Well okay. I had some modeling time yesterday, probably the last I'll have for a week or so, but here it is. Cans are all test-fit only, as is the TC figgie, but I kind of like his pose, so I may paint and use him. The Dragon M51 kit had a decent gun tube in it, so on it went. I'll need to find a couple more, but AM, for the next two. The fit and quality between this old(er) M51 kit and a couple of more recent Sherman kits are very noticable. 'Nuff said, here it is so far:




Thanks for the input so far, it's been great!

Spectacular work!

Thank you sir. I may be going nuts, but I added the nuts for the tank brackets....at 5:30 this morning, and even this guy gave me his opinion.....

...which was: "Are you nuts?" I got nuthin'.
Nuts:

Nuts I am.

I believe you may very well be nuts. Took me $25k to learn I am.

Yeah, you're nuts all right. Letting a cat near your work area?
Or maybe the cat is nuts. Don't they know whiskers make the perfect 1:72 scale antennae?
I see you're even using the MP Models fuel can bases. Now that is what I call recycling.
Looking very good!

Matt, I found out a lot cheaper than that.....from multiple sources.
Rob, he's okay as long as I talk to him. Plus, he shares the closet that I work in- his box is in the far end of it, so we have to be nice to each other. And you know, with a little work with a mini-chisel (sharpened eyeglass screw- drivers fron CVS) the MP can bases work okay. This may be the last time though.....

Hi Russel
I like your work, looks good.


Cheers
wj

Thank you, sir. I hope to get back on this one in a few days.

grate work man!

Thanks Captain.
Okay, back at it. The dinky bits are slow going for me, but progress is happening. Tie-downs on the oil and water cans, a little bit of stowage, tracks test-fitted.... getting to the point where I need to think about primer.
So far:



Thanks for looking, as always!

Excellent! What did you use to make the tie-downs? They look very realistic.

Thanks, Matt. The tie downs are strips of masking tape (Home Depot house brand) and the buckles came from an old On the Mark Sherman PE set. The very thought of trying to get PE straps theough PE buckles made me faint, so I clipped a portion of the buckle to give me a U-shape and slipped the open end of the U on to the strap. A short piece of tape finished it. Once I figured it out, I had all 8 done in a touch over 1/2 hr.

More bits and some baggage today. Paint soon, I do believe.



Thanks for looking, as always!

Ah, the smell of fresh....
paint in the morning.

Your build looks wonderful. You talk about AM barrels for your next ones. My M51 has a broken barrel and I am trying to figure out what to get AM wise to replace it and put the tank back up with my collection of Shermans. The kit I built years ago was alot of resin some sort of conversion but I do not remember the brand just need a new Gun to fix it up. Thanks for any suggestions you have. I have a Dragon M51 in the stash along with many shermans to be done down the road along with to many other topics but have to get my room and work bench fixed up again after a big move.

Thanks, Al.
I'm pretty sure there's a couple of AM M51 barrels out there.. the M50 barrels I found were from Barrel Depot and have very nice muzzle brakes, but the barrel length is about 5 mil shorter than a Dragon M50 kit barrel. Not enough to bother me, plus I don't know which is "correct" anyway.

Thanks for the info I have a good source in Ontario for that particular manufacturer of barrels along with other items. If he doesn't have one I will likely be able to get one ordered or maybe get something else and make it a what if sort of thing

It's hard to resist a "what-if" IDF Sherman......

I couldn't help myself.

I think the recoil would kill everyone in the turret and risk flipping the tank, end over end>

Yeah, but I still had to do it......
It makes me chuckle still.

Not meaning to hijack your thread, buy you may like the "Not Your Average M113" proposal.

Lots of hard work on that M50! Don't kill me for bringing this up so late in the game. I feel badly enough, as it is.
The front turret casting is not welded directly to the shell. There is actually a weather guard strip welded to the shell, with a gap at the top. The gap is about the middle third of the length along the top, with the strip ends at an angle. It shouldn't be too difficult to correct, and I wish that I had seen it sooner.

Nice work!

Tom

that is awesome I was wondering how far could one go really when adding a new barrel and seeing that says the sky is the limit really what ever makes you happy. I was thinking about a 12.8 but I suppose I could look at some of the modern barrels also and see what I have in my spares box. I didn't want to waste it as its my first resin conversion and of course the end of the barrel is what got broke so this really do give me more encouragement. It looks very cool and thats all that matters is if you like and its cool in your eyes. I use my wife as my judge if she likes I know I did well. She supports my hobbies no matter what no complaints she is great that way.

Matt: Datails? Sounds interseting.....
Tom, I actually have a pic of what you are describing, and wondered what the deal was. I had the weld in at the time I was looking at the pic, and actually made note of it on the blog I'm doing on another forum. I can fix it....
Al, go for it, it'll work.

Details can be found, here:
http://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/206867&page=1