Yeah, lots of flubs. It still looks the part OOB, but I expect that a lot of potential buyers are passing, which means I should be able to pick one up at a very fair price in the near future.

Well aside from Dragon taking some obvious cost saving short cuts, the kit is pretty good.

Current progress minus the fenders I began to put on last night.

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So I have a few minor corrections to make with the mantlet cover, but aside from the recoil part of the gun tube shroud. I need a really big bendy straw to make that part. Otherwise I'll end up with the A1 recoil shroud which looks like a saggy diaper, but was present on the very early A2's. The shower curtain materiel has worked superbly to all of my expectations. It has taken the paint fabulously and is still very flexible. If I had made the gun tube moveable somehow I could still depress and elevate the gun tube with it on and it would be fully functional. As it is, its still soft and movable and it lends the model a nice realistic feel even though the gun tube doesn't move.

Now I'll have to make a removable search light cover.  :)

That Mantlet cover !   

Yeah? Do you think I did it justice? I know its not perfect, but its fully functional and that would've been a bonus if the gun tube still moved up and down.

There were no references I could find as to how they were put together so I went with what would make sense if I had to make one for the real tank based on the pictures I have in Kenneth Estes book.

I hope it stands up to criticism. I know where the flaws are, and I was really careful when I glued it together in very small sections at a time. The super glue just instantly grabs this stuff so I had to go slow or I'd have to do it all over again and I'm low on the material.

After a few minor adjustments it will probably look fine.  :)

Mike, tell us how you did the mantlet cover, please.  That's why we're all here!

Looks great, but don't get into the habit of lazy photo-posting with those bare links. I guarantee it will cut down your responses. Take the extra 2 seconds to post each picture. :)

Sorry doog, I'm still trying to get that to work right. I'll put more effort into posting in the future. This site isn't as user friendly as the one I'm more accustomed to.

So tell you how I did that mantlet cover? But I didn't do anything new. This is the old tissue paper trick. Only the material is different.

Im not on my laptop tonight, but I can write up a tutorial if you guys think it will be of help. I thought everyone knew of this technique though. So I'm a bit confused.

I'll draw up some diagrams and start writing something up. And , God be good, I'll not goof it up with bad pic links.

Apologies for any vague references I've made gentlemen. :/

M. Brindos

Sorry doog, I'm still trying to get that to work right. I'll put more effort into posting in the future. This site isn't as user friendly as the one I'm more accustomed to.

So tell you how I did that mantlet cover? But I didn't do anything new. This is the old tissue paper trick. Only the material is different.

I just advised that because I know that personally, I generally don't bother to hit "links" if people post them; I don't actually know why, I guess I'm just used to seeing the posts with photos right ion the page here, so I"m assuming other people feel the same. I may be wrong though.

That material used looks almost heat-formed? Especially how it clings so nicely to the "ears" on tip of the mantlet. What is it, exactly? I've never seen anything like it.

Funny thing is Karl, I do the same thing half the time. I'm lazy enough to not click on more than one or two. Then I move on. So I fully understand.

I did not heat form the material at all. It's just trimmed very carefully to fit and then super glued in place. What I used is some saved scraps of an old vinyl shower curtain. A cheap one we bought at Wal-Mart some years ago. It had some mildew growing on it and the Mrs. decided we had to chuck it. I noticed the texture and cut a square of it out for later use.

I didn't even think of using it for this application till I was brain storming what materials I had at hand that would be flexible. When I pulled this out I thought "That should be perfect". And it has worked perfectly. It takes paint and doesn't crack after it has dried. It has reamained flexible even after a few cotes of Rustoleum Camo.

I had to be very careful when attaching it because the super glue grabs almost instantly and if you get it attached wrong there is no going back. That's why there are a few spots I need to adjust. They are a little off and not to my liking. But this is a trick I'm sure you are very familiar with.

I cut the pieces out after a lot of fore thought and template making (and template adjusting or remaking). Making sure I had plenty of over lapping material so I could get the material to fold like it should. It was my intention that it would be moving after all. So I had to have extra material for that purpose. Just like the real thing. The Mantlet and then the area surrounding the mantlet where it should attach are the only places where the glue mounts it in place.

