hi everyone..here' s my latest project..taking time to figure out how to weather a sherman on winter scheme..i started another sherman by building the suspension..little by little. the kit is way ahead from the rest available in the market. starting the buttom hull and working suspension details..can't help it but admire dragon's effort on pouring so much detail on the EZ8..plus separate wheels and rims makes painting easier. ..









comments and suggestions are welcome.

Hi Ed,

Looks pretty good progress to me.

Do you normally perform a wash on the wheels before even painting the rest of the hull and turret?

Nice looking kit. I didn't know they used seperate wheels and rims. Might give this kit a go.
Suspension units looking good too.

Tony

Looks good. Very nice and super detailed suspension.

You have painted the suspension sand? What kind of markings and colour scheme are you going to use?

Looks good so far! Have this kit in the queue to build, so will watch your progress...

Hi this is a great kit to build but there are some things to watch out for if you build it as Thunderbolt VII. I did an inbox review and feature build here on Armorama which you may find helpful. There are some screen grabs of Thunderbolt VII in my photos folder which may also be of help.

https://archive.kitmaker.net/review/1936[url]
[url]https://archive.kitmaker.net//features/1128

thanks everyone ..with this case..i started doing all the works on the HVSS assemblying and painting. the upper hull and turret will go hand in hand with the lower hull during the final painting. my base color is flat black and light sand..the final touch will be a mixture of..'not true'.. olive drab.

hi pat, your article about the thunderbolt will come in handy for this project..i'll do some alteration as i progresses..thanks.

finally the magic tracks all done. i made them in sections for easy assembly...

hi everyone, more pictures...the side armors provided by dragon looks strange. far different from the pictures of actual tank. the PE parts went well..i used jeweller's tools to bend the side skirts.











comments and suggestions are welcome.

Nice job.

I am impressed with the Kit like the add-on rubber tires makes painting the suspension easier.

Good job so far.

Its looking good! I did this one a few months back. Very nice and fun kit to build. For some reason it doesn't come with etch headlight guards, so I cut all the small sections off other then the shaped frame, thinned it with sanding, and put .010x.030 scrap strip stock in place. Came out pretty good for a 'freebie' fix.

Only issues I had with it was the lack of any locating pin for the muzzle brake to the barrel(just epoxied it), the side turret armor was a little unclear as to exactly where it was placed, and the side hull armor is not 100% accurate. It should not stand off so far and the brackets actually were welded to it in some places. The box art has the wrong turret hatch layout, but the side armor is right. Seemed like a pain as I had it painted already so I passed on fixing it, looked fine .

hi and thanks everyone. kevin, i'll try to scratchbuild the grille lights in the same fashion..for some reason they omitted the PE parts for this one. here's the latest on the thunderbolt...i revised the frontal and side armor and relocated the fender brackets..painting is in progress...





i retained the add on armour on the turret as it was.

hi everyone, the construction phase was almost done. i've been staring at the tank for weeks..wondering what to do or how it looked like during its active service. finally i've decided to go on..putting stuffs and weathering..lots of guesswork..check it out..











comments and suggestions are welcome. thanks for viewing.

Excellent job! I like the stowage, nice touch.
Sincerely,
Dave

Beautiful build, like the stowage.

SIDE QUESTION:

Could this sherman build into the ones used during the KOREAN WAR ??

thanks guys for the kind words..yes this could be built into an M4 used in korean war. except you have to replace some parts for like the turret,canon and tracks. i also have the dragon's early sherman kit. the 'KOREAN WAR' series which i may say way different from their present sherman series. from mold details and manner of construction. some of their sprue are well distributed on their new releases shermans as add-on or extras for building different versions. i think the closes to the korean war version..was that of maj. irzyk's M4A3E8 (dragon kit).



thanks again.

Gday Ed
The stowage is great and complements a tremendous effort that has been put into the tank itself...
You have added a unique hue to the surface, which is quite effective mate!
Doesn't look like you have painted the wooden handles on the turret mgs yet?
Cheers
Brad

Yes, good job on a challenging kit.

You made the Dragon clear headlights look very good. The added flame cut edge on the armor also stands out.

On my next kit I'll try the panel painting technique that you used. Pre shade, post shade. I think a little time with the airbrush may save me hours of applying washes. Have to study it more first though.

Regards, John

thanks guys, a later added part was the MG's handle. i got that from academy MG series. my drybrush technique was a little softy on this area.

here's a tip on how to paint clear headlights..clean headlight for painting..remove seam lines and excess plastic along the headlight housing. retain headlite's rim.
drybrush the rear part of the housing using tamiya aluminun silver or metallic silver. do not paint.. leave the headlight lens clear.
next..paint the rear part with tamiya flatblack. this will simulate the reflective lens inside the headlight. plain silver gives you a dull reflective lens..adding flatblack enhances the effect.
finally paint the housing with olive drab or any color scheme you chooses for your project.
i scratchbuilt the added side armours. i used..cutter and triangular steel file to cut the edges unevenly..then reworked on the other added armours of the tank. thanks again.

Ed,

Very nice build. Looks great.

and here are some pictures of the finished thunderbolt VII...

















thanks all for viewing my work..comments and suggestions are welcome..thanks again.

Looks darn killer Ed.

Great job on both of those Sherman's

Finished peice looks excellent,
However, i'm wondering why you went to all that work painting and washing the wheels seperately to the sandy yellow colour, only to repint them green at the end?

Cheers,

James

Wow Ed
A job to be proud of!
Very comprehensively done...
Love the stowage; it is all crammed on there!
My only gripe is the lack of mud. Only pics of the actual tank I've seen shows it playing in the mud in '45 Personal preference though
I have this kit in the stash (stash = 4 kits) will build one day, but not as Abrams' tank?
Cheers
Brad

hi guys, thanks for the comments and nice words. on painting...if you can see the actual model..you can distinguish the variation of shades and tone of the colors. from flat black to sandy yellow to it final olive shade. there's no true olive drab in painting this model. combination of field grey,green and light brown. i've decided to lighten the wheels colors and not to weather it. to show more details on the suspension assemblies.



thanks again.