Search the Community

Hi Everyone, So today I'm starting my project log for my Fury inspired diorama build. This will be my first build in over 20 years so please go easy with me . I started the Sherman a few weeks ago and as such I have no photos from the start of the build, all I have is from the stages before primer and top coat, however the Tiger 1 only arrived today so hopefully I can give a build log for that at least. Anyways without further delay, onto the build log. So the two kits that I am using for this are as follows: Italeri M4A3E8 Sherman "Fury" - Kit #6529 Rye Field Model Tiger 1 (Early Production) - Kit #RM-5003 Both nice kits, the Sherman went together a breeze minus a few mistakes that I made in the assembly process, which I am going to put down to 20 years away from the hobby and not fully reading the instructions. Here is some shots of my build before primer coat: And after primer coat: And then today I went out and purchased a good quality compressor and a new airbrush as my old one died on me some time ago, I have now given the Sherman its first coat of Olive Drab: This is shortly after painting but I am hoping the paint goes to a Matt finish, failing that I will have to look at some alternate paint for it. Anyway, that's it for today and I will post up again tomorrow as I start the Tiger 1 kit. Please let me know any thoughts you may have but as I said don't forget this is my first build in 20 years Chris

Hello and thanks for your interest. Here's my 1/72 Dragon Sherman M4A3, with stowage items from Blackdog, Quickboost and my spares box. Painted with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics, weathered with artists oils and pastel chalks. Photographed by Wolfgang Rabel, IGM Cras & Bikes. I forgot to add the antenna .... *DOH* At least you know where it's supposed to be! # Thanks for your interest. Cheers from Vienna!

Hi Does any one know what the new Sherman is being released by Tamiya as advertised at the Toy Show

Hello ladies and gents! As you can probably tell by my lack of posts I'm about as green as they come when it comes to composing build threads (or posting on the forum in general!) so apologies in advance for any strange formatting/elementary errors! That being said I'd like to share with you all my latest project. No aftermarket (for now!), just a plain and pure build of this beauty: Which is of course Tamiya's 1/35th offering of the lean yet mean M51 Sherman! also popularly called the Super Sherman or the Isherman (names that ironically the Israelis never used!). Introduced in 1965 the M-51 was basically a fusion of the reliable and (at the time) widely available Sherman chassis with a monstrous 105 mm Modèle F1 French tank gun - the same type that would be used on the AMX 30. Seeing action in both the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War, the M-51 was by all accounts a pretty decent machine and even held its own against the more modern soviet supplied machines it faced in the latter conflict. The IDF kept the M-51 in front line and later reserve service until the late 70's/early 80's when they were either retired or sold to the Chilean Armed Forces who kept them in operational service until the late 1990s. Quite the run for a tank that was essentially designed in the 1940s! Right, obligatory historical blurb over- what about the kit itself??? It will come as no surprise to those that are familiar with Tamiya offerings that this kit is an absolute dream to build. The Tamiya hallmarks of good design, crisp and blemish free moulding and attention to detail are all prevalent in this kit which has, so far, almost fallen together on its own. For those of you out there for whom details are important be aware that OOB this kit might not be suitable for a later (post '67) M-51 mainly due to differences in the engine deck and the uniforms of the provided crew figures (or so I'm told). Anyway- to the build! Here is what everything looked like before I horribly mangled it with glue and tools started to put it all together: And here is what it looked like after I got stuck in Nothing to report from the lower hull assembly aside from reiterating how easy this thing is to build! there are a few minor sink holes on the lower plate but as most of it is going to be hidden behind wheels, tracks and bogies I doubt anyone would notice if you didn't get rid of them. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice a small line of filler where the upper rear wall meets the lower plate. Again- not really a essential issue to be addressed as it will be hidden once the upper hull is fitted but as I am always on the lookout for 'low risk' opportunities to practice filling and sanding gaps I had a go at them (along with the aforementioned sink holes). TA DA- lower hull all done! but before I go on I do have a helpful hint for those of you reading this who are planning on building your own: Before sticking the sides on I would recommend that you fit and glue part G2 (see where the pen is pointing below) onto the floor before you put the side panels on. This way you have something to align and support them on rather than trying to get them to stay upright on their own. Well- I reckon that's a good note to end on! I hope you have enjoyed these first few steps and I'll have part two up as soon as possible Cheers, Poacher

So I'm calling this finished, with the one exception of mud on the tracks, which I'll do at a later date as I'm not sure how to do so yet and I don't want to mess up a model I'm actually happy with! This is my second RFI in armour and I'm happy with how this has turned out. Paints used were Tamiya acrylics and Windsor and Newton Matt varnish. First few photos are before I recalled I needed to put the antenna on! I've done a lot of hairspray chipping to the entire tank which is new to me too. I chipped away at the suspension,wheels and other parts which worked well.

