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Champagne Today - A French M4A3 (76mm).


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Now that the Welded Cromwell WIP is finished and it's been put to bed in RFI, I'm

laying this down as a marker and will hopefully make a start on it in the next couple of weeks. I've managed to get some modelling done by sitting in the armchair with a portable workplace on my lap, so as a consequence, the Tiran is nearing completion and I'll be posting some updates on that. But in the meanttime, this is my next WIP.

Last year, I built a model of “Champagne”, an early M4A3 (76mm) of the French 2nd Armoured Division as it was during 1944, before it was knocked out at the battle of Dompaire. This tank still exists today as a memorial in the town of Ville-sur-Illon in basically the condition that it was once it had been disabled. It's been resprayed and new markings applied, but it still has the two shell holes in the left upper hull and through one of the VVSS units. When it was hit, it caught fire, so all of the rubber from both the road wheels and the tracks (T-48 rubber chevron), was burnt off.

I've never built a model of an exhibit before and thought that it would make an interesting project. In some ways it will be slightly easier than a normal build as there will be no need to fit some detail parts (which are no longer there) and spraying will be straight forward as the authorities, when they repainted it just painted the lot in a yellowy green, including the tracks.

So, I rummaged around my spares boxes and came up with the following.

Lower and upper hull, final drive housing, rear hull plate, and VVSS units minus wheels; Dragon M4(105mm).

 

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Turret and M4A3 engine deck; Asuka.

 

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M1A1 Unthreaded 76mm main gun; Formations.

 

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Burnt out road wheels; Verlinden.

Burnt out tracks; Panda Plastics.

 

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Decals; Bison.

 

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The Formations main gun, being resin, was slightly warped, so I assembled the one that came with the Asuka turret as an emergency stand by, should the hot water treatment prove to be unsuccessful. Also, as can be seen from one of the photos, I'm going to have to combine some Tasca VVSS springs and track skids with the Dragon parts.

So, I'll be back when I've got some progress.

 

John.

 

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6 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Last year, I built a model of “Champagne”, an early M4A3 (76mm) of the French 2nd Armoured Division as it was during 1944, before it was knocked out at the battle of Dompaire.

3rd squadron, 12ème régiment de Chasseurs d'Afrique (12ème RCA).

I'll join the crowd at the front.

:)

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9 minutes ago, FrancisGL said:

Another interesting "Mix-Project", I would really like to see the result ...:popcorn:

Cheers John :yes:

Thanks Francis. It won't be long now as I've made a start. Probably going to post something for the Tiran first though.

 

John.

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14 hours ago, Kris B said:

Not typical American Sherman. Interesting project, and checking the adds on will be little bit of demolition, am I right? 

Yes Kris, you at right. Burnt wheels and tracks a couple of shell holes and a "bulge".

 

John.

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Small inspiration found in internet. 

 

2013-07-23___Pic_Of_The_Week___1013576_1

 

Also just an information - Toro Models released the Decals for Free French Forces for Sherman tanks. 

Edited by Kris B
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10 hours ago, Jim Wasley said:

I'm on the front line waiting for your build,or more like you in my recliner.Wow that pic of Kris's tank looks like it was opened with a can opener,sorry for the guys who may have been inside.Cheers.

 

10 hours ago, Ozzy said:

:popcorn::popcorn:looking forward to see this one come apart.

Thanks both.

If there was anyone in that tank when it went up, I doubt that they knew anything about it.

 

John.

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John defo gonna make a beautiful model. 

I wondering what created th blast like this. I've seen lots of tanks without the turret, but being so badly damaged - only few. 

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Got to love a sherman John, look forward to seeing this built to the same standard as the tiran 5 build  (very impressive) I'm working my way through at the  moment, very nice modeling John 

Glynn

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14 hours ago, Kris B said:

John defo gonna make a beautiful model. 

I wondering what created th blast like this. I've seen lots of tanks without the turret, but being so badly damaged - only few. 

Thanks Kris. Looking at that photo, I would imagine that  direct hit has set off all of the ammo. It would have to be something as catastrophic as that to cause that amount of damage.

 

John.

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13 hours ago, Hewy said:

Got to love a sherman John, look forward to seeing this built to the same standard as the tiran 5 build  (very impressive) I'm working my way through at the  moment, very nice modeling John 

Glynn

Many thanks Glynn. Yes the Sherman is definitely my favourite tank. The good thing about this build though is that because it is of a memorial, it won't require quite so much detail, such as the periscope guards and stowage.

 

John.

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A small update.

After getting all of the relevant parts together, I discovered that I didn't have the base plates for the VVSS units. Well, I did, but it would mean robbing another complete kit again, which I didn't want to do. So I posted a thread on BM and Missing Lynx to see if anyone had a spare set, and lo and behold, success. Over on ML, Greg Buelcher who produces some lovely resin conversion parts for Shermans, came up with the goods. So, while I waited for them to arrive, I was able to rob the ones from the kit knowing that I would have replacements.

Final drive housing and rear hull plate in place.

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 I've drilled a hole through the forward base plate on the left side and roughed it up a bit as this is where one of the AT shells entered. There's a hole in the second one also. That's because I didn't check my references properly. It'll be covered by the base plate. 

 

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As can be seen here, the component parts for each VVSS unit came from four different manufacturers. The main body of each unit and the return rollers are Dragon, the springs and track skids are Tasca, the burnt out road wheels are Verlinden and the green swing arms are Revell. I also discovered that I only had five sets of the swing arms, so I had to use a pair from Academy's M3 Grant, which the tan ones in the photo. Unfortunately, they need altering as they are about 2mm higher than the Revell ones. It's like four feet six inch high magistrates….little things sent to try us!!

 

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The track skids were thinned on one edge to make them appear better and once in place, the four retaining bolts were added. I also added four retaining bolts to the trailing arms and drilled four holes on the front faces of the units.

Surprisingly, given the mixture, they went together very well.

 

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The AT shell hit the first VVSS unit on the LHS, so I attacked it with a 2mm drill to give the impression of shell damage.

 

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More soon. Thanks for looking.

 

John.

Edited by Bullbasket
Carelessness!
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