ReaperCon Projects - The Sherman Part V

I was going to call this one done, but now I have a problem to solve. I tried to finish this one on the road at Reaper Con but I didn't manage to pull that off. I just didn't have the time I needed although I did have the right tools.

Last night I was able to sit down with the powders and finished it off and I was pretty happy with the result. I tried to over weather as spraying dullcoat tends to blow off the powders although I was hoping that the pan pastels would hold up better as they have a bit more "tooth" to them. 

Not only was that not the case, most of my powder blew off but the Army Painter Anti-Shine spray left a whole ton of white speckles all over the model. I'm not sure how to approach even fixing this at this point, but its to expensive a model to just discard. 

I think I'm going to go over it with just some pure mineral spirits and see what that does and I certainly won't be using that particular can of matte spray again. I have learned quite a bit with this project and hopefully I can apply all those lessons to the other Sherman that I have in progress. Also I need to remember to fix the powders in place first then apply the matte finish and the thing is I knew that and still didn't do it.

Pretty happy with this point, although some of the paintwork on the tracks has been covered. I anticipating losing some of this powder when I seal it. I used three different pan pastels and one MiG pigment. I don't remember the colors right now but I have them still sitting on the table so I'll at least record them for the next time.

And disaster strikes. While I lost a whole lot more weathering powder than I expect, I have also managed to add a ton of these white speckles. I have not idea how to fix this right now. I'll have to set it aside and think about it.

Review - Armored Thunderbolt by Steven Zaloga

Armored Thunderbolt by Steven Zaloga
Stackpole Books, 2008

First off this is not a detailed discussion of the technical aspects of the Sherman tank. Hunnicutt's book is still the bible as far as Sherman technical detail is concerned. However, this is an excellent book on the history of the Sherman and how it was shaped by the lessons learned (or ignored) early in the war and by internal army politics. This looks at the Sherman from both the American and British point of view. How it was used, how it evolved as the war moved forward as well as dispelling some myths and verifying others. There are plenty of pictures (although not nearly as many as in his other two books Armored Victory and Armored Attack) including old favorites and many new ones (at least to me). The focus is primarily on the ETO although there is a chapter on the Pacific theater and during the Cold War. If you are Sherman enthusiast or just a tank enthusiast in general this is a must have book. The retail price is $34.95 but I was able to find a really good used copy on Amazon for about $20.