Bullbasket Posted January 31, 2018 Author Share Posted January 31, 2018 28 minutes ago, Ozzy said: Nice job John, looks like 4 hours well spent. Thanks Ozzy. Yes, I'm pleased with the finished article (apart from the cockup that is). John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 One job that I'm never very fond of is the pioneer tools, because it involves extensive use of etched brass. Trouble is, at the moment I've used up all of my M4 etched brass sets and only have the odd bits and pieces left, so I had to improvise. The brackets for the shovel, axe, sledge hammer and pick head were fabricated from pewter foil and fixed with super glue. Most of the straps came from a Dragon M4 set which were very thin, which made bending then a lot easier. I made the anchor points for the straps, in the same fashion that I've use for some time now. I got the idea from Steve Zaloga in one of his books on building Shermans. Two small pieces of card were punched out and glued in place approximately 5mm apart, and then a short length of 10thou rod is attached to them. Once dry, the straps were threaded under them. Continuing with the etched brass theme, I attached the mesh covers for the grouser vents. Quite often, they don't fit unless made for a specific kit, and that was true with the ones that I used. These were meant for a Dragon M4 and were the type without a surrounding frame, which made trimming with a pair of scissors easy. I sliced off the bolt head from the top of the vent, and drilled a hole and inserted a length of rod and then glued a new bolt hear on top. Unfortunately, I made the same mistake that I always make. That is, I glued the rod vertical. Trouble is, when the vents are fixed in place, they are no longer vertical. I never learn. One of the bits and pieces that I didn't have was the brush guards for the rear lights, so once again, I fabricated new ones, this time from thin strips of etched brass. Before doing that, I attached brass wire to the back of the lights to simulate the cables. One last little job (and I do mean little), was to make the fire extinguisher pull handles. These were on an M4 set by Aber. I cut a small piece of card, drilled two .4mm holes and super glued them in place before fixing them into the small housing. So now I can move onto the front of the tank. Thanks for looking. John. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Tell you what john that replacement for pe is a grand job, most convincing Glynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 1 hour ago, Hewy said: Tell you what john that replacement for pe is a grand job, most convincing Glynn Thanks Glynn. It didn't come out too bad in the end, but there were a couple of moments when I could have thrown the lot at the cat.........until I realised that I didn't have one!! John. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Fantastic work on the PE John! Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 2 hours ago, PlaStix said: Fantastic work on the PE John! Kind regards, Stix Many thanks Stix. Appreciate it. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 I have a cat John. Three in fact. You can throw your PE or Pewter at them. And then I'll reclaim it because your 'worst' is far better than my very best. Stunning work. Rearguards, Badder 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted February 5, 2018 Author Share Posted February 5, 2018 10 hours ago, Badder said: I have a cat John. Three in fact. You can throw your PE or Pewter at them. And then I'll reclaim it because your 'worst' is far better than my very best. Stunning work. Rearguards, Badder Thanks Badder. I did have a couple of feral kittens adopt me last year, but they must have found someone else to feed them. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted February 19, 2018 Author Share Posted February 19, 2018 Progress hasn't been very much and there's a chance that I won't finish this build before the end of this GB for a couple of reasons. I'm back in Blighty at the moment and since I've been here, I've had to attend an emergency eye clinic as I've got a problem with the retina in my left eye. It's not too much of a problem, but I have to attend a follow up before I return home, so that probably means no more progress for about four weeks. If I do miss the cut off, I'll transfer the build into the WIP. Anyway, this is how far I'd got with the build. As I was using an M51 hull, there were no brackets for the gun travel lock to fit into, so new ones were made from thin strips of card. Once I'd got the angle cut correctly on the rear edges, they were glued in place, but the lock itself was left off until I'd installed the vent above it. I was going to use the etched vent cover and mesh that came with one of the Dragon kits, but on looking at the one supplied by Tamiya in the M51kit, I didn't see the point as it's perfectly OK. So once it was glued in place, the gun lock from the Tamiya M1 Sherman kit followed. There is a small hole on the upper right hand side of the lock which is where a locking pin holds the gun lock in place. This was made from a small piece of card. There was a small hole in the glacis just to the right of the gun lock that needed to be filled as this is where the bracket for holding rolls of barbed wire on M51's was located. The periscope brush guards in the Tamiya kits, while commendably thin, are still overscale, and this was one of the items that I didn't have on an etched set. What I did have though, was some 3D printed periscopes