Bullbasket Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 Upper and lower halves glued together. I reinforced the joint with some super glue. The first job to get out of the way was to fill in the weld beads on the glacis with Milliput. I also filled all of the other weld lines so that they were flush and textured them with the tip of a cocktail stick. New weld beads were also established around the antenna pot and on the hull sides where the glacis joins. All of the attachments points for the pioneer tools on the top of the hull and the rear hull plate were filled in. I didn’t want to handle the model while the filler hardened, so I made a start on the turret. I had three choices for this; 1, the turret from my now defunct build, 2, a brand new one from Dragon, or 3, convert the one from the Tamiya M4 kit as it is a low bustle turret. The first needed a lot of clean up and I couldn’t be asked. The second one needed the turret opening to be enlarged due to the difference in size between the Dragon turret ring and the Tamiya opening; not easy. So therefore, I went for the third option. First the rough opening was drilled and cut out and then cleaned up with files. Next a piece of .5mm card, 2mm larger than the opening all round, was glued to the top surface and left over night to harden. Next day, using a brand new No.10 blade, I cut out the centre of the card and cleaned up the opening with files. Around the turret opening is a splash guard which I made from thin strips of 1mm card. The hinge base is an offcut of stretched sprue and I rescued the etched brass stop from the old build, along with the hatch cover. I'm probably going to carry on with the turret for now, and get back to the hull when I've finished it. John. 13 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Looks good, nice work on that hatch with a coat of paint no one will know the effort that went into it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntPhillips Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Nice job with the upper hull and the loaders hatch, its really coming together now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 2 hours ago, phildagreek said: Looks good, nice work on that hatch with a coat of paint no one will know the effort that went into it! 1 hour ago, AntPhillips said: Nice job with the upper hull and the loaders hatch, its really coming together now. Thanks for the comments. I'm glad that I chose this option as the hatch was a lot less hassle than I thought it would be. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dads203 Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Some nice neat work there John, all very precise and looking good fella 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatfingers Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Aye up John, Top job on the hull and the new turret hatch is real piece of model engineering. Regards, Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 13, 2019 Author Share Posted September 13, 2019 17 hours ago, Dads203 said: Some nice neat work there John, all very precise and looking good fella Many thanks Dan. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff E Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 Very nice work on the hull and the turret John, the hatch turned out really well. Jeff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper dog Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 Cracking along, real modelling skills, educational just watching. Looking forward to seeing it all come together. Cheers Darryl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 13, 2019 Author Share Posted September 13, 2019 4 hours ago, Jeff E said: Very nice work on the hull and the turret John, the hatch turned out really well. Jeff Thanks Jeff. Yes, I'm pleased with the hatch. I hope the rest of it goes as well. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silenoz Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 beautiful and well documented 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 13, 2019 Author Share Posted September 13, 2019 6 hours ago, Jasper dog said: Cracking along, real modelling skills, educational just watching. Looking forward to seeing it all come together. Cheers Darryl Thanks Darryl. I'm aiming to get this finished before the T-54/55 GB starts. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 13, 2019 Author Share Posted September 13, 2019 1 hour ago, Silenoz said: beautiful and well documented Many thanks Silenoz. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripaman Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 Your knowledge on Sherman's is just fantastic John Regards Richard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 14, 2019 Author Share Posted September 14, 2019 13 hours ago, Ripaman said: Your knowledge on Sherman's is just fantastic John Thanks Richard, but my knowledge isn't that extensive, Compared to some, I'm a beginner, but I learn something new everyday. The trick is, trying to remember it! John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 15, 2019 Author Share Posted September 15, 2019 The armoured radio box, seen on the rear of the turret, came from an old Dragon Firefly kit, but I made some alterations to it. I filled the sides with putty and added extensions to the sides. I also added an extension to the front of the lid and put cut outs into the leading edge around the aerial bases. I removed the bolt heads as they were now in the wrong place, and added new ones and a lifting handle. Incidently, it must have been fun removing this lid. It weighed 90kgs!! Once I was happy with the finished article, it was glued in place and some Milliput added around the weld beads. The inner part of the gun mantlet came from the Tamiya kit, but the outer part is from the Dragon Firefly. Fortunately they went together well. I drilled out the barrel of the co-axial MG. I used the commanders hatch from the Tamiya M4A3 as it was a better representation of the real thing than the one in the M4 kit. It just needed some mouldings removed from the underside to allow it to fit. The hinge was replaced with a piece of 20thou rod, wrapped with thin copper wire to represent the spring. The mount for the AA MG lacked any detail at the bottom, so I glued a piece of sprue into the recess, added a couple of punched out circles each side and the locking handle from stretched sprue. I drilled the periscope out of the hatch cover and replaced it with one from Dragon and glued a 3D printed periscope to the inside. Moulded grab handles were replaced with brass wire and one from Dragon, and the locking mechanism was bits of sprue and nickel silver wire, bent to shape. To the right of the ventilator I added the bracket for the spotlight from rod, capped with a punched circle of card, plus an etched chain. Periscope brush guards came from the Tamiya Sherman M1 kit. They are a little on the thick side, but I prefer that to the thin, two dimensional etched variety. This turret carried the British 2 inch mortar, but it should have a lip around it. I made this using 15 amp fuse wire, bent to shape. Final additions are the Alidade sight, the vane sight (many tanks carried both), and the sun compass bracket which I made from 10 thou card. And this is the finished article. I used the 17pdr from the previous build, hence the wavy pattern. It's an RB Models item. There are one or two jobs that are still to be done, such as filling a small gap at the back, adding some Milliput to the weld line on the applique armour, and if I can work up the enthusiasm, add some casting numbers to the turret. Oh, and drill out the 2 inch mortar!. Apart from that, I'm going to return to the hull. Thanks for looking. John. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 Top notch work on the turret John, looking forward to seeing it mated to the hull! Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfoot Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 Good work on the turret John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 16, 2019 Author Share Posted September 16, 2019 11 hours ago, Hamden said: Top notch work on the turret John, looking forward to seeing it mated to the hull! Many thanks Roger. Won't be long for that (he said hopefully). John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 16, 2019 Author Share Posted September 16, 2019 4 hours ago, bigfoot said: Good work on the turret John. Thanks Bigfoot. It's another bit out of the way. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatfingers Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 Fantastic work on the turret. Regards, Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMax12 Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 John Well you certainly have a project on the go. It's going to be another Bullbasket masterpiece. Take care, Lloyd 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 16, 2019 Author Share Posted September 16, 2019 2 hours ago, fatfingers said: Fantastic work on the turret. Regards, Steve Many thanks Steve. 42 minutes ago, BlackMax12 said: John Well you certainly have a project on the go. It's going to be another Bullbasket masterpiece. Take care, Lloyd Thanks Lloyd, very kind of you to say. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 Nice, Your getting more detail into this than should possibly be allowed,far more than any 1/72 lorry kit could take, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted September 17, 2019 Author Share Posted September 17, 2019 15 hours ago, Hewy said: Nice, Your getting more detail into this than should possibly be allowed,far more than any 1/72 lorry kit could take, Thanks Glynn. I think that I'll leave the 1/72nd scale lorries to you as my eyes are struggling to see the 1/35th detail.🔍 John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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