Hamden Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 That lower hull is coming together nicely John, your extra detailing takes this to the next level! Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 2, 2019 Author Share Posted September 2, 2019 46 minutes ago, Hamden said: That lower hull is coming together nicely John, your extra detailing takes this to the next level! Roger Thanks a lot Roger. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefy66 Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 This should be interesting following and taking notes if you don't mind beefy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Bob Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 Hi John, that is impressive work going on, I cannot understand why Tasca/Asuka never made a M4 version of the Sherman. I am finishing off one of my "shelf queens" at the moment, the Tasca M4A1, I had replaced the foam material in the suspension units with plastic card, but left the wheels to pivot on their frames, however, I was using type 48 "working" track links from AFV club, I found that the track lifted the the pivoting wheels at the front towards the sprocket and at the back towards the rear idler, so I glued all the wheel pivots while they were on a flat surface to stop that. I also had to space the front sprocket inner and outer plates slightly apart so that the track links could engage in between the points of the sprockets correctly. Hope this is of some help with your build. Bob. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 3, 2019 Author Share Posted September 3, 2019 14 hours ago, beefy66 said: This should be interesting following and taking notes if you don't mind beefy Hi Beefy. Many thanks and you are most welcome. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 3, 2019 Author Share Posted September 3, 2019 12 hours ago, Retired Bob said: Hi John, that is impressive work going on, I cannot understand why Tasca/Asuka never made a M4 version of the Sherman. No, me neither. It seems that we're stuck with the old Tamiya kit or the Dragon offering (if you can find it). BTW. If anyone reading this has got, or can point me towards, photos of the radio pot on the M4/Sherman 1, I'd be very much obliged. That's one thing that I can't get hold of. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 On 9/3/2019 at 11:31 AM, Bullbasket said: No, me neither. It seems that we're stuck with the old Tamiya kit or the Dragon offering (if you can find it). BTW. If anyone reading this has got, or can point me towards, photos of the radio pot on the M4/Sherman 1, I'd be very much obliged. That's one thing that I can't get hold of. John. Hi John, Would some pics of the Dragon Sherman Ic kit parts help, I took some last night of the All Round Vision Cuploa for Mirrorman, could easily take some of the upper hull tonight if it would help. Happy Modelling Ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 13 minutes ago, AntPhillips said: Would some pics of the Dragon Sherman Ic kit parts help, I took some last night of the All Round Vision Cuploa for Mirrorman, could easily take some of the upper hull tonight if it would help. Hi Ant, If Dragon got it right (and I believe they did), that would be a great help. I need to see how they did the radio pot and the weld beads on the glacis. Many thanks for the offer. Regards, John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfoot Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 From the Sherman minutia website, about halfway down the page there’s photos of the radio pot (can’t link to the actual pic I’m afraid). M4 radio pot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 Thanks Bigfoot, that's great. The ironic thing is that I have the Minutia page in my favourites, but I've missed that bit. I'm afraid that I go around with my eyes closed a lot of the time. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Hi John as promised a little fly-around of the Dragon Firefly Ic upper hull. I hope these help, although I think Bigfoot's link pretty much shows what you need anyway. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripaman Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 Hi John great detail you are adding I just found some pictures I took of this Sherman at the Tank Museum in 2017 is this a Sherman Firefly 1C If it is I can send you five more I took might be of help Also the other day was at Chapters Book store and found this great book on M4 Sherman Tanks for $10.00 CDN do you have this one great book Front cover Back cover Regards Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 6, 2019 Author Share Posted September 6, 2019 15 hours ago, AntPhillips said: I hope these help, although I think Bigfoot's link pretty much shows what you need anyway. That's excellent Ant, and very helpful, many thanks for taking the trouble. Dragon seem to have got it spot on. The hoods are the correct shape, it's the correct antenna pot shape and they haven't added weld beads that shouldn't be there. I've made a start on the hull alterations and I'll post some photos soon. Thanks once again. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 6, 2019 Author Share Posted September 6, 2019 9 hours ago, Ripaman said: I just found some pictures I took of this Sherman at the Tank Museum in 2017 is this a Sherman Firefly 1C Sadly no, it's not a 1c but Vc, based on the M4A4. But thanks Richard, for taking the trouble. I've now got it covered and am altering the Tamiya hull accordingly. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper dog Posted September 7, 2019 Share Posted September 7, 2019 Hi John, just catching up on your build, it's only now that the differences between the early and late versions are becoming apparent. I realise this could sound like heresy but I'd never realised there was so much difference! I'm almost ashamed to admit but I thought it generally boiled down to cast, welded or hybrid hulls and petrol, diesel or radial engined versions! (No idea which had what though). I have a fuzzy memory of my Grandad telling me about working on the radial engine variants whilst based at Bovington after being transferred from the RAF. (1944 ish??) Great work, I particularly liked your previous Sherman build, Crossing the Rabbi. Thanks Darryl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 7, 2019 Author Share Posted September 7, 2019 Thanks for the comments Darryl. Shermans are a very complicated subject, because apart from the differences that you mention, each manufacturer had their own differences. And then there is the armament; 75mm (and there was more than one type of barrel), 76mm (different muzzle brakes), 17 pdr (two different muzzle brakes) and 105mm howitzer. That's before you even consider what the Israelis kitted them out with, and the Chileans. And there's more, much more. John. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 8, 2019 Author Share Posted September 8, 2019 The hull turned up in the post yesterday, so last night I got to work on it. Anyone familiar with the Tamiya M4 will know that they made some errors with the glacis plate. It’s more akin to an M4A4 than an M4, the problems being the weld beads which shouldn’t be there, and the antenna pot, which shouldn’t be flared as it is. The first job was to remove the existing antenna pot. I carefully sawed it off with a razor saw and then cleaned up the surface with wet and dry. A hole was left in the glacis and I gradually enlarged it with ever bigger drill bits. The new pot was made from a section of an old ball point pen body with the open end thinned down with a sharp blade. A circle of card was cut to the right size and glued into the top of the pot. This was then super glued into the hole in the glacis plate. The weld beads will go on later when I tackle the other ones at the same time. The driver and gunners hoods are also the wrong shape as they should be broader and more rounded at the front, but as they were going to have applique armour leaning (welded) against them, I decided to leave them as they were. One of the bugbears of the early Tamiya M4’s was the open sponsons, but this is fairly easily fixed with some card cut to size and glued in. I also glued some card vertically up the insides of the hull so that the upper hull would be central when glued in place. The exhausts were glued into the upper hull, and the etched brass mesh that surrounds them was super glued to the lower hull, before joining the upper and lower halves together. Because the final drive housing and the lower hull came from two different manufacturers (Dragon and Tamiya), there was a discrepancy in the height of the FDH. It was slightly too high (Probably my fault). So I removed the bullet splash with a sharp knife and cleaned it up with wet and dry. Once the two halves are joined, I'll reinstate it with some Milliput. Most of it won't be seen though as it'll be covered by stowage. John. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dads203 Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 Very nice work John, looks like it will end up a fine Sherman indeed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfoot Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 Good work John on updating the M4 hull, much improved. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 9, 2019 Author Share Posted September 9, 2019 16 hours ago, Dads203 said: Very nice work John, looks like it will end up a fine Sherman indeed I hope so Dan, I hope so, other wise, my shelf queens will overtake my completed builds! John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 9, 2019 Author Share Posted September 9, 2019 21 hours ago, bigfoot said: Good work John on updating the M4 hull, much improved. Thanks Bigfoot. The next Sherman is definitely going to be a Tasca or Asuka, so that I can have a break from the hassle. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper dog Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 5 hours ago, Bullbasket said: Thanks Bigfoot. The next Sherman is definitely going to be a Tasca or Asuka, so that I can have a break from the hassle. John. Hi John, I'll follow that build if you do it, I've a brace of these hiding somewhere, can't remember which ones now, picked them up really cheap a couple of years ago from the den of eveil temptation that is Ebay! Cheers Darryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 Hi Daryl. I've got a Tasca Sherman lll direct vision which I'm going to change the suspension for the early return roller on top, and do it as a N.Africa version. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatfingers Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 Aye up John, Great work on the aerial pot and everything else for that matter! Regards Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 1 hour ago, fatfingers said: Aye up John, Great work on the aerial pot and everything else for that matter! Regards Steve Thanks Steve. It's amazing what you can do with a ball point pen. John. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now