I originally built the Italeri M4A1 76mm OOTB but it was just calling me for more modifications. I replaced the T51 rubber block tracks with AFV Club T49 three bar cleats. She was still was calling me for more work. I decided to create one of Patton's monsters.

Taken from Steve Zaloga's The Sherman at War, "Patton's Third Army decided to initiate a program of uparmoring M4s with armor plate taken from knocked out American and German tanks as an alternative to the ineffective use of sandbags."

It's raining outside right now so I had to take the pics on the deck instead of my usual deckrail!! I still have to weather it and load it up with all the crap that US tankers like to store!!
EDIT: Replaced the original pic with one back on the deckrail!!

Alan
Looks great so far On the barrel,are you gonna remove that step up by the mantlet? i don't know of any 76mm barrels that have had that

As much as I hate the glowing error of the Italeri 76mm I don't have the patience to remove them. Maybe one of these days I will look for a JR barrel but for now it's a $15 kit plus a few bucks for the T49, plastic sheet and paint.

hi alan u are makeing me jelous lol,
what a great looking sherman.
i love how the front armor goes down and,
how its welded to the side.
and i also like the added on armor to the sides,
of the turrets what did u use for these add on armors,
cant waite to see it done

It's .75mm sheet plastic. I drew a rough shape onto a piece of paper and trimmed it until it fit properly and the holes aligned. Then traced the paper template onto the sheet plastic. I saved the template so I can do it again another day!!

I may add some plastic rods where there would be welds. Then I would use some liquid cement to soften up the rods and flatten with a knife. Maybe I can simulate some sloppy field welding.

you are so on a roll with all your builds lately!! this one looks really cool. glad you tried this new style! cant wait to see it fully loaded and weathered!

Nice build shermie

Ain't seen that one before, just the M4A3E8 with chunks of panther welded to them! Nice one Shermie , let's see it finished!

good looking kit. You know Patton hated it when they modified the tanks like this. He said that they didn't have enough faith in their equipment. But then again he wasn't riding in them.

Shermie

Good to see another Sherman, and one that is a bit unique also. I have seen one actual pic of this added armor application, and always thought it would be a fun little addition to a model. You have done well here. Congrats on a nifty looking little build.

Keep us posted as you paint/weather and load her up with gear.

Is this one going in a little scene?

Steve

ps: As an aside, I recall seeing a pic of one Sherman crew that had actually poured cement across the front glacis plate, for addtional protection. Wonder how they got the transmision cover off after that (smile).

In Zaloga's The Sherman at War there are numerous examples of uparmored Shermans (highly recommended book for Shermanaholics) and you are right, they are mostly M4A3E8s and M4A3 76. However in Squadron's Sherman at War (another highly recommended book) on page43 there is a beautiful example of what I did on an M4A1 76mm.






Probably not but you never know.

Thanks for the comments

Howdy Shermies,

Ya know Alan, I've said it before, and I don't mind saying it again......"great mind's have got to think alike!"
I have several Sherman versions I'm working on, and each and every time you not only pic those exact ones, but you also beat me to the punch! Not to mention, you also do a superb job on them and make me cringe a little hoping that I can do half as good a job as you do. But at the same time pal, you are a great trailblazer....maybe you should consider changing your callsign to TrailBlazer?...........nah, Iike it just the way it is.

Your large-hatch uparmoured A1looks fantastic so far....so stop procrastinating and get to the weathering already!! Can't wait to see it all 'dressed-up-for-the-Ball'.

Tread.

As for the 'step' in the barrel....What? You don't have a mini lathe handy!?!........geeeeeeeeeez.

Well Tread I kinda like accumulating a few tanks to weather instead of doing them one at a time. Guess I just like building them more than weathering them.

Right now I have a 105mm, the Umbrella and the Uparmored waiting to go through a mudbath. It will probably be at least 3 weeks before I can get to weathering since I'm booked the next couple of weekends.

