Hi guys,
I'm finnally restarting and my first project will be this Italeri M4A3E8 Sherman "Fury".
I will build this model as a surprise for my dad, he is not into scale-modeling but we both like Shermans and also the well known movie...



My mom doesn't like scale models because they are evil 'dust-collectors' so I decided to create a very small diorama inside a fish tank, illuminated with some LED strips. This should keep the dust outside.


I found this very small fish tank, this might be too small but I'm gonna give it a try...



I finished the basic hull,


and the other basic parts



First time I'm pre-shading a model (used vallejo primer white and black gloss)



After that I used vallejo US dark green



This will be the tank commander (dragon U.S. tank crew '44), I had to cut a leg to get him through the hatch...


First time I'm trying to paint a face with eyes... I forgot how small these things are! Took me a long time...
In the past I painted the whole face in one flesh tone, back then it didn't matter much...


So this is what I have for the moment;



Thanks for reading and kind regards
Steven

evil dust collectors huh ? lol

Dust collectors and something for stupid peoples idle fingers. Looks real nice so far. Good job Steve.

The face on your commander turned out really nice. Keep it comin' that way!

my wife calls them dust collectors too !

Hello everyone,
I have an update on the Sherman;


First I added the black camouflage, I eyeballed it from pictures of the movie, because the paint-schematic in the instructions didn't look right. I only used the serial N° decal, the stars are not visible in the movie.


I wanted to give oilpaint a first try, but the cheap oilpaint I had didn't respond well to the terpentine I used, so it turned out into a mess and I decided to dry the model on a radiator and start over with acrylics...


Some stowage parts are getting a base color


The wood was tied up with some thin rope/string


More stowage parts


I saw a review of this kit on youtube, where a problem with the T84-tracks is mentioned, they would be too thick... So I did a test and indeed, I will have to cut of some plastic it seems...


This is what I have so far, some stowage still needs to be added, also the tank commander needs to be finished and the whole model should get a filter and matt finish. I'm not sure what color would be best for a filter?


back side



Thanks for reading and kind regards
Steven

Great final outcome Steven! Thanks for posting. May I make two suggestions? They're rather nitpicky and feel 100% free to ignore them:

1) The film tank's equipment included jerry cans with white Xs -- this was to mimic the wartime practice of identifying water containers vs. fuel. However, US water containers had a different flip-top lid vs. the twist off ones of the fuel/lubricant containers (this was a safety measure so that no one would be confused, even in the dark). In the film, they wrongly placed white Xs on containers with twist off caps.

2) Know that all US tail lights followed this pattern:

Nice result. I'd be careful of drying kits on radiators - I've seen some melted results.
I'd think about a dark brown wash to tone down the green as Olive Drab is more of a brown colour.

Thanks for the info Roy, very helpful. I've adjusted the taillights but I'll probably keep the white crosses for now. For my next Shermans I will keep this in mind, so I don't make the same mistake ...




I have a small update on the diorama;
I started creating a light-thing to put on top of the fishtank, used MDF for this


Glueing the pieces




Painted black


I had to use my dremel tool to get the T84 tracks in place (problem with the kit, T66 works fine)


Made some dirt from MDF dust, wood glue, paint ... not the best solution but I didn't know how to do it better, don't have any pigments yet...


after the glue was dry I've painted some more dirt colors


Scetch for the diorama base


Base in MDF, test fit inside the fishtank


I use gipsum (for walls) because I'm still renovating the house


sculpting


I made a tree with iron wire, stick of wood, and fibers 12-6-3mm, here I'm airbrushing the tree, it will not have a top btw.


topview test, hole is for tree


test, the diorama base is not yet dry, will paint it tommorow


Thanks for reading & kind regards
Steven

Nice progress. Don't forget the handle grips for the rear of your .50cal MG

Really nice work Steven.
Great idea about the aquarium,going shopping tomorrow.

Tom

Thanks Roy and Tom!
And yes I forgot the handle grips... luckily I didn't trow away the sprue yet.

---

I'm very happy to share a big update on this project, tomorrow I'll be visiting my parents so I worked really hard to get things done (making the dio for my father).


I started painting the dio in a dark base color


Painting the road, used acrylics


Detail of the puddle, my favorite part of the diorama


For the lighting I used 4 LED strips (Ikea), but because the fish tank is so small, there was no room for the ikea-connectors. So I cut the wires and soldered everything together...


I added some hotglue to the soldering to keep it safe (insulation)


Here is a light-test


I finally finished the commander, it's not Brad Pitt but he can handle the job


When the base was finished I printed a background image (from the internet), also the tree was cut to size.


...

Then I fitted the light-hood and switched it on













There are still some parts missing like antennas and some stowage, I'm a little worried these might be damaged during transport, maybe I'll put them on later.


I hope you guys like it,
many thanks for the input and kind regards!
Steven

Wow, awesome work! Great idea on the light box, I will have to try that one day.

Steve,

Super build! and I especially like the aquarium idea... that
turned out fantastic!

Cheers,
Joe

Very nice!

Steve,
That's a really nice model, and an amazing way to display it!

That mud looks amazing!

Wow, you did an amazing job! The tank, stowage, figure are painted to perfection and the diorama in the fish tank looks incredible! Thanks for sharing your project!

What is your overall opinion of the Italeri Fury/Easy 8 kit? I have it in my queue and plan to build it as a Korean War 89th Tank Battalion, Rice's Red Devils vehicle.

Thanks for the kind words everyone!
I learned a lot of this build, but most of the techniques I used I learned here by reading a lot of topics, so a big thanks to all of you out there!







Hi Quinton,
I think this is a great kit, the parts fit very well and it comes with all the stowage and fury tracks. In the past I only build a few Tamiya and Italeri kits, so I don't have any experience with more expensive kits like Dragon/Tasca/... But I do recommend this kit.
There are very few things to criticize;

The decals are great, but the 'fury' name for the barrel is a little too large I think, so I decided to paint it myself.


The painting schematic is not a drawing but a photo/render, I had some trouble figuring out the black camouflage pattern so I used pictures of the movie, also the stars are not visible in the movie (but can be used for other models).


The kit comes with 2 type of tracks (T66 and T84E), the movie uses the latter T84E tracks.
I'm happy they've put the T84E in the kit (no aftermarket needed), however it takes some time to get them installed because they are thicker then the T66 and didn't fit between the upper wheels and hull. I used a dremel.


I had some trouble glueing these parts, but that's probably my lack of modeling experience.


There are no figures in the kit, would have been really nice to get the real actors in there! I used this dragon set for the commander.



But it's still a very nice kit.


Thanks and kind regards
Steven

Excellent job, Steven! Both the tank and the dio turned out great, I like it very much!

A very nice job all the way around.

Great job!

Excellent build! I had some reservations, but think this would make a great addition to my od cadre. Just have to replace the tracks. Your stowage looks amazing.

Hi, thanks for the kind words everyone, means a lot to me! The dio survived the trip, didn't had to re-glue anything.

Hope to start a 2nd project soon

Thanks & kind regards
Steven