Lucas, thanks for the compliments and feedback! You are correct. I did miss those areas, on both sides as it turns out. When I discovered it, the wash was already set so the only thing to do was repaint the areas. I'm hedging a bit on this since I want to see if it's visible once the wheels and skirts are on. That will determine how much effort I put into fixing it since there is still so much left to do.

I have so many models in my stash

Every now and then you find a thread of a kit you have and it makes you want to stop everything and start building the same model

This is one of those threads!!!!!!!

Great job and even though I won't buy all the extras you have, I sure do like looking at them and knowing their out there

Love to see it with figures

That's a good plan. I've had that happen to me on a couple of builds. In general, if it will be hard to see, I leave it alone because it's such a pain to fix.

Beautiful work, Don. The figures and the tank are a pleasure to look at.

I think your pre-shading and Zenithal lighting work on the tank has combined very nicely with the washes, and the extra time and care you took applying the washes really shows. It might have been tedious and slow, but the results were worth it.

I'm looking forward to your next update.

Happy modeling!

Gans and Mike, thanks much for the nice comments and for following this project.

Wow, I missed this one completely. Very nice work all around... the stowage and small details, the figures, everything is done to very high standard.

I will be following the progress.

Mario

Got the decals on the other night. No problems here except that the battalion markings on the front hull were not printed correctly on the decal sheet. A quick look at the opening photo in this blog shows that the stencil should read "A 9049 ARM BN" but the decals were printed as "4 9094 ARM BN". Fortunately, two identical decals were provided in the kit so I was able to cut one apart to switch around the numbers and use the second one to scavenge an "A" to replace the "4".



The only photo I have of the rear of this vehicle does not show any markings because most of the rear is obscured by pickets and razor wire coils. Therefore, I assume that the location of these is correct since they would not be seen under the razor wire if placed here.



An interesting point...photos showing the right side of the gun barrel indicate that the name did not have a US flag next to it as it does on the left side, but I do not know why. It also shows that the name is stenciled on to the barrel slightly askew so I've replicated that here.



So, all markings are now on and coated with satin varnish. Expecting a package to arrive today from our friends at Ammo of Mig so that I can begin getting some weathering on this weekend. Also began working on piecing together the crew figures last night. So, after dragging this project out a little too long, lots of activity is happening! Stay tuned.

It looks stunning! What products do you plan to use for weathering it?

Not sure if this would interest you

http://blog.naver.com/PostThumbnailView.nhn?blogId=tech61&logNo=90124608695&categoryNo=17&parentCategoryNo=17

Beautiful paint job and weathering. This is one tank where the colors and detail really pop out. The figures look great also. Nice job!

YES! Those look like the masters for the DEF Models set that I purchased. I'll be using that exact cooler on the tank because my references show they had one in blue. Cool find...thanks for sharing.

Tracks have been painted and weathered. I was trying to get the color of the metal portion to look just right...rust is evident in my photos but really, the metal sections look more tan than rusty.



So, I started by spraying the tracks with a mixture of Vallejo Model Air Rust, Flat Tan and Gunmetal. Once this had dried, I proceeded to drybrush the metal areas with a lighter shade mixed from Rust and Flat Tan and finally just Flat Tan. I didn't like the way the shadows looked so I gave everything a wash of AK Interactive Light Rust Wash to deepen the color a bit. Once dry I gave it one more drybrush mixed from Flat Tan and a touch of Citadel's Mithril silver. Finally satisfied with the metal parts, I picked out all of the rubber pads using Vallejo Panzer Aces Dark Rubber and then hit some of the metal parts with a graphite pencil. Then I sprayed everything with a coat of Model Master Acrylic Flat to protect it.

To weather the tracks, I mixed a slurry made up of about 70% North Africa Dust enamel and 30% Middle East Dust pigment, both from Ammo of Mig. I let it set up about 10 minutes on each piece and then began removing it using a fairly stiff brush and white spirit. It was most critical to remove this from the inside track pads where the road wheels make contact, but leaving a bit of dusty discoloration there was desirable. After all of this, here's what I came up with:



Closer examination shows that the metalized look from the graphite pencil didn't come through so I'll probably hit some of the edges again to show a bit more wear and polished metal in key contact areas.



That's it for now. Gonna start weathering the lower hull and get the wheels and tracks on next.

