1/35 Dragon M4A3(75)W

[Mike]

I've got to thank you guys. You've really been boosting my ego these last few days lol. THANK YOU!

Latest news; assembly is complete! After assembling the Driver/Co-Driver hatches I had to adjust the Co-Driver figure to fit over that dumb horn-thingy on the hatch by grinding away under his right arm with the micro Dremel tool and a fine ball grinder. He still took a bit of adjustment but I got him back where I want him and he sits exactly the way I want him to again. Then there was one more detail missed my attention until I realized it was missing. Bonus points for anyone who knows what it is.

M4A3(75)W by Mike Brindos, on Flickr


















M4A3(75)W by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

M4A3(75)W by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

M4A3(75)W by Mike Brindos, on Flickr
That's where that goes.

M4A3(75)W by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

now onward to disassembly and painting! Goooooooooooo! Joe!

[handiabled]

Looks like the periscope mount or adapter. Nice catch it looks great. Looking forward to seeing your paint work on this!

[brandonk]

This thing is gonna look real when it gets paint.

[406 Silverado]

Jun 21, 2024 9:34:05 GMT -5 brandonk said:

This thing is gonna look real when it gets paint.

You’re right about that Brandon. She’s detailed out well too Mike. 

[rbaer]

Jun 21, 2024 9:01:20 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Looks like the periscope mount or adapter. Nice catch it looks great. Looking forward to seeing your paint work on this!

I do agree.
Haven't forgotten you Mike, just saying you've taken it a step or three further....

[Mike]

Jun 21, 2024 9:01:20 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Looks like the periscope mount or adapter. Nice catch it looks great. Looking forward to seeing your paint work on this!

Well my plan is to do something similar to what I did with the SU-85 and just enjoy the process. But dirtier if I can make myself do it lol. And yes, that's the periscope mount. Dragon just assumes you'll add the periscopes which have the mount on them already. 

Jun 21, 2024 9:34:05 GMT -5 brandonk said:

This thing is gonna look real when it gets paint.

LOL I hope so. It always takes me a good long time before I can actually see my work as if it wasn't mine, giving me an outside perspective. I don't see my work like you guys do. I see the flaws, where I needed to do something different, or what I could've done far better.

Jun 21, 2024 10:19:57 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Jun 21, 2024 9:34:05 GMT -5 brandonk said:

This thing is gonna look real when it gets paint.

You’re right about that Brandon. She’s detailed out well too Mike . 

Thank you, Brandon. Most of the bits were in the box. I am running a bit thin on Value Gear accessories though. I need to do a bit of online shopping. I have an M-18 and an M-26 I need some stowage for and I raided the stowage from my other E8 for this build. I still don't know If I'll find some crew figures for the M-18. I haven't looked yet.

Jun 21, 2024 15:49:20 GMT -5 rbaer said:

Jun 21, 2024 9:01:20 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Looks like the periscope mount or adapter. Nice catch it looks great. Looking forward to seeing your paint work on this!

I do agree.
Haven't forgotten you Mike, just saying you've taken it a step or three further....

Thanks, Russ. I've been enjoying myself again. It's been a while.

**********

My Rustoleum camo paint I use almost exclusively isn't fully curing for some reason and it remains somewhat tacky after hours of dry time. I'm thinking I need to toss that can out and just order some Krylon. I still don't know why Krylon has disappeared from my area, but I'm really missing it. It was reliable and cheaper than anything else in the hobby market. So I sprayed the model with a mist coat and that helped a little but I'm obviously missing a lot of area. So, out of the box solutions came to mind. What do I have a lot of? Cheap craft paint. But that has adhesion issues. Well I know how to fix that and I did. So I mixed a bit of Aileen's white glue into the paint and I'm waiting for that to dry. I brushed that into every crack and crevice I could get the hairy stick into. I even bent an old paintbrush at an angle so I could get into the far reaches of the hull and turret so it's all black from every viewing angle. I'll give the entire thing a good spray with Vallejo Flat Black after that dries and I should have a fairly sturdy primer for me to spray XF-62 over. 

So... waiting for paint to dry and catching up on Stargate Universe, which I don't remember the end of, so I'm rewatching it and enjoying homemade Iced Coffee. Cheers!

[Mike]

I'm loving this Chromatic method again and it loves the lighting. I've got the basic paint job on now and I have to let it rest a little while and I can give it a poly gloss for protection before I get to decals. I've even used the chromatic method on the figures so the same operations apply to them as well. Poly gloss and, well... no decals, but a light wash to edge the shadows in better and then I'll move on.

M4A3(75)W by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

M4A3(75)W by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

M4A3(75)W by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

M4A3(75)W by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

M4A3(75)W by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

All I did was a base coat of XF-62 Olive Drab and then I lightened that with XF-49 Khaki and sprayed from directly over the top. You can't even tell. lol. The effect is splendid. I'll show you guys a sample between the shades after I get them onto a card for comparison. This is a good start for everything that comes next. I'm very pleased.

Edit: Almost forgot to mention that the craft paint/Aleen's mix worked out better than expected. That stuff is like armor. I was hoping for a good result, but I used it on the tracks and they look like factory fresh tamiya supplied tracks now. I didn't even scratch them while handling them back onto the model. I'm really going to have to remember this trick for the future.

[Leon]

This is coming along nicely Mike! Paint looks good.

[Mike]

Thanks, Leon! Here's a teaser for what's coming.

M4A3(75)W by Mike Brindos, on FlickrM4A3(75)W by Mike Brindos, on Flickr

That took longer than planned, but it's not bad. I had some issues with the Tamiya paint eating through the Vallejo. I guess they're not compatible. I did find out that Vallejo 70.894 Cam. Olive Green is a really close match to XF-62 though. So that's something I learned today.