Build Complete #9 Cyber-Hobby Orange Box Sherman M4A4 75mm WIP

Thanks Bill,

Yes those are lace holes and boot laces are used to tie into the leather straps. I used Vallejo Oily Steel to dry Brush wear and tear around the TC's hatch.

Edmund,

Lace holes? How did I miss that?

It is as I had feared.  Your OCD has progressed to the terminal stage.

Cheers

Dave

Yes I am uncureable!  I like your picture stash Dave mine is growing as well.

Bodge wrote:

Edmund this is lookin very nice my friend.

Thanks Andy I have been doing my research that's for sure. I was able to mount both the A and B Type antenna's.  The A antenna is .69 inches and the B antenna is 2.75 inches or 8 feet in 1\35th world. 

yep this is coming along nicely Edmund. The extra stowage on the turret looks sharp,I really like the pair of boots hanging there.

I don't think I would have had the paitience for the resin tools, they would have ended up in the circular file LOL.

Man have your building and painting skills come along in the past 6 months. I enjoy following your builds as much as Bills.

Rob

Thanks Buddy!

I have seen lots of stowage at shows and on the net that are pieces of art unto themselves with all the highlights and shadows but I wanted to portray realistic stowage without it looking like a piece of art.

LOl!  I hope I am improving I started at ground zero last December. I had only painted 1:1 scale walls with latex paint before this.  It has been one huge learning curve. I am painting the road wheels by hand on the Sherman I sure miss German wheels and the draftsmen template but I think it will be all worth it in the end.

Glad to hear you like my WIP's it would be lonely without you guys!  I had patience going into this but I hear you.  I have a son that will be two years old in December and that is like having a Boweling Alley in your head so I welcome the peace and solace of painting and detailing!

Antennae look perfect from my angle, all that beefing, and you crank out perfection.

I'll call you tomorrow, no matter what!

Bill

Wow, man...looking awesome.

Shoelace holes!

Thanks Jim I figured you were busy with school starting and winning contests and stuff!

Citadelgrad87 wrote:

Antennae look perfect from my angle, all that beefing, and you crank out perfection. I'll call you tomorrow, no matter what! Bill

Cool!

dupes wrote:

Wow, man...looking awesome. Shoelace holes!

Thanks Dupes yeah they are cool and the shoe laces tying them together and interwoven through the leather tie down straps are amazing.

Build Update:

I used Floquil Weathered Black for the rubber ont hte wheels.  It is an amazing color.  My wife walked in after I painted them and actually thought I had replaced the wheels with rubber and that I was going to far.............

Thanks Dave and yes the rear idlers are steel.

I received my Panda Plastics T-62's today so I started that Odyssey damn DML DS tracks to the 7 Rings of Hell! 

They are actually pretty cool.  The lion share of the work will be cutting each piece off the spruce and sanding any imperfections.  They have a friction fit or you can glue each one.

I made a short run for example purposes.

What's this?!??!  An active 9 page build log slipping off the first page?  Oh no you DIND"T!

Back up you go so we can ll track Ed's meticulous magic. 

Tracks look daunting, Ed, good thing you are German, I can relax and know you wil finish them.

I'm off to a movie to get myself back on an even keel.

BIll 

Looking gooooood.....ahhhh the knitting of armor modeling....indy tracks. Looking nice.

Rounds Complete!!

hughes2682 wrote:

Edmund, Thank you for the idler info. The tracks/links look good. I may have to try a set of these. If you haven't tried a set of MK for Shermans AND you need to make an offering to the OCD Beast within then, and only then, I would suggest giving them a try. There are 9 parts per link on the T54E1 track set. Get this, they are workable if you put them together CAREFULLY! Cheers Dave

My pleasure Dave.  So far I have been very impressed with Panda Plastics.  The cleanup is minimal but does take time.  THese are wrokable as well.  Research indicates the typically there are 79 links per side for the M4, M4A1, M4A2, M4A3, M7, M10, and so forth.  The M4A4 uses 83 links per side becsue of the extended hull.  Interestly enough the DS tracks are exactly two links two long being 85 links long.  Here is a dry fit of 83 links.

