Unusual Ex-Fireflies

[M3talpig]

21 minutes ago, Das Abteilung said:

See, your Sherman-fu is coming along nicely, Grasshopper! 

 Thank you sensei your instruction has been enlightening  

[Kingsman]

So I think I'm calling the Lebanese Firefly "done".  Except for the turret applique patch I forgot about and found after taking the pics.  Now added.

 

I wanted to show the tool stowages empty except for the shovel so I raided a pack of ET Models M4 tools and some lead foil for the brackets and straps.  Empty extingusher brackets came from the spare etch fret box.  All the other brass is from the kit.  The kit 17pdr barrel cleaned up OK so the RB Models one went back in the box.  You get a fiddly bit of brass to roll into a tube to show the rifling inside the muzzle.  Can't be seen, don't bother.  On the subject of fiddly brass they thought it a good idea to have you roll a strip of brass to line the inside of the commander's cupola, for absolutely no apparent purpose.  Forget that too.  Also forget the periscope guards, which come in both plastic and brass form: A4s didn't have them.

 

The kit M2 HMG is very nice but very fiddly with lots of seams and joins to deal with.  Both my barrels were bent.  There is a 0.30" option, but on the early "quadrant" type mount.  I used a Zebrano resin M2 instead, still loose in the photos (why it looks drunk!).  On that subject the turret is just placed on top at the moment, not clipped down.

 

One area for sweary words is the turret pistol port.  Put simply, it don't fit.  It's flat and the turret is curved, it has parallel edges and the recess doesn't.  Bevel the edges of the piece and shave down the ridge inside the recess.  Then you'll need to disguise the join by feathering the welds to fill the gaps.  I haven't attempted the tracks yet.  first and last wheels each side - the ones that wear most - are replaced with TWS resin late dish style, mostly seen post-war.  Yes, the sand shield mounting strips are supposed to be a bit distressed and the sun compass bracket bent down.  It's probably about 40 years old here.

 

 

 

Edited April 16, 2020 by Das Abteilung
addition

[Bullbasket]

Nice work Peter. It's certainly different to the usual Firefly.

 

John.

[Kingsman]

I don't like "usual".  Next one will be a bit more normal.  A bit.  Just a new engine and gun and a few bits.................. 

 

I like the idea over on Missing Lynx of the Canadian IC fitted with scavenged schurzen round the turret.  But it's a DV hull and so needs a DV M4 and IC kits, and you can't necessarily combine the leftovers into a small hatch M4 75mm.

 

 

[M3talpig]

48 minutes ago, Das Abteilung said:

a small hatch M4 75mm.

Don't get me started 

[Kingsman]

I meant to say that I've been using MiG Ultra Glue for the first time on this build.  Acrylic rather than cyano, supposedly specifically formulated for PE parts and canopies  The jury of 1 is still out.

 

It's in a screw-top jar, so you need an applicator.  I bought some MiG brass toothpicks too, which seem ideal.  I imagine that wooden cocktail sticks would work just as well - but each will be single-use.  The glue can be cleaned off the brass ones. Which brings me to waste: you waste more than you use.  Much of what you dip out of the jar stays on the dipper and isn't always able to be used again as it gels quite quickly.  However, leaving the lid off doesn't cause it to skin over.

 

It is quite thick and you need to be careful how much you use or it will splurge out around the part.  This is not always a bad thing, as many small parts will be welded on and a small seam of glue could replicate a weld bead. It does have some gap-filling properties.  It isn't particularly strong: I managed to knock some parts off quite easily.  But then I find that modern cyano doesn't hold that well for metal-plastic either.  It does have more immediate grab than cyano so that parts don't always need to be held in place.  Much like PVA, it is white in the jar but dries clear.

[Kingsman]

Continuing with the MiG Ultra Glue theme, it isn't permanent and it doesn't mark. Which are double-edged characteristics.  Nor does it seem to set hard.  If parts break off it can be easily removed, which is more than can be said for cyano.  I was able to rub it off plastic with a fingertip.  But the down side it that attached parts are not rigid.  I discovered this when I accidentally nudged some fairly tall parts and realised that they flexed.

