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 Rank: Pro    Groups: Registered
Joined: 05/09/2012 Posts: 198 Points: 596 Location: Location
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Welcome chaps! Yes another sherman, found on ebay for less than £10! Read up on the kit and it seems very nice to build and is pretty accurate. Not tamiya, but i really wanted one with the wading trunks and thought this might be different. Seems to have several options in the kit and i guess could be done as a British version too as its the diesel powered variant. Online reviews all seem good. Contents look good, instructions easy to follow. May build so far then wait till i get an airbrush to complete. 
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Rank: Pro Groups: Registered
Joined: 27/08/2012 Posts: 104 Points: 312 Location: Brome Lake Quebec
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Nice find Th. I've just ordered a Tasca M4A3 so I will watch how this one goes.
John
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Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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Nice kit!! Academy are very good, I have 2 of their Tiger kits with full interior. A few minor issues, but nothing that cant easily be put right.
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Rank: Pro Groups: Registered
Joined: 05/09/2012 Posts: 198 Points: 596 Location: Location
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Actually, whilst doing some research to discover what Tank i could build with kit it appears its box art and some of the decal sets in the box are completely wrong! 'Nightmare II' is actually an A3....and so are two others depicted in the kit Those 3 all happen to be the ones with the wading trunks.....hmmm interesting times ahead i think - i built the tamiya Sherman 'as is' but really would like this one to be something that actually existed....
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Rank: Pro Groups: Registered
Joined: 05/09/2012 Posts: 198 Points: 596 Location: Location
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Well......further news. Ive been slowly doing the build and realising i probably need glasses!!! Tiny parts....However it does need a damn good clean up and its almost there but not fully assembled yet. Still looking at ways to replicate the concrete that some of these tanks had between the hull and the wooden 'armour' on its flanks, or maybe not bothering!! Will put her together properly, then prime her up in the next few days, then decide just what to do with her!!!!
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Very nice build so far, and nice to see a Sherman with the wading trunks used. I found that the dense polystyrene blocks used in packaging, when painted, simulates concrete blocks really well. Looking forward to seeing some more!!
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Rank: Pro Groups: Registered
Joined: 05/09/2012 Posts: 198 Points: 596 Location: Location
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Ok...further news on the 'unknown' sherman. I guess it has to be done as an A3 rather than an A2. I gather an A3 and A2 are only separated by such things as the engine cover which are hidden anyway by the wading stacks. Looking at various books, I've still to decide just which tank this is but im adding (slowly) several bits that tanks of the USMC on iwo had- I've added tank track holders, one of which will include the 'telephone' as you can see.... I've still a lot to do, but i primed her last night, and am still adding various bits which are in both this kit and the tamiya kit but unused, mainly from photos. So far so good 
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 Rank: Vice-Master  Groups: Registered
Joined: 06/06/2010 Posts: 566 Points: 1,657 Location: UK
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Looking great! Glad you got the primer on quickly to cover that nice green plastic!  Keep it up. Wilfy
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Rank: Pro Groups: Registered
Joined: 05/09/2012 Posts: 198 Points: 596 Location: Location
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Cheers! A few more little things. Ive discovered just what all the gubbins on the back of the turret is actually for - It seems the USMC Sherman's didn't use the turret mounted gun actually on the turret, or not very often. They tended to use it when parked up for defence and to protect the tank if it was disabled. Although they did carry it. Reference pictures show how several parts on the back of the turret where used to carry the .50 cal. I noted some spares in the kit parts resembled these so on they went!. Also, there was a kind of folding bracket on the top of the turret that locked the .50 cal in position, folding down when not used. This was also in the kit but not used....so on that went also I still have to paint a few of these bits so thats why they look a bit grubby. The gun doesnt quite fit as it really does, but in most cases it was covered by a tarp. Investigating ways to maybe do this. Theres a few other bits ive discovered in the kit that dont appear to be used but actually went on the tank so more to come i think - why do they not include these things in the instructions? I realise that this kit is a mix n match from a few other sherman kits so there are parts left over but if the real thing had them, why not use them?
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Rank: Pro Groups: Registered
Joined: 05/09/2012 Posts: 198 Points: 596 Location: Location
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More news Okay. So what colour where these USMC shermans? Photographic evidence suggests some where not Olive Drab. A lot where camo - sand/black/green/red and goodness knows what, but some I've seen in books have this dark blue/green colour. Why? I dont know. I painted it with Tamiya Olive Drab for a base coat and to be honest, its nothing like some of the pictures, as i expected! Heres an example :- So after the olive drab base coat, to which i still havent decided which tank im doing, i mixed a lot of thinner with some flat black, flat white and some....olive drab. This i sloshed all over the tank, adding more white to try and lighten things up a bit. Seemed ok. I then used the tamiya weathering powder stuff and went over the whole tank whilst it was still tacky with the burnt blue and oil stain black. Its produced quite a nice effect I tried flash photography and it just looks like a blue chrome, which it decidedly isn't, so as its dark i turned the lights on full to try and capture what it looks like. Not very good - sorry! Its not there yet and the light makes things look more earthy coloured, but the turret in the second picture, is i think, not far off. Sorry to bore you with all this!!
