Sherman M4A3 105mm with Resin Upgrades

I've been accumulating a few Blackdog conversion sets and the kits to go with them for a while now and finally decided my skills were up to scratch to have a crack at building one of them. With the conversion sets, you can really create a unique model. 

The Objective

What I want is to recreate something similar to this tank here with log armour and duckbill tracks. 

The Raw Ingredients

To do it, I used this kit from Dragon. I would have preferred a M4A3 75mm gun tank but Dragon doesn't have one of those at the moment so 105mm it is. 

I used the Blackdog log armour and accessories kit designed for the Dragon M4A3 hull. Up armouring the Sherman was common and the troops used everything from spare tracks and logs to reinforced concrete and old boiler plate. 

I also added some T54E2 'Duckbill' tracks from Modell Trans. The wider tracks reduced the ground pressure exerted by the tank by 20% through spreading the weight of the tank the over a wider area thus improving mobility in off road conditions. Still not as good as a Panther but an improvement. 

The Build

The Dragon M4A3 Sherman wasn't the easiest of builds compared to the Revell kits I've built. 

I had two main gripes with this kit. 

Firstly, the VVSS suspension units didn't really line up that well. I basically hid that by sanding the mismatched halves smooth after I had assembled them. 

Secondly, the hull halves didn't go together straight out of the box. I had to shave 1mm off the inside of the sponson on the chassis to get the top and bottom of the hull to go together. This led to issues with the radiator which required the trimming of the exhausts (see below) to allow the radiator to fit. 

Luckily they can't be seen due to the position of the radiator. 

On the resin tracks side, they too were a pain to fit around the drive sprocket and idler wheels until I discovered you need to dunk them in boiling hot water (cup of water in microwave for 2 mins) and have about 10 seconds to mould them around the sprocket or idler before they go hard again. With some patience, and repeated dunking, they go on fine. 

I had no issues with the Blackdog resin parts although did need to put some filler to close some gaps. In retrospect, it would have been better to have not replaced the fenders with the photo etch parts provided despite the better detail. 

I added a strip of plastic under the driver and radio operators' position for the crew members to sit on. 

Rest of build was fine. Just fiddly given the scale. There were a few bits that could have been done better but that is another model. 

Ps: One thing that has been bothering me is what is the hole in the left hand corner of the turret for? My reference books don't really say. 

To be continued .....

Kugelblitz Reborn

After a year or more in a spares box after a screwed up paint job, I stripped back my second attempt at a Kugelblitz ('ball lightning') and started again.

The kit

The kit is by Maco and uses sprues from Revell's Panzer IV Ausf H kit plus some one of their own. 

As a kit it goes together pretty well and I was pretty happy with the build ... until I started painting it the first time around. 

The only problem I have with this kit is that Maco should have supplied some Ausf J style exhausts as this conversion would have been applied to a late war Panzer IV Ausf J chassis.  But who cares? It's a paper panzer. There were reportedly only a few were built but no pictures survive except for an example of a turret in museum in Germany. 

Rebuild

To be honest, there wasn't much to rebuild. I just added back on the parts that fell off during the strip with oven cleaner. 

After consulting a few of my Panzer IV reference books, I decided to add on a heap of spare track from the first Kugelblitz build that went totally wrong in the spray shed. I did use some white plastic card to fashion strip brackets. 

What I think I aiming to show is a Kugelblitz prototype turret fitted to a reconditioned Ausf H chassis that the previous crew have welded on some track for extra protection. 

Prime Time

As usual, I have primed it with Vallejo polyurethane primer in black. Also gave the turret a touch up of RAL 8012 Rotbraun AK717 from AK's German Late War Colours Set (AK 554). I'll be using the rest of the set on the chassis. 

To be continued ......

Cromwell White Wash Part 4 - Try again

Step #1. Prime again. 

First stop was Vallejo 70.602 Surface Primer. Went on okay but you can tell the surface isn't completely smooth due to the remains of the old paint job.

Step 2. SCC15 again

I applied a mix for SCC15 - UK OD of 5 parts XF61 (Dk Green),to 2 parts XF62 (Olive Drab) and 2 parts XF3 (Flat Yellow). 

