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Modeller Build Logs
Tasca M32 Recovery Vehicle w/ T1E1 Mine Roller |
| By James Wechsler | | Started: | Apr 15, 2008 | | Updated: | Nov 9, 2008 |
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First off let me say that Paul Owen is a great guy, even if he is a Vancouver Canucks fan. Having built 44 Shermans, I really hadn’t planned on buying the Tasca M4A1 kit since I’d built that variant a few times over. But Paul sent me this kit and it is a really, really great gift. So I got motivated to do something special.
After thinking about it for a while, I realized that simply building this kit as a gun tank really didn’t get me excited. Then it dawned on me, it would make the perfect conversion base for an M32 Armored Recovery Vehicle. I mean the old Italeri kit was just staring at me and screaming ‘I need a new hull, suspension, and transmission cover!’
So there it was, my mega project. But then I got to thinking a little more. Why not go further? Let’s scratch build the T1E1 ‘Earthworm’ mine roller! Never heard of this massive contraption? Check here:
http://www.jedsite.info/engineer/tango-number-us/t1_series/t1e1/t1e1-intro.html
But wait, there’s more. The M32 has two huge hatches on the turret structure that just scream ‘interior’. At last, my project has reached planning fruition. This blog will be of an M32 ARV w/T1E1 Mine Roller and a full interior.
Plan on a lot of chapters. |
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| Painting the Engine | Nov 4, 2008 |
Well I probably should be building the interior of the turret but I must confess to being a little burned out. So for a change of pace I decided to paint the engine. It took me a while to think through how to do this. There are so many colors in such a small space that I really wanted to get the order right or else I’d be going back to touch up constantly.
To start with, I painted the whole engine in Model Master Metalizer Gun Metal. Once dry, I then painted the mounting shroud flat black and then panel faded in the gray. This was probably a waste of time since it’s almost entirely covered by the engine deck. Then I touched up the gun metal by hand and dry brushed the gun metal areas first with Model Master Metalizer Dark Anodonic Gray and then Model Master Metalizer Aluminum.
With the basics done, I decided to work from the shroud outward. So I painted the engine cylinder exhaust outlets (the large circular tubing) in Model Master Metalizer Burnt Metal which is a good representation of the color I can see in the photos that are in the Squadron Walk Around book on the M4 Sherman. I dry brushed these parts in Aluminum.
Then I painted the support brace. First I painted it in a neutral gray and once dry in flat white. I needed two coats of flat white to get decent coverage since hand painting white is a very tough job and getting coverage is nearly impossible. I then dry brushed both the white brace and the gray shroud with flat black. This gives a worn look and I think it best matches the photos I have of a real engine installed in the bay.
Moving outward, I painted the various cabling in flat black, Model Master Metalizer Burnt Iron (a deep copper color), and red based on the photos. At the same time I picked out a couple of areas in the center of the engine in Dark Anodonic Gray and again dry brushed in Aluminum.
Moving down a bit, I painted the battery (?) in black as well as the baffles that connect the air filter exhausts to the engine. These were dry brushed in Dark Gray. The piping from the air filters was painted in Aluminum based on photos.
Then, I painted the engine exhaust piping on the top of the engine in dark gray and dry brushed in first in a lighter gray and then in Model Master Dunkelgrau which is a tan/gray color. I can’t tell for sure but I believe that this part of the exhaust has a shroud of some type wrapped around it which gives it this color.
Finally, I painted the actual exhausts with a product called ‘Instant Rust’. It’s a paint with powdered Iron in it. Once dry, you treat it with an acid (that comes with) and it actually rusts. I gave it a couple rounds of acid until I got the color I liked. Then I added a very tiny amount of Mig Pigments Standard Rust to enrich the color a little more.
With the painting done, I gave the whole engine a wash of Raw Umber oil paint to blend it all together and give it a grimy, dirty look. |
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