Thank you Gamera, I keep telling myself this model is only for practice and not to get excited; however, so far it has turned out to be a keeper.

I completed resurfacing sides of the turret with a 3M Metal Finishing Pad. Also completed assembly work on the turret with exception of periscope guard. The guard will be added before the primer coat is applied. I used the clear cupola option so I can mask off the vision blocks while painting. There is a clear periscope option too, but the glass portion of the periscopes is so small I don't think it will be seen. None of the hatches have been cemented so I can finish painting the tank crew later and place them where I want them.

As stated, before the model had a known problem with the seam between the upper and lower halves of the turret. I sanded the seam smooth, filled several small voids with putty and resurfaced the vertical sides of the turret to give it a casting appearance. I should be ready for a coat of primer in the morning.

Harold

Practice hell! She looks pretty damn good!!!

The easy way to mask the view-ports on the turret hatch is to take a little white glue like Elmers on a toothpick and plop it down on the clear area and drag it around to cover it. 

Gamera

Practice hell! She looks pretty damn good!!!

 

The easy way to mask the view-ports on the turret hatch is to take a little white glue like Elmers on a toothpick and plop it down on the clear area and drag it around to cover it. 

 

However, I have a new plan... Last year I was trying to decide how to make a stowage rack for the Jeep I was working on. I finally decided that one day I would learn how to solder copper jewelry wire so I could make things like a stowage rack or periscope guards. So I have ordered a butane micro torch, paste solder and .30 mm copper jewelry wire. I will teach myself how to make metal wire objects for models.

On this model I made three hatch handle out of .30 mm hard piano wire, but semi-hard copper jewelry wire would have worked much better.

Harold

Good luck! I hate those friggin' periscope guards. I haven't tried solder stuff like this before, I hope it goes well.

I mastered the technique for soldering 28-gauge (.30 mm) copper wire without overheating it, but the periscope guard is just too fragile in my opinion. I am waiting on 26-gauge copper wire to arrive, so I can try it before I glue the guards to my model. I tried 24-gauge (.54 mm) copper wire, but it looks too heavy compared with the picture of an actual periscope guard.

Harold

Good luck!

You're a better man than I if you can solder that!

Finally, ready for primer. I am very impressed with the engineering and quality of this model with exception of the turret seam. The detail is excellent, and the instructions are good. I would put this model on par with the AFV Club models I have waiting under my work bench.

Harold

She looks great. Love how the periscope guards came out- perfect!

Thank you Gamera, I still have much to learn but I am very encouraged by your comments. Below are some pictures of my first coat of Vallejo primer applied with the Iwata RG-3L3 spray gun I got for Christmas.

It's difficult to see in a photograph, but the primer is smooth and has no runs or over spray. I had to learn to let up on the trigger of the spray gun at the end of a pass, then press the trigger before I start the next pass. This way I don't get to much paint in one spot.

I also changed compressors to a Bostitch 'pancake' style air compressor that has a 6-gallon tank. The optimal air pressure at the spray gun is 36 PSI, so I'm delivering paint to the model at a distance of 8 inches somewhere between 20 and 25 PSI. At this pressure and volume of paint with a 1.0 mm nozzle I need to keep moving at a constant speed.

As you can see by the pictures, my first coat of primer was light and left of few places thin, but the Vallego primer preformed perfect without thinning. I will give this coat about 12 hours to dry and add a second coat. I should be ready for a finish coat of Vallejo 71.043 U.S. Olive Drab by Monday night.

Also, I added Vallejo 70.523 Liquid Mask to the vision blocks of the commander's cupola before I started the primer coat.

Harold

She looks good, nice work!

That looks really good! 

I've never tried a spray gun, probably for the best since I have a habit of flooding the paint on too thick. I've joked before about 'hosing something down with olive drab'. 

But what you've got looks perfect, if it works for you stick with it! 

Gamera

That looks really good! 

I've never tried a spray gun, probably for the best since I have a habit of flooding the paint on too thick. I've joked before about 'hosing something down with olive drab'. 

But what you've got looks perfect, if it works for you stick with it!

 

Harold

I applied a second finish coat of Vallejo Olive Drab #71.043 and the results are a smooth finish coat without any overspray or roughness. However, I did develop a small run on top of the barrel and gun mantlet. I also missed a few places on the road wheels, so after I give this coat 12 hours to dry, I will lightly sand the runs and give the areas that need it another coat of paint.

Four observations I made:

1. The Vallejo Olive Drab paint is more susceptaible to runs on small areas with the Iwata spray gun than the Vallejo Surface Primer.

