Etienne Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 (edited) Hello, as I mentioned in my Strv122 WIP, my motivation was quite low because of the difficult scratchbuilding work I undertook on that model ... so I had to find another project, simpler than modern tank that are much sophisticated but difficult to work on Foolishly, I took a look to the numerous Sherman kits without protection and probably catched a very dangerous virus ... shermanmania !! So I began a new kit, it's the Dragon mid-war M4A2 initially designed to represent a Tarawa sherman but I'll build it as a tank of the 3rd Tank Bn of the USMC on Iwo Jima ... I've always had very much interest for this specific theater of operation so now it's time to put together history and modelling !! The Dragon kit is nice, much parts that will feed the spare box for future builds ... probably Marine shermans on Okinawa, Guam, Saipan, Tarawa, Bougainville. What is very nice with shermans is they are small tanks ... easy (relatively) to build and to store Now the build ... Precise work is mandatory on the bogies to make them look good and accurate ... but the Dragon kit is really nicely detailed, just a few holes and bolts to add ... As you can see on the previous pics, I had to rework the sponsons because without modifications, the final drive assembly's lip wasn't correctly positionned to protect the bolts raw on the glacis ... I also had to rework the glacis over the sprockets' drives. All the late war M4A2, and particularly in USMC use, did have the added cheek armor ... but it's not present in the kit, intended for a Tarawa sherman but also not on the late PTO M4A2 Dragon kit, what is a little bit surprising Anyway, I added a piece of welded armor made from styrene, with welds from sprue ... I don't know if it's not too thick. Cheers, E Edited February 18, 2018 by Etienne 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrancisGL Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Nice progress, scracth parts looks very accurate... Cheers Etienne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robw_uk Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 nice start.... like the additional armour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Mind if i follow along ? Grandfather drove shermans in the Pacific with the 706th Tank Battalion. Since i need to build two of his tanks i can use some notes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etienne Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 Thanks guys for your comments ... more steps next week end, I hope 2 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Mind if i follow along ? Grandfather drove shermans in the Pacific with the 706th Tank Battalion. Since i need to build two of his tanks i can use some notes. Hi Corsair, glad to see you on this topic ... do you have more infos about your grandfather, the 706th Tank Bn fought on Guam and Okinawa, they did the hard work !! However, I'm pretty sure the Army didn't use M4A2 Shermans but mainly M4A1 (with cast hulls) and later M4A3 in the Pacific ... can do some research if you're interested. Cheers, E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 (edited) Hello @Etienne ... I have the 706th’s after action report sheets. They are at this website. “Combined arms research library digital library. usacac.army.mil Yes they drove m4’s with the early style straight hatches and m4/105. The unit record calls this an M4 assault gun. He told me none of his tanks ever had the diagonal hatches. Actually he never knew those existed until he saw my M4a3 model. He looked at all the pictures i had of shermans and showed me the exact model he drove. Its the early M4 that looks like this. My grandfather also said all of his tanks had an “airplane engine”. Since his units doctrine was heavily mandated by cross-training. He told me every day the crew would change positions. The driver would become loader, Loader became gunner, Gunner became radio operater/bow gunner. And Radio/bow gunner would drive. They also were all skilled in the engines mechanics as they didn't have as many recovery vehicles in the pacific. They also would return almost everynight to the 706ths Bivouac area. They would be assigned or parceled out every morning as requests would come in or as needed for point defense. He was wounded on Okinawa but served in the Philipinnes, Iwo Jima, and other areas. He started combat on july 21, 1944. His training started at Pine camp New york with the 4th armored Division 37th armored brigade headquarters & Headquarters company under the direct command of Creighton abrams. They would go from pine camp to Ft.Knox for further training. Then to california for desert training. They thought they would go to north africa. From there to Texas for further training. At this time the original 37th head quarters company was broken off and became the 706th and continued training while the 4th was sent to europe. He would eventually ship to hawaii and then to combat. I know he was seconded to the USMC in some of the combat in the Philippines and on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He lost two tanks the first was trapped in a hole that had been dug inside of a house. As they drove thru the house the tank fell into the basement/hole. His