So I'm on to my next build which is the M4 Sherman by Tamiya. Apologies for the lack of pictures from the beginning I kind of started it then thought about the wip following a conversation with a very nice friendly member on here so, the box art The upper hull all primed and ready for a coat of brown. You heard me right, brown. The method behind the madness is I'm doing a brown base coat which is coated in hairspray then used as a chipping layer. Such as this done on the lower hull.

While my P-40 reaches the stage of decalling and weathering, I thought I'd start something else off while I wait for parts to dry etc. Although I was planning originally to build a Zvezda Pe-2, following some armour builds here (especially PlaStix's IS-2 dual build) made me turn to my small armour stash. I feel that there ought to be a representative in the GB of the 4,000-odd Shermans that went to the Red Army, so I pulled out the Dragon 1/35 M4A2(76) kit. The box holds plenty of sprues, a small sheet of photo-etch, a metal barrel, a tiny decal sheet, and a dead spider. Couldn't say when I last built a vehicle. I guess it'll be a learning experience, just hope it's interesting, and I get a reasonable outcome before the end of the GB.

My finished Tamiya 1/35 M4A3 Sherman 105 howitzer. Only a metal barrel was added, otherwise is OOB. Kit was painted in Black and White as explained by Jose Luis Lopez in his Book Black and White Technique. Finished details with Ammo products.

My first post on this forum! Hello from Puerto Rico in the Caribbean! For my first post I will start showing my latest work, and old favorite from Tamiya, M4A3 105 mm Howitzer just for the fun of it. Lot of stuff can be done to correct here and there, adding PE, changing wheels for AFV, and hull from Italeri, etc..but forget it, this is a build to have fun, so is going out of the box, except for the metal barrel of course. Here was my start during the spare time in the week. The kit is done in a few hours. The next day, after sanding the lines in the turret and make some texture on it using the Tamiya thin glue (melting the plastic surface and making texture using a brush with stiff bristles.) Primer was applied using a can from Walmart. Also the figure was base painted using vallejo colors.

Hi all, here is my (mostly) completed 1/35 Sherman. Completely OOB except for a couple boxes and tamiya rope. I didn't worry about the figures all that much (you can tell from the photos) and the mudguards need some more touch-ups. I also need some more rope for the front stowage.But other than that, it's all done. Full WIP here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234992193-tamiya-135-m4-sherman-early-version/page-1 Thanks for looking

Hi folk,s well the matt coat was all that was needed to finish it most of it was done over the hols,you get three easy build tanks in a box which I picked up for a bit of practice paint and weathering,after building the other two to finish in a European scheme I noticed the side skirts and early mantle found on early desert versions so I,m sure it,s not accurate and there are no decals in the kit but it was fun and here it is.Happy new year to all and thank's for looking.

Hi all. Had fun with this one! The kit certainly had it's issues but still builds into a decent model with some modelling flare. It's been built as a display piece for a veteran sherman radio operator of the east riding yeomanry and is a tribute to him really. WIP link here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234977297-old-dragon-135-sherman-firefly-1c-hybrid-9037-teaching-an-old-dog-new-tricks/ There's a couple of shots below that show the model without the track cleats highlighted in steel but the rest are after i've done it. Just used some of the best photo's i have of her really. Anyway, enjoy Cheers all, hope you like her. Ben.

Hi all, starting another WIP here Kit looks good for its age besides lots of seam joints showing, especially on the wheels and figures. Box and Sprue pics: Will be starting quite soon, as I am really keen to get started!

