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1/35 M5A1 Stuart of Lt. Kenneth Malick


Garandomatic
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Garandomatic

Here's the MG. The receiver is from the Academy kit, and so is the tripod that I mounted on the fender. The barrel is from a Polish seller on ebay, sk1968sk, and I couldn't be happier with the service. I suppose Aber is their maker... Anyways, hardest part was getting the barrel straight on the gun! My favorite part about the Academy MG kit is the decals for the ammo boxes, although I wish the letters stood out better.

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Garandomatic

 

Well done - and keep looking, you'll find one. Look at every Ike on ebay that has armored patches. Many times you'll find a gem with a name or laundry number hiding in the pictures ;)

Oh man, you know I do... Same ones for MONTHS on end!

 

I took this shot because I had a ton of work in the machine gun mount. I chucked a piece of sprue in my cordless drill and spun it to try to true it up and take it down to a reasonable size. I drilled the end for the MG mount, and spent a bunch of time trying to cut the brackets correctly to mount it to the turret. They aren't 100% right, but when the Tamiya kit comes with that shield, a guy has to do something! THe grouser brackets I handled similarly. THere could be better detail to them, but I also probably could have bought an AFV kit!

 

Also, I love how the folded tarp looked. The ration box didn't close tightly enough up top, and I didn't like the look of looking down into an empty little box through a crack between the flaps, and figured it would make sense for a crew to stow a tarp on top of a box of chow, so I folded it up an painted it with Vallejo Khaki, I believe, and gave it minimal dirt with a wash after drybrushing it with Vallejo Buff.

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Garandomatic

Here's the crewman standing outside the tank, and I am picturing him at this stage for no other reason than the fact that I want the world to know I tried to vary the coloration of his equipment, because I know it'll all look the same once I grime wash him! The M36 bag, I believe, is from a Verlinden Airborne kit I bought because it had some good equipment. I had to fill the back of it with putty, as it was pretty concave and wouldn't look right. I think I will give him an OD green pistol belt for the heck of it, just so it stands out. I know they'd be seen in dips and dabs in the Summer of 1944.

 

I gave the commander's mic a cord today, and found an extra set of goggles for him as well. SInce they aren't molded, with all these figures, I have made the goggle straps out of a thin strip of the Tamiya masking tape. It sticks on nicely, an then you can seal the deal with a dab or two of superglue. Paint doesn't seem to disagree with it either.

 

The empty cloth belt for the MG is also a trip of masking tape.

 

It's funny how my phone takes a better small close up than my digital camera, and brings things to light that I didn't really notice with my naked eye. On the next 1/35 project, I'll have to clean up areas that have seen a lot of work with a toothpick, not sure if it is dust or what. I also am amazed at how mold seams still stand out long after you THINK you've gotten them, and have used a dremel to correct them through folds in clothing, to boot!

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Proud Kraut

Did I get you right? You were out of modeling for 20 years? Wow, your skills havn't fade away! A superb work in every subject. Every step well planned and professionally executed. The result is a very realistic model kit. I especially like your paint work, weathering and the "mud job". Thanks for posting this gem here!

 

Lars

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Garandomatic

I've had a lot of work in the meantime in associated skills. Family business is lost-wax casting and sculpture, so I've had a pile of that kind of activity, and I've started a few models here and there. Got a lovely shelf full of future projects! I think my last completed model was a Panther tank in 1998, so it looks like 17 years!

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Sharp little M5 and crew! Your efforts in paint, markings, weathering and added details are going a long way in enhancing this old kit. You obviously are skillful, and your pics show that you give each step a lot of thought.

 

Looking forward to more!

 

Joe

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Fantastic job-your weathering is top-notch! Really like your "straight-down" shot-great perspective. Thanks for sharing

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I am thoroughly amazed at how quickly cost can add up when ordering aftermarket parts to make things "just right". A seller on ebay from Poland offers excellent machine gun barrels, which I bought. I will never again, however, use aftermarket tracks like these... This is basically why I am still not finished in July when it was started the previous September. The end results might pay off on a larger tank, but as I was hoping for some realistic sag an whatnot, there just wasn't any when I put the thing together.

US track on the Lee, Sherman & Stuart series was Live track. It doesn't sag normally.

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  • 6 months later...
Garandomatic

After along hiatus, and partly to clear my mind and think my halftrack through some more, I decided to finally finish the base for my Stuart vignette. Dad gave me a 9" Walnut base that he had laying around, and I decided to use it. I originally wanted to turn something on my lathe that had a pedestal to allow it to sit above things in the war room, but if I wait on getting my wood shop together, it'll never get done. While I was out there today helping him, I cut a 7 1/4" circle of 1/4" plywood/luan and decided I'd get started tonight. First, I looked at a few reference photos in Zaloga's outstanding Armored Attack: 1944 to get the vibe and proportions right, and cut the hedgerow's bank to sit around waist high for a 1/35 figure. Here's the eventual layout:

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Garandomatic

From the other side. Light makes it look good, and I can imagine the nose of that tank peeking out from the hedgerow when it's done.

