One of the details I did to update the kit was replace the kit gun tube (open breech scavenger system) with a piece of styrene tubing to represent a later closed breech scavenger system tube.
I cut down the missile system tracking box and the backside of the searchlight. I added a stretched sprue searchlight cable using photos from the Hunnicutt book as a guide. I drilled out the coaxial machine gun and auxillary sight ports in the mantlet as well.
The sides of the hull were smooth and there was no delineation where the hull ended and the trim vane and swim barrier cover were. I scribed these using my handy dandy X-Acto scriber. I used the Hunnicutt Sheridan book and Squadron's in action book to determine where the hull panel lines needed to be added. After I scribed a groove into the proper place, I took a thin strand of stretched sprue and glued it in place. This method worked pretty good in replicating the panel lines.
I added the hull belly armor using a strip of styrene cut to the proper size. I then drilled out the five mounting holes and inserted whisker sized pieces of stretched sprue. An old heated screw driver provided enough heat to make the end of the sprue mushroom into a rivet. At this scale it is close enough to bolt head for me.
I added some old wedding veil mesh to the engine grills and drilled out all the tow hooks and lifting rings. I drilled a hole in the forward left side of the hull and added an external fire extinguisher T-handle with stretched sprue.
The worst part of the kit were the tracks. Since the Sheridan has unique tracks and aftermarket items for it are non-existant, I was stuck with them. I started with the assumption that the tracks would actually fit over the idler wheel, road wheels and drive sprocket. This was an incorrect assumption. Add to it the amount of sag the Sheridan has, and the problem is compunded even further.
The left side track has a gap that I had to hide under the #3 road wheel. I had to use transparent thread to join the tracks. I also used transparent thread and CA to tie down the tracks onto the top of the road wheels. Since I now knew the tracks would be super tight, I oblonged the grooves in the hubs of the drive sprocket and idler wheel so they would shift inwards slightly. Were I to build this kit again, I'd just move the mounting pins for the rear drive sprockets forward just a tad.
All in all a decent little kit that can be had for under $5.
I have plans to add the cupola chicken coop gun shields at a later date. I hope to get one of the ex-Esci Italeri M113 ACAVs and steal its gun shield. I'd also rework the smoke grenade launchers. I think I could have done more to detail them. I still have to fill the gap in the front idler wheel hub.
I'm trying to figure out how to take better shots using my digital camera by playing with the camera exposure settings and the amount of pixels. I will try to add some better shots later.
