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Testors Italeri 1/35 M47 Patton, Cold War, USAREUR


Stikpusher

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And the painting begins. Today I airbrushed on a coat of gray Tamiya primer overall followed by Tamiya white primer on the areas that will be white. I’ll let it dry overnite, then start actual painting tomorrow.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I’ve got all the base colors on the power pack now. Just need a wash and then I can install it and get the hull assembly completed.

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Wash on and cleaned up, then power pack installed.

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and what will be visible.... 

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Time to get this one moving forward past this stage.

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Today I got the upper hull glued in place. Starting to look like a tank now!

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 I need to deal with one seam on the bottom rear and then I can add all of the last little bits to complete the hull

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  • 2 weeks later...

Back in the saddle on this one today

I added the small bits to the rear of the hull

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and began adding the small bits to the front of the hull

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Not much longer until hull construction is done...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I finally finished all the basic construction on the hull. It was pointed out to me elsewhere that the hull attachment point for the rear fender braces was inaccurate. So I modified them to look more like the real thing.

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And I added all of the little bits to the front of the hull

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Now I just need to add the cast armor texturing and casting marks to the hull

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Small progress on the turret. Over the past few days I assembled the main gun, sanded the seams smooth then installed it into the turret bottom


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And today I airbrushed the turret interior white...

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I just need to paint the breech block steel, sand off the paint on the surfaces to be glued, and assemble the turret halves... then this will start looking like a TANK!

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Well, I just had to forge ahead this morning....

Breech block painted steel. Not sure if it’s accurate or not for the M47, but I like the look, and I’ve seen it before on other types. Besides, the turret hatches will be closed and no one will see it...

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Then I glued the upper and lower turret halves together

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and well, I just had to fit it on the hull

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Now it looks like a tank!

Next up, adding all the little bits to the turret before the cast armor texturing

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So more work on the turret this week. Firstly I puttied up the points where the cargo rails attach, since I won’t be using the kit parts. I also added some very thin rod styrene along the seam line where the turret halves go together to replicate the weld seam on the real turret. Today I sanded the putty smooth and using some “hotter” plastic cement and my finger nail to texture the weld seam bead.

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Yesterday I added on the early style grab rails on the turret sides using parts from my spares bin.

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Now I just need to add the rod frame type guards on the commander’s and gunner’s sights and the backdating of the turret will be completed. Next up, cast armor texture.

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A little more progress to post. Over on Armorama, it was pointed out to me that the turrets had some external “dimples” welded into the armor where the gun trunnions attach to the turret sides. So I cut some small pieces of tube styrene and glued them into the appropriate spots

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Then I sanded them to a more scale thickness, doused them with liquid cement, and gave a bit of weld texture around the edges with a toothpick.

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Now I can proceed to adding the cast armor texture where needed... nearly all of the turret and much of the front and rear hull...

Edited by Stikpusher
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One more update- I finished adding the cast armor texture a bit more rapidly than I thought that I would using Mr Surfacer and a Microbrush. 

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and a couple close ups

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it should look good under a coat of paint...

This will be my last update on this until next week. Have plans for the weekend, so I won’t get any bench time.

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Well, the back dating of the kit is now complete. I added the wire cage style brush guards to the commander’s and gunner’s periscopes, modified the sledge to reverse its positioning, and then added the hatch handles, rangefinder housing lifting eyes, and rear turret stowage bin. 

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All I need to do now is add the mantlet dust cover and armor foundry casting marks

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  • 4 weeks later...

I had a mishap while adding the casting marks on the first go, so I stopped, ordered some Archer raised resin decals and awaited their arrival before resuming work.

Monday and back in action with this one. I added some Archer raised resin decals casting marks to the turret and hull. We shall see how they look under a coat of paint soon.

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Yeah, these are for a Sherman, but most likely only a M47 fanatic would know that they are not proper for a Patton

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Well, another day, another update: 

I found one more casting mark in some photos over the bow gunners position, so I added another casting mark decal. Some tanks had ‘em, some didn’t. But I figured why not for mine. And then later I created the dust cover for the mantlet using white glue and tissue paper.

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So next I have to come up with all the little clamps that hold the dust cover in place around the edges...

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  • 1 month later...

Thank you James. I just need to get this one wrapped up.

Yesterday I finally got around to making the brackets to hold down the mantlet dust cover

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Almost ready for paint now. I just need to add a couple of things first.

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Aside from adding the tracks and some antennas, basic construction is now complete. I replaced the kit .50 for the TC, with one from Dragon out of my spares drawers.

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Painting can begin tomorrow…

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I airbrushed on a coat of Humbrol enamel Matt Black for the base coat

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And a couple close ups of the added armor texturing and Archer casting mark decals under the base coat paint. I think that they look pretty good

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Good guys wear black…

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Woohoo! Olive Drab applied! I used Mission Models FS 33070 version of OD on this one. In all honesty, the more that I airbrush Mission Models, the less that I like them. Maybe it’s the dry climate here, but I get far better control and results with most every other brand. Anyways….

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and some close ups of the casting texture and marks decals under the paint

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More to come in a few days…

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So yesterday was bit more work on the road to completion,

I painted the road wheel and return roller tires using Mission Models Rubber Black. Then I airbrushed on a coat of Future in preparation for decals

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Then I had to give the tracks a test fit…

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Decals coming soon…

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Thank you Jim. It’s getting there.

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And the decals are now on! Not that many, even if some are a bit large and gaudy. 

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These Star Decals are a bit thick and matt in finish. It’s taken a few doses of Solvaset to get the larger ones to conform to the texturing.

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Thank you David.

On the real tank, drivers usually have their hatch open and drive heads out most of the time. When they “button up” and close hatches, they have a rotating periscope in the hatch to see outside. You can see the brush guard railing on the hatch that protects the periscope.

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  • 4 months later...

Well, after sidelining this one in the mid summer due to life going on, I knuckled down on this one and wrapped it up over the past few day. Calling this done for now until I can whip up a proper base, a figure, and perhaps a few more additions.

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