Simple tank dio

[goggsy]

I made this as a change from building aircraft and also because I wanted to experiment with rust and scenic effects. The base kit is the 1\35 Tamiya Sherman with the welded hull. I didn’t bother with much detailing as this wasn’t the point of the build and I also wanted to depict a tank that had been damaged and abandoned in a field for years. Although most war wreckage had been cleared from Western Europe by the early 50s there was still the occasional remnant lurking in hedgerows and fields, forgotten about until decades later. In a few cases they weren’t recovered until the 70s or even 80s. 

 

There are no doubt many inaccuracies (the rusty glass headlight lenses amongst them) but I was quite pleased with the rust effect which I achieved with layers of tamiya paint and good old fashioned hairspray. It’s the first time I’ve done that and I was surprised how easy it was to get a good effect. I’ve used natural and houshold materials for the base as much as I could; the only exceptions were a bit of static grass and scatter material for the ground. The trees and log are bits of heather and the longer grass tufts are sisal string dyed with artists ink in different shades. The leaves are actually leaves; I gathered them up locally and cut mini leaves out using a cutter I raided from the wife’s craft chest. They’re a bit out of scale but they look pretty good apart from that. Hope you like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bhouse]

That looks just right to me 👍🏾 The only thing lacking is a smattering of bird poo!

[Darby]

Jolly nice old bean. Very different.

[Richard E]

13 hours ago, goggsy said:

There are no doubt many inaccuracies (the rusty glass headlight lenses amongst them)

You'd probably find that the lenses could be stained in the way that you have depicted them if the glass had simply cracked or their seals perished.

 

A good build !

[Jasper dog]

Great looking Sherman, rust effects look spot on. Reminds me of an After The Battle photo.

 

Great work. 

[goggsy]

14 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Great looking Sherman, rust effects look spot on. Reminds me of an After The Battle photo.

 

Great work. 

Cheers, my original inspiration for this was actually the Sherman at Hermeton sur Meuse that was depicted on the cover of After the Battle, I forget which issue. This was actually a rare variant of Sherman and although technically a “memorial” was actually just let to rot at the side of the road for decades. There’s a bit of “Devils of DDay” in this as well - an early Graham Masterson pot boiler about an abandoned tank possessed by a demon.

[Jim Wasley]

Can only say so REAL looks like you went back in time and took some sneak pics,to me everything is spot on GREAT work.Cheers.

[PlaStix]

That works beautifully! Great scene. Very well done.

Kind regards,

Stix 

[Badder]

Fabulous work Goggsy. Superb groundwork. Good to see you haven't modelled the ruts as of course these would have filled in with mud and vegetation over the decades.

I particularly like the scatter and the real leaves, though of course the naturals will weaken and become very fragile in time.  I fix stuff with CA and many coats of varnish in the hope that it holds everything together for longer.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[goggsy]

4 hours ago, Badder said:

Fabulous work Goggsy. Superb groundwork. Good to see you haven't modelled the ruts as of course these would have filled in with mud and vegetation over the decades.

I particularly like the scatter and the real leaves, though of course the naturals will weaken and become very fragile in time.  I fix stuff with CA and many coats of varnish in the hope that it holds everything together for longer.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

Thanks Badder, good point about the leaves. It’s not all that noticeable but there are a few folds and lumps in the ground that were formed with polyfilla but with the scatter material they are all but gone. That said, the only ruts I put on there were where the actual tank itself sits as presumably it would slowly sink into the ground over the years. I’ve noticed that grass seems to grow longest next to static objects so that is there to emphasise the sinking effect but I might add a couple of sheep or something if I can find them in the appropriate scale, just to explain the relative shortness of the grass elsewhere.

[Mancunian airman]

Excellent result and I would just like to echo the comments of others . . . 

 

Ian