I love the weathering. Great .50 cal.

Bob

Awesome....Awesome....and more Awesome!!!
Excellent finishing thus far Don this will really turn out nice.
Please post a few more pics of the Sherman at this point I'm poring over them to learn how your doing all this as I'll be trying the "method" on my next project.

Most Excellent!!!
Keep up the GREAT work

Hey Eric,

Here's a couple more angles I shot with the most recent batch of photos.






Hope you find these helpful.

Outstanding Don! You really nailed the look on the 50 cal!!!!!!

Don
MUCHO EXCELLENT!!!!

Another couple of weathering steps done. Started with an application of dust color paint on hull and wheels. I used a 50/50 mix of Vallejo light mud and dark mud thinned a bit and sprayed through the airbrush at 25psi. Before it dried completely, I went back with a brush dipped in Vallejo airbrush cleaner and removed or "scuffed" the paint randomly on the sides and on the tow points to reveal the chipping and light rust.





I let this all dry for a couple of days then gave the whole model a quick coat of vallejo satin to seal in the previous layers of acrylic and enamel. I've been mixing my satin from 50/50 gloss and matte since the two bottles of Vallejo satin I've tried have been problematic. One had broken down into chunks clogging my airbrush so I bought another from a different store and that one turned white after spraying. A light coat of Future fixed that but I won't be using the straight satin paint again.

The next step was to unify the lower hull with the upper hull and turret and I did this by augmenting the painted-on dust with the AK Interactive Dust effects and Earth effects. It turned out a bit lighter than I had intended on the turret, obscuring a bit more of the modulation and streaking grime than I would have liked, but oh well.




The last thing for this update is a bit of fuel staining on the deck and down the sides.




Probably a bit exaggerated but I image the crew might have been in a hurry to respond to last minute orders so refueling neatly probably wasn't always possible. Given that the 761st was in combat for 183 straight days with little time devoted to anything other than the most critical maintenance, the amount of dirt, mud and grime I'm putting on this model would probably be appropriate.

Next step...MUD!

Don,

That bad boy is really coming along nicely. I actually like the the weathering is covering up the modulation, but that's just personal preference.

I appreciate that Jesse. I think it turned out pretty well, its just that I had some interesting contrasts going on up on the turret. The modulation, grime and superficial rust stains were really looking good to me before the dust stage. Would like to have stopped the dust application about a half step sooner but it got away from me a bit. But as they say, there's always next time!

Hi Don,

The AK dust effects is a very nice useful color on olive drab finishes, but it’s very strong and can over power the finish. Fear not because I agree with Jessie. The weathering is perfect for a tank out in battle field conditions.

That is one bad a$$ looking weathering job!

Outstanding work there Don…JUST OUTSTANDING

Your weathering thus far is top notched and is works very well with your previous layers of finish, modulation, washes, etc. Even though you feel it came out a bit on the light side I really like your results to this point.

Often we our own worst critics.

Just an observation, I notice from your previous postings your sandbags are all the same color and tone. Might I suggest mixing some thinned downed oils of different tones of brown into a filter to add some visual interest. Wish I caught this earlier as it might be a bit too late given your current point in the weathering process. However the bottomline is they do look great as they are.

Can’t wait to see more, keep up the great work!!

Don, On my laptop your weathering looks simply fantastic, and it certainly looks real.

When are you going to put on the tracks? I usually like to add the tracks before the final weathering to help blend them into the general weathering of the rest of the tank.
Joel

Guys, thanks for the nice comments. Yes, it would seem that I am definitely my own worst critic!

Eric, as always, thanks for your enthusiasm. Fear not my brother, there is a plan to dress up those sandbags. If you go back to page 2, you'll see the reference photos I'm working off of (about 1/2 way down). The sandbags appear to be quite wet underneath with dry mud on the tops. So, I'll be using the two mud colors to differentiate them and add some more visual interest.

Joel, I've never done this before so I don't know how well it will work but my plan is to muddy the running surface of the tracks off of the tank. I'll do the mud on the lower hull and bogies at the same time. My photos show that this tank had quite a bit of mud on the tops of the bogies, under the return skids and on the outer surface. I want to be able to control how this goes on so I'll be doing it with the tracks off. I also want to protect the road wheel surface inside the track since the wheel surface would not be coated with mud but would instead just be wet and mud colored. So I'm going to be taping off the inner track surface and the wheel surfaces until after the mud splattering stage. Then, I'll put it all together, see how it looks and touch up where needed.