 

So, for me, I would use it for small parts but for anything where a mechanically strong joint is needed I would still default to cyano.  I have actually been using acrylic nail glue for a while instead of cyano, although it has no great advantages over cyano apart from being dirt cheap on eBay - and it doesn't pong as much, and doesn't seem to fog.

 

Moving on, the second part of this double build is progressing.  A Sherman Repotenciado.  A Repo what?  Argentine Sherman upgrade.  There seem to be several interpretations of the Spanish word Repotenciado including Repowered, Power Boosted and Uprated. All of which work here.  Why? because there's a Poyaud 520 V8 diesel with 450-500BHP lurking in the engine compartment.  Poyaud were a French company, now part of the Wartsila group.  There's also a locally-built French 105mm CN105 57/44 FTR gun lurking in the turret,  Yes, a long 105mm in a "small" 75mm Sherman turret although, as with the M51 in Israel, it was discovered that the barrel needed to be much shortened (to L/44).  However, unlike Israel, Argentina insisted on using the standard CN-105 ammunition in order to be compatible with similarly-armed AMX-13 and SK-105.  The Israeli gun used a smaller cartridge case.  Some sources suggest that the ammunition was so large that there was no room for a loader, so the commander had to load the gun.  Others say otherwise.

 

So how did this come to pass?  After WW2 Belgium acquired many ex-British Shermans, including Fireflies  The US wouldn't take Fireflies back and any foreign cash to pay for Lend-Lease was useful.  But Belgium was hungry, and really needed bread more than tanks.  So in 1947 some 450 Shermans including Fireflies were bartered with Argentina in exchange for wheat.  These served Argentina faithfully for about 30 years, gradually being replaced.  But for various reasons too complex to explore here it was decided in 1977 to upgrade some survivors.  Depending on sources, 125 or 250 were converted with the Poyaud engine and CN105 gun and other more minor changes including T49 tracks.  These served until 1998: 3 were acquired by Paraguay and these served until 2018!

 

The conversions were a mix of VC and IC Fireflies.  As far as I can tell, all the ICs were Hybrids (or Composites as the US called them).  And that is my subject.  Even more curiously, many of these appear to be ALCO-built.  For many years - decades - it was believed that all M4 Composites/ Hybrids were built by Chrysler.  However it came to light that ALCO's last 300 or so M4s were also built with the cast glacis.  Many of these seem to have ended up in Argentina via Belgium and the UK.

 

My base kit is the Dragon IC Hybrid Firefly kit 6228.  The upper hull and other parts in this kit were re-tooled in 2010 from the older 9037 kit, which should be avoided like the plague.  The cast texture on the glacis in that kit was truly appalling unless you wanted a 3D relief map of the Alps!  But much of the rest of the kit is old, dating back to the 90's.  Perhaps the Asuka IC would have been a better start point, but money talks and the Asuka was about twice the price!  The kit best represents a Chrysler build, although it does include the straight-arm return rollers and solid disc sprockets which ALCO used on theirs and are the principal visible differences.

 

I was holding on for Greg Buechler in the US to produce his Repo conversion, following on from his lovely Chilean M50 and M60 conversions (hint - next double build!).  But for various reasons that hasn't come to pass so I was persuaded to invest in the new conversion from Spanish company FC Modeltrend, a mixture of resin and 3D printed parts.  Not cheap at £43 including its share of the shipping cost with other items.  Is it worth the money? Absolutely NOT.  FCM don't have the best reputation and this set doesn't improve the situation.  But could I make the parts myself or acquire them elsewhere?  Not all, no.  So no real choice.

