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M4A3E8 Sherman "Easy Eight" - *FINISHED*


Geo1966

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A well overdue update. Have been plodding on with the detail painting, but not getting much time at the bench unfortunately. Have also done the pin wash.

 

LwILqSl.jpg

 

I didn't find it too bad painting the stowage in situ, but realise it would have been much easier if i had left the rope off.

 

3U8m2DF.jpg

 

I am not very happy with my overpainted star on the turret. Why oh why, did i not use the blacked out one Tamiya provided! Oh well hopefully it will look better when it has a coat of Matt varnish. Have also given the other decals a coat of very thin OD to tone them down.

 

Next job is to add a bit of mud/dust to the lower hull/running gear then get the wheels and tracks on. Then final weathering. Oh and then the base and the figures.

 

George

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I'd agree with @Corsairfoxfouruncle re' the star. It looks like the crew has painted it out, perhaps a few rain streaks or dust just to break it up?

Detail painting of the stowage is great, it has paid off doing in it in situ. :like: I like that you've painted and chipped the captured German helmet too, gives it more authenticity. 

 

Nice work

Darryl 

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Hi George. That really is coming together well and I agree with the others, the star looks fine from this side of the internet.

Kind regards,

Stix

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Thanks for the comments Gents.

 

I have started adding some mud to the hull/running gear and have had another "why oh why" moment. What was i thinking when i added the bogies all that time ago. Think it was so the model had something to stand on, but certainly makes weathering harder 😬

 

George

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We now have wheels and tracks on. Think i am doing things before i should be, and taking shortcuts. Maybe panic about less then a month to go on this GB, or having a clear desk ready for the Canadian GB which starts next month! 😱

 

USRUTVZ.jpg

 

I know a lot of people will cringe, but i don't mind rubber band tracks sometimes. Saves a lot of hassle and money. Anyway, to that end I must commend Mr Tamiya on his rubber band tracks. They stick together with Tamiya liquid cement and the paint sticks to them really well. I made an ICM T-34 a while back and not only were the tracks in 2 parts per side (why???), but the paint would not stick to them for love nor money. Every little movement and big flakes came off, nightmare.

 

Oh, i nearly forgot. My "easy way to paint faces" didn't work, so i have had to invest in some VMS Clean slate. Back to the drawing board as they say 😕

 

George

 

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Looks great Goerge, not even considered the end date.....perhaps I should!

 

12 hours ago, Geo1966 said:

 "easy way to paint faces" didn't work,

How many times have I tried these, yet the videos and descriptions do look sooo very easy! :wall:

 

The boss-eyed clown look is my current favourite....:drunk:

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Hi George. That really is looking excellent! Lovely job all round.

One of the figure modellers, on Britmodeller, once told me that he felt there's no point in attempting to paint eyes properly, if they are not really well moulded in 1/35 or smaller, unless you have a lot of patience and skills to work out where the actual eyes should be. Since then, I just use Citadel's Reikland Fleshshade on all my figures - which is basically a wash that you add over a basic flesh toned paint. It's not perfect but, for the most part, eyes on models are not really that visible at normal viewing distances. The Reikland Fleshshade simply creates the shadow effects of the facial features, including the areas around the eyes. This is a photo of my 1/35 build in the last M3/M4 GB - the faces/eyes here, I think, look perfectly acceptable for the scale at this distance:

26893840198_d970b72057_b.jpg

 

Hope that's of some help.

Kind regards,

Stix

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18 hours ago, PlaStix said:

I just use Citadel's Reikland Fleshshade on all my figures

Thanks for the info Stix. I have used a couple of different washes before, but one was a bit red and the other a bit brown. Anyway i will see if i can get the one you mentioned and give it a go.

 

I don't paint the eyes either. This is one of my previous better efforts.

 

Kb9tBK7.jpg

 

George

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Hi George.  Well, judging by the image above, I'd say your figure painting is impressive! Hope you manage to sort the current ones out.

Kind regards, 

Stix

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Bit more work done, but slow progress. Oh to be retired 😄

 

Started with a few dinks, scraps and streaks. Want to add a bit of grime and some rain marks then a coat of Matt. Can't wait to varnish it so the stowage looks better (hopefully), but biting my lip and trying to be patient. Talking of stowage, i need to sort some out for the front.

 

b9cvU0y.jpg

 

1RjGybg.jpg   dUjqTEu.jpg

 

Just noticed the German helmet has gone diffy, wonder where that is?

 

George

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Looking really good George the chips and streaks really add a lot to the realism, particularly the fuel oil stains. 

Best check your shelf, see if any of those Jerry's have reclaimed their helmet!

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Nice work on the weathering George. It really is coming together brilliantly. Hope you manage to find the missing helmet, or a suitable replacement. It is so easy to knock smaller items off a build when working on doing other things. I knocked the tiny front machine gun barrel off my current build yesterday morning, Luckily, after a bit of a search, I found it on the carpet, just below where I was sitting. I won't re-attach it yet, until most of the work is complete. I might even replace it with something else, as I actually snapped it off.

Kind regards,

Stix

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, another well overdue update. Realise I am not great at updates, seems the last thing I get around to doing is taking photos. I only get about an hour at the bench per day (if I’m lucky) so little progress is made. Then I realise over a week of so, that things have changed quite significantly. Oh well I will have to try harder on the Canadian GB which starts later this month.

 

gvYgPZ1.jpg

 

aaIGp37.jpg

 

I have pretty much finished the weathering, so just have a few details to add such as the front stowage and antenna. Then a couple of touch ups here and there. The figures are about 80% done, so by the 19th I should have them in situ. Hopefully I will also have a base made up. Thinking of something quite basic. Maybe a section of cobbled road with a bit of grass verge.

 

George

 

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Thanks Ed, Have you noticed that a lot of us are using the same stowage? Guess that shows there are not that many options for allied stowage sets.

 

George

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Was wondering what i was going to use as a base and thinking i would have a look in my garage at the weekend for something suitable. However, the Modelling Gods were with me yesterday when i went shopping in Lidl. Set of 4 wooden chopping boards for £5.99. Almost a perfect size for me, as i like having my models on a base, but don't want to use to much space in the display cabinet.

 

qM9h8QQ.jpg

 

George

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Hi George. It really has turned out superbly! And nice idea for the base too! I'm looking forward to seeing the photographs in the Gallery. 

Kind regards, 

Stix

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I tried using a Tamiya Diorama material sheet for the first time. It stuck down well with some wood glue on to the Lidl chopping board. I then tried to do an enamel wash to make the mortar between the cobble stones look lighter, however this didn't work as you can see on the right hand side. The paint seems to stick better to the cobbles than the mortar. I then tried to wipe it of with some thinners, but no joy. I think basically i need to spray the whole road section and then individually paint the cobbles. Anyway i am not going to have time to do that by Sunday, so i will have to put this aside for now.

 

FdFqo9T.jpg

 

George

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As i have failed on the base i am now calling this done. The idea was that once on the base it would be called "This will cheer you up!" referring to the Commander offering the grumpy gunner some wine.

 

There are a fair few bits i am not happy with and definately some things i would do different next time, but we live and learn.

 

Final challenge is to try and take some decent pictures to post in the Gallery.

 

cqrWjBG.jpg

 

YsXHS0u.jpg

 

3o2LcfS.jpg

 

George

 

 

Edited by Geo1966
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  • Geo1966 changed the title to M4A3E8 Sherman "Easy Eight" - *FINISHED*

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