Hi Michael,
have you got a pic of your reel?
I think you might get away with one from a Cent, Chieftain,
Scimitar or Scorpion.
I have a Chieftain and Scimitar, if you want the reel then no problem. When I´ve bhuilt them they won´t be visible anyway.
Let me know and I´ll post it tomorrow if neccesary.
Paul

Hi Guys,
Lots of kit bashing going on here some real cool stuff

I have decided since i have built 2 Russian based kits to stick with the Russian theme, Academy's Lend Lease Sherman

Haven started it yet but I dont know if I will get my camera back before I do so I took this picture 2 days ago

Christopher, that Firefly is indeed a VC. Schiffer's "Captured American & British Tanks Under The German Flag" has a series of nice photos of the vehicle. The vehicle was captured, repainted in German colors, and the storage box moved to the front.

And Dragon's old Firefly kit (6031) sort of has it as a painting and markings option. Cyber Hobby has a boxed version and Dragon has released at least one other attempt to improve the old kit.

Paul,

The only picture I have is a quarter view of the front so it's hard to see details of the reel. However, I have a Tamiya Centurion that is surplus to requirements since the AFV kits came out, so now I'm covered. Thanks for the suggestion and offer!

Michael

Michael,
I know this not a Sherman topic but, you could use that Cent in my "Jurassic Plastic Campaign" that starts in
12 days.
@Jeff: Sorry for the low level advertising , but I couldn´t resist it after I read what Michael wrote.

Paul

John, Looking forward to seeing the Super Sherman in some paint and weathering.
Joel

Pat, looking forward to seeing that pair in some paint and weathering.
Joel

That is perfectly okay Paul. As long as you remember... what goes around, comes around.

And I have a memory, buddy!


BTW... I will start on my Sherman stuff tomorrow morning.










~ Jeff

This is where we are at as of this morning. Best evidence indicates the new M4A3's came ashore with armor panels welded to the hulls similar to those used on earlier dry stowage tanks. As the battle progressed the wading trunks disappeared and additional track link armor was welded pretty much all over the tank. Close examination of the suspension revealed that in most cases angle iron was welded to the bogies. This prevented charges being thrown under the tank.









G

Wayne, nice attention to the details. Looking forward to seeing some paint in your next update.
Joel

Thank You sir!

I was able to spend all morning working on this build. Here's the latest. Perusing references it seems one front tow shackle was used to anchor the cable, the other was commonly seen clipped to a hull lifting eye.

One rack held spare track links, one held the improvised TI phone. I replicated that and will sculpt a phone bag.

Apoxie sculpt sandbags and stowage next.











G

Alright. I'm building Academy's 1/35 scale M4A3E8 with the 105mm howitzer and dozer blade. The plan is to build it mostly OOB for later use in a post-war reconstruction scene. The kit is not perfect. I've built their M51 as well and the two share alot of parts. The starter picture was posted earlier.

I tend to jump around on a build and this one isn't any different. My first goal was to get the lower hull assembled up enough for a preliminary coat of pain. So I jumped ahead and assembled the rear plate and drive wheels.


Cleaned up the hole as per instructions. Mounted the rear plate and return roller mounts.


Suspension. I left them and the wheels off until after they were painted.


Paint. Just basic MM Olive Drab. After it had dried overnight, I painted the rubber on the roadwheels.


Now to the upper hull. Pretty basic here. I left the hull MG off. Given this one's role, if I add the barrel I'll probably cover it.
The carpet monster ate one of the rear tail lights. I used one from the spares before I noticed the kit actually has a second set included for the M51 that could be cleaned up and used.
I switched out some of the pioneer tools with some from Academy's Allied Armor Accessory Set. I think they look a lot better. A shame Academy didn't include these better tools with the kit. The equipment placement is a contradictory on the instructions. I decided to move the shovel to the other side to declutter it.



That's it for now.

And great work everyone. Some great looking Shermans coming along.

Sal, can that M4A2 be used as a USMC Sherman?

