Hasegawa 1:72 M4A3E8 Sherman

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

I am having a beaut time building these little armour kits as a break from my more normal aircraft builds. even though I have a goodly number of 1:35 kits in my stash, I have gotten rather hooked on 1:72 armour, as even with a base, they do not take up a lot of room on the display shelf.

This is the very basic Hasegawa 1:72 Sherman M4A3E8.

Assembly took place over two nightly sessions in between sanding activities on an Aircraft build.

Tamiya flat black spray can primer followed with Vallejo Russian Uniform Green dry bushed, with progressive lighter mixes to provide 3d effect. I have applied a flat earth wash so far, with more weathering yet to be applied. The old type rubber tracks were sprayed with flat black, washed with flat earth and then dry brushed Citadel Boltgun Metal.

Rolled tarps are made from tissue paper soaked in white glue with rollstraps made from Tamiya masking tape.

The flat coat over the decals has altered the overall sheen in some areas, but some re-applied dry brushing and selective washing as the weathering process progresses should eliminate most of that. Hasegawa decals are typically thick and it took some repeated applications of Mr Mark Softener to make the silvering go away. Of course the Future under and over the decals has left a slight tone change as well.

Unfortunately the light in the hobbyroom is not very good for photos with the flash washing out colours.

cheers and thanks

MikeJ

2

Looks great! That kit is actually about 1/65 scale, but it was the only one out there until Trumpeter, and now Dragon have released it. You did this one extremely well, the weathering and detail are remarkable. Congrats on a well-done build!

3

I love 1/72 as well, and for the same reasons; the ease of display, and satisfaction in doing the convenient little bases. You can easily get just as elaborate these days as with the 1/35 scale.

NIce job on this Shermy, although I’d say that, for scale, you went a bit heavy on the rust washes…That much rust sheen in real scale would constitute one seriously neglected tank! Yo’d be better off using a darker raw umber or even black in pin washes around the seams amd all.

Keep posting these little beauties!

4

It is actually flat earth as a wash not rust. The lighting in my hobbyroom makes the pics seem a little washed out unfortunately. Though I certainly will look at a raw umber treatment oil (like (my bigger armour builds) next one, a Trumpeter JS-3M.

cheers

Mike