final day of combat his tank which i believe was an M4/105 was knocked out by an Anti-tank gun. While in the process of escaping he was shot in the derrière. The After action reports two wounded on the day he was shot and the loss of one M4/105. He would come home after the war to my Grandmother and my mother. He suffered from what we would call PTSD today as he had nightmares for 10+ years after the war. He had a son born in july of ‘46 that would die in October of 1967 in Bong Son Republic of South Vietnam, Im named after him. My two younger uncles were born in 1957 and 1961. Of the 4 kids my grandfather never spoke of his war experiences. He told me once a few years before he passed of everything, all of his experiences. He said his reason for telling me was I was the only person in the family that seemed interested. I was and am an avid amateur historian particularly about WW2. For the Tanks i have an M3 Lee riveted hull and need to scratch build the cast hull version. He trained in these. I have an very early M4 with the early vertical suspension of the Lee’s. He used these for training in califorina and Texas. I need to also build his M4 and M4/105 from combat. I have no knowledge if his Tanks were named or had wire cages or nail armor. I would love to find any of that out. Until then I build them as generic tanks. I hope that wasn't to long or to detailed. As for any research you have i would gladly take it. Im mainly interested in following your build as it will give me ideas towards details of pacific shermans i may miss or not know of. Dennis Edited February 21, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etienne Posted February 25, 2018 Author Share Posted February 25, 2018 (edited) Hello, week end update for the M4A2 sherman ... the Dragon kit has some inaccuracies and sometimes not so good adjustments but all in all it's very fun to build I modified the front fenders to have them fit correctly ... I was inspired by the real Sherman, where there's a bracket to receive the fenders. Made some welds around the lifting rings base ... also added the headlights brushguards, no headlights as usual in the pacific, and did the same for the rearlights with PE sprue leftovers Then came the time to add the applique armor, a specific field addition for dry storage Shermans ... tried not to be too precise when cutting the sheets As you can see, I used all my stretched sprues stock to simulate the welds on the armor, and also on the side fenders' brackets The Sherman is now almost complete ... still have some details to add, and to work on the wading stacks, still have to decide if I scratchbuild them or if I go the Tankworkshop route Cheers, E Edited February 25, 2018 by Etienne 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Snuggles Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 Very nice build, I like the armour plates that you have added, and the welds around them, the turret applique armour plate that Tasca provides in their kits is 1.5 - 2mm thick, if that's any help. Matt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etienne Posted February 28, 2018 Author Share Posted February 28, 2018 (edited) 14 hours ago, Dr Snuggles said: Very nice build, I like the armour plates that you have added, and the welds around them, the turret applique armour plate that Tasca provides in their kits is 1.5 - 2mm thick, if that's any help. Matt Thanks Matt, I received a tasca kit last week end and had the opportunity to check ... mine is around 1.75 thick, right in the middle of the range I also found confirmation that the hull's applique armor plates where 1" thick ... 0.030" in 1/35th scale, my guesstimate was not so bad also. Still have to add some roughness to the plates edges as they are a little bit to "clean" for my liking. Cheers, E Edited February 28, 2018 by Etienne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrancisGL Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 PEs looks nice, headlights brushguards very detailed... Cheers E. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Snuggles Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 On 18/02/2018 at 16:34, Etienne said: Foolishly, I took a look to the numerous Sherman kits without protection and probably catched a very dangerous virus ... shermanmania !! It's highly contagious and very hard to cure, as the virus spreads it can lead to an addiction known by Doctors as 'Shermaholic' then, sadly, there's no going back... Sherman's lend themselves to model making very well, there's just something about them, that is hard to explain, it's a shape thing, I think. Matt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Great build! But why aren't you doing it here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/forum/611-m3m4-medium-tank-stgb/ You would be very welcome (it might even be possible to move this thread to the STGB section). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etienne Posted March 1, 2018 Author Share Posted March 1, 2018 12 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said: Great build! But why aren't you doing it here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/forum/611-m3m4-medium-tank-stgb/ You would be very welcome (it might even be possible to move this thread to the STGB section). Would'nt it be too late ... I probably won't finish the build before april, I'm a slower builder and time tends to be scarce I'll get in touch with the medium tank GB administrator to ask ... E 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 That'd be me.....So I'm fairly confident it's going to be OK. