Dragon 1:35 Sherman “El Alamein”
(6447)
OOB, Minor scratch build
Tristar & Golden Fluid Acrylics;
Vallejo Model Color; Revell Germany acrylic; Golden mediums; Gunze
metalizer
AK Interactive Enamel Weathering; Micro
Mark pigments
It was tank time on the ship/plane/AFV
cycle so I chose Dragon's El Alamein Sherman which has been waiting
patiently in the stash. Some firsts for yours truly. This is my first
Sherman, my first Western Allies tank and my first desert AFV.
Let me get my Dragon bashing out of the
way. Dragon puts in loads of extra parts rather than remake entire
sprues. No complaint there because I lose things and some of this
stuff will no doubt come in handy. However, dozens of those parts
were there for optional assembly allowing for the creation of
sub-species of the first lot of Britain's 17,000 M-4s. However,
because Dragon excelled themselves here in the hopeless instruction
category, it was impossible make any coherent choices concerning
options so whenever I saw the double-arrow I simply guessed. For a
DML kit this one wasn't high in part count (maybe 300) but there was
much time lost trying to figure out where parts were supposed to go
because there was no diagram showing how the kit was supposed to look
when assembled. Fortunately the editor of a Japanese armor modeling
publication had a basic photo build of Dragon's kit online so I was
able, for instance, to see what the rear of the model looked like. I
made a few major blunders while completing this model and adequate
instructions might have prevented a couple.
I can't say that I've yet come to terms
with PE. I was not at all pleased that the Sherman's fenders were PE
only. Modeling is a complex hobby and I have not mastered it. So I
believe
“mission critical” PE parts should
be available in plastic just in case something really bad happens.
(The Japanese editor noted that Tasca's version of the same tank
employed styrene fenders and he found it the superior solution. I do
want to try a Tasca kit: sounds a little like WingNut.) Beyond the
fender assembly I used some of the PE: the headlight frames (which I
didn't do well) were a nice embellishment. I didn't think the tool
belts looked the part so I left them off. I did keep them. Because of
some self-inflicted wounds resulted in several wasted hours, I was
suffering project fatigue so I didn't try to scratch build any
optional items. Maybe next time and I think the belts would be good
to strapping something to the side of the tank. (I've got a Priest
and a half track: I have every intention of scratch building cartons
of cigarettes - they were currency in Western Europe in 1944-46 - and
some bottles of French wine bought with the currency. I'll also get
some extra jerry cans so the crew can have gasoline to divert from 3d
Army to the French black market where it was more valuable than
cigarettes.) As it was I lost the PE supply basket that sat on Brit
fenders so I scratch built one. It wasn't as pretty as the original,
so as penance, I found some plastic rectangles from ICM's Konig and
turned them into water cans. If they're not to scale, I don't care.
Instructions aside this is a very good
kit. The fit was excellent. The PE fenders took time I could have
used for something else but they went on very nicely really. I have
found that when using PE a combination of CA and Aleene's Super Tacky
craft glue will take you about anywhere. I don't know how people
model without Aleene's. You put a drop of that stuff on your kit and
it will hold almost anything in place instantly giving you the time
to apply CA and then remove the excess Aleene's. I did like the DS
tracks a lot. I had to amputate a track link, but once that was done
they were on easily and I think they look very good indeed. Dragon is
just shy of overall excellence and I can understand why serious armor
fans like their offerings.
I like all military models for
different reasons. For me armor is plastic canvas. Making something
small and plastic look like something big and metal is a real
challenge especially if the big metal object was wearing it's battle
history on its finish. Some ship modelers make “commission day”
kits with almost no weathering. (Considering the build skills
required on a complex ship, I appreciate it.) Ditto with aircraft,
although I think planes are often under-weathered because they're too
pretty to get dirty. (I have a C-47 ready when I finally master the
art of styrene destruction. It will be a New Guinea theater bird and
they weren't allowed off the ground unless found in a state of near
ruin.) But even if an armor fan agrees with tank Meister Tony
Greenland that there's no reason to model the mud tanks fought in, a
well made tank demands well executed weathering. I don't claim to
have the skill – at least not yet – but painting and weathering
tanks is a gas.
