Tamiya 1:35 M4A3 Sherman

[Radzy]

Hi,

I have recently started building Tamiya's Sherman kit improved with Aber's 75mm barrel. This is the box (sorry, again I have no "opening" pics):



I've started building on 31st of May as part of the Sherman campaign on "other" forum. But if you don't mind I'd like to post some detailed WIP here.
Few words about this kit:
1) it's nice, well detailed, but it seems Tamiya forgot to put bottoms of the spontoos (I hope this is the correct name for part of hull over the tracks ). I haven't succeded with self making any replacements, so I think I'll keep them OOB...;
2) I had to drill holes in the machine guns barrels to add a little more realism - I have done this for the first time with my fat, shaking fingers, but effect is suprisingly good - you can see the hole in the top mounted 50cal gun on one of pics below;
3) they put a lot of addon parts, so no aftermarket things were required, also variety of tankers, so I'll have a chance to practice painting figures .

So far I have managed to get it sort of finished and washed. It's now awaiting priming:




I'll use Vallejo paints to prime and paint the model before weathering.
I'm still thinking if primer should be black or red brown (RAL 8012). What I want to achieve before putting main coat is some base for chippings.
So at some point I'll use Vallejo and Lifecolor rust colours (like dark rust, german camo black brown and some rust shadows from LC diorama series).
It'll be followed with AK Worn effects fluid and main coat then... But we'll speak about it later

Regards,
Radek

[T3hGuppy]

I never was a fan of the Sherman but as time goes on they appeal more and more to me.

Looking good

[Coen]

Wow, you have a tonne of painting to do. All that stowage is gonna be murder.
I love stowage!

[BrummieModeller]

That is coming together great i wish i was doing my sherman in that scale lol so much more detailed

[RollingThunderModels]

a realy detaild build! can't wait to see more

[Gav0909]

I love metal barrels on tanks, they just look so awesome.

Are you going to weather this tank up quite heavily?

[Radzy]

Hi,

I like stowage on tanks (but not in the amounts that would overwhelm the model with garbage ) as this is a simple way to make your own "interpretation" of the AFVs in action that took place in the past. And with this Tamiya addons, well, I don't need to ruin my nerves with some photetched parts or resin kits . And somehow... I like the struggle of brush painting all those small elements... Although I'm still practicing what's better approach, to fit them before painting the hull or opposite...

@Brummiemodeller
Having chosen 1:35 scale I put myself in advantage of not having my fingers twisted and brainz exploded with the small parts in smaller scales but for sake of having less space to display my models... Pros and cons, as always in this cruel world . But I will probably make also some smaller scale vehicles as well, especially that I have a very ambitious plans to make examples of (almost)all machines that were flown or driven by Polish troops during the II WW... That's a very challenging task, especially with all those other reproductions I would like to make in the meantime (I want them ALL)

@Gav
I love these metal barrels. With this simple upgrade you really add a lot of realism to model.
Yep, I'm going to try some wet mud this time as I'm willing to do a 6th Armoured Division vehicle in Ardennes region, Jan'45.

In meantime I managed to prime the tank with Valleyo black primer. I wonder if these small parts I left not 100% covered in black primer, but I'd rather risk having some problems with them in the future than spoiling to thick layer of primer in those tight corners... We'll see ... But if you have any advice with this, let me know. I usually let the primer set for couple of hours (just in case ) and I still have undercarriage to be taken care of.

Primed tank (in the background you can see part of my high-tech self made spraying booth ):

[Nige99]

I love sherman's the shape the fact that the U.S army put tons of stowage on them! Why? Because there was no room in them. Just a bit of advice in regards to chipping/ rust. I would keep it down to the minimum. The Sherman had that much paint on them you would never see the rust chipping. Has much as it pains me to say, I read a report about the types of olive drab (which was two) they used and how much paint they had on them.

[Radzy]

Thanks for advice Nige. I was already reconsidering chippings. After google research I haven't found many references that would justify extensive rusting. So I'll rather skip chipping fluid and some more subtle effects with just paint and fine brush.

Regards,
Radek

[Paul]

Thanks for advice Nige. I was already reconsidering chippings. After google research I haven't found many references that would justify extensive rusting. So I'll rather skip chipping fluid and some more subtle effects with just paint and fine brush.

Regards,
Radek

With fading and streaking effects it'll look great

[Radzy]

With fading and streaking effects it'll look great

Hi Paul,
By fading - do you mean attempt to recreate the play of light on the tank by painting some parts with different shades o lf the base colour and highlighting some exposed ones ?

