Goosebumps!

My friends, this tank is so big it gave itself goosebumps 😆

When I was looking closely at reference pictures, the cast texture on the turret got me so pumped... so I spent an entire day playing with that. The turret has a few wrong contours, especially around the mantlet, but I didn't want to spend time re-shaping that area. It's just a minor inaccuracy. However, the texturing process was a blast! 

The last 3 photos show the turret ready for texturing - what I did there was to sand the lower portion of the cast turret with a rotary tool to give it that rough machined look. I also added a couple of casting flaws and a sprue remnant at the rear. The rangefinders had a very pronounced lip so I knocked it down with a ball burr as well. Mantlet on this tank is absolutely nuts. It's crudely welded from 4 parts, even thought it's a simple rectangular shape!

Like I said, texturing was a good time. I added some scrapes into the surface with a knife and Tamiya scriber and then mixed Tamiya putty with VMS CA Filler powder and modelling cement. One of my issues with diluted putty is how it levels itself after the cement evaporates, leaving just a faint texture. CA filler fixed that, it gives it nice volume and it can be stippled in random jagged shapes and patterns. Goosebumps were created by placing small droplets of superglue on the surface and letting them dry 😁 This is a common sight on multiple American heavy tanks. It seems like the result of the casting process, although I don't know what happened to leave an effect like that. What matters is that it looks cool! 

Lastly I added a few of the most prominent seam lines/welds. I think in this case they're actually all weld beads, not casting seam lines, because the turret was welded from multiple cast pieces. 

I had to destroy the small square shaped dust cover mounts around the mantlet during the sanding and machining process. I 3D printed new ones as you see on one half of the turret, but I made them very tall so I'll edit the 3D model and re-print them. 

I'll probably continue with texturing and welding today. It's too much fun and it's easier to glue on any details afterwards 😊