Pawel

Awright, but in case of making a master, wouldn't it be good to check if/where Dragon bothed the shape of the turret in other places than the turret ring?

Good luck with your builds and have a nice day

Paweł

 

Everyone, thanks for the favorable endorsements, but I think I'll probably not submit this, as it's probably nowhere even near the ballpark of being factually, dimensionally "correct"--and there are too many out there who would just delight in pointing that out, making any investor in this product really have to consider the formidable risks in producing something that would be undoubtedly savaged by the critics. I appreciate the support though, honestly.

I'll be back early next week with a painting update.

Hello everyone!

Well, after a long weekend of planting and yardwork, I've put some paint on her....but first, I added a few more details here...the first being this recess on the turret side---there's a tube coming out of the turret here on the T-42 which also had a very similar turret to this tank--perhaps the same one? Anyway, you can see that tube there--there's a similar one on the other side of the T54. This open recess bothered me just being bare, so I put the vestiges of a tube there. Whatever it is....homing pigeon turret access?

You can tell that it definitely doesn't protrude like the T42's, but I think it looks better than nothing being there? Interestingly, the kit's DS plastic mantlet cover covers this part up, but it's definitely a component of the turret, if you look at reference photos.

I also screwed up in assmbling the return rollers---I should have only glued the inside ones to the hull, as per my indy track linik strategy....so I cut them in half and glued the inner ones in there. This willl help me align the tracks when I build them.

Finally, I put a hatch pad and a periscope in the TC's hatch. It just looks better if I decide to leave it open, and I may....I have a cool idea for this tanks' ultimate finish...

Painting started with a Tamiya mix of almost Black-green.

 Next, a coat of Tamiya XF-62, old school OD. Shaded in my usual way.

I then added about 20% white--I wanted a cold highlight, so I didn't use a tan or yellow which would have made a warmer highlight--and used a mask cut from an index card to do some "modulation" on the front hull.

Then I highlighted the whole model, concentrating on the high points and shading the highlight color down the sides to make a more 3-D rendering of a a paint coat.

Put together, it looks pretty good already.

Next up, decals....and then, a twist...I think it's going to be cool. Think "Korea, 1954; the Armistice fails.." ...

Stay tuned!

OD, my favorite color! Looking good so far. As far as that tube you added goes, it is likely one of two things: a co ax machine gun, or a telescopic gunners site. 

Wow Karl, another fascinating model with a detailed log  .. Thank you! ... She looks great!

Ohhh.. looks awesome. I love the colour modulation there!

For some reason I think of a platypus looking at your photos. Not sure if it's the bill like mantlet or that it's made of all kinds of tank parts like the platypus looks to be made up of all of Mother Nature's critters.

And Korea '54... now I'm thinking how cool that thing would look with a big grinning tiger face painted on the front of that weird turret...

Lookin' good and love the paint. It may not be 1954 anymore, but the armistice may still fail!

Nice job there karl, looking good. As for that tube, first thing i thought was a co-ax MG.

stikpusher

OD, my favorite color! Looking good so far. As far as that tube you added goes, it is likely one of two things: a co ax machine gun, or a telescopic gunners site. 

 

OD is a virtual rarity in my display case! I hope I can finish this well enough to make it pop! :)

Gamera

Ohhh.. looks awesome. I love the colour modulation there!

 

For some reason I think of a platypus looking at your photos. Not sure if it's the bill like mantlet or that it's made of all kinds of tank parts like the platypus looks to be made up of all of Mother Nature's critters.

 

And Korea '54... now I'm thinking how cool that thing would look with a big grinning tiger face painted on the front of that weird turret...

 

And yep, you kinda guessed where I'm going with this....should be fun..

Thanks for the comments, guys!

M1GarandFan, that's what I was thinking...this model is rather prescient in that regard. Should make a relevant story in FSM. :)

As for the tubes, the one on the gunner's side of the tank (right hand as sitting in the turret) is the gunner's auxillary sight (a backup sight slaved to the gun tube). The opposite side tube is the coaxial machine gun. On the Abrams, the GAS and coax are on the same side, but on opposite sides on most US tanks.

