Post by ZacYates on Mar 17, 2016 13:02:15 GMT 12
Hi all,
When in Auckland for the latest Forum Meet I finally got around to watching the 2014 WW2 tank drama Fury, and soon found myself wanting to build a model of the eponymous Sherman. However, I'd never built a tank model before, so I figured I should start small and then work my way up to a 1/35 Fury model.
Some idle Wikipedia-ing at work educated me on the 4th NZ Armoured Brigade and their Shermans and Stuarts, which opened up a whole new field of research and inspiration for me. As luck would have it, I recently had a refund from Mighty Ape (an antenna to give us better wi-fi range didn't work with our router) so I used that store credit on these two:
These are 1/100 snap-fit models from Zvezda, manufactured for their wargame, which cost $8.99 each. I decided this past Saturday night to get started by building them without glue or paint, then take them apart and do it "properly" while waiting for subassemblies on my big Tamiya Mosquito to dry.
I started the Stuart at 4.20pm.
I finished both at 5.22pm. They have beautiful raised detail including tools and rivets, and delicate machineguns.
Luckily there is a TON of info online about British tank markings, colours etc so I was able to mix the paints needed from what I had. Here's the Sherman in progress as a Kiwi one sometime after the battle at Cassino (it's the wrong mark for us, but this is just for fun)...
...likewise I made a mix for Khaki Green for the Stuart, which I based on a cool photo of one trundling down Wanganui's main street in 1943.
And by about 5pm on Monday they were done! No decals were in the kits so I spent most of the build time scrounging in my spares box for stuff that looked about right. The Stuart got a machinegun on the turret (slightly overscale I bet) and two (fuel?)tanks, while the Sherman got a spare wheel and some track links, and both got stretched sprue antennas. I did put a roundel on the back deck of the Sherman but it didn't stay put due to age.
Cheap, fun, and quick. And small! The two photos of the completed models are easily twice the size of the actual thing.
My next step will be a couple of Shermans and maybe a Tiger in 1/72 and 1/76, before hitting the 1/35 stuff - as well as Fury I'm gathering info for a proper Kiwi Sherman, and a North Africa Stuart/Honey...
When in Auckland for the latest Forum Meet I finally got around to watching the 2014 WW2 tank drama Fury, and soon found myself wanting to build a model of the eponymous Sherman. However, I'd never built a tank model before, so I figured I should start small and then work my way up to a 1/35 Fury model.
Some idle Wikipedia-ing at work educated me on the 4th NZ Armoured Brigade and their Shermans and Stuarts, which opened up a whole new field of research and inspiration for me. As luck would have it, I recently had a refund from Mighty Ape (an antenna to give us better wi-fi range didn't work with our router) so I used that store credit on these two:
These are 1/100 snap-fit models from Zvezda, manufactured for their wargame, which cost $8.99 each. I decided this past Saturday night to get started by building them without glue or paint, then take them apart and do it "properly" while waiting for subassemblies on my big Tamiya Mosquito to dry.
I started the Stuart at 4.20pm.
I finished both at 5.22pm. They have beautiful raised detail including tools and rivets, and delicate machineguns.
Luckily there is a TON of info online about British tank markings, colours etc so I was able to mix the paints needed from what I had. Here's the Sherman in progress as a Kiwi one sometime after the battle at Cassino (it's the wrong mark for us, but this is just for fun)...
...likewise I made a mix for Khaki Green for the Stuart, which I based on a cool photo of one trundling down Wanganui's main street in 1943.
And by about 5pm on Monday they were done! No decals were in the kits so I spent most of the build time scrounging in my spares box for stuff that looked about right. The Stuart got a machinegun on the turret (slightly overscale I bet) and two (fuel?)tanks, while the Sherman got a spare wheel and some track links, and both got stretched sprue antennas. I did put a roundel on the back deck of the Sherman but it didn't stay put due to age.
Cheap, fun, and quick. And small! The two photos of the completed models are easily twice the size of the actual thing.
My next step will be a couple of Shermans and maybe a Tiger in 1/72 and 1/76, before hitting the 1/35 stuff - as well as Fury I'm gathering info for a proper Kiwi Sherman, and a North Africa Stuart/Honey...
