Hi All,
As one adventure ends, so another begins. On this trip we travel to Egypt and will be converting DML's Chinese M4A4 kit to an Egyptian M4A4/A2 FL-10 hybrid circa 1956. Here'a couple of pictures of the beast:





Yes, it's a real hodge-podge, but everything is available for this conversion. There weren't too many of these built (probably around 50 or so). But, as luck would have it, the Isreali Armor Museum at Latrun has one in its collection, so I'll be basing my model on this.

So, here are the cast of characters: DML's Chinese M4A4 will provide most of the hull. DML's M4A2 "Emcha" will provide the suspension. I'm planning on using AFV Club T-51 track and Eduard PE for the DML M4A2. The turret is from the Heller kit and tools will be from Formations. That's all for now. I'll post pics as I go!
Regards,
Georg

COOL!! I want to see this very badly! I have the AMX kit and have been holding off for a donor Sherman tank.

Yours can be my inspiration.

Any special markings to conjure up for it?









~ Jeff

The turret from the "French Army EBR-10 Wheeled Armored Vehicle" is the same?

http://www.hobbyboss.com/a/en/product/armor/1_35/2012/0504/847.html



http://ipmsphilippines.com/test-shots/hobby-boss-135-ebr-10-french-army-recce/



At least it look very simmilar

The Wikipedia says:

"While being lightly armoured, the EBR was armed with the 90 mm FL-11 or 75 mm cannon known as the FL-10 or L/48"

So the gun is be the same... it's the FL-10



I belive the Hobby Boss item should be a better donor than the elder Heller Kit

This thread really makes me want to build the 2 AMX-13/Chaffee offspring...

The Heller kit scares me though...

Hi All,
Here are some more reference pictures that my buddy Ben Felner took at the Latrun museum a couple of years ago:







Jeff, I'd love the company! Grab your stuff and come along! The more the merrier!
Alvaro, I'm not sure, but the shell looks pretty good. You need to dump the cloth dust guard. That wasn't used on Egyptian vehicles (the sand penetrated the joint which motivated the French to make the modification).
Jess, be not afraid! Fortune favors the bold. Grab your glue and X-acto and give it the cold steel.

All right, enough idle chatter, let's get this thing rolling!
Regards,
Georg

Is the exhaust on this "stock" or has it been modified? I don't remember that muffler at all.








~ Jeff

Jeff,
It's a standard M4A2 muffler for the diesel engines. It may have had a modified mount to clear the engine access doors (which I assume were welded shut). But other than that, they look stock to me.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
So here's the cast of characters:



Sorry about the lavender tablecloth, that's what my wife put on the dining room table!

So here's where things stand at the end of tonight's building session:



Here's the M4A4 hull with the "Emcha" suspension plates added. I thought I was going to need to modify the bogies, but this proved unnecessary.



I've managed to assemble the road-wheels and clean up the bogies. I'm planning doing the assembly tomorrow night. Part of the build-up will include the holes for the return roller arms on the front faces of the bogie truck and the bolts on the track skids. I'm not sure if I'm going to use the styrene rod "salami" method or punch them out from thin sheet. I might just use "the nutter" I bought a gazillion years ago for the job. In addition to all this plastic joy, I'm planning on turning the gun barrel on my lathe. It should prove interesting. I'm looking forward to comments, critiques and ideas. All are welcome. The adventure continues!
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
Life does have a way of getting in the way of things and so it was this past weekend. My wife and I decided to go to the movies Friday night. I had a birthday party to go to Saturday and Sunday was Mother's day. Need less to say, nothing got worked on over the weekend! That being said, I was able to get the bogies assembled this evening. I still need to add the bolt holes on the front faces of the bogie trucks. Also, I need to make the bolts for the track skids. I've decided on using my punch set to make the bolts and I'll assemble the whole shebang BEFORE they go on the model!
I'm also going to need to make a casting of the engine compartment from an ancient ADV M4A2 conversion kit. So it's time to break out the lego's and make a box. I'll cover how to do this w/pics. I think you guys all know what Sherman bogie trucks look like.
Regards,
Georg

nice start Georg i will be waching this one you should check out my Ugandan M4A1(76)W / M1 Sherman that i just finshed
dave

Really cool subject Georg! And a nice bonus is the PZ IV in the backround on the second picture. It is simply awesome what kind of techniques fight in the desert in the post WW2 era!

I'm still watching Georg and real life does make our thing we do all the more special.

I thought I had a Sherman tucked away so mine may be delayed but will still tune in to your build.








~ Jeff

Hi All,
Yeah, I know, I know. It's been too long since the last update. Well, I was able to work on the model last week, I just didn't post until now. If you recall, one of the items on the "to do" list was to add the missing bolt holes on the front faces of the bogie trucks. So, I made myself a jig from some scrap plastic to get the holes the same on each bogie:



Here's what the result looked like:



I got to do that five more times. Fun, fun, fun!



