Hi all,

Okay, I think I've got this image posting thing down, more or less. This is my M36B1. It is the Italeri 1/35th kit. Many mods were made to it in order to make it sort-of decent. These included the following:

Tamiya tracks from the old A3
Tamiya exhaust deflector
Academy .50 (moved forward to front of turret)
DML figs
Mostly scratched interior, including removal of most of incorrect turret basket, adding sights, full floor under basket, etc.
Tank Workshop dished wheels
Texturing done on rear turret bustle and tranny cover
Weld seams added
Sandshield strips added from strip styrene, drilled accordingly.

Painted Tamiya OD, then highlighted with lightened OD, then washes of oils, then acrylics, rain streaks, pencil lead, etc. A labor of love!

Sorry about picture quality, I'm still working on THAT skill.

Now I'll post the links and hopefully pics will appear...if not I'll be back editing. The first pic is obviously from an earlier stage. They can be found in my gallery on kitmaker under my name here, hogarth. Thanks for reading/looking.

Rob

I hope you don't mind Rob but I made your pics a little bigger (- when you paste in the UBB code remove medium/ )
It's probably just the photos but it looks a little too green and the air recognition panel is very flat and clean. Other than that I like it. Did you use Steve Zaloga's Military Modelling Article in your build?

Hi Rob,

Silk purse from a sow's ear huh? I have to agree about the recognition panel-too flat and too new looking. Also your tow cable looks too limp-ropelike-where it drops over the top of the hull in front. Love the insignias-who's templates did you use?

Mike

Pat,

Hey, thanks for the "blow up" of the pics. Still figuring out these things....

The tanks is painted Tamiya OD, then sprayed on all flat panels with lightened Tamiya OD, so it must be the pics, perhaps the blue background, the snow on the ground this morning when I took the pics, etc. Not sure. I agree....the pics do make it look a bit green.

I did use the Zaloga article a lot. There were a lot of things he did I had neither the skills to do nor did I want to invest the time. I tried to "do-dad" up the turret interior as best I could using his article and pics and my Academy M36 as a guide.

When you say the panel looks a bit too flat, do you mean in color or position? It is kind of glossy in reality, as I sprayed it with future. Maybe you mean it's not wrinkled enough? They were made out of a vinyl-type material, no? I'm not sure how wrinkley they'd get. It is a bit so, but could probably have used more. I kept it pretty clean b/c I figure they'd be changing it from one color to another fairly often, so it shouldn't be as dirty as the tank. Plus, again, the material might make it less prone to maintaining filth. Perhaps for the next one! Thanks for the comments.

Rob

Looks good Robert.
I don't think they had vinyl back in WW2, I think it came later.

Dave,

Thanks for the comments.

Not sure how old you are, you grumpyoldman, but vinyl's been around a lot longer than you thought....

http://www.vinylbydesign.com/site/page_two_col.asp?CID=2&DID=3

Whether it was used for these panels is another question, I suppose. I'll keep researching so I can improve my next project.

Rob

Pushing 60 here Robert.... pushing it as far away as I can.
Interesting link.
Does say it was used in WW2 as wire insulation, and to replace rubber in a few applications, but I still don't believe it was used for marker flags. I think these were plain old cloth, or at the most canvas, as plain old cloth would certainly sever the purpose. Since the colors changed on a regular basis, it wouldn't surprise me if the crews or the supply depot simply grabbed what was at hand and just painted up a hunk of canvas. I also believe it was the AAF that decided the flavor of the day, as they were the ones doing the shooting, and wrong color, not their problem. They weren't so PC back then.

I got out of the Navy in '72, and even then it was either heavy canvas or a lighter weight cotton canvas we used for our tarps. There was no such thing as vinyl, printed or plastic flags or tarps. All were cotton fabric, and sewn to specific specifications, and discarded when showing signs of any wear. Especially our signal flags which needed to be read over a long distance in sometimes crappy weather. And the skivvy wavers made their flags on the ship as needed back then. Hense, if the tailor shop was too busy, you could always find a skivvy waver that knew how to run a sewing machine, and happy to do a little comshaw on the side.

Dave,

From the info I've looked up, looks like they were sort of a rubberized material. I've heard them described as vinyl-like, rubberized, and also as ethyl-cellulose. See the links below, notice in the second one it's referred to as pliable plastic sheeing and "glossy" by Mike F.

Having said all that, I think Pat is right and I should have wrinkled mine a bit more.

Rob

http://www.network54.com/Forum/47208/thread/1042465929/

http://www.network54.com/Forum/47208/thread/980349046/

Interesting Robert, Thanks for the links.

Mike,

Oops. Never saw your comments/questions.

I used the Verlinden Photoetch stencils to do the stars.

The tow cable is the kit one....only so much I was willing to invest in this kit in terms of aftermarket items, even homemade. And we've already beaten the air ID panel topic to death.

Thanks for the comments.

Rob

Gday Rob
Good to see a not too often modelled subject (NTOMS)
I think the air recog panel looks good mate, as by it's very nature it HAS to stand out like a beacon...
Haven't used the kit towcables yet, but I have to say that it looks a little flaccid... Even the twist doesn't look 'tight' enough the way they are made...
You don't have to go aftermarket to get a realistic tow cable; have a peruse in junk shops for old picture frames which have a thin hanging wire cable. Search for one of the right scale, and there is even no need to paint!
I think your tracks are a little too rusted, unless she's been in a stationary position for a while, but as the ground looks very dry then I guess not...
Lovely work on the details though!
Cheers
Brad

As a bonus you can use the frame as a base for you next model.
You can buy picture hanging wire in art shops and hardware shops in different thicknesses. Sometimes it's brass but to colour it you can pass it through a candle flame to oxidise it and then give it a black wash.

Rob,

Looks good. Nice subtle weathering.

Hey guys,

Thanks for the comments, all feedback is appreciated, good and not so good.

Regarding the tracks, I was trying out something new with these last couple of Sherman projects. Rather than paint them a metal color and then weather, I though why not paint them a flat earth color and then do metal on areas of high wear. Thus, they look rusty, but that's not the intent. They are just supposed to look filthy. I think on the track faces I pulled that off okay. The problem is that, on the side that touches all the bogie wheels, they are just kind of brown, and therefore look rusty. An experiment that went a bit awry, I guess. Live and learn.

I hate picture wire! And it wasn't so much that I didn't want to spend more $ on the kit...it was more that "time is money" kind of thing. Even in the Zaloga article, he mentions how, after all the mods needed on the turret, he was tired and just used aftermarket stowage rather than make his own, which he usually does. If anyone else here has tried to make this kit look half decent, you'll know what he (and I) mean. Having said that, I plan to do better with tow cables in the future, using some type of wire or even string. Because, I agree, it looks limp, and that's not a word any guy wants to hear!

Thanks again.

Rob