1/35 M4A2 76mm "Wet" Sherman

[wimbledon99]

Cracking start to the build. The brass work is superb. I’m along for the ride  

[Nigel Heath]

Before applying any paint I realised that it would be a good idea to mask the axles as the tolerances here are quite tight. The axles for the rubber tyred wheels were just a touch under 2mm in diameter so times pi plus a bit gave a 6.5mm tape length requirement, this was duly stepped out using calipers on my cutting mat:

 

 

Masking in progress:

 

 

Next there was a requirement for one of these handles on the rear end. These measured out at a fraction under 0.8mm which makes sense as in full scale these would be 1" in diameter:

 

 

The kit contains 10 of these handles so it seemed like a good idea to knock up a simple bending jig to fabricate these from 0.8mm rod:

 

 

I made the key edge of the rectangular part of the jig slightly re-entrant so the rod just nicely clicks into place and is held there.

 

This is the area where the handle is required. Misleadingly the instructions would have it placed off to one side, even though there are little raised features indicating it's true position:

 

 

I did a quick reference search just to confirm things:

 

 

Here is the handle installed using some extra thin superglue on the back face:

 

 

I think the main job for tomorrow is to get some primer applied to all the running gear parts, and I really need to get the replacement tracks and bolt heads on order.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

[Hewy]

Nice job there on that jig nigel

[Nigel Heath]

My plans for an airbrushing session were dashed by the persistent rain throughout today. Instead I got on with more construction.

 

To give the doors on the back plate some better definition I scribed round them with my Trumpeter scriber:

 

 

That should also help pick up a wash later on.

 

These attachment lugs should have holes in them so I drilled them out, finishing with a 1mm drill: 

 

 

Then I glued on the back plate to the hull, there were a few gaps to deal with:

 

 

These lugs on the front end casting should also be drilled out, access was problematic but my trusty extra long drills came to the rescue:

 

 

Now that could be glued on, a bit of gentle clamping action was required to close up any gaps:

 

 

Next I tackled the machine gun, after cleaning up just the barrel I cut it into three:

 

 

Next I drilled out the barrel, inserting some 0.9mm brass tube in the business end and some 0.8mm rod in the other end. I also separated the ball joint and drilled that out too:

 

 

The ball was then glued into the upper hull using plenty of glue and some 0.8mm rod as a fixing assist: 

 

 

The gun barrel can now be painted separately and inserted much later in the assembly process. A much better state of affairs me thinks.

 

This part had some nasty ejector pin marks, these were progressively dealt with as illustrated here, first knifing the protruding part, then sanding flush and then adding a dab of filler to the slight remaining hole:

 

 

Here is the cleaned up filler on the back end:

 

 

Not bad progress, shame about the lack of paint though. Never mind there is still plenty to be getting on with.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

[Hewy]

I like what you've done with the mg nigel,nice work,  as for drilling the holes on the front towing eyes, i chickend out there and used a couple of meng nuts and bolts and a bit of styrene rod

Glynn 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Nige, be careful you don't wind up making a 'mutant hybrid'.....You simply can't use references of an M4A1 to confirm details on a M4A2 or M4A3! 

 

The parts you are assembling at the moment look to me like they are for an M4 and that will cause you some problems (unless you have a spare 75mm turret to hand). 

 

Here's what you appear to be building:

 

(M4A1)

 

That is the rear hull plate for a M4/M4A1 with the Continental R-975 radial.

 

This is an M4A2 with twin GM diesels:

 

(M4A2)

 

& this is a M4A3 with a Ford V8:

 

(M4A3)

 

What are you actually trying to build? 

 

 

 

[Nigel Heath]

I realised last Monday evening that I have used the wrong back panel. I think it will be recoverable, the hard part will be separating the rear axle parts. This will be a job for next weekend as I'm traveling up to my parents today for my dad's 84th birthday so no building this weekend.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Phew! 

 

I had visions of you being quite upset. 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Forgot to say to wish your dad 

 

If you have some down time, read the info I sent focussing on the sections covering the M4A2, the 76mm turret and also the Soviet use the type (I presume you are planning a Soviet tank, you do have options with that kit, all will probably need some extra work).....If you think of this project as the tracky equivalent of building a Spitfire VIII/IX/XVI from a box of many bits, you won't go far wrong. 

