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Dragon M48A1 Elvis Tank, Patton Project Pt.III ***FINISHED***


Stikpusher

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Well here I go again… another Patton tank… but not just any Patton, but the mount of “The King”

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I’m going to make Elvis’ M48A1 from GI Blues, turning this kit

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into this

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So far I’ve completed steps 1 & 2 and built the road wheels and basic lower hull

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Stay tuned for more progress updates….

Thank you very much 😉

Edited by Stikpusher
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Steps 3 & 4 now completed - bits added to upper hull, the upper and lower hulls glued together

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That’s enough for today….

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So I’ve made a bit more progress over the past few days…

First up, I added the engine rear and top deck areas, the biggest visual difference between the M48/M48A1 and all of the follow on variants. Much closer is appearance to the preceding M46 & M47, than the A2, A3, A5 and M60 family engine decks…

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Then earlier today I added the road wheel arms, shocks, and final drive housings

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More to come in a day or two….

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Had a short workbench session today.., I glued on all the road wheels and did the basic construction of the fenders. The sprocket wheels are test fitted but not glued in place until I add the tracks. I’m deviating fro. The instruction a bit now by concentrating on the hull before I start on the turret. The instructions by this point have you bouncing back and forth.

BEF256-F8-3555-4822-B6-F4-2-F3-B1774-AF8

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Today I got in a few good long bench sessions and finished up the hull.

First up I added the BII tools and PE detail bits to the fenders, glued on the tracks, then glued the fenders in place

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then later on I added the tow cables to the fenders, and the last detail items to  the glacis area

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Now it’s all ready for priming the hull… I have another project that I want to prime, so two projects during the same priming session, and then I can start assembly on the turret later in the week.

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Since I had the airbrush up and running today, and the primer mixed properly, I also airbrushed on a coat onto the hull of this one after finishing with the Crusader AA session.

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I just left the driver periscopes undone as those are clear and I need to do an interior silver coat on those first.

Now I need to start on the turret assembly…

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Thanks Mark. Just wait until I get some OD on this baby… 😉

I had a good bench session in today after lunch. I completed about 95% of the turret assembly. I need to do a little bit of painting before I call the turret finished and I can move on to priming the turret

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Now of course I had to test fit the turret….

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I think tomorrow that I’ll wrap up the rest of assembly aside from clear parts that I won’t glue into place until just before weathering….

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  • 2 weeks later...

And now back to our regularly scheduled build… today I finished up priming the rest of this build so it’s all in black now, ready for regular painting to begin

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 6/2/2022 at 9:42 AM, Mark Deliduka said:

Rock and roll Carlos! Looking good!

Thank you very much 😉

And we are back! 
First up I put down some Insignia Yellow on the turret front sides for the company insignia. Then I cut some circle masks from Tamiya tape and masked off the appropriate areas. Much easier to do it this way due to the location and items around there that would interfere with masking around the area.

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Then earlier today I airbrushed on a coat of Gunze Olive Drab (2)

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Now I’ve got to let that dry and cure before the next stage of gloss coat & decals.

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Mark & John, thanks for looking in and your kind comments. I really can’t say enough good things about this kit so far. 

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So more progress on this over the past few days

First up, off came the circle masks, and on went a gloss coat for decals

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Then on went the decals, markings as in GI Blues for tank B-11 from 32nd Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Division. I used spare decals from various kits to do the markings.

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I just need to get the decals sealed in, then I can start final detail painting & weathering
 

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Thanks Mark. This project has been pretty smooth sailing so far.

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Still plugging away at my Elvis M48. Lately I had done the detail painting of some stowage items, and added the field cargo packs onto the turret grab rails based on where they are in the movie

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my way…

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Next up, flat coat and final bits & detail painting, then weathering.

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Thank you Mark. I’m trying to keep this one looking in good condition as the US Army of that era was very much about sharp appearances. Especially over in West Germany. Can’t look bad facing off against those heathen communists.

Over the holiday weekend it was quite busy here, but I was able to get a few more small bench sessions in: flat coat, painting of the stowage & dust covers, and washes on those items. 

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I think a couple more sessions and I can call this one finished.

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Well it’s one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now go cat go!
I’m calling this beast finished. Dragon’s 1/35 M48A1, (Magach boxing) done up as Elvis’s ride in “GI Blues”. Markings are cobbled together from what I have in my decal bin. The TC figure was originally from the Academy KIFV, modified slightly.

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And I made up a simple base for it as well…

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Thanks for looking, comments and critiques welcome…
Thank you very much… 😉

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  • Stikpusher changed the title to Dragon M48A1 Elvis Tank, Patton Project Pt.III ***FINISHED***
  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks Chris. I’m happy to hear that you like this. The black basing works great on monotone schemes like this one.

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