Tasca Sherman Firefly Vc |
| By James Wechsler |
| Started: | Dec 1, 2006 | | Updated: | Apr 29, 2007 |
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OK, I’ll admit it, when I got the opportunity to do a blog using Tasca’s new Firefly kit I was giddy with excitement. I’ve got Tasca’s Pz. II Luchs, and I’ve built about three of their Sherman suspension sets, and two of their 0.050 cal MG sets. Tasca has yet to disappoint.
Now as a total Shermanaholic, I’ll admit that the thought of building a Sherman model that requires only a little bit of extra work is hard to fathom. I mean what is Sherman modeling without a bucket of aftermarket resin parts, replacement tracks, and a huge photoetch sheet? It’s … like modeling German armor (noooo don’t say it’s true)! There, I’ve said it. 2006 has been an allied modeler’s dream and Tasca’s Firefly is the grand finally of the fireworks show.
But in many ways I’m glad to be doing a blog using a great kit. My last two blogs involved extensive use of resin conversion and scratch built parts to make unusual Shermans. So they were heavily focused on construction tasks. Yet I’ve noticed that most of the comments I receive when I post photos of my models are requests for more information on how I do my painting, weathering, and groundwork. So for this blog I will spend less time on the construction tasks and more time on the painting, finishing and techniques for making simple ground work.
Up Next: The Construction Starts.
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| The End | Apr 29, 2007 |
Well all that’s left is to glue the Firefly, the Flak 38 and the miscellaneous ammo cans etc onto the base. I used Elmer’s glue (white glue) so I can get the part off again if I need to in the future.
All said and done, this was a super enjoyable project. The Tasca kit is extremely easy to build... more |
| Dirt and Turf | Apr 22, 2007 |
| With the base carved and framed, the next step is to lay in the dirt road and the grassy turf areas. There’s lots of ways to make dirt roads but I’ve found that nothing looks more like dirt than … dirt. So I just get it out of my backyard and sift it through a strainer to get rid of the big pieces.... more |
| Carving the Polyfoam | Apr 19, 2007 |
I’m sure many people have wondered how to make bases out of polyfoam. I did until a friend of mine did a demonstration. Well consider me your online buddy (OK, that sounds nasty but let’s try to focus here, shall we?).
The basic dimensions of the base are about 6.5 inches wide by 11 inches long... more |
| The Flak 38 | Apr 16, 2007 |
| So when I was at my friend’s house looking at his old Tamiya Flak 38 kit he showed me the Tristar Flak 38 that he also had. Both kits are OK but showing their age so I got online to see what other options were available. Well it seems that Dragon has recently released an all new Flak 38 kit complete... more |
| The Groundwork | Apr 13, 2007 |
| I thought I’d start the section on making the ground work with a little description of the process I went through to decide on the ‘scene’. My first thought was that I really didn’t want to make a large base. I don’t have that much shelf space and my goal for the base was only to provide a suitable... more |
| The Commander - Wash | Apr 12, 2007 |
| To finalize the commander, I gave him a flat coat followed by a wash using thinned Raw Umber oils. Basically I used the same methods described in previous chapters with the exception of the face. I used a small brush with just a little wash for the face to ensure that the wash only went into the creases... more |
| The Commander - Detail Painting | Apr 11, 2007 |
| There’s not a ton of detail painting required for this figure. Just a the belt, holster and cap. The flesh was painted first with Model Master Wood and then the highlights were picked out with Model Master Tan. I’ve found these colors to be good representations of Caucasian skin tones. Especially... more |
| The Commander - Basic Painting | Apr 8, 2007 |
| Tasca includes a nice figure for the tank commander. He’s leaning against the front of the hatch ring looking forward. The figure has only 4 parts but the detail is good. It’s nice to see a figure included since there aren’t a lot of British tank crews sets out there and I’m not aware of any in plastic... more |
| Final Details | Apr 2, 2007 |
This is the last chapter of this blog that deals with the building of the tank itself. Future chapters will be dedicated to the figure and the base.