Hmm I must admit I've never tried it (well with only 3 models finished so far it would be hard to try everything ). I've been watching some tutorials but so although technique itself isn't that complex, but I found it hard to determine the shadow patterns.

But streaks - yup I'll apply them with some mud on undercarriage and some wet effects on top of tank propably as well.

Regards,
Radek

[Paul]

With fading and streaking effects it'll look great

Hi Paul,
By fading - do you mean attempt to recreate the play of light on the tank by painting some parts with different shades o lf the base colour and highlighting some exposed ones ?

Hmm I must admit I've never tried it (well with only 3 models finished so far it would be hard to try everything ). I've been watching some tutorials but so although technique itself isn't that complex, but I found it hard to determine the shadow patterns.

But streaks - yup I'll apply them with some mud on undercarriage and some wet effects on top of tank propably as well.

Regards,
Radek

No that's modulation, and works very well but it can be tricky to get right. Yes spray the vehicle in your normal Camo colour then with a slightly darker paint at the bottom and lighter at the top, also on upward facing panels spray the centres slightly lighter too. Just lighten and darken the colour you used on the overall paint job, it doesn't need a lot of differene to work well.

Fading is using oils or specific filter washes to blend Camo or modulated paintwork together. Have a look at my anti aircraft build thread. Here http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=214 I show modulation on the Kruppe and filtering/fading on sd 7/2 half track.

[Radzy]

Fading is using oils or specific filter washes to blend Camo or modulated paintwork together. Have a look at my anti aircraft build thread. Here http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=214 I show modulation on the Kruppe and filtering/fading on sd 7/2 half track.

Ah ok, so sort of filter over whole model with oil based paints dilluted slightly more than wash ( if I got it right). Originally I was thinking about applying a dot filter as this seemed good fitting with streaks .

Just short q (to be sure 100%)- filters after wash right ?

[Paul]

Fading is using oils or specific filter washes to blend Camo or modulated paintwork together. Have a look at my anti aircraft build thread. Here http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=214 I show modulation on the Kruppe and filtering/fading on sd 7/2 half track.

Ah ok, so sort of filter over whole model with oil based paints dilluted slightly more than wash ( if I got it right). Originally I was thinking about applying a dot filter as this seemed good fitting with streaks .

Just short q (to be sure 100%)- filters after wash right ?

I would pin wash then apply a filter.

[Nige99]

I was read that Tamiya olive drab is as close as you can get to the proper colour. I use dark olive for the running gear, olive drab for the side panels and a 70/30 mix of olive drab and flesh for tops where you get the light fading.

[BrummieModeller]

sounds like a plan to build all polish machines mate build looking great now

[Radzy]

@Nige

I heard that Tamiya's olive drab seems to be closest to original one at least according to Steve Zaloga URL Link,
but I have never tried Tamiya paints (well, I don't think they can be much of a challenge, but I would have to buy at least XF-62 and some thinner).
I'm thinking of using Vallejo Model Air 71043, which also seems getting credits as the good equivalent.
Fortunately Today I was refurbrishing my workshop with new stand for accessories and I've built new paints stand, so the decission is yet to be made . I work like 5 minutes by car from one of the hobby stores, so I can go there and buy either bottled one or one of those spray canisters (I think it's TS series...).

@Brummiemodeller
Yup, I'd like to build as many as possible of AFVs utilised by Polish Army on the West and East (also one or two from 1939 campaign). Unfortunately this Sherman won't be the one, because Poles used only the M4A3 HVSS version (105mm howitzer).

[Paul]

@Nige

I heard that Tamiya's olive drab seems to be closest to original one at least according to Steve Zaloga URL Link,
but I have never tried Tamiya paints (well, I don't think they can be much of a challenge, but I would have to buy at least XF-62 and some thinner).
I'm thinking of using Vallejo Model Air 71043, which also seems getting credits as the good equivalent.
Fortunately Today I was refurbrishing my workshop with new stand for accessories and I've built new paints stand, so the decission is yet to be made . I work like 5 minutes by car from one of the hobby stores, so I can go there and buy either bottled one or one of those spray canisters (I think it's TS series...).

@Brummiemodeller
Yup, I'd like to build as many as possible of AFVs utilised by Polish Army on the West and East (also one or two from 1939 campaign). Unfortunately this Sherman won't be the one, because Poles used only the M4A3 HVSS version (105mm howitzer).

If you have an airbrush get the bottled paint if not get the spray can, as the bottled tamiya is awful for brush painting.

[Radzy]

Ok. Got the xf62 and some x20a thinner.

I'll be using my H&S ultra ab with 0.4 needle.

