My project to create in 1/35 scale the scene of July 18 1944, where an Irish Guards M4A4(V) 'Ballyragget' rammed a King Tiger is coming along nicely. I am also building the Firefly 'Ballymena' as an additional piece to the story. I am desperately in need of help in respect to the war department census numbers that would be on the hull sides. I have tried the historian at the Tank Museum in Bovington and the Guards Museum archivist, sadly with no success. The rate of loss'es the Micks suffered during operations meant that staying alive and keeping the momentum of combat going against the enemy was of more importance than taking pictures of their tanks.
I am planning to build a Coldstream Guards Sherman that is pictured in Robert Boscawens book,'Armoured Guardsmen'. This is his war diary from June '44 - April '45. I have found that Bison do a decal sheet that provides markings for a Firefly hybrid 1C, callsign 2C. I have the 17 lb'er turret left over from the Dragon kit as I had to use Formations resin set to convert back to an M4A4(V), but would like to know what lower hull I need to use, as it looks like the cast nose hull front. Sorry to waffle on so much, but I want to do these projects justice from a historical point of view and accuracy. Hope someone out there can help, many thanks, Colin.

For a Hybrid you need an M4 lower hull,

Do you have any pics of your progress so far?

Regards

Joe

As Joe said, the M4 hull will be needed, with the large hatch cast front. Pics will be needed for the weld seams. Nothing wrong with lots of research! Gives a greater feeling of satisfaction
Cheers
Brad
Excuse the 'tank' on the right...hehe Here is a Hybrid in Australia.

Are you trying to build a IC hybrid?, not quite sure from your post. This is a case where a picture really is worth a thousand words, if you can give a link it really helps.

To build a IC you will either need to search for the Dragon one, or get a resin upper hull for the Tamiya M4 early chassis.

If I've got it wrong, let me know and I'll have another bash.

And if you can't find a WD census number for Ballymena and no-one has a record, have a look at some other Irish Guards Shermans and pick a number near one you can see

Hi,

Have you visited the IG web site, there is a link to your story there:

http://www.army.mod.uk/irishguards/history/ww2.htm

As an ex Mick I know the story well and hope to get down to RHQ during the summer for a closer study of the war daries as I'm working on a similar type project, possibly set around Joe's Bridge in the build up to Market Garden but I'm still trying to source all the right bits to make it as accurate as possible - depending on what I can find out I might set it in the same time frame as you.

Don Kearney the ex Drum Major is the man to talk to at RHQ if you send me a personal message I'll give you a contact number for him and he might be able to help with your research.

Nice one.

Al

Many,many thanks to ya guy's. At least it points me in the right direction.
Joe. - the pix that I took have already been posted to the Guards Museum archivist to update him on progress,sorry!
Bradley.-Do you know of any kits that are available on the market that would provide the lower hull required,or is it the resin conversion route?
Drader.- www.angelfire.com/pro/bison/35011 shows the markings for Coldstream Ic hybrid. I have 2 60lb rockets and the turret left over from the new release Dragon kit that I could use. I see that accurate armour are doing a set as well. It's the same guy here who was emailing you last year, then I got hit by trolls from the mil mod forum.
Alanl.- Have spoken with and written to Sir John Gorman himself as well as Major Tony Brady, Regt. archivist. Both have been as helpful as possible and are very interested in seeing the finished article.

Colin:
The most accurate way to get a Hybrid is the following:

Chesapeake Model Designs' M4 Hybrid resin hull

It mates with the Italeri M4A1 or M32 lower hull. With some tweaking, I'm sure a Tamiya M4 hull will work too. Hope this helps.

RC

These of any use?
Sherman Mk V's
T147470 Ardnacrush A Sqn 2 Trp
T212280 Armagh
T232523 Dublin ( Cullin Hedgerow cutter )

I have other WD serials and names for Irish Guards. But the above are the only names and numbers I have together.
Hope it helps.

Cheers
Kevin

Hi Colin,

I remember John Gorman as at 2LT. Maj Brady must be a red ****. Don Kearney is misemployed to run the archives and might have a bit more time to do some research for you. I'll see what I can find out for you, I still have a few good contacts from the old days.

Al

Hi Kevin,

I'd be interested in any further listings you might have.