2. I was able to use the Vallejo Surface Primer and Olive Drab paint without any thinner or retarder in the spray gun.

3. I will probably use my Iwata air brush for painting small areas in the future because use of the spray gun is hindered by the size of my spray booth.

4. The photographs below make it appear the paint on my M4A3 Sherman has a grey tint instead of a green tint. I have included a picture of the Sherman with an M5 3-Inch Gun I did at Christmas to illustrate a point. When I used blue tape to secure paper inside my paint booth and expose the blue filter it changed the way my camera sees the color of the model. Please see photographs below:

Overall Conclusion: The Iwata spray gun solved my overspray issue on large surfaces; however, I need more room to paint. The Vallejo Surface Primer will be my first choice in the future.

Harold

That is an excellent finish!

For the runs, just lightly sand them down and respray. It's not an uncommon problem and it's easy to fix.

You've done an outstanding job on this so far. Can't wait to see how you finish it. 

Yeah, that finish looks perfect! 

Good advice there, I'd just sand out the problems and spray another coat of primer over it. 

Thank you, Mike, and Gamera for you kind support.

I lightly sanded the runs on the barrel and gun mantlet and applied a touch-up coat of Olive Drab to them and the road wheels. Also removed the Liquid Mask from vision blocks on the commander's cupola and gave the hatch covers a finish coat of paint.

The next step is painting the tracks. I have not decided whether to paint the tracks for a clean display, or dirty them up a bit. I ordered a Vallejo Wheels and Tracks color kit #71.213 which has not arrived yet. In the meantime, I will paint the tools and other accessory items including the gas, water and oil cans.

I also have not decided whether to add crew members or which decals to use. This model was intended to be a skill-building project and an opportunity to try painting with a miniature spray gun. I never expected it to be a keeper. My wife suggested I build some shelves in my studio to display models. I had no plan originally to keep any models when I started building military minitures in 2017.

Harold

Sorry Harold, but she's definitely a keeper and one to display.

I'd gloss her , decal, and play with some washes if I were you. There's still some fun to be had here. 

We practice with every build. Keep having fun!

M. Brindos

Sorry Harold, but she's definitely a keeper and one to display.

I'd gloss her , decal, and play with some washes if I were you. There's still some fun to be had here. 

We practice with every build. Keep having fun!

 

Harold

She looks like a keeper to me- again nice work!

Gamera

She looks like a keeper to me- again nice work!

 

Harold

First off let me say I like colour modulation. A lot of people here don't. So use it or don't at your own discretion. 

It's simply using darker paint in the shadows and lighter paint on where the sun hits the tank. I generally paint the whole thing with a coat of primer like you have before I do anything. Then just spray some of your olive drab with a little black mixed in on the shadowed areas- underneath the tank and turret, under the fenders, etc. Then spray the sides with straight olive drab paint. Then add a little tan/buff to the olive drab and spray the upper surfaces where the light would hit. 

I usually use this AK Interactive set, it makes it easy as falling off a log. But you can mix your own with olive drab, black, and tan/buff. 

As to washes you'd be better off asking someone better than me. I just use the AK Interactive wash for olive drab vehicles as a pin wash. That is just get a little on a brush and touch it to details you want to pick out. I used to mix my own but had trouble getting it consistant- personally I find the cost of the pre-mixed stuff worth the hassle. And I don't just apply a wash over the whole tank anymore, I had lots of stuff go wrong with that.  

P.S. I really wish someone else would chip in. I consider myself a competent modeler but there's a lot better guys than I here. 

Gamera, thank you for the information and venturing out in the less familiar topic of washes.

Harold

sickdude

Excellent job on the Sherman sir! The kit sounds like a worthy addition to my stash. Thank you for sharing :).

 prairie

Jay Jay

TY for the posts here, I'm learning a lot. I too have an Iwata RG-3 and have yet to figure out how best to set it up for conssistant results. I've watched You tube videos on the subject and still don't have the hang of it yet because of all the adjustments one can make on this air gun. I use Duplicolor laquer primer bought at my local auto shop. It's inexpensive in the pint cans, readily available and works well for me.

 

1.     In the video Paul suggests adjusting the air pressure at the inlet of the spray gun with an air pressure gauge, not at the air compressor. Set the air pressure with no material flow, in other words no paint or water in the paint cup. I set the air pressure with the trigger of the spray gun fully pressed and held open. To do this you need an air compressor that can deliver a constant 36 PSI of air pressure. I had to use a pancake style air compressor with a 6 gallon air tank, the type sold for small nail guns.

