Kingsman Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 3 hours ago, Retired Bob said: the turret on mine was one that did not have the small side hatch to chuck out the empty shell casings That would be a very late fully-welded M4, The complete elimination of the pistol port was simultaneous with the introduction of the thickened right front turret cheek in mid-43, about 4 months before the end of all-welded 75mm M4 production in favour of the Composite. If you have no pistol port then you need the thick-cheek turret, which the Dragon 1C kit doesn't give you. If you've used the turret patch or left the thin cheek then the pistol port needs to be restored, although they were welded up from early 43. A thickened cheek can be added with card and filler or even using the applique patch as the basis with some filing and filling but either way it's harder work once the mantlet is fitted. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Sean, a PM will be on it' way to you in a couple of minutes. I've found one photo of a 1 RTR welded 1c in Arhaus, 1945. Also, in another book, I found a profile of your tank, which is a bit more detailed. Yes, I know what they say about profiles, but the details have usually been taken from a photo. Sorry, I can't just post them here in case of copyright infringement. John. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Bob Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 1 hour ago, Mozzy19 said: Ah yes, the little Sherman’s that packed a bit of extra oomph. You must have used some pretty potent glue on those duckbills as you seem to have a complete set on that run. That track set turned into a nightmare, they are Dragon individual links with the optional end guides, there were a set with and without duckbills, most Sherman's during the winter of 44/45 had duckbills fitted. The Coldstream Guards were the only Regiment that fitted rockets to their Sherman's I have photos of Firefly Ic's and Vc's and standard 75mm versions were the Mk.V. The reason I said they were a nightmare was I used oil paint washed with artist turpentine, I should have just used white spirit because most of the track pins melted with the turpentine, so there is a lot of super glue holding those tracks together. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozzy19 Posted January 19, 2021 Author Share Posted January 19, 2021 Assembly of the turret is now pretty much done, just the .50 cal and antenna bases to add later. I’ve added some weld lines that appear to be missing from the kit using some plastic rod flooded with glue and then shaped with a blunt scalpel blade. I’ve also added the brackets to the turret bustle. Tomorrow I’ll turn my attention back to the hull. Sean 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 Coming together nicely now, turret looks great, looking forward to seeing it in paint now Stay safe Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Bob Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 On 19/01/2021 at 16:18, Das Abteilung said: If you have no pistol port then you need the thick-cheek turret, which the Dragon 1C kit doesn't give you. A thickened cheek can be added with card and filler or even using the applique patch as the basis with some filing and filling but either way it's harder work once the mantlet is fitted. As the Firefly in the photo does not have a pistol port then I need to add the thickened cheek armour. I have the Tasca/Asuka Sherman composite hulled Firefly 1c the turret comes with the thickened cheek armour. Since the turrets are not interchangeable I can re-profile the Dragon turret using the Tasca/Asuka turret as a guide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsman Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 Now that sounds very much like a plan. As I said, I might have started with the applique patch as it has the right general shape and fits in the same area. Squared off at the bottom, filed down at the front, back and top to match the profile as closely as possible and finished off with filler. But card pieces and filler would work just as well, save the patch for another kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper dog Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 Doing a great job Sean, and you have a straight barrel! When I did one the barrel supplied by Dragon looked more like a banana, that was my excuse for an aftermarket metal barrel anyway! Super job! Atb Darryl 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozzy19 Posted January 20, 2021 Author Share Posted January 20, 2021 Thanks Darryl. The barrel is actually slightly skewed to the left when you look at it from directly above, so guess which angle you guys won’t be seeing... Sean 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Bob Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 24 minutes ago, Das Abteilung said: As I said, I might have started with the applique patch as it has the right general shape and fits in the same area. Squared off at the bottom, filed down at the front, back and top to match the profile as closely as possible and finished off with filler. But card pieces and filler would work just as well, save the patch for another kit. I had already glued the kit applique patch onto the turret so I compared the two turrets and added some extra material to the rear of the patch, I used some sprue gloop, using some Dragon waste plastic melted in glue, after a couple of days drying, being the same material it should sand down to shape without problem. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsman Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 I've never heard it called Sprue Goop before. Useful stuff. I always have a tightly-capped pot somewhere, refreshed every now and again with liquid cement dregs the brush won't reach. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozzy19 Posted January 22, 2021 Author Share Posted January 22, 2021 No progress, but our local DPD driver appeared to leave these at the front door this afternoon. I must have clicked buy now by mistake... Sean 3 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerberus Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 On 20/01/2021 at 20:25, Retired Bob said: I had already glued the kit applique patch onto the turret so I compared the two turrets and added some extra material to the rear of the patch, I used some sprue gloop, using some Dragon waste plastic melted in glue, after a couple of days drying, being the same material it should sand down to shape without problem. The easy way to do it is to glue on the kit supplied applique cheek armour plate and then rework from there with fillers, but it will require quite a bit of filling and shaping work because the 'welded on' cheek armour plate doesn't give the same overall shape as the 'cast in' cheek armour does, the other way is to just start from scratch with plastic card and various fillers (as above) which is still not finished, hardest part to get right is the