Hello guys ,

I would like to show you my first Sherman before painting and weathering !
It 's the Sherman M4A3 (76)w vvss " Battle of the Bulge " from Dragon !
( sorry if my English's not so good , i'm French ! )






And the last picture :


So let me know what you think about it .
The painting session will come !

Thanks !
Cheers !

David



My website :
http://panzerdav.free.fr

Bonjour David, Ca va? (Hows my French:-) :-) )
That looks pretty good to me, i am just making the same kit so this is quite interesting for me. Just a bit of advice (dont hold me to it though as im not 100% sure) but i think that i saw on the internet that instead of Thunderbolt IV the tanks name should be Thunderbolt VI. Although im not 100% sure. Anyway nice looking tank and your english isnt too bad either!! Nick

This is what i was talking about:

Subsequent information from Steve Zaloga:

"One major point: Thunderbolt IV should be Thunderbolt VI. This mistake is based on my 12 year old drawing, but I've got better info since then (and I've illustrated the tank properly for example in the Osprey Warrior "US Tanker"). Abrams tanks in the ETO were:
Thunderbolt V, his M4 in France (a reworked early M4 with DV )
Thunderbolt VI, the M4A3 (76mm) which Brig. Gen. Bruce Clarke forced on Abrams in the refit in Oct 44 after the Lorraine campaign as Clarke knew that if Abrams wouldn't use the new type, nobody else would
Thunderbolt VII, the M4A3E8 which he got during the refit after the Ardennes campaign in late Jan 45."

Here is the link http://misc.kitreview.com/armourreviews/dml6255reviewcs_1.htm

Nick

Looks good Dave. Good clear pictures too! If I can make a few suggestions:

1) the oval plates on the rear deck corners are a mistake by DML. They were leftovers from the M4A2 kit of theirs but these weren't part of real, later hulled M4A3s. I'd suggest scraping them off or covering the areas w/stowage.

2) the u-shaped housing that protrudes from the rear of the turret seems to show a seam. Maybe some putty there?

3) the jerry can lying atop the turret -- would obscure the optics of the commander's cupola (and a potential fire hazard?)

4) the spare track holder on the rear plate -- DML strangely depicts them with gaps between the three "C" channels. It was a continuous piece of stamped metal, forming the three "C" channels.

Hope these help. Keep up the good work. RC

Looks a nice clean build so far - something else Dragon forgot is the standard US antenna mount behind the commander's hatch. The hole for it is visible in the background here

Turret

David

Very nice work, this should be great when painted! One trivia, the big pile of stowage on the rear - in looking at photos most M4A3 crews seem to have tried to leave some air flow to the radiator. The big piles on the rear deck seem to be seen more on M4 and M4A1 types. However, there are many variations, so you are not really wrong.

Gday Dave
Your build looks to be a good one, nice n clean!
On top of the info already posted here, I'd say kudos for making the sandbags! The gripe with this though, is that they are probably twice as big as needed...Try and scale an individual sand bag against a 1/35th figure... They would only be approx. 20mm in length at the largest, and maybe 10mm wide... Very easy to make them too large, as I have done in the past! If easy enough to re-do then go ahead, other than that tell me to go jump and I will
Love the tarp effect on the rear deck~ quite realistic...
There should be a periscope guard on the loaders' hatch... What stowage are you going to put on the turret sides? The bars you have attached would be field-modified I'm sure...
Good job, more Shermans!
Cheers
Brad

Dave,
Really nice looking build.
I learned alot from the others comments, and from your build.
Should look great painted.
Just for an idea, the duck bills, I don't think I've ever seen a picture that shows these all on. Maybe miss 1 or 2 that were thrown.
Hope I can get my details this clean.
Great job,
Bob

nice and clean build. what are the plates attached on the rear deck for? thanks and have fun building.

Ed: those oval plates are leftovers from the original Sherman hull design. That area of the hull was a compartment for storing grousers (which added traction to the tracks). Sometimes, gasoline fumes would accumulate there so a vent was developed. The base of the vent was oval in shape. This plate was used on late M4A2 hulls because the compartment was eliminated. It was eliminated on the late M4A3 hulls too but they were manufactured without the hole having been made.

Hello ,

Thanks for all comments !

So , the stowage on the turret will be some bags !

Thanks for the tip about the antenna , i've forget it !

About the stowage on the rear , don't forget that some shermy have an engine Ford V8 GAA developing about 500 CV !!! and with water-cooling!

Construction of M4A3 76MM HVSS ou M4A3E8 HVVS :

4592 EX from MARS 1944 to AVRIL 1945.

The two part of white plasticard on the engine-deck( left and right ) are made in the case of the door of engine are open !

There's some little modification that's arriving soon before painting !
( sorry for my bad englush ! )

Cheers

David