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IDF M1 Sherman. Back from the dead.


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8 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

but I've been onto Quarter kit and they have them in stock. Trouble is that they have a minimum amount per order, so I may have to order two sets.

If find it hard to believe that you would have trouble making up an order from Quarter kits :rolleyes:     I have always been amazed at what they have, though  I did find it worth looking through their site, and then using details to ask Parabellum in Birmingham if they had it in stock on occasion.

 

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On 13/05/2021 at 21:59, Troy Smith said:

If find it hard to believe that you would have trouble making up an order from Quarter kits :rolleyes:     I have always been amazed at what they have, though  I did find it worth looking through their site, and then using details to ask Parabellum in Birmingham if they had it in stock on occasion.

 

I actually went back and took another look at the steel chevron/duck bill tracks that I already had, and wondered if I could just snip the duck bills off with some side cutters. The answer is Yes. So job done, or at least it will be when I get around to it, a this build, and any other is well and truly brought to a halt for a while. Reason being, I no longer have a work room. I've got to the stage where I'm starting to move stuff out of the old hobby room, into the new one, but this is going to take some time. See you all some time in the summer (or later).

 

John.

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  • 1 year later...

Just putting this down as a marker, as I don't want to keep having to do a search for it. I'll get some photos uploaded later on.

I haven't built or posted any models on here for reasons that I won't go into. But after spending some quality time with family and getting some much needed outside work done, I decided that I needed to cut some plastic once again. Looking through the stash I realised that before opening any new boxes, there were some already started models that should be attended to first, so with that in mind, I selected this one.

Back soon.

 

John.

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1 hour ago, Bullbasket said:

Just putting this down as a marker, as I don't want to keep having to do a search for it. I'll get some photos uploaded later on.

I haven't built or posted any models on here for reasons that I won't go into. But after spending some quality time with family and getting some much needed outside work done, I decided that I needed to cut some plastic once again. Looking through the stash I realised that before opening any new boxes, there were some already started models that should be attended to first, so with that in mind, I selected this one.

Back soon.

 

John.

Hello John

I was wondering where you are all the time 🤔
Glad that you are back!

MD

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20 minutes ago, THEscaleSHOW said:

Hello John

I was wondering where you are all the time 🤔
Glad that you are back!

MD 

Thanks MD. Glad to be back.

 

John.

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As it's a year almost to the day, since I added anything to this thread, you'll have to bear with me for a while as a few things have happened, not least of which is the cockup with Village Photos. Most of my build and RFI threads on here are now devoid of any photos, and to upload them again would take more years than I have left, so with that in mind, the next couple of photos have already been seen in this thread, (via Village Photos), but I'm now using Imgur, so apologies for the repetition.

This was how I left it a year ago..........

xEG11mF.jpg

 

.....although I have added the eight bolt heads that bolt the FDH to the lower hull.

HCmwaWT.jpg

 

I've done some work on the VVSS units and glued the upper and lower halves together, so work is continuing, and I'll post some more photos in the next couple of days.

 

John.

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1 minute ago, Hamden said:

 

Nice to see you back with this one John

 

  Stay safe      Roger

'Morning Roger. Thank you very much. I hope to post an update soon.

 

John.

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Upper and lower hull glued together. There are still some gaps to fill under the sponsons (later).

uRTmZmv.jpg

 

The next job that I tackled was the VVSS units. The ones in the kit are not bad, and at least the backs of the road wheels have got inserts. These were assembled and the four bolt holes in the front face were drilled with a .4mm drill.

hAo9FxZ.jpg

 

On the first one which I assembled, I added a small square of card to the rear of the unit, and added the four retaining bolt heads for the return roller. I decide that I wouldn't do that with the other five units for two reasons. One, Hobbyboss have made this area too narrow, so that the bolt heads are almost side by side, instead of being spaced, and two, once completed, they are difficult to see, so I'll just go with the bolt holes at the front.

The track skids are a little on the thick side, and could really do with being replaced with some brass items, but I don't have any to hand at the moment, so it was time to thin the leading edge with a sharp blade and some files. Once I was satisfied with the result, they were glued in place and the four retaining bolts added. I left them off to make painting and weathering easier later on.

MAE8Zea.jpg

 

Hull Front.

The front track guards are very thick, and I don't think that any amount of scraping will do any good, so these need replacing. I tried using the Eduard ones for the Tamiya M4A1, but they are totally different, so it was time for some surgery. I removed the kit items, and then using them as a pattern, I cut new ones from 10thou card. Once I was happy with the shape and the curve, I added the reverse indentations, using some thin, stretched sprue. They were then glued in place, and I added the strengthening ribs at the front, and the attachment bolt heads along the edge.

25hJzpU.jpg

 

8ydnvSH.jpg

 

That's as far as I've got for now. Thanks for looking.

 

John.