bottom edge with regards to how it blends into the front face and how it blends out at the rear, with the bottom edge being a sharp 90 degree cut (this area might be machined after casting, not sure) Matt 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Bob Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 4 hours ago, Cerberus said: The easy way to do it is to glue on the kit supplied applique cheek armour plate and then rework from there with fillers, but it will require quite a bit of filling and shaping work because the 'welded on' cheek armour plate doesn't give the same overall shape as the 'cast in' cheek armour does, the other way is to just start from scratch with plastic card and various fillers (as above) which is still not finished, hardest part to get right is the bottom edge with regards to how it blends into the front face and how it blends out at the rear, with the bottom edge being a sharp 90 degree cut (this area might be machined after casting, not sure) As I had already glued the external scab armour onto my turret I have reprofiled it with scalpel and sanding stick, some sprue gloop was used to extend the area to match the profile of the Tasca/Asuka turret (in green plastic) The sprue gloop is still a bit soft but it is "getting there" then I can use some surfacer 500 to give it the cast finish again. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerberus Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 36 minutes ago, Retired Bob said: As I had already glued the external scab armour onto my turret I have reprofiled it with scalpel and sanding stick, some sprue gloop was used to extend the area to match the profile of the Tasca/Asuka turret (in green plastic) The sprue gloop is still a bit soft but it is "getting there" then I can use some surfacer 500 to give it the cast finish again. I tend to use a thick fast drying ca for filler work like this mainly because I'm impatient and can't be bothered to wait for fillers to dry, plus ca can be applied in very thin layers which is good for blending in work in some ways, and bad bad in others. it's swings n roundabouts, everyone has their own ways of doing things By 'sprue gloop' I take it you mean sprue melted in liquid poly? forming a sorta filler paste? I'm gonna add that to my modelling vocabulary Matt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Bob Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 4 hours ago, Cerberus said: By 'sprue gloop' I take it you mean sprue melted in liquid poly? forming a sorta filler paste? I'm gonna add that to my modelling vocabulary That's the stuff, I try and use waste plastic from the kit I'm building so that it's the same material and colour. I've used it to fill bad fitting joints etc, when it's hard it can be sanded and re-scribed without any of the problems that you get with filler or ca having a different hardness. It just takes several days depending how thickly it's used to dry. I mentioned the plastic colour, I used some grey gloop I had to hand on a white plastic a/c that had some bad joints, the grey areas took several coats of white undercoat to disappear, I learnt from that, use the kit plastic and have several models being built so that drying time isn't a problem. (I do use ca and talc for urgent jobs) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozzy19 Posted January 23, 2021 Author Share Posted January 23, 2021 I’ve been busy working on the hull today and I’ve made a fair bit of progress with it. A lot of the detail pieces have been added and the upper and lower hulls have been glued. I’ve also made a start on the Bronco tracks which are going together quite well so far. Sean 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozzy19 Posted January 26, 2021 Author Share Posted January 26, 2021 I’ve been cracking on with this since Saturday and I’ve now completed most of the assembly of the hull. I ended up using the plastic tail light guards because I managed to duff up the etch ones. One of the headlight brush guards is also a bit wonky but I think I’ll disguise that with a bit of strategic stowage placement... I also added a few dents to the front mud guards because you can’t have a Sherman looking too pristine can you? Sean 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozzy19 Posted January 26, 2021 Author Share Posted January 26, 2021 These goodies also arrived today. Well I had to get some in before the good folk of the Tiger super thread depleted the modelling supplies worldwide Sean 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper dog Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 On 26/01/2021 at 20:34, Mozzy19 said: These goodies also arrived today. Well I had to get some in before the good folk of the Tiger super thread depleted the modelling supplies worldwide Sean Well Sean I think we all know who's responsible for that then don't we, ehh @Andy J?? Your Firefly is looking great as do those etch front fenders. Great work Darryl 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 12 minutes ago, Jasper dog said: Well Sean I think we all know who's responsible for that then don't we, ehh @Andy J?? Your Firefly is looking great as do those etch front fenders. Great work Darryl My spending has come to a temporary halt after the purchase of a new compressor and airbrush.....nice bit of kit though 🙂👍 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper dog Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 8 hours ago, Andy J said: My spending has come to a temporary halt after the purchase of a new compressor and airbrush.....nice bit of kit though 🙂👍 You say it's due to the airbrush purchase .....sure you haven't just hoovered up everything else up leaving the shelves bare? 😯😠 😉 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 3 hours ago, Jasper dog said: You say it's due to the airbrush purchase .....sure you haven't just hoovered up everything else up leaving the shelves bare? 😯😠 😉 I think you may have me mixed up with someone else Darryl.....I haven't ordered anything since yesterday....well nothing major anyway 🙄 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozzy19 Posted January 28, 2021 Author Share Posted January 28, 2021 11 hours ago, Jasper dog said: You say it's due to the airbrush purchase .....sure you haven't just hoovered up everything else up leaving the shelves bare? 😯😠 😉 I think you hit the nail on the head there Darryl. Things seem to be going out of stock rather quickly on various websites nowadays Sean 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerberus Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 15 hours ago, Mozzy19 said: Things seem to be going out of stock rather quickly on various websites nowadays Lockdown madness kicking in, everyone's buying hobby stuff cos there's nothing else to do, you should try buying PC gear at the moment, what a comedy show that is right now... Matt 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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