Success!  Now to see if I can avoid destroying them when I paint them.  I know German tracks had a dark reddish tint to them because of the high manganese content of their steel, so when I built my Marder II I started painting them with a dark reddish brown as a basecoat and drybrushed steel over that for the exposed metal.  Would the same process work on an American AFV?

Eagle90:  Your Sherman turned out great, excellent job on her.  Always think that crew figures add to a build, and the mud is a nice touch.

Silentbob33: Tracks are lookin' good there.  To help with airbrushing loop wire through one end of your glued up tracks, then you use the wire as a handle to hold them while painting.

Was able to airbrush on Tamiya's XF-62 Olive Drab this evening.  Out of all my olive drab colors, Tamiya's is the darkest.  I plan to use model master's olive drab to lighten up some areas as highlights.  Some area's I was not able to get the airbrush into, so I'll be touching up those places with the paint brush.  I'm also looking into getting one of HobbyBoss's 1/35 M26 Pershing's.

Thank you Dan!  First try at figures in 1/35.  Not too bad, but the eyes were the hardest thing for me.  

Your build is looking sweet!  Great work!

Eagle90

Thanks Eagle90, yeah those fine details are the hardest.

Plan to airbrush flat black on the shermans tracks today, and prime the drive and idler wheels.  And use fine sand paper to remove spots in the olive drab that ran.  Along with the HobbyBoss M26 Purshing, looking into getting Italeri's 1/35 M4A1 Sherman number 225.

Bob: Those came out great, I've tried to the same thing and sometimes it works and sometimes I end up breaking them- still it's pretty easy to cement them back together. Not sure about the right colour for painting them- I usually just take the cop-out approach of painting them a muddy/dirty scheme.

Dan: She looks good! I've been using the Tamiya olive drab as dark undercoat for a while and then highlighting with a lighter shade.

Thanks Gamera.

Last night I tried airbrushing model master olive drab, by holding the airbrush about six to ten inches from the model.  I was going for a mist of light spray of the lighter olive drab, not sure if I achieved the effect.

Looks pretty good to me Dan!

Btw: Just put a wash on the sandbags on my diorama. I cannot get them to look the way I want them- I swear I've probably spent more time on the sandbags than the tank by now...

Looks really good Dan!

I haven't made much progress on the Hellcat lately.  I was out of town last weekend for a wedding, and tomorrow evening I'm taking a group of students to Washington, DC until Sunday.  Hopefully I'll get some bench time after I get back.

Awesome work everyone!  You all are making this one super GB! 

Well she is finished and here are the final pics.  I want to thank everyone who helped and gave some rockin advice and help to me during the build!  THANK YOU!  I have learned a lot about armor in the past 2 GB's where I have done armor and I'm loving the armor genre!  I'm finishing up the 234/3 for the Defense of the Reich and going to be starting a Dragon 234/4 for the 1945 GB!  And I will be looking to expand my armor stash at the next model show I go to in April! 

Thanks again everyone and keep up the awesome work!

Eagle90

Looks pretty cool Eagle, I like her!

Gamera

Looks pretty cool Eagle, I like her!

Thank you sir!  I'm looking forward to doing another one!  Eyes will be peeled at the model show! 

Eagle90

Thanks Gamera, Silentbob33.

Eagle 90: Your Sherman is lookin' mighty fine, the two crew figures really add to any build.  I'm debating on whether or not to add mud to my Sherman.

This morning I used my dual action airbrush to spray some more Model Master Olive Drab, on both the main body and the turret.  And sprayed a coat on the drive and Idler wheels.  I really like how the MM Olive Drab has toned down the darker Tamiya Olive Drab.  After the Olive Drab coats are done, I'll start work on the tools.

Thank you Dan!

Yea,  I'm thinking adding figures really makes the build pop!  I'm going to look for some figures at the next model show I go to and see if I can't add to the stash some really nice figures for the kits I have.

You should!  Mud never hurts!  And it looks really cool on the Sherman!  Great work by the way, she is looking great!

Eagle90

She is coming along really well there Dan.

Fine builds going on here, very fine.

I actually found a suitable base for the Super Pershing the other day, need to get finished!

Thanks Eagle90: I've been practicing airbrushing Tamiya Flat Earth and Buff on a scrap model, I think it looks good.  The flat earth would for wet mud, while buff would be for mud that's drying.  For a thicker amount I could try brushing it on.

Thanks Gamera.

