What periscope set did you use?

They look scratched to me. Nice work thus far. "Q"

Thanks Bear... didn't know that...... learned something new....
and another little detail to add.......
Alan, Matthew is correct, I scratchbuilt them.

OK, made the open periscopes last night. I replaced the inside ones, to line up with the outside ones, to point in different directions, for a more casual look.
Off until Friday night, so no more work or up dates until the week end.

It looks fantastic! Keep up the good work!
Cheers and happy modelling!
Prato

Another Monday, another update.... :-) :-)
I added the kit tools, first I removed most of the molded brackets, and replaced with slivers of lead foil, I also used lead foil for the straps and buckles.


I added the little tie downs along the rear shelf. The photo showed a lot, so I added a lot. No I didn't count how many, feel free to count.... weren't that hard to make, simplely put down tiny slivers of .10 rod, let it dry over night, and then added .10 rod over the bottom ones, let dry over night, and trimmed off the excess.


Did the periscope guards, still have the one remaining turret one to do. Really wasn't that hard. I used some old stripped aluminum electical wire that was laying around the scrap bin at work. straighten under a rolling steel ruler.
I drilled two shallow holes on each end, being carful not to drill all the way through, bent the wire to shape, (yep took several times for each, CAed in place, let dry, gently bent each outwards a little, and cut the cross pieces to fit, and CAed in place. (yep, took several tries for each). But really nothing beyond the average modellers skills. (I only consider myself an average modeller by the way)

OK, another update..... did a little work on it last night, (was busy over the week end doing my "on 2 wheels campiagn" piece)
Made up the headlight guards last night. Really were not that hard to do, actually a lot easier than I imagined.
I simply took a piece of masking tape and applied it to one of the kit guards, then held it up to the light, and traced the shape.
I then removed the tape, and put it on a thick piece of plastic sheet, and cut it out, only doing the forward edge. A little gentle sanding to try to even it out. I then placed this template on a sheet of .10 plastic, scribed the forward edge, then slid the template rearwards a little, and scribed the rear edge. Then I simply cut the piece out, curled it over a piece of tube, and glued in place. I added the braces, and cross pieces from some .10 plastic strip. (Headlight guards still need to be trimed) Total time was about two hours, most to make up the template.




Maybe not perfect, but hey, I made them....... and for me that's the fun part. :-) :-)

But not bad either! If you think they are, consider them "in the field replacements!" Following this has been a lot of fun and an exercise in simplicity of model building.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff.... so far it has been fun.

Looking Excellent Grumps, I really hope to be seeing this in some sort of diorama!

Harrison, after I finish the vehicle, I'll carefully pack it and send it to you, so you can work your magic on it for a diorama..... :-)

So what happened Dave!?!?!
Is it still in the works? This peaks my interest more than most, as it is a near step by step of the somewhat painstaking process I follow to get a Sherman 'up and running'... Including the hiatus it seems you have encountered :-) :-)
Brad
P.S. with all my banging on, I forgot to mention that it is looking great! As an alternative to plastic for the headlight guards, I use flat lengths of brass, .015"X.042" from my local model train shop.

:-) Update will be coming in a new thread....
Need the experts to check it over before the primer.... :-)

Ciao Dave,
Looking good so far! Keep us posted on this future masterpiece!!
Ciao for now
Rob

Hi Dave,

This is a great thread and i do hope you keep it going!
Its really perfect how you are documenting it step by step.

If you ended up consolidating all this information in a document, it would be perfect as amatuer modellers like myself can see how you scratch build the little parts.

Could you please also explain how you textured the bulge on the turret? I noticed that you applied this same method along the panels and am really curious how it would turn out.