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OLD Dragon 1/35 Sherman Firefly 1c Hybrid #9037 (teaching an old dog new tricks)


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Hi all.

Having recently purchased this kit at a very reasonable price i was chuffed to get it started. However..... it has some serious skeletons and after trying to find reviews/builds on tinterweb I came up a blank. So fear not! I will fill that gap with a build review of my own!

What little info I could find on the kit didn't fill me with pleasure, the general opinion being poor fit, lacking accuracy, terrible instructions and weirdly pot luck on which sprues you got in the kit based on a couple of reboxings and updates. however i've seen some pictures of the finished kit by others and with effort and modelling panache it can be made into a lovely looking kit. So thats my aim for this one, something that looks like a Firefly and is nicely modelled, painted and weathered. So rivet counters and accuracy lawyers beware this one isnt for you! I couldnt give a monkeys about how high that turret bustle is or if that radio box is the right shape etc :bleh:

Any way, I've started the build and I can confirm it's a pig! more on that later. My plan is to build her buttoned up with the turret traversed slightly to one side as if taking aim. I will also be adding stowage, gubbins, flotasam and jetsam etc to her in order to hide some pretty awful casting texture and then to mount her on a nice base. In terms of aftermarket I intend to use a bit of PE and a new barrell from RB productions then we'll see where we go from there.

ONWARDS!

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You get a small PE fret in the kit as well as individual track links although a lot of them are not required.

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Majority of the grumbles with this one are the wheels and suspension bogies. Basically a common theme seems to be that the bogies are missing the three bolts found at the bottom between the wheels and that the wheels them selves have no rear detail and are missing the inserts at the back to make them look complete. Not so in my case! It seems lady luck is on my side so far as i have some updated sprues!

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And so on with the build.

Tools of the trade, obligatory can of Ale and the RB productions barrell which is gorgeous.

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Part B11 isnt needed if using the RB bareel as the nut which secures the barrell extends beyond this part and the assembly is solid enough.

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And finally with the gun in situ.

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That's all for now folks.

will keep you updated as i go along.

Ben :winkgrin:

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Got a lot done last night chaps.

One of the criticisms aimed at the kit is the over done cast texture of the hybrid hull and transmission housing. It looks like dragon referenced a hulk that had sat rusting for 70 years. See images...

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As you can see it's really over the top so with reckless abandon I sought to rectify this by washing the entire area with Plastic Weld which acts in much the same way as extra thin plastic cement and this pretty much melted a lot of it away leaving a much more acceptable (not perfect) representation of cast metal as can be seen below.

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Not too bad I don't think considering I'd never done this before!

Next up I tackled fitting the rear engine access plate and fitted the transmission housing to the lower hull and the fit in this area was very good.

Then it was on to the VVS suspension. there were a lot of parts involved here but overall not much clean up and ejector pin marks were mostly in areas that wont be seen. Each bogie consists of 10 pieces which are then mounted onto the lower hull. the only thing to watch out for was the idler mounting/ axles, the fit was atrocious it was almost as if they were the wrong parts and a lot of sanding and fettling was needed to get them to fit, I'm yet to find out if this has an effect on the track fit but we shall see.

offending rear idler mounts..

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Break down of parts for the bogies

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Bogies complete and in situ

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Next area tackled was the upper rear hull, I added all the various plates and engine covers then fitted the turret for a quick test...and encountered a problem.

The plate that covers the mesh screen rear of the turret sits too high, or the turret sits too low, either way this block traverse of the turret. not a big deal for me as ill be posing the gun offset but for those that want it eyes front as it were you're going to need to do some creative sanding or leave the cover off the grill.

No problem when traversed slightly

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But try and face it forward and the turret just won't move passed, almost as though it's far too wide in diameter.

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Any way that brings me to the end of last nights antics other than a quick shot of the upper and lower hull sitting in situ and you'll also notice the drive sprocket mounts fitted, which fit nicely.

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Reluctant to carry on too much more as I'm waiting on the etch to turn up so that's all for now. More to come soon hopefully.

Comments, questions and criticisms welcome as always chaps.

Cheers,

Ben.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Cheers Chris.

Still waiting on the etch to turn up (it's coming from China). As soon as it gets here then I'll crack on and post some updates.

In the meantime though it's given me a chance to carry on working on a Cromwell tank and a willys jeep so plenty to keep me going!

Cheers,

Ben.

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Hello all!

Right! etch and other goodies have turned up so I can resume posting again!

Had a couple of sessions over the last 2 nights and have made a small amount of headway.

1st off some shots of the aftermarket stuff.

Etch is from ET models and I have to say I'm really impressed. you get a lot for your money including a nice tow cable which i'd love to use but unfortunately this old kit doesn't come with the towing eyes! :weep:

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Next up is the resin stowage from Value Gear which is easily the best resin I've ever seen. Absolutely no clean up, no casting blocks, sink holes or poor castings just 100% flawless crisp detailing. See for yourselves....

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So to start off after looking at some photos and doing a fair amount of reading I decided to add the cheek applique armour based on the fact the turret in the kit doesn't have the cast in piece found on some fireflies.