Personally I think “heavy weather”
modelers buying up products created by the founders of the Spanish
School have history in their corner. But one size does not fit all. I
have some basic reference stuff but the boards have a lot of data on
Shermans and much of rang true to me. America had the technology and
money to give their vehicles very tough finishes. This was a British
Sherman, but one that literally came to the theater directly from the
factory. I simply don't know if those early Shermans got their camo
in the factory or the field. (As I understand it, when the pipeline
got going American factories did much to make the tanks “Brit
ready.”) Either way a Sherman would have had a much better finish
than a Soviet or even German tank. Also, the Shermans rushed to 8th
Army after a special plea from Churchill began to arrive in July so
each of them was light on the odometer by October. This meant that I
did not want a lot of chipping and scratching. And because Alamein
was just north of some of the world's ugliest desert, mud and rust
would not have been a hall mark of the theater. (Even in Libya you
could get winter rain – mud helped Rommel make good his retreat
from Alamein on one occasion. Mud probably saved the German position
in Tunisia in 1942. But it wasn't there at Alamein.)
What you did have was lots of sun, rare
shade and big changes and temperature throughout the day. Those
factors would have accelerated fading. And you would have had dirt by
the bucket and without let-up. Even if there was no mud, grime and
caked earth must accumulated on vehicles very quickly. And, although
British Shermans were quite fresh, Monty was a training fanatic.
Montgomery has detractors but it's hard to accuse him of sending men
into battle unprepared. Despite carping from Churchill, Montgomery
gave all units preparing for Alamein intensive exercises. So a tank
that got to the start line at El Almein, much less one that survived
it, would have been one untidy beast.
I picked a paint scheme supplied by
Dragon. As understood the diagram it called for a middle stone and
green camo with the two colors seperated not by white, as some units
did, but by a mixture of stone and green that was feathered into the
respective colors. I did everything free hand because this measure
would have been soft. I sprayed the Vallejo stone and Revell base
over a very dark Sepia prime. I treated both base paint in something
resembling Adam Wilder's “modulation” style. The paints chosen
are very good for this because water based acrylics when thinned with
acrylic mediums can be sprayed heavily diluted and at very low psi. I
applied the stone and green camo simultaneously. It would have been
tempting to simply put middle stone over the whole model, add green,
and put the racoon stripes on last. But if I did that much of the
preshade would have been lost so I did each area independently.
There's a pre-weathering pic below and you can get the idea. You'll
note that acrylic mediums will leave a gloss or satin finish which is
what I wanted. By the end of the day the weathering would dull things
considerably. I did a lot of color fading with oils – a very
interesting technique if a little tricky. I used some AK “streaking
grime” to add to the growing mess. I finished the hull off good
dose of light earth colored pigments (I like Micro Mark's brand –
they are perfectly good and maybe one quarter the cost of MIG) fixed
with mineral spirit. I put the tools and opened the hatches late in
the game, so a little dry pigment finished the job. As noted there
was only a little chipping and no rust outside the exhaust. I did use
AK's fuel stain brew and it's good.
I handled the lower hull differently.
Before installing the road wheels, I gave it a coat of very light dry
mud. I made this with acrylic gel mixed with lava (the stuff comes in
a dozen varieties including glass beads that I think might work for
snow) and colored with a light earth AK enamel. The result was a kind
of “earth base” and helped emulate caked dirt but not mud. Just
for kicks, when I put on the road wheels I treated them to a
technique recommended in Mig Jimenez's latest weathering DVD, this
one dedicated to acrylics. (This is a terrific DVD. It's filled with
clever technique and proves that a genius modeler like Mig Jimenez
could make a great kit using color crayons.) You put acrylic thinner
and matte medium on a surface, dump on a good dose of pigments and
let it dry. The result is like caked earth or very dry mud. It worked
very well. I gave it two more coats of pigments blended with spirits.
I used Floquil Grimy Black for the tracks and gave them a good dose
of pigments fixed with Tamiya A-20 thinner which acts like MIG's
pigment fixer. I drybrushed the sides of the track with Gunze's
terrific burnt iron metalizer paint. (The stuff is amazing if you've
never seen it. It goes on very ugly, but when you give it a buff,
it's instant steel. I used it on the .50 caliber MG that was part of
a Trumpeter collection of armor accessories in a sale bin. I have no
idea why Dragon did not throw in a 50 caliber – almost all the
photos of Brit Shermans in Africa showed them fitted. The Trumpeter
part wasn't very good, but it beat nothing and it looks like steel.)
Pics Below
Eric