Well, it sounds good "on paper" anyway!

Don, your plan sounds like you have handle on all of it. I've always struggled with getting the tracks on and glued up, so I install them after basic painting, adjust the Idle wheels, and glue them in place. I just figured that the tracks would get the same mud, dirt, etc. that the whole lower hull would, so doing them together just sounded like the right thing to do.
Joel

Here are a couple more photos of the tanks in this platoon. One I've modeled the sandbags off of, the other one has a nice close-up of the muddied lower hull.




Hopefully, getting the tracks on after all that mud shouldn't be too difficult.

Don, I see what you mean. Looking forward to your next update with pictures.
Joel

Don, impressive work! great attention to detail and super clean. I was compelled to bookmark this one and will definitely be along for the rest of the ride.

Hey Don I have been absent for many moons and was so happy to see this thread still active! The painting and weathering has really made this stand out among it's peers. Loving the shots of the interior when peeking through the hatches.
I have noticed a couple of things that may or may not be relevant to you. The track tension adjusting tool may need a chain attached to the locking pin as is seen on the fuel filler caps? And I thought that the 'knob' that the pick handle sits over was hollow. Small things in the grand scheme of the build though!
All the best
Brad

Brad, great to see you back and thanks for tuning in! I very much appreciate your insight on a couple of the details on the rear deck. The track tension tool and sledge hammer will be covered up by the stowage so I didn't bother detailing them further or dressing up the paint. It's a shame to cover up the nice casting of the Formations pieces but that stowage has to go somewhere!

As to the pick, I think you are referring to the pick head not the handle and no, I did not know that the knob was supposed to be hollow. Again, it's a Formations piece and I would have thought it would have been cast correctly but oh well. Should be easy enough to drill out and touch up the paint if I get round to that. Thanks again for pointing it out.

I was hoping to get the mud started this weekend but got sidetracked with a couple of house projects. I'm going to try to get in a few late-night sessions this week to get this step done. Look for updates later in the week.

Cheers!

Mud and tracks are FINALLY on!





Mixed the AK mud colors in different proportions along with plaster and splattered it on with blasts from the airbrush through an old paintbrush. The difficulty here is that it always looked great when wet but once it dried overnight it was much lighter than planned. So I ended up doing about 3-4 layers of mud spray, the final one being straight "Fresh Mud" to get enough contrast between dried and wet mud.

Tracks were a bear to get on because they were quite fragile after all the work I've done on them. However, once on I just glued them to the roadwheels along the bottom so everything is pretty solid now.

Spent some time getting a nice wet look to the lower sandbags. Tried to get this to look as much like my reference photo as possible. A little satin paint over the mud colors added a final touch.



Stowage is done and just needs to be glued into place and tied down. Also need to do a bit of work on the spare idler to make it look like it's secure. All the reference photos of this particular setup are too fuzzy to determine how this was attached so I'll try to come up with something that makes sense.

After these two small items it's on to the crew!

Hey Don,

That looks AWESOME!!!!! Cant wait to see it with figures and a base!!!

Fantastic! I'm speechless! Can't beleive you've been at this for over 2 years now. ^

Cheers!
Stefan

Neither can he!

Stunning Sir, simply stunning!

G

Maybe this will help on the same picture that you have. I found life photos hosted by Google a few years back and the same picture you have as reference I found and you can make it into a large image. In the middle of the wheel they have a spoke or something down it with small chains connected the light frames. If that makes sense. Not sure how to say it. here is the link to the image. Hopefully it will help you. Your tank is awesome though and I have really enjoyed watching this build.

http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/7a6cb80a6b82e20e_large

Yeah, I know right? I guess that's the downside of not having a deadline! But the good thing is all the new stuff that came out since I started that I've been able to include like the Tiger Models loaders hatch, Miniart tank crew, and AK O.D. modulation set. There's also been an explosion of articles and videos on weathering techniques which I've taken advantage of. So in all, I wish this build would have gone faster, but I'm glad to have been able to take my time.

Thanks again for all the nice comments. Really means a lot after all this work!

Don, the final weathering looks fantastic. The tracks came out great. Going to use some of your weathering techniques. I really like the airbrush effect, then going back with the proper thinner. I wouldn't have ever thought of it.
Joel