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1/48 Fighting 48th Firefly VC


Calum

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The Firefly is my favourite WW2 Tank, A typically British solution to the problem of the superior German armour - take a big gun and stuff it in the only thing we've got.


Years ago I secured one of Fighting 48ths excellent resin conversions, unfortunately these are no longer in production. This is my first resin kit but I'd been biding my time before starting it.


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I'm doing I need 2 donor kits. I need the road wheels and Tools sprue from the M4A1 kit. The Firefly IC kit will supply the other parts


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Some reference materials -no prizes for guessing what countries Firefly I'll be modelling


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Some more reference, in particular Brett Greens Article in MMI will be helpful. Also the decals, Bisons Kiwi Armour in WW2. Plus some other stuff that may (or may not) be used


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Here's all the resin that comes with the kit. I also grabbed a metal barrel


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Some of the PE added to the rear, Bending the smoke emitters was quite easily but getting the handle to fit over them was a bit of challenge. I also had a go soldering these.


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The tracks were reasonably easy to fit, although I chickened out and didn't replace the guides on top of the road wheels with the PE parts. I didn't think I could bend all 6 of them the same


Firefly-VC-07.jpg


I had to relocate the smoke emitters and towbar lower than what is on the instructions as the towbar fouled the upper hull.


Firefly-VC-08.jpg




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Hi Calum

I've just dug one of these out of the Shelf Queen pile to get done. Mine was one of Tim's seconds he sold when all the others had gone. It's better than some companies can manage when they release as new!!

The trick with the skids is to bend them round a drill bit shank. I lined all mine up on double sided tape and did them in one go...very slowly and carefully. If it's not too late I'd offer a suggestion that may save a lot of hassle for you later.

The kit return rollers are slightly too big in diameter and the bogies sit a little high as well. This makes the top track run tight to the hull and the drop down to the rear idler is steeper than it should be. The easy solution is to pack out the bogie mounts with 10 or 15 thou card so the top track run is more level. There are several side views in those references which will show you what I mean. The hull mounting holes need opening out slightly and the packing piece goes into the recess on the hull bottom. The only other issue I've had is a very slight flare along the lower edge of the hull top sides. That took all of a minute to flatten out.

Be aware that some Kiwi Fireflies were converted in theatre and at least one kept the hull mg and co-driver.

Have fun with it and I think you'll be getting yours finished before mine.....

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  • 4 weeks later...
Hi Nick, unfortunately I'd already attached the tracks and rollers so they'll have to do. I agree that the rollers and bogies do result in the tracks being a little close to the top of the Hull but I'm not going to do anything about that now




Here's the next instalment, actually I got a bit of this done before Christmas but never got around to posting them images


I added the PE Mud Guards. then the Extra metal plates on the front and the PE brackets for attaching stowage. I soldered the brackets before attaching with CA. stuffed up the mudguard brackets so replaced them with strips of aluminium tape.


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Next was the PE parts along the side, these were easier to attach than I expected.


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Then the rear stowage bin and Hauler extinguishers


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Another front view


Firefly-VC-14.jpg

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Continuing on from my blatant copying of Brett Greens VC build I added the big messy welds to the extra Armour plates using magi sculpt. Then used a knife to make the weld marks. They are a bit exaggerated now but under some primer and paint they should look OK


Firefly-VC-16.jpg


Firefly-VC-17.jpg


Top shot with all the tools on. I don't know if there was a standard way to lay these out. Again I copied the arrangement from Brett Greens build and the instructions. I ended up turning the shovel around because it fit better.


Firefly-VC-18.jpg


Rear deck. I used some strips of aluminium tape to make some straps.


I also wasn't happy with where I'd originally put the rear resin lifting (?) hooks. Breaking them off destroyed them so I had to scratch build some new ones. That said, on second thoughts, these ones are also probably in the wrong spots as well - but this time they are staying


Firefly-VC-19.jpg


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I noticed from the reference photos of the tank I'm building that they welded some angle iron across the front. I had some evergreen angle that looked about he right size


Firefly-VC-21.jpg

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Continuing on from my blatant copying of Brett Greens VC build I added the big messy welds to the extra Armour plates using magi sculpt. Then used a knife to make the weld marks. They are a bit exaggerated now but under some primer and paint they should look OK


Firefly-VC-16.jpg


Firefly-VC-17.jpg


Top shot with all the tools on. I don't know if there was a standard way to lay these out. Again I copied the arrangement from Brett Greens build and the instructions. I ended up turning the shovel around because it fit better.