Any tips for painting tamiya paints?
Should I dillute it before painting?
Preffered pressures on the compressor ? (For vallejo air I use ~20% dillution ratio and ~ 10-15 psi pressure.

[Paul]

Ok. Got the xf62 and some x20a thinner.

I'll be using my H&S ultra ab with 0.4 needle.

Any tips for painting tamiya paints?
Should I dillute it before painting?
Preffered pressures on the compressor ? (For vallejo air I use ~20% dillution ratio and ~ 10-15 psi pressure.

I would thin 50/50 with the x20a, spray at 20psi, spray an all over thin coat then go back over slightly thicker, don't try to put too much paint down in one go or you will get runs very easy to do with a .4 needle. Give the paint bottle a real good shake but don't stir it (just think of James Bond, shaken but not stirred). That's it really

[T3hGuppy]

Ok. Got the xf62 and some x20a thinner.

I'll be using my H&S ultra ab with 0.4 needle.

Any tips for painting tamiya paints?
Should I dillute it before painting?
Preffered pressures on the compressor ? (For vallejo air I use ~20% dillution ratio and ~ 10-15 psi pressure.

I would thin 50/50 with the x20a, spray at 20psi, spray an all over thin coat then go back over slightly thicker, don't try to put too much paint down in one go or you will get runs very easy to do with a .4 needle. Give the paint bottle a real good shake but don't stir it (just think of James Bond, shaken but not stirred). That's it really

Dont forget the Tuxedo too!!!

[Paul]

Ok. Got the xf62 and some x20a thinner.

I'll be using my H&S ultra ab with 0.4 needle.

Any tips for painting tamiya paints?
Should I dillute it before painting?
Preffered pressures on the compressor ? (For vallejo air I use ~20% dillution ratio and ~ 10-15 psi pressure.

I would thin 50/50 with the x20a, spray at 20psi, spray an all over thin coat then go back over slightly thicker, don't try to put too much paint down in one go or you will get runs very easy to do with a .4 needle. Give the paint bottle a real good shake but don't stir it (just think of James Bond, shaken but not stirred). That's it really

Dont forget the Tuxedo too!!!

Yeah buddy

[Radzy]

Shaken, but not stirred, with old dirty T-Shirt as a substitute to Tuxedo I gave it a try.

As you suggested Paul, XF-62 mixed 1/1 with X20A and spraying instructions followed as best as I could I finally came to this:



It was easy to achieve an even coat and it looks little ... shimmy and very matt. However it is very unforgiving to touch... any attempt to make even little pressure on surface with "unprotected" fingers leaves unpleasant marks... So the protective gloves seem to be a must have now.
I also got an unpleasant suprise on front plate (just above the MG mount). From unknown reason there were some unknown stains below that emerged on coated surface (they're barely visible on the picture, but in RL they're very clear:



Worst thing that were virtually invisible on the surface of primer... and now seems that the milk is spoiled...

[Paul]

Nice work buddy, looks great. You will soon learn to judge how much thinner is needed and every pot may need more or less. The tamiya paint often settles on the bottom of the pot hence the shake but don't stir, as if you stir it you get lumps in your airbrush. So each bottle has different amounts of settlement needing more or less thinner. Don't worry though as you get to the bottom of you paint pot just add a bit of thinner and giveit a good stir and leave it a while to mix properly.

To my eyes that looks like it needed more thinner which would have given a smoother texture (and would have been more resilient to finger marks) but as its a tank it'll make no differnce to how the paint is finished if it had been a plane a smoother finish would have been better though.

One thing make sure you get a clearcoat on (johnsons clear or any gloss varnish) as if you start adding washes etc the Matt finish will make it stick like hell.

Great job though mate

[Paul]

Oh and you can usually judge how the paint is thinned when you have stirred you colour cup mix of thinner/paint wipe of your stirrer/brush on the side of the cup and it should be a milk consistency when it runs down the side.

[Radzy]

One thing make sure you get a clearcoat on (johnsons clear or any gloss varnish) as if you start adding washes etc the Matt finish will make it stick like hell.

Great job though mate

Thanks for good words, my friend! Yeah, clear coat was the first lesson I learned after I spoiled my first model (SdKfz 222) with vallejo dark wash - it turned to complete black after applying and as it was an acrylic based wash... well it dried more than quick ...

For now I found the Micro Gloss to be the best serving to me (vallejo gloss seems to be not so clear and Polish equivalent of JC - Sidolux is yet to unpredictible to me - with trials I made so far it sometimes took 4-5 layers of varnish to get even and smooth surface for decals and washes)...

