Sup fellas,
Well I got the shermie. It took me about 4 days to complete. I also got the sherman stowage and hedgerow cutter for it. I was thinking about naming this dio "The Pit or the Pengulum", not my favorite author, but I think once the dio is done, it will fit the title. Well comments or critism is welcome!

Looks nice.
good job, Like the sandbags

good looking, Sherman. Are you going to put any tank figures?

Hi Harrison,
Your dio is coming along really great. I gotta say I need some Heki grass that stuff is amazing! Your Sherman looks good too what kit did you end up geting?
Looking forward to seing it finished.

Harisson hi. I think u re doing good work on this dio . The shermie looks detailed and nice buildeed. I hust think some dusting and weathering , to give it a more uniform look would improve some IMHO. The groundwork looks good from what i cansee. Post more progress when u have it .. IS coming along nicely

Your dio is becoming better and better each post you send! Keep up the good work! It is wonderful to see a dio growing up like this!
Cheers and happy modeling!
Prato

This is coming along pretty well.
A few things that come to mind when I see this.
There are few bags that need welded on hooks to hold them up. The bags and ammo boxes in front of the driver make it kinda hard for him to see. The mud on the sherman needs to match the surrounding ground.

What's the plan for US figures?

Harrison, Wow thats some fast work there on the sherman. Its looking good but I have to agree with Costas that it needs some blending with pastels. You probably already have that planeed though. Keep us posted it gets better every week. Cheers Kevin

Hmm, how do I blend with pastels? Where do I blend with Pastels, and what kind of pastels should I buy?

Thanks alot fellas for the great comments. BTW Slodder, The mudd on the tank does match the groundwork. I might drybrush it a little just to make the tips look dry, and not muddy.

Pastels - head to Michaels and got to the paint/pencil area and pick up a set of artist pastels, get the chalk kind not the oil kind.
grind or scape a pile of a color you like (you can mix colors too). Apply with soft brush, dip and brush on with a drybrush type stroke.

As far as the ground I mean more consistant in texture and 'looseness' The road isn't (yet) ripped up to match mud on the tracks.

Now I see how the AT gun's limited field of fire makes sense. Is that an AT hit on the left side of the tank just above the name Britanie? It's a little blurry but it would explain your desire to use the Verlinden Sherman Bail Out figures. I like the Sherman and the way you loaded it up with goodies. I see that you have the Verlinden Sherman Stowage set. I recognize the sandbags, logs, Culin and the packs on the side of the turret. Several quick notes

1) The packs need something on the turret to be attached. How were they tied to the side of the turret? Logs are tied together but not tied to anything on the tank. I too have the Verlinden Sherman Stowage set and I know their picture shows it not tied to anything. However we know it has to be attached to the tank somehow.

2) The inside of the loader's hatch should be OD and not white or else it will be a moving white dot from the air. See how it just pops out at you when you look at the top of the turret?

3) Maybe a little bit of silver or metal to simulate scratches on the tip of the culin. Think of the tip of a shovel.

4) It also looks like you put an antenna in the .50 cal MG holder. The little thing sticking off the turret bustle is where the pintle of the .50 sticks into and the ends are held in the bracked that on on the left and right of the bustle. When I get home I will try and find a picture of this storage arrangement unless someone else beats me to it.

5) I like the little touch of putting your girlfriend's name on the tank. I highly recommend that everyone does this to give your wife or girlfriend some inclusion into your hobby. I have done this to a number of my tanks. Unfortunately that means I also move through girls like drinking water!!

6) For future reference (may be too late to fix now) I don't think that the all-around periscope cuppola was in use yet at the time of Normandy. They still has the split hatch commander's ring

Thanks alot Shermie, I knew you guys were going to notice the logs and stowage, I dont have any refrences of how they attached the logs, and didnt they have little racks to hang bags on on the turret? I might sculpt those on, but they wouldnt show? As far as the inside hatch, I saw a picture of a tank that had a cushin or somthing there that was white. Please dont tell me that I did another history mishap of not having the right type of accesories on my tank! GRRR. :-)

Stowage hooks are easy to do after the fact.
Just get a bit of wire and bend it and cut it so that it looks like it would be holding up the bags. With the bag already in place you can use two pits of wire on each side of the bag handle because you are right the strap will cover part of the handle.

Unfortunetly I think the Verlinden logs are too short to use with out some minor mods to the tank. Usually the crews would wrap a rope through the lifing rings on the front glacis (you have sandbags covering them so they are not visible on your tank) and the rings on the rear deck using longer logs. I cheated on mine and I used a paper clip to fashion some rings on top of the upper hull right along the edge. Then I wrapped the logs in rope and looped them around the rings on top.

Also, whenever I do a Sherman I always glue a small strip of plastic along the side of the turret near the top to simulate a little bar that the crew and hang stuff. I don't really mess with creating a gap to pass the rope through as a scale 1/35 inch will not be visible. Than I attach all my packs to that strip.

As for the periscope cuppola I think you can get away with that. However I would still get rid of the antenna in the .50 MG holder!!

Yup, that seems easy enough, I was thinking I could sculpt it, but theres no need for that. Well, Ill get on it pretty quick here. A question about pastels, what colors would should I apply on this tank, and where?

FYI I edited my above post with additional info simultaneously while you replied

Shermies, I beleive that I had to drill a hole into the turret right next to that antenna to put the .50 cal? I never did drill the hole. Thats why I put the antenna there in the metal rod? lol

Good work going on here mate, looks good.
I only have two questions for you.
Firstly would the sand bags on the front (very nice by the way ,are they putty?) limit the traverse of the bow machine gun?
Secondly do you intend to put track marks behind the tank
Can't wait to get an overall shot, how soon till your finished do you think?
Cheers
Robbo

I dont beleive that the machine guns lane of fire would be effected by the sandbags. BTW i didnt sculpt them, they were verlindens. Also, unfortunatly when doing my groundwork, the plaster dried so fast I was still finishing up covering up all the styrofoam when it dried to a rock. I was then unable to put the tracks in their. If i was to put tracks, I would have to either dig up the dirt part, or put another layer over it. Thanks for the comments.

I'd just do the one antenna

This is looking really good T-Bo. Keep up the good work and keep us posted.

Looks great, but shouldn't the tracks not thight???
And the trees on the side of the tank, they are hanging in the air.
Where are they hanging on??

Its looking good to me.
Keep going!

Greets Hilbert.

Sorry for asking, but where exactly is the action taking place? And the Sherman? What type of Sherman is it? Thank you for answering in advance!- Doing some research for a future dio, you know!
Cheers and happy modeling!
Prato

This is taking place in Normandy 1944, the sherman is M4A3 sherman. Hilbert, the logs on the side of the tank arent yet attached. I dont have any kind of refrence to see how they attached them..

Thanks for the comments guys.

If .50cal holder on the back of your Sherman is for storage. It is not how they normally mount the .50 for firing. If I recall correctly the split hatch commnader's ring has the hole for the .50cal while the periscope ring does not.

If I wer eyou I'd just skip the .50cal and remove the antenna. Lots of Shermies are set up that way