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Modeller Build Logs
Sherman III Early in North Africa |
| By James Wechsler | | Started: | Aug 13, 2005 | | Updated: | Sep 25, 2005 |
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A couple of weeks ago I wrote up a review here on Track-Link of the Legend Sherman III conversion set (LF 1096). I really liked the set and couldn’t wait to start on it. So I thought, why not do a blog to show how the build-up comes together? So here it is.
Up Next: What items am I going to use? |
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| Chapter 7 - Weathering the Lower Hull | Aug 21, 2005 |
I decided to do a little weathering on the lower hull, drive sprockets, and idlers before attaching them, the front fenders and the sand skirts. I figured it would be easier now than after they were all assembled.
My photo references indicated that the Shermans in late 1942 really didn’t have a lot of weathering, other than dust. I think this is because they were just introduced into service and thus didn’t have much wear and tear. Also, by this stage in the North African campaign, the British logistics system was much better than in the previous years. To bad for us modelers. I’ve seen a number of well weathered British tanks from the desert (I can remember a particularly interesting Crusader) and I would have loved to try something like that. Unfortunately, it’s not really appropriate for the Sherman I’m modeling.
I decided to add a light coat of wash. I use oil paints for my washes and I choose Raw Umber in this case. I’m a sloppy washer. I generally use a pretty big brush, cover the whole area with wash and come back with a clean, dry brush and a tissue to remove the excess. In this case, I went extra thin on the wash. I wanted to give a little accent to the parts but not give the impression of slimy dirt/grease since that didn’t seem to prevalent in the desert (except in local areas on the tank).
When the wash had dried, I did a light dry brushing using Model Master Sand. Normally I dry brush first and then wash so the dry brush blends better. To do this, I’ll normally use a color that’s a couple shades lighter. However, I really didn’t see a way to do this in this case since I couldn’t find a lighter color than the Sand. Anyway, I didn’t need to do much dry brushing so the results worked out OK.
Finally, I used a charcoal stick to simulate some scratches and scrapes. I went light on this based on references. I chose a relatively dark charcoal color because I will later add some dust which has a tendency to wash out the other details.
I felt that this was enough weathering for this stage of the build.
Up Next: Those Pesky Front Fenders – Part Deux
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