Here is a small update on the progress of my diorama. It is Oddball's Sherman using Tamiya's M4A3 kit and an Jordi Rubio 76 mm barrel. The loudspeaker was made from a kitchen funnel. Appreciate any feedback.




Next up are the figures: Kelly, Oddball and the Tiger commander.

Keith

Check the side the loudspeaker was on. You may be right, but I thought it was on the other side. It had four rods with rounded ends coming out of the speaker as well.

Sealhead

That is so freaking funny! I can't wait until it's done

:-) I'm looking forward to seeing Oddball.

Thanks fer' the laughs,
Cody

Sealhead, actually we are both right. I have checked pictures on the internet and watched the movie about a dozen times recently "researching" this and they apparently had the speaker on both sides at different points in the movie. In the beginning, when Kelly meets Oddball, the speaker was on the right side. Later, about from rail bridge on, it was on the left side. Since the diorama portrays events at the end, I went with the left side. The four rods are in the speaker.
Stahlheim: I am using the Oddball figure from the Jaguar set: Oddball's Tank Crew. It actually bears a bit of resemblance to Donald Sutherland. Kelly is a mix of parts from the Tamiya MG and Mortar figure set. Finally, as the diorama portrays the moments after the paint shell hit the Tiger, the Tiger commander is from the Dragon Actung Jabo set, the figure climbing our of the hatch.

Keith

Having watched the movie many times myself while doing my Kelly's Heroes dio, I realized the truck they're leaving in at the end of the movie is a GMC painted German gray. I decided to use an Opel Blitz as mine id for fun, not just super accuracy.

Sealhead

Same here Sealhead: strictly for fun. That's why I went for the Academy Tiger kit rather than a T34 and an aftermarket conversion set!

Good start. I've been playing with the idea of doing a Kelly's Heroes diorama myself. A couple of things to keep in mind. You're right about the loudspeaker, depending on the scene watched, it switched sides several times. Another thing is on the Sherman itself. I have an article I found on the web many years ago about the Shermans used in Kelly's Heroes, while I was going to use the Tamiya kit, the article went into the correct type of Sherman used based on the front angle degree of the hull, etc and concluded that it is actually an M4A2 which you could used the Italeri Pacific Sherman. It would just need the long barrel like the Rubio one you already have. The other minor point is the 50 cal on top of the tank. IThe one used in the film was the Aircraft version of the 50 cal with the full barrel jacket. That's harder to find, but I was lusky and had an old Cal-Scale brass one in the parts box.

found more info on Oddball's Sherman. I was wrong about the mark it is an M4A3 wet storage version. Here's the rest of the article:

The Shermans used in the movie were wet-stowage 75mm M4A3s, with 47 degree glacis plate, late cast transmission housing, and late-style driver's hatches (Tamiya's hull is, in my humble opinion, the best available). The turrets were fitted with the M34A1 mantlet, commander's vision cupola, and oval loader's hatch (the DML turret included as an option in the Hybrid Firefly kit is probably the best one out there). Additionally, these
vehicles were refitted (as were some Pakistani Shermans; see New Vanguard

1) with a 76mm M1A2 gun (threaded for but not fitted with a muzzle brake; a turned aluminum version is available from Tank Workshop) in the original 75mm turret. On the right side of the turret are three spare track links, while the left side of the turret mounts the loudspeaker and a single spare track link.
The .50 fitted to the turret is unusual in a few respects: the ammunition is simply stacked into the ammunition tray (i.e., without ammo box), while the gun itself is a .50 air-cooled (as fitted to most WW2 aircraft and LRDG/SAS vehicles) instead of the common .50 M2HB (Heavy Barrel). Collector's Brass makes this weapon in this configuration, I believe.
The tracks are standard metal chevron types without extended end connectors (T54E1, available from DML), while the wheels and idler are the "solid spoked" type (available from Tamiya and DML), and the volutes feature the upswept return roller mountings. The drive sprocket is, for want of a better description, the "solid" type (look at the two different types
included in Italeri and DML kits to see what I mean; in Italeri kits, the correct part number is 15, while in DML kits it's D15).
The vehicle has extended fenders at the front and rear, as seen when these vehicles are fitted with sandshields, but the sandshields themselves are not fitted. The mounting brackets on the rear hull plate for spare track links are missing on these vehicles. Also, an extra radio antenna is fitted to the hull, just behind and to the right of the assistant driver's hatch (I believe where the air vent is usually fitted).
The markings on Oddball's Sherman are as follows:
1.a mid-sized white star in the center of the transmission housing;
2.white stars on the hull sides, under the turret;
3.a small white star on the right rear fender;
4.the codes "USA 301104" on the hull sides aft (as standard on most WW2 US tanks), as well as "USA 301104" on the left rear fender, with "USA" above and "301104" below.

No other markings were visible (although there may be a star on the engine deck or turret roof, it's not apparent in the movie). The patch on Oddball's jacket, by the way, is for the 6th Armored Division, although
standard US divisional codes are not visible on the vehicle.
Incidentally, one of the other Shermans appears to have been fitted with a loudspeaker on the right side (as seen when Kelly is first introduced to the tanks), while the other did not seem to be fitted with one.
Were I building this, I would use the hull from the Tamiya M4A3 kit, and just about everything else (turret, suspension, tracks, and anything else that seems superior in the DML kit) from the DML Composite Firefly. You
could quite easily build a Sherman Firefly with all of the leftover pieces.
I hope this is of some use, since I consider this a most worthy modeling project.. Sorry, but I don't have any pictures.
Good luck!

Wow Swampfox, that is a lot of information! Thanks for the time and detail. I am no Sherman expert so I decided to use the Tamiya M4A3 kit as that was mentioned here before as the best match as well as the info. found on the Sherman Register website says it as well (and I alreadfy had the kit!). I tried to figure out the number of track links on each side of the turret and could not determine the exact number for the left side so went with 2. As for the other items, well, considering (1) I am hoping to achieve is a Sherman that, in the middle of a diorama, looks like Oddball's, and (2) the stage of the work, I will have to stick with what I have out of the Tamiya box.

Just an update without new pictures. I decided the kitchen funnel loudspeaker looked out of scale (the sides too thick), so I spent the last couple of nights reworking that using an aluminum pie plate. Hopefully I will have more pictures of that and the figures in the not too distant future.

Keith