Operation cobra

Post by **Nige99** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 10:36 pm

Well Paul as talked me into this! All today I've thought long and hard about what to do for this GB.
Looking at my stash should I go for a M10? With nice interior detail!! Or should it be my AFV M36 Jackson? A Dragon M4A4 with crew? A nice little Stuart? Mmmm
I wanted to find a tank ace. So doing my homework I found Sgt Lafayette Poole from the 3rd armoured division. So this is the one for me!!

The kit comes with some PE a nice barrel, and I'll use the frul tracks.

Post by **Paul** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 10:38 pm

Yeah Nige, great to finally have you with us on a Group Build.

Look forward to seeing it come together mate. You doing a dio or just the tank

Post by **fly1ngdutchm4n** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 11:08 pm

Great choice!

Love seeing this build!
Good luck and Happy Modelling!

Post by **Nige99** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 5:45 am

My plan was to do a stand alone model Paul. However I have something in mind mate.

Post by **Paul** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 10:30 am

Nige99 wrote:My plan was to do a stand alone model Paul. However I have something in mind mate.

Tidy mate, look forward to hearing about it

Post by **wappynutter** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 12:50 pm

Good luck Nige, looking forward to seeing what you do with this Beauty...

All the best mate..

Post by **Coen** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 1:01 pm

Now this.... could be interesting.
Operation Cobra had some really cool camo on the sherman's.
Nice subject too.

http://m.youtube.com/user/MrBobsBuilds · Post by **Rob** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 1:50 pm

This will be good! Good luck

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 4:27 pm

Cool subject dude.

Looking forward to this one coming together.

Post by **Nige99** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 10:09 pm

Cheers for the words of encouragementd guys!
I'm dying to get my teeth stuck into this! I want to do this justice for Sgt Poole he was quite a guy and deserves 100% from me.

Post by **Nige99** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 7:52 pm

Well I've done my research on this Tank Ace and it turns out the Sgt Lafayette Pool was some guy

This was one of 3 Sherman's he and his crew had. All was called in the mood!

Lafayette was seen hanging out of the top of his tank more than in it. He didn't like confined spaces.

He was decorated with the Distinguished service cross, Legion of merit, silver star, Purple Heart, Fourragere Legion d'honneur.

He joined the 3 armoured division, third Battalion 32nd armoured regiment.
His crew was:-
Driver Wilbert "baby" Richards
Bow gunner Bert "schoolboy" Close
Loader Del "jailbird" Boggs
And Gunner Willis "groundhog" Oiler.
Sgt Pool said he could shoot the wings off a fly from 1500 yards away.

His success was as follows 12 tank kills, 258 total armoured vehicle and self propelled gun kills.
He refused battlefield commission stating "I just want to have one of the best tank crews in the division".

So I've been itching to make a start on this and tonight is the night.

Post by **Nige99** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 7:43 am

Made a start at last! This dragon kit have some nice details in places but does fall short in others.
I love the texture on the upper hull.

Coen was right about the fit! It is a bit tricky in places to get it right.

The running gear is a bit of a let down compared to my Tasca Sherman. However no where near as fiddly.

Post by **Paul** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 7:54 am

Excellent mate, are there metal sprockets in with the friul tracks ?

Post by **Nige99** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 9:57 am

No mate just the tracks!

Post by **Coen** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:25 am

Dragon's Sherman wheels and sprockets are still better than most others.
They're missing a few minor things and some of their older ones are just plain silly looking.
The ones in this kit look the part though. If you want to go bananas you can add the twelve rivets to the inside of each rim on the wheels.
hahahahahah!
The front of the bogie assemble has four holes that are missing on every sherman kit that I've ever built.

How to dress up a bogie... not the ones in your nose.
(I used this photo for another member a while ago... so ignore the Matt)

https://www.youtube.com/user/bnealuk · Post by **T3hGuppy** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 11:32 am

Great start dude.

The cast texture on this is really nice.

Post by **Nige99** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 7:09 pm

Cheers for the feed back guys.

Mike I think I'll give the up grades a miss.

Post by **Nige99** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 9:32 am

Opinions please?? It's my first proper attempt of PE. I have no PE tools so it's a modelling knife and straight edge.

I am seriously considering scrapping it and useing the plastic counterpart.
What would you do??

Post by **Coen** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 9:47 am

Nah... You got it right bud. Those things are a right PITA! They look like they're supposed to.
Besides, they're brush guards, they're supposed to be a bit bent. Yours at really new looking haha.
On the real ones there is a little gadget attached to the sides of them and it has a tiny chain hanging from it. Piece haven't seen a kit maker supply one of those yet.

Post by **Paul** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 10:20 am

They look spot on to me mate

Post by **FishBowlMan** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 10:50 am

What he said ↑

And what he said as well ↑↑

I've been putting off doing kits with photoetch as I don't have any bending tools. Good to see that it can be done well without needing the expensive gizmos.

edit: of course the ↑ would have worked better had this post not appeared on the new page

Post by **Nige99** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 3:44 pm

cheers guys I'll stick with it then.

Post by **Nige99** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 12:04 am

Got some good progress with this build

I was at Paul's yesterday and got the PE light guards done using his PE tools. I realise I seriously need to get some PE tools, quick!! I enjoy the finish they give. So I need to keep some money aside. Next month now or I won't be eating the amount of models/products I've bought lately.

The kit comes with a nice alloy barrel as standard.

The .50 Browning is nice, not quite as good as the tasca but it's still good.

