Skarach's world

1st Mechanised Corps, Belarus, July 1944.

M4A2 Sherman build – Part 1:Introduction
M4A2 Sherman build – Part 2:Assembly
M4A2 Sherman build – Part 3:Painting
M4A2 Sherman build – Part 4:Weathering

• Paint chips were simulated using Vallejo Model Color “German Camouflage Black Brown” (70822), applied with a sponge or fine brush.
• The exhausts were painted with the various colours of the LifeColor rust set.
• Before further weathering, a 1:2 mixture of Mr.Color “Clear Gloss” (46) and Mr.Color Leveling Thinner was sprayed over the entire model.
• The entire model was washed with a dilute mixture of Winsor & Newton “Raw Umber” and “Lamp Black” oil paints (ratio about 5:1) in enamel thinners – the excess being cleaned up with a dry brush or cotton bud.
• Further contrast was added using AMMO Oilbrusher “Starship Bay Sludge” and “Dark Brown”.
• The following oil paints were added as dots to the various surfaces (the lighter colours higher up the vehicle than the darker): Abteilung 502 “Yellow”, “Olive Green”, “Neutral Grey” and Winsor & Newton “Payne’s Grey”, “Permanent Magenta”, “Transparent White” and “Raw Umber”. They were then drawn down the vertical sides with a flat brush or worked into the horizontal surfaces in a circular motion. This was to attempt an effect of paint fading and streaking.
• To simulate dirt and dust, the horizontal sides of the hull and turret were dampened with enamel thinner and then dots of AMMO Oilbrusher “Dusty Earth”, “Dark Mud” and “Starship Filth” were added. Then, using a round brush, the oil paints were blended.
• To simulate dirt streaks, the vertical and sloping sides of the hull and turret were dampened with enamel thinner and then dots of AMMO Oilbrusher “Dusty Earth”, “Medium Soil” and “Dust” were added. Then, using a flat brush, the oil paint was drawn down the side to simulate streaks. After drying, this process was repeated multiple times.
• The wooden handles of the tools were brushed with AMMO Oilbrusher “Dark Brown” to simulate wood grain.
• The entire model was sprayed with a 1:2 mixture of Mr.Color “Flat Clear” (182) and Mr.Color Leveling Thinner.
• Wilder “Brown Russian Earth” (GP06) and “Dark European Terrain” (GP09) pigments were brushed onto the surfaces and tracks and in some places fixed with a 1:1 mixture of AMMO “Pigment Fixer” (A.MIG-3000) and enamel thinners.
• The contact points on the tracks, idler, return rollers and sprocket wheels were brushed with with AK Interactive “Dark Steel” (AK086) pigment.
• The machine guns and metal tools were lightly brushed with AK Interactive “Dark Steel” (AK086) pigment.
• Abteilung 502 “Engine Grease” (ABT160) oil paint, in varying dilutions in enamel thinners and with or without Humbrol “Gloss Cote”, were added to parts of the vehicle, to simulate oil and fuel stains.

Primer: Tamiya “Fine Surface Primer” (light grey) spray can.

Base coat:

• A 1:2 mixture of Mr.Color “Olive Drab Shadow” (CMC03) and Mr.Color Leveling Thinner.
• A 1:2 mixture of Mr.Color “Olive Drab(2)” (C38) and Mr.Color Leveling Thinner.

Details:

• Rear lights: LifeColor “Matt Red” (LC06)
• Headlights: Citadel “Runefang Steel”
• Machine guns: LifeColor “Matt Black” (LC02)
• Tyres: LifeColor “Tire Black” (UA733)
• Tools: Vallejo Model Color “Black Grey” (70862), Vallejo Panzer Aces “Old Wood” (310)

This kit went together well. Usually I prefer the lower hull to be in a one piece tub, but even though this was not so in this case, the fit was fine. In fact, many of the sub-assemblies went together better than other Sherman kits of my acquaintance. The tracks used were the Friulmodel metal tracks (ATL-131).

The vehicle

“The M4A2 Shermans were equipped with a General Motors 6046 engine (2x GM 6-71 General Motors Diesel engines); they have a welded hull, there were 75mm and 76mm versions only. The users were : USSR, USMC (in the Pacific Theater of Operations), France, Britain, Poland. No US Army combat use.” [1]

The kit

Zvezda 1/35 kit [2].

References

1. http://the.shadock.free.fr/sherman_minutia/sherman_types/m4a2/m4a2.html
2. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/zvezda-3702-m4a2-sherman–1255511