Model Gallery:   M4A2 Red Army Sherman, Academy Kit in 1/35.

Built for the  All American Tracks Campaign on Armorama.com   from Oct. 2011- Dec. 2011.

Build Notes:

This is the Academy M4A2 Red Army Sherman, and the assembly went great... everything fit well. no problems there..

After having such good results on my little jeep I did previously I guess I got a little too carried away and tried to hard on the paint on this one.

I tried to do an oil paint fading, but it became more of an oil paint filter, with the yellow orche paint turning the finish into an orangey cast that I managed to fix with a OD enamel filter.

Then I decided to try an enamel wash instead of the oil wash that I tend to do. that did not come out well either, and for some reason I painted the tools before I did my wash and got little flecks of metal paint all over the tanks finish.. some spots of the tank actually sparkle when you move it under the lights..

But the Worst thing was the Decals.. I've done other academy kits in the past and have had good results with the decals.. but these were something else. I applied them over a gloss coat.. set them with a light coating of Solveset, came back a day later, and they were pealing from the tank.. Had to give them a heavier coating of solveset a couple more times.. sealed them with a gloss coat, and still had some silvering.. If anyone has this kit.. I highly recommend aftermarket decals..

After doing what I could to rescue the darn thing without starting over, I'll call this one a learning experience and be done with it.. I didn't weather it all that much because I think I will be sitting this one aside as a testbed for learning how to do mud in the future. ..

and for the record I'm not down on the Model.. I loved the build, Just my execution of the painting was flawed this time..

As Thomas Edison once said,

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”