Time to ditch the wingy things and armour up! First AFV WIP - Academy M3 Grant 1:35

[clive_t]

On 9/1/2017 at 10:45 AM, Bullbasket said:

Very thought provoking. With regards to the dust cover on the 75mm, I'm not 100% sure, but I thought that they were canvas. I painted mine in a canvas colour and then gave it a Mig Dark Wash which is a very blackish brown.

 

John.

 

21 hours ago, Kris B said:

Good choice that you not rush Clive. Very interesting post (your last one). All thise people risk or give their lives for better future and I always impressed when the model have a little bit a story behind.

Canvas too dark. 

Thanks chaps, I have managed to cover the existing shroud with another layer of tissue paper, with fewer folds and creases. I am happier with the colouration now:

 

 

Not much to do now apart from some stowage. I have today been mostly working on the figures, in the course of which I had made up something of an excess of Milliput. Rather than waste it, I figured it would be reasonable to try and make some stowage items with it. A couple of 'flimsies':

 

 

A crate of something as yet unidentified:

 

 

Thanks for watching!

 

 

 

[Bullbasket]

The canvas cover looks much better now. I think that it was worth doing.

 

John.

[Timmas]

I've been watching this from the sidelines and am amazed by the modelling skills shown here. The result is absolutely terrific.

 

I know very little about tanks, but the design of the real thing looks deeply flawed to me. The main gun doesn't rotate which means the vehicle would have to be facing the enemy for it to be effective. Admittedly the turret rotates but the cannon in that seems to be a bit on the small side to say the least. Then there's the height of the vehicle itself; it looks pretty tall and would have presented an easy target. I would have thought it was no match for a German Tiger for example, if the Tiger had got itself into the right tactical position. Finally there are the hundreds of rivets used in its construction which must have been murderous in a direct hit.

 

Your dad and his comrades had bucket loads of courage to get inside one of those. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to.

[clive_t]

1 hour ago, Timmas said:

I've been watching this from the sidelines and am amazed by the modelling skills shown here. The result is absolutely terrific.

 

I know very little about tanks, but the design of the real thing looks deeply flawed to me. The main gun doesn't rotate which means the vehicle would have to be facing the enemy for it to be effective. Admittedly the turret rotates but the cannon in that seems to be a bit on the small side to say the least. Then there's the height of the vehicle itself; it looks pretty tall and would have presented an easy target. I would have thought it was no match for a German Tiger for example, if the Tiger had got itself into the right tactical position. Finally there are the hundreds of rivets used in its construction which must have been murderous in a direct hit.

 

Your dad and his comrades had bucket loads of courage to get inside one of those. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to.

Thanks Mr Timmas, for your kind comments.

 

Everything about this has been a most enjoyable learning experience for me; the building of the kit, and the accompanying research of the real thing, have been a real eye-opener. In making the kit I have learned lots from some hugely talented, and equally generous, people who at every turn have chipped in with their observations, suggestions etc which have been a large part of the reason why I have managed to get to this stage with it.

 

As you correctly point out, the design of the real thing had more than a few flaws in it. But it was very much a case of 'rather this now than nothing for another year'. I think it would be fair to say for all its issues, that the Grant (and indeed the Lee for that matter) gave as good as it got where Panzer 3s and 4s were concerned. Like most tanks, the designs - and indeed their deployment - evolved in the light of 'experience' - all-welded hulls, no side doors (therefore thicker side armour) etc. Although largely superseded in the European theatre by the Sherman when it finally did start rolling off the production line, they continued to be used effectively in the jungle campaigns in the Far East, where opposition armour tended to be pretty inferior. Also, the ability to persuade opposition snipers down from their favourite hiding place with the use of cannister rounds fired upwards into the surrounding jungle canopy made them very popular with the Allied troops.

 

Like you, I think that it took a special kind of courage to get into one of these 'iron cathedrals' as they became known - especially as a driver, where you were positioned in such a way as to be the furthest away from any exit.

