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Tamiya M4A3E8 ‘Easy Eight’ - “The Ambush”


Meteors

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A crank handle, that’s what was on the tip of my tongue (I’d had a few drinks). Just not sure if I need to glue it on if it’s going to be completely hidden, but I guess I should.

 

Hoping to get some paint down this evening, as long as the children comply with their bedtimes!

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Yes, a crank handle. It wasn't used unless there was a problem with the battery or starter motor. It's hard to bump start a Sherman you see.

These crank handles are behind the rear stowage shelf, yes, but they can still be seen from above and the sides, so I always attach them. The other thing to realise is that the real shelf folds up and can be flipped up onto the rear deck, exposing the handle fully. So those making the PE shelf have the option to do this and show the crank.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

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1 hour ago, Badder said:

These crank handles are behind the rear stowage shelf, yes, but they can still be seen from above and the sides, so I always attach them. 

Thanks, Badder, good to know. What would be your opinion on gluing the lower and upper hulls before attaching the wheels and tracks? Would this cause any foreseeable problems down the road when putting the tracks on? I just feel it would make painting it all a lot easier to have it as one whole piece. 

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

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5 hours ago, Meteors said:

Thanks, Badder, good to know. What would be your opinion on gluing the lower and upper hulls before attaching the wheels and tracks? Would this cause any foreseeable problems down the road when putting the tracks on? I just feel it would make painting it all a lot easier to have it as one whole piece. 

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

Hi Tom,

I can only speak for myself, but here are my thoughts on gluing the upper and lower hulls together before putting the tracks on.

 

Firstly, can I finish the tracks completely in respect of painting, weathering, applying any mud/grass etc, BEFORE putting them on?

In my case, I planned on adding a fair bit of mud, grass and possibly snow to the tracks and I was concerned that some of the mud/grass/snow might come off during the bending and adjusting of the tracks' positions. I therefore decided that it would be best to fit the tracks in a 'mid-way' state and finish them in-situ.

If I glued the upper and lower hulls together and then fitted the tracks, it would be difficult to apply mud/grass/snow to the top run of tracks.

Much easier to fit the tracks, adjust their positions, add the mud/grass/snow, add the same to the underside of the sponsons/fenders and then drop the upper hull on top.

In my case I could see no advantage whatsoever to fixing the upper and lower hulls together first.

 

And as it turned out my decision proved a wise one, because although my tracks were loose - having been stretched by about 3mm - I was messing about with them, pulling them around the running gear and an idler wheel snapped off. The 'axles' of the idlers are quite thin and weak it turns out!

 

However it was a fairly simple fix, drilling out the idler and replacing the 'axle' with a metal pin, and inserting that into a hole drilled into the....er.... mounting. I then CA'd the wheel to the mounting, not caring that I'd stopped any rotation of the wheel.

 

I had of course, removed the tracks first.

The instructions show the tracks looped around all the running gear, but leaving the idler un-fitted, looping the tracks around the idler then fixing the idler in place. This is what I did originally, but now that option was lost. So instead I worked in the opposite direction, using the sprocket wheel instead. Had I fixed the upper and lower hulls together before the 'accident' then fitting the tracks would have been extremely difficult as the front fenders are very tight to the tracks and leave very little room for manoeuvring the sprocket wheel/tracks.

 

In conclusion then, I'd say don't glue the lower and upper hulls together until very near the end of the build. There's actually no advantage I can think of, to doing otherwise.

 

In fact, I'd question the need to glue the upper and lowers together at all. Really, the only visible 'join' between upper and lower hulls is that at the transmission cover and glacis. They fit together extremely well 'dry', held together securely by the clip under the glacis/transmission cover. Then there's the nylon washer at the rear. Between them, the 'holding points' are more than enough to er... hold the upper and lower hulls together and negate the use of glue. 

 

On other kits, this may not be the case.