Rob Gronovius

As for the tubes, the one on the gunner's side of the tank (right hand as sitting in the turret) is the gunner's auxillary sight (a backup sight slaved to the gun tube). The opposite side tube is the coaxial machine gun. On the Abrams, the GAS and coax are on the same side, but on opposite sides on most US tanks.

 

OK, now I need some help. I want to ask about plausible markings in the Korean era. It seems to me that there was a huge deal of variation and very little standardization of markings in that conflict. Marines seemed to use yellow lettering and numbers, and stars could be found in place or not at all.  Does anyone here have any US tanks marking guidelines for that era?

Specifically, I want to know if stars were out on top of tanks? ANd were they stars-in-a-circle? Or just plain stars? I have the two on the side of this tank (see below) but want to put one on top. Plausible, or no?

ALso, markings---number codes and all that. What's a plausible designation? Would they go on the front and identically on the back?

If you can help, I'd really appreciate it!



Now, the update...

Cliff (Gamera) correctly deduced that I'm going for a "Tiger" motif on this tank--I decided to try to do this with masking, rather than a tedious brush painting which might leave big, garish brush strokes... I used silly putty to define my "mouth".

I painted that White with the AB...

Now, I cut "teeth" out of a flattened piece of silly putty...some I just rolled up and flattened...

Spray paint that black now..

and....voila'!

Now, I paint in the red gums and lips..did this with a brush...

I added a star on the turret sides, as they were still using these back in the 50s...

I'm going to do the fender "claws" the same, and then give 'er some stripes by brush painting!

I also have a crew guy to show the scale of this beast...

If anyone can help me with the numbering codes and "star" question which I posted in the beginning of this post, please do!! Thanks eveyone!

No stars on the top and no circles around them either.

Not sure about The reg numbers, but I think you can use a fictional number starting with "B00*****". When making fictional armor I usually pick a significant date as the reg no. Birth dates, aniversaries and such. Just a personal touch lol.

Really nice work on the paint! That's wicked!

Can't help you with the markings, but that paint job is really nice. Love how thats come out.

Like already said, no circle stars  in Korea. That was a WWII Western Allies air recognition ID marking in ETO/MTO only from 1943 to 1945. The cat faces seen on US tanks in Korea was only in the Spring of 1951 period during the counter offensives to drive back the Chinese. They were authorized by General Ridgeway after he took over to foster and reflect an aggressive attitude. And also to take advantage of a supposed Chinese superstition against cats.

As far as number codes go, they would follow the standard format seen from WWII thru today on US Army vehicles. No armored division served in Korea. Only Tank Battaions and Companies attached to Infantry units. When viewed looking at the vehicle, the higher unit, Division and Battalion is seen to the left. The right would be the Company letter and Platoon & Vehicle number. Depending upon the unit, numbers may be seen on the turret sides and rear as well. In 1952 and later, some US Army tank units camouflage painted their tanks with two or three color patterns.

Karl,

This is really coming along nicely.  Great shading effect. Can't wait to see your final finish on this beast!

stikpusher

Like already said, no circle stars  in Korea. That was a WWII Western Allies air recognition ID marking in ETO/MTO only from 1943 to 1945. The cat faces seen on US tanks in Korea was only in the Spring of 1951 period during the counter offensives to drive back the Chinese. They were authorized by General Ridgeway after he took over to foster and reflect an aggressive attitude. And also to take advantage of a supposed Chinese superstition against cats.

As far as number codes go, they would follow the standard format seen from WWII thru today on US Army vehicles. No armored division served in Korea. Only Tank Battaions and Companies attached to Infantry units. When viewed looking at the vehicle, the higher unit, Division and Battalion is seen to the left. The right would be the Company letter and Platoon & Vehicle number. Depending upon the unit, numbers may be seen on the turret sides and rear as well. In 1952 and later, some US Army tank units camouflage painted their tanks with two or three color patterns.

 

As far as the difference between a Division, Company and a Battalion, how would that manifest itself in the markings? That triangle symbol--is that "Divisional" or "Battalion"? WHat would a typical "correct" marking look like for Korea? Would that triangle symbol be used?

