Hello again, finally here are some photos of my Sherman DD, almost completed now!



And here's a figure i made from different figure parts....

Hey Cal
looking good mate! I like seeing Joe Peckerwood proudly displayed there...
Can you get some lower angle shots of the tank and figure?
Brad

Thank you Brad, I'll see if I have time for that tonight, I'm going away for 6 weeks tomorrow so will be awhile till I can finnish this one

Love the way the guy is leaning against the fence. Speaks volumes to me.

Tony the Mutt:)

Thank you,
Jeremy, Tom, Paul, Richard, and Bradley for the observations. I will not use the hull at the moment and pull out the Tank Work Shop M4 Composite hull since I know what/where/how to use it to model 'OLE MISS from B Company, 44th Tank Battalion in the Philippines in February 1945. The hull should be in the photo from my thread back early in the campaign. Again thanks for the help.

Bob

Thanks Tony, I like the pose too

Here's another photo from a lower angle as requested

Nice job Cal,,,great base too..

Thanks Richard, very simple, just need to paint it green so that it looks like Normandy!

Folks a day of Judgement has arrived.
I've been mixing and testing all day and here is my finial try at "Olive Drab".
So if you would, critique this bad boy like it was a step child.

I think I left enough room for the raw umber wash and still retain a scale tone effect but only you Sherman jocks can determine that for me.

Thanks for your opinions
Tony the Mutt

Tony, it looks good to me . Nice build so far and I love all of the extras. How many hours do you have in the kit now

Bob

OH MY Bob I have no idea. Being retired i've got all the time in the world to model and never think of keeping track. I work a little while then get up and move around,get a cup of coffee. Work a little while then get up and go to the den and check the forums to see what's going on.

Most of the time i'm scratching my head trying to figure out what to do next and how to do it.

Extras,I love extras
Tony the Mutt

Tony, you sound a little like myself only the VA sent me back to school to edemacate me

Bob

Ok, I've started getting into re-doing the handles. I've got the brass rods to do it and I've done one handle, it took forever the way I did it and was wondering how you all do it and with what do you do it with? I was also wondering what wash I should use for my Sherman that is in Okinawa what color paint do I use and do I use enamel or acrylic? Thanks and talk to you later.

One way to do handles:
1) get a needlenose plier, maybe one where the inside isn't too rough. A perfect example is the pliers on your classic Leatherman Multitool.
2)measure the handle you want to replace
3)measure the nose of the pliers and mark a point where the width of the plier is the handle length minus roughly one mm
4)get hold of a brass, copper or florist wire of roughly 0.4mm strength
5) place the wire in the plier where you put your mark and bend the wire down on both sides; try to get a sharp bend (means press the wire tightly to the sides of the plier nose)
6) straighten out any mishaps and go look if the handle fits in length
7) don't get too exited over measurements, most important is the handles aren't really dented or scratched too much

to be continued, got to work a little.....

part two:

now should have ended up with a piece of wire shaped like a ''U''. now the placement:
1) cut of one leg of the U to the desired height of the handle (which means: how far should the handle stick up from the hull); for a hatch of a sherman in 35scale i usaually eyeball a millimetre
2)now you shoul have a piece of wire shaped like a Times New Roman ''L'' (which means the lower leg of the L has its end bent up a wee bit)
3)cut of the other leg of the L 'till it's not too long anymore (means till it's a rough 7mm in length)
4)slice off the old handle from the hatch/hull/motor deck/whatever and drill a hole on one end of the old handle position almost exactly the diameter of your wire, be shure to drill ALL THE WAY TROUGH
5)now you should be able to slide the ''L'' with it's long leg into the hole till the handle sits on the hull
6)hold in place (so it won't slide in farther on the ''Long Leg Of The L Side''); of course, if you've found the right drill to your wire the handle should stick a little in its positioning hole
7)place a wee bit of super glue on the handle on both sides where it meets the hull
8)you should now have ended up with a nice little handle with weald beads on the meeting ends

Sorry for no pictures. This is just a short intro. You will find lots of stuff on handles on forums like Missing Linxs, Tracklink.com and others, maybe even here in our home (never looked).
I can't find it on their site any more but other lovely stuff to try out you can find here:
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/helpdesk.asp#tech_tips

Any questions to my prose, by al means be my guest...

Awesome work on the DD Sherman!!
And, Tony: gotta looooove the OD on your M7!!! Did I mention I'll use your build as reference for mine one day?

How many participants are there by now Paul? How about making this a regular thing, like The Sherman Campaign 2010, 2011,....2020... ? I shure plan to build at least two of our beloved Mediums a year in the future...

Really nice work going on here

Tony L. , Never thought I would see the day that you're spraying OD !!!! The M7 looks good. Just got mine and look forward to building it. Are you sticking with the Fruil's?

Randy

Leo I think you'll enjoy building the M7 and Thanks
Randy you know me and SPGs. Watching Patton 360 caused me to have a moment of weakness Keep it under your hat,I don't want this to get out.

They say Friuls don't work very well for American stuff because of their weight causing sag.
The DS tracks look real nice so i'm going to give them a shot first and if all else fails it's back to the Friuls.

Really a nice kit to work with.
Tony the Mutt

PS: BTW speaking of the DS tracks they seem to be two links too long. Is there a toot around some where to do this? I can't seem to find one if there is.

Thanks
Tony the Mutt

Heya Tone
I like the look of your paint work mate. It is really capping off a nice build all around. For me, the finish you have achieved is close to Modelmaster OD which I think is suppposed to be the closest to WWII OD, but for scale I'd probably want it a touch more dark. That said, I have sprayed US armour with many different shades and once the washes and weathering take effect, well they all turned out similar...

Brad

Thanks Brad and it is darker than the picture. My photo lights do a number and me not being a photo bug doesn't help.

We'll see here pretty soon.
Tony the Mutt

Thanks a lot Leo I appreciate your help I'll see what I can do tomorrow as I've got a few more hatches to do and the engine cover as well. I'll post pics up once I have most of the upper hull done. Should I attach the accesories like shovels and stuff on before I paint them? What color do I use for the wood on the shovel that is more realistic or do I paint everything OD? Btw what diameter of drill bit do I use for the handles? Thanks and let me know.

Jay: If you can, it would be a good idea to pick up a pin vise and a small drill index, provided you don't have either of those in your toolkit already. The drill index should provide you with several small sizes suitable for whatever size wire you are using now or will use in the future.

Hiya guys, well i figured i better join in since ive never built a sherman (doe) yeh i know dont say it LOL.
anyway im building this one

its not a bad kit too damn bogies are fiddly tho but least they done now on with the easy stuff, since this is a first sherman for me i'll do it OOB and improve things on the next ones i do ( got about 6 of em now in the stash)
heres todays progress.



might get a little more done tonight.
cheers,
Graham

Graham, nice looking kit there I have yet to purchase a Dragon but it looks like the molding is really good. I plan on building the M4 in OD and Brown from the Italian campaign.

I am using the Italeri base and road wheels and other parts along with a Formations one piece transmission, and hull. The problem that I have run into is the engine deck I do not know which one to use or create.


I lost several resin parts when they flew off while being removed form the tree and had to make some from plastic.

If anyone has any info on the rear deck, like a drawing it wuould help


Bob