'FACE OFF' CONTINUED....

[Badder]

I've muddied up the tracks, again using sand coloured 'Grit Paint' mixed with Dark Earth Weathering Powder and chopped up static grass.

It's a shame that the track details have been mostly covered up by this 'gloop', but I'm hoping to take some of this back and recapture the burnished highlights (at least in places where it will be seen)

 

Here's the 'run' of track links that will be hidden up against the sponsons. Really, only their edges will be seen so I wasn't too liberal with the mud.

 

Inner surfaces given a bit of mud and grass, which has either dropped down from above, or has splashed or oozed onto them from the sides. People get a bit fussy at this stage IMHO, cleaning up the surfaces 'where the wheels run along the tracks'. But there's nothing to say that the clods of earth, or muddy water haven't 'just this second' gotten onto the tracks and so haven't yet been 'run over' and 'cleaned up' by the wheels. Obviously, the mud WILL be cleaned off where it would otherwise be directly beneath a wheel.

 

A bit of burnishing 'recovered' from the mud. I will pick out more spots with a graphite stick.

 

The tracks have now been glued and are ready for fitting. But first I'm going to have to contemplate adding some bits of snow.

 

TFL

Badder

[Badder]

Still contemplating the snow.

 

But I've fitted the tracks just to see how everything sits. It was nice and easy, with the idler wheel under no stress because of the 3mm stretch I placed in the tracks. The tiny amount of slack can be reduced by placing the Sherman on uneven ground in the diorama.

 

 

 

 

I'

m going to add more mud and grass to the edges of the tracks and the rear once the diorama is ready. Handling the model will only remove anything I add now.

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

[Meteors]

Looking good!

[Badder]

These were a bit of a pain in the Harris to fit, what with my numb fingers, but I figured it out in the end.

 

Using Blu-Tac to pick the parts up, I placed a blob of thin CA on the locating holes in the hull/fender then pushed the strut's topmost 'pin' into the topmost locating hole. A press with the fingertip seated the top properly. Then it was a case of pressing the bottom locating pin into its hole and then holding the strut and removing the Blu-Tac.

 

There are 22 in all to fit, and 26 in the kit, so losing a couple wasn't an issue.

 

With those done, I'm now going back to the lower hull and giving everything another coat of gloss. I had trouble with the old Aztek again yesterday, spending hours getting the thing working again, so I only managed a single 'rough' coat.

 

TFL

Badder

[Ozzy]

Nice progress Badder, those muddy tracks look very nice.

[Robert Stuart]

That does look good Badder, even with a 'rough coat'

[Badder]

1 hour ago, Ozzy said:

Nice progress Badder, those muddy tracks look very nice.

 

1 hour ago, Robert Stuart said:

That does look good Badder, even with a 'rough coat'

 

Thanks chaps.

I got my temperamental airbrush working properly again and have applied more gloss varnish. I've not given absolutely everything a spray, wanting some areas to look wetter than others. So, the hull itself got a patchy spray leaving 'shaded' areas with just the original coat, some wheel hubs got full sprays while others only partial, the HVSS units got sprays from above where water would rain down from the tracks above, and from below where spray from the wheels would fly up, but very little on the vertical surfaces. Meanwhile the tracks got full sprays both inside and out. The hubs of the double-wheeled return rollers got no spray at all, as I figure they are pretty sheltered, being deep-set as they are.

 

I then gave the tracks' raised patterns another going-over with a graphite stick as varnish seems to wash graphite off. I've yet to find a solution to this re-occuring problem and would appreciate any advice on this issue.

 

I am pleased with how things are looking, but at the end of the build I will have to re-apply some more mud and grass as a fair bit has been rubbed off thanks to repeat handling by me.

 

Pics to follow shortly.

 

TFL

Badder

 

[fatfingers]

Aye up Badder,

 

Looking great! Really like the grass and mud on the tracks 

 

Regards,

 

Steve

[Badder]

22 minutes ago, fatfingers said:

Aye up Badder,

 

Looking great! Really like the grass and mud on the tracks 

 

Regards,

 

Steve

Thanks Steve,

 

Here's the latest pics.

 

 

One of those rare cases where things look a lot better magnified!