RBaer: I'm thinking about getting a M26 Pershing from Hobbyboss, it'll be my first US heavy tank.

Been doing some painting on the tools, tow cable, road wheels and hull machine gun.  I tried painting over spots were the paint ran over onto the Olive Drab, but from where I airbrushed MM Olive Drab in a mist pattern, touching it up with just a brush isn't working.  So I'll need to mask around the tools, tow cable and hull machine gun, and go over the area with the airbrush again.  It should be easy.

Dan, I think you'll like the results you get and being able to practice is a plus!  Good idea on hand brushing for a thicker look!  Didn't think of that!  Great work!

Eagle90

Looks good to me Dan! Not sure maybe a pin wash applied around the tools would cover up the paint overpainting?

Dan, that's looking really good so far!

I finally got some time to work on the Hellcat.  I got the upper and lower hulls attached and it's just about ready for painting.  I also attached one of the rings for the tow cable just so that I wouldn't have to do it after I've painted and risk ruining the paint job.  I also left the headlights off for the same reason.  After I paint the silver on them I'll put them on.  I'm in the group that likes to do the stowage after everything is painted, in my mind it just seems easier that way.  I've also started on assembling the breach of the gun.

Bob: Looks really good, almost ready to hose the whole thing down in olive drab!

Thanks! I'm working on the turret and gun now.  I'm assuming the interior of the turret would be OD, but what about the foot plate? Would that be OD or white?

Thanks Eagle90, Gamera, Silentbob33.

Nice work on your Hellcat Silentbob, I also like to leave everything off the tank that doesn't get the overall color.  But on my sherman I've glued them on just to see how it works out.

Stopped by my local HobbytownUSA today and was suprised to find Tamiya's M4A3E8 Easy Eight Sherman on the self, I felt like a kid on christmas morning  when I got home and opened the box.  This is a rebox of Tasca's M4A3E8 Easy Eight kit, from the review's I've read they make the best M4 sherman in 1/35 scale.  So I'll like to add this to the group build, I'll wait till I get my M4 DV shermen finished before I start on this one.

Congrats there on a great buy Dan, I'm working on the same kit in the Asuka/Tasca box and it's a fantastic kit.

Bob: I've seen the bottom plate on M10s painted olive drab so I assume it would be the same on a M18 unless someone has different information.

Thanks for the info Gamera.  I still have a bit of assembly to do before I can start painting it up.

Looks good so far, Bob. I just finished painting my turret assembly. The photo of a restored 'Cat I saw online had the whole thing OD inside, so that's how I did it. On to the tracks next; I actually painted mine first, on the sprue, so we'll see how that turns out.

Thanks Raven. I have next week off from work so I'm hoping to get the rest of the assembly done and start painting. I was hoping to be done by now, but work has a way of taking up too much time. Not to mention I forgot how much time a baby can take up too...but that's a good reason to lose bench time.  I can't wait to see how your tracks come out.

Here she is with turret painted and installed. Two more things to note, Bob: one, if you're using the mantlet cover as I have, be aware that once it's on and the glue dries, you're done. You can't elevate the gun tube at all, because it fits in so exactly, and the cover attaches directly to the front of the turret. I found that not only did my gun breach not fit quite right (it's ok though), but my cannon is depressed a tiny bit more than I would have liked, but there's no going back now. Two, if you follow the turret construction by the instructions, it's open at the bottom; i.e. you can see into the crew compartment below. I'm not sure if this is right or not, but the photos I've seen have a solid floor which actually matches the kit part that isn't used (H10). In hindsight I would have tried to use the solid floor one, but c'est la guerre.

Thanks for the head's up Steve.  After reading your post I dry fit the mantlet cover to the part of the turret I have and I think you're right about the gun pointing too low.  Even though the picture I found of the vehicle I'm doing has the cover on it, I think I'll omit it using artistic license.  I remember seeing an episode of Tank Overhaul where they restored a Hellcat and it had the open-floored turret.  I tried looking for more pictures of the inside of the turret, but I wasn't too successful. I just found the episode on YouTube, and I'll watch it later just to make sure.

Steve: Really looking like a Hellcat now!

Wish I could help with the turret guys. I have done some work on the AFV Club kit and it has the open bottom to the turret basket too. Funny, I've found lots of photos of the interior of M10 turrets but the M18 I can't find much at all.

I just watched the Tank Overhaul episode and of course, they didn't show the interior of the turret.  Oh well, still an awesome story about reuniting a Hellcat with its commander.