Assault gun Sherman

[Kerick]

I’ve finished the decals tonight and started painting the tracks. I’m going with Israeli markings for around the late 60s. It’s the second vehicle of the second platoon of the second company of the second battalion   It’s the only way I will remember it. I had to piece together the decals from a Tamiya Isherman sheet and the scraps from the decal bin. Tamiya NATO black seems to work pretty well for the rubber parts of the track. Once it’s dry I’ll get the rusty paints. I have the Vallejo weathering set which is pretty nice. I’ll have some pics when I get more accomplished.

[Kerick]

I've finished painting the tracks which turned out pretty good in my humble opinion. I tried some weathering on the hull and suspension while I was at it. I used the wash water from the brushes I was using to paint the tracks. I kept it light for now. I can always add more later. If it's too much it's impossible to remove so, I'll be on the safe side for now. If I have the time, I'll add some desert dust using the soil I have from Saudi Arabia. At least no one can say it's not the right color. So here's a few pics of the progress including the decals. Tomorrow will be a coat of flat to seal the decals and then the fiddly bits.

[apophenia]

Looking great! 

... I'll add some desert dust using the soil I have from Saudi Arabia. At least no one can say it's not the right color...

    Do we have to add 'dirt doubters' to the sub-type list of 'rivet counters' 

[finsrin]

Looks great - keep going 

[Kerick]

Looking great! 

... I'll add some desert dust using the soil I have from Saudi Arabia. At least no one can say it's not the right color...

    Do we have to add 'dirt doubters' to the sub-type list of 'rivet counters' 

Thanks for the compliment and I hope I didn’t start a new category of fun robbers! 🤪
Actually I’ve been to a number of shows these last few years and I’ve yet to run into a person degrading someone else’s work. Maybe I’m just lucky so far. But since I do whiff subjects perhaps they don’t bother. Sounds like a win!

[Kerick]

Well, it looks like I've finished something! The second vehicle of the second platoon of the second company of the second battalion. It's the only way I'll remember it. Here's the photo dump.













Not only did the paint give me a last-minute fit but some of the decals rebelled too. The "2" on each side looked like white paint had run under masking tape, even though no tape was involved. I had to scrape what must have been decal film off to fix it. The hull numbers on the front and rear both turned almost completely white. I had extra decals so I was able to replace those. The other decals did not come out as well as I hoped. It's no contest winner but I enjoyed building it.

[raafif]

Well done    What paint did you use ? I can't get paint in IDF colour here.

[Kerick]

Vallejo number 70.614
The first bottle was OK but the second had hardened paint in the bottom. I thought I could stir it up like enamels but no such thing. Once that acrylic gets hard stirring just breaks it up into little pieces. That's why there's little bumps in the final paint layer.
Actually, there's a few different IDF colors depending on the time period. Vallejo, Hataka and Tru color are a few that have their own paint sets.

[Mig Eater]

Looks great are you still planing to weather it with some of that authentic dust?

[Kerick]

This would be a perfect project to experiment on. I think if I mix it with water and a drop or two of soap it might work for areas that collect heavy dust.

[finsrin]

Bravo 

[Frank3k]

That came out great! It's good to have pictures of the clean-ish version before you weather it.

[Kerick]

I gave the weathering a shot. I think it went pretty well.
Here's a photo dump.







Some of these do look like rocks stuck to the sides. I'll have to knock the bigger ones off.









I wish it had all been dust. Even after I sifted out the bigger bits it turned out grainier than I had hoped for, but I think it will do. I'll get a finer sifter next time.

[Buzzbomb]

That look ok. It gets the message over.

I gave the weathering a shot. I think it went pretty well.
 I'll get a finer sifter next time.

for that sort of thing I use a piece of stocking.

[finsrin]

Looks like was at the beach 

[Kerick]

Looks like was at the beach 

The beach or the Sinai. One has water, the other doesn’t!