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Modeller Build Logs
Tasca M32 Recovery Vehicle w/ T1E1 Mine Roller |
| By James Wechsler | | Started: | Apr 15, 2008 | | Updated: | Jun 19, 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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| Casting the Hull | Apr 25, 2008 |
Technically, the cast texturing on the Tasca kit is pretty close to scale. The problem is that once painted it really doesn’t look textured. So I decided to add a heavier cast texture. I’ll take the hit for technical accuracy since I believe that some allowances must be made for the scaling effects of replicating something in 1/35 of its original size.
I did the texturing using a process I read about in an article by Bob Collignon in Fine Scale Modeler. The article was a few years back and Bob had done a massive rework of the old Italeri M4A1(76) Sherman. In the article he showed how to get a great textured look using a liquid cement such as Tentax. The method is pretty simple. Just brush the Tentax on a section and then, while it’s still wet, stipple the area with a stiff brush. You can control the amount of texturing by varying how hard and long you stipple the wet Tentax.
I’ve been using this method since I read about it and have never had a problem. What’s great is that it’s very easy to control and if something goes a little wrong, you can sand it down and redo it. Once dry (usually overnight) I gave the model a light sanding to smooth off the high points and the result is a nice, soft textured look.
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