The Beastie (My First Post to Armorama)

The subject of this build log will be the up-armored M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo. I will use the older Tamiya Jumbo kit, even with its known problems. To help remedy these problems, mostly in the turret, I will be using the Tank Workshop Conversion kit that supplies a new turret, transmission and road wheels. To help out with the detailing a little I’ll also throw in a set of photo etched from Eduard.



The primary goal here is to finish this kit and employ several ideas that I have wanted to try out but keep things light and easy. While I will not be adding or correcting every little detail I will strive to produce a good representation of the Jumbo. The Verlinden Siegfried Line kit, which I have had for quite sometime and will be used for the display, I’ll cover that in future post.



The parts break down is quit small, which makes this a good project to get back into model building. I picked up a Jumbo kit off of ebay that had been started by the previous owner. I had to replace the lower hull and transmission but fortunately I had an old one on hand. The work shown here on the upper hull was done by myself and will be covered in the post dealing with the upper hull. As for the tracks I will be using the ones supplied in the kit. While I would like to individual links but in keep with the light and easy plan I’ll stick with these.

I hope you all will enjoy following along with this build log. I am planning to post at least once a week provided I have material of interest. As always if anyone has any comments they are more the welcome.

Enjoy and Happy Modeling
Eric Rains
Shreveport, LA, USA

Gday Eric
I'll be following along with interest. Always had a soft spot for this big fella, but didn't want to go to the lengths you obviously did to get it somewhat 'right'... I haven't seen the Verlinden Siegfried line set before; quite interesting. Does the TWS conversion have the casting numbers for the turret?
Cheers
Brad

Pt-2 Presentation

One of the goals of this project is building up a nice little vignette to display the finished model. While I do not what the display to over shadow the model I what something a little more then just a grassy field to set the jumbo in. As the Jumbo was intended to engage fortifications I felt something that alluded to that would be appropriate. I came across the following photograph, which is quit famous, and knew that this would make a great setting for the vignette.


Copyright: U.S. National Archives 208-YE-193

As I mentioned in my previous post I had the Verlinden Siegfried Line kit, which would work quite well here.



Next I had to come up with a good layout. Being in the military we live for PowerPoint, so I used it to visualize the lay out for the vignette



With the layout completed I can now press on with the building of the Jumbo. The next post will cover the lower hull and suspension.

Enjoy and Happy Modeling
Eric Rains
Shreveport, LA, USA

Another picture that may help:



Shaun

Lets like a nice build using an older kit. Looking forward to seeing the final build.

Darryl

Hi Eric,

Have you thought about joining the Borders Of The Fatherland '44-'45 campaign?

This would be a perfect subject for the campaign. I just thought I would ask.

HARV

Eric, I just built that same Tamiya tank using the same Tank Workshop parts about a year ago. It went pretty good. The only tough part was splicing the tranny nose to the chassis. In the end,my drive train ended up being a bit "long" and the tracks were too short. (My error?,not sure) If that happens to you,run the tracks one at a time, under hot tap water till they warm up and you can gently stretch them. I was able to get the addidional length I needed that way .Enjoy the build! Steve.

I agree with Harv. This could be great for the Borders of The Fatherland Campaign. But then you should probably not continue until February.......

Under all circumstances this looks like a exciting diorama to follow