 

A long winded answer, but I hope it helps.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Wow, thanks man, that’s a massively comprehensive reply!

 

I think you’re right about the good tight fit. What I’ll do is leave it as is, prime it in place, and then see how I go when it comes to fitting the tracks. That way I’ll have the option to take the top off if I need to.

 

Luckily I’m not planning to do fully dirty tracks like yours, they’ll just be a little muddy and dusty, I think this tank and it’s crew are a little green.

 

Cheers!

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So I finally got some paint on this thing. Gave it a base coat of Tamiya’s Nato Black.

 

25223798977_6269c541ab_b.jpg

 

26221409178_c9da4f06e9_b.jpg

 

Then I gave it a coat of Tamiya’s Olive Drab, which has come out really dark, despite how it looks in these pictures below. 

 

40062842372_75ca3d3304_b.jpg

 

39384344674_880e7b6f50_b.jpg

 

So I think I’ll need to give it a lighter coat to bring it up to the colour of green that it looks like in the pictures. I bought a bottle of Mig Ammo Olive Drab Highlights to use for some drybrushing, so I might add a bit of that to the Tamiya Olive Drab to lighten her up.

 

Cheers guys,

Tom

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Looking excellent Tom,

I'm looking at that glacis, the gun travel lock and the lights and horn, all present and correct and all where they should be,  and I'm actually a bit jealous!!!!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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On 05/02/2018 at 11:02 AM, Meteors said:

So I think I’ll need to give it a lighter coat to bring it up to the colour of green that it looks like in the pictures. I bought a bottle of Mig Ammo Olive Drab Highlights to use for some drybrushing, so I might add a bit of that to the Tamiya Olive Drab to lighten her up.

Optionally just add a few drops of XF-60 'Dark Yellow' (and/or use some XF-57 'Buff' for a more faded look) and mist it on to pick out your highlights, I use a couple of progressively lighter passes in 1/72.....I believe this is what Steve Zaloga recommends (He rates XF-62 as the most accurate OD).

 

FWIW

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello chaps, it’s been a while. What with the variety of things going on in real life it’s almost impossible to get any serious work done!

 

So I drybrushed on some of the OD highlights to try to brighten it up a little as I just don’t have time to fire up the airbrush, what with the time it takes to clean it etc. Plus it’s not just something you can drop at a moment’s notice it my attention is suddenly needed elsewhere.

 

Here’s how she’s looking.

 

39785203494_59699b5452_b.jpg

 

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I’ve added the tools after giving them a quick base coat, I’ll weather them and finish them off once I get it sealed ready for washes and all that.

 

39785203154_1962a5b0fa_b.jpg

 

I decided to attach the bogies, I’m not going to be adding too much dirt and mud, so i figured that I can flick some dust and filth in there with them attached without much of a problem.

 

25624329937_7b746e9579_b.jpg

 

38684876770_ee2cc683da_b.jpg

 

So that’s where I’m at, next a coat of TS80 and then I’ll dirty her up a bit!

 

I reckon I’ll have her done by the end of March for the deadline, the little diorama may have been a bit ambitious and might have to wait a bit!

 

Cheers,

Tom

 

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Really liking how this is coming along, I enjoyed building the "Easy" but i'm not happy with my final paint job, came out a bit too dark. Looking forward to seeing your weathering stage.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks guys.

 

But oh dear, I’ve just made a massive balls up (can I say that?)

 

Got the clear coat on, added the decals, it was looking good. Did a bit of pin washing with the Tamiya brown panel liner, still looking ok.

 

Then I added a little bit of pigments to try to make it look a little bit dusty here and there at the front and around the driver’s hatch etc. fixing it on with some enamel thinners. Oops. I’ve not really used pigments before. It doesn’t look good. It’s gone very, very grey and awful. It dried and I tried to brush off the excess and it’s just a mess, an absolute disaster. 

