Build Log: Dragon 1/35 M26A1 Pershing 6/20/10

Looking good. I'm also interested in how the DS tracks look and fit.

Thanks Bill, I can't wait to get the paint on her!  I have a few ideas on what I want to accomplish on this build that I think will work well.

RBaer, thank you as well.  I read that, unlike vinyl/rubber band tracks the DS tracks don't return to the same size when stretched, so I plan on being extra cautious.  I like the idea of DS tracks in theory, and we will see how it all pans out in the end, but personally I like indy or link and length (but it was not enough to get me to build this up as the T26E3 which this kat has indy tracks for )

Brian

Well, I might as well give an update tonight instead of the end of the weekend since I already know there will not be much to show for it.  I can now say I HATE DS tracks and I have not even really started to work on them yet to knows this.  The guide horns for the tracks are seperate from the tracks and are on their own sprues connected by two points.  There is also a mold seam on both sides that will need cleaning after being snipped off.  Each guide horn is about the size of an apple seed.....so you can imagine what a sloooooow and tedious job this has now become.  At the very least I did a rough set up and it appears I won't have to adjust track length since it looks like things will be tight enough.  But I am pretty overwhelmed at having to clean 150 or 160+ pieces of that size before gluing.  Argh.

Brian

Brian,

I'm glad I did not miss this build.  I've got some catching up to do on what looks to me to be a very solid build. I feel your pain when it comes to tracks.

Cheers

Dave

Welcome on board to the madness that is this build Dave!   I found last night a way to ease the pain a bit.  I use a pair of flat nosed, smoothed jaw pliers (the ones I use for photo etch bending) to hold the guide horns.  A few swipes with a coarse sanding stick, flip guide horn around, repeate.  Still slow and tedious, but at least it beats trying to hold the darn thing and sand it.

Brian

Good evening fellas!

I am just wondering, did Imention I hate DS tracks?   Ok, I will amit the concept is a sound one, and I realize the limitations of them mean only fairly simple tracks will come out looking decent, but I don't want anything more to do with DS tracks until they can manage to mold the guidehorns already onto the track.  I have one full track run done, and most of the other.  But it is slow and super tedious. 

Anyways, I took today to get things moving forward in a big way.  Today I spent several hours in the basement with the air brush.  I have all the roadwheels painted NATO black and will continue painting those a bit later.  The biggest work was done with the vehicle itself.  I started by taking Tamiya Black Green and using that as a base.  Then I took Tamiya Olive Drab and cut it 50/50 with deck tan.  This gave me a very light olive drab which I used to coat the majority of the vehicle.  I then went to Tamiya's J.N. Grey, which is basically a super white mint green kind of color.  This was used for highlights.  What this all gave me was a very light vehicle which looks a bit funny right now.  But I am now moving along with a heavy washing of Raw Umber to darken and tie it all together (pics of that will come later in the week when I get all the coats on.)  But I am jumping ahead of myself.  Let's get some eye candy going:

And finally I also started in on some of the detail stuff.  Using the parkerizing mix Redleg experminted with I painted the M2 and the hull mounted .30 machine guns.  I will dry brush some Steel a bit later and will get some pics of that around the same time I put up the pics of the Raw Umber washed vehicle later in the week.  I will also probably do tail lights, front lights, jacks and decals between now and then, so expect pics of those too.

Brian

Looks like the hours in the dungeon paid off Brian, very nice work on the paint fading and shading.

Nice looking kit and build. Interesting ideas on the paint job.

Great build and paint!  I built Dragon's T26E-3 several years ago and it was an excellent kit.  The only thing I noticed was that the engine hoist brackets on the side of the turret and pintle for the .50 cal. on the back of the turret hadn't been drilled out, otherwise it looks good.

                                                                                              Pat 

Shading looks great....it may look strange green now but you should wash it into a good color.

Rounds Complete!!

I know I am chiming in very late in this one but boy oh boy odes that look nice.  Really like the look of the finish so far.

Thank you everyone for the comments!  I applied the first raw umber wash yesterday and already everything is toning down and coming together.  Going to keep that up before applying decals and one last wash (just to tie the decals into the rest of the paint.)  It is already taking on a nice grungy look and the turret texturing is especially taking the oils into it's nooks and crannies.

Shoot&scoot, nice catch.  I did not even notice the holes missing on the brackets and the rear turret bracket.  Thanks!

Brian

Good evening gents!

Well, it has been a couple weeks since an update.   Wish I had a real good reason but the truth is that the dogs breath hot weather moved in and the desire to sit under my workbenche's hot lights to work was not exactly overwhelming.  But I did manage to get some work in.  To prove I have not been idle:

I laid down a couple raw umber washes then put the decals on.  I will hit everything with flat coat and then do one more light wash to blend the decals in.  I painted the jacks black.  Also drilled out the rear turret pintle and the left side turret brackets.  Just need to repaint them.

Using the mix Redleg came up with for parkerizing I painted up the machine guns, dry brushed some steel and then a little black wash into the crevices to make things pop.

Heat is still on out here so not sure how quickly things will progress, but hopefully this weekend I can get the gumption up to spend some time painting wheels and tracks.....

Brian

I can understand the desire outside the bench!!..It's been very quiet in the armor motor pool these few weeks.

Nice work, looking great, glad you like the parkized mix...the 50 cal looks great.

Wheels are good.....they go well with a hot dog  

Good Stuff

Rounds Complete!!

Well worth the two weeks to see an update. Like where this one's going Brian!

Thank you guys.  I am glad I decided to pop for a tube of raw umber oil (I was using burnt umber before but it is more reddish than the burnt umber).  It brought just the look I was hoping for when done over the shading.

Brian

What ever happened to this project?

I like the tones on the OD. What did you do to achieve that?