Good evening all Have seen some of the amazing things people can do on this site, it's with some trepidation that I post the pictures below....but you’ve got to start somewhere.... I made a few models (badly) in my youth when war-gaming and then nothing for a long time but got back into it last year after 20+ years, when my young son decided he wanted a model tank that he could play battles with. Below is a selection of some of the betters ones but I’ve still got a way to go especially when it comes to weathering and stowage. At the moment my aim is to get them looking reasonably like they're supposed to, which I think I've managed. Better historical accuracy will hopefully come with time. Thanks for your time and please be gentle..... Andrew PS you'll also probably notice I'm not a great photographer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Armourfast Cromwells with some very basic stowage Plastic Soldier Company Churchills One has some extra stowage from S and S Models http://www.sandsmodels.com/ Armourfast Achilles x4 Again these have some additional stowage from S and S models. At some point I'll look at putting a couple of crew in. Also I know the weight should be 29 tons but I don't have any 29 ton signs. I also know the camo is not right but there are reasons (to do with my son) as to why I went with it. The bottom two are the first two models I finished after coming back to the hobby. I overdid the matt varnish on one of the but managed to rescue it (just). Plastic Soldier Company M5A1 Half track I have a total of three of these, of which this is probably the best. One thing that does annoy me slightly with PSC is some of the odd and inconsistent scaling. The 0.50 calibre MG on this model is WAY oversize but the ones on their Shermans are pretty close. Plastic Soldier Company M4A4 A couple of these have stowage/tarpaulin made of sprue off cuts covered in tissue paper, which is covered in PVA glue. I got the idea from someone on the Armourfast forum before it went offline (Dave if you ever see this - thanks for the idea). I also has to replace the .30 caliber bow MGs as they were as wide as the main gun!! I used short section of the same plastic I use for the aerials.

M4A3 Sherman W/T24 “Calliope” Academy 1:35 History The American Sherman tank has to be one of the most famous tanks from World War 2. What a lot of people may not know is that it was once adapted to carry 60 rocket tubes above the turret, a conversion nicknamed the Calliope, after a musical instrument which had similarly arranged pipes. The launcher was developed in 1943 and could fire a barrage of 4.5” M8 rockets. Only small numbers were produced and were used by various US armoured units in 1944-45. The Model The kit comes in a top opening box with an interesting picture of the vehicle firing its rockets, although the effects aren’t particularly well rendered, not that it’s that important. What is important is what’s in the box. There are eleven sprues of bluey grey styrene, a small sheet of etched brass, a pair of vinyl tracks, a piece of string and a small decal sheet. The parts are all well moulded, although the detail is a little soft and perhaps not as effective as some other kits of the Sherman. The provenance of the kit is a little uncertain, but it looks like Academy’s own tool Sherman M4A3 with the rocket launcher parts possibly coming from Italeri. There is no sign of flash or other imperfections on any of the moulded parts and only a few moulding pips. Construction begins with the assembly of the sprocket wheels, each provided as two halves, two piece idler wheels, plus the road wheels, with two piece wheels and two part axle units. The road wheel assemblies are then fitted into the five piece suspension units. The escape hatch and rear track guard sections are fitted to the lower hull, followed by the rear bulkhead, which has been fitted with the exhausts, an access hatch with handle, three piece towing hitch and two small stowage boxes. The idlers and road wheel assemblies are attached to the lower hull, along with the front hull extensions on which the sprocket wheels and their gearbox covers are attached. The drive cover is fitted to the front of the lower hull whilst on the upper hull the bow machine gun, its ball sockets, front headlamps, two lifting eyes and the engine deck hatch with two grille piece are all glued on. The drivers and machine gunners seven part hatches are next, along with the four fuel caps, rear lights and ventilation mushroom. The upper hull is kitted out with the various pioneer tools, front and rear lights, their respective cage guards, the guards being made of either styrene or PE depending on what you prefer, and grab handles. At the rear of the tank the exhaust grille is attached, with the rear mounted covers mounted behind where the idler wheels would be. Above the exhaust shield a four piece storage rack is attached, and another two grab handles fitted to the top of the engine deck. The build then moves onto the main gun and the turret. The main gun is a nicely produced item, moulded as a single piece, with a similarly moulded muzzle attached. The trunnion mount consist of three parts and is fitted to the inside of the inner mantlet, with the outer mantlet covering that. The barrel is then slid into position, being glued to the trunnion mount. The main gun assembly is then attached to the front of the turret, which does as least have some casting texture on it, from the outside, whilst the 30 cal co-axial machine gun is mounted from the inside, with the turret ring glued to the turret base. For the fitting of the rocket launcher legs, you will need to open up the oblong holes on either side of the turret. The commanders cupola hatches are assembled, with the left hand hatch having a periscope fitted from the inside and with a cage guard fitted on the outside. The two hatches are then glued to the cupola which is then glued to the top of the turret. The gunners hatch is also attached, along with the aerial base, which has the option of either a straight or bent version, turret lifting eyes, plus the gunners periscope and guard. The gunners hatch also has a couple of spring like objects fitted and there is a second aerial base fitted to the rear of the turret. The commanders sighting arm is attached in front of his hatch, whilst a searchlight is attached via a PE plate to the base of the main gun. To accommodate the rocket launcher elevation support the gun is fitted with a ring attachment point. The rocket launcher consists of two full width cluster of tubes and four smaller widths. Each sections is made up from two halves with single piece end caps to the rear. Having built the Revel version of this vehicle I found that getting the seams all cleaned up in the bores of each tube was quite difficult. But you can always cover the fronts with a sheet of tarpaulin made form tissue paper and watered down PVA glue. The large rocket tube sections are joined together, as are two pairs of the narrower width tube sections. The launcher frame is made up from four parts, with the front cross member being fitted with the elevation support rod and its attachment block. The launcher side arms are each made up from three parts which are then glued to the side of the turret. The moving gas struts are then slid into position and the attachment plate holds them in place on the side of the rocket tubes. Strangely the is a very nicely detailed M2 50 cal machine gun and mount consisting of fifteen parts included, but this wasn’t normally fitted to a rocket carrying tank, but it can be fitted to one of the options which is carrying the rocket pack. The build is finished off with the vinyl tracks fitted to the lower hull assembly, the upper hull assembly then glued to the lower hull and the slotting into position of the turret/rocket launcher assembly. Decals The small decal sheet is quite well printed, and not as thick as Academy decals used to be. They’re in register and nicely opaque, particularly useful as the stars and other markings are printed in white. There are four stars that have been over-painted in olive drab, although I’m not sure the reason why, they do make for an interesting look. There are markings for three vehicles. Sherman M4A3 Calliope of the US 12th Armoured Division, Fletrange, France, March 1945 Sherman M4A3 Calliope of the 14th Armoured Division, Germany, Early 1945 Sherman M4A3 of the US 95th Infantry Division, Germany, January 1945. Conclusion Ok, this isn’t an uber kit of the Sherman. But it is a great little kit with some nice details, nothing too taxing, which could make for a pleasant break from more complex builds. If it’s anything like the Revell kit, which this does bear a marked similarity to, it will build into a nice looking kit, just right for some heavy weathering. Perhaps one for the weekend? Recommended Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for