Alex, Good start, I have this in the stash so I'm watching yours closely.

Actually Sal's kit would not work due to the late T23 turret and long 76mm gun. The Corps stuck with the 75mm gun in the older turret until after the war. Replace the turret and it could be a late M4A2.

G

Thanks Wayne.

I'm thinking about doing a Marine Sherman with the wooden planking for the Protection Campaign. The place I normally order from has the Academy M4A2 in stock and on sale so I figured I'd ask. I didn't even think about the Marines not adopting the 76mm gun. I'll probably go with the Italeri offering.

A good start for a USMC tank with wood side armor would be DML's M4A3 like I am building. Wood armor was around a while in the PTO, and can be found on a few M4A2 early models (small hatch), M4A2 late models (large hatch) and M4A3's on Iwo Jima.

G

Alex, nice start. Just one question, why did you decide to paint the wheels and tires still attached to the sprue trees? Even with carefully cutting, and sanding, you'll still need touching up for each wheel. I've found that mounting the wheels on tooth picks after clean up was the quicker way.
Joel

Wayne, I want to do something along the lines of Lynn Kessler's "Boomer", except use a M4A2. He addresses that in his book. Anyway, I'll check out the Dragon late M4A2.

Joel, I leave them on the sprue on so I can have something to hold on to while I paint. Touch up just takes a minute. Mostly it depends on the type of wheel that I am painting. I've used kabob skewers and they work pretty good.

Last update for a while as I start my workweek tomorrow.

I made the sandbags from Milliput. That's why I didn't sand off the uneeded growser bin covers.









I had some accessory sets lying around and found this knapsack. It looks better than what I could sculpt so it is now my TI phone bag.



G

One down...

Mike, nicely done. The weathering, especially the snow really looks good.
Joel

Hi all cool builds going on and they all look great:
@ Mike: nice snow there, now put the Sherm in some snow in between some pine and fur trees and it´ll look like the famous pic from the Bulge

@ Wayne:looking good I specially like the track armor.

@ Alex: that sure is a strange way to go about the running gear , but if it works why not

@ Sal: nice choice but watch the decals, I´ve built that and the decals where cr** , they split and just wouldn´t stick. Maybe I was just unlucky

Well here´s my update:
some bits of scratch- Gun clamp, springs on loaders hatch,
horn cover, handels on hull sides and hatches and side skirt attachment rails:




I´m going to use an Academy cupola because there´s more detail on there and I´m using Friul tracks ATL 12 if I remember rightly. The AFV club tracks which I was originally going to use are for the long hull Shermans ie
Fireflys, so no good here.
By the way does anyone know if the commanders cupola was traversible or fixed


Paul

Paul, that all 'round vision cupola is fixed. The hatch has a center section which rotates on ball bearings allowing the TC to rotate his periscope. The base though can be unbolted and reattached in different configurations. My USMC build will have the cupola fixed with the hatch hinge in the front which photos show was common.

The older style cupola was rotating on the tank roof.

G

Paul, I'm not a big Sherman builder. This is the second HVSS Sherman I've built since coming back to the hobby a few years ago. The first was the Academy M51 Super Sherman. I don't really remember how I handled the wheels and suspension on the M51. I tend to plan out assembly on my own pace. I tried something a bit different to paint the rubber on the wheels. This probably wasn't the best way to handle it, but it's working out. The next HVSS Sherman I'll probably handle differently.

Right now I have the HVSS suspension being mounted. The molds were misaligned so the suspension parts are pretty rough and had to be cleaned up alot. I've got a jig set up to try to keep them all square until everything sets up. I've got a set of indie tracks for this suspension from the old Dragon M4A3E8 kit that I was thinking about using. But at this point I doubt I will.

I'm hoping to finish up assembly on the turret tonight and maybe get soem work done on the dozer blade.


And Mike, the snow looks good.

well heres the first pic i hope will have more on later tonight

ok whats up with the red X theres supposed to be a pic there