So the material you are wanting to look for is easily and readily available in almost every home bathroom supply section of any retail store. All you need is a vinyl bathroom shower curtain. It should last you for decades before you ever run out of it. :)

If you need any clarification or if I've not been clear enough just let me know. Words do not serve me very well sometimes.

Edit: CORRECTION!! It was not a shower curtain. It was a plastic protective mattress cover. I am extremely sorry for this mistake and if it were not for my wife I would not have caught this error.

Time for an update.

Okay, I got back on it today and made some good progress with the painting.

There was nothing much to note of the rest of the assembly. Pretty standard and nothing gave me any issues.

So I started by spraying a shadow color of black/green acrylic to all of the bottom surfaces. no need for anything fancy here. Just deep dark shadow.

It doesn't look like much yet, but just wait. It gets better.

I apologize for the plethora of posting I'm about to do. I'm doing my best with a phone here.

Okay. Next I sprayed the main color (MM Marine Corps Green FS34052) over all of the upper surfaces and made that all uniform. Looks pretty good. Seems my AB loves enamel.

I'm not really sure of the amount of white I added to the original color, but I was sure it was too light. I decided to push forward and spray lightly at first and see how it would go. Turns out it was good after all.

So I started into highlighting the entire tank. 

I did not preshade or post shade as I went as the idea in my head didn't need it for the results I want. Remember, this particular tank is pretty clean on a firing range so it won't need a lot of muck built up as it would in the combat field.

Alright. So here it is after the modulation is complete. Not really much of a drastic difference is there? The effect is natural and deceptively understated. Doesn't look like I did anything at all.

Light just falls on it as it should and that lays the groundwork for the next step.

This next part brings the effect to its apex. 

I left the paint unvarnished so I could get a "dirt stained" like effect with another black/green acrylic wash. I brushed it on really ugly and then let it dry to the touch. Somewhere around 15 minutes, and then gave it a scrub with water and an old toothbrush to loosen up the acrylic. After that I wiped up the excess wash with a blue mechanics paper towel (very useful because of the low lint they leave behind)

Minor spots were cleaned up with a few q-tips and this is what I got when that was done.

That;s looking really good, Mike. Did you add a little soap to that acrylic wash to help it spread? I found that that really helps to get an even dispersion.

I would tell you not to worry too much about "too much white" or whatever lightening color you use when highlighting or modulating. I sometimes go REALLY  radical in the color variation and then bring that back to tone in the weathering.  Check out the variation in the M10 Panther here. In my experience, the biggest factor that contributes to a boring, monotone finish is to paint a vehicle in one tone, or to not be a little courageous in your shading. Washes of the same base color can bring a finish back to tone even if you go "too light".

I think what you've got going is pretty good though. Get going on those pinwashes now.

Mike: Ah, I was wondering if you'd already finished and somehow I missed it a few weeks ago! I really like the results you've gotten there- looking forward to seeing everything come together.

Karl: Nice work there too, I tend to always underdo pre-shading- I like your results.

Karl, no I didn't add any soap to it. I wanted it to pool up unevenly to slightly randomize the effect (like adding some oil streaking), but after the scrubbing it evened out mostly. The black-green wash was mostly meant to bring back my tone and it also worked a bit as a post shade which I'm happy with. It is supposed to be "clean" as was requested. No such thing, I know lol.

Your M-10 Panther definitely has me thinking of going much bolder in the future though! Did I miss the thread for that somehow? Freaking gorgeous Karl.

I've got a few spots that need minor attention and then I'll be getting to the pin wash. I've also got a good primer on the tracks and I'll be spraying those later this afternoon I think. They may have been a nightmare with the glue, but they don't mind the paint. Odd, but I have some AFV Club indies if they decide to misbehave.

Gamera, no I have not finished the Beast yet. It is how you see it in the pictures right this moment. There just wasn't anything to write about concerning the final assembly of the fenders. The instructions were good and the parts fit without issue. Lol

I've still got the back of the tank, wheels, and lower frontal armor to wash yet as I just realized. [Sigh] "Work, work."

Thanks for the advice Karl, I really want to try that!

Gamera, keep an eye out buddy. :)

Thanks for everything guys! :D

If this tank never saw combat or any active deployment then you're on the right track (and the left one, both look fine)  

lol thanks Sprue! This tank never saw combat, but was deployed to Guantanamo Bay in the 50's-60's. So this is going to be a fairly clean looking tank without a lot of wear to it.

