I am about to start a new project a British army M4 Firefly. I have several pictures of the Firefly I want to create, the text says it has a 'Detroit cast hull' does anyone out there know of a company of available model that I can start with?

I have my tracks, 17pdr gun barrell and wheels but no model to fit them to.

If there is no way of making this I think I will keep the barrell for the A10 Achillies I have in mind and the wheels and tracks for another British Sherman I wouldn't mind building.

After all, I've built 15 SdKfz 251's, 10 Sdkfz 250's, 3 PzKpfw III's, 6 Pzkpfw Iv's (Mostly Ausf H and J and one F).

It's just that I fancy building some Allied Armour and I thought, why not, let's jump in at the deep end.

Scott

hi,

You can use the Dragon kit no. 9037 Firefly Ic Hybrid. It is not in production, but can be found.

Regards thomas

Reference sites:
IDF Modelers Homepage: http://hjem.get2net.dk/t_anton/model.htm
IDF Modeling: http://idfmodelling.free.fr/index.html
IAF/AF Enthusiasts http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iaf_list/
IDF Armour Enthusiasts http://groups.yahoo.com/group/idf_armour/
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I have the DML Hybrid kit, and it is nice. But there are problems.

First, the turret has shape issues. The rear bustle is too long and the rotor shield/mantlet sits too high. Mike Canaday has fixes for this, and a search here or at Missing Links will turn up threads with lings to his web site for the fixes. I'm too inept to figure out how to post the link here. Another option is to purchase CMD's absolutely SUPERB resin turret with aluminum barrel and resin muzzle brake.

Second, the main gun is too long. Using the CMD turret set fixes ths, as does using a Jordi Rubio or Eduard barrel. I have the Rubio; it is very nice and the only downside is it has the rare, early squared-off holes in the muzzle brake. Those barrels are more appropriate for an early Firefly Vc or M10 17-pdr (Achilles) than for a very late Firefly IHc.

Also: the kit mentioned has parts for a Pacific Theater flamethrower including a nice late, high-bustle turret with oval loader's hatch. This has some dimensional corrections over the standard Firefly turret, but the mantlet still looks to me to sit too high. Anyway some very late Firefly IHc tanks had this high-bustle turret so the kit gives you that option without specifically telling you so.

I can also recommend stuff from Accurate Armour. I like their resin tracks, and the British Stowage set has lots of useful stuff like camo nets, ammunition crates, etc. Their M4 British Update set is for the Tamiya kit but the parts would be applicable to this one, too. Also, AA make some 17-pdr ammunition should you choose to do a re-arming dio or build an interior. HTH,

Greg