AAM Conversion Thread - Are the pics visible this time??
Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 3:56 am
I decided to convert the tanks. I have finished one Sherman. I wanted to do one and see how it looked before I did others. Also, I picked the Sherman because it is (so far) and (IMHO) the worst looking one of the bunch. I must say, it is actually a pretty nice looking model if fixed up properly. The first thing I did on all the tanks was to tighten up the turrets. They were way too loose. This wasn't as simple as just tightening the screws. The posts on the bottom of the turrets were too long in many cases and had to be trimmed about 1/16 - 1/8 of an inch. Then the screws could be tightened to my liking. Another thing I did that was basic was to fill in the hollow undersides with putty. I didnt like how light they were. The green stuff gives it a nice heft without being too heavy. If you do this, make sure to put a little wad of paper or something over the screw, otherwise the putty locks the screw in place and the turret either will not move, or will move but unscrews every time you turn it. I molded the putty to the aproximate shape as the bottom of the tank. The Sherman was easy. Some of the other tanks will have to be done after I look at some of my other models as a reference because they are missing parts of the hull. The Tiger, for instance, is missing the lower HALF of the front of the hull. I will have to sculpt this If I want to make it look good. I then took a bunch of little stowage bits that I had from some WTM tanks (they are a little oversized for WTM so they fit these tanks pretty well. Of course one of the things that makes the Sherman fun to model and look at is all the miscellaneous stowage they usually were carrying. These also help hide the lack of details on the model itself. I glued ammo packs, blanket rolls etc.. on the sides, I put crates, sacks and a fuel barrell on the rear deck. Of course some spare track on the front in front of the drivers compartment. I didn't like how flat and undetailed the rear end of the tank was so I put a crate there too. I guess this is a little un realistic, but it looks better than nothing there. We'll just say it's lashed to the back. I found a little 50 cal. ammo case and attached it to the machine gun in the proper place. All these little things really help the overall look. I moved the machine gun so that I could put a tank commander out the hatch. I cut Mr. Red Devil (whom I got plenty of) at the waist and glued him coming out the hatch. He looks pretty good. I had to remove his gun of course. Finally, I painted it the proper color, or at least the color I always use on my sherms which is Vallejo olive grey, painted the stowage, gave the whole thing a light black wash, decals and weathering and voila, a pretty nice looking tank. I will be doing this to lesser or greater extent to all of the different tanks. I will post pics tonight as right now I have to work. I just wanted to give some ideas to other people like me who can't just leave well enough alone. I already put a few little things on some of the other tanks, like a tank commander on one of the Panzer IV's and some fuel cans, spare track etc. I am thinking about scribing my own details like maybe the doors, joints and rivets on the side of the turret schurtzen. I can see where this will become a fun little hobby for me. Is anyone else customizing or modifying their AA miniatures. Maybe we could start a new thread with pictures and tips? Is there enough interest from modelers to do this? let me know.