Many thanks

Al

Once again folks, I'm very indebt'ed to you for the help !!
Ericadeane-Now I know what hull/kit to look for on the net sales sites or place wanted ads for.
Kevint-From information received from tank museum,'Ballyragget' was a 4th troop-B(no2) squadron tank. 'Ballymena' would be B sqdrn as well but not sure if same troop or not. Ludovic Fortin's book, British tanks in Normandy, shows another of their's 'Black Sod' on page 94, but no census no on the hull side.
Alanl-Any help in any way be very much appreciated. If there is a regt. magazine or association newsletter to appeal to any surviving tank veterans that would have any snippets of information that may help. I know that these gentlemen are not in the first flushes of youth anymore, and I have a copy of the article on L/Cpl Baron (MM) by Col O J M Lindsay (CBE). Sadly James died four years ago.

Hi Colin,

These of any use?
Sherman Mk V T147312 B Sqn 3 Trp
Sherman Mk V T147380 "County"
Sherman Mk V T147470 "Ardnacrush" A Sqn 2 Trp
Sherman Mk V T212280 "Armagh"
M3A3, Stuart Mk V T224186
Sherman Mk V T22845 HQ Sqn
Sherman Mk V T232268 Cullen cutter
Sherman Mk V T232523 "Dublin" Cullen cutter
Sherman Mk V T232535
Sherman Mk V T258475

Other names
Fireflies
"Ballymena", "Bangor"
Mk V's
"Ballyragget","Erin"
Could be V'cs or V's
"Archill", "Ardmore", "Athboy", "Athlone", "Bantry", "Belfast","Black Sod","Clochan","Cloneen","Connaught"
"Cork","Dublin II","Leinster","Munster"
M3A3 Stuart
"Rathhoye"
Not sure about this one.
"St Patrick"

If you look at http://www.mafva.org.uk/Resourses.asp
You will find a list of 1st Armoured Guards names and numbers too.
Hope they help.

Cheers
Kevin

Colin, I e-mailed Don to see what he can come up with and also asked about putting a request for info in the journal. I'll let you know what develops. If I can get down to RHQ during the half term break I'll forward any useful; information I can find.

Kevin thanks for sharing the info - most useful for future reference.

Al

Hi Al,

No problem with sharing the info.
Infact you come across ANY names or WD serial numbers I would appreciate it if you could forward it to me too. Names, numbers, Sqns even senior crewman in each tank is useful to my database.

Cheers
Kevin

Kevin

No problem, I'll pass on what ever I come across - are you interested in modern as well as WW2?

Al

Hello Al,

My interest is in WWII. Mostly D-Day onwards. But I have names and WD serials covering all of WWII.
Any additions are appreciated.

Cheers
Kevin

Hello again KevinT, outstanding work on your behalf my friend, but unfortunately not applicable to the vehicles I am constructing at present, not that I am ungrateful !!
The name and number for the Stuart/Honey would be useful if I ever get around to building one to complete 'the set' as it were, as these were used by the recce troop guy's.Another thing to add to my 'things to do' list.
And AlanL, many thanks for that, I will try to contact a few names given to me by a veteran who was informed of my project by an assoc. member who has something to do with a local RBL club here at home. If you make it down to the Museum and get speaking to Tony, ask him for the photo's I sent over to him and see if you can get them scanned onto the site. I'm not that up to speed with this new fangled technology yet :-
Colin.

Hi Colin,

Does Tony work at the Guards Museum? What type of pictures where they - Shermans?

I'll see what I can do OK.

Al

Hi Alan, Tony is Major Brady, and he is the Regt. Archivist as far as I am informed. The photo's I sent him were just to update him as to the state of assembly so far, as they are still in bare plastic and primer base coat at the moment. Atmosphere is too damp to spray in my shed at present due to 'rain stopping play' !! It means I can get on with assembling the display case perspex canopy. C.

Understand

Thanks

Al

T232523 Dublin ( Cullin Hedgerow cutter ) in action in a BBC Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wzCkQOGY8s

Colin
I hope this picture can help you. I know it is hard to make out the war department census number but it might be T932344 ? Anyone see it better?



Cheers
Todd

Has anyone noticed that this thread originated nine years ago? I imagine Colin has long since finished his project.