 

Here is work to date.  Turret is just perched on top.  The kit has a very annoying mould seam from left to right across the hull through the turret axis, which is hard to get rid of.  It also has the old style "universal" hull tub that you need to trim to fit the cast front and fit silly little bogie mount inserts.  FCM engine deck is sized for the VC and so needed some surgery.  Some FCM parts were replaced, such as the engine deck door stops and gun travel lock arms.  The FCM gun barrel is garbage, being far too thin for a 105mm and having no taper.  That is a Russian D-10 barrel from RB, cut down. The FCM muzzle brake is probably undersized but the only other source is a Heller or Takom AMX-13-105 kit.  You can get after-market CN-75 and CN-90 barrels, but not the CN-105 with this muzzle brake.  One bogie has been replaced with a straight-arm type, one sprocket swapped for solid disc and 3 different wheels fitted.  Chrysler exclusively fitted the pressed spoke type roadwheels.  Repos were a bit mix-and-match with suspension, like a lot of old Shermans  Headlight guards are 3D printed from Shapeways, which needed a bit of cleanup.  I may replace these later if they don't look good under primer.  Not all Repos had the rear radiator vent: most in fact did not.  But I found 1 photo of a Hybrid with one.

 

[Bullbasket]

Another very unusual and interesting conversion. Seeing this has made me think about getting my M60 going again.

 

John.

[Kingsman]

6 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Seeing this has made me think about getting my M60 going again.

You know you want to!  Vive la difference..................  Is that Diferencia en vivo in Spanish?

 

Stealing my own thunder, my next moves will be Chilean M60 and M51.  Then I think a painting-fest and about a million indy link track parts.................

[Bullbasket]

 

5 minutes ago, Das Abteilung said:

You know you want to! 

The only reason that it stopped was because I couldn't get hold of any photos of the engine deck. But having picked up Tom Gannon's "The Sherman in the Chilean Army" at last years Telford, problem solved (he said hopefully).

 

John.

[Kingsman]

I bought that book recently too, as I've long planned a couple.

 

I have Greg Buechler's conversions which include the engine decks. I can photo the parts and instructions if that would help. IIRC it's the exhaust parts that are difficult. I like the Argentine way: cut a slot, stick a tube out!

[Bullbasket]

Thanks for the offer Peter, but I have Greg's conversion too.

 

John.

[Kingsman]

I think I'm calling the Repotenciado done now too.  Parked in the paint shop queue.  I'll probably build another couple and then have a paint fest - followed by a track fest.

 

The stowage baskets from FCM are very finely done 3D printing.  Far better than I could ever have constructed.  Needed some gentle hot water bending back to proper shape and a couple of cuts in the bottom inner rail to allow adjustment to match the Dragon turret profile.  There were 2 different designs of basket, the other having larger mesh and diagonal bracing.  But there was a problem: they were too long for the bustle extension.  Some artwork, but no photos I've seen, do show the basket extending beyond the back of the radio box, which seems illogical.  Photos show that some tanks still had the British-pattern stowage box fitted.  But then the baskets are too short.  Lacking any other evidence I used the stowage box and the baskets as they fitted. 

 

Period photos are rare but the couple I found seemed to have some stowage in the baskets.  They were large and there for a reason!  Rucksacks similar to the Argentine pattern from the bits box, rolled sleeping bags and some generic plastic water cans.  I can't establish what type of cans Argentina used at the time, but these are largely hidden if wrong.  Some tanks had a 200 litre plastic water barrel mounted horizontally across the top of the radio box, but this was by no means universal.  If I can find a suitable one I might add it.

 

Since the last photos I realised I'd goofed the rear vent when I went to mount the tools.  It was shaped to fit inside the cut-out in the upper hull rear, not welded over it.  Curved where it met the hull but square at the end.  So that had to come off and be re-worked.

 

I was just thinking: these tanks were in service at the time of the Falklands shindig.  It is perhaps a good idea that none were sent over as they would have very much overmatched our Scorpions and could have ventured to some extent off the surfaced roads that the AML90s were largely limited to.

 

 

[Vaastav]

Looks a beaut. Great attention to detail... Planning on figures?

[Bullbasket]

Another great looking Unusual Firefly. What decals are you using for these and are those headlamp brush guards 3D printed?

 

John.