 

I’ve tried to clean a bunch off with thinners but that just spread it around, plus I don’t want to hit it too hard with a load of thinners and it starts stripping paint. Oh man, I think I’ll just leave it, go to bed and see how it looks in the morning with a fresh pair of eyes. I wanted quite a clean tank, I guess now the story is it just drive through a sandstorm.

 

Gutted.

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Hi. It doesn't sound good but hopefully it will be salvageable!! You could try posting a couple of photos here to see if anyone has any ideas for how to sort it out. Hope it doesn't look as bad as you think when you see it in the light of a new day.

Kind regards,

Stix

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Well it doesn’t look pretty back in the cold light of morning. It could maybe be salvaged with a whole heap of thinners. Didn’t have time to grab any pics this morning before heading to work, but will try this evening.

 

Cheers,

Tom

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Ok, so here’s the damage. She could maybe be cleaned up with a load of thinners and some scrubbing. But she looks like she’s been in a junkyard for 20 years!

 

40700946921_1a93215eb3_b.jpg

 

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Here she is with her untouched turret on to show the contrast.

 

40700947011_d3827944f6_b.jpg

 

Looks like I’ve got some work to do!

 

I did finish off my commander though, he’s not looking too bad. 

 

25829482517_2e806a1fb8_b.jpg

 

26829088258_e303b5b71a_b.jpg

 

39990596454_8d79c10416_b.jpg

 

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I’ll get some wine in me and have a crack at it tonight, that’ll do the trick!

 

Cheers,

Tom

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First off, nice job on the commander figure. Always nice to see the pupils and whites of the eyes! (Something I've not yet done myself! since returning to the hobby)

 

As for the 'disaster', with the pigments and thinners, I ACTUALLY LIKE IT!

Okay, it wasn't intentional, but I'd pass the effect off as a worn two-tone winter camo, with whitewash over OD. Sometimes mistakes/disasters can turn into 'strokes of genius'

So personally, I'd do whatever it was you did, to the rest of the Sherman. One good thing is that the commander figure looks to be dressed for winter anyway.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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Hi Tom,

 

the random effect of your disaster is interesting and I'm sure you can do something with it like Badder suggested ;)

 

We, modellers, all have in memory, and display case potentially, one unintended effect that turned into something nice B)

 

Cheers, E

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I'd agree with what's been said above, Tom. To me, the pigments on the transmission cover and fenders look perfect for dried mud. The only areas that maybe don't sell the effect as well are the harder-edged blobby bits near the top of the glacis, above the machine gun. You could soften those areas with more pigment or a light misting with some dust coloured paint.

Also, if you want to treat it as mud and add a little more texture to it, you could try mixing up a thicker mix of pigment and an enamel wash, and flicking it on with a stiff brush.

 

Really nice work on the figure too.

 

Andy:cat:

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Thanks so much for the advice and encouragement guys. I’ll admit that half of it looks kind of cool, and I tried my best for a few days to try to love it. 

 

I tried replicating the effect on other parts of the tank, and it just looks amateurish and sloppy. 

 

It’s a shame, I’d really wanted to do quite a clean vehicle this time after my dirty, duffed up Power Loader, so to have this happen through my own inexperience with pigments is really disheartening. 

 

I’m thinking the best thing for this may be an isopropyl alcohol bath. At least that way I can try to start again, rather than just consigning her to the unfinished shelf, which is where I’m leaning at the moment. Plus I don’t want to let the Group Build down!

 

I’m really unsure what to do with this one.

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Gutted fella.....Quite agree with what the lads said, if you could replicate the effect it would be a very convincing faded white-wash.  :unsure:

 

If the pigments are stable could you maybe shoot another layer of OD over the top and carry on (fairly sure the BM Sherman Posse can sort you some new decals).....The texture of the pastels doesn't matter a whit, it's a tank, plus it might actually help you to build up a convincing patina later on.

 

PS - What pigments did you use BTW.....Have a feeling they'll be going on my 'avoid list'.

 

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