Once that was complete, I then moved on to adding the track skids and adding the missing bolts:



Ultimately, I go the whole thing together and mounted them on the hull:





Using the reference photos I got from the "Lion and Lioness of the Line" from the "Isreali Way" series, which has a good section on the Egyptian hybrid, I modified the rear plate to look like the one in the pictures. Al that was really needed was to sand and cut away the rear door:



I then added the mufflers from a DML M4A2 kit:



Now that the lower hull was pretty much done, I need to move on to the upper hull and make the requyired changes. The engine deck is the biggest change needed. A friend gave me a set of M4A2 parts (which also supplied the exhuasts) that included the engine deck and doors. They needed some slight modifications to fit, but otherwise went in smoothly. I needed to remove bolted flange from the leading edge of the deck plate and replace the bolts. In this picture you can see the deck in place, but I have yet to add the bolts:



The M4A2 deck is a little short on the longer hull (no surprise here), so I added a section of the M4A4 deck to the rear to fill the space. I think it looks pretty good. I had planned to make a resin casting of the engine bay if the engine door louvres allowed light through. As it turned out, they did not, so I was off the hook ion this regard. That's all for now.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
Another day, another 66 cents after taxes. I was able to get more work done last night, so here's where I stood an the end of the modelling session:



As you can see, I was able to add the bolts to the front face of the new engine deck. I used my Waldron micro-punch and a piece of garage sale sign styrene. One of the advantages is the fact that one side is white and the other either black, or day-glo orange!



I was also able to mate the hulls together and get the differential cover in place. It was textured with some Bondo glazing putty and glue. It will get Archer surface casting details later.



Here's a side view of the model with the upper hull mounted. From here, it will be add details and hatches. Then comes the real fun: the turret! See you soon.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
It was late last night, so I didn't get to post the most up-to-date pictures. I also forgot to post one. So here goes:



One of the other pieces that got scrounged from the M4A2 kit was the exhuast deflector. I needed to cut it down a bit to make it fit, but otherwise it went in without a hitch.





With most of the hull complete, I needed to move on to the detail parts. The DML kit contains some of the most anemic tools I've ever seen and I intend to replace these with Formations tools with straps from my spares box. However, the mounting holes needed to be filled. I use stretched sprue ends for this as they have a perfect fit, no matter what size the hole is. Also, I needed extra filler caps. I stole these from the Academy M4A2 kit which is going to be a donor for a resin conversion. I was also able to attached the grouser box covers. I haven't added the photo-etch grills yet, but those will go on shortly.



The front hatches were also added at this time. Well, that's all for now. All comments/questions/critiques welcome.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
Today was more of a detail day, so there wasn't too much big stuff happening. I was able to get the front headlights mounted, the front machinegun in place and the headlight guards thinned and mounted. I used some wire for the grab handles on the front hatches and made sure the holes were completely filled with some putty "gloop" off of the bottom of my glue bottle. I decided against photo-etch here and just used a file to thin the headlight guards down a bit. Here's what they ended up looking like. The one on the left has already been done:



And I got the holes filled on the rear deck with the stretched sprue "noses."



All for now!
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
I was remiss in the fact that I did not have a picture of the nose from last night's building session. So, here it is:



I spent a good bit of time cleaning up the filled holes on the back deck with some "gloop" off of the bottom of my glue bottle. I was also able to get the grab handles replaced on the engine deck. This was accomplished with some thin wire and my grab-handler. I was also able to expand the turret race to take the Heller turret with a sanding drum in Dremel tool.

The Heller turret! What hell have a done to myself? This thing is a D-O-G!







It took a strenuous amount of glue, putty and superglue (and LOTS of accelerator!) to get the basic shell together. I'm going to have to reconstruct the rear part of the turret with styrene sheet, too. Also, beware that there are NO locating pins, so you are on your own! In it's defense, the kit is ancient and sitting in the box may have warped the parts. That's my story, anyway and I'm sticking to it. This is where the real fight begins. With a little luck, it will be mercifully short.

Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
It's been a holiday weekend here in the U.S. and if you are a veteran or are currently serving, a sincere, "thank you." I was able to get some work done on the Hybrid this weekend and here's where things stand:









I was able to get the rest of the turret shell together and, thankfully, it was less of a hassle than I expected. The only snag was the removal of the cloth dust cover on the turret front. This was added after the Egyptians used them, so it needed to be removed. Alot of sanding and filing later, the cover had been removed (along with all of the other detail on the front face, which will need to be replaced). You can also see where I drilled the holes for adding grab handles on the turret. It's going to need some more TLC to make it look really good, but I think the worst is over.
Then, I got ambitious. I decided to ditch the kit gun barrel. I know the Barrel Store made one for the M-50 Super Sherman, but those are getting hard to find. So, I headed to the basement and my lathe! Here's what resulted:



I was pretty pleased with the results. You can see the size of the stock I started with on the right side of the picture. I'm no machinist, but this will do the job. I needed to drill out the opening in the gun mantlet a little so it would fit properly and the puttied any imperfections. I let things dry for a few hours and then mounted the turret. Here's what it looked like:



The look of things to come. More later.
Regards,
Georg

Starting to look even better now!