With the tracks done, I fitted them to the hull. The rear idlers are on a cam so you can adjust the track tension. I slipped them in at the rear most... more |
| Making Tracks | Apr 1, 2007 |
| Tasca provides a nice set of the ‘British Chevron’ style tracks often seen on Firefly VCs in some type of flexible, glueable plastic. Oddly they come in sets of two identical half-lengths per side so you have to glue them twice. The only reason I can see for this is that it allowed Tasca to use a smaller... more |
| Graphite | Mar 8, 2007 |
The use of graphite has been a technique that’s been around for a while. An oldy but a goody you might say. You can buy graphite sticks at the art supply store or just use a pencil.
Rubbing a little graphite on certain areas gives them a bit of a metallic shine that looks remarkably like areas where... more |
| Reverse Dry Brushing | Mar 2, 2007 |
Reverse dry brushing is a technique where a darker color is dry brushed over a lighter base coat. Usually it’s used to represent areas where paint has been worn off or dirt and grime has been worn in. It’s also useful to represent areas where dirt has been worn off revealing the original paint.
For... more |
| Pigments | Feb 27, 2007 |
Boy are pigments a nice addition to the modeler’s arsenal of weathering tools. They can be used dry, mixed with a little thinner, or even for coloring gels and other mediums. Personally, I find that I most often use them dry since I really like the dusty look you get.
One thing about pigments, less... more |
| Dusting | Feb 26, 2007 |
Remember in the Chapter on ‘blending’ that I stated that the same process can be used for adding dust to your model? Well guess what this chapter’s about? Yes, using the same technique of airbrushing highly thinned Tamiya Buff, I added a dust effect to the lower part of the model.
I covered the... more |
| Fuel Stains | Feb 20, 2007 |
Shermans are often seen with fuel strains and streaks from excess fuel that’s spilled over the filler caps. The intensity and tone can vary wildly depending on if you representing recent spills, older spills, or just the staining on the paint for repeated spills.
For this model I tried to represent... more |
| Streaking | Feb 12, 2007 |
No, I’m not talking about running naked across a sports stadium (but that would make for an interesting blog chapter wouldn’t it?). The intent of adding some streaks to the sloped and vertical surfaces of a model is to represent the effects of rain mixed with dirt and dust.
I didn’t want make this... more |
| The Filter | Feb 9, 2007 |
Am I the only one who’s confused as to what is a filter versus a wash? I’ve read all the books and understand the process but I just can’t understand the differences as described in many of the how to books. So I’ve come up with a much more simple distinction for my own mind.
In both cases the process... more |
| Stowage and Details | Feb 6, 2007 |
| Well I blew it earlier and forgot to take photos of the stowage when I added it to the vehicle so I’ll cover that and the painting aspects in this chapter. For a long time I used to paint each piece of stowage separately and then glue it in place after the model was finished. This process works well... more |
| Blending | Feb 2, 2007 |
| Blending is a simple process I use to help get the different camouflage colors to seem more integrated together. It is especially helpful for vehicles with black as part of the camouflage pattern since black tends to have a very stark look it. This process can also be used for monotone paint schemes... more |
| Markings | Jan 28, 2007 |
Markings
The vehicle I’ve chosen to model is from the 4th/7th Royal Dragoons, 8th Armoured Brigade. Fortunately, Bison produced a great Firefly decal sheet (#35011) that includes a vehicle from this unit. Though not the same vehicle I’m modeling, it’s close and I felt that most of the unit markings... more |
| Dry brushing – part 2 | Jan 17, 2007 |
A final short chapter showing the dry brushing added to the black areas. I used the same methods decribed in the previous chapter on dry brushing. The color is used is Model Master Dark Drab which is basically the gray used on B-52 bombers.
Up Next: Markings
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| The Hard Edge | Jan 14, 2007 |
Yet another chapter to show the camo pattern with the hard edge applied with a marker. The sheen will go away after the flat coat is applied.
