I'm QDC. What we're about to build today is Dragon Sherman Firefly the Hybrid Hull and
also Verlinden Productions British Sherman Firefly Storage, Ammo and Crew. This is part
two of the Sherman Firefly diorama and so lets start building this kit right now. Lets
take a look inside the box. We have the instruction sheet. Tracks. Figures. Turret. Upper hull.
Parts for the lower hull. The lower hull itself. And the wheels. I want
I want to talk to you about working with photo etched parts. This is a photo etched part and right over here is a
headlight guard and working with photo etched part is really is not that hard. What you
need to do is to use a knife and simply cut part out of the fret and once you have the
part out you need to shape it in place. What I'm going to use is I'm going to use an end
of a paint brush and I'm going to simply bend this piece of metal into a shape that I want.
so in this particular kit you get quite a lot of extra accessories for your model tank.
You get the figures and really just a treasure trove of accessories in this bag including
ammo casings, bedrolls, packs, gas cans, everything you would want. And here is a picture of what
it's supposed to look like right over here. Now. In my personal opinion, I think that
this pictures is historically inaccurate and the reason why is because there are too many
things on the back and it's not even tied down. I looked at historical photos of Sherman
tanks and the Firefly when it had extra storage in the back there one-quarter of that and
it was tied down with some sort of rope because when you go down a road or any other terrain
without tying it down it's going fall right off. So I'm not going to use everything here
in this kit. Just a quarter of it.
Alright so we built the model kit and now it's time for me to show you what I think about this model kit so far. Take a look. This is the
completed model kit after assembly and it looks really nice I like the Dragon kit itself.
Highly detailed and I like the texture of the turret. The bogies looks pretty nice and
realistic and the addition of the Verlinden Productions accessories really help make this
model...it gives it an authentic look. I like the Verlinden Productions accessories a lot.
Although I like this model kit there's one thing that I do not like and that is the instructions.
The one that I'm pointing at right here and this instruction sheet has omitted part numbers
and also it omitted steps entirely so it was a challenge for me to build this model kit
but it wasn't that bad for me. Now that being said, I would not recommend this model kit
for the beginners but only for the intermediate and for the advance modeler. It's time for
me to paint the model. It's time for me to paint my model. I already gave the entire
model a coat of black primer and now it's time for me to use my airbrush and paint the
entire model with a coat of the main color. I'm going to protect my entire model. I"m
going to give my entire model a coat of Future Floor Wax. I'm going to do some pin washing.
What you see right here is a dilution of black artist oil paint and mineral spirits and I'm
going to simply just do some pin washing all over my model. I'm going add some rain streaks.
I'm going to put a dot of flesh colored paint right over here and then with another brush
moistened with mineral spirits I'm going to make streak marks by simply brushing it down.
I'm going to add some chip effects. I just used ordinary sewing thread to represent rope
to tie down all the extra equipment for this tank. I'm going to give my entire model dust
effects. I'm going to tint my entire model with a coat of buff color. I'm going to give
some mud effects. What you see right here is a dilution of yellow glue and water and
right over here is a bottle of tile grout and what I'm going to do is I'm going to apply
the dilution of glue where I want the mud to be applied and then I'm going to simply
sprinkle on the tile grout. Ok so we finished building the kit and it looks very nice. Highly
detailed. And now it's time for us to build the diorama. It's time for me to build the
diorama. What you see right here is a wooden base that I bought at my local craft store
and I protected it by giving it a clear coat. This is premixed tile grout, static grass,
and more tile grout in the powered form. And my first step is to put in the premixed tile
grout. Now I'm going to add the static grass. It's time for me to add the powdered tile
grout. I blew away the excess material with force air and now I'm going to put my model
onto the base. To give my model a sense of weight I'm going to use my knife and just
push away some of the ground material to make it look like it has weight. Ok so we built
the model kit. We painted it. We weathered it and we even made a diorama out it and now
it's time for me to show you the entire model project from the beginning to the end. Take
a look. This is the completed model diorama after painting and weathering and making the
base and I think I done a fine job. I really like the rain streaks and the Verliden Productions
extra materials really help make this model look really nice and of course the figures
looks very nice as well. I like my own mud effects and the extra storage would the tie
downs of the rope tying down the crates really gives it a nice realistic appearance. It's
a very nice project that I done. Very nice. That completes this project. What you're about
to see next is a video slideshow of the entire diorama but before I go as always, just because
I put this video here on Youtube, it doesn't make me a model kit expert. I am not an expert.
I'm just a regular guy just like you. I hope this video encourages you to build a model
kit of your own either it's a model tank, a model plane, a model train, or even an automobile.
It doesn't matter. In the end, it's all about having fun. I'm QDC. Thanks for watching and
always, please, have a great day!