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.

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?

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

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.

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

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

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.

Fine builds going on here, very fine.

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

She is coming along really well there Dan.

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

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.

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

Looks pretty cool Eagle, I like her!

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 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.

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...

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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?

Thanks!  Tonight I'm going to see how well they stay together when I take them off the hull.  I think it will be fine, but being an armor newbie it just seems like it's too easy...

silentbob33

Looks great Eagle!  I think the mud looks like it was done well.

Finally got a solid chunk of time at the bench to knock out the tracks.  I followed Karl's tutorial and laid them out on the tape and glued them with Testor's plastic cement, let them sit for about 45 minutes before wrapping them around the wheels.  One side fit perfectly with following the directions for how many links to add, but the other required two more to fit right.  When I was wrapping them, I dropped one of the track sections onto the floor.  Luckily, it only broke in one spot so it was an easy fix.  Now to play the waiting game as the glue cures.

Thank you sir!  And those tracks are looking great!

Eagle90

Thanks Gamera!  Luckily for me, Academy had two lengths already together for the top and another length for the bottom.  They made it easy for me and only had me do the curves from the top to the bottom.  I was initially worried about sag until I looked at a few pictures and realized there really wasn't any to speak of.

Those look really good Bob, those types of tracks give me fits. At least on the M18 you can build the top row just straight and don't have to deal with trying to work sag into it.

Looks great Eagle!  I think the mud looks like it was done well.

Finally got a solid chunk of time at the bench to knock out the tracks.  I followed Karl's tutorial and laid them out on the tape and glued them with Testor's plastic cement, let them sit for about 45 minutes before wrapping them around the wheels.  One side fit perfectly with following the directions for how many links to add, but the other required two more to fit right.  When I was wrapping them, I dropped one of the track sections onto the floor.  Luckily, it only broke in one spot so it was an easy fix.  Now to play the waiting game as the glue cures.

Gamera

Looking good Eagle I like it!!! One correction though- it's Steven Zaloga's idea - I'm just passing it along!

Thank you sir!  And my thanks to Mr. Zaloga too!  Thanks again for the help!

Eagle90

Looking good Eagle I like it!!! One correction though- it's Steven Zaloga's idea - I'm just passing it along!

Super work everyone!  Awesome builds being done here!

Well, I'm going to call the Sherman finished!  My first Allied armor tank!  Man, what a fun kit!  I would recommend it to anyone! 

Big shout out to Gamera!  Thank you sir for all the help and advice!  The two techniques you told me about with the tools and the dusting were awesome!  Now mine may not be the best looking, but they sure do enhance the build for sure!  And I will use them in future builds.  Thanks again so much for the help Gamera!

Well, here she is!  Thanks for looking!

Eagle90

First pics are of the dusting tip Gamera told me about.  I think it turned out great!