I want to get them done thought. I promised Tigeriv I'd build my 10 years-on-the-shelf Tiger next since he dared build a Sherman Firefly!!

BTW this Uparmored mod took less than 10 minutes to measure up a paper template and another 10 minutes to cut, fit and trim the sheet plastic. It is a very simple mod to create an interesting tank in less than an hour, not counting paint drying time.

Hi Alan ..Another Sherman just about ready to drive off that production line ... A few things I noticed from your picture that you might want to look into... You should try and fix the pistol port as the box was all part of the casting and there should be no lines around it ...You have two punch marks on the commanders headrest and that should be painted black.
I don't know if you were trying to build the exact tank in the picture ,but there should be more support behind the steel plates as you can see in the picture. They used two plates of steel and not just one. The gun crutch should be moved to the new steel plates because it is useless as is. And they didn't cut out the head lights . Also if you were doing that tank if you notice carefully the Commanders hatch and the loaders hatches have been reversed.. This is a very rare bird because there were very few M4A1's that got this mod, but it happened... If you want to read more this was talked about on Missing lynx not too long ago... http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=47208&messageid=1088453847 ..

Great job so far ,now lets see it weathered !! ...

Rick

That pic was just inspiration and not an exact version. As for the lights, I just wanted to be different

I am not exactly done with the build yet. Seems I build so many of these things sometimes I lose track of what little pieces I have installed and didn't install. Once I forgot to install the gas caps on a Sherman! I must have remembered doing them on a previous build.

Hello All,
First, Alan real nice job. Looks very good.
Rick, you said they didn't cut out the headlights. What are the cut outs above the fenders for? Looks like they cut out for the headlights then covered them with something.
Regards,
Joe

The only cut out was for the mg ...those are boxing gloves just hung there by the crew.

Rick

I have been trying to figure out these Shermans, and you guys got me confused, you say there is no step on the barrel on a 76 mm barrel, so I figured you had to be right.

Then I looked at the Sherman from Owen Sound Canada and it says it has a 76 mm gun, and it looks like a step to me, or what is it.

If somebody could clear this up for me I'd appreciate it.

Kerry

I agree with you Richard, the front steel plates looks too weak. From the picture it look like the steel plates just lying on the “supports arm” You could try too place the steel plates more onto the original front. I think if there are an air gape between the steel plates and original armour the enemy bullets piercing the steel plates like the expression hot knife throw butter and the extra steel plates would be useless. This is only guesses from mine side, correct me if I’m wrong.

Hi Rick,
Not being argumentative but, with the boxing gloves positioned where they are, how can you be sure there are no cut outs for the headlights?
And as a follow up, why would they cover the headlights to begin with? Seems they would want to keep the ability to use the lights when and if needed.
Thanks,
Joe

Hi Alan,
Nice build so far. I think Richard is right in his assesment of the headlights as well. They were of secondary importantance. I have seen them "re-located" to the new armour but not with holes cut out it it would be a weak spot in the supplemental armour. Not a big deal but worth mentioning. So who is gonna be first to build one with the hatches reversed, add on armour and boxing gloves Keep up the good work Alan,
cheers,
Bryan

Hey Bryan,
If they don't use the headlights, do they remove the guards and or headlights themselves? This would allow the plate to set closer to the hull.
I can't tell from the picture, but it does appear that the plates are closer to the hull than they would be if the lights were still there.
Regards,
Joe

I think they just cut all the light guards and lights off for the exact reason you mentioned...I have seen up armored shermans both with and without the lights being replaced over the add on armor..Hey Jumbo's didn't even get lights to begin with..

Rick

Howdy Joe,

I'm going to have to look into this 'hatch-swapping' thing......at first I thought it was simply a case of reversed optics, but apparently it's not (?).
So, based completely upon the faith I have in my fellow modeler's observations.....I will definitely be looking into the difficulty of this 'swap'.....

Tread.

completely without 'jewel saw' talents, I am not.