Hello everyone , I just recently completed the Tamiya 1/35 M51 Super Sherman and created a video on you tube , if anyone is interested I have included the link below. Thanks, https://youtu.be/k8o3VR1qOD0

Hi there, I am thinking of making Sherman Mk.I dozer using Resicast dozer and Bison decals. Now I am just considering a donor - but since all my other Commonwealth Shermans should be from Asuka kits, can you please recommend, which kit or kits should be used from Asuka/tasca range ? Thanks.

Hi, it seems, i can t stop building Shermans. While german AFVs are quite often here, i didn t found another british Sherman Mk.III, especially in 1/72. The kit is on the same quality level, like the M4A1 but if you want to use the very nice decals from the box, you need other road wheels. Dragon supplied the later closed wheels, but i need the open spoked wheels. A Trumpeter M4 kit came to help. Trumpeter has two versions of wheels inside the box. Kit bashing is easy in theory, in "real live" there can be problems. I started with the suspension. everythink was o.K but Trumpys wheel bogeys are too narrow for the Dragon kit. I used, to make "space" the little number plates on the sprues. Made photos of it and the sprues from the kit and from the Trumpeter kit, sorry for the bad quality and most of the progress pics are unusable, thanks to bad light conditions and my mistake photo skills. There are also pics from the Dragon and Trumpeter hull, note the weld seams on the Dragon plastic and the reason, why the Trumpeter M4 is so wrong. The glacis plate has the wrong angle that makes the whole hull looking wrong, will build this kit with a help from a Modeltrans resin hull. Cheers Bernd

Hello tank fans, here is my part of the Achtung Panzer Group build. It will be Dragons M4A1 tank in 1/72 scale. Its one of the best AFV kit in my stash. The amount of delicate parts is really amazing, its also a very nice touch, that a lot of the pe parts, are supplied in plastic as well. Maybe this helps to defeat the carpet monster on this tiny Sherman :-) At first a view on the sprue parts/details (worth a look) and the instructions

Hi folks,just a little fun build for the panzer GB.It,s revells re-boxing of the old seventies Matchbox kit which at the time we kids loved as you did,nt have to paint them and you got a little base for display,the Sherman had one of the best in the form of the bridge.I added a home made tarpaulin and telegraph pole made from a BBQ wooden skua.Here,s the WIP.http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234975968-sherman-firefly-23rd-hussars11th-armdiv/.

