U.S.A M47 Patton 1/35

[TheTroyster]

When have you ever seen one of these built? That's my point. Opened the box and it looks to be an older model, some flashing - not bad though. Has an engine included, although I don't think I'll be showing that. Snagged this gem at my local hobby store. A 1/35 scale model, tank went into production in 1950 - and I am kind of thinking Ill pair this with about 40 or so homebrewed Ipa's - so my build time could be awhile.

Amazing fact about this tank - (pulled from that ever reliable bastion of information - wikiwastmytime -

One of these tanks is owned by Arnold Schwarzenegger - he uses it to crush his enemies, to see them flee before him... blah blah blah - you know the rest.

[Tiger131]

Love the look of these tanks..look foward to seeing u get underway

[brickfan8]

That's nice thers one of these tanks in my town

[Bissyboat]

Great kit. This tank is particularly well known for being dead ringers of the King Tigers in the 60s movie – Battle of the Bulge. Will be watching this build.

[OliveDrab]

Your right, can't say that I've ever seen one of these built....so this will be cool to see

[TheTroyster]

Massive snow storm here on Saturday night,

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which is perfect weather for some model work.

I had some confusion on the first part of the instructions, part #14 not real clear on what that piece actually looked like

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. Turns out it's those little U hook things, but that isn't what goes in the suspension area! The suspension parts that go into these areas are not even listed on the instructions, had to go by the pictures, and after two beers that only double the amount of items I was looking at! There was quite a bit of Flashing on each of the parts so that slowed me down.

[TheTroyster]

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The kit comes with an engine. I typically button my tanks up and not bother with interior - and never any interest in the engine. Yet, the more I thought about that engine, the more I thought I could do something with it! My brother-in-law is a custom car builder and so I called him up and he gave me some ideas.

In doing research for this tank, and its engine I discovered two well known people either own the tank, or its engine! I learned Arnold actually owns one, as he used to be a driver of this type of tank in the Austrian Army back in the day

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. In researching the engine I discovered that Jay Leno has a 1933 Chrysler Roadster "Tank Car" which incorporates the engine of an M47 Patton Tank

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- how great is that?

[TheTroyster]

Whee what a month! Home prices are so inflated here in Denver I had to sell - could not pass up the green! As a result my model building was on hold. Having suffered some minor withdraws, maybe it's the glue smell I missed, or those moments where I am on my hands and knees crawling all over the floor looking for some tiny piece of all important plastic? Then there is the distraction of my new Apartment, here is the view from my balcony: Yes, there are a lot of those as well!

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. Got my models in my apartment as well:

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I did manage to prime the engine and the area which it fits into, although I am not going to have the engine showing!

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Why can you only upload three pics at a time?

[TheTroyster]

3rd June Update part 2

I also finished with the running gear on the lower hull and primed the engine area as well:

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and the side view:

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And I like this picture of an M47 engine - notice the hoses - which I think Ill scratch build (something new I have never done, can't be that difficult right guys?).

[MarkVerploeg]

Nice work so far
I know about Jay Leno's tank car
I can't imagine it is very fast but you can drag your house with it
Maybe a silly question but what are the ipa's you mentionned in the first post

[trekfanj]

Nice work so far!

[TheTroyster]

Since moving I have no home-Brewed IPA - will be making one this weekend. So stuck with store bought stuff - which is great!

[TheTroyster]

Here is what I am talking about - the part of modeling that drives me crazy - and I am sure I am not alone on this topic. See those little - I dont know - handles? It took me about two hours to attach those four items!

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Here they are close up: When I clipped them off two - the two in this picture in fact - went flying someplace in the room.

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So for the next hour and forty five minutes I was on my hands and knees looking for these two items on this dark wood floor!

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I found both of them, it took awhile and a couple of beers - and at the end I figured that was enough work for a night!

[TheTroyster]

Oh man, so now I attempted side two of my tank and lost two of those little parts again! Found them, which I always seem to find. You would think I would learn, but in the back of my mind I think I love flying parts and my 8 year old loves to find them - some strange father/son bonding thing maybe? Okay on to the good stuff, you see that little "U" hook thing that is laying flat?

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, That is this models PITA part! It never stays in place and I am always cementing it in place every time I get to the work bench.

So I am thinking about this model and of course there is all the research you can do on your subject - blah blah blah. But you know that is not what I like, or even care about really. What I like about this tank is having built the US M26 Pershing tank and the M41 Walker Bulldog light tank- I can really see how this tank design was developed. It has the lower M26 hull, just a little bigger, but that must be for the bigger engine, and then the turret is like the M41 US light tank - aka Walker Bulldog. Kind of large and long.

Oh yes I did monkey around with the engine a little, but since I am not going to be showing the engine I kind of practiced my painting - if you're looking for realistic well it's not, but I like it. Not quite done with it, couple of minor touch ups and then Ill be done but you get the idea

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[Bissyboat]

Great progess on the Patton mate.

[TheTroyster]

Oh man, I lost my battery charger for my camera in the move! My battery is about to die, ordered a new charger, but am going to put this on hold until I can get my camera up and going, so may not post here for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, this is my favorite moment in building a model tank, the part where you have the lower hull nearly completed and you can actually get a sense of what the model is going to look like when finished.

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and I opened some of the engine service doors, JUST IN CASE, I want to look at the engine!

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Moved to working on the turret, and it seems to fit well, although I think it is somewhat warped. I did run a light bead of putty on the seam - just to be on the safe side!

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[patrickroos]

Great thread, progress and build.
As for "flying parts" that's my middle name...
The floor in my mancave is "styrene grey" concrete!