Up Next: Dry brushing – part 2
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| Painting the Camouflage Pattern | Jan 9, 2007 |
This is a very short chapter just to show how the camo pattern looks after airbrushing. Nothing special to cover.
Up Next: The hard edge
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| Laying out the camouflage pattern | Jan 5, 2007 |
The camo for this vehicle is a hard edge black pattern. I have only a single, left side template from the Osprey Modeling the Sherman Tank book so I’m going to have to use my best judgement to layout the rest of the pattern. Mike Starmer’s book on British camo patterns is a big help.
Hard edge camo... more |
| Dry Brushing – Round 1 | Jan 2, 2007 |
Well it may seem a little odd that I’m dry brushing at this stage in the painting. Traditionally, dry brushing is done at the end of the painting process. But I do it differently.
One of the concerns often raised about dry brushing is that it makes the model look ‘bright’ or ‘pretty’ and not very... more |
| Basic Painting | Dec 30, 2006 |
The Firefly I’m making is a camouflaged one consisting of the green based coat with a hard edge black camouflage pattern. Most Fireflys were simply painted in British Bronze Green but a few had camo and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
I started by painting the entire model in flat black. I’m... more |
| The Painting Begins | Dec 21, 2006 |
Before I start on this chapter I must offer my apologies. I fully intended to have a chapter on the stowage but I forgot to take pictures before I painted. So I will add a chapter later on that covers the stowage and the way I painted it.
The starting point for painting is the barrel counter shading.... more |
| Where is the rear turret stowage box? | Dec 18, 2006 |
Many of the Firefly photos show a rear turret stowage box. Basically it’s the same one used on other British Shermans. Since the box mounted directly to the turret housed the radio, there was no additional stowage and many Fireflys had the box added.
I was surprised to find out that Tasca doesn’t... more |
| The Turret | Dec 16, 2006 |
Well I’d planned on having a few chapters on the turret but there’s really no need. This is a great piece of work by Tasca. They’ve done a great job of capturing all of the little details and the parts all fit. Very cool.
One area that’s a real knock out is the commander’s split hatch. This is... more |
| Hull details: Front Hull | Dec 12, 2006 |
| There are number of items to be fitted to the front hull. First is that armored plate that covers the bow 0.30 cal MG position. The Firefly did not have a co-driver since the area was reconfigured for additional storage of 17 pdr ammo. So the 0.30 cal MG was removed and an armored plated was welded... more |
| Hull Details: Back Deck | Dec 9, 2006 |
OK, so I went ga ga for the rear hull. But the back deck is more of a mixed bag. The highlight is the really incredible gun travel lock. This is one of the best molded parts I’ve ever seen. And it comes with separate brackets with nice bolt detail.
Also well done are the tail lights and the light... more |
| Hull details: Rear Hull | Dec 7, 2006 |
Originally I’d planned to have only a chapter, maybe two, devoted to the hull details. But there’s just so much cool stuff to show off that I’m going to add another chapter.
Up first is the rear hull. On the Firefly Vc this is a complicated area with a lot going on, especially if you include the... more |
| The Upper Hull | Dec 5, 2006 |
| You would think that attaching the upper hull to the lower hull would not require an entire chapter. And in this case it doesn’t. But in the world of Sherman models, the upper to lower hull attachment has become a major source of headaches. Tasca has fortunately engineered this kit so all of the parts... more |
| That Sweet Tranny | Dec 3, 2006 |
| Shermans had basically three types of transmission covers and a number of sub-variants. The first one was a three piece affair and that’s what’s represented here. The other two were single piece cast housings, one has a rounded shape similar in profile to the three piece one and the other a more sharp... more |
| The construction starts | Dec 1, 2006 |
| I always start with the big items and work my way to the small details. I’m just too clumsy to handle all those small parts while trying to assemble large components. So the hull is the first step. Unlike most of the other Sherman kits on the market, Tasca chose to make the hull in pieces. Usually... more |
