PlaStix Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Hi Badder. You weathering work on the lower bits looks impressive (as I would have expected) and the front plate work is coming together nicely now. I'm sorry you had so many issues with the photoetch - you two just don't seem to get along although the rack does look good. I chickened out of using the PE rack on the 1/72 Dragon Sherman I built at the end of last year. Looked far too much work! Looking forward to seeing more progress. Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 I think that you went the right way with the add on armour. Plasticard is more forgiving than plaster, and it's looking good. John. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted January 15, 2018 Author Share Posted January 15, 2018 1 minute ago, Bullbasket said: I think that you went the right way with the add on armour. Plasticard is more forgiving than plaster, and it's looking good. John. Thanks John. It's a shame I don't have any resin, cos that would have been even better. I've heard it's expensive though, and quite hard to source? I'm having to replace all the image links to my Ever Evolving Diorama, which is taking up valuable Sherman time, and is very boring and makes me fall asleep, but after a half hour kip I'm about to start on the turret 'cheek' armour. That should be pretty straight forward. Pics later. TFL Rearguards, Badder 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 I couldn't stay awake today, so only managed to get started on the turret's 'cheek' armour. From the photos it's possible to see that the armour is made up of 8 plates, overlaid in pairs. There are no helpful views of the plates on the driver's side, but they are probably slightly different as the turret isn't symmetrical. So, I will have to model each pair of plates differently. Here's where I've got to: The plates are just Blu-Tac'd in place. A bit more shaping needs to be done. From the photos it's possible to see that the plates have mouldings on them - clues as to which vehicles they were cut from. And whilst the mouldings on each plate are different, the position of the bolts is the same, indicating that the bolts didn't come with the plates but are in fact the means of fixing the plates to the turret. I am assuming then, that the bolts on the armour plate over the transmission cover were also the means of fixing and didn't just 'come with the plate'. I've marked out the positions of the bolts on the cheek armour, and the observant might notice that I've removed the bolts from the frontal armour plate. I am going to re-do them, being more faithful to the photos. I'm hoping I can stay awake tomorrow and get the cheek armour finished both sides. TFL Badder . = 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 (edited) On 30/12/2017 at 8:45 PM, Badder said: Edited January 16, 2018 by Badder 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 I'm finding it very hard to stay awake in the afternoons of late. But between 'noddings-off' today I managed to get this done. The rail is made from a piece of guitar string. I used to play drums in a rock band, so you'll forgive me if I don't know which string it is.... possibly a bottom E ? I've tidied it up and fixed it to the turret. It's not a precise copy of the original, and neither does it sit quite the same - but it's true in spirit. I've added two holes in the rearward plate, paying homage to two holes just visible in the original and I may add a bit of surface detail of the mouldings as well, though again, not precise copies. TFL Badder 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 Now for the other side... TFL Badder 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Thats a very good representation that badder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 The real thing miniaturised. Nice one Badder. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 2 hours ago, Hewy said: Thats a very good representation that badder 1 hour ago, Bullbasket said: The real thing miniaturised. Nice one Badder. John. Thanks guys, Though you slightly flatter me. As I said it's a 'homage' rather than a replica. I think the real plates must have been cut out from 'wrecked' vehicles using an official 'pattern'. I can't see a bunch of engineers tailoring every plate to fit the Sherman on site. I suspect they cut the armour up, stored the plates and then fitted them as and when possible. What do you think? Rearguards, Badder 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Excellent work on the turret plates and the handrail Badder - looks just the job! Kind regards, Stix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Stuart Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Great work with those plates 1 hour ago, Badder said: I think the real plates must have been cut out from 'wrecked' vehicles using an official 'pattern'. Probably change the emphasis ... "I think the real plates must have been cut out from {whatever } vehicles using an 'official' pattern" ... but that seems likely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 6 hours ago, PlaStix said: Excellent work on the turret plates and the handrail Badder - looks just the job! Kind regards, Stix Thanks mate, Fell asleep yet again this afternoon, but have the plates shaped and ready for detailing now. Rearguards, Badder 5 hours ago, Robert Stuart said: Great work with those plates Probably change the emphasis ... "I think the real plates must have been cut out from {whatever } vehicles using an 'official' pattern" ... but that seems likely Hi Rob, I'm reliably informed that they cut armour from destroyed German armour, so I assume they used armour from allied wrecks as well. There's a Sherman glacis overlying this tank's glacis. I wouldn't have thought they'd cut the glacis off a usable/repairable Sherman just to provide extra armour for this one. Rearguards Badder 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefy66 Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Hi Badder going from some of the photos in books i have when a Sherman lit up it went with a BIG bang and blew the whole plates off some of the machines these wrecks where more than likely salvaged and re-use for this very purpose of adding the extra plates as well as knocked out German armour beefy 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted January 17, 2018 Author Share Posted January 17, 2018 (edited) To quote every BM member 'I'm not totally happy with this, but....' ..... 'it'll have to do.' TFL Badder Edited January 18, 2018 by Badder 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 Looks the part to me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 2 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said: Looks the part to me. +1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted January 18, 2018 Author Share Posted January 18, 2018 Guess what? Yep, I fell asleep again. I added a couple of bits of stretched sprue to the plates both sides of the turret to suggest mould lines. Nothing fancy, and nothing true to the originals. TFL Badder 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wimbledon99 Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 19 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said: Looks the part to me. +2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted January 19, 2018 Author Share Posted January 19, 2018 Before I crack on with adding more PE (or at least the PE that I can cope with) I wanted to check that the added armour was satisfactory. I gave it a spray with dark iron to show up any imperfections. I've noticed that a few of the bolt heads are the wrong type. Some are plain, some aren't. This is down to applying them under poor lighting, with even poorer eye-sight! As all of the bolts are of the same diameter I shall leave them as they are. I figure that, if under time pressure, the 'mechanics/engineers' might have used both as 'one spanner fits all' There's a couple I wish to replace though as they look a bit wonky. I've also got to rub down a couple of the 'mouldings' on the cheek armour (right hand side of photo below) TFL Badder 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wimbledon99 Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 Looks good from where I'm standing I think you're being a tad hard on yourself (meant in the nicest possible way ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted January 20, 2018 Author Share Posted January 20, 2018 1 hour ago, wimbledon99 said: Looks good from where I'm standing I think you're being a tad hard on yourself (meant in the nicest possible way ) Thanks Wimbledon. I'm not being hard on myself, I'm being critical. I'm not achieving perfection when sometimes perfection IS achievable! Rearguards, Badder 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted January 20, 2018 Author Share Posted January 20, 2018 I tried making the PE 'thingies' that attach to the 'prongs' at the rear of the turret, and all was going well until the PE for the one on the right (in the photo below) snapped. And that was that, no messing about, bin it, use the kit part and don't bother with the bit of PE for the other 'prong' either. I couldn't be bottomed to make the rest of the PE parts and to be honest the kit parts aren't TOO bad anyway. I did have a go with the 'basket' over the gunner's periscope. At least that didn't snap. Although it looks a bit beaten up. With that, I gave the whole thing a spray with a slightly lightened OD. The top edges of the cheek armour plates need more tidying up. They now look like sandwiches with the jam oozing out. The hatches will follow. I will be leaving them in the open position. TFL Badder 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bull-nut Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 Looking good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteors Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 Looks wicked so far, you’ve really done a great job with all those scratch-built parts, can’t wait to see it finished! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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