nightshiftmodeller

Stowage = done

My friends, finishing the stowage took a few hours longer than expected because in the end I decided to repaint those 2 backpacks from last post 😁They didn't have the right color (too yellowish) so it was better to just rework them completely rather than moving on. 

Turns out Light Mud from Vallejo is almost perfect match for these US colors. I ended up painting every pack with it and then distinguishing them with glazes made from dark green and different browns. 

It ...

Early video

Washes, details and who knows what else 😊

First stowage bits

My friends, here's a "test piece" before I start filming the painting process. Gotta say I'm very pleased with the outcome, but I'll have to "blend" the stowage with the tank somehow... probably some enamel mud tones and more stains from oil paints. 

All US backpacks have this light tan color with some variations, which makes painting rather straightforward. I simply created the base tone, lights and shadows using the same mixtures and then smoothened them out AND differentiated bo...

Rust effects (subtle!)

My friends, rust tones are in place. I kept them very subtle, blending and removing excess paint multiple times, especially on the hard, cast steel surfaces. Sheet metal corrodes faster than hardened steel, so I wasn't so uptight on fenders and storage boxes.

Some of it will again get toned down with enamel earth tones, but since the model is pre-weathered to a point where I'm quite happy with the amount, they'll be very limited. Mostly just to tie the upper hull with the muddy bottom.&...

Exhausts

Here's what I've come up with... these mufflers are big, actually they're huge! And that means going for a completely rusted-out-heat-affected-metal look might be a tad bit too much... Besides I really liked the camouflage sprayed over them, but.... There's very little reference material for exhausts that have been painted over online! 

So I had to improvise and this is the result, only partially flaking paint with the different rust tones showing through. If there was only one exh...

HD pics

We're almost at the finish line... so the next HD gallery will probably be with the model all done and ready! 

Some extra fixing and...

... I can wrap things up into another video 😊

I really appreciate the feedback on the previous post, thanks to that I was able to repaint the open hatch. I couldn't find a good ref photo for it so I took some Tamiya Sherman product photos as a guide, where it was just painted green, so I presumed it was a steel plate used to make the hatch thicker 😁 So it's now properly painted as leather padding. BTW, the Leather Brown paint from Vallejo is excellent for this! 

I also ...

Early video

Mud and chipping! 

Finally the change we've been waiting for

Or at least I hope 😊 So I've got all the surface details painted and the whole model pinwashed. 

Once again I went for oil paints, and it was a good call on this one. The superior blending options you get with oils allows you to outline even the faintest details without the result looking over the top, such as the cast armor texture in this example. 

There's still a few things left to do before I make this into another video. Mainly the shell impacts and tools which n...

Pre-dusting (again I guess)

As Abraham Lincoln once said, the greatest sacrifice a man can make is to spray a layer of dust over his meticulously post-shaded camouflage (and because of this memorable quote they later named a tank after him, the famous M1 Abrahams). 

But heyyyy, I kept it subtle okay? 😆 But subtle textured pre-dusting aside, I missed those days of real dirt and other debris on models, so I went on a little nostalgia trip. This time it's a combination of real dirt, dry sea grass and crushed ...

HD photos

There's nothing better than slop in proper resolution 😁I'm quite curious how the model will get transformed after the (subtle) textured pre-dusting on the upper surfaces! 

It's gotten muddy!

My friends, it was a busy weekend and it hindered my progress a little bit. But despite that I spent the entire Saturday creating the various mud effects - two to be more specific, out of the 3 on this model (dry, damp and wet mud).

Of course I again have sheep skin on my fingers (I don't know what's the correct term in English 😁) because I had a glove on my hand for the entire day lol.

The lower hull is now completely finished and I can focus on the upper surfaces 😊It might...

Early video

Hours and hours of post shading! 

More cheeps & dry mud

My friends, I got the chipping done (for the most part of course). At least as far as the numerous tiny sheeps go 😁The unpainted steel surfaces, chipped welds, rust washes and other tasty things will come later. The turret was more difficult because it has no straight edges except the box-shaped rangefinders. Oh and I also added some distressing on the markings! That was done with a sponge and the Tamiya OD mixtures which I saved for later use (they sure came in handy lol). 

I a...

Chipping

Full speed ahead! I got the hull chipped, turret is next 😁

This time I'm using Dark Rust from Vallejo Panzer Aces range, and it's fantastic! Contrasts so well with the black camouflage spots and it's much easier than mixing your own concoctions. Just 5 drops of paint, 3 drops of VMS retarder and 1 drop of tap water and you're good to go. 

The light chipping underneath is done completely with a sponge (again). I mixed the light OD from Russian Uniform, Buff and Deck Tan, ag...

