M4A3 (90) HVSS Sherman, Operation Coronet, 1946

[Graeme C.]

Nicely scratched antenna base, goes with the great detailing Jakko.

[Guest]

What CA do you use Jakko ? there some very fine work there in the last set of photos.

[Guest]

I generally use whatever I buy at a hardware store, which typically means either Bison or Pattex brands. I usually go for the thin type rather than the gel, because the thin ones becomes gel-like anyway eventually (before it sets rock-hard inside the tube) and I prefer it thinner than that There is no superglue on the antenna, though (other than to glue the 0.5 mm tube to the model), because the two bits of copper wire are trapped between the grey bits of plastic tube.

[minitnkr]

Dandy scratchery. PaulE

[Guest]

Thanks, though the upper spring is too thick I can’t be bothered to fix that, though, as it’s hardly obvious.

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Glad the track issue is sorted. Hope the RFM ones are OK. That figure is really nice and the mask idea looks good. As the others have said your scratching is good and tidy.
Jim

[Guest]

I’ve tried assembling some of the track links, and have so far found that yes, they are definitely better to build than the AFV Club ones, but also more work (for the assembly, less for cleanup, so it’s an improvement overall), and that the manufacturer’s recommended method is best altered significantly. But as I’ve not done any modelling for the past few days, I’ll explain in more detail later

[Guest]

Primer is on now:

[ATTACH]414038[/ATTACH]

Grey Vallejo from an aerosol can, with white (same) on the engine deck because I want to mask an air-recognition star there before spaying the model olive drab.

As for the tracks, I’ve decided to first take all the parts from the sprues before beginning assembly, beyond the eleven links I’ve done so far. This is great fun, with six parts per link, each and every one of them with two or three attachment points.

[Guest]

US Army tanks in the Okinawa campaign of 1945 sometimes had a very large star painted on the engine deck for aerial recognition, as big as would fit rather than the regulation size (which was already quite big). I decided to do that for this model too, so I had some great fun (not) making one from masking tape and then getting it to fit properly on the model:

[ATTACH]414172[/ATTACH]

I first tried measuring out the star on strips of masking tape I had stuck to a pane of glass, but I got some of them wrong and ended up with a star with uneven legs. Second attempt was to print out a star on normal paper, cut it out and use that as a template to cut the star from the same masking tape. In retrospect, if I had thought of this earlier I would have left off the grab handles and tools on the engine deck and fitted them after painting.

Once it was in place, it was a matter of spraying the model olive drab, in this case with Vallejo Model Air:

[ATTACH]414170[/ATTACH][ATTACH]414171[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Highlighting added from Vallejo US Field Drab:

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This is more pronounced than I normally do this, because I’ve reached the conclusion I’ve been applying it too subtly. Hopefully, it will now be visible after weathering as well as before

When looking through my paint drawer for a suitable paint to use, I noticed that I have two bottles of Vallejo 71043, olive drab:

[ATTACH]414195[/ATTACH]

Notice how they’re different shades even though they have the same number? I used the bottle on the right to paint this model’s base colour, and tried using the other for highlights. However, it’s much greener so I felt it would have given the model the wrong colour (after all, I’m the one who always keeps telling people “OD is not green” ) so I ended up with the field drab instead, which is brown.

So, I thought I’d share this photo of how the three colours compare:

[ATTACH]414196[/ATTACH]

This is the hull floor of the model, most of it is the “dark” OD but the paler, grey-green bits sort of top centre are the “light” variant and the more yellow patch at the top right is field drab.

[Guest]

After removing the masking from the star, more paint turned out to have gotten under it than I expected:

[ATTACH]414534[/ATTACH]

It was inevitable on the grille, of course, but I also needed to do quite a bit of touching up everywhere else. In the end I painted the whole star white again with a fine brush, as there was noticeable colour difference between the white paint and the white primer:

[ATTACH]414535[/ATTACH]

Before all this, though, I had added an overall coat of Games Workshop Devlan Mud (which still stinks to high heaven) and drybrushed the model with Revell Light Olive, but I only took a picture after touching up the star:

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That done, I also put markings onto the model:

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These are from a number of sources, all of them found in my box full of old decals. The stars (black and white) are from my recent Tamiya M4A3 (76) HVSS, the markings on the turret side are from another old Tamiya Sherman (that I never built or even bought, but someone once gave me the decal sheet for it, minus one of its stars), the serial number on the side is from the ancient Italeri M4A1, the name is from (I think) a Dragon M4A4, and on the back only is a unit code from the 1980s Tamiya M4A3 — even the sheet I got those from must be about 35 years old by now

[Guest]

As recounted in another thread, the Rye Field Model tracks I bought take a bit of work to assemble. I finished them last week, and today finally also made the spare links, from some leftover parts from the RFM set.

This is both sets on the tank:

[ATTACH]418314[/ATTACH]

They’re still loose, and though I joined the ends, I can take them off by removing the drive sprocket or idler. The upper run sags noticeably in the photo, but that’s only because I didn’t put the main return rollers on yet, as it would be very difficult to get the track teeth over them.

Here are the spare links:

[ATTACH]418315[/ATTACH]

I made them by glueing the pads around two bits of plastic rod, using the RFM assembly jig to get the spacing correct. I then glued a bit of plastic strip between the protruding ends and added a bolt head in the middle of it to represent the clasps that hold the links to the tank.

[Gary G]

Brilliant work there Jakko.

[Guest]

Thanks

[Guest]

Been painting the tracks:

[ATTACH]418508[/ATTACH]

I first sprayed them with black primer from an aerosol can, hoping that it would get into all the seams and things better than airbrushed paint would, but unfortunately, I still had to try hard to actually make that happen. When it was dry, I painted the whole tracks dark brown, as a basis for replicating the appearance of the manganese steel of the real thing. I did this with a large(ish) brush, as I figured it would be about as much work as spraying them brown, but without the airbrush cleanup