Thx!

Looks good to me!

Well done, Steve. Some of the pics I've seen taken right after the spring thaw show some very muddy conditions. You've got it.

Some "Super" progress:

I pretty quickly decided that the HB suspension was way too fragile to mess with trying to mount the tracks and set the ride height all at once, so I went ahead and glued the rear swing arms at their fully extended position and installed the fiddly two-piece shocks. I also textured, assembled and installed the final drives, only to realize that the Tamiya sprockets on the HB final drives weren't spaced correctly and didn't line up with the temporarily installed road wheels.....    so on went the Tamiya final drive outers, straight onto the HB inners. Hmmm.....

Tracks are assembled into segments of 10 links, so getting the lower hull together should be happening soon.

Pics:

^ HB final drives, and below, with the Tamiya outers installed:

Ready to set ride height. below:

And about two hours' work:

I have a feeling there may be a lot of Tamiya parts finding their way onto this build, time will tell.

Yes, very cool Steve- love how the sandbags turned out!

Steve - that looks great!

It's a very gutsy build, as not too often do you see a vehicle covered up in both dirt and all kinds of other materials.  The ground setting also ties in very nicely with the subject.   It really has that war weary look.

regards,

Jack

It depicts a Sherman slugging thru a muddy field in Germany, April 1945.

Please tell me what you think.

Steve

Dan: that's a nice kit, builds up well.

Gamera, I really like the Tamiya kit, very well engineered, and it can be built totally OOB and be accurate, just not for a WW2 tank. I have one built OOB, one almost, neither quite finished because I'm still working on the bases for both.

Okay, 'nuff talk. I have about 45 minutes most mornings after I send my wife off to work and before I go, so....

These are probably the best set of Friuls I've had the pleasure to work with: minimal flash and .020" steel wire goes right in. I put a teenie dab of white glue on each pin end and that's it. HB says 82 of their indie links per side, and I normally build Friuls in groups of 10 links before assembling on the vehicle, so I've got a baseline w/o having to count links on the built M26 in the case. Woopie.

Thanks RBaer, I have the Tamiya M26 but I built it a couple years back, not too bad but I think I could do a better one today.

Dan: The M4A1 76mm sounds pretty cool too!

Well I ordered an M4A3 76mm, but what I (finally) recieved was the M4A1 76mm 'Operation Cobra' Sherman!  I'm not really complaining much at all...lol.  I can finally use the Cullen device and not be inaccurate!

So far I like the Tamiya kit.....  but the HB kit has it's points. I think I'd like to do a very early T26, as tested by Ordinance, and the "Super" kit has the right turret. The tracks might be tough..... they look like PzIV tracks.

Ohhhhhhhh, looking forward to this one! I've been thinking of building another Korean War M26 and interested in how the HobbyBoss kit works out.

I took the plunge last night, seems like I'm at a short impasse with my Merkava, so out came the Super Pershing. I spent some time looking at pics I ahve and then looking at what HobbyBoss puts in the box, just to see what's what. I pretty quickly decided HB's road wheels were not as good as Tamiya's, so out came a spare Tamiya Pershing. Also determined the the actual Super had a drive sprocket that is not what either HB or MrT supply, but the Tamiya part is closer. I may noodle on this further, not sure. The HB sprocket is nice, but the fit is problematic, and it's a touch too wide to comfortably fit the Friuls.

So off to the races. HB gives you an engine compartment, with engine, but I really don't want to go there, so I only installed the minimum interior parts necessary to allow fitting the working torsion bars. Good thing too, since the interior bulkheads and engine compartment floor are covered with ejection pin marks, something else I've had enough of for a while. I now have the swing arms and bump stops in, road wheels and sprockets together and took a peek at the working(!) shocks. My plan (I say that in all seriousness now) is to get the rest of the suspension built, assemble and mount the Friuls, and then set the nose-down ride height by gluing the semi-fragile swing arms in place. This all needs to be done before I mate the upper and lower hulls. I also started the final drives by whacking off the reinforcements only seen on later build Pershings. This is something necessary on HB and Tamiya M26 kits if you're building an earlier model, as the ribs were added to the back-side of the final drive housings  after quite a few had been built. The resulting holes are filled with Aves 2 part putty, and will be cleaned up and detailed later.

So, da pics:

First, my start pic, then the lower hull, which kind of looks like a caterpillar now.

BTW, I started a new p-bucket account for this build, and it's wonky. Awesome.

Lotsa great stuff in here!

Jack: Nice work on the Stuart turret and thanks for pointing out the fit issues caused by the hatches being too big!

BW: I think the chipping and weathering looks terrific! Some people might call it overdone, bit it's just right in my opinion!

Steve: Oh my, that's a great technique for maing sandbags! By far the best I've seen so far. Thanks for sharing!

Next step will be final painting/weathering and placing it onto the diorama base.

