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Kiwi Sherman lll.


Bullbasket

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Having had to bail out of an STGB (yet again, sorry about that Stix) due to a number of reasons such as lack of time and a domestic disaster, I started looking around for a new build. I haven’t built anything new in 1/48th for several years, even though I have something around a dozen kits. Whilst rummaging through the stash, I came across an M4A2 resin conversion from Formations. Reading the instructions, it says that it has been designed to be used with Tamiya’s M4A1, which fortunately, I had tucked away in the cupboard. Checking what other bits and pieces that I had to hand, I came across several etched sheets for the Sherman, and a couple of sets of decals too. The conversion depicts an M4A2 with welded hoods, and that immediately counted out one of the sets as it was for a Sherman with cast hoods. Of the two remaining tanks that I had decals for, I couldn’t ascertain proof positive that they had welded hoods, but there’s a good chance that they did, which was good enough for me.

So, what’s involved with this conversion. Formations include an upper hull, rear hull plate, exhaust, deflector and the two front track guard sections. The casting of all of these parts is superb. The rest of the build comes from the Tamiya kit, ie; lower hull with all of the running gear and tracks, but minus the rear hull plate, and the turret. As already stated, I have the decals (Bison) and several etched brass sheets for the Sherman.

The Formations parts;

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......and the Tamiya kit.

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Well, that's the project. As I said, it's a few years since I built anything in this scale, but I'm looking forward to the change.

See you soon.

 

John.

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27 minutes ago, fatfingers said:

Aye up John.

 

Looking forward to another of your Sherman 'master class' builds.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

Hi Steve. I'm hoping that this turns out well, because if it does, I have a Mk1 Hybrid (conversion), three Fireflies and a Mk.1 in the stash. Plus some Cromwells and Crusaders. Oh, and a half built M51 and a Grant.

 

John.

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1 hour ago, Silver Fox said:

Looks good, I did something very similar using a Wee Friends conversion earlier in the year. Your resin looks sharper though. Watching with interest.

 

1 hour ago, AntPhillips said:

Never seen anything from Formations in 1/48 (probably because its not my scale), but if its anything like their 1/35 stuff it should be good.

 

I look forward to seeing some progress pics in due course. 

I had two 1/48th resin conversions, this one from Formations and a Mk.1 Hybrid from Tank Workshop, and although there is nothing wrong with the TW item, it's a bit like comparing a Bentley with a Ford Anglia.

 

John.

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Getting Started.

As much as I dislike Tamiya’s cast metal lower hulls, I went with it for this build as to scratch build one would make this project a long one, and as I said, the conversion is meant to be used with it. So therefore, the final drives and the transmission cover were super glued to the front. At the same time, I super glued the rear hull plate in place. There were a couple of minor gaps which I filled with some white PVA glue.

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I have to say that the Formation parts are well engineered as the back plate was a snug fit against the Tamiya metal hull.

I also assembled the VVSS units, but made a cock up, so I'll return to those later (when I've fixed my mistake!!)

Thanks for looking,

 

John.

 

 

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Hi John, not my scale but looking forward to seeing this come together.

 

Always fascinating and educational to watch.

 

Cheers and all the best for Christmas. 

Darryl 

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4 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Hi John, not my scale but looking forward to seeing this come together.

 

Always fascinating and educational to watch.

 

Cheers and all the best for Christmas. 

Darryl 

'Morning Darryl. I don't normally build in this scale, but return to it now and again, as after all, it was this scale that initially tempted me away from building wingey things 15 years ago. It's also a (relatively) quick build for me, before moving onto the next 1/35th project. More updates later today.

And a Merry Christmas to you and yours also.

 

John.

Edited by Bullbasket
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Next up was a mini disaster (for me). One of the reasons that I’m not overly fond of resin is that manufacturers have thick attachment points between the part and the gate. I was using a razor saw to separate the two when the saw suddenly went straight through, and into my index finger. Blood every where! Sadly, not the first time that has happened. The parts in question were the exhaust and the deflector. Once cleaned up (of excess resin, not blood), they were glued to the rear hull plate.

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There are no sponson covers in the Tamiya kit, so rather than make up two individual ones, I went for a complete fill in under the upper hull. Two reasons for this. The first was because it was a damned sight easier, and the second was because the RHS of the resin hull was slightly warped inwards, and by inserting the piece of .5mm card, super gluing it in place, it spread the sides apart and got rid of the warp. Simples!

