Sherman M4A3 105mm HVSS ** Finished!! Pics on pg. 6 - 12/06/08 **

Stampede,

I can only echo what Marc said about that rope.  I had the same problem when I used cotton for rope on a 1/72 PT Boat.  Spraying the hull seemed to make the paint stick to the fibres and made the cotton twine very "wooly".  I am doing a M4A1 at the moment and I will not be attaching the rope until after all the painting/weathering is done.  Kudo's on everything else.  You have made it very hard for the rest of us with a Sherman on the bench !

Whoa..

Holy $#@%! that's one nice Sherman!

It's not even finished yet and I can easily say it's the best I've ever seen..

Great work Stampede!

Very, Very, Very, Very, Very, Very....Nice, Good Great....Wow

Rounds Complete!!

It is such a beauty!

I just love following a post like this, where one can see a professional built kit slowly coming into being!

Please don't take a vaccation now, Stampede!

/Tony aka bultenibo

WOW, man--this Sherman is SHweet! SHexy! Fer SHure! LOL!

Honestly, it's gorgeous--great stowage and the weathering is really nicely rendered!

Outstanding work. The overall look is really great and the tool/stowage detailing and painting looks sweet.

If I may I only have 1 critisism.  The rope looks out of scale to me.  Everything else looks so good  but the rope stands out a little.  The fibers are larger than what would appear on even a worn hemp rope. 

sfcmac: Thank you very much! I didn't have a clue when I started this Sherman, but the internet is a great reference resource. I also appreciate that you like my paint job so far. It is a real challenge to get the OD color to look pleasing to the eye. Now I've just got the rest of the weathering to go.

Thanx!

The slow part is finally coming to an end soon. Got all the stowage painted and have slowly started the weathering process. This one is going to get dirty cause most of the Sherman pics I've seen are of dirty ones. Painted the stowage with a combination of Vallejo Model Color and their Panzer Aces colors, and some various MIG washes. Struggling a bit when it comes to getting any variation on the OD, but I put a first aid bag back there and some other stuff with a bit of color on them. Recon I'll put an orange air recognition panel back there too for some more color.

I've started with the rest of the vehicle adding a pin wash with MIG Brown wash and more heavy specific washes with MIG Dark wash in various places.
I've also tried to add fuel stains with layered washes around the caps and on the visible parts of the rear deck and hull. More stains and grime will follow later. I also noticed when starting to do the different washes that the work I did with the weld seams around the armored fuel cap shields and turret vents paid off, they are really standing out when washed.

Here's the rear turret vent...

Found a color pic of an M6 perscope showing that the "holder" was painted light grey and the periscope itself in OD, so the "holder" is now grey...with a dark wash ;)

Some front detail...
 

And here is how she stands now, ready for some more weathering. It's time to bring out the oils and do some fading and some dust in the nooks and crannies. :)

@RBaer: Thanx, glad you like it so far.

@the doog: Thanx Karl, I'll look into the post shading thing.

@Manny: Thank you VERY much! Comments like this is always inspiring. Glad you liked the track sequence too.  I'm planning an orange air recognition panel. I'll see what I can come up with, in terms of the size of it and the color, shadows on it.

@Dannenbergerblitz: Thank you, thank you! Well, I don't live with men in white, but sometimes I feel'em just around the corner! Glad you can use my WIP log for reference.
Mr Surfacer is a kind of liquid putty/primer that comes in different thickness. It can be used to fill small seams and i.e. make texture like I've done. I've used #500 for the coarse texture and #1000 for the finer texture. You just brush it on and stipple with a stiff brush until dry, which is really quick. If I recall correctly I think I bought it at Internethobbies.

Incredible work!  Are all of you master modelers living with folks in white jackets and pants?  The extent and expertise of the detailing is extroardinary.  I just ordered this one and now perhaps I should just slit my throat?!  LOL!  Wow!  I will print this off as a tutorial on Shermans.  BTW  what is Mr. Surfacer and where can I get it?

Buck 

Stampede, you know I was just thinking--you can also "post shade" these one-color vehicles to great effect--take a look at my "E-100" thread when you get the chance, and see what a difference it made in the base coats?

The E100 post is titled "3-18-08 finished photos-DML E-100 'Hans and Franz's new ride'". Find it in the Search engine.. 

@commando: Thanx!

@the doog: Thanx Karl, I appreciate the nice words! I'm tryin' to do the best I can with this Sherman and the OD paint job, hope I can pull it off in the end. Thanx for the cudos on the pics and explanations too. 

This is really a great thread for Shermaholics and the OD crowd especially, Stampede!

Your build here is looking beautiful! Great attentio to detail and really great pics and explanations!

