Building the Tamiya M-26 Pershing

your pics didn't come up but here are two common tweaks on an otherwise great kit:

1) the infantry telephone box is inaccurate for WW2

2) make sure you putty in the lip around the shell ejection hatch on the left turret wall.  See below

www.ferreamole.it/.../m26_13.jpg

Hope these help

Roy,

Thanks for the feedback! The pictures are now up, I had some trouble linking before. I do have a good reference, and did notice the shell port edged smoothly blending into the casting of the turret, and I have tried to replicate this. The phone box I assume is the box on the rear of the hull? It did seem a bit out of place, however I did include it. Was it simply not there on the tank?

-John

The phone box was an afterwar modification. It is correct for Korean War Pershings.

Good start. Looking forward to some pics of the OD.

I like it! There are never enough Pershngs on here!

Looks like it's coming along real nice. Very interested in how your OD finish is going to turn out . Wish  these bad boys arrived earlier in theater. If I remember correctly they were quite a match for the Panther and Tiger.

Looks like this one is progressing nicely! Don't be shy, look forward to seeing more.

Question for anyone: what would you say is the best way to paint the very fine lip of the roadwheel rims where they contact the tires? Masking would be a nightmare, and short of being very careful with a very fine brush, does anyone have an idea they can toss my way?

Use black paint that is heavily diluted with thinner. Let the capillary action draw the thinned paint along the seam.

Rob's idea is a good one. You can also get a draftsman's circle template and use it to 'mask' the rims and spray the hubs. Think of it as masking in reverse...paint the rubber portions, then use the circle template to expose only the hubs and paint them that way.

spray wheel centres OD, allow to dry, use white-tac or similar to mask up to the rim, spray the tyre black, & touch up with a fine brush if necessary....

Then Blat everything with a lot of crud, dirt, grunge, & dust to taste

I like pershings.

watching with interest!

I'll have to look for this. I assume it's a template with a whole host of sizes. Any recommendations as to what stores carry that? Would a model store?

Hey La Porta, this is what ya want right here:

www.amazon.com/.../ref=sr_1_1

Hope this helps!

La Porta

I'll have to look for this. I assume it's a template with a whole host of sizes. Any recommendations as to what stores carry that? Would a model store?

Any stationery store, office supply store, Walmart, etc. carry circle templates Just tape off the surrounding holes and use the one that fits your road wheel.

Just got around to spraying the olive drab tonight. I think it came out decently, I'm still getting used to the dual-action airbrush here. I tried to keep the pre-shading somewhat evident. Many thanks to those who suggested the circle template, it worked like a charm on the wheels!

Nice job with the paint work. Double-action ABs take a little practice but once you get it down you'll wonder how you ever did any work without it! Good work on the wheels as well.

Went away on vacation for a week, so not much had gotten done. I got the decals on, and did so by first painting a bit of gloss clear on the areas where I was going to place them. That, plus a little MicroSol/Set action made them come out pretty great. I just oversprayed the entire thing with some lusterless flat laquer, and noticed that the gloss areas are still a bit visible (I'll get pics at some point). Would another overcoat help tone this down, or did I go wrong somewhere in the process?

It should help, you probably just missed a few spots or the lusterless was applied just a tad too thin in those areas. The Tamiya Pershing is really a nice kit. It is their best US WW2 armor* kit and the only one on par with their topnotch WW2 German armor kits.

*Notice to potential sharpshooters: I said "armor" as in a tank kit. I know their Dragon Wagon (it's not a tank), several of their non-WW2 US armor kits are great as well. It is probably their best American tank kit.

Sorry for the absence, things have been quite busy in life. So far, I managed to get the tank basically assembled, as well as position the decals and coat with clear flat. The decal on the left side of the turret was especially challenging, and I had to fill in with some white paint. Currently, I am working on the tracks. Any suggestions for how best to detail this thing?

Consider a mantlet cover & stowage.

Most photos of this I've seen have had a mantlet cover, even straight out of the factory.

I bought a TMD one, but that is for the dragon kit only (didn't say so on the pack),

So I used it as a form to drape some aluminium foil from a butter-type spread, then 'fettled 'it to fit.

I also have a resin stowage kit at the UK IPMS Nats in Milton Keynes, for the long roll often seen on the starboard side & to fill the starboard rack on the turret, (wasn't this for the foul weather hood stowage??)

I bought the Aber etch set for this, but as Rob G notes, this is a fine kit, & I didn't see the need to use any of it.

I'll need to check to see if I have pics of my mantlet cover & the mfr of the stowage

I checked my stash, the Stowage kit was from Trakz-VLS, (TX0021) no pics sorry.  

Couple more pics  

My Mk2 effort below,  sculpting with Plasticine, & plastic strip added round the edge for the poppers strip.

Not happy with it, & hit on idea of foil over the TWS form. Live & learn.

This is The original poster here. I will be using this name from now on (linked to my subscription), but the next post will be from the old name. Stay tuned!

Sorry that it has been a very long time, but it's been very busy here and it has taken me a while to be able to get this far. I used the old dry-brushing technique to highlight detail (first time I have ever done this), and it looks to me like it has worked pretty well. The tracks were done with raw umber paint, burnt sienna oil wash, and various metalizers on the cleats and track ends. In the latter pictures, you can see that I have practically all of the pieces assembled, so now it will be off to weathering and detailing!

Any questions or suggestions, just let me know!

Looking real good!!!

Looking very good. You can also use a #2 pencil to touch up all the wear points in the track. The graphite gives it a realistic metal shade. You can also dry brush dark steel to simulate the contact areas.

Real men paint their road wheels one-by-one, with a brush. (joke!!)

Looks great so far--I would recommend painting it with some shading/lightening coats, paying attention to lightening the top portions with lightened base coat color. You'll get a nice graduated paint finish instead of a monotone finish that never looks right to me "in scale".

*EDIT* geez, I didn't realize you'd gotten that far in the latest posts. Oh well, the painting is finished I see. It looks pretty good anyway. Get some pinwashes along the details now to gveit smoe definition. and you should b egood to go.

Doog,

I appreciate the comments. This has been my first venture with a double action airbrush; on my next armor model (a Sherman), I think that I will be a little more adventurous. I'm still a bit afraid of "overdoing it" with the lighter shading, but perhaps you guys could give me some pointers on it. Also, I am very interested in pinwashes, however, I haven't found any great illustrations or instructions as to how to actually do them. You are correct in that I am basically at that point, so I would appreciate any guidance that you may have in that area.

wbill76

Rob's idea is a good one. You can also get a draftsman's circle template and use it to 'mask' the rims and spray the hubs. Think of it as masking in reverse...paint the rubber portions, then use the circle template to expose only the hubs and paint them that way.