I knew all along it was going through the vent cover.

Nice picture Steve and welcome!









~ Jeff

Not through the vent COVER. There's a special mounting plate that replaces the cast armored ventilator cover and is used to mount the mast base (antenna mount).



I'll be looking forward to seeing this one in person sometime Terry!

Thanks fot that Mike. Your timing is exquisite as I will be building the mount tonight!

Terry

Glad to help, Terry.

Note that the circular mounting plate is held "pround" of the hull by way of a ring cast into the hull which would normally go into the bottom of the mushroom-shaped cast armored ventilator cover (forming a bullet / shrapnel trap). This is what creates the shadow line around the bottom of the mounting plate in the photo.

At anyrate, I'm glad that Mr. Zaloga was able to catch this thread in time to give us the links to the other photos. It's pretty crazy that a one-in-a-thousand chance created the circumstances where the farside antenna lined up so prefectly with the nearside periscope (on a hatch that opened at an angle, no less). Just think if the photographer had only been standing a couple of feet left or right all of the angles would have been different and this would never have occured.

Wow, so now that "Antennagate" is settled. Let's get on with it! I'm a little embarrased to admit that I painted and "futured" and decaled the tank, before all the conversation about the mast. Here she is with an initial coat of Floquil Rail Brown, my favorite OD

Then I removed the mast from the ventilator based on the "optical illusion" photo and had mounted it in this ridiculous position!


Then Jesse and Steve and Mike saved my bacon, and I ripped the mast off, and the mushroom cover and got to work! I used some Grandt line bolts for the exposed heads



Then punched some discs using my wonderful $6 punch set from the tool guy at the flea market! One to represent the cast ring, then the 2 piece base.



Next I decided to scratch the mast since the one from verlinden was the incorrect type. So I cut a couple pieces of rod, tapered the one for the top in my dremel and made the spring by wrapping a strand of speaker wire around a piece of stem wire from Michael's. Then I glued it together and painted it



Also, I had sprayed the tracks Floquil steam power black, then I painted the connectors Tamiya Gunmetal, followed by a wash of Floquil Rust.



Then I Dullcoated the whole thing with my airbrush, straight out of the bottle.

Next we'll try to recreate that crazy camo!

Thanks for looking,

Terry

I really like your OD Terry. Not too dark. The antenna looks great. Looking forward to the camo.

I believe the "bump" is caused by an object in the background.

Coming along nicely!
Judging from the photo that Steve Z. posted, I think that you need yet another disc under the antenna base, diameter matching the diameter of vent cover plus matching bolts on top of it.

Regards,
Greg

Thanks Mike for that correction as I am always craving for Sherman FYI's and it will come in handy for future builds.

But it did go through the models vent cover, huh.








~ Jeff

Well, in the sense that it was installed in the new, flat circular mounting plate that covered the ventilator's opening, then yes, it did go through the vent's cover (the new plate does cover the vent opening). But in the sense that it went through the standard armored ventilator cover, then no.

I was just trying to make the point to Terry that he should replace the armored, mushroom-shaped cover with a flat plate with four bolt heads and mount the antenna base (mast base) to that. The antenna base was not mounted on a modified standard cover.

There was a special, design purpose mounting plate for that that looks the same as the flat plate used to mount the mast base in the special antenna "pot" on the M4 (welded hull). This plate replaced the standard armored mushroom-shaped cover (and the normal M4 antenna "pot" plate without the mast base hole).

At any rate, I don't want to hijack Terry's thread here, but this has been an interesting and educational tangent to his build.

Thanks guys, additional plate added!

Yup... educational and more. I have a 1/16th A1 to build and this information will come in handy if I do go this route so I did learn a lot guys and thanks.

And, nice work Terry.









~ Jeff

Latest update.

Added one more plate for the antenna, hopefully this now approximates the real thing!



Cut the plates for the air cleaner covers and the tiny skirts from plastruct




Then airbrushed the whole thing with this stuff straight out of the bottle. Haven't used this technique before, so no promises!



Here it is prior to camo



And here is the camo. I used Polly S "Mud" with a flat #4 brush. This was very foreign to me as I use an airbrush for just about everything! I try to keep imagining the camo being applied in the field with a mop or broom. Looks pretty harsh right now, but the weathering will tone things down!



Next the detail painting of tools, road wheels, and adding the stowage. Stay tuned!

I'm not a big fan of the M4, but this looks excellent

Terry-- outstanding! What brand and color paint did you use to simulate the mud pattern?
Thanks
DJ

Polly S "Mud" - Hard to argue with that!

Looking forward to see how the weathering process changes the contrast and look of the M4. Very cool.

Looking good so far!

And that's my wives brand of hair spray too. I thought only aerosol worked and not the pump spray?







~ Jeff

aha! Maybe that's why my chipping isn't progressing how I had hoped! This one is turning into a great big experiment!

I think if you use the pump style, you want to decant it and then airbrush it... is that what you did?

Yes. Then dampened a small area and attacked ith a stiff brush, no luck...

That looks really nice Terry, very cool!

Gary

Hey Guys,

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've about finished this beast.

The hairspray didn't work at all. I was planning on chipping up the camo, but I guess the Polly S I slopped on was a little too thick. So I washed the whole model with a homemade dust mix of cheap yellow and white craft paint. Then I picked out some details with a burnt umber oil and mineral spirits pin wash. Then I added the stowage (tarps and crate are resin from Value Gear, jerry can and mussette bag from Verlinden, oil can from the Tamiya M4 kit.) I tied everything down with a strand of speaker wire. Added the tow cable, painted the tool straps and added P/E buckles. Painted the road wheels, put on the tracks (boy were they tight, I thought I was gonna snap off a wheel!)

Then the suspension was sprayed with a misting of Tamiya Desert Yellow and then the whole tank with Tamiya Buff. Added the aerials (bristles from a big ol paint brush!) The machine gun and ammo can. Painted the hull and turret MGs. Popped in a couple MV lenses and I am gonna call this one finished!




Ready to start something new and you can bet it will have airbrushed camo (if any) and will be from the ETO!!

Hope you enjoyed, thanks for watching!

Terry

Major Jim looks great terry... and a little easier than the M16 monster build...

A very nice build and an attractive subject, Terry.

Thanks for sharing!