Tasca/Asuka 1/35 El Alamein Sherman II DV.

[Bertie McBoatface]

4 minutes ago, Jasper dog said:

Thanks, certainly not the neatest, most precise or accurate you'll see on BM but it'll do the job once tucked up under the upper hull.

Mine are rather a weak point. I’m keen to hide them under the armour. It’s one area I don’t want revealed. 

[edjbartos]

Looks good Darryl...

[Hewy]

You must have eyes like Marty Feldman for that air cleaner pe

[Jasper dog]

On 13/04/2022 at 08:15, Bertie Psmith said:

Mine are rather a weak point. I’m keen to hide them under the armour. It’s one area I don’t want revealed. 

 

On 13/04/2022 at 16:14, edjbartos said:

Looks good Darryl...

 

It's not the tidiest work you'll ever see but sure it'll do for me.

 

On 13/04/2022 at 17:42, Hewy said:

You must have eyes like Marty Feldman for that air cleaner pe

Now't that a good pair of readers won't sort!

 

Thanks fellas, really appreciated. 

Darryl 

  

[Jasper dog]

Hull essentially completed, took a little clamping to get a decent fit but nothing insurmountable. 

 

 

Otherwise a faultless fit.

 

I've now come to appreciate why everyone says the Asuka/Tasca .30 and .50s are the best around too. (Photo doesn't really do it justice but the muzzle is perfect).

 

Whilst waiting for this lot to dry I could get a few sub assemblies completed. 

 

Drivers and Radio operators hatches. 

Six parts per hatch, one of which is a homemade handle from plastic rod. Must say the detail is excellent, apart from the RFM Sherman's, which I've never built,  this is by far the best M4 kit I've built, even above the Meng offering. Seems a shame to have the hatches closed!

 

PE grill mounted for the engine cover.

 

 

Turret started on, mantle assembled and fitted along with a bunch of other parts. Lifting eyes, periscopes and covers, etc and the shark fin aerial for the sat nav. ()

Really need to spray the interior black if I want the hatch open.

 

Sub assemblies..

 

And of course the 75mm barrel. Isn't it nice, the smug feeling, assembling the two halves of the kit barrel knowing you have a nice metal one complete with rifling you're going to use instead...

 

Only to discover.....

No longer smug!

 

That's all folks!

Darryl 

[PlaStix]

Hi Darryl. Fantastic progress on what is obviously a nice kit but how come you shrunk your metal barrel?

Kind regards, 

Stix 

[edjbartos]

Having never built a Sherman and not sure which make to get I would definitely consider this one, this looks like a really nice kit. Nice progress Darryl, It's coming along great...

 

Ed

[Longbow]

34 minutes ago, edjbartos said:

Having never built a Sherman and not sure which make to get I would definitely consider this one, this looks like a really nice kit. Nice progress Darryl, It's coming along great...

 

Ed

Asuka kits are extremely nice, Ed.  
 

Darryl, yours is looking ver nice. The color of the plastic has a warming appeal.

[Jasper dog]

1 hour ago, edjbartos said:

Having never built a Sherman and not sure which make to get I would definitely consider this one, this looks like a really nice kit. Nice progress Darryl, It's coming along great...

 

Ed

Thanks Ed, definitely recommend Asuka/tasca, first one I've built and goes together really well.

Get them whilst you can, they appear to come along pretty intermittently. I acquired this one ages ago and I've not seen it for ages.

 

1 hour ago, Longbow said:

 

Darryl, yours is looking ver nice. The color of the plastic has a warming appeal.

Thanks Lee, just between you and I reckon I can get away without painting, just work with the bare plastic? 

[Jasper dog]

11 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Darryl. Fantastic progress on what is obviously a nice kit but how come you shrunk your metal barrel?

Kind regards, 

Stix 

Thanks Stix, most have left it in a pocket when the laundry was done, typical!

 

Sure it said for the M3/M4, which it quite probably is, just not this particular M4!