The side skirts were an idea I got from some internet pics and an AM from "Mig".

I have no idea if any crew actually put on skits, but apparently the Army tested the idea 4 Sep 1943. Turns out the armor test had little or no effect stopping AP and HE rounds. This crew has no idea (or care), that the extra weight and taxing of an already over burdened tank would make any difference at all.

Steve

I agree MC...those look great!  Thanks so much for posting the pics and passing on the technique!  

Eagle90

Thank you!, they took some time and patience to complete, but that's all part of the hobby. I'm happy with the results and won't hesitate to make them again.

Yeah, those sandbags look terrific - better than the 'Chiclet' looking ones I've been making.  

Those sandbags look awesome!

That is a huge improvement, very noticeable difference from the first batch of sandbags. 

regards,

Jack

Got it!  Great stuff MC!  Thanks for posting all this.  I know I'll be trying it out!

Eagle90

Jack,

I agree. In fact I woke up this morning, wasn't altogether happy with the results, sat down and painted the sandbags, hoping to improve them. There was much improvement, but something was missing. So back to the internet I went, Googled "Sherman sandbags" and studied again. Voila, the same thing you said was missing popped out at me. The tie at one end. So I thought of a little different method. Instead of putting the sand in prior to rolling the tube, Ill roll the tube first, then tie ends with thread.

Then I filled each bag with sand or dirt, I actually found dirt to be a better filler.

I then placed a dab of thin CA at the end and crimped it shut (The wetness of the bag accelerated the CA dry time).

Now I'll strategically place them to cover the original sandbags, which made a good base.

Eagle,

Yes I use regular tissue out of the box, the same thing I use for tarps, bed rolls, rags, etc. The glue didn't seal the ends as I had hoped, but the CA worked great. The white glue/water mix hardens the bags or tarps or whatever after it dries.

More to come.

Hey MC, that is awesome!  You just use a regular tissue from a tissue box?  So the glue seals the ends after you cut them?  How long do you wait until you start to handle the bags?  Jack had a good point about the ends, but this is a rocking good idea!  I am DEFINITELY going to try this!   Thanks so much for posting it!  

Eagle90

Blitzwing - chipping on the Cromwell looks good.  Without photo reference, you can only go by how you feel is the right amount.   Mike Rinaldi from the TankArt series of books does do an extra step by first re-introducing the base colour of the vehicle in the areas he plans to chip.

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Steve - thanks for the how to on the sandbags, I don't think I've ever seen them made with actual sand on the insides.  It looks pretty good in place, and can see how this method would work well if you need a lot of them.  

My only thought is the detail of a tied off top is missing.  I think you can get away with those that are piled underneath, but maybe add a few here and there that are on top to help convey the look of of a tied off bag -- or maybe I'm not aware of sandbags of the type you have created here?

regards,

Jack

I forgot to show the cutting of the sandbags.

I've got the sandbags on and here's my process

1st I cut a tissue into 3 sections and pored some of the leftover sand from my M1A1 display onto the tissue. You can use sand or sifted dirt or just about anything as a filler.

Next I used a smooth sprue tree and rolled the tissue and sand around the sprue and wetted the roll with a water, white glue mixture.

I slipped the roll off the sprue.

And cut the roll into the correct length using an xacto blade.

I then applied the sandbags to the tank and wet them again as I laid them down.

Here is the tank with the sandbags on.

Next I'll finish the painting of the tank, tracks and the sandbags, then weather.

Steve

Some really awesome builds everyone!  I'm learning a lot just watching!  Thanks to everyone for posting their pics!

MC, can't wait to see those sandbags!  That technique you described sounds great!

Eagle90

Models are looking good Jack and Steve. 

A bit more progress with a panel line wash and some chipping. I'm not sure if I've overdone the chipping though. 

Steve - good going on the Sherman, really admire the extra scratchbuilding you are adding to her.

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Turret construction is done, but no antennas attached yet, for obvious reason.  I  also might go back later and look at the weld beads once those on the hull are addressed.

The commander's hatch, starboard side, is not glued as plans are for a figure in there.  Both hatches were a tad large in fit.  Not sure what else is wrong here, but TMD found it necessary to offer a resin replacement for the whole roof for both the Stuart Mark V and VI.

 The grousers were a bit of chore to do, requiring some delicate surgery to remove from the sprues.  Grab handles are just some metal twist ties stripped of their plastic covering, and then bent and cut to required size. 

 regards,

Jack

This is my first try at sandbags. I will use the same materials as I use on my tarps, which I feel very comfortable with. and will take pictures of the procedure. I will use tissue, white glue/water mix and roll the tissue around something round such as a smooth sprue tree or paint brush handle. Once removed while still wet, I'll cut the tissue tube into sections and apply them where I want while still wet. We'll see how this works. once dry, I'll paint and weather with the rest of the tank. Steve