Hello. These are some pictures of my first model. I built some planes when I was a kid, but this is my first model using proper buliding and weathering techniques. It is the Tamiya 1/35 M4A3 Sherman. I know it is an extremely common subject to model, so please bear with me as I am still learning. I applied an oil wash and did final weathering with pastels. You may notice that on one side, I have the treads worn down to bare metal. Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that the real treads on the sherman were rubber. As you can see, I have tried to correct this on one side, but still have to do the other. Any other comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I’m not a Sherman expert, but I know the early versions had the rubber tracks and this being a later model appears to have the chevron steel tracks. So I believe you are on the right track. [;)]
Nice build btw.Is this your first fortay into armor, because for an A/Cer, you don’t get to slop much dirt around. Hope to see more from you.
Welcome back to the hobby! By strange coincidence, you picked the same vehicle I did to get back into things with. [:D]It’s a fun kit to build with a lot of little extras included in the box.
Tigerman’s partiallly correct, there are steel chevron tracks used on Shermans in WW2 but the ones Tamiya put in the kit are the thicker all-rubber type, the only metal parts being the block end connectors in this particular case.
Keep building, you’ve done a good job for your “rookie” return kit!
Thanks for all the comments. Tigerman, don’t fret. I’m just glad anybody responds to my posts at all. And either way, I just build for fun. Heck, the family and friends who see my models woudn’t even know which war the darn thing was involved in, much less what material the tracks were made out of. Thanks again for all your positive feedback!
This is actually a pretty good looking model. Aside from the tracks that have allready been discussed, and you can easily fix those. I think you have a pretty good first effort here. Keep it up and keep us posted.
Looks really wild!!! Funny enough though as former A/C guy in my youth, this was also my first in armour. Now I am on my third piece.[:D] Love the mud finish.
Overall a pretty decent build. Given that this is your first build in recent times, all the better. I like the OD with the washes you’ve applied to break up the monotone appearance a bit. You did a good job on the decals. Getting decals to go down without silvering is usually a lot more difficult on rough armor that on smoth airplanes.[tup][tup]
As for critiques, they’re fairly minor. I don’t like the color of the rucksack turret bustle. I think some sort of faded OD or khaki would look a lot better. The pouch on left side (ammo bag I think) seems to have no means of attachment. The rest stowage is not bad, and it is tied down, and but it seems like the boxes should be on the deck behind the grilles rather than mostly covering up the grilles. About the tracks, Shermans had at least four types of track that could be found with the vertical volute suspension like that of your Sherman. Unfortunately, the treads on your Sherman are the rubber chevron variety rather than the steel variety. Steel chevrons are much thinner and curve a bit. The duckbill tracks that Tamiya included with their earlier M4A3 were steel. You could do a couple more tweaks and improve it further, but even if you leave as is, it’s a fine looking Sherman. Welcome back to the hobby!
Thanks to everybody for the comments and suggestions. I really do appreciate it. I do also have to say that after reading a lot of other posts on this forum and after posting my finished pics for the first time, that everybody on this forum is very friendly and helpful, which makes for an invaluable resource when doing a hobby such as this which relies on getting feedback from others in order to improve. So, thank you. I’m really glad to be here!
