Hi guys,
actually finished this one over a week ago, just took me a while to get the pics up!

The dio features a M4A3 sherman 'New York' of the 69th tank battalion, 6th armoured division, taking on a Pantherturm III of the seigfried line in early 1945. The turret has been knocked out and quickly abandoned before the Sherman came crashing through it to avoid the mines and other defences. The supporting infantry are utilising the tanks cover to advance through the lines and make 'Fritz' run for cover.

The kits used are Tamiya's M4A3 Sherman (75mm gun) Frontline Breakthrough which has had Eduard PE added and the long list of corrections listed on the US army models website.
The figures are also from this set with the odd bit of Verlinden and Dragon bits thrown in for good measure along with some PE for rifle slings, helmet 'nets' and straps.
The base and Pantherturm are the MIG resin/plaster kit with the Jordi Rubio (did I spell that right ) aluminium barrel.
All accesories/german weapons etc. are from various other kits and the spares box(es).

Hope you like, and please comment on what you think!

Cheers,

James

Gday James
So finally we see the finished product!
This has turned out really well mate, and the photo quality shows off the effort you have put into the details...
Very well painted, and the diorama base has a very unique look to it
Love the rear stowage. (Where is the wrench from?)
One thing to look at next time when precariously placing you AFV is how the individual bogey arms would sink/rise in accordance to the terrain. [Imposible to do with Tamiya running gear though ]
Cheers
Brad

Ditto what Brad said about the suspension. And would a panther gun barrel support the weight of a 30 ton tank? Or would the tank force that gun barrel down.

The running BAR guy has a pack arrangement on his back that, well, lacks most of the pack.

The German style gas can should have it's cap to the one side of the seam, not centered.

The spare tracks on the back don't match the type the tank is actually using.

Having said that, on the plus side I can see all the mods you made to the kit, such as the engine door rests, replaced handles, periscopes opened up (so many modelers forget that one), well painted figs, the sandshield attachment strips, the good looking tow cable, the stowage tied down, etc. With those other few corrections made you'd have a real show stopper.

Rob

Hey Brad,
Thanks for the comments, glad you like her as you were fundamental in helping me build the Sherman.
The wrench is from Dragon's M26 Dragon-wagon kit (which I never finished and plundered for parts/transfers during this build). I thought it would look good thrown in with the headlights after removing them to be 'ready for battle'.
The suspension of the bogeys was the one thing I was worried about with this dio, but as you mentioned, it is impossible to 'animate' them with the Tamiya kit. This coupled with the Tamiya 'rubber band' tracks is the one part of the dio I am unhappy with, seems my next sherman will have to be a Dragon offering!

Cheers mate!

James

Rob,
Thankyou for your kind words, I put some effort into this one so i'm glad to see you like it.
See what I said to Brad about the suspension, without replacing the bogeys and tracks there wasn't a lot I could do.

I made the decsision to lose the lower part of the BAR gunners pack as I figured he woudn't want the weight while in combat but may have wanted the spade for helping to set up a fire position etc. and so just attatched the top part to his webbing. Wether this is actually possible I have no idea so call it artistic license!

As for the German Jerry can I stand corrected, my mistake.

The spare tracks are those supplied by Tamiya and I honestly didn't give any thought as to wether they matched the tracks on the tank, despite going out of my way to make sure the ones on the front did and moifying them to be the right size!

Thanks again for all your comments, keep em coming guys!

James

What's odd about the shovel arrangement on the BAR guy (it could be attached there) is the fact that the small outer pack from the haversack is over top of it. Might be possible, but I've never seen that arrangement.

Just noticed no periscope guards, which were pretty much universal on this type of Sherman.

On the plus side, one thing I forgot to mention earlier was the thickened cheek bulge. Though hidden mostly by stowage, it looks to be well done. Also, good job fairing in the shell ejection port, another detail a lot of modelers miss.

Great job.

Rob

Rob,

I see what you mean about the haversack, I thought it was in 3 parts hence my arrangement but i'm sure you're correct (I'm no expert, thats for sure!)
The periscope guards are all there although hard to see in the pics, trust me, as it was one part of the build I did not enjoy!

Thanks for noticing the cheek bulge and smoothed 'pistol port' with Brad on my case I had no choice but to tackle every discrepancy in the Tamiya kit!

A note for anyone else updating this kit, the bulge and other fixes are a lot easier than you'd think!

James

That kind of arangement is not possible. There is no place to attach the e-tools M-1910 hooks anywhere. It is not possible to attach the meatcan pouch in that manner either. I have only ever sen the meatcan pouch detached from the haversack once, and then it was tied to a pistol belt, not the suspenders.

Where did you get the haversacks from? I don't believe I have ever seen them in plastic too often.

David,

Come to think of it, the only place I've ever seen the 1910 etool attached to the suspenders was on the boxart for the Dragon 2nd Armored division troops, so it may well be made-up.

Regarding a source for the packs, tamiya has them in their US Army Asault team set as well as the separate, bagged set available for cheaper that just has the packs, helmets, weapons, tools, from that set.

Rob

That's neat. Do any of them have the long roll made up or are they all in the short roll layout? I would love to depict a march with everybody carrying as much as they can.

Short only. For the longer type, you might have to check the usual resin sources (Verlinden, etc.).

Rob

Hi there

I love this dio. The sense of motion in the piece is very well thought out.

If you altered the man in the turret so he was looking forward instead of along the barrel that would really help tie the tank to the base.

Good work.

Stuart

Thanks for the comments guys....

@David: Rob is correct about the source for the packs, the same spruce is also included in the Sherman kit. As for the 'long roll' type, im no expert on US stuff but Verlinden make a 'bigger' pack than the Tamiya one's which may be what you're after. There is one in the last of my pics, the right hand back pack included in the stowage is a Verlinden offering from their US infantry european theatre upgrade/detail set. The other two are the Tamiya offerings. Hope that is some help.

@Stuart: Thanks mate, glad you like it. I see what you mean but, I positioned the commander looking along the barrel as he and the leading rifleman are directing fire at the retreating germans 'just out of shot', leaving the driver to negotiate the Pantherturm. I did this to give a sense of direction and to explain why the other infantry are using the right hand side of the tank as cover. There would also be the problem that if he faced forward he would just be looking at the inside of the hatch!

Cheers,

James

James,

One other small point, the tail light arrangement should only have the top left red, the lower left and both right lights should be black. Nice work on the dio and scene.

Heh heh, thats seemed a very popular choice of decal I must say! I've wanted to use it for a while now and as the kit was a valentines present I figured now was the time!




Thanks Bill,

I've been given a rapid course in Sherman modelling by Roy and Brad so i'll add that to the mountain of Sherman knowledge i've aquired!

It's been a really fun kit to build, the inaccuracies and oversights by Tamiya have only made it an even more interesting build and as my first allied peice for a while it has made a nice change, it won't be for a while but this certainly isn't my last sherman build!

Thanks for all the help and pointers guys,

James

There is a lot going on in this diorama, and it works great. I get a real sense of motion and urgency from the figures. This is one to be proud of.