So yeah... those DS tracks...  they ARE supposed to accept paint, right? I thought my primer was good, but it's not sticking very well. It rubs off. Then I tried acrylic and that rubs off too. WTF are these things made out of? I heard they worked well enough, but I'm really doubtful they're all that good. Does anyone know of any methods that do work? Should I scrub them with IPA or something?

Also have a future M60A1 build on commission coming up in the next month or two. Time to finish this one up.  :)

Mike, thanks for the comments on the M10. That was a few years ago. Interestingly, Finescale bought the article, but it has yet to be published. It's here online at M10

I am sorry to hear about your troubles with the tracks. I hate DS track because of the inability to sag them, but haven't had trouble with paint sticking. I ope your set is an anomaly. Hope you find something that works, too!

Mike: A friend pointed me toward using 'rubber bumper' paint from the auto parts store as a primer on rubber type tracks. It usually works though I sometimes still get a little paint flaking off.

Thanks guys. I'm thinking of that plastic bonding Krylon at the moment. I've used it in the past on things like PVC without issues and I'm probably going to save some change for a can later. I'll stick to what I remember works and I should have thought of it sooner lol.

Bu that rubber paint is definitely worth experimenting with later.

Update time. Not much done but one more step towards the end goal. I've started sorting out some of the minor details such as headlights and tail lights. I've got the black-green filter wash over the lower half of the tank now and it's really starting to look better than real as it sits on my bench. "Pictures, or it never happened!", right?

I'm going to clear it after this and then I need to sort out the wheels. Dad also sourced out some "Milk Shake" straws so I now have the accordion part of the gun tube shroud. Progress is in motion. :)

Oh, and the Krylon stuck to the DS tracks so now I have something for my acrylics to stick to.

Thanks for looking guys!

A badly needed update:



I finished up the mantlet cover. I tried every glue I have to get the straw I was using as an accordion gun tube recoil cover. Nothing would stick to it. So even if I had found a paint that would stick to the stupid thing, it would not have worked anyways.

Also, the damage done due to clumbsy fingers has been repaired and you can't even tell. I'm happy about that lol. (Dad and I fumbled it and broke off 5 wheels and some of the rails.)



I had to reattach the no. 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 road wheels on this side.

If you look close you can see some of the spot filtering has taken place. I need to finish that part and then I will be adding more spot filtering after a gloss to seal up what I have.

Sorry for not getting this updated in so long. I've had it on the side in que till I figured out how to get the straw to work in the way that I wanted it to (screw that dumb thing lol).

Thanks for looking in mates.  :)

Hey Mr Brindo, it starts to look awesome, yep, no clue where the damaged occured.

As for the mantlet have you consider using actual cloth, like from old t-shirt or so??

I have never used it, but I would experiment with it if I had the chance.

Maybe you can also try "paper mache" with tissue paper ...

What a great looking build Mike!!!! May have to get me one of these beast. I have been on a Post WWII armor building kick lately and this would fit in nicely!!!

While the turret does have a sort of (deflated) football shape to it, you guys weren't suppose to toss it around  like that.   Good save though. I can't see where any damage occurred. 

The straw not working…. I don't have any better suggestions either. It looks fine as is now 

Thank you very much guys. You've just made my day lol.

I've sorted out the searchlight cover now.


^ I cut out some thin sheet styrene for the cover's underlying structure.

I then added the tie -down straps as they were described to me by Dad. They're only missing the brass buckles.




A little paint, this fine morning.  :)







I think it all looks pretty good together so far.



Thanks for looking fellas. I really do appreciate it.  :)

That's a nice looking build you have there Mike, nice work on detailing that searchlight. I am not familiar with the type, but it looks a bit of a beast.

Oh, no I have not actually used any actual cloth yet, but I have considered it yes. I work with all types of paper and most of them work really well. I've recently started using news print and the texture is amazing for 1/48th scale.

I'm always saving a scrap of something lol.

Thanks Bish  :)  I found out that the only time those covers were off of the searchlights is when the lead tank was on night patrol. Otherwise they were always covered, and so I had to cover it. Too bad for all that detail on the inside lol.