[Hewy]

  it looks to be going together without much drama but You'll have to get another kit now to suit that spare barrel

[Jasper dog]

29 minutes ago, Hewy said:

  it looks to be going together without much drama but You'll have to get another kit now to suit that spare barrel

Thanks Glynn, don't know what I'd do without such kind assistance......

 

Gets better....rummaging through the AM spares box and found another short metal barrel, without the flared muzzle this time. 

 

Guess the first will do for a Grant at some time, hang on, already done one of those! 

 

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 4/15/2022 at 8:54 PM, Jasper dog said:

shark fin aerial for the sat nav.

 

 

On 4/17/2022 at 8:32 AM, Jasper dog said:

already done one of those!

 

I suspect you have already done a Sherman but it doesn't seem to be stopping you doing more...

[Retired Bob]

On 12/04/2022 at 22:58, Jasper dog said:

Anyone know what the row of little lugs are or are for on the bottom edge of the hull?

Hi Darryl, I've been AWOL for the last week so I'm just catching up on things, the lugs along the hull bottom edge were how they fitted the sand shields to cast hulls before they changed to welding on strips of drilled metal.

 

 

[Retired Bob]

On 15/04/2022 at 20:54, Jasper dog said:

Only to discover.....

I've found the same problem with some makes of metal barrels, the only ones that are a direct replacement for the plastic barrel were the ones that I bought from Lionmarc.

The shorter ones with the attachment pin need the plastic barrel inserted into the breech and cut off flush with the mantlet, the metal barrel attachment pin is then inserted into the sawn off barrel part giving you the correct length of barrel.  (you could just cut off the rear end part of the barrel that you are short of, just keep the cut straight)  I had to do this on my Dragon kit, they only give you the external part of the barrel so that you can use the kit moveable breech parts.  (Bit of head scratching to work this out, don't get me started on Panzer Art replacement turrets and their lack of instructions)  

[Kingsman]

Part of the problem with after-market barrels is that they are designed to fit specific kits' mantlets/mountings and this can account for the different lengths and ends.  Some companies offer alternative versions for different kits.  But the aluminium barrel pictured alongside the plastic one looks possibly like an M2 barrel for a Grant, not an M3 for a Sherman.  The M2 was L/31 and the M3 was L/40, so 9x75mm longer: 675mm, or 19.3mm in 1/35.  The M3 barrel muzzle should be 50mm from the face of the outer mantlet shield.  The Asuka kit looks to have a very deep barrel mounting which may account for the extra length and the aluminium barrel might work if mated to some plastic tube to adapt it to the Asuka mounting.

 

In the early days of M4s the flared muzzle barrel was more common, although the conical taper is certainly seen on M4A1s in the Alamein era.  The 2 types were used in parallel until about mid-43 as about 11.000 had been made before the change was implemented across all manufacturers.

 

The first design outer mantlet without the barrel protector "ears" as here was more common with the narrow mantlet lifting rings.  Asuka have moulded the later wider lifting rings, more commonly seen with the 2nd design of outer mantlet with the "ears".  The wide rings and early mantlet combination did exist, however.

 

Asuka's kit is a Lima-built tank for features.  The Dragon equivalent kit is a Pressed Steel Car tank with the riveted lower hull.

[Jasper dog]

11 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

Hi Darryl, I've been AWOL for the last week so I'm....

Don't worry Bob, it has been noted.......

Just don't let it happen again and we'll say no more about it...

 

Thanks for the info on the row of lugs, not being upto date with my written Japanese I wasn't entirely sure what the instructions were getting at and if needed to leave them in situ.

 

Thanks for the tip on the barrel to, never crossed my mind I might need to add a section from the asuka barrel, what a swizz. I'll probably use the kit barrel now anyway as it's all done, knowing my ability to make a hash I'd probably end up with an unsightly step or depression if I tried to join the two.

I've come across Panzerart issues before too, a Panther mantlet comes to mind.

