Hi all. Lots of great Braille scale builds here.
Having joined Armorama earlier last year i thought it was time to put something in the Braille scale forum,after all it is my scale of choice!
I'am just finishing off a Revell re-issue of the old Matchbox Firefly kit for the Sherman Campaign, so i'll post some build pictures for anyone interested.
Have been picking up a lot of new ideas,techniques and skills from other modellers on the site so thought i'd put them all together for this build and see what i could do.
Anyone familiar with the old Matchbox kit will be familiar with it's lack of detail!
Cheers,
Tim

I added two extra links of spare track from the spares box to the front hull.
Filled in the sink hole in the turret ventilator, drilled out the gunners sight and the co-axial MG. Removed the turret lift "ring",(a solid wedge of plastic).

A dry fit of hull to chassis,removed the kit barrell as it will be replaced with a Brass one.

Hi, a couple more build photos.
On the front hull i shave of the original plastic "bumps" that were supposed to represent the lifting rings. Put some headlights on from the spares box,cut some scrap plastic to mount some brass rod lift rings onto and moved to a more accurate location than the original ones.



On the rear i added some latches to the tool box from plastic card, used some scrap plastic to make a first aid box (from reference photos i assume that's what they were?).I cut off the original "lift rings" again and added some from brass rod,i think as with the front rings i should have probably made them a bit higher?
Then removed the plastic "bumps" that represented the rear ventilators and replaced them with some spares from a Dragon kit i haven't started. They were a bit big being 1:72 scale so i sanded them down as much as i could.



Tim

Hi. A build shot of the turret.
Replaced the kit barrel with a turned brass one. Drilled out the gunners sight and co-axial MG.Placed some plastic card in the gap between the gun mantlet and turret.Filled in the sink mark on the turret ventilator.

Covered the bottom of the hollow radio box with plastic card. Cut off the crude lift ring on the front of the turret,replaced it with brass rod and repositioned it closer to the gun mantlet.
Fitted the two lift rings on the rear sides from brass rod.
Fitted a spot lamp from the spares box. Put in two aerials.
Drilled out a hole for the 2in smoke launcher and made an external fitting for it from scrap plastic and putty.
Cheers,
Tim

With all the super detailed kits that are available today, it is very refreshing to see someone take one of the old 'simple' kits and work it up to todays standards. Nice work so far!

Thanks for the comments Kirk.
Some more build photos.
Turret fixed to hull and dry fit of hull to chassis,ready for priming.
And after priming. I used Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, I don't own an airbrush so all my builds are hand brushed,the primer helps to give a smoother finish.

I left the skirts on the Firefly as I thought it would look a bit more interesting and different as you don't often see them still on in combat.I did find a couple of good references of Firefly's still with their full skirts and mudguards on in the early days of the Normandy campaign. Also it was really useful for hiding the woeful tracks that come with the kit!
Cheers,
Tim



I decided to finish the hull headlight sections and a couple of other fiddly bits off after priming.
Thanks for looking.

Hello firefly 74

I think this kit was the last sherman model I ever built, back in the early 1980s.

You've done a good job improving it, when I looked at your last picture of the model in undercoat, I thought I was looking at a different kit !

cheers
Neil

Thanks for your comments Neil.
It's great the transformation these old kits make with a bit of work!
Some more update photos.
The nearly completed chassis. The tracks with the kit were simply awful, those stretchy rubber band type. When i fitted them to the running gear they were a bit to big/long and the whole chassis sat up oddly and "springy". I had to super glue the tracks on to each road wheel and return rollers, it was a messy and ugly result but fortunately the skirts will hide nearly all of it. Hands down the worst tracks i've ever had to work with


Tim

The hull glued to chassis and nearly finished. Hull wouldn't fit over the messy track work so i had to shave the inside mudguards to get a proper fit.
Finished off the headlight sections by glueing a little round scrap of plastic to the top of main headlight,attached the guards from spares from a Dragon kit. Attached the kit siren left mudguard,tried a spare Dragon one but was to big.
On the commanders turret hatch added a grab handle from copper wire and a periscope guard from spare Dragon part.
Used putty to fix the gap around the transmission housing where hull meet chassis.Made tow points on front and rear out of scrap plastic cut to shape and added some spare Dragon parts to finish them off.


Cheers,
Tim

Hi

its surprising just how good the finished model looks for such an old kit. It shows you can still get a great looking build out of those old Matchbox kits.

When you consider you get a scenic base with every one, they are top value.

cheers
Neil

Hi, yeah i'd have to agree Neil.Some of the old matchbox kits are still really good kits with a little work and the bases that come with them are a real bonus.I have a few in the stash (& revell reissues) and their a lot of fun to build and cover some vehicles that no other model company does.

Well here is the finished build. The colour i went with is a mix of Tamiya Olive Green with some Tamiya dark yellow and light grey,and then added some Tamiya Olive drab with the dark yellow added.I'm happy with the colour and with the finish considering Tamiya paints don't brush that great.Weathered with Tamiya dark earth soil effect,Tamiya flat earth and Tamiya buff. For the petrol staining from fuel filler caps used a black wash followed by a dark rusty brown wash, the brown doesn't show up to well in the photos.

I added some stowage,a road wheel (from spares box),and resin items: 'jerry' can,a general purpose container bolted to the right mudguard.On the rear added a tarp and a small oil type container.

Markings are for: A squadron,3rd Royal Tank Regiment,11th Armoured Division in the early stages of the Normandy landings.
The kit decal instructions were wrong and unit decals were oversized so used a mix of kit ones,Bison Firefly Decals and Aleran Decals - Allied stars.
Thanks for looking.
Tim

TIm, It's really nice seeing one of these old gems made over. It just goes to show that there is still life left in these kits that will come out with a little TLC. Superb job.

Cheers,
Jan