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IDF M1 Super Sherman (HVSS).


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1 hour ago, clive_t said:

Hi John, just noticed this! Looking like your customary quality and level of detail going on! Pulling up a chair....

 

:popcorn:

Evening Clive, and thanks. I hope to get this moving again soon.

 

John.

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Don't know how I've missed this blog either.  Comfy chair and footstool also pulled up.  I've got a stack of assorted Shermans and AM parts and Tom Gannon's book with a view to doing some cross-kitting as well as the M1/M50/M51 "usual suspects".  An HVSS Super is certainly on the list, along with a couple of VVSS M50s (M4A4T, M4 Hybrid), a radial M51, a rarer welded M51 and maybe something else with the leftovers.

 

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery I will be taking copious notes.  I like your approach to detailing.  But I can't do work that good with 2 good (if ageing!) eyes..............! Respect.

Edited by Das Abteilung
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14 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

Don't know how I've missed this blog either.  Comfy chair and footstool also pulled up.  I've got a stack of assorted Shermans and AM parts and Tom Gannon's book with a view to doing some cross-kitting as well as the M1/M50/M51 "usual suspects".  An HVSS Super is certainly on the list, along with a couple of VVSS M50s (M4A4T, M4 Hybrid), a radial M51, a rarer welded M51 and maybe something else with the leftovers.

 

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery I will be taking copious notes.  I like your approach to detailing.  But I can't do work that good with 2 good (if ageing!) eyes..............! Respect.

Thanks a lot. I'm working mainly from Dr. Robert Manasherob's book on the Super Sherman. I bought a set of Bison decals for the build, but I may change my mind as to which tank I want to depict as there is a photo, profile and drawing of one mounting a large French searchlight on the turret. It's the only one that I've seen, but it would mean cobbling together the markings.

 

John. 

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So (too!) many choices and possibilities!  Leaving aside unique unit and vehicle-specific markings, there are a couple of generic markings and stencils out there (DN Models, Echelon, Steel Scorpion, Verlinden) and as you say cross-kitting of marking sets certainly looks feasible as there was much consistency and commonality in markings..  IIRC that searchlight may have been the same type as used on the AMX-13.

 

I looked at the Manasherob books but the complete set - if you can find them all - was going to be soooo expensive.  So I ended up getting the 2nd edition Gannon and a softback Son Of Sherman for less money.  The latter of limited use for IDF but has much wider use.  It does however give a wealth of detail on the underlying configurations of the parts used by IDF.

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I've got about half a dozen of the good Doctor's books, and very useful they are, but I only buy whatever's specific to what I want to build. The majority of the walkaround photos in the Super Sherman book are of French museum specimens, but apart from a few additional items added by the Israelis, the photos are ok for building an IDF version.

 

John.

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12 hours ago, Kris B said:

I haven't got a clue how do I missed this. Super detail John, will follow now. 

You're very welcome Kris, and many thanks.

 

John.

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Nice work on this one... Love all the details you are adding.

 

57fca721-a00b-44d2-8562-69701f3ab9bf.JPG

will you also add some brackets to hold the large crowbar and axle on their place, a bit like the pickaxe is mounted? Only a belt won't do it...

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18 hours ago, Silenoz said:

Nice work on this one... Love all the details you are adding.

 

57fca721-a00b-44d2-8562-69701f3ab9bf.JPG

will you also add some brackets to hold the large crowbar and axle on their place, a bit like the pickaxe is mounted? Only a belt won't do it...

Thank you very much for the comments. If you look, you'll see that the crowbar is housed within two brackets each end as per the real thing. The pick axe handle has actually got a bracket on the left end, but due to the fact that it hasn't been painted yet, it doesn't show up.

 

John.

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sorry, had mistaken the square ends as ends of the bar. My grandfather was a crane machinist, and some of these heavy tools are still in my fathers inventory, and the large crowbar there also had these square ends

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well…..finally…..I got to do some model building. Eye problem sorted, well mostly, and hobby room refurbished. When I get around to it, I'll put a couple of photos in the “Show us your space” thread.