Firefly-VC-18.jpg


Rear deck. I used some strips of aluminium tape to make some straps.


I also wasn't happy with where I'd originally put the rear resin lifting (?) hooks. Breaking them off destroyed them so I had to scratch build some new ones. That said, on second thoughts, these ones are also probably in the wrong spots as well - but this time they are staying


Firefly-VC-19.jpg


Firefly-VC-20.jpg


Firefly-VC-21.jpg


I noticed from the reference photos of the tank I'm building that they welded some angle iron across the front. I had some evergreen angle that looked about the right size


Firefly-VC-21.jpg

Edited by Calum
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Thanks gents

Stowage time. There seemed to be a fair bit of stuff attached to these tanks.
Firefly-VC-23.jpg
I've used stuff from a Legend Stug set, (beige) Black Dog (Light Grey) and good old Tamiya Plastic Jerry cans (Dark Grey).
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Finally got all the PE on the turret. I also stippled some Mr Surfacer 1000 to at a bit more texture to the Tamiya Plastic. The brass rods are to simulate hooks that the crew could tie things to the turret
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I haven't decided which hatch I'll open so I'll do everything shut up for now.
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Top Shot. The metal barrel is IMO worth the investment as is the time spent with the small PE parts
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Hope I haven't over done the stowage.
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Great work on this one! As they say, the variety of stowage more than makes up for the overall drab scheme of Shermans.

Regarding the smoke box in the rear, being a post factory addition by the British, it's placement can be shifted around to accommodate other equipment.

regards,

Jack

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I started by priming with Tamiya Surface primer


Firefly-VC-32.jpg


Next was the primer coat. I used Tamiya Dark Green. Copying Brett Greens article again I decided to the the counter shading of the barrel out of the way. I first painted the area Tamiya Deck Tan, then I cut out some wavy lines with Tamiya Tape, applied that and used Gunze RAF Dark green for the top part.


Firefly-VC-33.jpg


The ring was done in white and then I masked it up and started to paint the rest of the model. I tried Bretts suggested mix for the SCC 15 Olive Drab but it looked way to brown to me. After studying a few online builds I came to the conclusion that trying to pick a colour for SCC 15 OD is the road to madness, so in the end I mixed some Tamiya IF 62 OD with with some RAF dark green.


After 2 hours of airbrushing various colours I decided to call it quit. I'm not sure I'm happy though, I can't decide if the model is to dark and perhaps not green enough? All opinions greatly appreciated


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The olive shade you've arrived at looks fine, in fact it looks pretty close to what I ended up with. I myself have never seen SCC15, so the mix I had used, provided by Mike Starmer's research, is all I've got to go by.

regards,

Jack

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Mate looking great love the lighter tone. What colours did you use for the lightened version?

Looks great, what were your final colours?

There was no real science to it. I started with Tamiya XF62 and added some XF58 olive green, then some Tamiya Sky. That was 2 light so I added some more OD until I was happy.

That mix was sprayed over the model in a light mist coat. I then added some Tamiya Khaki to lighten it and used that, and Khaki, and Khaki drab from the bottle to lighten the areas.....

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A couple of nights spent painting the stowage / tools etc.

This is only the first round, I'll revisit these with some dry brushing etc after the washes are done. I used various Vallejo paints for this as they brush paint really well.

Firefly-VC-45.jpg

Some are a bit bright now but various washes and dust should darken them down

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I also applied some Filters to bits of the tank, I'm still figuring this armour modelling out, so I'm not sure if this was the best time but I figured what harm can it do

Firefly-VC-48.jpg

The filters were also used to some some additional streaking.

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I base coated the tracks a dusty brown because I'm going with a dusty finish

Firefly-VC-47.jpg

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