M4A3 (76) HVSS just off the boat

[Guest]

Well, as usual I've learned something from this build. I'd always thought that "duct tape" was so called because of its use for sealing joints in ducts, and "duck tape" was a corruption of that

I was long under the impression it was that way round too This was not helped by people saying things like, “It’s called duck tape because water slides off it like off a duck” … :rolling: Then I learned that duck is a certain fabric weave, and in fact derives from Dutch doek (pronounced, more or less, as “dook”) that just means “cloth” or “fabric”.

Thanks Jakko!

You’re welcome

Looks great. A real test of patience.

It’s the having to cut the strips that I find most tiresome. I really should have bought a roll of 1.5 mm wide tape before starting this.

I agree with Tim - your trademark meticulous research.

Thanks

I'm sure that paint will stick to the tape. Will you have to paint all the taped areas a different colour to the body?

I’m hoping it will, with the superglue smeared all over it. I think Steven was right that it might flake off otherwise — just look at how it behaves when you pull masking tape off a model.

As for the colour, I’m in luck there. On the real tanks, they sprayed a coat of par-al-ketone over all the tape and surrounding areas, as well as most of the suspension. This was a semigloss black stuff that (somewhat surprisingly to me) is apparently still in widespread use, especially for waterproofing or conserving aircraft. In other words, all I have to do is load semigloss black into my airbrush and spray it none too neatly so it covers all the tape and more Like this:

[ATTACH]406194[/ATTACH]

This photo comes from an interesting page about building tanks and shipping them overseas.

[Tim Marlow]

There you go Jakko....

https://www.jnj.com/our-heritage/vesta-stoudt-the-woman-who-invented-duct-tape

[Guest]

Today, I sprayed Tamiya olive drab over parts of the lower hull, the suspension bogies and the wheels:

[ATTACH]406486[/ATTACH]

I don’t normally do this, preferring to spray the whole model at once, but in this case I felt I needed to, so that when I later spray black over parts of the model, any areas I miss will at least be OD.

The tape needs more work, though. I also sprayed the tape under the air exhaust as a test:

[ATTACH]406487[/ATTACH]

As this shows, the seams between the pieces are too distinct, so I’ll need to think of something to smear over all of it so they’re less visible, without obscuring them altogether.

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Jakko. How about a coating of PVA for the tape?

[adt70hk]

Coming on nicely Jakko!

[Guest]

Thanks

I was thinking of PVA too, but I’m not sure it’ll hold up well over time. Elsewhere I’ve been advised to use thinned putty, but I prefer something straight from a tube/bottle/whatever so I don’t have to worry about getting the consistency right.

[Tim Marlow]

I know what you mean regarding PVA, it may curl over time, especially as the tape isn’t absorbent. Not my best suggestion then :tired:
Another idea is gesso. It’s a primer so should stick nicely.......never tried it though.....only other idea is one of the Mr primer range, perhaps the 1000 one?

[Neil Merryweather]

how about clear dope, as used on tissue paper for R/C aircraft?

[Guest]

I have some Mr. Surfacer, 500 and 1000 as I recall, so maybe that would work. Gesso is an art material, right? That would require me to go into town and buy probably a hundred times what I’ll use in my life

A thought just hit me, though: acrylic gel, maybe? I have some of that without texture, it might just work.

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Very interesting regarding the "black stuff". Would a simple brushed on coat of matt varnish work on the tape???
Jim

[Guest]

I don’t think that will be thick enough, unless I put on a lot. I need to apply something that will actually fill the seams between the pieces of tape, but not completely obliterate them. This is why I’m thinking of acrylic gel, because that shrinks a little when it hardens, meaning I can simply smear it all over and hopefully have some seams left. I’ll have to do a test piece to make sure, of course.

[Tim Marlow]

Isn’t acrylic gel formulated for impasto painting techniques though? It should maintain the application brushstrokes so it may well obliterate all of your previous hard work.....Another option could be artists tube acrylic paint? That still has body, but won’t hold to the surface as thick as gel?

[Guest]

That’s why I need to do a test first, of course I think I’ll try a few of the options people have mentioned and see which works best.

[Guest]

Here’s the trial:

[ATTACH]406669[/ATTACH][ATTACH]406670[/ATTACH][ATTACH]406671[/ATTACH][ATTACH]406672[/ATTACH]

I stuck three bits of tape together and smeared superglue over them, like on the model. Leaving the centre bit uncovered as a control, I then put acrylic paint from a tube on the left and acrylic gel on the right. I did this with a spatula rather than a brush and dragged it lengthwise, in the direction of the tape strips, so it would smear the paint and gel into the ridges rather than uniformly cover the tape.

After waiting overnight for it all to dry, I sprayed white primer over them (first photo) and then brush-painted everything with the semigloss black I intend to spray the model with (second photo), and drybrushed with Tamiya NATO Black, which is a very dark grey (third photo). This is more noticeable in the flesh than in the photo, though, so I then drybrushed some more with Vallejo Dark Bluegrey, which is a regular dark grey. Again, this doesn’t seem to show up well in the photo, but IRL it made the edges rather more obvious than I’d like.

The gel seems to almost obscure the tape edges, but not quite, while the paint seems to make hardly any difference. You can spot where it is, but it seems to have covered the tape much more evenly as it dried than the gel did. Because of this, I’m leaning to the gel based on this test.

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Hard to tell from the photos but looks fine. You just go with what you're happy with and what looks right 'in the flesh'. Glad you have overcome this issue.
Jim