But first things first - I'm going to paint details first

[Radzy]

Several hours later I came to the point of 99% details painted.

So the kit now looks like this:





Following paints were used for details:
Wooden crates:
1) VMC 834 Natural Wood
2) VPA 310 Old Wood
3) VPA 311 New wood
Tools & MGs:
1) VPA 310 Old wood for wooden parts;
2) VMA 041 Tank brown for M2 gun handles;
3) VMA072 Gun
4) VMA 073 MM Gun Metal
For backpacks:
1) VMC 988 Khaki
2) VMC 976 Buff (highlights - drybrush).
Rust effects on front tracks:
1) VMC 822 German Camo black brown
2) VMC 985 Hull Red
3) VMA 069 Rust
4) Lifecolor UA701 Rust dark Shadow
5) LC UA702 Rust base colour
6) LC UA703 Rust light shadow.

And some black and red for some other small details.

Uff... that was quite a tough thingy to paint all this stuff, so I think next time I will paint'em before fixing - that's gonna b much easier ...

I'm not sure if my choices of colours for backpacks and wooden crates was good, but doesn't look that bad and if not, I will have to blame Uncle Google

----
Legend:
VMC - Vallejo Model Colours;
VMA - Vallejo Model Air;
VPA - Vallejo Panzer Aces.

[ww2hispanomodels]

it looks really cool! Grap some and I'll see your progress

[Coen]

Wow
This thing is really shaping up.

[Paul]

Great progress

[Prumus99]

Your build is looking great!

[Coen]

Several hours later I came to the point of 99% details painted.

So the kit now looks like this:





Following paints were used for details:
Wooden crates:
1) VMC 834 Natural Wood
2) VPA 310 Old Wood
3) VPA 311 New wood
Tools & MGs:
1) VPA 310 Old wood for wooden parts;
2) VMA 041 Tank brown for M2 gun handles;
3) VMA072 Gun
4) VMA 073 MM Gun Metal
For backpacks:
1) VMC 988 Khaki
2) VMC 976 Buff (highlights - drybrush).
Rust effects on front tracks:
1) VMC 822 German Camo black brown
2) VMC 985 Hull Red
3) VMA 069 Rust
4) Lifecolor UA701 Rust dark Shadow
5) LC UA702 Rust base colour
6) LC UA703 Rust light shadow.

And some black and red for some other small details.

Uff... that was quite a tough thingy to paint all this stuff, so I think next time I will paint'em before fixing - that's gonna b much easier ...

I'm not sure if my choices of colours for backpacks and wooden crates was good, but doesn't look that bad and if not, I will have to blame Uncle Google

----
Legend:
VMC - Vallejo Model Colours;
VMA - Vallejo Model Air;
VPA - Vallejo Panzer Aces.

Radzy, if I remember correctly, you said that you were going to leave the sponsons open on your build.
In the picture above I noticed that it looks like you've chosen to leave the drivers hatch open as well.

The only reason I thought to mention this is because you are still at a point in your build where you can make and adjustment if you wanted to.

I noticed that you can see straight through the open hatch and sponson, and when the tracks and road wheels are installed you'll be able to see them too.
It's not to hard to fix this, if you have two pieces of sheet styrene, you just cut them to fit, paint one side black glue them into the openings and fill the gaps.
Sand then touch up the paint.
The other way, and this is the easiest I think, would be to close the hatch or fill it with a figure big enough to fill the opening.

I don't want to be critical, because your build is looking fantastic, I just noticed it and thought that maybe you would like the options.
Keep up the awesome work.

[Nige99]

In terms of right colour on the kit bags etc, get serpia wash on them and they will transform into lighter/darker pending on how you dilute it.

However I do love the look you have achieved on your Sherman! Great work, keep it up.

[Radzy]

Radzy, if I remember correctly, you said that you were going to leave the sponsons open on your build.
In the picture above I noticed that it looks like you've chosen to leave the drivers hatch open as well.

The only reason I thought to mention this is because you are still at a point in your build where you can make and adjustment if you wanted to.

I noticed that you can see straight through the open hatch and sponson, and when the tracks and road wheels are installed you'll be able to see them too.
It's not to hard to fix this, if you have two pieces of sheet styrene, you just cut them to fit, paint one side black glue them into the openings and fill the gaps.
Sand then touch up the paint.
The other way, and this is the easiest I think, would be to close the hatch or fill it with a figure big enough to fill the opening.

I don't want to be critical, because your build is looking fantastic, I just noticed it and thought that maybe you would like the options.
Keep up the awesome work.