 

TFL

Rearguards,

Badder

Edited January 28, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

The lower hull has been put away now, and won't see the light of day until near the end of the build.

 

I'm now going to concentrate on bits and pieces for the upper hull: specifically the filler caps with PE chains and tools - with or without PE fasteners.

 

TFL

Badder

[PlaStix]

Great work with the mud and grass effects Badder. Really looks like it's been crossing a sodden field or three! Well done! 

Kind regards,

Stix 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Mucky! 

[Hewy]

Those last two pictures are quality, i like that mud effect

Glynn 

[Badder]

11 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Great work with the mud and grass effects Badder. Really looks like it's been crossing a sodden field or three! Well done! 

Kind regards,

Stix 

 

6 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Mucky! 

 

1 hour ago, Hewy said:

Those last two pictures are quality, i like that mud effect

Glynn 

Thanks chaps,

Although the tracks aren't up to their full mud-capacity yet. I'm hoping for clods and sods at the rear end, which will be a lot easier when it's siting on a diorama.

 

Yesterday I was making a start on getting the glacis sorted. I sussed how to make the mounting points for the lights and horn - more on that later - but had problems working out where they should go. More on that later as well.

 

TFL

Badder

[Badder]

On ‎30‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 2:11 AM, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Right, let's get this glacis sorted.

 

I had three options.

1. Ignore the photo above and just put the components on as per the kit instructions.

2. Try to copy the glacis as precisely as possible.

3. Do some sort of half-way house.

 

Option 1.

After much messing about, trying to fit the components as per the instruction sheet, it soon became obvious that it wasn't a simple case of transferring their positions from the original glacis to new one.

The reason for this is because the new glacis has a thickness and is slanted at an angle. IF a glacis had simply been cut from another vehicle and had been plonked on top of the original, then every component on that new glacis would be raised higher above the ground, and pushed further forward. The headlights would be further from the ground... possibly an issue if they weren't then adjusted, possibly an issue when it came to driving at night with a larger and more obvious 'cone' of light. I don't know, but it seemed to me that this was a problem. The gun travel lock would also be higher, which may or may not have been a problem. Whatever, the new glacis is slightly narrower in width than the original, so the lifting rings would have to be moved inwards and this impacts on the headlight and horn on the right hand side.

 

Option 2.

But then I realised that on the vehicle above, the horn is on the left, there's one headlight on the right, and a mangled brush guard for a second headlight on the right, but no headlight. It is apparent then, that although a glacis was dropped on top of the original, the parts on it were either arranged differently straight off the production line, OR they'd been moved or replaced at some point... possibly as late as when the glacis was removed from the donor vehicle.

I didn't want to model a mangled brush guard, and ..... crikey, I'm boring myself writing this!!!!!!

 

Basically, I cant do a precise copy of the original because I don't have the right equipment, tools, and patience to measure everything and get it spot on and anyway it might not be possible because of the scale issues with the brush guards. Boring myself again!!!!

 

Option 3.

The easy option! Yep.

 

So, that 'new glacis' is NOT a glacis from another Sherman. It's just a big slab of armour plate. They took all the components off the Sherman's glacis, slapped the plate on and then stuck some of the components back on that. Perhaps the missing headlight and mangled brush guard is the result of a glancing strike from AT round.

 

But I'm not putting on the 'missing' headlight. My Sherman, had already lost a headlight to an enemy round, a lucky escape, which instigated the request for an 'armour upgrade', which was duly given, but there was no spare headlight to replace the missing one.

 

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Possibly.

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

All entirely plausible.....Missing headlights, horns, hell even the odd bogey on a bad day! 

 

PS - I'm enjoying this build so much that I've now got two more 'Easy-Eights' in my various watch lists. 

 

[Badder]

45 minutes ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

All entirely plausible.....Missing headlights, horns, hell even the odd bogey on a bad day! 

 

PS - I'm enjoying this build so much that I've now got two more 'Easy-Eights' in my various watch lists. 

 

In the photo above you can see that the new glacis is narrower than the original. I assume they cut it out of the old one without cutting into the side panel armour. If the armour was cut from an Easy Eight, exactly the same as mine, then the lifting rings would have come off, and the outer strut for the horn's brush guard. So I figure in that case they had to remove all those things and re-attach them where they could.