Then lightened with 2 parts XF-2 white for the upper part and a bit all over. Then the same again for the top surfaces only. Seems a bit lighter than last time with less gradations. Smaller air brush tip would have been better.

Step #3. Adding some more interest

I wasn't really happy with the initial paint job. It looked a bit plain. So I did it again. Same base colour mix made progressively lighter with XF-2 white. Paint job is based on highlighting the top bits and putting lighter colours in the centre of various panels. Also painted some of the features such as vents, handles, etc a bit lighter again. Much more interesting. 

Step #4. Washed to make the detail stand out

Next step before adding decals was to wash the tank with AK 's Dark Brown Enamel Wash for Green Vehicles (AK 045). Worked well after lots of playing around. Pity most of it will be covered in white wash. 

Step #5. Apply decals

Applied decals using Micro Set and Micro Sol for the first time. While I am not sure about Micro Set, Micro Sol definitely does the business and I was much happy with the result than from using Humbrol's Decalfix product. Decalfix is a little too hot chemically and seems to upset the paint. Next step is flat varnish in preparation for the great white wash. 

To be continued .....

Hairspray Technique Experiment

Rather than screw it up again, I've decided to experiment on one of my test tanks.

And I'm going to have a crack at it based on what this guy says here. http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?116134-Heavy-Paint-Chipping-Tutorial

Plus I'll thin the Vallejo chipping medium with Vallejo thinner instead of water. That was recommended by Vallejo. I suspect water was the problem last time. 

Step #1. Apply flat or satin clear coat

The tank has been sprayed with Tamiya XF-86 Flat Clear. Not XF-22 Gloss. Apparently semi gloss is fine too. The paint was sprayed using the Medium tip of my Badger 150 airbrush. Not the Fine tip as usual. 

Step #2. Apply chipping medium

Applied two generous coats of Vallejo  73.214 chipping medium thinned 60:40  with Vallejo's own 71.161 airbrush thinner using the medium tip of the airbrush. Applied fine. Very smooth. Looked like a semi-gloss. 

Step #3. Apply white paint

Applied several coats of white paint until the Panther was white. And until I ran out of white paint in the airbrush cup. The wheels and the back

So good, so far. 

Step #4. Selectively remove paint

After leaving the paint to dry for over 24 hours due to other things rather than any deliberate intent, I brushed on some water a section at a time and started chipping with the help of a flat brush and a tooth pick. 

Worked well. Very impressed. Now to try it anger. And try out a multilayered approach. Ready for the Cromwell!

I do need however to get some smaller flat brushes and cut off the tips to get do this properly. 

Cromwell White Wash Part 3 - Reassembled and ready for painting

The Cromwell has been reassembled with a turret machine gun from from a Panzer IV, new mud flaps and a headlight made of bluetac. Will give quick thin spray of black primer again and try again.

I haven't got high hopes for this baby as not all the paint came off but will have a crack at it anyway. 

Cromwell White Wash Part 2b - The Art of Stripping

One thing I have learnt after leaving the model soaked in oven cleaner overnight is the Vallejo Primer and the bits painted with Vallejo paints such as the tracks and wheel rubber are pretty tough stuff. The Tamiya paint is gone. 

Now to start again. 

Cromwell White Wash Part 2a - Back To The Drawing Board

Back to the drawing board.

I tried putting Vallejo's chipping medium on the Cromwell thinned about 4:3 medium to water. Result was little bubbles rather than a smooth coat. Didn't change much after it dried. 

Then added a few coats of XF-2 white. Still didn't look great. Tried chipping away at the turret but the effect was more of a bubble effect not a washed away white wash. 

Tried a bit of thinner treatment but that didn't work too well either. 

In the end I decided to try out using oven cleaner to strip the thing and start again. Works well for the top coat of Tamiya after a few hours but not so good on the Vallejo primer except for the metal bits. 

Have soaked the whole thing in oven cleaner overnight and put it outside. Let's see what it looks like tomorrow. Mmmm. 

Will need to hit the online forums and see how else I can do this. Maybe thinned chipping medium and lots of coats of it. I'll try it out on my test tanks first. 

So disappointing as I was completely loving the look of the Cromwell up till now.