Hi there peeps
Been a while since a Sherman graced these pages, and as ever, I'm only too appy to oblige
I'm aiming on building 'Anne' a DD from the 70TB landed at Utah beach 1944. I'm going to show her 'D-Day plus a few' with all DD fittings removed, as I have the Bison decals to portray her as such, and a HiDef photo of her this way in a maintenance yard. This is of her right side, and have re shaped the applique plates for accuracy. The photo shows Anne, the front end of a M10, and an M4 named Intruder II in the background, but the detail is so good I can zoom in to check out Anne's weld type for the armour plates



A close up of the one piece transmission housing with added foundry numbers. The last digit (2) has flown the coop off the bottom row



Same again for the turret. These look a lil convaluted, but are quite accurate based on the photo...
The red marks are to obtain a centre line for lining up the applique plates, which were painstakingly cut, shaped and placed as correct as possible. The last digit I have as '0' on the top line is possibly something else, but hard to make out in the pic. Will add some putty to blot out the centre of the '0' to make it nondescript...



I have since made Magicsculpt sausages for the weld seams
I updated the the Tasca rotor shield to to the newer to accomodate the M34A1 wide mantlet, using Tamiya parts. I don't recommend doing this to anybody...
Following will be all the refitted parts in preparation for Overlord applicable to M4s and M4A1s. This will involve many unused parts in the Tasca kit such as square aircleaners, later track skids etc.
More progress to come!
Cheers
Brad

Bradley,
I've gotten hooked on Sherman's lately and I am very interested in watching the progress on this one. Please keep the updates coming! I like the cast texture. How did you achieve that? Who makes the foundry numbers? Thank you for sharing.

Cheers
Dave

Hi Brad,

Just keeps getting better

Al

Gday Dave
The cast texture was achieved by a mixture of Mr Surfacer 500 and Revell cement. I found the Revell cement to work for me more effectively for this kit (don't know why)
My method is to apply straight from the needle applicator onto a small area, and then quickly smudge in with a finger. It can get stringy, but no fear as once dry this is easy to remove. The now irregular surface is gently sanded with a fine grit paper or stick, as the Sherman cast surface was less 'raised bumps and lumps' but more 'pitted troughs', which are what are left once sanding over, as can be seen on the first picture of the transmission housing. The brass numbers are from Lion Roar and are a set of alphabets in varying sizes (as well as digits of course!) Applied with a drop of superglue gel, and then coated again with Revell cement to 'tie' them into the surface more... There are new ones from Archer which I must get a hold of, which are actually resin on a backing paper, and have weld seams and foundry symbols etc. Basically 3D transfers! Heard great things about them and the results do look good... Although I'm intent on using up the ones I have Oh nearly forgot, the circle around the 'D' is just thin copper wire stripped from an electrical cord. (make sure appliance is superceded or at least unplugged before doing this...)

Alan, thanks again for having a look. Taking notes for the US range of Shermans?

Brad

Everything looks great so far! The texture and the casting numbers looks awesome.

Hi Brad- Some great work with all the casting numbers. Nice attention to detail.

Thanks lads
A couple more photos and updates.

I made the siren guard today out of flat brass bar, and its wire fixed to the glacis and running into the tank above the left fender...



The applique has been finished with magicsculpt weld beads.



I mentioned I replaced the rotor shield with the Tamiya M4 offering. Big mistake, as I had to cut out a lot of the turret to accomodate.
Then I found a DML rotor shield (don't ask what kit it was from, but definitely a left-over) which was a really good fit to the original tasca M34 shield, so a bit of filling to be had!



A shot showing the rear hull which I rebuilt to the shape of the welded hull which had a curved bottom (A bit difficult to see in the photo I know...)



Since this project started, it has taken many twists and turns from an accuracy and identification point of view... I have a photo showing 'Anne' in a repair yard in Normandy, which is where I obtained most all of my reference for the build from. This coupled with the Bison decals set 70thTB D-Day special with her markings, I was thinking "Straightforward"...
But since, there has been conjecture over whether it was a Duplex drive Sherman as per the decals and markings, or even from the 70thTB at all! All in all this shouldn't concern me (save for the actual front and rear markings indicating battalion etc. ) as the side view of my reference photo contains most of the decals in the set.
So from here on in I am still going to build her as a 70th TB tank with all standard re-fittings for Normandy, but more as just a replacement tank than one that was ever DD.
Brad

Lots of great work is going into this Sherman. Well done.

Darryl

Nice work so far on your Sherman Brad. Like the details, you've put a lot of work into it, thanks for sharing your in-progress shots. Look forward to the updates! Cheers!

Tim

Hi Darrly and Tim thanks for your feedback.
A couple more updates~
Was busy before NYE and finished off the brush/siren guards. These are flat brass bar that I have drilled holes in the glacis to accomodate, therefore producing a much more stable work. These holes have been filled with putty and basic weld shapes added.




The hatchsprings were then remade, as I reckon plastic kit versions are never quite good enough... A littel fiddly but I think the results are worth it.


Hope everyone had a great NYE, and I'm probably going to get more work done on this by the end of the week...
Cheers
Brad

Hi Brad,

You're making great progress here, what can I say, another work of art

Cheers

Al

Terrific work Brad. I really like your homemade add ons.

Thanks Pat!
A couple more things have been added. A Lionroar gutube has arrived, and boy it's a beauty! Even has rifling in the barrel.
Added most of the periscope guards, remade the original sighting vane out of plastic card and made the frame for the newer sight (which is ready to be scratched out of brass) and made the second spring for the drivers hatch.





A close up of the antenna mount. I remade the flexible section in wire, so that when the need arises to bend it for lashing the aerial, it will bend more naturally than heating and bending the plastic



Also drilled out the bolt holes on the bogey housings ready for assembly. I found this super easy to do with a pin vice whilst they housing was in two halves; the boltholes seemed to line up better this way than trying to drill the four holes at once...
I'm eager to get some primer on it soon to tackle the flaws and get the base coat on. There are quite a few decals to add, and this will brighten up the OD somwhat!

Cheers
Brad

This will be one truly detailed DD? Love the job your doing Bradley. The casting texture along with the foundry numbers are really eye catching.
Are you going to have the skirt attached? would really show the uniqueness of this vehicle.
Did "Anne actually make it to the beach, or sink like so many of these beasts?

Looking forward to seeing some paint on er.

- Bruce

Gday Bruce
Yep, I now have the sandshield strips in place (is this what you meant?) and have a base coat and most decals in place.
Here is the photo of 'Anne' taken somewhere inland D-Day plus a few days I'd imagine.
I've created much conjecture on ML as to whether she landed or was a replacement, being that she has no DD idlers in place or other attachment points. Opinions went both ways!



Cheers
Brad
Oh, and I currently need to find out the location of the red '16' on the left side, as to match the photo location of the right side it would be painted over the edge of the pistolport, which to me looks a littel naff...

I guess it's actually called a flotation screen, and looking at it now it would be a shame to cover up all your details. Perhaps an idea for a dio to have the screen discarded and thrown to the side.


Doing a quick check, it turns out the DDs at Utah faired quite well with 28 of there 32 tanks making it to the beach, where as only 5 of 32 made it to Omaha. Omaha's tanks were deployed far out at sea and had to cross many kilometers of open sea. A scary thought with such a flimsy contraption.

-Cheers Bruce

Ah couldn't see the woods for the trees! Of course you meant the flotation screen... No, this photo is what I'm basing my build on and therefore it is 'post' screen use... I agre that a deployed flotation screen would hide too much. They do look effective when folded down flat though.
Cheers
Brad