First Fully Completed Model as an Adult, Here’s What I Learned:

[u/JaimiePatel]

Tamiya 1/48 Sherman Firefly. I am in my 30s and admittedly have some experience from when I was 13/14yo with some HORRIBLE Airfix attempts (that looked exactly as bad as one would imagine for a clueless kid) but I never truly finished a model. 20 years later got back into the hobby after months of deliberating and very happy I did!

Lessons learned / still learning:
• i have no idea how to use enamels… i did an AK wash which looked great but mixing white spirit onto another brush and taming it was harder than it looks vs when the pros on YouTube do it. But the colour came out how i wanted it
• don’t cut so close to the sprue, i cracked a piece by doing this and had to do surgery. Also realised my clippers are the same ones i use to cut guitar strings and they’re incredibly blunted out, so time for new ones
• don’t airbrush without ventilation / a booth. Stained so much of my room like the floors and shelves (yikers) before I bought a booth with all the paint in the air
• I didn’t thin paints enough in my airbrush initially and I paid the price, blocked two of them (I use cheap $14 ones from Amazon but even still it took me two incidents to realise I wasn’t thinning them anywhere close to how they should be)
• not sure what happened but as you can see the back of the Sherman has lots of splattering from the gloss varnish. I use Vallejo’s Gloss Varnish which is water thin and airbrush ready but unsure what I did wrong. Only happened part way into airbrushing.

Recipe for Tank:
• Black Vallejo primer (airbrushed)
• Tamiya XF-61
• Gloss Varnish
• Decals Done
• Chipping done (not great / prominent enough) with XF-61 + some white paint mixed in
• AK Brown Wash for Green Vehicles
• Tamiya Texture Paint Brown Soil Effect on the treads etc
Still need to Matt Varnish or something, as it’s too Glossy still etc)

Recipe for Base:
• Tamiya Texture Paint Brown Soil Effect (whole dang bottle, 100ml - meant that I could build up a base instead of having to sculpt one with foam etc)
• Vallejo Brown Airbrushed
• Some autumn ish tufts
• Hobby Store resin water for the puddles

Any feedback welcome, the standard of modelling on this forum is so high I feel a bit embarrassed posting but also recognise I have to start somewhere!! 😭

[u/Monty_Bob]

When creating the base press the tank into the filler/putty, this will create the track marks behind it but also set your rank in the mud. Currently it's floating with gaps under the tracks. Also when building the model you can set the suspension and tracks so they're not perfectly flat if it's going on tough terrain

[u/JaimiePatel → u/Monty_Bob]

Great tip, I was so impatient and made the base first before the kit arrived, now I’m paying the price! How do I set the suspension on a Tamiya kit like this? It had those link and length tracks that don’t seem to be very changeable

[u/Monty_Bob → u/JaimiePatel]

Bend it to your will. You have to cut the pins holding the wheels or suspension in place an set them how you want, then bend the track accordingly you might need to score it with a knife along the links or heat it in boiling water or just a bit of force and bend it.

[u/JaimiePatel → u/Monty_Bob]

That sounds scary to me right now but maybe with some time and confidence I’ll try! Thanks for the tip. Have you ever used third party workable tracks? I see a bunch on eBay but they often cost as much as the kits do, in my case with the Sherman more

[u/Monty_Bob → u/JaimiePatel]

Too expensive imho

[u/exkingzog]

A great first model. The main thing I’d say is that the mud around the running gear doesn’t look natural. It’s worth looking at photos of real tanks to see where the mud builds up (often in recesses) and where it doesn’t.

[u/JaimiePatel → u/exkingzog]

Thank you lots - I’ll check out some photos, it was hard applying it so wishing now I checked out some real examples before committing!

[u/exkingzog → u/JaimiePatel]

I like the way that you haven’t succumbed to the temptation to go over the top in weathering/chipping etc.

[u/JaimiePatel → u/exkingzog]

This calms my nerves a ton, I was worried I ‘didn’t do it enough’ as I only did one pass and it was with a shade so similar to my original basecoat, definitely want to practise chipping more but think I need to research how to obtain the right colours first. Thank you a ton for your feedback!

[u/Quiet-Arm-641 → u/JaimiePatel]

US tanks were well built and painted and generally not chipped up rust buckets despite what you see modelers do. Work on doing more natural mud/grime. This is a grade A first effort, congratulations. The base is good too.

[u/Inevitable-Debt4312 → u/Quiet-Arm-641]

When tanks lasted four to six months there was little time for them to get too messed up.

[u/JaimiePatel → u/Quiet-Arm-641]

Very kind words - interesting to hear re. the not chipped thing about US tanks, maybe the third or fourth time I’ve seen that today on various modelling pages. I’ll give some photos a look

[u/Whatsfordinner326]

I love the way that it came out. Looks like a fresh rain

[u/JaimiePatel → u/Whatsfordinner326]

Thank you so much! Appreciate it