Thanks again Gamera. I took a day away from this one today and worked on another project. Tomorrow I'll get more done.

Coming along very nicely! 

Yesterday I added on the early style grab rails on the turret sides using parts from my spares bin.

Now I just need to add the rod frame type guards on the commander’s and gunner’s sights and the backdating of the turret will be completed. Next up, cast armor texture.

Sounds great

Thanks guys! HDM, I'm pretty old school in my approach usually. Pin washes and dry brushing work quite well for me. In this case, the tank is going to be in "motor pool" condition, so minimal dirt and such. I haven't decided yet if I am going to black base or not before I apply the base OD. But it's not gonna be in field condition like the M46 that I finished up just before New Years.

Gamera, I'm happy to hear that your caught up now. Stay tuned for more progress reports...

Oh wow, somehow I missed all your turret updates. She's coming along nicely! 

Excellent progress and thanks for sharing. Can't wait for the painting and finishing stages.  What will be your approach to weathering?

I like to use a simple three step modulation on US Olive drab vehicles with the last modulation zenithal...then the weathering to depict my subject and its environment.  It's funny, none of my armored vehicles look the same when it comes to weathering...because of the varied subjects and photos I use in their rendition.

Thanks PJ! I can finally see the end project look now in my minds eye.

So more work on the turret this week. Firstly I puttied up the points where the cargo rails attach, since I won’t be using the kit parts. I also added some very thin rod styrene along the seam line where the turret halves go together to replicate the weld seam on the real turret. Today I sanded the putty smooth and using some “hotter” plastic cement and my finger nail to texture the weld seam bead.

stikpusher

 

Breech block painted steel. Not sure if it’s accurate or not for the M47, but I like the look, and I’ve seen it before on other types. Besides, the turret hatches will be closed and no one will see it...

 

 

Then I glued the upper and lower turret halves together

 

 

and well, I just had to fit it on the hull

 

 

Now

it looks like a tank!

 

Next up, adding all the little bits to the turret before the cast armor texturing

 

Looks great.

Thank you CB!

Well, I just had to forge ahead this morning....

Breech block painted steel. Not sure if it’s accurate or not for the M47, but I like the look, and I’ve seen it before on other types. Besides, the turret hatches will be closed and no one will see it...

Then I glued the upper and lower turret halves together

and well, I just had to fit it on the hull

Now

Next up, adding all the little bits to the turret before the cast armor texturing

Looking good Stik!

Thank you Bill! But having a turret is when a tank really starts looking like a TANK!

Carlos,

This is already looking like a tank! I am very impressed!

Bill

Small progress on the turret. Over the past few days I assembled the main gun, sanded the seams smooth then installed it into the turret bottom

And today I airbrushed the turret interior white...

I just need to paint the breech block steel, sand off the paint on the surfaces to be glued, and assemble the turret halves... then this will start looking like a TANK!

Thank you Gamera! I'm starting to think that this one might be completed in the not too distant future.

WOO HOO!!! Superb job!!! 

Thank you PJ! Stay tuned for more in the days ahead.

Those extra details look fantastic.

I finally finished all the basic construction on the hull. It was pointed out to me that the hull attachment point for the rear fenders was inaccurate. So I modified them to look more like the real thing.

And I added all of the little bits to the front of the hull

Now I just need to add the cast armor texturing and casting marks to the hull

Thanks GS. I finally finished adding all of the small bits to the hull today. Now I can move on to the turret and adding the cast armor texture to the hull.

Looking very nice.

warshipguy

Italeri was always known for it's "small bits".  You, sir, are doing well with them.

Bill

 

Thanks Bill. Yes, Italeri loves the small bits. Each headlight is a separate piece, as is their single mount piece, followed by their brush guards. The infantry phone box on the rear hull plate actually has a seperate hand piece, the commo junction box, a flap cover, and (again) a separate handle piece. It's a shame that area didn't fit into my end set up. All it needs is a wire line. It would look good modeled in the open position, just needing the latch work mechanism added to to inner side of the armored cover.

Italeri was always known for it's "small bits".  You, sir, are doing well with them.

Bill

Back in the saddle on this one today

I added the small bits to the rear of the hull

and began adding the small bits to the front of the hull

Not much longer until hull construction is done...

Dodgy

Lookin great Stik. Nothing worse than putting in a lot of work only to have it lost when you do the close up.

 

Thanks Dodgy. I do have another of these to build one day. And I can say with certainty that one will simply have the engine compartment closed up and be in a more "operational" look.

Lookin great Stik. Nothing worse than putting in a lot of work only to have it lost when you do the close up.

Yes, very cool you can see all that work you put in there! 

Mopar Madness

It's great that you can still see a lot of that engine. All of that nice work won't go to waste!

 

Yes indeed! It's nice that Italeri gave such an option.

It's great that you can still see a lot of that engine. All of that nice work won't go to waste!

Thanks RB. Not sure what else you can do with that M26 power pack. The M26 used the same engine as the M4A3. I'm not sure about the transmission. But that changed with the M46, which was essentially a re engined M26A1. The M46, M47, and M48 prior to the A3 shared the same power pack.