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Hi John. Great to have you back and great you are getting back onto this project. Looking forward to following along. :thumbsup:

Kind regards,

Stix

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53 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Hi John. Great to have you back and great you are getting back onto this project. Looking forward to following along. :thumbsup:

Kind regards,

Stix

Hi Stix, thanks for that and thanks for your support. Glad to have you following.

ATB,

 

John.

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Aye up John,

 

Had been wondering where you'd got to so it's grand to see back again. Always enjoy following your builds and knowledge of all things Shermany 👍

 

Regards,

 

Steve

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16 hours ago, fatfingers said:

Aye up John,

 

Had been wondering where you'd got to so it's grand to see back again. Always enjoy following your builds and knowledge of all things Shermany 👍

 

Regards,

 

Steve

Aye up Steve. Many thanks for the warm welcome back. I've been busy with the barn that was damaged two years ago. I'll try and update my thread in Chat which is entitled "A little job to keep me out of mischief".

 

John.

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One unusual feature of this tank is the spare track links arranged on the front of the FDH, as seen on WW2 British tanks. To replicate these, I did some work on the Gasoline resin set that I have. In all honesty, “rubbish” is a kind word for this item. There is so much flash on them that the clean up would take for ever. Removing the runner down one side managed to break off most of the end connectors (which I didn't need for this bit of the build), but to use them on the tank is going to prove to be difficult. I might try and use some T-48 tracks for the top and bottom runs, and marry up some of these Gasoline links at the front and rear. We'll see.

Back to the tank. After several attempts to get two runs of three links, I managed it. I cleaned off a load of the flash and removed the teeth and end connectors, then smoothed the edges off with a file. A length of 10thou card was cut for each side, 1.5mm high. I then punched out the end pins from a piece of 30thou card, and glued these along each side. Once satisfied with the result, they were super glued to the FDH.

I also added the bow MG which is RB Models.

7HcOXiB.jpg

 

One thing that both Tamiya and Hobbyboss have omitted from all of their M4 kits is the tow ropes and end connectors, and I needed one for this build. The rope itself wasn't a problem as I had some .5mm copper cable which would do the job, but it was the end connectors which were the problem. I only needed one, as the rear end would be buried under stowage, but the other end was to be attached to the left hand towing shackle. So it was time to improvise. I took a 6mm long piece of sprue of the appropriate diameter, and drilled the end to accept the cable. For the loop, I cut a slice off of a thicker piece of sprue, after drilling a hole in it, and then shaped it with a blade and sanding sticks. This was glued to the opposite end to the cable, and then covered with super glue gel to blend it in and to give it some strength. The end result isn't fantastic, but hopefully it resembles a towing loop.

Another thing that I added were the two foot steps onto the tow brackets, from card strip.

BdMtHea.jpg

 

Thanks for looking.

 

John.

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Before I tackled the dreaded etched brush guards, I applied a General Steel casting on the front of the glacis, courtesy of Archer Decals.

V06ZSBu.jpg

 

Using the Eduard set for the M4A1, I added the headlamp and horn brush guards. Not too much trouble with these. On these IDF M1's, there is a hood over the horn. I tried making one by bending a piece of 5thou card to shape without success, so I made one from pewter foil and super glued it into place. It's not brilliant, but it's the best I can do.

8okMj9H.jpg

 

aPW7DKx.jpg

 

The etched brass items that I wasn't looking forward to were the periscope brush guards. The ones that come with the kit are made of really thick brass and look awful. The ones on the Eduard sheet are so thin that you can bend them just by blowing on them. So in the end, I settled for ones from Hauler, which IMO, are the best in this scale.

dBQgkUd.jpg

 

Well, that's the front half almost finished, just a couple of little jobs, and then it's on to the rear of the hull.

 

John.

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More superb details being added John

Looking forward to the next instalment now!

 

   Stay safe           Roger

 

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From now on to me you will be known as "the detail god"

Man! You really tackle every little thing to make it as historicly accurate as possible! Seeing this build come together is a true inspiration.... and altough i don't know you i must say welcome back! 

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13 hours ago, Hamden said:

 

More superb details being added John

Looking forward to the next instalment now!

 

   Stay safe           Roger

 

Morning Roger, and thanks for your comments. I might get some work done this weekend, but if the thunderstorms stay away, I'll be up on my barn roof.

 

11 hours ago, StuartH said:

Great detailing work John. Periscope guards look great.

More of these sorts of items seem to be going down the 3D printed route but at least brass isn't as fragile.

Many thanks Stuart. Yes you're right and some of them look really good, but I've not seem much (if any) in 1/48th yet.

 

10 hours ago, Maddoxx77 said:

From now on to me you will be known as "the detail god"

Man! You really tackle every little thing to make it as historicly accurate as possible! Seeing this build come together is a true inspiration.... and altough i don't know you i must say welcome back! 

Thanks Maddox for your kind words and the welcome back. Some of the detail parts really do try my patience some times. Picking them up with tweezers, you just know that there's a 50/50 chance that they are going to launch into the abyss.

 

John.

 

 

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