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That's it for now but I'll try and get some more done and uploaded tomorrow.

 

John.

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Hi John. This does look like a fascinating project. I enjoy building in 1/48 as much as I do in 1/35 - it's nice to change between the two. These 1/48 Tamiya kits are usually thoroughly enjoyable builds and it will be interesting to see the conversion set going into place. I must admit I'm not a big fan of resin parts. I made a couple of resin kits many, many years ago and they were very hard work - I hope the wound is healing well! I need a project to move onto after my current Tiran build and you have got me thinking about possibly doing something in 1/48. Thank you.

Kind regards,

Stix

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3 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Hi John. This does look like a fascinating project. I enjoy building in 1/48 as much as I do in 1/35 - it's nice to change between the two. These 1/48 Tamiya kits are usually thoroughly enjoyable builds and it will be interesting to see the conversion set going into place. I must admit I'm not a big fan of resin parts. I made a couple of resin kits many, many years ago and they were very hard work - I hope the wound is healing well! I need a project to move onto after my current Tiran build and you have got me thinking about possibly doing something in 1/48. Thank you.

Kind regards,

Stix

'Afternoon Stix. Thanks, yes the finger is back in commission. We're on the same wave length when it comes to resin kits. I would love to build Accurate Armour's Bedford RL and convert it into the truck that I used to drive in Germany, but I just don't like resin. But with 1/48th, I have to say that this build is giving me something that has been lacking in my last couple of builds, and that is enjoyment. It's moving along at a nice steady pace and so far, apart from the unintended surgery, it's all working out fine. I can see more in a similar vein in the future.

 

John.

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Nice work so far, I have to make some sponson fillers for the M4 105 I'm working on, but need to profile the edges to account for the differing material thicknesses wher injection plastic meets resin, as the rest of the build is actually fairly straightforward, the sponson fillers could be next.

 

I have got a Chesapeake Models full resin 1/35 M4A2 Direct Vision kit, I've had it many years and the main reason I haven't built it is because I actually find resin kits are in fact slightly intimidating 😜 , I think thats why I'm going the FrankenSherman route as a prelude to diving into a full resin kit later 🥴.

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I toyed with the idea of fixing the upper and lower hulls together the same way that Tamiya intended ie; two screws, but it was tending to distort the card that was between the upper hull sides, so therefore I resorted to super gluing them together and clamping them.

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I filled the void at the rear of the upper hull by boxing in the sides and then making up a louvred piece to fit in the top. I did this by using a piece of 20thou card, onto which I glued alternately, strips of 30 and 40 thou thick card, the 30 laying flat and the 40 vertical. The rear extensions to the hull sides were cut to shape from 10thou card.

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And everything in place.

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Well, it's Boxing Day today (for us Brits that is; 26th December to the rest of the world), and I'm doing sweet Fanny Adams except eating, drinking, watching some mindless TV (that's television, so stop smirking), and if the household authority has no objection, a little more to the build.

 

John.

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Because I’d originally had it fixed in my mind that I was going to build “Sheik” of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, I used the pressed six spoke wheels, but I’d changed my mind early on in the build to “Tiger Lil”, which had the open five spoke wheels. I detailed each unit by drilling the four bolt holes in the leading face. Before adding the skids, I thinned the leading edge and then glued them in place, along with the missing four retaining bolt heads. BTW. I’d used Hobbyboss wheels as the Tamiya ones have no detail on the rear.

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So having done all this, I now needed to fix my mistake. Using a razor saw, I cut through the forward part of each axle and removed the wheel.

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Then I drilled a hole from the back, large enough to take a piece of 60 thou plastic rod. I drilled another hole in the forward part, but only part way through so that the rod would lodge in it. 

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I then cut some lengths of Slater’s plastic tubing of the same external size as the diameter of the hole in the wheel (I could use the Tamiya items this time). I don’t know off hand what size the tubing was, but it’s internal size was the same as the plastic rod.

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The short lengths of tube were glued into the wheels and once set, they were all mounted on cocktail sticks, along with the VVSS parts, ready for spraying. Although it was a mistake initially, I'll probably use this method in the future as it allows for easier painting of the wheels and tyres.

Thanks for looking.

 

John.

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22 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Hi John. Your attention to detail as well as your modelling skills are as impressive as ever! Nice progress.

Kind regards,

Stix

'Evening Stix, and thank you for the kind comments. A happy new year to you and yours.

 

John.

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