Stokesy's Sherman Easy 8

[Stokesy44]

With the Mustang now safely on the display shelf its time to start something new.

I was after something bitesize, a kit that I knew would be a quick build, a pleasure to put together and accurate to the subject material.

Surprise surprise its a Tamiya new tool 1/35 tank. Their lovely M4A3E8 European Theatre Sherman



Here's the blurb

The Sherman was mass produced from February 1942 onwards. By 1943 it became apparent (to some, not all) that the 75mm gun on the Sherman was putting the M4 at a disadvantage when coming up against the German tanks and tank destroyers armed with high velocity anti-tank guns (75 and 88 mm). The Americans already had a HV gun mounted on the M10 Tank Destroyer so they shortened and lightened that gun and shoved it into a new turret for the Sherman. Production began in January 1944 and many of the up-gunned M4s went to Normandy that summer.

Better firepower came at a price though. The new gun and turret were heavier than those they had replaced. New suspension was brought in and wider tracks - the Easy 8 was born and first saw action in late 1944 during the Germans' Ardennes offensive which began in December.

Tamiya's kit is a little beauty. A new tool from 2014 in their usual olive drab for Allied European ETO subjects.

I decamped to the lounge and got stuck in with one eye on the sport - rugby, cricket and F1 - a very nice way to spend the day it must be said

Lower hull and running gear







Everything went together like a dream (It's Tamiya dude!), a little sanding of the seams on the wheels and job's a good un.





Upper hull with the fenders added to cover the wider tracks





The hull anchors itself to the lower hull without glue using a latch at the front and a guide hole slot at the rear. A seamless fit which can be separated again. This will massively aid in the painting of the running gear later on.







Some nice case detail too



Off to a good start then. Hope to work on the upper hull today

[digger303]

[cor]

A quick easy build that looks awesome. Nice.

[cor]

A quick easy build that looks awesome. Nice.

[ForeverPlasticKits]

Some sanding on the undercarriage and your build will be great!

[Tomcat64]

That's off to a flying start - that running gear looks nicely detailed

[Stokesy44]

That's off to a flying start - that running gear looks nicely detailed

Some sanding on the undercarriage and your build will be great!

A quick easy build that looks awesome. Nice.

A quick easy build that looks awesome. Nice.

Thanks Gents. The running gear is already sanded to take the edges off the seams. Once the tracks are on and the gear is painted and weathered it won't be seen.

This is the fist kit I've built complete in 2 sessions. I again decamped to the lounge and pottered away with the sport on. It was sport nirvana yesterday. The test match cricket, F1 qualifying, first weekend of the rugby and the PGA golf! Its a miracle I got any kit work done at all!

Ready for priming now

I managed to drill out the end of the 0.30 caliber bow mounted mg. There's a little bit of filler required at the top of the transmission cover.



All greeblied up.









Turret and 76mm gun finished





I did a lot of sanding around the turret join. I'll see how it looks under primer.







Nice texture on the turret and I managed to drill out 50 cal too. The commander's hatch will be open on the finished version and there's a cool figure that goes in the hatch.



Next up is a coat of Ultimate primer and I'll see if there's any filling required.

[digger303]

LOOKS SWEET and the 50 cal and 30 drilled centre too....

[Stokesy44]

LOOKS SWEET and the 50 cal and 30 drilled centre too....

Thanks mate. Both of them were fractionally off center when I used a punch to make a starting point for the drill bit. As a result I was sh*****g myself as I drilled them out.

I have a set of beautifully fine bits so the first whole was tiny then I increased bit size as much as I dare

[Tomcat64]

That's come together really quickly and looks very tidy mate

Nice work opening up the barrels too - that's always a bum-clencher moment

[Stokesy44]

I've been umming and arring about what primer to use. The tank will be olive drab / green so I decided on black in the end.

Ultimate Black Primer AKA magical self-levelling angel juice





You can just see the turret join through the primer so that will need just a dab of filler and a respray.









A little bit of filler on the turret and a respray then its on to the base coat then tools before all the artsy fartsy stuff can be started.

[ForeverPlasticKits]

The AKA Black Primer seems to be very effective, let's the painting begin!

[Tomcat64]

Lovely smooth primer coat mate - looking forward to seeing the OD go down once you've sorted the turret to your satisfaction

[Stokesy44]

Lovely smooth primer coat mate - looking forward to seeing the OD go down once you've sorted the turret to your satisfaction

Too kind Sir. Its certainly magic juice in a bottle.

So here we are with the Tamiya olive drab. I thinned it more than I have of late as I've been getting some tip dry with my base colors and I've been thinking the mix has not had enough thinner in it.

The result was the paint went down very wet and in thin layers and I was able to build it up slowly with many coats. I still only used about a third of an airbrush cup's worth of paint and I'm happy with the result.











Next up is the detail painting - the tools, machine guns, spare tracks and wheel rims then it will be decals and a matt varnish to seal before the oils.

