Will have to keep an eye on that base.

Sounds pretty good.

Andy,

Smashing good job! I like your plans for the beach with angle iron!

Keep up the great work!

Gday Andy
This has come along more than nicely mate. Great work with the stacks and the paint looks great. I agree that most of the decals are a little oversize when comparing it to the original stills, but man, they have impact!
You mentioned Juno beach, but I think you would want Utah beach as your setting for the 70TB landings...
Cheers
Brad

Andy,

Looks great can't wait to see it in person, you have encougraged me to show the a3 I've been fighting with. How do you get in all those nooks and crannies...high PSI?

Ryan

Andy very nice job on this one. It is looking very sweet. Nice work on the painting and markings. Thanks for sharing.

Brad....duh, your right (my title to the build even says Utah beach, maybe i should read my own stuff eh?!)

i need to start hunting down some color pictures of Utah beach...maybe google maps will help...

Thanks again for all the comments!

I got the rest of the decals on this weekend, cleaned everything up, and airbrushed a coat of future for wash/filter/weathering prep. Im going to use it in the club demo tomorrow night on using oil paint for washes and filters. I also sprayed the white interior, and the canvas parts. Pictures will be up soon!

Oh, if you havent check out and used Bison decals, they are EXCELENT...very sturdy, thin, and they look like paint! fantastic stuff...and the one set gave me enough to do 5 or 6 more shermans!

anybody have the tamyia "Obstical and baricades" set? I just want one of the angle iron ones to use as a pattern to scratchbuild one using more inscale plastic (unless they look great already?)

More done over the weekend...
Filters...and a dark wash. Its glossy now because of the coat of future and the linseed oil used while doing the filters. After I let this dry, and do some subtile drybrushing (as well as clean up the wash a bit with a moistened brush), ill flat coat and get ready for some more weathering. i also have a bunch of stowage to add.







comments always welcome!
Andy

I like the contrast on the model right now- very eye appealing. aw heck, i just love shermans

Andy,

Looks terrific, have you done any pigment work to the blade?

Ryan

This looks excellent, Andy! Looking forward to seeing it finished

Cheers,
Ian

Hi Andy,

Looking the Bees Knees, great work, turning out a treat

Al

Hey Andy
She is looking the part mate...
Just a thought, but did the wading stacks have guy wires for support? I seem to remember a photo I have that may have shown this...
Brad

Yes, you are right...if you look closely at the pics, i added the little loops/ brackets at the top of each trunk to add these wires, which I will do when I start doing stowage and final details.

all, i hope to get some drybrushing and such done this weekend, so updated pics will be comming soon....I need to start working on the base!!

Nice work! I've always liked those special vehicles.

lars

I love Sherman detailling threads, and this one has been great to read, you've one some great work, and this will look superb when complete.

A comment on the 'angle iron beach obstacle' - these are commonly known as 'Czech Hedgehogs' and the ones in the Tamiya set are great OOTB. However, might I also suggest Italeri's barricades set (no. 401) which in my opinion is a better looking version (It is made from angle iron rather than railway line type steel in the Tamiya set, although this was commonly used). You also can build some of th tree trunk type obstacles with this set two which may present some vaiety (or a good 'victim' for the dozer blade!).

I'm doing a d-day dio myself at the minute and opted for the Italeri hedgehog over the Tamiya counterpart - a tip is to texture the surface with poly cement to give it that rusty 'feel'.

keep up the good work!

James

progress continues...though slower due to being busy this last weekend.
Did some drybrushing with a mix of oil paint, my favorite medium for this stuff. I mixed a light olive, NOT white for my drybrushing. I have graduated to the "subtile is better" class of modelers for sure. The pictures dont show it very well (yet), but in person it is perfect, and much easier to control than using enamels.


here is the color I mixed...using white, sap green, and some yellow ochre.
The light areas on the blade are reflections from the tinfoil!


Jessie, thanks for the tips on the italieri set..ill have to find me one soon! Regional contest comming up in May and I hope to finish this by then.
Andy

Top marks Renshaw...it will be dueling Shermans at the next club meeting...

Ryan

Looks great! Fantastic build!!!

Update! after a couple of busy weeks i was able to squeze in some modeling time...

drybrushing and flat coat (testors dullcoat) added...some detail painting started. Also added the "painted out" turret star. Just cut a mask from tape, used it as a template to draw a star in pencil on the turret, then removed the mask and free hand painted the star making it look like it was painted out with a darker green paint.



a close up...i wanted some variety on the tools, so i painted the ax handle to look like some paint has worn off and wood is showing..it will be weathered and painted further, that is just the floquil "foundation" painted on..several more steps to go.

sorry for the hazzy photos..didnt use a tripod..


Stowage!! here is my pile of items I pulled from the parts pin and other sources...lots of packs, crates, helms, ammo tubes, etc. Much of the stowage such as tarps and stuff will be made with Das putty.
The item on the bottom is the start of a cammo net. I found a pic (also in the US Armored Funnies book) of some 70th TB loaded on a LCT, and it has a great shot of some stowage. Looks like it was standard to carry a cammo net on the left sponson, so that is what this will become...


a close up of the net... your classic rolled gause but with small bits of masking tape cut into various size strips, layered and tucked, to make the strips of fabric on the net. Gause by itself just doesnt cut it.


the finished net on the tank. I wraped some longer strips around it width wise to replicate straps holding it down, then started soaking it with a 50-50 mix of white glue and water. I didnt glue it to the tank, so it will peel up a bit for painting. But it sure has the texture and look...a little extra work adding all those strips is worth it!


ill start adding stowage with Das putty next...all those folded tarps...and adding straps to the packs to hang off the turret.
comments welcome!
Andy

Hi Andy,

Great work, looking forward top the finish.

Al

Andy, Wow...can't wait till the next meeting. The camo gauze etc. is great! The tools came out nice, mine looks way to clean compared to yours..

Ryan

thanks for the comments guys!

here is the cammo net painted...sans any drybrushing or highlights. That will be done on the overall stowage once its all placed on the vehicle.


Starting to work on painting some other bits...

the ammo crates are first painted a tan, then ill paint olive green leaving some areas of tan showing (worn paint/ etc), then wash the whole thing in brown/black oil paint...
The cable reel is an old taymia product with the center cut out, sides thinned, and a new middle added with plastic tube. there is a narrow tube that spans the width of the reel, then a larger tube centered but a gap was left between the outside sides and larger tube. This allows for a layer of wire to be wrapped along the sides of the reel and then totaly covers all the tube. This way I get the appearance of a lot of wire wraped but not actully having to wrap that much.

till next time...
Andy

that looks !@#$%^&*()_+ awesome, if only i could model that well. just a question, when you dullcoat, do you thin it and apply from airbrush and how long do you have to wait till it starts getting dull? everytime i spray it it gets a little shiny. excellent work i hope to see more

Calvin,
Thanks for your comments! As for the dullcoat, ive never had a problem with it getting shiny on me. I use both the rattle can and the airbrush depending on the situation. On simple models with large surfaces (like a MAUS), i use the rattle can. On this one, because of all the nooks and crannys, details, etc I use the airbrush so I can control where the dullcoat is going (and how much). I use Lacuer thinner (gallon can from Wal-Mart) to thin, usualy between 30% to 50% (its not an exact science for this stuff).
The only issue Ive had is how it can frost up if applyied heavy (especally on humid days). I just keep doing light passes untill it starts getting dull.
Hope that helps you out some!
Andy