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Sherman T1E3 Mine Exploder "Pancake Party"


Mig Eater

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I have two Shermans kits in need of some love & attention, one Asuka M4A1 & another Tamiya M4. I started building them about a year ago when I was commissioned by Stahlhelm Models to design the master for a 1/35 T1E3 Mine Exploder conversion (shameless advertising 😝). The resin conversion kit has since been released & several other people have built it but my own build remains incomplete! The upcoming Sherman GB has given me the KUTA I need to get these two finally finished before I start on any new Sherman builds 😅

First up is the early version of the T1E3 fitted to an Asuka M4A1 Sherman. The hull has been built & a cast texture applied with Mr.Surfacer 500. The suspension & wheels are also done, they are hiding in the box ATM. The turret is the main issue with this build as I want to make a specific tank & the Asuka kit comes with a mid production 75mm turret, I however need a late version though.

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I dont have the grey prototype parts in the above photo anymore so I'm currently 3D printing a new set.
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I'm planning to build this kit as Aunt Jemima 2, I have a set of Star Decals that includes the artwork seen on the side of this specific Sherman.
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Next up is a late version of the T1E3 (sometimes mislabeled as the T1E6) which is fitted with new toothed wheels to improve traction (this version currently isn't available from Stahlhelm Models, but they have the master so if your interested in one send them a message). I used a Tamiya M4 Sherman which other then a few small bit is nearly complete. Once again the cast parts were stippled with Mr.Surfacer to add some texture, the large gaps on the bottom of the sponsons was also filled with plastic card (typical Tamiya) but other then that it was mostly built OOB. The main thing holding this build up was that I wanted to fit it with a set of T49 tracks which were commonly used on the T1E3 because of there better traction in mud. I also want to add some stowage to the rear deck but cant decide on what & how.
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The above photo shows the parts dry fitted, here they are separated. I used parts from various test prints cobbled together which is why they are different colours & materials. During development I also made a hollow version of the crank with a separate cover & internal chain mechanism. The idea was rejected but I get to use the prototype print on my build to add some extra detail 😋
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Close up of the rear "push plate", because of the extra wight of the mine rollers sometimes a second Sherman tank was used to help push the T1E3 along.
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Here is one in action getting a nudge from behind 😛
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To resolve the parts issues I was having with both builds I picked up a Zvezda M4A2 kit which comes with a late production 75mm turret & a set of T49 tracks that I can borrow.
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As the M4 is the closest to completion I'll focus on that one for now & start work fitting the new tracks, meanwhile my 3D printer will be making the rest of the parts I need for the M4A1.

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I'm happy to report that the Zvezda link-length tracks fit the Tamiya kit without any issues, this should hopefully mean that the Tamiya rubber band tracks should in-turn fit the Zvezda kit too :) The tracks, wheel bogies & sprockets are only dry fitted so they can be painted separately & fitted later. 

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Edited by Mig Eater
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Moving over to the Asuka M4A1 I started work on adding the new late production Zvezda turret. The turret ring on the Zvezda kit is a lot larger (its basically the same diameter as the turret!) then the ring on the Asuka hull, so I 3D printed a new bottom for the turret. Luckily it's just a simple ring shape so it was quick & easy job. The bottom of the Asuka turret in comparison includes parts of the rear bustle & brackets for an interior turret basket (even tho you dont get any interior parts 🤨).     

There are some prominent mold seams & a bit of flash on the turret that need to be cleaned up. The turret lacks any sort of cast texture too so I'll add some with Mr. Surfacer before I start adding any of the view-ports & hatches etc.     

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Slowly making some progress on the M4A1.

The kit comes with brackets for storing a 50cal on the turret rear, soon after adding them I checked my reference photo (Aunt Jemima 2 in the first post) & noticed that the tank I'm building doesn't have those brackets fitted, Doh! Well I quickly pulled them off & filled in the locating holes. Checking some other references I noticed that the armored cover for the gunners periscope is a later addition too & should be removed so that's the next job. Again great that I'm noticing this after I've done all this work to the turret already 😣 The gun mount was built up & quickly brush painted in black primer before I add the mantlet, as it will hard to get my airbrush in there later on. The barrel is a single piece with a hollow end cap, it looks a bit rough but it will have a canvas cover over it later on so I'm not that bothered about cleaning it up much.  

 

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While checking references for the turret I realized that Aunt Jemima 2's hull is a late production Pressed Steel Car version of the M4A1 with bumps added to side of the cast hull instead of the typical addition of welding on extra armour. So I added some armour plates from the spares & used milliput to smooth out the edges. I still need to do some more sanding to refine the edges & add some cast texture with Mr Surfacer to to make it match the rest of the hull, but I think it turned out ok.
        