 

Anyway, mine just has armour plate and re-fitted components now. And for some reason someone thought having two headlights was just showing off.

 

I've built Tamiya's Sherman 105mm, which was a real joy to build... even with the scratch-built sponson inserts, and although I prefer the look of the HVSS units on the Easy Eight, the older type of suspension on the 105mm sure does fit and fix better to the hull. That's my only criticism of this Easy Eight. I'm watching t'others too. It'll be really interesting to see the differences in the painting and weathering.

 

Now to the gun lock mounting points.... ho hum.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

 

[Badder]

I'm still trying to figure out how to make the gun travel lock mounting points. Not easy.... at least not for me it isn't.

 

During a brief interval between head scratchings, I decided to give the front of the tank a spray - just to show up any horrible blemishes etc.

Well, there's blemishes. I will tidy up a few of them, but I'm quite liking the 'divots' marking the place where the right hand headlight brush guards were supposed to be. I'm contemplating removing the horn and fitting that missing headlight. Or fitting the headlight, minus its brush guards.

 

What do people think of fitting the headlight without the brush guard? It will only sit where it's supposed to sit, if I don't fit the brush guard, you see?

 

Anyhooooo,

Here's the state of affairs at the moment.

 

 

Interesting to note that my airbrush was spraying okay, but the paint was drying almost instantly and quite powdery.

 

When it came to making the mounts for the headlight and the horn, it was quite simple.

I cut a short length of sprue and sliced off the end at around 45 degrees.

I then stuck the sliced end to a piece of plasticard with CA and drilled a hole down the full length of the sprue., like so:

As you can see, the hole was drilled off centre. This is because the finished object would be filed down until it was hemispherical in cross section and the hole had to be central within that hemisphere.

It was then a case of holding a file flat across the top end of the sprue and filing it down and down and down, until that hemispherical cross-section and the correct length was achieved.

A razor saw was then used to slice the mount from the plasticard.

 

TFL

and thanks to those of you who answer the question posed in this post.

 

Badder

 

 

[Hewy]

Good work on the light and horn mount, not qualified enough to comment on the brush guards though badder

[Badder]

I've just dry-fitted the bottom armour plates here:

 

 

 

PLEASE NOTE!

 

A bit of cleaning-up has been done, using the fibreglass pen. The sparkly bits are fibreglass dust. I would recommend everyone using these tools to either wear a mouth and nose mask, or wet the tip of the pen during use, then blow the dust away outside. Although I rated these tools highly upon first using them, I am now not so sure. I've found that the dust gets on my hands and fingers, causing splinters and itching.

 

 

 

Tomorrow, more head-scratching on the travel lock mounts and maybe get the tools done (with or without the PE)

 

TFL

Badder

[Sgt.Squarehead]

I like the parts combo you have there, one headlight and a horn.....What more could you need? 

 

Really like the texture of your model, the dinks and bashes give it real character and they are a lot closer to what we actually see on vehicles in the field than smooth shiny plastic.

 

[Badder]

3 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

abaI like the parts combo you have there, one headlight and a horn.....What more could you need? 

 

Really like the texture of your model, the dinks and bashes give it real character and they are a lot closer to what we actually see on vehicles in the field than smooth shiny plastic.

 

I've always queried the need for a horn to be honest. if someone can't hear a Sherman coming up behind them then they deserve to be run over. And I don't think the enemy would abandon there positions and get out of the way if they were tooted at, even if it were a very vicious tooting.

 

As for the textures on my model, they are all accidental, BUT as you say, they do add character and realism. It's something I'm always aware of when building and painting a model. I do love a spotless, clean and tidy build and I understand why some people would want that pristine base upon which to paint, but I've never worried about 'cleanliness' as you can tell from some of my photos. I figure that AFVs look best with multiple layers of effects, and in real life those effects start on the production line.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Sgt.Squarehead]

It's for comedy moments, you drive up to the MG pillbox, stick the gun barrel through the embrasure, then hit the horn! 

 

 

 

[wimbledon99]

This is looking rather superb!! The mud is great and the texture of the metal really brings it to life  

[beefy66]

I like the look of the grassy muddy look my favourite part of the weathering making a mess all over the lower parts  

 

beefy