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I started with flat black,then painted the handles with a woodish looking brown,I noticed the front handle is missing on yours.Then took a #2 pencil and rubbed the body of the MG with it.I think I over did it on the pencil thing,but I got caught up in the moment I learned all of these things on this site.Armorama is a great place.Jeff
Hi Jeff,
I never noticed the missing handle! Will try to rectify, but TBH its not something im going to worry about too much
Thanks for the pencil tip, might give it a go.
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I believe that kit was used fall 1943 in Italy as well, so.... but it is a little heavy for summer 44
As for the M8, sure there are a number of improvements that could be made, but it's more important to enjoy a relatively trouble-free experience in the first few projects.
However, the minimum you could do is to replace the the kit tracks with AFV Club offerings, either the rubber block or three-bar cleat tracks will do.
The other thing you might want to do is to replace the wheels and drive sprockets with parts from the Academy M3 kit, there is an extra set of solid wheels and simple drive sprockets that are much more common on the M8 than the open/fancy running gear found in the Tamiya kit, and these wheels will even fit the Tamiya bogies. There may also be a good M2 Heavy Machine gun in the Academy kit, it's much better than the Tamiya one.
Once you do these, you'll have a reasonably accurate M8.
Trouble free is good lol
I think changing the tracks is about the extent of the mod's I will do on this one, I will also be adding stowage from Tamiya which should make a nice addition
I already feel like this will be a challenge. With the winter paint scheme, snowy terrain and mud I think ill have my work cut out for me for a first timer!
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From my Squadron US SPGs in action I see one with a hard edged winter camo and another with cross hatching on it. It's important to remember that except for a shourt period the winter of 44-45 was mild in western europe and there just wasn't a lot of snow! During the battle of the Bulge bed sheets were used a lot by both sides.
Given my crew choice and their clothing, winter 1944/45 is where my timeframe has converged to
I'm now researching winter whitewash (or lack of) on Allied vehicles. I don't want this little guy to be heavily white washed, and the hairspray technique would likely give a whitewash which is too over the top (for lack of a better word) for what I had envisioned. In fact I dont really want to whitewash! Perhaps only a light dusting of snow, or something very subtle.
I have googled my fingers off trying to find a good example of the effect I am after, and unless its the b/w photos deceiving me, there are numerous examples of Allied tanks without whitewash but covered in snow...yay
ExampleExample 2The best examples I can find in model form is
here and
hereEDIT: And
here Does anyone know if a tutorial exists for such an effect?
Looks like I should weather first as if it were a winter muddy scene then apply winter effects/weathering, as opposed to a white wash where most people apply white wash over an un-weathered base coat.
I started with flat black,then painted the handles with a woodish looking brown,I noticed the front handle is missing on yours.Then took a #2 pencil and rubbed the body of the MG with it.I think I over did it on the pencil thing,but I got caught up in the moment 