 

[Nigel Heath]

Thanks Sarge, the number of Sherman variants out there is quite extraordinary, something I hadn't appreciated before starting this build. Yesterday I began by removing the incorrect back panel. I did this by first weakening the joints on the inside with a scriber followed by some scalpel action. I then used pliers to help lever it off:

 

 

It actually came off more easily than I was expecting, the axle parts were more problematic. Eventually they came off minus their mounting pegs:

 

 

The new back panel got the same treatment as the old one, drilling out the towing lugs and scribing round the door:

 

 

I have been slightly caught out by the instructions, stage one has you assemble these parts at the rear of the upper hull and then stage two has a requirement to remove and replace the louvred panel. Clearly this would be better done before the assembly had taken place:

 

 

Anyway I got in with as best I could, first cracking the glued joints by inserting a scalpel blade and then scribing round the panel:

 

 

I then ran a blade around and out it came, here along with the replacement panel:

 

 

After much cleaning up the rough edges I got the new panel glued in place:

 

 

The position for the handle on the back panel is marked by this raised feature. That doesn't appear in my references so before removing it I drilled some 0.5mm holes for the handle:

 

 

Here it is gone:

 

 

For the handle I decided that the original 0.8mm handle looked a bit too chunky so made another jig for 0.6mm rod:

 

 

For reference, I think this is what the rear panel area is supposed to look like:

 

 

Clearly the kit exhausts are quite incorrect but I couldn't think of a way to remove them and scratch build replacements so decided to leave them be, they won't be that visible on the finished model. I did however correct the off centre opening in the exhausts and thin the wall thickness a bit as well as getting the rest of the parts added to the back panel:

 

 

Note that the hook pinged off somewhere during the removal process so I just drilled out its hole as it does appear like that on some examples.

 

Next I glued on the back panel and while that was drying I got on with another job fabricating replacements for these hoops on the top side. My micrometer measured them at 1.1mm, now I don't have any rod of that size, the nearest I had was 1.0 or 1.25mm. The latter looked a bit too chunky so went with the 1mm stuff. To make them I made a pen mark on my round nose pliers to get the correct radii: 

 

 

After a bit of fiddling with the radii I got the first one installed:

 

 

Here they are both done along with the rear panel fitted and its filler fettled:

 

 

At that point I decided to call it a day. I have also got the Panda Plastics tracks on order along with some Meng 1/35 scale bolt heads. Both are coming from the USA so I don't think I'll have them until the weekend after next. Never mind there's still plenty more to be getting on with.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Just to be clear.....You are now building a M4A3 not the Soviet M4A2? 

[Bullbasket]

2 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Just to be clear.....You are now building a M4A3 not the Soviet M4A2? 

It looks as though it's back to being a hybrid. You've got an M4A3 rear hull plate, and an M4A2 engine deck.

 

John.

[Nigel Heath]

So the rear hull plate was correct as moulded and didn't need cutting out and swapping as per the Italeri instructions? I think I should be able to swap it back.

 

Today the Panda Plastics tracks arrived for the USA:

 

 

Here are the kit tracks where the inner faces are peppered with ejector marks. I now think they are moulded in polythene not vinyl. I know from experience that it's a horrible material to work with so I think the Panda tracks are a very worthwhile investment:

 

 

By contract the Panda tracks are moulded in polystyrene and ejector mark free:

 

 

I note that one of the links is broken but there are spares. The instructions are printed inside the bag header, I need 79 links per side and there must be at least enough for 83 per side:

 

 

I can see sorting out that lot will keep me quiet for a long time.

 

Anyway the rabbit hole I decided to go down today concerned these cage like things over what I assume are periscope covers:

 

 

The above image can be enlarged by clicking on it.

 

To fabricate replacements for the kit parts I started by flattening the end of some 0.5mm tube, this was then rounded and the bends made using a combination of flat jawed and round nose pliers:

 

 

This was then soldered to some 0.5mm rod cross pieces using this set up:

 

 

That gave this result:

 

 

To make successive joints I used progressively lower melting point solders and lowered the power of my soldering iron accordingly. This was my first attempt to add the other end:

 

 

That didn't work so I tried to make both joints with solder that melts at just 70C:

 

 

That didn't work either so I tried this more open arrangement where I could see all the angles and alignment (more or less):

 

 

After a bit of clean up here's how it looks on the model:

 

 

I think I clean that up a bit further then make the other one but they are jobs for tomorrow.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

[Ozzy]

Just catching up Nigel, nice work on enhancing the rear and your periscope guards.

