Sherman Mk. VC Firefly

Arne Greve
Hey Maik, what a beautiful Tank and a more beautiful Figure! Did you plan a Dio for it?

Christian Meyerhoff
That`s nice ! Love every bit of it!

Ulf Petersen
Excellent work, Maik!👍

Gábor Bélik
Great stuff!

Jose Costa
Nicely done, congrats

Wayne Hale
Beautiful Firefly

Maik Berlin
Hi guys and thank you very much for your kind words! Arne, yes, there will be a small base. Hope to finish it soon.

David R.
Hi Maik,

das ist ja mal wieder ganz großes Kino - Tolle Leistung, wahnsinnig gute Arbeit.

Bart Goesaert
Sherman's are not my cup of tea, but this one turned out quite nice...

Hunter Cummins
You are a freaking Sherman master lol. How did you paint and weather it?? Too notch job !!

Rui S
Really nice build and very well done finishing job. 👍 for me, the only minor thing, the torso left arm connection 🤔 Congratulations...

Choppa Nutta
That`s nice ! 👍

Francisco Abad
Very good work! Congratulations.

Mike Grant
Wow, there's a lot of work gone into that. Looks great! 👍

Maik Berlin
Hey there guys! Thank you very much for your replies! You can't imagine how inspiring and motivating your kind words are!
@ Rui - you are right, I should have filled the small gap with some putty. Didn't realized the gap until I took these pictures.

Regards
Maik

Hunter Cummins
How,did you paint a nd weather it?

Rui S
I know what you mean Maik, close-up photos are always very revelling😉

Maik Berlin
Hunter, sorry, missed your question. Well, a short summary how I painted the Firefly: First, a layer of primer is applied via airbrush. I use the Vallejo Black Primer for that. After that, I mixed an apropiate color of the british S.C.C. 15 by using different Gunze Aqueous. I used them the second time and they are great! I build up the basic color with H52 Olive Drab, H58, H78 and H304. Highlights were made using more H58 with the basic color. Followed by a layer of Alclads Aqua Glossy and the decals. When everything is dry, another coat of Aqua Glossy is applied.
The first step at weathering the Firefly was a full coat of Enamel Brown Wash from AK. When the Wash is dry, most of the paint is being removed by a soft paint brush. Then a detail-wash is applied. Meanwhile the tools and stowage is also painted and some worn-effects of the color are applied. This is done by black acryl paint and a small sponge. After that, a couple of filters are applied. I use some oil-colors (Sienna, Umber, Van-Dyck-Brown, White etc.) and lighter fluid and a small brush to achieve the subtile paint effects. Dust builds the final step. Different pigments are mixed together and will be applied with a brush. To fix them, I use lighter fluid. This step will be repeated until the result fits my liking. The lower hull and suspension gets much more of the pigments that the upper hull. The most important step I think is not to use a flat base coat at the end. I don't like a complete dull surface. I think the real thing isn't dull either, during different stages of dust, mud, rain and so on a gives a wide variety of the surface, from semi-gloss to dull. The different washes and filters will achieve this effect much more than overspray the entire model with a flat base coat.
Hope that will explain my technique.

When the base is done the tank will receive a little bit more dust on the entire surface, I think.

Kerry COX
The little things tell me that a modeller has got his eye "In", and I mean the canvas strapping that is holding down all the tools and the ones hanging on the loops on the turret, These things make the rest of the model 'come alive' to the spectator, and I wouldn't mind betting you have spent some time around armoured tracked vehicles.
A superb build to be most proud of.😉
Salute. 🙂 👍 👍 👍.

Hunter Cummins
Wow, thank you very much for all of the Info and will get those paints that you mentioned. A question about the lighter fluid, isn't it to "hot" of a chemical to use for modelling in thevsensecof thinning??

Hunter Cummins
And I second what Kerry said !!🙂

Maik Berlin
Hunter and Kerry, thanks a lot mates!
Hunter, the lighter fluid is very easy to use because it vaporizes very fast, and still when you leave it on the paint or on the plastic, nothing happens. You can use White Spirit instead off, but lighter fluid is much cheaper. When I started modelling I used turpentine, which is way to slow drying and too smelly.
You can have a look here: modellbauforen.de/cg..;act=ST;f=17;t=28176
The model is still in work, but the beginning steps of the above mentioned technique are visible. It's german language, so maybe google will translate the text.

Hunter Cummins
Ok I see ! Will check out that site! I can read a good bit of German😉

Arne Greve
You must registered on this HP.

Maik Berlin
Hi Arne! You are wrong😉 The work in progress subforum is available for non-registered users as well.

Jeffrey Riedesel
Nice!

Kim Branders
You did a damm good job on this one Maik.

Gerald
Nice Sherman 👍

Dieter Bihlmaier
Your Firefly looks very good Maik.

Arne Greve
Komisch, Maik, ich hatte einen andere Verlinkung zu dem Forum an Freunde gemailt, die nicht dort nicht registriert sind, und die meinten, sie müssten sich erst anmelden.

Maik Berlin
Hey guys! Thanks a lot for your replies! Much appreciated!

Arne, ich habe es mal getestet. Ausgeloggt aus dem Forum und konnte das entsprechende Unterforum direkt anwählen. Auch der Link funktioniert ausgeloggt. Die Bereiche wie Kantine sind definitiv nur für registrierte User sichtbar - vielleicht war das in der Vergangenheit auch bei den Bauberichten so?