[TheTroyster]

So all the parts are on, the tank is ready to paint. I kind of wish there was a more detail "feel" to the model. The engine screens seem much too large and look somewhat plastic at this point. I am hoping that the painting and weathering will trick the eye here somewhat.

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[TheTroyster]

I've decided to put the tank on a very simple base - which I hope will capture my entire thoughts on this tank - a cold war era, never utilized, a produced "what if tank" that on paper should be able to counter the Soviet tanks of its day, but not really tested in a combat situation. Like those battleships of World War I. (Ahh, and you can see my new photo etch tool in the background and the world's most painful tank I've ever attempted to build, the FT-17).

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So I brought the tank to work today and primed it so I can start the painting.

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[TheTroyster]

Okay this is why I love building American Armor - the paint job. Yep, unlike all those nasty German patterns, the US Department of Defense has made model painting simple for us - one color - Olive Drab! "Oh you're building an American World War II AFV? What color you painting that baby? Olive Drab. Oh you're building an American AFV from 1980 - what color? Olive Drab." It's very Sexy! So without further adieu my base color is - Wait for it......Olive Drab!

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AND

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And yet again! Can you guess the color?

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[TommyKillander]

Cool tank and an awesome thread!

Looks like a mix of a Walker Bulldog and a Pershing.

Build and paintjob looks Ace.

I think that I need to buy some good IPA...
Pity that you can't buy alcohol in Sweden on a Sunday

Cheers

[TheTroyster]

"Pity that you can't buy alcohol in Sweden on a Sunday ."

That is about the saddest statement I have ever read! I was on a vacation in Sweden in 1989 about - I have never been around so many beer drinkers in my life - it was beautiful!

[TheTroyster]

So I did a real deluded wash on my entire model - these pictures were taken about twenty minutes after the wash. At first I was somewhat concerned about it being too dark, but with the passage of some time it's looking about right.

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From another angle: Funny I used three or four shades of Olive Drab - the sexy color - on this model and at some point though I had applied too much of this light color on the points that would be most exposed to the sun - but the wash has really turned those area into a nice look here! Now, in my move I have managed to loose the decals? How the hell that happens is beyond me? But I think I have enough extra ones I can pull this off...

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[TommyKillander]

"Pity that you can't buy alcohol in Sweden on a Sunday ."

That is about the saddest statement I have ever read! I was on a vacation in Sweden in 1989 about - I have never been around so many beer drinkers in my life - it was beautiful!

Hahaha... yes it's sad, very sad actually.
If want a beer on a Sunday and the fridge is empty I have to go to a pub or buy some low alcohol beer at the convenience store

However, the beer culture in Sweden is gaining acceptance and there are lots of small micro-breweries around the big cities. Not everyone is drinking high alcohol lager and the pubs can offer lots of interesting beers nowadays.

Cheers!

[TheTroyster]

Okay, I had an entire day to work on this project, even got some super glue on my new shirt - and I actually was able to break my shirt in the damaged area! A new shirt even, I should know better, as I normally wear Italian Dress shirts when I paint models - so I have only myself to blame!

The wash dried well, like the way it turned out. I started working on the rust areas of the model, and I am really liking the way this has turned out thus far! In fact, this is only my second attempt to add rust to a model. I normally do not do a lot of rust and grime since I display my models on a shelf and not a diorama - which would dictate the amount/type of wear and environment on the model.

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Now I mentioned that I have lost the decals for this model when I sold my house and moved to my apartment, thus I took some from a Stuart tank, an M26 tank, and I think the others were from an M48 Patton - Here's how it looked:

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[TheTroyster]

Got the decals on, and it looks fine. Nothing new to anyone on this form

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did some weathering on the engine:

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and here is how the engine displays with the upper hull in place.

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[TheTroyster]

I dropped my airbrush when cleaning it the other day and it bent my needle. I bought a new needle, but must have bought a different size? I wanted to do a buff coat right at the end of my project. At first the paint came out perfect - and then - SPATTERED on the front of the model!~ I was finished, done, down the road! Now I have all this Brad Pitt (<-- that is too funny not what I wrote) on my model. What am I going to do? Repaint the whole thing? Nope!

In fact, I wasn't even upset. This is what is awesome about building models - you can always, always, change up and make it work! So I had the most honest person I know come and check out the model and tell me what he thought. My 8 year old son looks at it and says "that is so cool dad, I like those mud spots on the front."

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of course he does!

And this is going to work perfect with the diorama I am building for this model -I ordered a part this morning from AK interactive and should have it sometime next week.

The rust work on this project is just what I want - I love the way it has turned out and is going to look epic (hopefully) in my final product! These are pics taken in natural light - kind of a non-direct sunlight

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[TheTroyster]

And a pic under a light - a little different look.

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and under natural light

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[mperegrinefalcon]

Cool! Nice work mate.
Can't wait to see what it turns into!
Also, I live in Colorado too.

Cheers,

[mperegrinefalcon]

I recently started my first armor build. Check it out. http://www.intscalemodeller.com/viewtop ... 92&t=13292

Looking for tips and constructive criticism.
It's a M18 hellcat, so I have to detail the interior because as u might know, the hellcat has an open turret. Will be doing a full photo build of it.

[TheTroyster]

You know as a total novice I use this form for my "how to" guide. I always have some issues with rust, I have used the AK Rust Streaks, Rust Wash, but they just don't give that bright orange look you see normally. I find that if you combine several you can get some better results, and then I discovered this cheep Folk Art paint "Cinnamon" color - it's a match - on this model I started off with this color and just worked in the other colors to get the desired results.

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I start mixing it with the other normal stuff you would use:

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And then work in several products at once, Normally Ill do the AK a couple of times before I am done, but this was just after one treatment

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