as spray ...wouldn't want you to get big brush marks on it. I've got a hard edge to do too and still trying to figure out what I'm going to do ,but I know hand painting is out of the question since I'm using Tamiya paints.. Vallejo is a different story though..Have fun!

Hi All;

I thought it was about time I updated my Sherman Bolster and get some paint on it. Since the original vehicle was built on a war-weary Sherman V, I decided to go for faded SCC 15 with a few bits of faded OD.











I am not happy with the colour of the rails on, so I repaint them similar to the turntable before I start weathering. As for marking, nice and simple, none The photos I have seen of this beast show no signs of any unit or formation markings, not even a WD number. The only thing is what looks like some hand writing on the side that looks a bit like a workshop job number.

Cheers
David

D_J_W - that is a sweet build!

Richard - I have debated this, and debated this, and debated this, until I'm crosseyed .

I previously hand painted a hard edge pattern on a Chi Ha with Vallejo and was very pleased. Thinned with distilled water it brushes exceptionally well.

I really wasn't up to all that masking





I usually keep the Vallejo for figures, but thought I'd break it out again.

G

Wayne G, just wondering if the track links on your turret should have end connectors on them? (Isn't that how they were welded to the turret?). Just curious, you could be working from a photo, I confess I'm not up on my Pacific Shermans.
Edit - curiosity got the better of me! Now I know and learned something new!
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Iwo/img/USMC-C-Iwo-p21.jpg

Jim

G: Looking good, can't wait to see how the hand-painted camo turns out. If it's anything like your Type 97 then it's going to be great!

David: You're probably going to laugh, but I have no idea what a Sherman Bolster is. Your model is the first time I've seen one. Very interesting...