I'm kind of limited in bench time, due to the fact that while I was a business owner, I monopolized family time with business-related trips most weekends. Granted, it was an off-road vehicle business and we were four-wheeling in some very fine places (sometimes) but for ten-plus years, that was it. Now that we've sold and moved on, all those things that my wife was putting off because of the business are a priority. End result: I have maybe four or so hours a week to model. I'm not complaining, but couple that with the fact that I build pretty slowly means most of my completed builds happen over a period of several months. This particular model is pretty much falling together, maybe because it's simple, or all the pieces are fitting w/o a lot of modification, or the basic kit (Tamiya M51) is well-engineered, I don't know, probably all of the above. Anyway, I'm slow.... And I build a lot of stuff that I like to or have to fiddle with, which slows me down even more, but that's a lot of the fun for me.
Oh, I see... the whole job/work family deal. I will have that soon again (lucky me) as this operation will put me back into the work force so look out! I could be your competition soon. (jest skiddin')
My problem was I had too much time and too much to do and not enough time to plan things.
Soon I'll complain about not having enough time but will feel better in the long run.
Paint! I used Tamiya $S-46 light sand in the can, glossed where the decals were going and applied numbers and reg plates from a Bison 6-Day M-50 sheet. The reg numbers are wrong, but I won't tell anybody. After the decals dried, a light shot of gloss over them and then flat overall. Next will be detail painting and then weathering. Whee! I'm also putting a couple of big oil cans on the right front fender, I guess the old girls were sucking some oil by '67. Almost ready, and the tow cable ends, filled and drilled: And I goofed, used my last Tasca 50 cal on the Super Pershing I'm doing concurrently, so I guess this one gets an Academy 50 cal.
Progress: I did a wash with heavily thinned Tamiya brown, then a scrub. Some detail painting is begun, and the tracks are on for the pic. I'll remove them when I get around to more weathering, hopefully this week. Decision: TC or no TC? I think it needs a figgie.
Chuckle, chuckle..... Thanks, Jeff. I now have Grag's M-50 turret, some cool 3D-printed can racks from another guy here in Texas, and about three kits to build an M-50 from, so one is in my future for sure. And then I really need to do a proper M1 Sherman, the one I did a few years ago really looks "dated" now, know what I mean? And an M51 on a welded hull, and a VVSS M-50, and .....
Almost there: Above shows antenna mounts, finally on, and the last return rollers, now that the tracks are permanently on. Below, the figs in their beginning phase: I'm going for some animation with these guys, so both will be in the TC's hatch, the "pointer" pushing the other guy's shoulder, with the other guy yelling, at what I don't know yet. At least it's different than the standard "gazing thoughtfully into the distance" pose.
Thanks, Greg. I realize I left off some stuff that would have made my model more accurate as far as the tanks in the pic I was working from, but I flat out didn't have any extra track links to do the spares and forgot about just doing the mounts, like I did on the HVSS howitzer tank I'm still piddling along with. I also could have added the first aid box on the hull side, once again forgot. I may add that, I have several and it would be easy enough to still do. Oddly enough, I gave away a mostly complete set of the AFV Club T80 indie tracks, should have kept them for spares on tanks such as this, but they were so incredibly difficult to assemble that I became disgusted. If I ever see some at a show or the like, I'll grab them, just for spares. I have a complete MP Models M50 with the indie links, I may take a peek in there and see if they're good enough to work with. I seem to remember the wheel-sides having some nasty sink marks, but the ground-sides may be usable.
Thanks, Greg. I realize I left off some stuff that would have made my model more accurate as far as the tanks in the pic I was working from, but I flat out didn't have any extra track links to do the spares and forgot about just doing the mounts, like I did on the HVSS howitzer tank I'm still piddling along with. I also could have added the first aid box on the hull side, once again forgot. I may add that, I have several and it would be easy enough to still do. Oddly enough, I gave away a mostly complete set of the AFV Club T80 indie tracks, should have kept them for spares on tanks such as this, but they were so incredibly difficult to assemble that I became disgusted. If I ever see some at a show or the like, I'll grab them, just for spares. I have a complete MP Models M50 with the indie links, I may take a peek in there and see if they're good enough to work with. I seem to remember the wheel-sides having some nasty sink marks, but the ground-sides may be usable.
You're not alone there, Russ. I could have added bolts to the front fenders of my M50, but didn't. I also probably should have added the raised three-digit inventory numbers on the glacis and rear plate, but I didn't do those either. Same with the tie-downs on the hull behind the can racks, because I was afraid of breaking more of them. I'm using Dragon DS track on this because I have a couple of sets lying around; I've done the AFV Club set successfully just once. I'm going to try those Kaizen link tracks sometime. The trouble with the MP Models and early Dragon indy-link tracks is that the end connectors are molded onto each track block. That's fine for straight runs, but it looks awkward around the sprocket and idler for sure. There's probably a solution in cutting off the end connectors from some of the links and repositioning them so that the curved runs look more realistic, and leaving them alone for the top and bottom runs.
"You could probably use some armor. A Sherman can give you a very nice...edge!"
"It's the little things, the itty-bitty things, that drive me nuts" Yeah, at some point, I have to paint or I'll never finish anything. I think I could carve out just the MP track blocks (no center guides or end connectors), drill them and add pins, but I can already feel the pain. Maybe a Shapeways product? Spare track blocks, T80 track, with the goofy retainers and bolts? All a modeler would need for those pesky parts that aren't well done in any kit that I know of, and omitted in others.