[D-Day] M26 Pershing

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I just ordered a heaping manure-spreader load of cheapo, small brushes from Damnazon for all of six bucks. They should arrive early next week. so I will be diving back in after turning to some another hobby of mine (1/16 farm toys) through the weekend. Then, too, I posted some questions at viewtopic.php?p=348108#p348108 in case anyone can help.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Compared to my experience with aftermarket electronics (e.g. current FAMO and former Mato M10 torture), I found creating the "cast look" for the T26A3 to be fun, albeit tedious. Here's what I did:

I kept a fan running all the time, as Mr. Surfacer 500 is potent stuff. I also used Gort * magnifying goggles (not shown) because I cannot see a d--- thing anymore.

I used two kinds of disposable brushes for stippling Mr. Surfacer 500: 1) for larger areas, disposable flux brushes and 2) disposable, super-cheapo, supposedly #00 brushes from Amazon. Feeling a bit guilty about having to throw out two or three disposable brushes, I found that once the Mr. Surfacer dried on the flux brushes, I could pull the flux brush bristles out with a pliers and recycle the metal handles (or keep them as tubes for... )

I kept close at hand cotton swabs and paper towels for quick "erasure" of mistakes. Such "erasure" involves smoothing the Mr. Surfacer out while it's wet. So one must act quickly or sand later.

I masked sheet metal areas at tight spots to keep the Mr. Surfacer off. I used a sharpened wooden stick for poking the masking tape into seams and tight places. For really tight spots, as e.g. the "garbage can handles" at the rear, I used a toothpick to drip in tiny amounts of Mr. Surfacer and poke it into roughness just as it was starting to set up (which happens very fast). For compound curves, I just worked verrry carefully!

cast iron 03.jpg (642.77 KiB) Viewed 2125 times

*"The Day the Earth Stood Still" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043456/

[MrChef]

Well Excellent Herr Dr.!

What you're calling flux brushes "I'm assuming the metal handled brush?" I bought a bag of, looking exactly the same called "epoxy" brushes for a few pence. I'm assuming they're some wild boar hair as they don't wither or clump with Tamiya putty or cement or airbrush cleaner. I've used and re-used the same 2 brushes on several tanks for the same process. And have trimmed the tips to my liking. I clean them soaked in Simple Green overnight and rinse with hot water.

Good to see you're coming along.


Now about that Famo. I think I'd like a team of 3 tandem to tow my 822...

[ColemanCollector]

The fine art of making things look uneven. Looking good!

Clearly, you were in a farm toy frame of mind when you ordered a manure spreader load of brushes to texture your Pershing! Now what manufacturer was it that called one of their manure spreader models, "The Politician" ? Massey-Harris, maybe?

Mike.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Yes, indeedy doody, MrChef: what I know as "flux brushes" are the metal handled ones. They were (still are?) used for pasting flux on long soldering areas when sheet metal used to be soldered by soldering "irons," as big as cattle prods. (OUCH!)

"Now what manufacturer was it that called one of their manure spreader models, 'The Politician' ?" Now that's a s---load of fun, ColemanCollector!

[Herr Dr. Professor]

With the "cast" texture complete (I think), I want to try adding a delicate detail. The T26E3 has four--count 'em--four periscopes up front, each protected by a cage. Here's a photo of the real thing:

guard 02.jpg (454.36 KiB) Viewed 1964 times

And here is the 1/16 version, begging for me to add guards.

Undo 14.jpg (440.86 KiB) Viewed 1964 times

I have considered trying to make the guards out of brass wire, but making one, much less four identical sets, certainly provides a challenge. I also considered that someone might have aftermarket ones available or 3D printed ones. What do you recommend?

[ColemanCollector]

It's only the first three that are difficult. After that...piece o' cake!

Mike.

[HERMAN BIX]

Getting the other 3 to match the first one is the hardest

[Ad Lav]

Buy some Schumo ones. You need five - one on the turret top!

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Ohmygosh! There they are! But since this will be an overseas shipment, I may have to make the shipping cost worthwhile by stocking up on more goodies! It's all your fault, Ad Lav.

https://www.axels-modellbau-shop.de/kat ... rds=Schumo

Update 1/27: goodies are ordered for the Pershing and some for any Sherman that needs them. $42 shipping to the US...really not excessive by today's costs, but painful nonetheless.