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M4A1 Sherman


Enzo the Magnificent

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This is an M4A1 Sherman of B Company, 31st Battalion, 7th Armoured Division, named "Battling Bitch". A photo can be seen here.

http://s122.photobucket.com/user/GOSEPOPS/media/QUARTERSCALE/M4A1_75%20Battling%20Bitch/fd72c9d9.jpg.html

I will be using the 1/72 kit from The Plastic Soldier Company, together with decals from Aleran and some stowage bits and pieces from Armourfast.

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The kit is incredibly simple. You get three in the box.

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I then sprayed it with grey car primer. after that had dried, it was sprayed with Lifecolor UA256 Olive Drab Base. The areas in shadow were sprayed with UA257 Olive Drab Deep Shade and the top surfaces of the hull and turret were drybrushed with UA255 Olive Drab Flashed Shade. The tyres were plainted with UA904 Rubber Track.

Everything was then given a liberal coat of Flory Models grime wash.

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If they'd just done a better job on the sprocket these would be pretty fine little kits.....You've made a very nice model from that one, especially considering the haste. :coolio:

PS - BTW that is most definitely a M4A1 (cast hull), not a M4 (welded hull). :nerd:

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Thanks for all the kind comments. You probably think its all over.

It is now! :D

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I did no more than 90 minutes work on it today. The Cullin hedgreow cutter is cut down from that in the Airfix Cromwell. The large mud deposits are built up from Wilder Textured Earth - a mixture of Dark Russian and Light Brown. Vegetable matter on the hedgerow cutter is model railway flock. Other mud stains and rust are CMK Stardust weathering pigments. Stowage and the figure are white metal castings from Armourfast, intended to add detail to their own kits. That explains why the figure didn't fit correctly, so I had to build his torso up with Milliput.

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Super! My son was very interted in your tank.

In which case, get him one of the kits. Three kits in one box for 15 quid. You can't go wrong!

It's smashing that your lad is posting his builds on BM. We need to see more.

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Very nicely done Enzo! And you have put me to shame - a great looking tank plus stowage and a figure! I could only just manage the kit in the box! Well done.

Kind regards,

Stix

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Nice to see the Airfix cutter fitted to a vehicle that actually used such things.....It's still a M4A1 not a M4 though. ;)

On the inside those two are the same, but the outside is quite different.....By Sherman standards anyway. :nerd:

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Nice to see the Airfix cutter fitted to a vehicle that actually used such things.....It's still a M4A1 not a M4 though. ;)

I'm still feeling my way with tanks and trying to get all the different versions straight in my head. But now I know it's an M4A1 the title of this thread was starting to bug me, so I've changed it. :)

There will definitely be more Shermans in the future - there are three kits in the box and I also have the PSC M4A4/Firefly kit, again with three kits in the box.

Am I correct in assuming that the early British Shermans were not M4A1s and so cannot be made from this kit?

As for the Cullin cutter; it had to be cut down drastically. It fits a Cromwell but is far too wide for a Sherman.

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The very early British Shermans were either M4A1/Sherman II (radial engine/cast hull) or M4A2/Sherman III (diesel engine/welded hull), whether the M4/Sherman I (radial engine/welded hull) was also present in the desert seems to be a matter of debate.....The Sherman IIs were of the direct vision type, with an armoured visor in the front of the bulge for the driver/radio-operator's hatch:

Sherman+II+DV+009.JPG

(1/35 so not mine.....Grabbed from Google)

Sadly this means you would need a different hull or to do an awful lot of modification to the ones you have (the angles are all different too). :confused:

The Sherman IIIs (and any Sherman Is) would probably also all be DV types, fortunately UM make a 1/72 seperate forward upper hull part that can easily be grafted into most welded hull shermans (with some modification I even squeezed one into a 1/76 Airfix kit) and IIRC there are spares in almost all of their M4, M4A2 & M4A4 kits.....If you fancy having a crack at a DV M4/Sherman I or M4A2/Sherman III I'd be happy to send you the parts (assuming I have them, which I'm fairly confident I do). :coolio:

PS - A certain individual has suggested a Sherman STGB.....Are you signed up yet? :hmmm:

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