@Bultenibo: Thanx for the kind words, neighbor.
Happy that some of my techniques can be of assistance.

@panzerguy: Thank you very much! Glad you like my work so far. I sure hope I can pull the stowage painting off in a realistic way.

@doc-hm3: Why not call it a toot-wip? Go ahead, pick up a Sherman, kinda fun actually. Thank you for liking my work.

   Erik, nice man, real nice. I'm sure the stowage will come out fine as did the rest of this build so far. Looking foward to seeing your weathering updates.

Stampede:

This is an amazing WIP post! Full of great advice and new techniques. Heja Norge!

I'm also busy with a Sherman - the old Tamiya kit (M4A3 74 (W) VVSS), but I'm building it straight OOB and I don't really have a clear picture of what kind of result I want to achive. But  just beacuse of that, it is even more interesting to following your work on a sophisticated kit, built methodically. I'm more into improvisation ("Oh, oh, that didn't work! Let's try this out...")

Thanks a bunch for the tutorial on the painting of the tracks - I'll try to follow "in your tracks".

/Tony aka bultenibo 

Here's a small update on the painting process.

Quite a challenge to paint these mono colored vehicles.
Here's some pics after the first three transparent coats of OD and two transparent coats of OD mixed with Tamiya Sky in a shade I thought looked ok. I tried to apply the lighter shade of color along the edges and where the light would fall naturally. I used a lamp as a "sun template" in front and slightly elevated over the vehicle to notice the highlights when airbrushing.

Then I airbrushed two coats of MIG filters, first Green for Light Green and then Grey for Bright Green. I applied the grey to try and fade the OD even more.
I then made a mix of Abteilung Faded Grey and Odourless Turpentine and brushed it over the entire vehicle. Left this to dry for a while and used the same mix and a flat thin brush on edge to make some rain streaks, you can barely see them on the turret here. More of these streaks will be applied when the weathering starts.
 

I decided that the vehicle should belong to the "Tiger Division"  20th Armored Infantry Battalion, 10th Armored Division in Germany spring/summer 1945.
I put the decals for this unit on with Solvaset and I think I steered clear of the dreaded silvering.
I then mixed an even lighter green shade and brush painted the parts sticking out on the vehicle like filler caps, hinges and so on. Not very visible in the pics but it's there.

Well here she is now with decals, another filter coat of Faded Grey filter and a Vallejo Air satin clear applied.

I'm now starting the tedious process of painting the stowage and detaling the lower hull so I recon it will be some time until the next update. Cannot say that I'm looking forward to painting all that stowage in the back, hopefully I'll pull it off.
When that's done the real fun begins...weathering! 

Bare with me on the pics, I've got some weird problem with my cam so they are kinda blurry.

@doc-hm3: Thanx! Dunno how many hours a day exactly, but I recon 2-3 hours every other day.

@wing_nut: Thanx!

@RBaer: Thanx!

@panzerguy: I agree, kinda a shame to cover it up, but it has to be done. I don't feel brave, feel kinda stupid actually, I know I'd been better of painting it before I put it on the tank. It just layed down so well so I didn't wanna mess it up by removing it again. Hope I pull the painting of it off.

@droogie2799: Nothing ignorant about this question, we're here to help, and we've all started once. I painted the rubber portion of the wheels before attaching them, but I didn't attach them until after I sprayed the base coat. I'm going to paint the storage with a brush and several different oil washes while on the tank.

/P

Stampede,

You initially painted the wheels then attatched them to the vehicle. Since the wheels were painted did you just avoid spraying them during the base coat?  Sorry if this is an ignorant question, I am just getting into the hobby and trying to learn the art of weathering.

 I'm interested to see what you do with the stowage.  Are you going to get in there with a brush and paint the individual items or just paint then the same as the tank. 

   Having to cover up all that wonderful PE work just makes me want to

      Your a brave man Stampede, painting the stowage on the tank!

  This Sherman is SWEET!!! How many hours a day do you think you invest in this project? Again your attention to detail is second to none.

I've slowly started on the painting process.
Here's a couple of shots of the Sherman so far, nothing fancy yet. Just the Tamiya Surface Primer and a preshade coat of Tamiya XF-61 Dark Green. I've applied the dark green to get a nice dark base for the shadowed areas of the vehicle. I will subsequently lighten and fade this base color.  First step is to spray the OD from above to get it to blend in with the Dark Green in the lower areas of the vehicle, I hope. 
Well anyways, that's next, here's some pics...

The surface primer...

The XF-61 Dark Green

Hopefully more coats of paint will follow with success...

...and one more thing, remind me the next time I'm building a Sherman to hold back on mounting the suspension until after painting the first base coat! What a p.i.t.a to get inside all those nooks and crannies!

Later...