Post by **Paul** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 12:20 am

Looking sharp mate

Post by **Coen** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 2:04 am

Told ya that was a nice bit of kit buddy. She looks pretty sweet too.
You might want to take a sander to that seam around the lower part to the turret. There's supposed to be a seam there... but not that pronounced, it's more of a casting release mark than a seam. I take a tiny file to them and give it a machined look to it, that's what they look like on the real thing.

Here's a bunch of really cool reference shots that I dug up.
Maybe you could use them. You can really see that seam in them.

Post by **Nige99** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 8:28 am

Cheers Mike, that's spot on advice mate. Cracking

I'll get it sorted today. I wasn't happy with the join on this, I could see daylight through it so did use some filler.

Post by **Nige99** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 8:54 am

All sorted and sanded down Mike.

Post by **Coen** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 10:44 am

Cheers Nige.
Can't wait to see the paint on her. Looks like she's just about there.

Post by **Nige99** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:38 pm

That's the Sherman primed. I used Paul's Vallejo black.
You can see the casting really well on it.

Post by **Daishi12** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:06 pm

Lovely looking kit mate, can't wait to see this complete

Post by **Coen** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 11:09 am

How did that spray for you Nige? It looks like it went on well. Nice a smooth.

Post by **MarkVerploeg** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 2:21 pm

That is a fine looking sherman
Is the big stamp near the cupole normal?
I never seen that on a sherman kit
Atleast not like this but i only build 2 so far so maybe i used a less accurate kit

Post by **fly1ngdutchm4n** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 3:32 pm

looking great mate, that's one sweet looking Sherman!

I love the casting, really nice

Post by **Coen** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 5:27 pm

MarkVerploeg wrote:That is a fine looking sherman
Is the big stamp near the cupole normal?
I never seen that on a sherman kit
Atleast not like this but i only build 2 so far so maybe i used a less accurate kit

Sherman turrets are as varied as Apple pie recipes Mark. The ones that you build were probably fine.

Here is a shot of the turret.
You can see the stamp to the right of the cupola.

http://m.youtube.com/user/MrBobsBuilds · Post by **Rob** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 5:59 pm

Looking excellent Nige. I wondered what it was you was painting last night on Schoof's hangout!

Post by **MarkVerploeg** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 7:36 pm

Coen wrote:
MarkVerploeg wrote:That is a fine looking sherman
Is the big stamp near the cupole normal?
I never seen that on a sherman kit
Atleast not like this but i only build 2 so far so maybe i used a less accurate kit

Sherman turrets are as varied as Apple pie recipes Mark. The ones that you build were probably fine.

Here is a shot of the turret.
You can see the stamp to the right of the cupola.

Yes it is clear to see
But the outlining was new to me

Post by **Nige99** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 11:37 pm

Coen wrote:How did that spray for you Nige? It looks like it went on well. Nice a smooth.

Yes the black vellejo went on really smooth Mike.

Post by **Nige99** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 11:39 pm

Rob wrote:Looking excellent Nige. I wondered what it was you was painting last night on Schoof's hangout!

Yeah it was that one mate. Black primer then Mr Hobby dark green.

Post by **Nige99** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 11:44 pm

Mark I looked at my Tamiya Sherman's they have got the stamp but are not as prominent as all my Dragon s are. Like what Coen said they are in different places to. On the Tasca Sherman it's forward of the cupola like in Mikes pic

Post by **Nige99** » Sun Jun 22, 2014 11:56 pm

On the hangout on Friday I used Mr Hobby dark green no 51 I think. I like the finish I got of these paints and would deffo get some for myself. However looking at the colour I think it's to dark.
So I've gone back to Tamiya Olive Drab XF62 50/50 mix with Buff XF 57

Mr Hobby

Tamiya

You can see the running gear as been left in the old colour, I do think it's way to dark for olive Drab

It's not the best lighting I'll get some more pics out doors tomorrow.

Post by **Coen** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 12:41 pm

I don't know Nige, I think that you were closer with the first colour. There's no precise answer for what colour does olive drab look like for modelling. So in the end you can either match the colour as close as you can to a photo or a chip, or go with what you think looks cool.
For me the first colour was it. Maybe it will look different in the natural light.
It's hard to say.
In the end it's what you think is the best.

Post by **Nige99** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 5:52 pm

Post by **Nige99** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 6:02 pm

Cheers Mike for the tips. I've used this colour on my last Sherman build so I do think it's time for a change and give some other colours ago.

Post by **Coen** » Tue Jun 24, 2014 1:39 am

Oh Wow!!!
Forget everything that I said... that looks really sharp Nige!!!
Those two colour look really cool together. Nicely done.
I love that pattern.

Post by **Nige99** » Tue Jun 24, 2014 4:40 pm

Cheers Mike

Post by **fly1ngdutchm4n** » Wed Jun 25, 2014 10:31 pm

Agreed. The colours looks great!

Really coming together now!

Post by **chief5437** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 7:25 pm

First time I've seen this cam on a sherman, looks really good!

Post by **TechHead** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 8:43 am

Here's a really good link to an article on Olive Drab, and the equivalents using popular paint brands.

http://www.militarymodelling.com/news/a ... drab/4536/

I want to build a Sherman next, after finishing my Hawker Typhoon. Can anyone recommend a decent Sherman kit - I'm still a newbie so ideally need something a little on the easy/intermediate side of things.

Thanks,

Simon

Post by **UKguyInUSA** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 7:55 pm

Sweet!

Post by **Nige99** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 8:04 pm

Well sorry I havent been on here guys I lost my mojo a bit. But getting back to it now.

My Sherman is pretty much done now! Since the last pics it's had a filter onto it and the black as blended in well.

I got the figure to do next then it's onto the Dio