M4A2 Sherman

Primer coat 

Primer coats... 

Primer coats... 

Primer coats... 

Primer coats... 

First coat of a medi 

First coat of a medium OD 

First coat of a medium OD 

First coat of a medium OD 

First coat of a medium OD 

First coat of a medium OD 

First coat of a medium OD 

First coat of a medium OD 

First coat of a medium OD 

First coat of a medium OD 

First coat of a medium OD 

A preview of the final product. Still much to do at this point but very interesting how small the tankette is. 

Base layer was a mid-OD coat. Added dark highlights and then followed up with a lighter coat of OD. Need to play around with this a bit more and also need to steady my hands on the dark highlights. 

Base layer was a mid-OD coat. Added dark highlights and then followed up with a lighter coat of OD. Need to play around with this a bit more and also need to steady my hands on the dark highlights. 

Base layer was a mid-OD coat. Added dark highlights and then followed up with a lighter coat of OD. Need to play around with this a bit more and also need to steady my hands on the dark highlights. 

Fingerprints on the sides but those will be covered by wooden sides.  

Fingerprints on the sides but those will be covered by wooden sides.  

Wooden side set for the Sherman. Matches up pretty well. Need to paint and weather before assembling. 

Tracks were completely last night. This was a bit nastier than usual. They were pretty loose fitting so had to be extra careful putting together and moving them around. Will burnish them in the next day or so.
 

 

Lano Models wooden side set. It is nice but I would save my money. It was $24ish which feels expensive. You do also get stencils for a couple of the more famous tanks, including Killer for this tank. It feels like balsa which has little to no grain so basically will just be painting it and the weathering will have to be very delicate. If you are planning on doing some really super cool stuff I would make my own plastic sides. 

Did a little experimenting with different colors and getting a more worn wood look. Again, the fine grain of the wood is not super conducive to this. 

Burnishing the Fruil tracks with the Ammo burnishing solution. Have used the small bottle of solution 5 times now and I figure I can get 2 or 3 more sets out of it. Dunked in solution for 5ish minutes, taken out and then scrubbed in with a toothbrush. Really nice base effect with it. 

 

 

Playing around a bit with oils. Was watching a video about a different technique and it felt like exactly what I was looking for. This will definitely be useful on my next Sherman build as it is a rusty gait guard which this technique can replicate very well.

Still a too many swirls visible ( the black trout looking thing is a scratch from my original airbrush session). More playing tomorrow with some rain streaks and trying to better match my OD so the effect isn't quite so harsh. May be fun to do an entire tank like this or to just distress parts a bit more.  

Worked on some oils and tried a few new weathering techniques. Not perfect but turned out okay and I did learn quite a bit from it. Still need to finish weathering the tracks and getting them on. That will be "fun"? 

 

Still need to fix the detail on the back stack. PE was less than optimal. Will replace with styrene. 

The other side of Killer. Was experimenting a little bit with the finish. I thought it was interesting so I left it looking a little unbalanced.  

Tracks now on. Just need a tiny tank to attach on the back. 

Tracks now on. Just need a tiny tank to attach on the back. 

Tracks now on. Just need a tiny tank to attach on the back. 

Tracks now on. Just need a tiny tank to attach on the back. 

It's passenger is close to being onboard permanently. Just need to add cables 

 

 

 

Will probably need to move forward a bit. Made some cables and now need to figure the attachment points.