M4A1(76)W Sherman - 1/35 Dragon

This project was started in July 2014.  It's the 1/35 Operation Cobra by Dragon.  It was an interesting kit to build, and it required a lot of detail work.

I started with the boogies and road wheels.  I removed the seam lines on the road wheels, 4 mounting holes were drilled on the front side of the boogies, rivets were added to the return skids, and 12 pop rivets were added to each of the road wheels.  The drive sprocket was too narrow for the tracks.  I added a thin plastic shim to widen the sprocket.  I added 8 hex head bolts to the idler wheel bracket.  The sand rail was made from 0.015 plastic strip.

Weld seams were made by coating thin plastic rod with liquid cement.  When the plastic was soft, it was shaped with a hobby knife.  Welds were added to the tow hitch and around all the filler protectors, and drain holes were also added.

On the upper hull, all mounting holes were plugged with stretched sprue, and all grab handles were removed and replaced with wire.  The lifting lugs on the hull and turret were replaced with bent paperclips.  Sand rails were replaced with plastic strips.  Tied down clips were made and small plastic disks.  The rear storage rack was fabricated from brass shim stock.

Casting numbers were added to the turret.  The large numbers were shaved numbers from the sprues. Also,  Archer transfers were used.  The rear air vent was removed and the space was filled with plastic sheets and putty.  Mr. Surfacer was used to texture seams.  The grab handles on the side of the turret were made with wire.

The were the hardest part of the build.  They were assembled using a jig made out of craft sticks.  It took a long time to clean each of the 3 parts that make up one link.  The tracks were painted black, and the metal parts were dry brushed metallic grey track and many washed of rust were applied.

The tank was primed and pre-shaded with black.  The tank was painted OD.  All the decals were printed on an ALPS printer.  It was given multiple black washes and weathered with pastels.

The crew as made from a combination of Tamiya, Dragon, and MiniArt figures.  The 10-in-1 C-Ration boxes were constructed from heavy weight paper and printed on an ALPS printer.  The .30 cal ammo boxes are made from plastic stock.  The expended 76 mm casing were made from brass rod drilled out on an Unimat lathe.

The model was finally finished in February 2015.