2.     In the video Paul set his air pressure at the inlet to the spray gun between 25 – 30 PSI which is what I did; however, that required me to set the air pressure with the air compressor regulator much higher so it’s not turning on all the time. On most small air compressors the compressor will turn on automatically when the air pressure in the storage tank reaches a predetermined level. I set the pressure in my air compressor to 100 PSI in order to maintain a constant 25 – 30 PSI at the spray gun with the trigger fully pressed.

3.     The next step is to set the air cap by loosening the jam nut (black knurled ring) and turning the air cap to optimize the air-paint material atomization. Paul suggested doing this with water in the paint cup and listening to the sound of spray and observing the spray pattern coming out of the nozzle. My air compressor makes so much noise I couldn’t hear any change in the sound of the spray, so I used the factory recommendation for setting the nozzle to protrude .3 – .5 mm out of the air cap. To do this I used a digital caliper set to millimeters. Please see the second and third pictures below.

4.     The last step is the material flow adjustment. The adjustment knob was already set on my spray gun to 5/16” as shown in the fourth picture below, so I just left it there. Depending on what size nozzle you have (.4, .6 or 1.0 mm) you may need to change this setting to increase or decrease the volume of paint. While spraying paint I kept the spray gun at right angle to the surface being painted and approximately 8” way. I also found it helpful to press the spray gun trigger first pointed away from my model to get paint moving then make overlapping passes while holding the trigger to apply paint. Otherwise I would get a heavy shot of paint in one spot.

Today I took this M4A3 Sherman off the shelf to mount a carbon fiber antenna on the plastic antenna mast (base). I received the carbon fiber aerial rods #A094 from Accurate Armor located in Glasgow, Scotland that Bish told me about. I used a .30mm drill bit and pin vice to create a 3mm deep hole in the mast. The carbon fiber rods measure .27mm in diameter, so the fit is perfect in this mast.

This type of antenna used in World War II came as a set of five 3-foot sections that screwed together. The length could be 15-feet tall, but most of the pictures I've seen shown the antenna with three or four sections on Sherman tanks. 15-feet in 1/35 scale is 5.1429 inches which is a little too much for display of a model 9-inches long. So, if I represent a 3-section antenna (9-feet long) it would be 3.0857 inches, or 3-inches in 1/35 scale which is perfect for my display.

I also decided to purchase a set of Friulmodel T-48 metal tracks on eBay for this model. Since I last worked on this in March 2020 I have learned how to weather tracks and I really like the way Friulmode metal tracks look on the M109A2 I'm working on, so I will try them on this Sherman.

Harold

Model three section antenna on a Sherman turret.

Antenna mast (base) on a Sherman turret

Friulmodel metal tracks for Sharman tank

This is something I almost never do; put a project aside unfinished. I completed the exterior paint on this Asuka Sherman about February 20th and installed an Accurate Armor carbon fiber antenna on June 13th that Bish told me about. Today I completed assembly of the Friulmodel type 48 metal tracks.

This is the third set on Friulmodel tracks I purchased this year and I love the way they go together; the finished look is about as close as we get in scale modeling to the real thing. However, on a Sherman I do not think we get a big aesthetic difference compared to the rubber one-piece tracks that come with the kit. The Sherman tanks did not have the 'sag' that later U.S. and British tanks had or the Russian and German tanks of World War II.

I also found a new way to assemble the Friulmodel tracks using a 'Bessey Vise' and 'Mr. Glue'. Mr. Glue is a German, made industrial CA glue with the right viscosity for securing the brass wire pins without making a mess, or gluing the track segments together. I have tied a few difference CA glues in both medium and thin mixtures, but none have worked as well as Mr. Glue for metal tracks.

If you notice in Photograph #6 the Bessey Vise has a 'V' cut into the jaws that is designed to grip round objects, but it is perfect for griping track segments as shown in photograph #5 with a piece of wood as a spacer. I do not tighten the jaws very much, just enough to keep the track segments from moving.

Friulmodel supplies wire to use as pins, but I found if the wire is striaghtened by streching slightly it is much easier to work with in the vise. Please see photograph #4. I also pre-cut the wire pins using a piece of wood with a hole drilled in it to 3.8 mm length as shown in photograph #3. However, the length of wire pin may vary for difference types of track. Refer to the Friulmodel instructions.

Photograph #2 shows the Bessey Vise fully loaded with 15 track segments. The brass pins can be easily secured now with CA glue. Caution a little glue is all that is needed. To control the amount of glue applied I use a round wooden toothpick. Photograph #1 shows the Bessey Vice in my paint booth because it has good lighting and serves double duty as my assembly station.

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