[Timmas]

Hi Clive

 

I'm a newbie as you can see, having only just returned to the hobby after a (very) long break. And my interest is aircraft, cold war jets in particular. Among the very many brilliant things about the Britmodeller site is the knowledge and generosity of its subscribers coupled with their modelling expertise. As you rightly say, some of them have given their help and advice to you (and all the rest of us who have been following your build). But, at the end of the day, you've done it...and that interior paint job in particular is sublime imo. I'm going over to your other threads in a mo to see how the rest of this project is shaping up. I reckon it's going to be a beauty when finished

All the best,

 

Tim

 

ps With regards tanks of the Second World War (and showing my ignorance about the subject again) I'm curious to know if the Sherman was particularly effective against Panzers? Looking at pictures of it alongside those of the state of the art German tanks, it looks incredibly poorly equipped by comparison, not to mention being nowhere near as squat or compact. The  Soviet T34 on the other hand really does look as though it would have given the Tiger a run for it's money. (It has to be said that this is based on nothing more scientific or technical than looking at both tank's silhouettes!).

 

 

 

[clive_t]

51 minutes ago, Timmas said:

Hi Clive

 

I'm a newbie as you can see, having only just returned to the hobby after a (very) long break. And my interest is aircraft, cold war jets in particular. Among the very many brilliant things about the Britmodeller site is the knowledge and generosity of its subscribers coupled with their modelling expertise. As you rightly say, some of them have given their help and advice to you (and all the rest of us who have been following your build). But, at the end of the day, you've done it...and that interior paint job in particular is sublime imo. I'm going over to your other threads in a mo to see how the rest of this project is shaping up. I reckon it's going to be a beauty when finished

All the best,

 

Tim

 

ps With regards tanks of the Second World War (and showing my ignorance about the subject again) I'm curious to know if the Sherman was particularly effective against Panzers? Looking at pictures of it alongside those of the state of the art German tanks, it looks incredibly poorly equipped by comparison, not to mention being nowhere near as squat or compact. The  Soviet T34 on the other hand really does look as though it would have given the Tiger a run for it's money. (It has to be said that this is based on nothing more scientific or technical than looking at both tank's silhouettes!).

 

Thanks for your reply Tim. It seems the 'returning to the hobby after x decades' is a common theme among us on here - I too have only been back making models for a couple of years after a layoff of 20+ years! I look forward to seeing your WIPs as they unfold.

 

I am not an expert in Shermans by any means; there are people who have regularly contributed to this thread who I would certainly consider to be experts. They might enlighten you - and indeed me - further; my take on the relative merits of both is that, for all its superiority in terms of armour and firepower, the Tiger was a victim of its own advanced technology. As I understand it, they needed regular servicing and in the field that was not always practical. As a natural consequence they often broke down. Their relative complexity also meant they couldn't be made in numbers sufficient to keep pace with losses - a situation exacerbated by having the ball-bearing factories, steel-works etc bombed night and day. Shermans, and indeed the Russian T34s, on the other hand, were much faster off the production line, which meant that they were more readily replaced, and further they could overwhelm with sheer weight of numbers. That's just my uneducated, inexpert view of course, and I stand to be corrected in any and/or all of that!

 

Oh, and a belated welcome to the forum!

 

[Jim Wasley]

I've just scanned over your build,WOW good at aircraft and Armour rare bread indeed,you aircraft builders are so good at the small detailing,one thing you wont find any where near as many decals HA HA.I built one of these long time back,my memory is getting so bad I see a re-issue of a kit and think must get one and low and be hold I already have one on the shelf,just way to many senior moments,but one thing I do know is when I see a build as outstanding as yours it's a real credit to you,do know what you mean about the cost,I'm retired and on a set income gone are the days when I could go out and earn some extra cash,I tend to build out of the box,I'm the only one who sees  them and I know they will all end up in the bin when I'm gone,sorry starting to ramble here.Anyway hope you get the gist?

