Hi All,
What does a jet-setting international man of mystery do with his Saturday nights (like you really cared)? He builds models, of course! I was able to put in some more time on the Sherman tonight. It looks like this one will not be making it to AMPS. I've got a week and a half until the show and I'm not finished building it yet. Oh well. First up was the tie-downs for the tools. I used sliced Evergreen "C" channel to make them. I'm not sure if I like them or not and I might just shave them down or replace them outright.



Next was the infantry call box. Eduard makes a pretty nice multi-piece affair that looks really good when it's done; if you take care with it.



Another iconic post-war Sherman modification was the first-aid box on the hull side. I decided to include it on my model and, again, it's Eduard to the rescue. I was a little leery of it, as it had rounded edges, but with my handy-dandy bending tool, this was not a problem, provided you took you time with it. I was, again, pretty happy with the results.



With the session winding down, I decided it was about time for me to start work on the tracks. The Dragon DS Sherman track is a two-part affair with separate plastic guide horns to be glued to the rubber band track. I've done this before for my M46, and while tedious, do give a nice result (I pirated the center guides form the nearly unbuildable AFV Club track).



I'm hoping to get more bench time in tomorrow, but it looks like it will be a busy day, so we'll see.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
I wasn't able to get much done this week, but I was able to finish doing the tracks! At this point, the model will be going to AMPS unpainted and in the "Display only" category.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
After getting things back together after AMPS, I've restarted work on the Sherman. It's mainly small stuff now, getting the last details done before it heads to the spray booth. First off, was the siren guard. It was crooked off to one side, so I carefully cut it loose and re-positioned it on the hull.



Next, were the front fenders.



Then the rears.



Last came the late-war turn buckles for the towing cables. These were pirated from another DML kit (thanks Dennis!).



All for now.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
I've been working on the model on-and-off for the past couple of days and can now announce that it is built! If you see anything that needs changing/fixing, please leave a response.












I'll be taking it with me to a local club meeting tomorrow night and I'll be making fixes on Tuesday. Then off to the spray booth for primer and paint! Stay tuned.

Regards,
Georg

George, great work on the Sherman. Please post a finish photo when ready.

I think you will have to get the Martian War Machine 1/48th scale model to go with the Sherman.

Hi All,
After a particularly busy week, I was able to get not one coat of paint on the model, but two! My original color was Polly Scale Pullman Green, but after doing some highlighting on it with Vallejo Olive Drab and some more work with Life Color OD, I did not like the result. So, I broke out the tried and true Tamiya XF-62 Olive Drab and repainted the model. I then used the Vallejo OD mixed with varying amounts of Vallejo flesh to highlight the model. The result was a little more satisfying (at the point these shots were taken, the model already had a gloss coat for decals):












Once everything was dry and got a a coat of clear gloss, I was ready for decals. I made up a set that corresponded to the dummy markings on the tanks from stills in the movie. Here's the result:









I used diluted white glue to make sure the decals would not silver and Mr. Mark Softner to get the to snuggle down onto the surface. Tomorrow, I'll hit the model with another coal of clear gloss, followed by a coat of semi gloss. I'll explain why tomorrow.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
As promised, here's the explanation as to why this thing will be in semi-gloss. In August 1945, the Army issued Army Regulation 850-15, which stated that the new color for all vehicles would be semi-gloss olive drab. It was a pretty close match to the WW2 Olive Drab #9, with the exception of the semi-gloss finish. This would mean it would look slightly darker. The nearest match would be semi-gloss Olive Drab 202 which appeared in the 1943 revision of color standard Spec 3-1. By the Korean War, most, if not all, US Army vehicles were painted in this color (which, incidentally, would be used by the US Army into the 1970's when it was replaced by the MERDC camouflage schemes). These various colors stayed the same until the advent of FS 595a which was adopted in 1956. So, there you have it! I pulled most of this info from "The Modeler's Guide to the Sherman" from Ampersand, so if you want the full read, there's your target. See you tomorrow!
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
Another day and more work done! Here are a couple of shots of the vehicle after it was sprayed with the semi-gloss finish:









This is how the model looked after last night's session. I spent my time painting the roadwheels, hull machine gun and mantlet cover.









With that part dried, I moved on to the tracks. I initially painted them primer black on the inside (these tracks had rubber pads on the inside faces) and Polly Scale "Earth Brown" on the outside. I was not happy with this, so I broke out some AK Interactive track rust. Here's the before:





And the after:





I also worked on some highlights/lowlights on the mantlet cover.


To be honest, someone needs to take the Lifecolor people aside and let them know that their Olive Drab is really Olive Green! But, I used the 1st lightened color as the base coat and then used the other two colors as the highlight (OD lightened #1) and the standard OD as the shadow. I think it looks good. All for now, more tomorrow!
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
OK, OK, tomorrow turned out to be 24 days later. What can I say, it has been a busy month! But, I was able to get some more work done on this thing. Truthfully, this has been gong on way too long. I'm hoping to finish it off this week. I was able to do a pi wash on the model, using OD that I made up from yellow ochre and black. I think it looks pretty good.











Next, will be final detail painting, streaking and dust coating. Hopefully, you'll see more of this over the next couple of days.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
I'm back! One of the peculiar aspects of American post-war OD was the fact that it oxidized to a yellow/green dust on the surface. If you swiped your hand across it, you'd come away with a palm-full of the stuff and a dark OD semi-gloss swatch would be left on the vehicle's surface. I wanted to replicate this on my model. So, I made up a yellow ochre wash in turnpenoid (which dries flat)and did a couple of passes to build it up. Here's the result:











I was pretty happy with the result, as it tied together a lot of the shading I'd been doing. It also brightened the model a bit and dulled the semi-gloss!

This evening, after I took the above shots, I went back and added some fuel stains. Figuring that the tank would have been rushed from the motor-pool to the Martian landing site, I figured clean and neat fueling would NOT be the order of the day! I used some AK Interactive fuel stains for the fuel drips (imagine that!) and some Lifecolor "oil exhaust" for the oil filler.



Next, will be the dust coats. I want to keep it somewhat restrained so the whole thing doesn't come out sand-colored!
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
Has it been 20 days since my last update? Things have been super busy on this end and with the usual summer stuff, not much happens in the workshop that is model-related. About a week ago, I did some pigment work with pigments suspended in turpenoid. I do NOT recommend this. The results looked terrible! Here's how it turned out:










Thje only that looks any good is the tracks! Well, I gritted my teeth and got out some brushes and started blending. Luckily, the pigments came off without too much trouble. Here's how things looked after the blending session ended:









I think it's a big improvement! But, I think it still looks like beach sand too much. So, I'm going to airbrush some earth-colored paint and/or pigments later.

I decided to blend out the tracks, too. But I wasn't done there! I went back and painted the chevrons on the track blocks with silver to show wear. The upper track has had this treatment, while the bottom one is just blended:



So that's where I stand. I hope to wrap this one up this weekend. Man, did this one linger! See you soon!
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
I finally finished the Sherman! Boy, this took a while. Anyhow, I airbrushed some earth-toned paint onto the lower surfaces of the tank to tone down the dust pigments (I wasn't too enamored with stark white look). I also upped the contrast on the dust cover on the mantlet. I added the headlights from my sticko sheet and got the tracks on. I also realized I had left off the loader's hatch latch, so this was attached, too. Did I miss anything? Let me know.











If you are in the northeast US, you'll get to see this model around the show circuit in the fall. I've got another project lined up, but I gotta clean up the model room first. So, stay tuned. I'll be back soon!
Regards,
Georg