I've been wanting to build a US Army tank for a while. I'd been looking at the nice Asuka Sherman kits but found the Tamiya Pershing and an Accurate Armor Super Pershing upgrade at a great price at a local kit swap meet.

The AA instructions call out a number of modifications to be made to the base Tamiya kit since the original Super Pershing was converted from a pre-production hull and the Tamiya kit is a late production hull. I didn't feel like making all the changes required so I opted to build a what-if version with a standard production chassis and an early production turret but omitted the prominent counter balance springs and cheek armor found on the prototype. Not a real stretch and I like the look better.

 

 

The model was airbrushed with AK Real Color Faded OD and Black. The paints were adjusted with Tamiya acrylics to a color that looked good to my eye.  After the base colors were applied, I lightened these colors and airbrushed to highlight and fade initial paint. WWII U.S. paint was very durable so chipping and scratches were kept to a minimum. Afterwards, all stowage was hand painted with Vallejo Model Color.

 

 

The Tamiya rubber band tracks were replaced with Fruil metal tracks but they included two of the same hand. I've had this happen before with Fruil tracks on the Churchill but fortunately these won't be so noticeable.  I used RB models turned barrels to replace the 90mm, Browning .30 and Browning .50. The kit was also detailed with Eduard PE, BlackDog Resin, and some scratch work.