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etienne Posted March 2, 2018 Author Share Posted March 2, 2018 (edited) Hello, today update is all about tools ... those small bits of plastic you want to be more realistic As I don't have resin AM parts in my stash for the moment ... so I decided to use the kit's tools that are not so bad First step : cleaning and creating new brackets from PE sprue ... ... then footman loops and straps (made from 1mm masking tape ... flexible and easy to work with) Here is the result after a surgical session ... needs steady hands and patience, but really fun job !! ... as you can see on the pics above, I also added the rear fenders brackets, missing in the kit's PE Cheers, E Edited March 2, 2018 by Etienne 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Snuggles Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 Nice tie downs, very neat and tidy work, good old masking tape, model makers would be lost without it Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etienne Posted March 2, 2018 Author Share Posted March 2, 2018 Another challenge in this Sherman's build ... the wading stakes that equipped all the USMC tanks from 1944 onwards (perhaps even earlier, I should check ...) and are visible on all Iwo Jima pictures. Visible, yes for sure ... but not so much detailed and close-up shots so I had to improvise with what I had ... 0.015" sheets, paper and pencil for drawings and I made the leap, trying not to ruin the previous work Here is the result, not too bad I think ... I added metal sheet on the side, between the hull and the idler, additionnal protection ? Thinking about living it like that, without the extension, if so I would have to add the internal reinforcments ... or build the inermediate part usualy seen on photos. Also installed the tow cable ... I took care of making it the right length (20" in 1:1 scale, 17,4 cm total in 1:35th scale) but it seems a little bit long Cheers, E 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 Those tool straps are a class apart etienne and the scratch brass brackets, its coming along at quite a pace, that tow cable looks a bit good too, have you scratched that too? Impressed, glynn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etienne Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 (edited) 13 hours ago, Hewy said: Those tool straps are a class apart etienne and the scratch brass brackets, its coming along at quite a pace, that tow cable looks a bit good too, have you scratched that too? Impressed, glynn Thanks Glynn The tow cable is an AM set I got from Eureka XXL ... very nice quality and very realistic. Cheers, E Edited March 3, 2018 by Etienne 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etienne Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 (edited) Deep fording kit upgrade ... intermediate section of the rear stack Cheers, E Edited March 3, 2018 by Etienne 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etienne Posted March 4, 2018 Author Share Posted March 4, 2018 Hello, many 3rd Tank Battalion had mixed devices when it came to wading kits ... "official" rectangular stack at the rear and a field-expedient on the engine deck, designed and welded by the seabess to receive a "55 gal drum" stack So I made a "bench-expedient" engine dexk stack with styrene and brass sheet ... hope you'll like it, it's probably not totally accurate, shape and dimension wise, the rear stack neither by the way, but it should do the trick With a drum installed ... Cheers, E 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 I like that 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etienne Posted March 7, 2018 Author Share Posted March 7, 2018 Hello, added some fine details today ... locking lever on the .50 mount, retaining chains for the filler caps, detailing of the TC hatch's internal I also added some foundry marks ... found inspiration on an Iwo Jima operating 3rd Tk Bn M4A2, exactly what I needed ... there you have a PSF (Pittsburgh Steel Foundry Corp.) made in March 1944, serial number 789 (fictional ... Overall views ... I think I can call the build finished, time has come for painting, just lacks the tracks but I'm still waiting for a pair of Bronco's T54E1 Cheers, E 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfoot Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 Beautiful work on that Sherman, nice detailing, the wading stacks look great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etienne Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 Hello, primed the Sherman today, a little bit of zenithal modulation then OD base coat ... some leaks to simulate the staining of paint by fuel I tried to obtain some color richness, a green filter will probably make it more visible, I hope so ... not a specialist of Olive Drab, seems a litlle bit yellow, isn't it ? Cheers, E 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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