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 Rank: Master   Groups: Registered
Joined: 30/03/2011 Posts: 1,344 Points: 4,079 Location: Bryanston, Johannesburg. RSA
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Not a fundi on military vehicles, but I think it looks brilliant. Well done. Rgds, Hans
"It's okay to make mistakes. mistakes are our teachers - they help us to to learn, even if it is painfully"
Current Build:
Endeavour Cross section,D51
Completed: HMS Victory
Under the bench: Endeavour x 2,Sovereign of the Seas, Akagi and The Black Pearl!HMS Victory Cross Section
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I think it looks brilliant sir!!! I use the Tamiya weathering pastel sets, you can get some really nice effects with them. Keep up the good work!!!
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Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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Wow!! I think the effect is brilliant TH and it certainly looks VERY realistic, almost like cast metal which is what it was, so it must be right!!
Regards some pictures showing the tanks to be a Bluish/Green colour, I would be careful how you interpret that as those old WWII colour photos were notoriously bad for the way in which they portrayed the actual colour of whatever was being photographed? Remember that colour film was in its' early stages at that point and therefore couldn't possibly be as accurate as it would be nowadays, so what might look like a bluish hue could still be green in reality and I've not heard of blue Shermans, though I could be wrong?? Just a thought!!
Great build and a huge achievement for someone who is fairly new to building military vehicles. I hope you are enjoying it TH and keep up the good work - well done!! 
Kev
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Rank: Pro Groups: Registered
Joined: 27/08/2012 Posts: 104 Points: 312 Location: Brome Lake Quebec
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TH
Too bad your lighting is not showing up the quality of your paint job. It certainly looks like your Sherman has been through a rough time, very realistic.
John
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Rank: Pro Groups: Registered
Joined: 05/09/2012 Posts: 198 Points: 596 Location: Location
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Thanks guys, no id never heard of blue/green shermans either. But thats not the only photo ive come across, also others showing them 'faded green' and some in the camo colours they used in the pacific. I also believe they are actually stills from a USMC film in colour that showed the invasion and action on Iwo Jima. Reading further, theres no mention of Marine tanks coming in anything other than Olive drab 'when new', but that they where painted in the field by the various battalions. Still trying to find out more! Although in 'Tank warfare on Iwo Jima' the author captions a few Shermans as 'Blue/green'. Theres obviously the effects of service on this volcanic island, loads of tanks where knocked out, repaired, knocked out, repaired and so on. Actually, after i 'kleared' the Sherman to seal the finish its now gone quite different to what it looked like yesterday! Further work needed i think
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Rank: Pro Groups: Registered
Joined: 05/09/2012 Posts: 198 Points: 596 Location: Location
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More interesting news... The blue/green experiment didnt go well. In fact it ended up a bit of a mess!! I even rumaged through Mrs Todayshorse's makeup 'wardrobe' for some eye shadow in black and blue to try and recover. In the end it just went a silvery grey colour, and although quite a nice effect, totally bizarre, its not what i was after at all!!! If only it retained some of the Olive Drab, i think it would have looked stunning! But it didnt.. As it ended up.... So, what to do? I tried a OD wash which seemed to add more green, but even after doing it twice it still had that grey look which i wanted to lose. So i dry bushed the tank in OD, which worked VERY well. I think so anyway! So in effect i did it backwards. Strange, but true. And im quite happy with how its turned out. I further dry brushed very lightly and sparsely with some gun metal but ive a bit of detail painting to do yet. The flash has picked out the gun metal more than it really is. In normal light i think its quite good Taa daa! Thanx for looking at my near disaster!
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Hi T H She looks like she's had a hard life, very nice work on the weathering and it all came together in the end. Keep up the good work regards Andy Current builds:-C57,Zero, Lamborghini Countach, Caldercraft HMS Agamemnon,Robi,R2-D2, MFH Cobra .
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Wow, what a difference! That is a proper battle worn look!!! I like that very much.
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Rank: Pro Groups: Registered
Joined: 05/09/2012 Posts: 198 Points: 596 Location: Location
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Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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Doris looks great
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