With the oscillating turret that heavy aluminum barrel won't make it sag! I've never seen one of these painted in action before, other than the museum piece.

What's your plan?








~ Jeff

Jeff,
From my research thus far, I have found that desert sand is pretty much the only color scheme used prior to 1973 (by which time these vehicles had been retired). Prior to the 1956 war, Egyptian armor was pretty plain, perhaps carrying a license plate and perhaps a blue/red service flash on the turret sides. I was hoping for some black turret numbers, but these only appeared after the 1956 war. So, it looks like desert sand w/a service flash and a license plate.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
Lst night's modeling session was not one of big steps, but one of fine detail. I worked on the many, many grab handles on the turret, scratchbuilt the spent shell casing door and started to detail the smoke dischargers.



Mr. Surfacer was definitely me friend. I used it to fill the mounting holes for the grab handles and lift rings.



Using my Micromark punch set, I made the covers for the smoke dischargers. I'm not sure if I'm going to scrounge up some PE chain for them yet. Also, I got the antenna bases mounted. These, in turn, provide a mount for a further set of grab handles. I plan on replacing the kit parts with wire.



Although seriously out of focus, I spent some time replacing the spent shell case door on the back of the turret. I made it out of some scrap styrene sheet, some stretched styrene rod and some strip. All it needs now is the splash guard.



This is a much better shot of the turret rear and turret roof. Again, this shows pretty much all of last night's work pretty well (including the shell door). Tonight, I guess I'll be up to more of the same!
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
It was a quiet weekend around here, without too much scheduled, so I was able to get some more work done every day!



While the museum vehicle did not have it fitted, there were welding marks that SOMETHING had been welded to the differential housing. I guessed that this was the gun travel lock. So, I pirated the part off of the Heller kit and attached it. It fit amazingly well.



I also noted that there were alot of fittings on the turret of the museum vehicle. I'm going to use the Formations tools on the hull, so the turret tools would be superfluous. That being said, there would need to be the residual mounts, so I made these from some styrene strip, channel and a piece of Verlinden PE. I also filled so holes that the MR. Surfacer left behind.



When I removed the dust shield, I ended up sanding off all of the detail on the gun shield. I replaced this with some styrene channel and rod. I used the kit gunsight on the commander's side of the turret, but left it off the gunner's, just for variety.



The museum vehicle had an empty jerry can rack. I didn't feel like making one from strip, so I fudged it and used an American holder from the Eduard set for the M3 scout car. The strap came from Eduard's "straps and tie down" set and I may use some of the straps for empty tool stowage on the rear deck.



Here's a much better shot of the rear door for spent shell casings. I still don't know what I'm going to use for a splash strip, but I'm thinking stretched sprue.



This is a part that shows I really need to start drinking more. This is the Aber stowage rack from their M4, M4A1 & M4A3 set. The museum vehicle showed the remains of what I believe to be the rack, so I decided to build it. What a mistake! It took nearly 90 minutes to build this thing alone! I dumped the workable hinges and swapped in some Eduard hinges, bent for the job. I used stretched sprue (because it's tapered) to fit the TINY, TINY hole in the WORKING arms and tray. It was a bear of a job and fell apart once, but it's all together now and mounted w/ styrene strip to the back of the vehicle. Incidentally, the tie downs are made from styrene channel. Whew! It was a busy weekend. I'm starting to see the finish line, now. Just a few more bits, and then it's on to paint!
Regards,
Georg

I'm loving this, I wouldn't want to do it...yet....but it's great to see you building the beast

Jeremy,
Thanks! It's coming along well. I made some progress this evening. I should have pictures up tomorrow.
Regards,
Georg

Hi All,
I'm coming down to the end of the build and therefore, there are going to be a bunch of detail-related work.



Since the kit drive sprocket and running gear are the old Italeri parts, the drive sprocket has a big sink mark in the hub. It's impossible to fill, so I covered it with some styrene sheet cut out with a large punch. You can also see the appilque armor plates I made from sheet styrene and sanded to shape.





I laminated two pieces of 0.030 inch sheet that I cut out using the kit parts as a template. I gave them a quick filing to even up the edges and to get rid of any plastic burrs that were left.



Here's a shot of the rear hull. You can see the stowage tray again and the tail light and brush guard. I'm not sure if it's only the museum vehicle or if all of them were set up like this, but I think having only one rear light looks cool, so I'm going to run with it. I thinned the brush guard down with a file.













Here's a set of "walk around" pictures of the model. I used some quarter round styrene rod for the splash guard on the rear of the turret. The glue weakened the corner and it broke loose. I'll have to fix that.



Using some styrene channel and my chopper, I made tie downs on the hull sides.



Here's a shot of the rear showing the mufflers.



I had a set of RHPS/Panda tracks laying aorund so I used them. The vehicle used T-51 flat rubber block track and I was lucky to have a set in the stash. I think they give you enough links to do the extended hull of the M4A4, so I should be OK. If not, I've got enough other track that I can splice them in (I know I have the remains of a set of T-48's). So far, so good. More later.
Regards,
Georg