172Shermans Blog

Hey Doug:
how has your summer been, sir? all settled in I hope? I jsut finished an M4A3 with Somerfield matting on it and it came out pretty swell. I 'm going to take some pictures and hope fully do some step by step shots for an article for the Sherman site. My M36's are almost done too, I did a normal one and a the B2 on the m4a3 chassis. they have been quite fun, but those Extratech kits leave a lot of detail off. I'm almost done Cpl Overby's M18 and got isnpired to do a Super pershing, and just wieghted the front on it and started the extra armor. very interesting. Hope you are well! Tom

Hey Doug:
congrats on the house, hope closing went without a hitch....now the big question: What kind of space are you getting for the ole hobby? I'm working out of a dormer in the attic room, actually nice, but pretty tight and rather warm in the summer months. Made it to AMPS but got a $110 speeding ticket cause I was talking to my son instead of paying attention to the signs and a trooper got me. (Also not paying attention earlier, adn had to stop quick adn my box of models hit the floor, breaking off lots of fagile pieces....bummer.) So I really couldnt buy much in all good concience. did get a phot etch bike and buckets, and some alum. barrels. good to meet the guys, and some inspiring builds. just there for saturday and the vendors really broke down kind of early. Museum was interesting, only one true tank, a chieftain outside in the rain, but and M18 and a marder 3 M inside , but every German halftrack, truck, ever made it seemed. Hope you are setting into your new job. I know how stressful that can be!
Tom

Modeling can wait? MODELING CAN WAIT?!?!?!

Sacrilege!!
:-)

Thanks for the support Florin.
-D

Doug, don't feel discouraged. Modeling can wait for a while. Good luck in finding a house!

Doug: wow, sounds like a lot of responsibiliy! As to the veil, I bought tool on two separate occasions cause I spaced out that I had bought it before....so I have enough to equip an army group!!! It is pretty cool at Pax River as they are testing all the navy wingy things, got to check out the osprey, and the new F35 VSTOL plus there is a great museum with simulators you can fly agains each other in an actual cockpit. His job is very cool.
Tom

Hey Tom,
The new job is with the US Forest Service. I'll be the Regional Planning and Monitoring Coordinator for Region 9 (20 states - approximately all of the northeastern US from MN eastward).

I always wanted to get a job as a wildlife biologist on a military base. Applied for one once for Camp Pendleton, but didn't land it. Would have been a great confluence of my interests in nature and the military! Oh well.

Wedding veil for chicken wire? What a great idea. Hope your wife is aware of your plans for her dress..... :-)

Sounds cool Doug,
I'm gonna try to make it also but will be in a similair situation, It is a week before tech for one of our shows, so it will sort of depend on how insane I am. Would be cool to meet you in person. hope the move goes well. What is the new job? you were a naturalist down in Florida, right? My Bro in law manages the wildlife and land at PAX River naval Air station in southern MD. It is a pretty cool job. does a lot of trying to keep the wildlife off of runways by natural means. He has put together a pretty cool museum too. last time I was there, I got to see Bald eagles nesting, really awesome.
on the modeling front, the halftracks are going well , but the CMZ drilling unit is way too big so I'm going nuts trying to get it down to size. I cant see how that unit actually rotated in the back of a 251. also started getting that Beutepanzer M4 of dragon's into shape to be a real soviet one. I cant believe the amount of spare parts that come with that kit! they just mixed and matched till they had the correct pieces. it has three turret sprues, too bad they didnt include the tops to all the turrets, cant have everything though, it is tricking out my trumpeter M4A3 though that I'm going to try and put sommerford matting on. I'm hoping that wedding viel tool will be scale enough for chicken wire.
Tom

My pleasure. As I mentioned, it's not much use for Dragon Shermans, since they all come with their own etched details. And same for UM. But for Trumpeter, Italeri, and all the many resin Shermans we have available, this set is a must.