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On top of being a test vehicle for the T1E3 Aunt Jemima is actually turning out to be quite a rare M4A1 variant as only about 100 Pressed Steel Car tanks were build with this specific hull & turret combination, as they were in the middle of changing to newer parts while still using up older innovatory on the production line.

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Getting close to finishing up the main build of the M4A1, I spent most of my time updating the front of the hull into a later production model.

I lost one of the hatch springs when I was working on it last year, so I scratch built new ones with some plastic card, 0.4mm wire for the hooks & 0.15mm wire for the springs. I'm not to that happy with how it turned out, if/when I do this again on another kit I think it would look better with 0.2mm wire used on both parts as it looks out of proportion with two different sizes.
 

I added a spare Tamiya gun barrel travel lock, I didn't have any spare attachment hinges though (on most kits they are molded as part of the hull) so I 3D printed some. The travel lock frame "clicks" into the hinges & remains moveable, so it can be used with the barrel later on. 

The view ports on the turret & hull are both made of clear plastic, before fitting them I panted them with silver paint to replicate the mirrors used inside & also covered the glass parts with a liquid latex mask. Once the whole tank is painted & the masks removed you should hopefully still be able to see something through them. I added protector cages from the Zvezda kit over the view ports on the hull too (I'm slowly using up all it's parts 😅)

The early style horn on the front of the hull was removed & replaced with a later version that was spare from the Tamiya kit. I noticed in photos of Aunt Jemima the headlamps were missing, presumably because they would be blocked by the mine roller & could get damaged, so I carefully cut them off the hull.

I added some stowage loops to the rear of the turret, I used a PE set from Voyager that comes with 400 of them so it should last me awhile 😋 I'll use them to attach a bed roll to the rear of the turret later on.

I added brackets for the sand shield around the hull, I first tried to scratch build them from aluminum but it was to fiddly & impossible to get all the bolt holes lined up perfectly. So I used the ones from the Zvezda kit, it required sanding down the front fenders until they were paper thin to get them to fit smoothly.


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I bought this kit secondhand off ebay as it was the only place I could find one at the time (my usual shop had some in stock a few weeks later 😅). Unfortunately when it arrived two suspension parts were missing, they must have come loose & fallen out of the box at some point. Not a problem though as I just used the ones still in the box as a reference to design & 3D print some replacements.
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I'm going to go over the photos again & see if there is anything else I missed before I start adding the 3D printed mine roller parts.

Edited by Mig Eater
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I started adding the 3D printed parts to the M4A1, the mount for the mine roller is shaped so it fits in the correct position over the final drive cover, you just need to make sure it's centered horizontally, which can be eyeballed.

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The rear plate has been added, the ones used on the M4A1 were a different design from the one fitted to the M4, the plate was slightly curved & didn't have the support between the beams on the top (check the photos above for comparison). Note that the resin conversion from Stahlhelm Models only comes with the one fitted to the M4 as that was the standard production version.

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I did some work cleaning up the arms/cranks for both of the mine rollers by applying Mr Surfacer 1500 on the parts that had printing supports & then sanding them down to check how smooth the surface is. All of the various lifting loops were also added using metal wire, I damage one of the parts (bottom right) when drilling holes for the wire, I could have just printed another one but instead a bit of filler & mud later on will hide my mistake.

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I need to start thinking about stowage & tools now...

Edited by Mig Eater
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  • 3 weeks later...

The KUTA GB has now ended & the upcoming Sherman GB is only a week away, I had hoped to have both of these Shermans finished by now but as usual life & my health has slowed me down.

Here are both of them as of now, all the major parts have been put together & I started working on adding some stowage;

On the M4 I 3D printed a 50cal with ammo box (didn't want to waste the one in the kit) & then added a dust cover over it by wrapping it in tissue soaked in PVA glue.
A dust cover was also added over the M4A1's gun barrel with soaked tissue & fastened with string. A rolled up tarp was added to to the rear of the turret, made with soaked tissue & thin strips of masking tape as straps to secure it in place.
I also made a few more rolled up tarps, fuel/oil cans & ammo boxes that I plan to put on the rear of the M4 but haven't decided on the layout/position etc. The M4A1 only needs a tow rope & a few tools before it can be painted. 

 

I'm going to put both of these back in the display cabinet for now & wait until I've finished my build for the Sherman GB, then I'll get them back out & paint the three Sherman models together.

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