Finished the weathering on the front plate using a combination of the AK Interactive OIF streaking effects and oil paints.





Got the tracks and skirts on last night and will be weathering them today. Photos of the completed lower hull to follow.

Impressive...

fantastic weathering !
GREAT !

Another fine one!! Oustanding work!

After several weeks of very late nights, I'm actually nearly done but I haven't had time to post any updates here as I was trying to hit a deadline for completion. In any case, here are a few shots I took of just the lower hull. I struggled a bit to get the tracks on correctly as the curvature around the drive sprocket and the angle down to the last road wheel was difficult to get right after the tracks fell apart numerous times during the weathering process. It's not too noticeable unless you look at it down low like the following photo.



Additionally, I ran into some fit problems with the roadwheels themselves as trying to make sure the channel on each wheel for the center track guide was lined up properly. This combined with my failure to tape off the mounting points on the suspension arms meant that the wheels couldn't go on all the way to the stops and thus, the tracks are riding outboard a bit more than they should. The skirts still fit with no problem but there is too little clearance between the inside of the skirt and the outer edge of the tracks to be realistic. Again, this can really only be noticed when looking at the model head-on, from down low.



Weathering was achieved using first the AK Interactive OIF wash which once dry, was followed by the OIF streaking grime. After this I used a mixture of about 70% North Africa Dust effect with about 30% Middle East Dust pigment, (both products from Ammo of Mig) on the wheels and lower parts of the tank. The skirts and upper hull were then given applications of just the North Africa Dust effect in certain places to tone down some of the streaking grime and to fade all of the markings appropriately.





As a final step in the weathering I added fuel stains and oil grime in various places to indicate some wear and tear.





One of my reference photos for this vehicle shows a very prominent oil stain down the left skirt. It is unclear what this is from but speculation is that it was a can or container of oil stowed on the side of the turret that was hit by small arms fire and burst.



For the vision blocks, I used the AFV Club stickers that simulate the anti-reflective coating. After applying a thin coat of silver paint to the lens, the stickers were put in place and burnished down with a burnishing tool. I have to say I was quite impressed with the final look which really captures the shifting colors of the real thing when the viewing angle changes. They look terrific on the commander's cupola but for now, here's a shot of the driver's hatch.



The turret and stowage are already done but I still need to add the coiled razor wire and pickets to the rear of the hull. Once that's done, I'll have some shots of the full model. Right now, I'm about to start work on the two visible crew members which will wrap up the build once they are completed and installed.

As always, thanks for looking and for all the positive responses.

Cheers!

The ONLY thing that detracts from the build are the skewed tracks. Everything else is perfect.

Wonderful work! Inspiring and am following closely

great work love the weathering

Nice progress, love it

Thought I would add a couple of photos of the crew members for this build. First the tank commander:


This figure uses one of the torsos from the Master Box set "Modern U.S. Tankmen in Afghanistan", legs and arms from Verlinden set "U.S. Tank and AFV crew", and the head from Alpine Miniatures "Modern U.S. Tankers" head set. Boom mic and radio cord were added with fine copper and steel wire.

The second figure is the loader who will be out of his hatch, firing the M240C machine gun.


Torso and legs come from the MB set, and the head from Alpine. The hands are from Alpine as well, the "U.S. Helmet, Head and Hands" set. I used a paperclip for the armature to pose the arms, then sculpted sleeves using A+B putty.

These crew members are wearing the Nomex tankers suits with the smaller Spall vests rather than the more commonly depicted BDUs and Interceptor Body Armor typically worn by the Bradley crews. The shorter vest allowed the tankers to move around easier inside the confines of the tank.

That's it for this update. The figure painting is underway and I hope to have final shots of the completed project later this week.

Cheers.

The tanks is looking great! The issue with the tracks is pretty minor, I think, and you've done a great job weathering.

The figures look excellent, too. I really like the poses and details. One thing to consider, though, is that the torsos are not wearing Interceptor body armor, but the old flak vests used in ODS. Master Box got that wrong in their set. Here's a picture of an Interceptor vest (for discussion purposes only):



You can probably modify the torsos with some Tamiya tape and putty to resemble the correct IBA vest.

Don't know how I missed this one !! Excellent work sir ... Congrats !

Lucas, they wore the small spall vest as Don depicts. There is much photographic evidence of that. And they still wear it today, actually. It is very common.