Michael:  You are so right about indy links being like nitting for modelers.  Very true my friend very true.

I also received my package from the UK yesterday which was a set of 50 Micro-drills which I ordered after reading a review about them they are quite cool and made of hardened tungsten.

Hey Edmund nice to see you back in full force after being sick, hope your over it. That a nice set of drill bits. The Sherman is coming along nicely and you know I'm wiating for the weathering .

Rob

Hey Rob,

I finished assembling and painting the tracks today.  I had some troubles with mounting because I chose to make an entire run and try to feed it theough the drive wheel and things didn't go very well.  I will make straight runs combined with runs around the idler and drive wheels going forward.

I hate that you had to go through the crucible of the Panda tracks, but MAN was that worth it!

The tracks just scream "METAL!!"

OK, OK, the party's over.  Let's move on to more weathering. 

Bill

Thanks Utoshita!

wbill76 wrote:

You've been busy while I was gone Edmund, making good progress on this one. You're a brave man to tackle the indy-links on a Sherman build!

Thanks Bill the results were well worth the $ and time.

Citadelgrad87 wrote:

I hate that you had to go through the crucible of the Panda tracks, but MAN was that worth it! The tracks just scream "METAL!!" OK, OK, the party's over.  Let's move on to more weathering.  Bill

Glad you like them Bill.  I now have to finish the Pioneer tools and the remaining stowage, paint up the crew, and start some serious weathering.  I have some rock walls that would look good on a base as well.  Still churning on that....

Build Update:

I finished painting and mounting the Pioneer Tools.  I broke about half of them getting them of the Formation resin blocks so it's a mix of styrene and resin.  They are really nice but so difficult and fragile to get off that I will not be going down that path again.

Thanks Rick L. for the "wood painting tip from your Rolls Royce Armored car WIP.  I tried it out on the wood handles on the Pioneer tools and I liked how it turned out.

I also manged to position the remaining stowage that I have left to paint.  I think it looks natural enough.

Looking amazing Ed, simply amazing.

Gee your tracks are on correctly..........LOL

Bob

dupes wrote:

Schnobs - that looks GREAT so far! Wow, man.

.  She is purty...  (I'm all about the cowboy today...)

The tools look as good as I have seen, as we discussed, JUST the right shade for tool handles, I was able to get a nice 'wood" effect on my sherman and other tools to date, but those look just like the tool handles I have seen.

My tool painting techniqu just changed...again.

Bill

LOl!  You are not going to believe this Bob but I meticously checked the direction of each track as I assembled and I made one complete run for each side like I do with Magic Tracks but I believe because the Shermans had a live track when I tried to thread the entire run it started to shred on me so I had some surgery to do and lessons learned for next time. In that process I mounted one of the tracks on backwards and after hours of making it "right" I had to saw it off and redo it!

dupes wrote:

Schnobs - that looks GREAT so far! Wow, man.

Thanks Dupe this one is coming slow but I really like how it's coming out.

bbrowniii wrote:

dupes wrote: Schnobs - that looks GREAT so far! Wow, man. .  She is purty...  (I'm all about the cowboy today...)

Awww Shucks it twernt nothing sir.."my cowboy impression"  Also I am not goign to hit you.  The hell I'm not!  "Cowboy impression Number 2"

Citadelgrad87 wrote:

<p>The tools look as good as I have seen, as we discussed, JUST the right shade for tool handles, I was able to get a nice &#39;wood&quot; effect on my sherman and other tools to date, but those look just like the tool handles I have seen.</p><p>My tool painting techniqu just changed...again.</p><p>Bill</p>

Thanks Bill and thanks again Rick for passing on the technique. Yes my wood technique has changed with every build!

Build Update Stowage Complete:

I finished painting up the remaining stowage today.  I am done for today but will start prepping figures tomorrow.

Enjoy!