Paint It Black (undercoating the "Last American" Sherman)

The interior engine detail of the Esci/Italeri Sherman implied interior painting (ho hum) which in turn implied first of all a black (Tamiya XF1) undercoat inside and out (see below): 

With the undercoat duly administered the interior engine compartment was daubed liberally in Anita's Acrylic Metalic Black, which was then mixed with Anita's Acrylic Silver, in three step up shades (percentage of Silver to Metalic Black being increased to suit the eye). The turret was popped on for the complete Sherman look and feel, although I still have to connect the tracks together (see below) 

I can almost hear the engine turning over (see below):

The close up detail looks nice, but the only way I will ever see it is to ensure that tehe engine decking can be lifted off. That means expect a future blog post complaining bitterly about "how stupid I am" when the said 'engine decking' and 'Sherman' part company, ending up in separate boxes in the loft!

In many ways the Sherman kit reminds me of the awful Esci/Italeri M6 GMC truck transmission (including the M6's  37mm AT variant). That was nightmare model to make for the sheer complexity introduced for a completely hidden feature, but then again "I made it anyway" because it was there! Later Italeri to their credit produced kits (like the M8 Greyhound) that had a simpler 'wargamer rather than modeller' assembly option with less fiddly parts.
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