Here's what I've gotten done so far, guys. I researched the actual vehicle as well as I could and made changes accordingly. I might have missed a few, but I'm hoping to catch them as I go. I thinned the lamp guards and gave them each new legs with .010 x .040 strip. I scratchbuilt new side fenders and all the supports (each full-length support was comprised of six pieces). I used Armorscales .030cal barrel and will be installing Tasca's .50cal. I'm hoping the image turns out .... you know me and photo sizes!!!!! This model will be featured in an upcoming issue of Model X.

Thanks,
Mike

Wow Mike,

There have been some good looking builds of this kit but yours may be the nicest. You've added some great touches. Mine will be mostly stock.

I'm letting 3 bogies dry in place right now. Should be a cruise after that. Looks like the drivers hatches need work on the inside. That will slow me down.

More bigger pics would be great but I suppose that will have to wait on the mag article.

Regards, John

John,
Thanks for the nice comments. I was going to build this kit OOB, but I found some really nice images of an M4A3E8 on the web and I couldn't help myself. As for bigger pics .... I'd love to display them, but I can't seem to figure out how to enlarge the doggone things!!!! Help guys!

Mike

Looks good Mike, to make your pics bigger- when you paste in the UBB code remove medium/ and there you go

Pat,
Oh man, what a difference that makes! I wondered how come no matter how big I uploaded the original image it would never post any bigger than what you saw! Thanks a bunch, dude.

Mike

that's a nice conversion you've made. i did the same on the side hull but your's is far more better. i'm still figuring it out what and how to do the grille lights. how come dragon excluded the PE parts on this one? thanks for sharing.

I really like your plastic fenders. Can you provide more detail on how you fabricated them or better yet do you have templates?

I am building this kit (in the painting stages) and did not like the PE fenders at all.

Mike,

Great looking build so far. Can't wait to see further progress shots!

Very nice work on the added details Mike, look forward to seeing this one painted up and finished.

The fenders were really so simple. First, I cut .015 x .188 styrene strip stock to each of the three different lengths using the kit-supplied brass fenders as a template. I then glued .010 x .040 strip to one edge of each. A piece of .015 x .040 strip was then glued to the side of the hull and leaving about a .010 gap along the bottom edge. This represents the welded-on bolt strip on the actual vehicle and also acts as a join line. I then placed each length of fender into its respective position - again, butting the upper edge of the fender to the bottom edge of the bolt strip. I then detailed each with .020 bolt heads cut from hex rod. Voila!

Mike

Mike.
Can you explain the process you use to get the slight texture (hence the 2 tone gray tone) on your tank? Do you use a burr or a texture putty?

~Martin

Martin,
Me and power tools .... yeah, right! The texturing is actually Mr. Surfacer 500, thinned with Testors Liquid Cement and lightly stippled on to simulate the rolled homogenous armor. I use MS500 full strength for the heavier cast texture, applying it in multiple layers to create the very distinct effect.

Mike

Looks great! I really regret not spending the time to update the side armor plates when I built mine. The cast texturing looks fantastic, I may have to eventually build another one of these