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Garandomatic

Fun with plaster. I used light hydrocal from Hobby Lobby that I picked up tonight, and here is the almost finished result. I want there to be a ditch with a small puddle beside the tank, even if it isn't terribly visible, and had to carve it out a little as I applied it. The rough texture alongside the road is from a few photos I saw. Looked awful rough, probably from lots of foot steps and vehicles blasting through, scraping the hedges to clear one another. I used a paint brush and stippled the plaster once it was about medium-solid to get this look.

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Garandomatic

Last one for now. I used the rubber tracks that came with the Stuart to press tank track marks in the road, thought it would be a nice touch, and laid a couple for Malick's Stuart. When it is totally set up, I am going to sand a good bit of it, because the roads in the photos looked awful smooth... I am going to use some fine soil from the farm as well as some Vallejo pigment I bought for the soil, I snagged a water kit while at Hobby Lobby also for the puddle, and have had some foliage and grass that I will apply to boot. It'll be nice to have this one in the bag. After the halftrack will be the 1/48 B-17G "The Punched Fowl", then a mess of Shermans depending on some research that I am awaiting, then the M7 Priest to go with the halftrack, then my 12th AF pilot's P-40, then...

post-9670-0-93071200-1451795467.jpg

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Neat concept! I'll be looking forward to seeing what you use for hedgerow vegetation and seeing this diorama come together. Thanks for sharing your work!

Terry

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I am thoroughly amazed at how quickly cost can add up when ordering aftermarket parts to make things "just right". A seller on ebay from Poland offers excellent machine gun barrels, which I bought. I will never again, however, use aftermarket tracks like these... This is basically why I am still not finished in July when it was started the previous September. The end results might pay off on a larger tank, but as I was hoping for some realistic sag an whatnot, there just wasn't any when I put the thing together.

A Properly maintained Stuart or Sherman track has no real sag. The type of track is called "Live" track.

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Garandomatic

I later read that somewhere else, but I forget who posted it. Really makes me kick myself for spending $20 on those tracks when the factory originals would have been pretty much the same!

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Garandomatic

Got some work done on the base. Here is the soil. First layer was applied using thinned Elmer's Glue, then brushed off when dry. I had a bear of a time with this, as I intended to blend some of my pigment that is labelled "European Soil" with some actual dirt that I had ground up pretty fine with a mortar and pestle, but it looked as red as mars... So, I mixed up more glue, and more heavily coated the entire thing, blending the pigment and soil as I went. On top went more, and as it dried, I pressed the track marks back into it, as those in the plaster were obscured. I next hit it with several light coats of clear. I didn't have flat, but the dirt soaked up the clear so well that gloss worked fine.

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Garandomatic

After the clear dried, I drilled 1/16" holes into the top of the hedgerow bank and inserted model railroad foliage I bought. I got the idea for this when I saw it in the package all laid out, and I thought it looked so much like a hedgerow that it was a winner. Also bought a contrasting shade of green which I packed into the recesses and at the bottom to conceal the fact that this hedgerow is only about 1/2" thick, and give the illusion of darkness. I may dust it all later with some soil to blend it a little. I also stuck a branch of this foliage into the front of the Stuart and heavily soiled it to make it appear that it got jammed into the stowage up front when they busted through a hedge.

 

Next, I used the Vallejo brown wash to darken the ditch a little, as well as the soil under the foliage... This really took a while and soaked up a lot of the wash. Going to have to buy more. It was pretty stark, so I brushed more soil over top of the edge of the wash to blend it, and hit it with one more coat of clear to set what I had just done. The coats of clear are tough enough to protect the tracks I pressed in, which is handy.

post-9670-0-71264500-1451971623.jpg

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Garandomatic

I still have some water to pour into the ditch, and intend to add some grass and a few broken limbs crumpled on the ground, but I had to try out the tank. I should also point out that I added a little of my homemade soil pigment to the tank to make it look right, as my backyard is of a different consistency than the pigment Vallejo includes with their weathering kit.

post-9670-0-07240800-1451971793.jpg

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Garandomatic

Thanks for all the compliments. Last night I added the grass that I bought at Hobby Lobby as well. I think it was died hair... really hard to work with, but I hoped it would be better looking than the little plugs of grass they also sell. I set it with superglue, and it was a pain to keep neat. I had to pick pieces of it off the rest of the base at great length. I think I will endeavor to avoid using it again, and I am afraid it gave the piece more of an arid look than the vicinity of St. Lo in the later Summer of '44, but I don't know.

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