What I've done is basically finishing off the upper hull. I really had to scrabble around for some of the etched brass parts. Note to self; spend some money and buy some new Sherman etched brass. The headlamp and horn brush guards are a combination of Eduard and Dragon. Personally, I wouldn't use most of the etched brass that Dragon put in their Sherman kits as it is too thin. It's difficult to get it to conform to shape, and I couldn't anneal it as it's too thin, a bit like stiff tinsel paper.

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I know a lot of people turn their noses up at the nylon rope that Tamiya include in their kits for tow cables, but I've used them several times, as when they are painted, it's hard to tell them from metal ones. They are also a lot easier to get to conform to the hull shapes. I made a small bracket to fix the cable in place on the final drive housing, from card strip, pewter foil and a wing nut from an old etched brass sheet. I didn't bother fitting an end connector to the other end of the cable as it will be buried beneath camnets and other stowage.

Also in this photo can be seen the later style towing hooks which I took from an AFV Club M10 Wolverine kit.

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A lot of Israeli Shermans carried a small 5 gallon drum on the front left track guard. I used one from another Tamiya Sherman kit and replaced the solid carrying handle with one made from pewter foil. It's not strictly correct as the IDF ones had top opening lids with clamps to hold them closed. Looking at photos I noticed that these drums are held in place with wire, wound around hooks that are fixed to the track guard. I replicated these with some brass wire bent to shape, and some 5amp fuse wire. I'm not entirely convinced by the wire, so I may change it for some cotton thread later.

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As the majority of these tanks had come from French stock, they retained a lot of the original features. One of these was the first aid box. They could be found in different positions along the left side of the hull and sometimes on the rear of the hull. The tank that I was going to depict had the box just over half way forward, over the first return roller. This is an item that doesn't appear in the kit so I had to make one. I made it from laminating two pieces of card together to make it approximately 3mm thick. The size is about 7mm X 9mm. The two ends were filed flat and the sides filed round. It was then detailed with some card strip and a fastening clamp from an etched set for the Comet, before being glued in place with some fixing brackets.

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This final item was seen on many IDF Shermans, usually lashed to the LHS of the hull, namely a stretcher. It was fairly simple to make. For the poles I used Slater's 60thou rod and made the four metal feet from some scrap etched brass sheets, bent to shape. The actual canvas is tissue paper soaked in dilute PVA glue.

830c9a41-5046-42db-b9d2-80bf6c2625b5.JPG 6d36abdd-0d88-480e-ac9b-f3b7823425ea.JPG

 

As always, thanks for looking and comments are most welcome.

 

John.

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Hi John. Glad the eye problem is a bit better and great to see you doing more of your fantastic detail modelling. This is really going to look amazing once completed.

Kind regards,

Stix

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1 hour ago, PlaStix said:

Hi John. Glad the eye problem is a bit better and great to see you doing more of your fantastic detail modelling. This is really going to look amazing once completed.

Kind regards,

Stix

 

29 minutes ago, Hewy said:

Very nice john, some lovely details there, impressive

 

7 minutes ago, Kris B said:

Nice to see you back to modelling. Super details. 

Thanks everyone. It's great to be cutting plastic again. The last time was back in January. I was getting withdrawal symptoms!

 

John.

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With all these great Sherman builds going on I went a got one, a Dragon Firefly so will be taking notes here and there :thumbsup:

 

Regards

Richard 

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13 hours ago, Etienne said:

Very nice detailing on the Sherman, John 😀 ... and glad your eye problem is solved 🤪

Thanks for the comments Etienne. Much appreciated.

 

John.

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3 hours ago, Ripaman said:

With all these great Sherman builds going on I went a got one, a Dragon Firefly so will be taking notes here and there :thumbsup:

 

Hi Richard. Which one? 1c Hybrid?

 

John.

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6 hours ago, Ripaman said:

This one, is it any good

Morning Richard. I've got (had) that kit also. As far as I know, it's pretty good. I'm afraid mine is just a box full of random bits now as I cannibalized it to use on other Sherman projects. I do that a lot, but in this case it was because I have the Tasca Sherman Vc in the stash, which won't be cannibalized. The only thing that I don't think much of is the etched set that Dragon include. In some kits (the M4 105mm in particular), some parts are very flimsy, such as the headlight brush guards.

 

John.

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