[Hewy]

Bad luck on having to tear it down, I've been there with the bogeys on mine, i like your periscope gaurd plan

Edited February 11, 2018 by Hewy

[Andy Moore]

Amazing work on those periscope guards Nigel.

 

Andy

[Bullbasket]

Nice work on the brush guards. I don't envy you that job. Just as a bit of info, if you were doing another Sherman in the future, Shapeways do some 3D printed brush guards and periscopes in resin. They're a little on the delicate side, but really good.

 

John. 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Incredible metalwork as ever Nige! 

 

22 hours ago, Nigel Heath said:

So the rear hull plate was correct as moulded and didn't need cutting out and swapping as per the Italeri instructions? I think I should be able to swap it back.

Nope that had the access door for a M4/M4A1.....Looking back at your initial sprue-shots I don't actually see a M4A2 rear hull plate! 

 

I wish I could see exactly what Italeri have done to be sure.....It seems a very confused tooling! 

 

@Bullbasket, @JackG, @AgentG would you confirm or refute my assesment please? 

 

I think you will probably need to remove the detail on one or the other and scratch your own. 

 

On the bright side it's the easiest of the types to make and you already have an exhuast. 

 

 

[Nigel Heath]

The first job of the day was to make the second of what I now know to be called brush or periscope guards, here just resting on the model on the right:

 

 

Next was an easy job of adding handles to the front two hatches, I used 0.5mm rod for these as I decided that even 0.6mm was still a bit chunky:

 

 

The next thing I looked at were the headlamp guards, the kit parts were 0.86mm wide and obviously way too thick:

 

 

This is what they should look like although the headlamps themselves are missing in this case:

 

 

Again clicking on that gives a nice close up.

 

I started by marking up and then trimming off a strip from my trusty brass sheet:

 

 

That was then uncurled and flattened on my cutting mat, note it still has a considerable curve in the thick direction:

 

 

I will use that curve in my favour to shape the strip but first I straightened out a 40mm section for the brace parts:

 

 

 

Next using the kit parts and my reference picture I started to add the required curvature, I used my flat jawed pliers for this:

 

 

After a bit more work with both of these pliers I had the basic shape:

 

 

That was then trimmed and set up for soldering on the first brace using this arrangement:

 

 

Soldering this was a nice easy job:

 

 

After trimming the other side was added, here it's nearly finished just needing a bit of cleaning up:

 

 

The attachment slots were made by stitch drilling three 0.3mm holes for each point and then opening them up with these other tools:

 

 

Here's how it looks in place:

 

 

Then I made the other one following exactly the same procedure:

 

 

I'd used 1mm tape to estimate the amount of material required so there wasn't much left over.

 

Here's how they both look in position:

 

 

 

It's taken most of the day to make those but I'm rather pleased with them, who needs photo-etch?

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Sheer class Nige! 

[Nigel Heath]

Thanks Sarge.

[Andy Moore]

4 hours ago, Nigel Heath said:

who needs photo-etch?

Clearly not you Nigel. Amazing work! I wish I could work metal as well as you.

 

Andy

[Nigel Heath]

Thanks Andy, I wish I could paint and weather as well as you.

[Bullbasket]

Brilliant work on the headlight brush guards. I've never seen that done before, but for the sake of my sanity, I'll stick to using etched brass ones.

 

John.

[Bullbasket]

17 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Nope that had the access door for a M4/M4A1.....Looking back at your initial sprue-shots I don't actually see a M4A2 rear hull plate! 

 

I wish I could see exactly what Italeri have done to be sure.....It seems a very confused tooling! 

 

@Bullbasket, @JackG, @AgentG would you confirm or refute my assesment please? 

 

I looked at a review of this kit on Cyberhobby, and it shows the sprues just as Nigel has on page one of this thread. There doesn't appear to be an M4A2 rear hull plate included. But the strange thing is, in the review there is no mention of it, only that Italeri have included and M4A2 engine deck. Maybe the idea is to use the M4 plate and cover up the engine doors with the deflector.

Sorry Nigel, if this hijacking your thread.

 

John.