[Bullbasket]

The Sherman tank had a lot of short comings, but it's one great strength was the ability of the US manufacturers to produce it in overwhelming numbers. The total Sherman output was almost 50,000. It's easy to be dismissive of the Sherman's capability, but it was so diverse and late marks were far superior to the early versions. The original M4 (Sherman 1 in British service) mounted a 75mm gun which quickly became ineffectual against German armour, but once the 76mm and the British 17pdr were mounted in it, it became something to be feared. In fact, German AT gunners were told to take out the Fireflys first (Sherman Mk.1's and V's mounting the 17pdr). A Firefly was more than capable of dealing with a Tiger. A testament to the Sherman's longevity is the fact that it first appeared in 1942 and was still in service in Chile (ex Israeli tanks) in 2000. You'd be hard pushed to find another tank with a service record like that.

 

John.

[clive_t]

Thanks @Jim Wasley for your very kind comments, much appreciated. I'll admit that I have taken a huge amount of inspiration from others on this forum, if in turn I can inspire others to have a go at doing something they never thought possible, then that's brilliant.

 

Thanks too, John @Bullbasket for the background Sherman info. I now have a Sherman on my wish list, which has cheered the wife up no end

 

 

[FrancisGL]

I agree with John, canvas looks much more natural and real ..., cheers Clive

[clive_t]

4 hours ago, FrancisGL said:

I agree with John, canvas looks much more natural and real ..., cheers Clive

Thanks Francis.

 

More progress today - the hatches etc are now fixed in an open position:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also took a punt and ordered a bit of stowage from Historex - a set of Resicast 'damaged ammo boxes, biscuit tins and flimsies'. Some might end up on the dio, some I am hoping to incorporate into the tank in some way.

 

Another step closer!

 

Thanks as ever for watching!

[BlackMax12]

Even with the hatches open the interior is tough to see.  Doesn't that rip you off when you put all of that time into something that's essentially invisible?

I've done it several times now and I'm getting a little jaded with models and complete interiors.

 

All that aside it looks really good though and I'll take back my three color German camo comment now as it sure doesn't look like a German vehicle.  The storage you are adding should set it off nicely

and for a first AFV it' impressive.

 

Lloyd

[Steve_farrier]

Looking really great!! 

[clive_t]

45 minutes ago, Steve_farrier said:

Looking really great!! 

Thanks Steve, much appreciated.

8 hours ago, BlackMax12 said:

Even with the hatches open the interior is tough to see.  Doesn't that rip you off when you put all of that time into something that's essentially invisible?

I've done it several times now and I'm getting a little jaded with models and complete interiors.

 

All that aside it looks really good though and I'll take back my three color German camo comment now as it sure doesn't look like a German vehicle.  The storage you are adding should set it off nicely

and for a first AFV it' impressive.

 

Lloyd

 

Thanks Lloyd, yes the camera yet again fell victim to the poor lighting conditions yesterday. You can, if you position your head in the right way, see inside the hull to some extent. To a lesser degree the same goes for the turret.

 

I absolutely agree with you, though, about the frustrations of not being able to see the internal details. In particular I spent way to much time detailing the floor, fire extinguishers (I think that's what they are) that are actually hidden under the turret basket - so why did I even bother to fit them, never mind paint and weather them!

 

Hopefully I will learn a lesson from that. But I doubt it

 

Regards the 3-colour camo, I am very pleased with how that turned out, once I'd dulled it all down with a liberal application of 'desert dust'.

 

[Bullbasket]

Building a clunky thing, as opposed to a wingey thing, has probably ben a learning curve for you Clive. But it was worth it as it' turned out really well in the end.

 

John.

[AgentG]

Very well done!

 

G 

[Clogged]

Very impressed.  Really looks the business!

