Pete's Place

[redleg]

I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but Holy Cow Pete! Your work is consistently amazing!

[pmskaar]

Thank you very much, Polish GI and Redleg! I am glad you liked the Shermans.

Pete

[Gnisq]

Simply marvelous, Pete - all of them

[pmskaar]

Hi Gnisq! Thanks very much! I do appreciate it. I will be posting some more soon.

Are you new to this forum?

Pete

[pmskaar]

Here are some updated progress pictures of my M4A1 Sherman platoon. They will have a combination of the M34A1 turrets with applique armor and the bulge in the turret right side.

The other day, I put the decals on then put some Dullcoat over the decaled areas to dull it back down. Then I put a light layer of "dust" on the models which is a very thinned down mixture of light earth colors shot from my airbrush to give a bit of weathering to the models without making them look too junky.

[Splod]

I've seen your work posting on FB, but it's good to stumble upon a good old forum log

The new Shermans are fantastic, but I particularly like that Modern Lithuania game back on pg.10!

[BurtWolf]

Pete those Sherman’s are coming along great, really enjoy seeing the work in progress. I am working on the Sherman Tulip right now, ghq made a nice model of it!

By the way, what size bit do you use to drill into barrels?

[PolishGI]

Looks great Pete!

[redleg]

Those look amazing, Pete!

[Hoth_902]

Pete,. How do you do the dark shadows? I know it's not a wash over a clear gloss coat. Did you do a flat wash over the flat base coat and then repaint the flat surfaces? Look amazing.

[pmskaar]

Thank you all very much, Splod, Polish GI, Burt, and Hoth! I appreciate it.

Burt, the barrels are drilled with the smallest bit I can get at my local hobby shop which is I believe a .080. I have been doing this for years with my GHQ tanks.

I have done this for barrels as small as 50mm in 1/285th scale. It is tricky, especially with the smaller caliber barrels. I start with the tip of a #11 hobby knife blade and find the center point. I then make a small indent in the center point and gradually make it a little deeper and wider.

One trick here is that I do this before painting but I put a little bit of gray primer on the end of the barrel to reduce the glare of the unpainted metal. I also check the end of the barrel beforehand to make sure it is flat and does not have any little protrusions or angles to one side or the other. To fix this, I will file the end of the barrel to make sure it is flat and not at an angle.

Once I have my starter hole with the hobby knife, I then use my drill bit on a pin vise and dig down into the metal a bit more. Don't go too far or else you might risk damage to the barrel. You just want enough to give the impression of a hollow bore.

I might suggest practicing on a few spare turrets and maybe even larger caliber guns to get the hang of it. For the Shermans I use .080 but larger caliber guns I use larger bits. For larger caliber guns I may start with the .080 and work my way up to where it looks right. Check references as you don't want the bore to be too large. You can always widen it but it is not easy to undo a mistake.

Hoth, I used a turpentine based dark brown wash on these Shermans. I coat the entire model with the wash, let sit for a while - an hour or two or even overnight - and then use some clear turpentine on a brush to erase the wash from the flat and protruding surfaces. Once I am satisfied that the wash is on there exactly where I want it, I will bake the model to fix it. Before doing this part, I will sometimes add more wash to certain areas that I want a bit darker.
The turpentine base allows you to move the paint around without it completely setting until you bake it. I paint with enamels but I know there are other products out there that allow you to do a wash.

I highlight the raised areas once my wash is on after I bake the model to set the wash. This is nothing more than taking the base color and adding a bit or white or other light color and hitting the raised areas. This helps the model "pop" even more but the wash is what really does most of it.

[chrisswim]

Pete,
Nice work. Appreciate the boring of the barrel tutorial. Very nice.

[redleg]

What a boring tutorial! LOL. Sorry guys - I couldn't resist!

It's pretty awesome how you drill out the muzzle Pete! Thanks for sharing your technique. That's modeling that's way out of my league!

[BurtWolf]

Pete, thanks so much for the tutorial. Appreciate the time you talk to write about it and post it. All the time and effort you put into your models really shows, I hope to eventually get to some sort of level close to that in the next 30 years Ha Ha.

[pmskaar]

Thank you very much, Redleg and Burt! I do realize drilling out gun barrels at this scale isn't for everyone but it is just something I do. It must be my OCD or something. I am happy to tell how I do things when asked.

Pete