Hi Guys, Here's my take on a burnt out and damaged Super Sherman. The Kit is a 1/35 M50 by Dragon No strict historical references used here just good fun and trying to improve on my techniques etc Cheers! Sam

Hi all,sorry but could,nt stay away! Don,t get exited it,s not a Dragon or Tamiya super build just Revell,s re-boxing of Matchbox,s golden oldie,god knows if anything about it is accurate but I just wanted something simple that won,t drive me nuts ( as some of my other projects are right now) and there may even be some here who have never seen these kit,s that back in the seventies were a revelation to us kids so lets call it a tribute those folks at Matchbox who tried to do something a bit different all those years ago.here a few shots including the four part bridge base that should be fun to "tart" up.

This is my first WiP, so apologies for layout, picture and build quality. I have always wanted an early production cast hull Sherman as used at El Alamein. Thought the Nitto M4A1 would do the trick, but the rather pathetic running gear was too obviously wrong. I decided to cannibalise an Airfix Lee/Grant from the stash to get the early running gear and front hull. I believe this is now called "kit bashing" - how the hobby has come along since I last built much. We start here: And here: These are the main reason for all this work: Crude or what? After a dry fit of the Airfix hull offered up to the Nitto body, a few judicious cuts were made to give this: Decided to keep the Airfix rear hull structure, which seems to be slightly "better" detailed: The Nitto road wheels are also being replaced as they appear to be nearer 1/87 than 1/76: Although I am inclined to use the Nitto Drive wheels. That's it for piccies this far and I apologise if they are too big - it has taken me four attempts to write this post, a steep learning curve. In parting for this post, both subject models leave a great deal to be desired by modern standards. The Airfix kit is '69 vintage and I remember the original releases being hailed as "state of the art", being crisply moulded and generally accurate, despite the horrendous attempt at the Grant turret. Not so my current subject: soft plastic lacking definition, a nasty case of ejector pin marks and definite softening of the moulds - hardly surprising for the age. The Nitto offering has a lovely hull and turret that is let down by under scale, crude running gear. In both cases the less said about the tracks, the better - standard issue post office rubber bands would probably be an improvement. I aim to get an update posted in a couple of days, so thanks for looking and see you soon. Jerry

This shall be a first for me, an armour kit bash! It all started during my Sturmpanzer IV build in Oct/Nov 2013 (The Obsolete Kit Group Build) when I happened to mention that I had bought the ESCI M4A1, and that I knew it need work to turn it into an accurate variant of the Sherman. Sgt.Squarehead advised: "If you stick a 76mm T-23 Turret on the ESCI 1/72 M4A1 it makes a decent M4A1(76)W.....I've been using Eduard Turrets from their M4A3(76)W, as you can then put the ESCI turret on the Eduard hull for a late M4A3(75)W." A few weeks later I managed to find the ProfiPack release of the Eduard M4A3(76)W going cheap on eBay, so I snapped it up and stored both away until I could find a group to build them in. The spares from this build will be used to make a pet projects I've been wanting to do since I was a kid... Oddball's Sherman! The box art for both kits. That's a LOT of parts And some very small etch. I'm going to be detailing the engine bay and having the hatch open. I prefer the sprockets and idlers on the ESCI kit. But the road wheels on the Eduard kit look better than ESCI's. Eduards track looks better as well. And I think I'll be swapping the hatches over as well.

This is the first tank I'm intending to build for this GB and it represents a number of firsts for me: It will be my first 1/48 AFV build (having made two 1/72 and two 1/76 tanks), my first Hobby Boss kit and my first American tank. With regards the tank itself: 1,400 M4A3s with Ford GAA V-8 engines and fitted with 76mm M1 guns, were manufactured by Fisher Tank Arsenal and Detroit Tank Arsenal between March 1944 and April 1945. I haven't decided yet which version I shall make mine as but cannot wait to get started. Kind regards, Stix