[fatfingers]

8 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

I was just thinking: these tanks were in service at the time of the Falklands shindig.  

 

Funnily enough I read a book on Kindle a couple of years ago called The Firefly's Of Port Stanley. Premise was 3 Firefly's bound for Argentina in the 50's accidentally ended up in storage on the Falklands and they were put into service by the Falklands Defence Force during the invasion. Think i'm going to have to have a re-read of it as I recall it was an entertaining if somewhat farfetched story, but enjoyable all the same.

 

Great work on the models and look forward to seeing them painted in due course.

 

Regards 

 

Steve 

[Kingsman]

15 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

What decals are you using for these and are those headlamp brush guards 3D printed?

I have a couple of old Bison sets for S American Tanks and S American M4s.  Repo markings were quite sparse, usually just a small yellow logo on the turret sides and a serial on the hull sides. All seemed to be light earth and light green camo.  Some unmodified Fireflies had more colourful markings on plain dark green, also in those sets.

 

Yes the headlamp guards are 3D printed from Shapeways.  First time I've used them.  They need a bit of cleanup and they are a lot thicker than brass but easier to use and neater than the kit parts.  You get 10 vehicle sets on a strip inc siren guards, not used here as a new siren was fitted (far left of glacis).  If they don't look good under primer I'll swap them.

 

As for figures, I can't animate or paint figures to save my life.  Gave up years ago: even binned my figures bits box.  Yes, I know: Rabbie Burns' rule "if at first etc...." applies.  Although I did come across some Peddinghaus eyeball decals in my decal box.  Problem here is that his decals are on solid film and need trimming, and his film is quite thick.  And I'm not sure what figures I'd use for Argentine uniform.  One of the MiniArt US or Middle East sets, perhaps.  Yes, I know I shouldn't open hatches without fitting an interior or inserting a figure............................

 

Edited April 30, 2020 by Das Abteilung
addition

[Kris B]

Nice, very nice.

[M3talpig]

Mr Abteilung could i please ask a favour ........im working on a orphan M4A1 and one of the things i need to do as a finishing touch is the antenna mount on the turret.

Is there any chance you could take some measurements of the rather nice brass jobbies you have used in these builds ...if it won't be to much trouble.

 

Thanks in advance ....Steve

[Kingsman]

So, almost 2 and a half years later these 2 projects have been bought blinking into the daylight from the Shelf Of Doom.  Where did that time go.........?

 

Some painting progress on the Lebanese Firefly.  I'm not overly happy with the finished colour, which should probably have been paler and yellower.  But it's too late now.  This one is depicted in the 1976 Arab Army of Lebanon Mutiny.  I had 2 packs of the Military Modelcraft International limited edition Lebanese Firefly decals, and interestingly both claim to represent the same vehicles yet have completely different artwork and decals.  Odd.

 

Worrying about decal film silvering and noting that the Arabic slogans were hand-painted I decided to try copying the decals freehand using green ink and a mapping pen, with black ink for the Palestine outlines, which came out OK.  The turret is just placed on here, not properly attached.

 

[Model Mate]

Looks really good - suitably shabby and weather-worn. I think decals would have struggled to look as good as your pen-work; nice!

[Bullbasket]

Great work with the pen and ink Peter. I don't read Arabic, but it looks authentic to me.

 

John.

[Kingsman]

Definitely going for shabby here.  Photos of vehicles in Lebanon in the period don't show them being tidy and well-kept.  

[Kingsman]

Somehow after 3 years of avoiding it successfully, I have managed to contract COVID.  I'm not sure that a snootful of hydrocarbon vapours is a recommended treatment, but.........  Did some more fiddling with the Lebanese Firefly this morning.  Apart from making the tracks and adding some pigments I think it is about done.  Regular readers will know that I'm not a huge fan of rusting because armour plate doesn't rust as much or as quickly many people depict, so I've kept that to a few runs from the mild steel parts.

[SimonL]

That looks great. Love the fuel splashes. Sucks about the COVID - hope you feel better soon.