And markings on the front only?

Thanks too, Mike, Bish and Bryan. I appreciate the comments. :) Nice to see you guys following along.

Unit codes are placed on the front and rear of the tank. Typically on the fenders or on the front and rear plates. The triangle symbol after the first number denotes an Armored Division, while an I after the number denotes and Infantry Division. The second number would be the Tank Battalion with the triangle afterwards.

example: 2I 23^    2nd Infantry Division, 23rd Tank Battalion (a made up battalion)

then on the opposite side is the Company/Platoon/Tank combination,

example: A21    A Company 2nd Platoon Vehicle 1

so the codes would read

2I 23^       A21

Love the tiger mouth!

I flipped though Jim Mesko's 'Armor in Korea' and the biggest thing to jump out at me were large two-digit numbers painted on the turrets of many of the M26 and M46s.

It's pretty spectacular. Oscillating turrets are cool, funny the Germans seemed to prefer an open fighting compartment.

Any chance that tanker can exchange his Thpson for a M3A1?

GMorrison

It's pretty spectacular. Oscillating turrets are cool, funny the Germans seemed to prefer an open fighting compartment.

Any chance that tanker can exchange his Thpson for a M3A1?

 

For Korea, the Grease Gun would be correct... Thompsons were long gone by 1950...

Hello!

I've got this document here:

http://www.vietnam.net.pl/TB746_en.htm

It's from 1964, so it's a little new, but it should give you some ideas as to the markings.

It also lists older documents, so you might want to check those out.

Hope it helps, good luck with the painting and have a nice day

Paweł

stikpusher

Unit codes are placed on the front and rear of the tank. Typically on the fenders or on the front and rear plates. The triangle symbol after the first number denotes an Armored Division, while an I after the number denotes and Infantry Division. The second number would be the Tank Battalion with the triangle afterwards.

example: 2I 23^    2nd Infantry Division, 23rd Tank Battalion (a made up battalion)

then on the opposite side is the Company/Platoon/Tank combination,

example: A21    A Company 2nd Platoon Vehicle 1

so the codes would read

2I 23^       A21

 

Gamera

Love the tiger mouth!

I flipped though Jim Mesko's 'Armor in Korea' and the biggest thing to jump out at me were large two-digit numbers painted on the turrets of many of the M26 and M46s.

 

GMorrison

 

Any chance that tanker can exchange his Thpson for a M3A1?

 

Pawel

Hello!

I've got this document here:

http://www.vietnam.net.pl/TB746_en.htm

It's from 1964, so it's a little new, but it should give you some ideas as to the markings.

It also lists older documents, so you might want to check those out.

Hope it helps, good luck with the painting and have a nice day

Paweł

 

 

the doog

 

As far as the difference between a Division, Company and a Battalion, how would that manifest itself in the markings? That triangle symbol--is that "Divisional" or "Battalion"? WHat would a typical "correct" marking look like for Korea? Would that triangle symbol be used?

And markings on the front only?

 

Markings would be mirrored front and rear. The triangle (Δ) is used to denote armor units and can be used after the division number as well as before the regimental number. Although for the most part, regiments are non-entities in the US Army with a few exceptions.

For example there were the 1Δ, 2Δ, 3Δ for 1st, 2nd and 3rd Armor Divisions in the US Army and the 49Δ and 50Δ for the 49th and 50th Armor Divisions in the Army National Guard.

But when used for battalions within a regiment, the triangle comes between the battalion number and regiment number.

For instance, I served with the 5th Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment. While there were other numbered battalions (1st thru 6th), the 77th Armor Regiment did not exist as a stand alone entity with a regimental headquarters. Back in WW2, when regiments did exist, there would be a regimental headquarters and three battalions. Company A, B, C would be 1st Bn, D, E, F was 2nd Bn, G, H, I was 3rd Bn, etc.

Battalion bumper numbers would be 1Δ77, 2Δ77, 3Δ77, etc. or sometimes could be seen as 4-77Δ, 5-77Δ, 6-77Δ depending on how that particular unit decided to paint them on.