 

Cheers

 

10 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

Part of the problem with after-market barrels is that they are designed to fit specific kits' mantlets/mountings and this can account for the different lengths and ends.  Some companies offer alternative versions for different kits.  But the aluminium barrel pictured alongside the plastic one looks possibly like an M2 barrel for a Grant, not an M3 for a Sherman.  The M2 was L/31 and the M3 was L/40, so 9x75mm longer: 675mm, or 19.3mm in 1/35.  The M3 barrel muzzle should be 50mm from the face of the outer mantlet shield.  The Asuka kit looks to have a very deep barrel mounting which may account for the extra length and the aluminium barrel might work if mated to some plastic tube to adapt it to the Asuka mounting.

 

In the early days of M4s the flared muzzle barrel was more common, although the conical taper is certainly seen on M4A1s in the Alamein era.  The 2 types were used in parallel until about mid-43 as about 11.000 had been made before the change was implemented across all manufacturers.

 

The first design outer mantlet without the barrel protector "ears" as here was more common with the narrow mantlet lifting rings.  Asuka have moulded the later wider lifting rings, more commonly seen with the 2nd design of outer mantlet with the "ears".  The wide rings and early mantlet combination did exist, however.

 

Asuka's kit is a Lima-built tank for features.  The Dragon equivalent kit is a Pressed Steel Car tank with the riveted lower hull.

Thanks for this DA, I could cut the kit barrel down but as its together and looks ok I'll probably stick with it. (It's the RB barrel that I have for it and I thought I said it was for M3/M4 but would need to go and check).

This Sherman lark is an absolute minefield of differing combinations!

 

Cheers 

 

 

 

 

[Retired Bob]

1 hour ago, Jasper dog said:

Thanks for the tip on the barrel to, never crossed my mind I might need to add a section from the asuka barrel, what a swizz. I'll probably use the kit barrel now anyway as it's all done, knowing my ability to make a hash I'd probably end up with an unsightly step or depression if I tried to join the two.

The joint is on the mantlet face so no step will be visible, it's what I've done on my Sherman, I think mine is a RB barrel as well.

 

1 hour ago, Jasper dog said:

This Sherman lark is an absolute minefield of differing combinations!

Isn't it just!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

12 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

This Sherman lark is an absolute minefield of differing combinations!

 

10 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

Isn't it just!

Its a shame no one took any thought or considerations for future modeler’s when they built all those Shermans.

[Retired Bob]

14 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Its a shame no one took any thought or considerations for future modeler’s when they built all those Shermans.

Not just Sherman's Dennis, Anything that was built over several years from more than one factory can be be a modelers nightmare for correct details....T-34 tanks, Spitfires and any German armour just for starters.   

[Jasper dog]

Various bits and pieces mounted mounted onto the hull, including headlights and guards....

This is what a headlamp guard should look like...

 

And this is one after dropping it and then standing on it.

 

 

Completed hull, so much for my idea of not having to paint it after being careless spraying the interior black.

 

 

And with the spinning thing on top.

 

Sub-assemblies.

 

 

Ready for primer. 

 

Thanks for looking

Darryl 

 

 

[Longbow]

Looking good Darryl !!

[Jasper dog]

As threatened, primer....

 

Rather a waste of Mr Mahogany,  hadn't really thought it through. 

 

Whilst the Sherman will be finishes in a sand colour, for which Mahogany is ideal as an undercoat, it will be sprayed green first so standard black primer would have been better. (Not a cheapskate at all....)

 

Would I be right in my assumption the Sherman would have been delivered in standard US OD green rather than being repainted a British Khaki green colour prior to having the sand camo painted over the top? Asuka just suggest a generic XF61 dark green. 

 

[Geo1966]

Thats a lot of coats of paint. Primer, US OD, Brit Khaki green and then sand camo!

 

George

[Jasper dog]

2 hours ago, Geo1966 said:

Thats a lot of coats of paint. Primer, US OD, Brit Khaki green and then sand camo!

 

George

Ahhhh well you see; in the days prior to the unsightly and quite frankly unsporting behaviour of adoring the outside of tanks with sandbags or spare track links the idea was the extra thickness of anti 88mm  paint would help in making the tank more survivable. 

Every day a school day....