[Timmas]

Lovely

[Kris B]

Looks good. 

[Ozzy]

Nice going Clive, nearly there.

[Gremlin56]

Gorgeous build Clive, canvas gun cover, camo net and tarp all look good and add to the total effect. Nice and dusty too

[FrancisGL]

Looks nice, and with the extra equpment, if it is well finished and placed correctly, it will become more real even ...

Cheers Clive 

[clive_t]

On 07/09/2017 at 8:46 AM, Bullbasket said:

Building a clunky thing, as opposed to a wingey thing, has probably ben a learning curve for you Clive. But it was worth it as it' turned out really well in the end.

 

John.

 

On 07/09/2017 at 5:14 PM, AgentG said:

 

 

G 

 

On 07/09/2017 at 10:10 PM, Clogged said:

Very impressed.  Really looks the business!

 

On 08/09/2017 at 8:01 AM, Timmas said:

Lovely

 

On 08/09/2017 at 8:28 PM, Kris B said:

Looks good. 

 

On 08/09/2017 at 9:44 PM, Ozzy said:

Nice going Clive, nearly there.

 

On 09/09/2017 at 7:08 AM, Gremlin56 said:

Gorgeous build Clive, canvas gun cover, camo net and tarp all look good and add to the total effect. Nice and dusty too

 

On 14/09/2017 at 5:30 PM, FrancisGL said:

Looks nice, and with the extra equpment, if it is well finished and placed correctly, it will become more real even ...

Cheers Clive 

 

Thanks all for your very kind comments, and apologies for the delay in acknowledging you all - real life is in the habit of intervening just when I get into a stride. Anyway, I was able to make some more progress yesterday and to a lesser extent today. Mostly stowage. Left side:

 

 

The box you can see on the front fender was made from Milliput, edged with thin strip of 10-thou styrene sheets. The helmets and back packs were from the Tamiya 'British Infantry on Patrol' set.

 

 

Note I deliberately modelled one of the back packs with a broken strap - mainly because I lost the small piece of brass strip that I planned to use to allow me to hang these bits on the side rail. The hanging strap is a thin piece of Tamiya masking tape.

 

On the right side:

 

 

The stowage basket was part of the Eduard 'Grant Exterior' set. I have some flimsies to go in it when I've done painting them. The small pile of netting behind was made the same way as the larger camo net. As an aside, you may also have noticed I added the 'C' Squadron turret marking, before virtually obliterating it under another helping of desert dust

 

Finally for now, the rear view of the stowage:

 

 

The crate is another from Milliput, edged with 10-thou strip, painted with a combination of acrylic and oil paint to try and get a wood look. It will all be liberally dusted once final positioning has been done.

 

 

 

 

A better side-on shot of the right side, with some of the remaining stowage on the back. Not necessarily the final positions, they're just there for illustrative purposes right now:

 

 

I also blackened the doorway on this side, as I have seen reference pics where this door was so marked, presumably from the cordite that was expelled when the shell casing was ejected after firing.

 

Still some more stowage to come, but not much!

 

Thanks for watching, and of course your comments and suggestions.

Edited September 16, 2017 by clive_t
Improved readability

[Clogged]

Love your work!

If you dont mind me asking could you show a photo of the tank in a setting with a plain background? It would help me appreciate the 'lines' of the tank better.

[clive_t]

9 hours ago, Clogged said:

Love your work!

If you dont mind me asking could you show a photo of the tank in a setting with a plain background? It would help me appreciate the 'lines' of the tank better.

Thanks Mr Clogged, very kind of you. At your request I got out my patent 'mini RFI studio' (aka a plastic storage box with one side cut out and some black card for a background) and took a couple of shots. Still not all that great as it was still my phone in lieu of a proper grown-up's camera, but hopefully they will be what you were looking for:

 

 

 

I've been working on more stowage this evening, partly for the tank, but some also for the dio. No pics of that yet!

 

Thanks for watching