Hey everybody! A couple of days ago I finished up an Italeri Sherman kit. I bought it at a bargain store of all places, on a night when I promised my girlfriend I'd go shopping with her if we watched "Evil Dead". What can I say, relationships are all about compromise, and sometimes it pays off in the form of tanks! After I had left her place that night, I washed off the sprues and began to thumb through every World War II book I had to find a picture of a Sherman for reference. This was my first attempt at armor, I'm more of an aircraft/figure type guy. So I really winged it, so to speak. Even now I look at it and say "I should have done this/that differently". My nice digital camera was M.I.A. during the whole build, so I had to take most of the snapshots on my phone instead.
1469_10151182492642267_1777743875_n by sickboy510, on Flickr
735234_10151183980512267_1910389491_n by sickboy510, on Flickr
I rigged up a jig to keep the tracks and the lower hull assemblies in the right position while the glue dried. It's amazing what painters tape, wood and a rotary tool battery can do!
293652_10151185094282267_1259749132_n by sickboy510, on Flickr
543830_10151194525592267_2056776624_n by sickboy510, on Flickr
The side skirts were a real pain! They didn't exactly fit well. A little filler in the right places made it look good though.
549378_10151246783857267_2104956482_n by sickboy510, on Flickr
The kit came with a tanker, and I decided to use some of the small paint brushes I had to make him as authentic as possible. I even tried to free hand and armored division patch and some chevrons. Given the scale, I think I did pretty good!
11305_10151249218767267_1409499752_n by sickboy510, on Flickr
The same can be said for the Airfix paratroopers I picked up at the local hobby store. I painted these guys while listening to a hockey game on the radio, so it took me about an hour and a half/two hours to get them looking the way I wanted them to look.
535476_10151231989267267_1732643350_n by sickboy510, on Flickr
I had never worked with rubber tracks before, or any tracks for that matter. It was a little challenging at first, but I figured it out.
32185_10151254193667267_355771745_n by sickboy510, on Flickr
First attempt at making a diorama. Tried to make it look as much like the French countryside as possible!
419682_10151244618777267_460587644_n by sickboy510, on Flickr
I had some boxes and a water can kicking around my spares box, so I decided to paint em' up and glue em' to the back of the tank. I took some fishing line I had and colored it with a brown magic marker. I was inspired to add some "luggage" to the back after reading an old article in FSM about a Sherman. I don't have it right now but I'll be sure to add the issue and the article in case anyone wants to check it out. It was very helpful!
19620_10151255613322267_1156391616_n by sickboy510, on Flickr
The decals for this tank place it in Normandy, 1944.
559970_10151266005032267_803895008_n by sickboy510, on Flickr
After some weathering and a flat coat, it's all set! I wanted the tank to be somewhat concealed, ready to tear around the hedgerow and provide some well-aimed cover fire for the paratroopers that are pinned down. I had a lot of fun building this model, and I'll definitely try building some more tanks in the future!
-Brian