No one has ever built a "perfect model" but sone of us have been working for a while to try to make things a little better, a little different than what comes out of the box, a little cheaper than buying an aftermarket kit. Here are a couple Shermans I bullt a little bit outside the box, using minimal aftermarket:



Above, a very early M4A1. It is one of the U.S. tanks diverted to North Africa after the original shipment was torpedoed crossig the Atlantic. One of th efirst Shermans to see action against the Germans.

It's based on a Nichimo kit, with Tamiya M3 Bogies, Italeri lower hull and tracks, lots of other stuff I can't remember. I modified the front by adding direct vision ports and a few other details. Not bad for a 15 year old conversion ...

Next:


An M4 composite (hybrid) 75mm. A kit bash with the front of a large-hatch M4A1 Italeri hull and the rear of an M4A3 Italeri hull (out of an M36B1 kit). More cutting, carving and aligning here than I want to describe. Turret from a Tamiya M4A3 75mm kit. Later, when I got the DML composite kit (DML Firefly IC), I compared them and I came out pretty good against it.

One sort-of out-of-box:


Based on a photo in Squadron's "D-Day to Berlin." Used kit decals, but lots of other stuff modified -- or scratched. Check out the front hull compared to the book pic. I'll take some other shots this weekend to further document this model.

Last, the Tamiya M4A3E2 "Jumbo" built almost out of the box:


I thickened the final drive, but not nearly enough I see after paint. I also chose to stow the .50 cal. on the back of the turret. Too many people haven't a clue what these brackets are for ....

Excellent work. I have not taken the plunge of cuttng up two or more kits to make one tank.

NIce work. I liked the one with the rocket launcher on it.

Bob:

I love the early Sherman with the cast hull, early mantlet, and vision slots. Great looking model. The rolled tarp on the sand shields and the front fender box are nice addtions. Cool.

Steve

Great collection you have going there Bob...Ahh this brings back memories of the old days when you had to make due with what was on the market...My first real jump was to use the Tamiya M4A3 hull..I added the M4A3E8 suspension from that old easy 8 tamiya kit ..The turret from the Italeri kit and the old gun barrel from tamiyas easy 8..Oh yeah I even scratch built the fenders . Now it is alot easier to make great Shermans ,but it is still fun mixing and matching all the kits to make new versions.Still have one of those old Nichimo kits on the shelf..God were they bad or what!..lol
Thanks for sharing.
Rick

Hollowpoint,
Those shermans are looking very well done it is good to see lots of OD on the RRB.
In the first picture is the M4A1 a New Zealand tank?

Great work Hollowpoint. It just shows that it's not "you've seen one Sherman you've seen them all." Or even that OD is all the same.

You say you used the Tamiya M3 bogies? Surely, (no "don't call me Shirley" jokes please) you didn't use the infamous six spoke wheels from the M3? I have you know the first thing I did when I got my Priest Monday was check to see if I could use the Italeri wheels with the M3 bogies. It will take some work with a #11 blade but I'll make it work.

Thanks for the compliments, gents. Also, please understand that I didn't build these last month -- they are part of a collection I started in about 1985.

That M4A1 is one of my favorite builds -- one of the first times I tried using putty to modifiy a kit.

Steve -- glad you liked the big tarp and poles. It's one of the things I saw in pics of North Africa Sherms and had to include it in the build. It's kind of like the crew's field expedient pop-up camper.

Andy -- I think you are right about the markings being Kiwi. I didn't have much reference for markings on this tank, just a Verlinden dry transfer sheet with markings for an El Alamein Sherman II. It was sheet no. 347 "Sherman Tank Markings WWII" -- the instructions say the markings are for a tank from B Squadron, Wiltshire Yeomanry, El Alamein 1942. It also says to put a big aircraft-style roundel on the rear deck -- a marking that didn't come on the sheet. I used a couple decals from a 1/32nd Matchbox Lysander kit to make the roundel marking -- it looks pretty cool.

Rodger -- I specifically chose that photo so that you couldn't see that I had used the dreaded six-spoke roadwheels! Shirley must have talked! Seriously, it was after I built this and had it all painted and marked when one of my model club friends casually mentioned the road wheels. Ugh! Too late to do anything about it now -- chalk it up as a lesson learned.

Rick -- Here's one just for you:



Similar to your's, this one has a Tamiya M4A3 hull, an Italeri turret (converted to a small loader hatch) and a suspension from the old MP Models conversion set. The MP set showed up just in time -- somewhere around here I still have all the parts from the ancient Tamiya M4A3E8 ready to be added to an un-suspecting hull. This old conversion is beginning to show its age -- one of the cats chomped the .50 cal. (at least that's what my kids say -- I have another theory), plus the MP model tracks have been falling off (notice missing chunk on drive sprocket). I fully intend to restore this one to its former glory with some aftermarket tracks and a new MG, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Thanks hollowpoint,
It is always good to see Kiwi AFV's thanks for the sheet number i might have to get it. :-)

Here's another look, Andy. Good luck finding that sheet -- it's kind of old.

And for Rodger, the dreaded six-spoke roadwheels!