Greetings to the one and only visitor who has registered to post here! :-)

Tom, I'll be hitting the road in early April. Luckily, I don't have to do much packing, because the movers are taking care of that (thanks to my employer paying for moving expenses :-) But once we get there, we'll be looking for a house to buy, so it probably will be another month or longer until we have our own place.

As for AMPS, it falls on the second week of my new employment :-( I don't think it would be appropriate to ask for time off that soon after starting, so I am going to attend the AMPS show only on the last day (Saturday) since it's not that far of a drive.
-D

best of luck on that move, sir! When are you on the road? All packed up yet? Are you going to make it to the AMPS thing in Indiana? (or is it IMPS) I was going to try to make it with my son if it doesn't fall on one of our tech weekends. got a lot of Halftracks to show off, if I ever finish them... Just finished building the new Revel 251 with the crate rockets. went together well and the link and length tracks were a treat. though I dont mind the dragon tracks for the 251 and shermans. I'm just afraid in 7 years they will decide to desinegrate, and then where will I be....anyway, best of luck on the move!
Tom, I read your blog,Fiocchi

You won't get any argument from me on the UM Shermans! I think I've made my thoughts pretty clear in my reviews. What a major disappointment. They had so much potential, and I had such high hopes for them. Oh.... to go back to the days of their BT-series and other Soviet light tanks... I like their Pz.38s as well. I guess they're a bit like Trumpeter with different design teams of varying talent.

And now the icing on the cake is their prices here in the US. I see that the new releases are retailing for almost $20! UM needs to realize that if they want to sell kits at Dragon prices, they need to have Dragon-quality kits (which I already think are overpriced too.)

I'm with you on this one Doug, I think in some ways, UM is a screwed up as Dragon. I loved their T34 series and Pz38, some nagging problems but, virtually every tank in the series adn they are still coming, I could deal with the bad screen cover on the back of the t34s and stupid vinyl tires, cause the tracks are great and size adn shape are accurate. Pz38 series has little detail problems on every tank, but that helps with the fun, personally, But then they toss up those freaking shermans!!!! so much potential, I havent bought a single one. I might get an E8 just for the hard tracks to use as stowage on other tanks when they start going on sale. What can they be thinking? boggles the mind, separate tools, PE, and then they dont get the width of the tracks right or the right amount of freaking holes in the road wheels????? I actually had hopes they might eventually fix the problems, but I guess I'll let that one go.

Congrats on the Job!!!! I'm on the 24th, fellow aquarian, I should have known. It is a little scarey job wise here at the University, but our theater dept has national rep so I'm crossing my fingers I'm not part of the 10% cut.... thanks for the kind words about the site, I guess I've been building swords for so long now that it is sort of run of the mill for me now....and business has seriously dropped off with the ressession....

Hey Tom,
Success on the job front! I landed the new position in Milwaukee. Will be moving up there in early April. I know it gets cold, but recall that I'm from there, and I never acclimated to the climate here in Florida. I'm actually looking forward to cold winters again.

When was your b-day? Mine was the 27th, the day after I got the job offer. That was a better present than any hobby order ever could be. Well, except maybe an order from Milan :-)

Hey, I checked out your website. Too cool! Being an avid history buff, martial artist, and former SCA member, I really dig what you're doing. I need to spend some more time there poking around your wares, but right now, it's pizza time!

Take care.

Doug:
actually I'm from southeastern Ohio, Athens is the place. Drove up to Chicago, only sold one smallsword, but I'll probably get some business out of it. Check out the web site at www.fiocchisword.net . I did a lot of fighting in the SCA back in the early 80's, now I have too much else to do, though my son is facinated and It would be nice to get him into anything physical. Have you heard about your possible chicago job? It is fricking freezing up here man, although I guess it has been freezing in Florida lately too. Not much movement on the modeling front, though I'm trying to get to some stuff tonight. Just had a birthday and got some good loot, UM SU85, UM hetzer with the SIG 33 mounted with the open top, Mirage Screened T26, twin turret polish vickers, plus a dragon UHU night fighter, which I think is a wicked cool looking airplane.... I actually had the new dragon 75 mm PAK with figures, in my hands at the hobby shop and couldn't pull the trigger on $23 freaking dollars.....I can do 12 to 15 but man, I just am having a hell of a time with over 20. I hear you with the too many hobbies, I wish I had more time....

