GlenP

A third Hair & Makeup for Female figures has been added to the Friday 2 Sep class schedule at 1500.

Ok... to the photo. This appears to be an early production M4A1 Sherman cast hull sans turret. It lacks the front visor flaps (mostly used on the earliest production vehicles) on the driver/co-driver hatch housings and carries the early three-piece bolt-on transmission housing. The small shield casting on the nose indicates a vehicle from the Montreal Locomotive Works with hulls sourced from General Steel in Eddystone, PA or Granite City, IL. The hull has the integral .30 machine gun housing, but lacks the gun itself (these are normally retained to provide cover fire for exiting troops). It appears to have the Canadian Dry-Pin steel tracks. Note use of the CDP tracks required the use of a different drive sprocket, What can't be discerned is the use of M3 Lee bogie wheels or the later Sherman bogie wheels and whether the wheels were spoked or solid (stamped). My M10 has the latter with the track skid and trailing arm for the track return roller. The Lee bogies had no skid and the return roller was mounted directly on top of the bogie assembly. There's no shortage of pics of these. FWIW, Sherman wheels, drive sprockets, idler wheels, and bogie assemblies are a study in themselves. I've never seen any pics (that I can recall) of any variant of a Kangaroo interior. All I know was the turret and all hull ammo racks were removed, 'bench seating' installed, and a metal plate was added between the troop and driver's compartments. I have the impression that the plate completely blocked troop access to the drivers' compartments. I also don't know what, if any changes were made to the turret ring itself (it might be safe to assume the turret gear ring was removed). The crew consisted of a vehicle commander, a driver, and a co-driver/gunner/radio operator. The troop complement consisted of 8-12 troops or as many as they could cram in and on the vehicle. Military expediency and all that... HTH Glen

As I recall, Canada used converted Ram tanks (similar to an early Sherman), Shermans, M7 Priests, and Sextons (similar to a Priest, but with a different gun. They were used as early APCs and gun tractors for towing artillery. Do you know exactly what variant your grandfather had?

Thanks H/K/G! I think weathering is a key element in tank models. I think it was Shep Paine who said tanks don't move on the land; they move through it. So, I add a degree of scrapes, scratches, abrasions, chips, mud, dirt, and dust. Apart from the occasional dented/wrinkled fender, I don't usually put a lot of battle damage on them. Or stowage. Just a thing, I wonder if there's a class in there somewhere... I can't see much difference in weathering a Sherman vs a Warhammer Baneblade...

Thanks all. I'm still pushing the ordnance category at ReaperCon. Gotta keep Heisler on his toes...

This is Tamiya's 1/35th scale M10 Tank Destroyer as depicted in a late 1944 time-frame. It's open-topped, so you get a view into the turret and fighting compartment interior. I swapped the kit-provided rubber-block tracks for the later rubber-chevron tracks from Tamiya's M4 Sherman kit. Due to the open topped nature of the vehicle, it's built and painted in layers - lower hull interior, upper hull interior, turret halves, then the exterior. There are no driver's compartment components included in the kit (not that you could see them). I used Tamiya paints for the overall Olive Drab and interior white, with an assortment of Reaper MSP acrylics, colored pencils, and chalks for the weathering. I did build up some old mud on the lower hull and rear using Tamiya's gray putty (troweled on, then stippled with an old oil painting brush). No stowage... Qs and Cs welcomed.

Thanks everyone! The hat is a combination of the Bones browns starting with Charred Brown for the deep shadows and working up with Nut Brown, Saddle Brn, Rich Leather, and Polished Leather. The last color was Tanned Leather (MSP). The paint was stippled on with an raggedy old oil painting brush. The idea was to depict worn leather. The jacket was painted with the Highland Moss triad with Linen White added for the lighter areas. These colors were also stippled on with the oil painting brush. The idea was to create the look of worn, faded green velvet. In both cases, the technique is similar to dry-brushing, but I used a stabbing instead of dragging or whisking the brush over the surface. The brush is also not fully loaded with paint, but has more that the typical dry-brush amount. I also rotated the brush as I stippled to avoid a /////// pattern. The basic technique is also handy for weathering tanks. No secrets... Cheers.

Sea Storm is a resin female pirate bust from Altores Studios in 1/9th scale. The piece is basically the head/body, the hat, pipe, and a loop earring. I replaced the earring with copper wire. Apart from some mold trash where the coat and torso meet, there were no major issues. Primed with my dwindling supply of Floquil Railroad Colors' Gray Primer and painted with Reaper acrylics. Questions and Comments welcomed... ain't no secrets here. Glen

Thanks all. Normally, mudding them up like this isn't my thing. I like to do what I call technical representations - scratches, scrapes, chipping, fluid stains, faded paint, and the dust and dirt of a dry summer day. This one was an exception because the markings and paint scheme were specific to the Ardennes in Dec '44. That said, Ordnance 8 will also have a mud treatment as well due it being in the late fall of '44. Still mulling the piles of external stowage...

This is Tamiya's 1/35th scale Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyer. The vehicle was based on the Pzkpfw IV tank's lower hull with a new turret-less 75mm L70 gun. The gun had limited traverse and elevation. The vehicle was produced from late 1944 to nearly the end of the war. The kit was built mostly out-of-the-box with only and added headlight wire, tool latches, and jack block and rear towing pintle retaining chains added. Airbrushed Panzer Dark Yellow with brushed on Red-Brown and Dark Green camo. The red and green were left a bit patchy to simulate being quickly painted by the crew. I used the the kit decals. Weathering was a combination of colored and soft lead pencils, Reaper acrylics, and chalk pastels. The mud was Tamiya's Gray Model Putty troweled on and left to sit for a bit before being stippled with with an old oil painting brush. It was painted after the putty had hardened. It's dirtier than my usual tank models. Still not buried in stowage, tho'. Qs and Cs welcomed. Glen

This is also the bust that is used in my RC Painting Hair and Makeup class. The casting is a bit rough in spots and yours truly gets to clean all of them up before priming...

Zen and the Art of Painting Miniatures. Ommmmmmmm...

Ah, I get it now. I found the Ausf M above. I've built Tam's Pzkpfw III Ausf L myself - eastern front Panzer Grey. Basically out of the box + 10%. What Panther are you working on?

So far, so good... Outside of the gun breech, Tamiya doesn't normally include interiors in closed top AFVs. They leave that for the aftermarket. Not sure how far you're going with this, but drill out the MG barrels if you haven't done so. I can't tell. Turret-mounted smoke mortars seem to have been rare on this variant, but weren't completely unknown. They were more common on the Ausf M, the short barreled Ausf N, and Ausf K command tanks. If you want to go nuts, add the cable leads (thin copper wire) at the back of the mortar barrels, twist them together, and insert the three into the turret right behind the mount. Add the lead (also thin copper wire) from the fender Notek lamp base out to the edge of the fender, then down into hull plate. Again, not sure how far you're going... The tight shot patterns indicate a derelict vehicle being used as target practice by the other side. The hits on the track links would likely have severed the track pin(s) and forced the links up and apart. 'Sand' indicates North Africa? Waiting for more!

Thanks. Subtle makeup is your friend...