Hey, Shermanfreak! I finally got some pix of my old Rikujo Jieitai (Japan Ground Self Defense Force) M4A3E8 Sherman for you and all the Shermfans out there!
It's the Dragon kit, and it was the first time I ever dealt with any kind of single link tracks. They weren't that hard to build, but OY! The ejector pin marks! On every single link!
I also used some pieces from the Aber Sherman PE set. (again, one of my early forays into modern techiniques and materials).
Here's where the story takes a sad twist: my local club was having a Sherman contest, and I thought I'd try to spruce the ol' boy up a bit. SO, I removed all the visable ejector pin marks, added some brass handles here an there, added the tow cable, and cleaned up some other seams and nasty bits I hadn't bothered with in the lazy first build. (Still too lazy to clean up the tires, as you can see!)
So all that was OK.
Then I tried to repaint it, without repainting the whole thing.
Big mistake.
With the identical Tamiya enamel Olive Drab, I airbrushed over the original spray can finish (no AB when I first built it!), which of course was fully weathered and flatcoated, so it looked just awful. Like a bright flourescent green compared to the very subdued OD of the original finish. You can still see remnants of that earlier finish on the running gear. After various coats of darker and lighter OD, some spot washes and filters, I think I got it somewhat presentable, but I was (and am) still quite disappointed with the color. And of course the decals suffered tremendously at this well-intended yet poorly executed attempt to update an older, finished kit.
Saddest of all, I had to work that day and missed the contest anyway!
What I should have done (and may still do!) is just primer the whole thing and redo the paint from scratch, with new decals.
OR, I might just leave it as is and build a new one!
Anyway, I'd love to hear everybody's opinions about this build (especially Master of Shermans, Robert!) .