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I also at this point added the front fenders and test fitted the hull. Sad to say the fit in this area is also naff. There's a huge gap between the transmission housing and the hull join and all around underneath there are various steps and gaps dotted around. I'll tackle these at a later date with filler etc but the front will be mostly hidden behind stowage and spare track links so I reckon I'll get away without having to tidy it up too much.

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Be warned, there are also a lot of ejector pin marks on the underside of the fenders.

Next up I added the small vents on the back with there PE grills.

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Fit wasn't great but it's the kit etch so enough said!

lastly I tackled the rear of the tank, adding the exhausts and filters. One thing I could see coming due to the lack of parts in this area was the fact that there was a huge void looking up into the inside of the hull where there should be a mesh screen and deflector. The kit would just have the exhaust tips protruding from the hole. Even though you're not likely to see this due to the lip of the rear hull and the storage box on the back I decided it wasn't good enough and detailed it up a bit using some mesh I had spare from Tamiya's Cromwell. I just measured it up and cut it to shape. I'll make a frame for it to complete the look but this is it for now....

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And a final shot of the filters..

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That's it so far really. It really isn't the best kit in the world but that's going on the fact this is only my 3rd tank and the other 2 have been Tamiya kits which fell together.

That said I'm confident that the etch and stowage plus decent painting will make it all look the part when it's finished.

More to come soon folks,

cheers

Ben.

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Well I'd say you're bashing this one in to submission rather well- and quickly too! I'd agree that value gear are excellent- well worth using.

At least with these Dragon Shermans you get about half another kit in spare parts. On that score, I have several spare transmission castings if you want to swap out yours? I might even have a spare of the bolt-plate that joins it to the hull- it is very easy to get it in the wrong place in the Dragon kit so it doesn't surprise me at all that you ended up with a gap there!

cheers

Will

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Cheers Will,

To be honest mate I genuinely think it's down to the part. I test fitted again and again and it fits perfectly very where else except on the bolt plate.

I'd love to take a replacement off you mate but to be honest my chosen glue is plastic weld which really does what it says on the tin so I'd need to do some pretty drastic clean up if I were to hack the diff off at this stage! lol

Those are some really useful photo's by the way. I hadn't realized how smooth the join on the bolt plate should be to the hull and diff. I've got some ninja filling to do I think....

I'm most gutted about the tow cable really. lovely cable but no ends!

Ben.

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I don't think I've got any spare tow cable ends kicking around- I'll have a look.

BTW, wasn't for a minute suggesting that the gap was user error! Those earlier dragon kits have a lovely knack of making you doubt your own eyes sometimes, the instructions don't help either!

Get this one finished and buy a Tasca/Asuka kit for the next one...

enjoy the ninja filling session...

Will

Edited by Killingholme
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Don't worry Will, didn't take it that way at all :)

Yeah I think that's what I'll be doing next to be honest. I'll do a Vc I think as I've always preferred the slab sided look of it.

Cheers,

Ben.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all.

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Life got in the way for a bit!

Since my last post I've been down to Bovington twice and taken some good reference shots of the firefly they have, even though it's a Vc it was still nice to get a good hands on look at one.

Anyway I've been slowly cracking on and have made a fair amount of progress. All that's really left to do is add the various tools, bend and fit the light guards and a few other bits of etch here and there and of course the tracks.

You'll notice I've ripped off the rear fenders, I haven't seen many fireflies with them so they've gone.

The rear idlers were ridiculous! They just don't locate at all. The holes in the wheel are far too big and the axels are far too thin. Not only that there is a locating peg on the end of each axel which had to be chopped off as it didn't locate into anything and if left on would have misaligned the idlers outwards by about 2mm so the track fit would have been diabolical.

On a different note I'd really like to add a .50 Cal to the commanders cupola but the kit doesn't have one and I'm not sure if they were common anyway. Any thoughts?

Any way, progress so far. Etch has been a doddle as I have bought a small shop hold and fold which I can't recommend enough!

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Not a fan of the bucket in this one, it's massive! don't think I'll include it. It's from the Tamiya jerry can set and is supposed to be 1/35th but looks huge in comparison to crew in the same scale. I know RB models do some nice ones so maybe I'll opt for one of them.

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Lots of stowage on the front to hide the massive albeit filled gap between the transmission casing and the hull. The plank is a cut down coffee stirrer from McDonalds which I dropped in a muddy puddle to give it that battered grubby look. Complete waste of time as it'll be painted over fairly soon! but at least I know in future the technique looks authentic.

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The plank in close up. I had to make the brackets my self from scrap plastic. No Biggy really.

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That's all for now folks.

Will keep you all posted with progress.

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Like the work! Been to Bovington? Twice in that time? why you lucky guy!

I did the same thing with the plank on the front, used a coffee stirrer with muddy washes, can't get more realistic for the wood effect there!

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Cheers mate.

Yeah twice in 3 weeks! It's not even close, 3.5 hour drive but when you've been once and seeing as your ticket becomes an annual pass it's rude not to make the most of it! Add on to that my younger brothers a tanker based on Bovington camp with the house hold cavalry then it becomes an even more worth while trip.

Of course these beauties are a major draw too....

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, Ben.

Good to see your making progress with the 'Fly. Sounds like some parts are going together much better than others. I guess even Dragon have produced some "clunkers" in their time...

As ever, cheers for sharing with us.

Chris.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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