Tom,
That sounds like quite the cluttered workbench! Same here. I think I have about a dozen projects in various stages of completion on my bench. When I get a hankerin' to spend time on one specific item, I just push everything else out of the way.

Warhammer, huh? I actually got my start in painting when I was a teenager painting the metal miniature figures for fantasy role playing games. I've been looking at that Warhammer stuff ever since! I'm just afraid to buy one, because then I'll get sucked into it, and that's exactly what I DON'T need: another hobby.

So, you're in the Chicago area? Hopefully I'll be moving back up in that direction soon myself. I'm originally from the Milwaukee area, and am currently waiting for word on a job I interviewed for up there. Would love to get back home to my family. And speaking of swords, you familiar with the Society for Creative Anachronism? I was involved with them a very long time ago....

You, know, I never finish ANYTHING! but I have learned that I'm ok with that. I just love working on stuff. I had some down time over the holidays and it was just great. My 13 year old son got some War Hammer figures and is a quite talented painter! So I got a partner there to egg me on, and my M4 A3 HVSS roll over his space marines!! I got the tiny RPM Tanketia which is about Ace quality, but no rivets at all, and some extra work. It was fun though, had to use a german 20 mm barrel as the kit one was flat on one side. Working on a lot of my shermans, had a cool break through, a while back on some site I found printed pattern s in 1/35 scale of the american ration boxes, the ones with the quarter moons on them. I finally got around to shrinking them in a xeerox machine on tan paper and I have been cutthing them an folding them around tiny pieces of balsa. They are so cool I have made about 30 and am glueing them all over my Shermans, Chaffees adn Pershings! Started work on my own attempt at the super pershing using the Zaloga article, then decided I would finish all my tiger 1's, after putting together the Awesome Dragon early tiger! Had a breakthrough using upholstery thread for tiger tow cables and was pretty successful attempt with that exaust deflector at the back with a super thin piece of plastic and brass wire supports....also zimmeritted the porsche prototype tiger with my hot knife and I finally have the pattern fine enough to look inscale. been experimenting with washes on some airplanes (russian fighters) that are also very encouraging.... Wow that sounds like a lot.... I've been stealing time whenever I can, but as i said, i can;t finish anything... Must be ADHD or something....I hope your hoidays went well, I'm currently building a pile of swords for a stage combat workshop in chicago on Friday, and as usual I'm way behind....so I can only find time to open model boxes and dream of more time to work on my babies...

Hey Tom,
Not a chance. I'm hoping to get some work done tonight, but I can't make any guarantees. I REALLY want to finish the Puma and M4A4 before this month is over. I need the motivation that can only be provided by actually finishing something. What about you? What are you working on?

Any tank work over the holidays, Doug?

Hey Doug:
sounds like you are having a tough day there. pictures and paint don't look so bad from here, sir.... Hey, I started Cprl. Overby's M18 last night. I guess it is the old Rhino mold that he got his hands on. so far so good. got the wheels adn tracks on ok, but had to space up the return rollers or they would have been floating in space held there by the rather flimsy tracks. Got out all my walk around books adn going to have a go at seriously doing up the inside . I think the kit might have some angle shape problems and a tallish turret, just looking at the plans and kit proportionally. I really am not complaining though. I'm very happy to have it. The headlight brush protectors are going to be a challenge. I was wondering how tough it might be to solder brass ones. I have all the stuff for it. thinking about trying to do some star antennas like that too.... did you get a chance to build the M18? anyway, chin up sir.