AK Terrains Paste torture test

My friends, the T29 weathering has begun with the lower hull and running gear - that means acrylic mud paste and pre-dusting. I wanted to take this opportunity and properly try the acrylic mud from AK and compare it to Wilder's Textured Earth. 

The AK mud is very opaque, and it colors the surface a LOT. That means it's very hard to blend smoothly, which can lead to problems if you want the lower hull to be clean in some places. In other words, it dries very fast so you'll get those...

More random references for your modelling pleasure

Another bunch of random photos that I took outside like a total weirdo 🤣 Scorched earth (!), rotting wood, lichen & moss, old concrete, wooden electric pole! Good stuff for dioramas and vignettes! 

HD photos

Just before it all gets covered up with chips, dust and mud 😁

Diorama layout!

Oh, I almost forgot to share this with you! 

Before I started painting the model I wanted to create the basic layout and the terrain. Mostly because I don't want to get the painted tracks dirty from the white modelling clay, but luckily I found an unused run of Friulmodel tracks that are the same pattern like on this tank, just without duckbills of course. So I'll use those for the track imprints 😁

So I only have the basic dimensions of the base and a rough estimate of the...

Early video

30 minutes of steel textures and photo etch, enjoy! 

Ready for weathering

Title says it all 😆

I just brush-painted some details in different tones of OD prior to varnishing. I again used the trusty Lifecolor set of different olive drab colors which I mostly used on the "hard" stowage such as helmets and jerry cans. I also painted the onboard tools, because as we know, US tools were painted in the factory - and in case of a field applied camouflage, they were simply sprayed over with the rest of the tank. So I won't paint them in their natural colors, inste...

This was fast!

My friends, the camouflage is on and it was wayyy less painful than I anticipated! Compared to the desert-black camouflage on the Crusader it was a total breeze. 

There's not that much to say here actually... I made a quick camo profile in Photoshop this morning and used that as a guide. The basic black tone seen in the last 3 photos is a mixture of black and white in some ratio, about 80/20. Then I kept adding Deck Tan to lighten it up for all the highlights. I didn't do any "airb...

This took forever!

My friends, who would've thought that post-shading a model of this size would take hours and hours... certainly not me 😑I don't know why I was expecting a quick one evening job like on that tiny Panzer II. 

But hey! I think it was well worth the time and effort. There are 5 layers of OD on this model, the base coat from last post, a shadow layer which is just un-lightened OD+Flat Earth (plus a very subdued grime layer around hatches and fuel caps), and then 3 highlights. 2 of th...

First coat is on!

And the cast textures are POPPING! 

This is just the initial base coat though, now it's time to post-shade it 😊 Or spray the black camouflage and then post-shade? 

I'm very happy with the Olive Drab tone on this model. I think it looks better than what I've concocted on the Easy 8 from last year. It's a mixture of Tamiya Olive Drab, Flat Earth, Buff and clear gloss. First it's important to correct the Tamiya OD with Flat Earth because it's too green. I'd say it was ab...

Bruh photos

... because the crew's facial expressions look like they're going through a heavy bruh moment 😆 

Ready for paints!

My friends, the build is finished and we can continue with painting! And I mean that literally, because the video is already finished as well! 😊

So as you can probably see I took your comments to heart and added some damage to the tracks (I planned to do that but laziness was starting to creep on me). I used a few historical photos of Shermans with duckbill extensions as inspiration. In some cases, a lot of these extensions were broken off and replaced with regular track connectors. ...

Early video

Scorched earth and... no figures :( 

Are we there yet?

My friends, I think the build is pretty much done. I've got all the photoetch in place (it went on forever!!!) and the remaining weld beads are also done. I quickly assembled the Alpine figures to try them out and they look fabulous! Amazing sculpts and the cast quality is top notch. 

I'm thinking about adding a shell impact or two, but I'm not sure. I also want to add some stowage, at least in the turret basket, but I'll keep that for tomorrow because I spent the entire day finish...

The smell of PE in the morning

My friends, the build is slowly nearing the finish line. Photoetch is always (okay, usually) a very relaxing work for me, but it's a slow process. To put it into perspective, the rear panel and the entire front section on the hull took about 7 hours. Most of the time, it's not just about bending the photoetch into shape and supergluing it to the model - sometimes it needs to be adjusted so it fits properly, or the part is assembled from multiple pieces, and most importantly, it needs to be in...

Everything in place

My friends, I don't know if the photos work (again) because as I'm posting, I can't see them...

Anyway, I've got everything that's made out of plastic ready and glued in place (well, except the exhausts but those are also ready). Now I can finally start adding photoetch! 

Probably the most tedious part were fenders. To give them a bit of "character" I had to thin them down with a rotary tool from the inner side... all the way! That took a while because they're very long, but ...