and brush guards from Shapeways. They are very delicate and don't take too kindly to being handled, as I found out when trimming the excess resin from the underneath. I snapped two of them!! The two hatch covers needed some surgery. I drilled out the periscopes and then backed up the holes with some card. The moulded on grab handles were sliced off and holes drilled to accept new brass wire ones. The 3D periscopes were then super glued in place. There were a few extras needed around the final drive housing. I added the brackets between the FDH and the front track guard from thin strips of card. At the bottom, in the middle is a U shaped footstep, and at the top is a grab handle. I made the footstep from pewter foil and the grab handle from brass wire. I could be wrong here (I quite often am), but I think that these items were peculiar to the French supplied M4A1 76mm's. There are also two footsteps welded to the towing brackets which, once again, I made from strips of pewter foil. That's it for now. Thanks for looking. John. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 Hi John. Sorry to hear about your eye. Hope it's doing okay. Lovely progress with the detailing again. Awesome modelling! Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Super details, fine work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 13 hours ago, PlaStix said: Hi John. Sorry to hear about your eye. Hope it's doing okay. Lovely progress with the detailing again. Awesome modelling! Kind regards, Stix 'Morning Stix. Thanks for the comments. The eye isn't too bad, but I can't go back home yet as they want me to have a follow up appointment, so I won't be anywhere near the modelling desk for a while.. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 6 hours ago, Hewy said: Super details, fine work Many thanks Glynn. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrancisGL Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 As usual, "Superdetailed" job, great scratch, I'm sorry I missed it, but I have not gone through the GBST thread until yesterday, that I'm going to start with my kit, and I see that there are already great progresses everywhere ...+ Cheers John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 On 20/02/2018 at 12:17, FrancisGL said: As usual, "Superdetailed" job, great scratch, I'm sorry I missed it, but I have not gone through the GBST thread until yesterday, that I'm going to start with my kit, and I see that there are already great progresses everywhere ...+ Cheers John Many thanks Francis. Much appreciated. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted February 22, 2018 Share Posted February 22, 2018 Hi John, Sorry to hear about your eye. Whether it's 'not too much of a problem' or not, it still must be a worry. Hopefully it's treatable, or temporary. I wish you well. Mind you, working with all that tiny PE and pewter might be the cause! I jest. Great work on all the little bits and pieces. Rearguards Badder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted February 23, 2018 Author Share Posted February 23, 2018 On 22/02/2018 at 06:23, Badder said: Hi John, Sorry to hear about your eye. Whether it's 'not too much of a problem' or not, it still must be a worry. Hopefully it's treatable, or temporary. I wish you well. Mind you, working with all that tiny PE and pewter might be the cause! I jest. Great work on all the little bits and pieces. Rearguards Badder Hi Badder. Thanks for the comments, I appreciate it. You're probably right with regards to the small pieces. I think that I need some new glasses (more expense!!) I think it will heal given time. The biggest problem is the "floaters". It's like looking through a cobweb. Damned annoying! John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Posted February 24, 2018 Share Posted February 24, 2018 Nice going John, hope the eye gets better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted February 24, 2018 Author Share Posted February 24, 2018 Many thanks Ozzy. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etienne Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Very nice project, John !! I really like your detailing work I must confess that I fell into Sherman's addiction a few weeks ago ... feels good !!! Cheers, E 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted March 1, 2018 Author Share Posted March 1, 2018 11 hours ago, Etienne said: Very nice project, John !! I really like your detailing work I must confess that I fell into Sherman's addiction a few weeks ago ... feels good !!! Cheers, E Hi Etienne. Thanks for the comments. Glad to hear that the Sherman bug has bitten. Unfortunately, there's no known cure. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 Smashing work fella, I second the approval of the pseudo-etch, very convincing indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 On 02/03/2018 at 00:37, Sgt.Squarehead said: Smashing work fella, I second the approval of the pseudo-etch, very convincing indeed. Thanks Sgt. Necessity is the mother of invention. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted April 13, 2018 Share Posted April 13, 2018 Moved that to the general AFV WIP area so you can continue to amaze and entertain with all your detail work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted April 13, 2018 Author Share Posted April 13, 2018 Thanks again Mike. Now I can get on with some work on this piece. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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