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4th Armored Brigade Shermans


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A carry over from a topic I started a couple of months ago. Have taken a bit of artistic license but here is my in-progress Sherman Mk1 Hybrid. Still waiting delivery of my T62 tracks and a set of decals. I primed the build and put down a base coat of S.C.C 15 Olive Drab. Using AK Real Color.

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Edited by arkbuilder2012
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6 hours ago, fatfingers said:

Aye up arkbuilder, 

 

Nice clean work. Is that the dragon kit? Plan to build one of those myself at some point.  

 

Regards,

 

Steve 

It's the Asuka M4 Composite Sherman. The repurposed sand shields and stowage box came from the spares stash. 

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US OD would be a more appropriate colour.  Shermans weren't routinely repainted unless they'd been converted (e.g. Fireflies) or had been in workshops for a major repair.  Composites were all built with applique plates, so those wouldn't have been fitted in the UK or in theatre thus leading to repaint.  Field additions like the sand shield bins might have had the welds patch-painted in SCC15. 

 

The squared-off rear sand shields were most commonly, possibly exclusively, used as stowage bins.  Not sure I've ever seen the round front ones used.  And they were used the other way up, so they flared out at the top.  Happy to be corrected on this.

 

I've noticed a couple of inaccuracies with the kit.  Too late to do much about them.  This is a Chrysler built vehicle, as were almost all Composites: ALCO built a small number at the end of their production using surplus front castings after Chrysler M4 and M4A6 orders were cancelled. 

  • All Chrysler vehicles were built with the "fancy" drive sprockets, not the plain type shown here.  Although these could have been replaced if they wore out - which they did.
  • There should be a cut-out in the sand shield strip just behind the rear return roller.
  • The rear hull tool stowage is confused.  A vehicle with no loader's hatch should have (left to right) sledge hammer, starting handle and track spanner on the rear plate.  Later the spanner and sledge were relocated to the hull top, leaving only the starting handle there convenient for the insertion hole.  The spanner on its own was never there.
  • The front top corner of the right front applique plate  should be cut at a slightly greater angle and the whole upper front corner above the weld line should lean in closer to the hull, so that the thickness at the top front corner is just the thickness of the plate: no fillet behind it.
  • All Composite front castings had a small lug centrally low down, a major front recognition feature between Composites and M4A1s. There should be a similar lug below below the hull top ventilator for the drain hole.  That might be hidden here by the travel lock.

While flat roller arms and no loader's hatch are not incorrect, upswept roller arms and a loader's hatch would certainly be more typical for Composites.  No-hatch turrets were only used for 2-3 months initial production.

 

For the benefit of others, the Dragon "PTO Composite" kit includes the right sprockets, both types of roller arms and has the lower glacis lug.  It also has both low and high bustle turrets, although both have loader's hatches.  So it will make mid or late Composite production but needs a turret transplant or some card and filler as an early one.

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45 minutes ago, Das Abteilung said:

US OD would be a more appropriate colour.  Shermans weren't routinely repainted unless they'd been converted (e.g. Fireflies) or had been in workshops for a major repair.  Composites were all built with applique plates, so those wouldn't have been fitted in the UK or in theatre thus leading to repaint.  Field additions like the sand shield bins might have had the welds patch-painted in SCC15. 

 

The squared-off rear sand shields were most commonly, possibly exclusively, used as stowage bins.  Not sure I've ever seen the round front ones used.  And they were used the other way up, so they flared out at the top.  Happy to be corrected on this.

 

I've noticed a couple of inaccuracies with the kit.  Too late to do much about them.  This is a Chrysler built vehicle, as were almost all Composites: ALCO built a small number at the end of their production using surplus front castings after Chrysler M4 and M4A6 orders were cancelled. 

  • All Chrysler vehicles were built with the "fancy" drive sprockets, not the plain type shown here.  Although these could have been replaced if they wore out - which they did.
  • There should be a cut-out in the sand shield strip just behind the rear return roller.
  • The rear hull tool stowage is confused.  A vehicle with no loader's hatch should have (left to right) sledge hammer, starting handle and track spanner on the rear plate.  Later the spanner and sledge were relocated to the hull top, leaving only the starting handle there convenient for the insertion hole.  The spanner on its own was never there.
  • The front top corner of the right front applique plate  should be cut at a slightly greater angle and the whole upper front corner above the weld line should lean in closer to the hull, so that the thickness at the top front corner is just the thickness of the plate: no fillet behind it.
  • All Composite front castings had a small lug centrally low down, a major front recognition feature between Composites and M4A1s. There should be a similar lug below below the hull top ventilator for the drain hole.  That might be hidden here by the travel lock.

While flat roller arms and no loader's hatch are not incorrect, upswept roller arms and a loader's hatch would certainly be more typical for Composites.  No-hatch turrets were only used for 2-3 months initial production.

 

For the benefit of others, the Dragon "PTO Composite" kit includes the right sprockets, both types of roller arms and has the lower glacis lug.  It also has both low and high bustle turrets, although both have loader's hatches.  So it will make mid or late Composite production but needs a turret transplant or some card and filler as an early one.

Thank you for the constructive comments. The sand shields are based on a picture of a Firefly and appear to be the front shields being used with cutouts. Having built the Dragon M4 Composite, you are correct it does include the lower casting lug (well done Dragon). The starter crank and sledge hammer still need to be added - not sure why I left them off.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A bit more work done. Still much detail painting, weathering and the like to be done. Some tools still need to be attached. A little disappointed with the tracks but I can live with it; some dirt and grime may make it less obvious untrained eye.

 

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All the while I've been doing another build concurrently. Just got around to putting on the base colors and a coat of gloss. Not sure of how I'm going to mark it yet. This is the Tamiya (Asuka) offering from a few years back. These both are my first UK/Commonwealth builds, though I've got numerous kits in the stash waiting.

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