Thanks Coen, yes I had decided to leave the sponsons open as I could not get the proper fixes (apparently my styrene cutting skills are not good enough ). Although yesterday I bought new very thin styrene sheet and I'll give it another try. Originally I left the hatch open as I wanted driver to be placed there. It wasn't probably good idea as I have never painted any figures before... So I'm somewhere between hell and high water here...

I still need to think about organisation of my works as it's a little bit to much spontaneous

@Nige
Thanks for tip. I have already started searching for oils close to sepia in my stash

[Coen]

I still need to think about organisation of my works as it's a little bit to much spontaneous

Nah... I wouldn't worry too much about that, figuring it out as you go along it actually how half of us learned how to do all this stuff.
Forums are a new thing, you're lucky to have one as good as this one.

I wouldn't go too crazy trying to fix the sponsons if you think that it's risky.
If you're going to plop a driver in the hatch that will probably solve the problem.
It all depends on how far you want to go and how much experimentation you want to try out.

[Radzy]

Nah... I wouldn't worry too much about that, figuring it out as you go along it actually how half of us learned how to do all this stuff.
Forums are a new thing, you're lucky to have one as good as this one.

I know that and I really appreciate the support. I must admit that this is the first forum I decided to start posting my "building blogs" and take some more active involvement. I don't know why, but my intuition said 'Yo, that's the place for you my friend '

I wouldn't go too crazy trying to fix the sponsons if you think that it's risky.
If you're going to plop a driver in the hatch that will probably solve the problem.
It all depends on how far you want to go and how much experimentation you want to try out.

Sooner or later I will do some scratch builds and what's the best way to try it out if not these sponsons ? In theory easy and they won't ruin the whole models afterwards.
Therefore I'll give'em one more try and if it doesn't work out I'll go for figure of driver (well, I will go for it even if those sponsons work out ).
I'll keep you posted.

[RollingThunderModels]

:O what a detail! great

[Radzy]

Update #5

So with the stormy Sunday and cloudy hot Monday's afternoon I have managed to move forward with M4A3.

I've done sponsons (Thanks Coen for pushing me for it in that positive way ). Maybe they're not perfect, but I had fun with them and I'm pleased with their look:



So with sponsons done I gave the model few light coats of Micro Gloss and added decals. Screwed them up a little bit (star & 50 are not in line on both sides of hull and there's no space for star on the left side of turret), but again, it was much better on this even surface with my first tries, so I'm good with those small errors.




The undercarriage is also ready to be placed on the hull but as I have it still detached I want to apply some mud on the lower hull first. But before that I need another coat or two of gloss varnish and washes... The fun begins

[Coen]

Looks like you did a great job on that sponson fix.
I'm curious, did the decals that are on the stowage come with the kit?
They look great.

[Radzy]

Looks like you did a great job on that sponson fix.
I'm curious, did the decals that are on the stowage come with the kit?
They look great.

Yep, they're part of the kit (and come with a little surplus ). They look very cool, although I have a strange feeling that Tamiya's decals seem to be very thick... still very nicely stick to surface.

[Nige99]

Getting side effects for not building a Sherman for do long! Looks cracking.

[Paul]

Looking good radzy

[Radzy]

Update #6

As I wrote in the Airacobra WIP update - this weekend was a disaster for both my builds... Airacobra got crooked... and Sherman ... was badly spoiled with ugly looking mud & wet effects I had to remove whole upper layer of weathering... Fortunately I decided to go for varnish layer after every effect I put on the model (wash, filters (3 of them), few chipping). And the last very thick layer of matt varnish seems like it saved a day afterwards. I have washed all wet effects and mud I could with mineral spirits and now the model is drying sloooowly...

This is how the model looked like before application of mud:




I think I need some holidays ... maybe not from modelling, but in general

Radek

[ww2hispanomodels]

That's a nice work!

[Radzy]

Update #7

Ok, I've managed to clean up all the mess to the acceptable level and rework some of the last weathering layers.

Some streaks (AK Interactive streaking grime for dark green vehicles + AK dark streaks for panzer grey) were added on the hull with some (now very subtle) oil stains (MIG). The model now looks much more decent. Tomorrow I'll try to work with tracks.

[chief5437]

Sweet!

[Nige99]

Love the streaks on this! Your weathering on the running gear is spot on.

[Radzy]

Love the streaks on this! Your weathering on the running gear is spot on.

Thanks Nige!

Taking into consideration I achieved it completly by accident ( I was removing mud effects I failed badly) I'm very pleased you like it.

Radek

[T3hGuppy]

Loving the weathering

[spruecutter]

I agree, this is looking good