[Tomcat64]

Awesome work mate - great to see the tonal variations you've built up using those thin layers - I'm just too damned impatient!

[Stokesy44]

I worked on the detail painting yesterday and all the while I had a nagging feeling about the olive drab base. I just wasnt happy with the coverage. The photos dont really show it but there are section where the paint just isnt opaque enough to sit nicely over the primer.

This morning I sprayed more of the base coat over the areas I thought needed it then sprayed and added the tracks using Vallejo Burnt Iron from their metal range.













Tools and bits and bobs



Couple of ground shots.





I've made a mask for the stars as I think they will look better painted than as decals. We'll see

[digger303]

Wish I could get the my MG's looking good like yours.
The paint looks like a nice faded OD.

[BigWall]

It's looking great! I can't wait to see it dirtied up

[ForeverPlasticKits]

I also want to see the weathering technics you will use on your beautiful model!

[Stokesy44]

A bit more work done this weekend. Added the decals and then got started on the oils.

I used tan, white, green and black. At this stage, just trying to create that outdoors look.



















Worked on the commander figure too



I'm not sure about adding a wash. It needs some sort of varnish to blend the oils a little. If I decide to add a wash it will be a gloss varnish, otherwise it will be matt or satin.

Then it will be on to specific staining and finally pigments for dust.

[digger303]

The faded streaky paint looks great you pulled it off to perfection. Love the wooden handles on the tools too. I know they were done before this weekend, but how did you do them I haven't managed to pull off the lighter wooden look yet.

[Stokesy44]

The faded streaky paint looks great you pulled it off to perfection. Love the wooden handles on the tools too. I know they were done before this weekend, but how did you do them I haven't managed to pull off the lighter wooden look yet.

Thanks Digger

For the wooden handles I used Tamiya XF59 or XF60 (desert or dark yellow) then a wash of chocolate brown. It seems to come out ok for a lighter type of wood.

[BigWall]

Thumbs up! It's looking great

[Stokesy44]

Thumbs up! It's looking great

Thanks mate

I applied a matt varnish to seal in the oils. I was going to use a satin varnish but it had gone off. I had wanted a very slight sheen on the hull but it wasnt to be.

I added the glass to the commander's cupola then added the periscope and painted the interior of the hatch. I added the commander's goggles and made the strap out of masking tape to stick to his helmet.









I used pigments with thinner to dirty up the tracks then a black oil wash to tone them down before dry brushing with gun metal.









I'm pretty much there now, just dry pigments left on the hull to dust everything up and that's probably it.







I have one decision left to make. STOWAGE. I've got some but I really want to finish this and start an entry for the large scale build!

[Quax]

loving the paintwork, the oils have really broken it up and added contrast to the base colour.

Paul

[aur0ra145]

Nicely done!

[Tomcat64]

Superb work on the weathering mate - that looks spot on

Nice dynamic pose with the commander sets it off really well too.

[WordenB]

Fantastic finish, love it. Very well done Stokesy.

[Stokesy44]

loving the paintwork, the oils have really broken it up and added contrast to the base colour.

Paul

Nicely done!

Superb work on the weathering mate - that looks spot on

Nice dynamic pose with the commander sets it off really well too.

Fantastic finish, love it. Very well done Stokesy.

Thank you Gentlemen, you are too kind

I'm calling this fella done!

I decided to add a bit of stowage on the front end. I made the wooden plank that sits over the transmission housing from plastic card and then nicked the 'bits' from an Italeri kit.

Painted and dirtied up - I thought I had sanded out the sinkholes but no



Then it was decision time for the pigments. In the end I went for a dusty rather than muddy look as I didnt want to crust the kit up with mud effects and dirt. With the allies constantly on the move as the war came to a close I'm thinking they were covering a lot of road miles and churning up the dust as they went! I used Vallejo concrete and brushed it on dry to finish the kit.

















Thanks for looking in and posting. As always its been great to have you along

[digger303]

Great job on the tank.
Damnation about the sink holes and the seam line on the drum, BUT with every build at least with me there's always something or 2 that jiggers things.

[cor]

Very nice. Makes me want to build a tank.

[BigWall]

Very nice finish! The weathering came out awesome!

[Tomcat64]

Superb result mate - I love the addition of the stowage plank on the front end

[ForeverPlasticKits]

Very cool war beast, the last versions of the Sherman are my favorite!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Wow, that is great work
Weathering is superb

[Josebagasteiz]

Ufff, every day I like this Sherman more and more, the Easy 8, in model looks super cool!!!!

I like the general weathering on the tank and the rust on the chains. But I would pay a little more attention to the joints that are still visible between the two halves of the turret at some points. This would have been avoided by applying some stippled putty with an old, somewhat stiff brush. It is also necessary to remove the mold ejection marks as far as possible and the burrs and remains of bonding to the sprues that could be seen on the wheels, although the latter seemed to have been removed in the photo that appeared painted with the primer coat.

Even with all this, which I do not say this to annoy if not what I could see, your Easy 8 looks great as I said before!