Some American Armor - Sherman M4A3

[Gigatron]

Hey guys,

Finished my first non-plane build, a Tamiya 1/35 Sherman M4A3 with 75mm main.

Armor goes together a lot more easily than planes, but it's all the little doo-dads that add time. The tank, itself, took maybe, 2 hours to build. Building and painting all the ammo cans, fuel cans and ration boxes took 2 days.

On to the pics...

As always, questions and constructive criticisms are welcome.

Enjoy,
Fred

 

[28injection]

Ah, this brings back good memories from when i used to do these. Nice subtle weathering as well, love it!

Jon

 

[IFA]

As always with you....criticisms ????? I don't know what I could criticise here....:love
The weathering is UNBELIEVABLE !!!!!

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

All the wood items, the ammo boxes and tool handles, look just like real wood. Weathering is perfectly to scale. Knocked it out of the park again, great build-up.

 

[MooCriket]

Classic goodness! Very well done....however I do have one critism: Why did'nt you make me one too?!:lol

Awesome work!thumbsup

 

[Gigatron]

Thanks, everyone :$

James, the wood is a trick I discovered while messing around with different techniques. It turns out it couldn't be simpler. I use a #11 blade to create knots and splits in the wood. Then a basecoat of Radome Tan and brushing of Leather. I give it a quick, dark wash and it's done.

Moo, if I had known you wanted one...

-Fred

 

[Tatooine_Todd]

Great build! Thanks for the tip on the wooden handles, it's details like those that make or break a kit.

 

[Jeeves]

Ooo, can I make criticism? :$ Seriously, first off - great job on the kit. I love the details, and yes, as people have noted, fantastic job on the wood. My question - the pics make the OD gear (the commander's jacket in most pics, and the backpacks in pic 1) look glossy. Helmet looks gloss as well. Looks like the gloves are as well - and to me, even if leather gloves are a little glossy in real life, the scale effect isn't of full gloss when you drop down to 1:35th scale. Is that intentional? Somehow, that distracts me from the fact that this otherwise looks like the real thing. :cool

 

[Gigatron]

Thanks, Todd,

Jeeves, I'm not really sure why they look glossy in the picture, they don't in real life. The jacket and backpacks were both painted with the same XF color and they weren't coated with Future. I did use a metallic color on the buckles of the packs, maybe that's what highlighting. The helmet was painted with the same XF-62 Olive Drab that the tank was. Could be the curvature of the helmet is focusing the light source, making it look more reflective than it actually is.

The gloves do have a satin sheen from Model Master's Leather acrylic paint. I have no idea how to make 1:35 scale sheen, so it'll do for now :cool :lol

-Fred

 

[UKscout]

looks great:thumbsup god this model reminded me of when I saw one of these tanks been pulled out of the sea near where I live - Slapton Sands UK, this was several years ago.

http://www.shermantank.co.uk/home.ikml

 

[mjhenks]

Another great job.

Matthew

 

[Gigatron]

Thanks, guys :cool.

Scout, I'd never heard the story about that incident. Interesting read, thanks.

-Fred

 

[UKscout]

no prob's - glad I was able to shed some light on a old sherman tank, great paint job BTW:thumbsup