Add dirt,mud and ,in this case, long grass where you think it would build up and take your time doing it in small stages.

Looks good mate! A reasonable approach to the mud application too.
The Warriors set are pretty handy, although the accuracy of the TCs overalls leaves a little to be desired, but only you and I know this, ok?
The tank riders are suitably attired for the time frame (late Autumn onwards?) and will match the tank crew well.
Brad

Thanks Honneycut...I have alot of film footage of the push into Germany and it seems to be a generally wet,cold looking time ...suitable attire I agree completely...
I apologize for the delay in postings ,but reality has set in slightly....trouble at work and prior commitments have temporarily demanded my attention,but in a couple of days things SHOULD be back to "normal"

here is a pic of my new trackskids. I was not satisfied with the look of the kit skids, so brass sheet was cut and bent to shape.

sorry---temporarily forgot how to post pics ...laquer thinner in my brain..

Looking really good Jim. Keep it up with the PE. Can't wait to see this one done.

Thanks,James. I will be forging ahead with this build as quickly as I can. I work retail and Christmas is a crazy time,not to mention the economy is making things worse..As I was saying in earlier posts, if you guys are looking for great reference shots I reccomend a 2 part special I saw on History channel called "When the war came to Germany"..it is comprised of newly released US Army archive footage of the push into Germany. Very graphic,informative ..and REALLY gives a kind of raw visceral feeling in your belly when you watch it ..you can feel the tension(mabe its the music they chose as accompaniment). It shows alot of Shermans obviously,and you can see the dirt buildup on the vehicles and stowage,etc.

Jim, looking like a great build! ill be following this with interest!

Andy

Thanks guys ..here I have addressed the nasty mold-line between the two bogie halves. I dont know how much of this will be seen upon completion...but what the heck,right?

The excess pastic will obviously be trimmed off so no joint shall be seen.


My next step will be to complete the undercarriage and then....(big breath)...tackle the kit tracks ..

dont forget to add the 4 bolt holes in the front of each bogie. For as much as this has been talked about among modlers (such as the recessed weld beads on the sherman kit hulls) DML still hasnt put them in... but an easy fix!

looking good!
Andy

Thanks, Andy. I have taken your advise to heart. In the spirit of having an accurate build for everyone, I have found the following reference on the net :
"The bogie units were universal; the return roller arms and skids could be placed on either side of the bogie housing. Drill four holes on the open side of the housing. Add bolts to each of the skids where they attach to the housing.".....
I cant seem to find my set of boltheads and Im thinking of hiding this deficiency under some strategic mud. As for the mysterious missing boltholes..I for one would like clarification on what the "open side of the housing"is ..I found a pic taken fom a US Army maintenance manual showing a bogie and labelling all components,but I found no boltholes on the pic( I wanted to post the pic for you all,but Im unsure regarding copyright infringement and I dont want any trouble.Thats all I need is having the US Army mad at me ..I hear they have guns and everything.)

This shows an VVSS bogie on an M4A1 in the Littlefield Tank Collection.

-Doug

That pic is just what the doctor ordered....thanks,Doug!

using dougs photo (thanks doug!)....



the little red arrows are pointing to the bolt holes on the "open" face. They appear pretty filled in...maybe layers of paint from sitting in a mueseam? Or maybe even the factory filled them with some sealer of some kind... i will admit that the holes dont show up real well in period photos.

Easiest way to add these is to make a little jig out of scrap plastic with a plate of plastic with the location of the four holes marked, and drilled through the plate, and a peice of sqaure stock glued to the back that acts as a vertical alignment guide. You just rest the square stock on the top of the bogie, center the jig left/right with your eye, and then take a sharp object (or small diameter drill) and mark through the jig the location of each hole. Remove the jig and drill the holes in the bogie at the marked location.
Of course my version of the jig works before you glue the skids down...

in your case just choose some other point to align the jig plate with (maybe across the front, from the side, or even below)
Save your jig for future projects!

as for those bolts holding the return roller bracket...i personaly never add them because you can barely see them...but I havent reached the advanced stages of shermanholicism yet!
Andy

Very cool advice,Andy. I would not be suprised if the holes were filled with some kind of protection material. Your jig is a very good Idea, and would work fine in my case as the pic I showed was a dry fit . However I think Ill opt for the freehand approach of using a sharp pencil to mark my drillpoints..I draw parrallel lines in a square pattern to match the points.
As a kind of sidebar here I went to another article on the net regarding the building of the Dragon M4A3 and they mentioned parts NOT mentioned in the instructions on V sprue. This raised an interesting observation that if someone wanted boltheads but didnt have any Grandt line stuff they could cut some off of parts not used and glue them in place carefully.

I did just that on my M4 Dozer build (look for the current thread here on armorama...) I pulled bolts off an extra part from a Dragon 234/4 kit. I have the M4A3 kit as well..so ill have to look for those extra parts. Academy also has sprues of extra bolts, casting numbers, latches, etc in thier sherman related kits (M10, M36, M4A2, etc)

Since you're at this stage, you can add a little more detail to your Bogie Trucks without a whole lot of money/time/effort - if you are going to drill-out the bolt holes...

It really spruces-up Dragon's parts:

Thanks Jim ..this is what weve done to modify the bogies


now its on to the hull .. I noted that while dry-fitting the transmission, the fit seemed a bit sloppy, so I dry fitted the upper hull and lower hull along with the transmission to ensure proper angles...

I should probably raise a point here for discussion. In my viewing of reference footage of the advance into germany (from Feb - May 1945) I noticed just about ALL the Shermans I saw (regardless of the variant) had "duckbills" on the tracks. This was noted on all types of track also. I think for my build I will either have alot of them gone from wear and tear .....or I will simply not include them. Does anyone have any input? I noted also in this footage that I did NOT see any M4A1 body style shermans with the 76mm W turret. I saw one or two 76mm W turrets, but all were on the M4A3 body.

Put 'em on there! I think they'd look good. I used Dragon's kit-supplied tracks and EEC's (for the first time on this model) and it wasn't too bad of an exercise - just time-consuming. I didn't go too crazy and make a lot missing - everything I used came in their Operation Cobra kit.

I can't help but ask if you're going to take the plunge and add the missing rivet heads to the rims of your Road Wheels...

missing rivets on the roadwheels?what missing rivets on the roadwheels?
As I said before ..Im not fluent in "Sherman"....

I found a pic in my reference library showing these rivets and ..lol...no ..i think Ill just forget them.

Really nice work Jim!
The bogies look good keep it up!

Martyn

Note that this VVS is not a commonly seen one on American Shermans. This is a Canadian made one -- note the protruding vertical ribs and the hole at the upper "shoulders" of the bogie housing.





Jim: note that the hole you have on the front corner of the VVS bogie housing -- it should be adjacent to the skid (see the Littlefield VVS bogie) -- because it should be a mirror of where the return roller mounting arm's bolt (as you've added) should be. Hope this makes sense.