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A Desert M4A1 from the battle of El Alamein.


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I'm dog sitting at my son's house for a couple of weeks so although I do not have access to my paints or books I am planning on a quick build of this Dragon M4A1 as used in the battle of El Alamein.  Between dog walks I can clean up and glue the running gear together and get as far as possible before I need to add some paint.  Here is the kit that has been in the stash for at least a decade it's a pity Dragon never included any figures but there is a lot of PE for the dust shields and mounting brackets for the decoy covers they used in the desert:

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The kit includes DS tracks of the smooth rubber pad type T51 so I will replace those with my last pack of AFV Club individual track links.

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So here goes for a quick mostly oob build.  Just hope the dogs don't eat any bits.

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6 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

A decade, this does need to be built. 

A decade Dennis is fairly recent to some kits that I have had hanging around since the 70s and 80s.  🙄

Ever since I found out that some Sherman's carried RAF style roundels as air recognition signs I have been wanting to build one.

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Todays update:  I have cleaned up the wheels and return rollers then assembled the vertical suspension units, these early suspension units are easy to assemble as they do not have the top skid, the roller being the only upper contact with the track.  This was changed on later versions because the  roller would jam up with mud, no such problem in the desert though.  I have also assembled the drive sprockets and rear idlers and made a start on the upper and lower hull parts, the turret has it's gun mounting fitted, I will have to check whether the early Sherman I'm building has a tapered or flared barrel, I have some metal barrels of each type back home.

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Next will be attaching the suspension units to the hull and making a start on those individual track links.  Ant comments or questions are always welcome.  :winkgrin:

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Hi Bob. This build sounds like a great use of your away from your actual bench time! That looks to be a nice kit and looks to be going together well.

Kind regards,

Stix

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5 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Good luck Bob, we haven't seen a decent desert Sherman in the GB...:whistle:

They say, don't count your chickens, etc, etc.

Todays update: suspension units attached to the hull and various bits and pieces attached to the upper hull and turret, including the hatches and periscopes.  A start has been made on the tracks.

 

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My son should be home today so it will be time to take this back North to my home and get some research carried out for an actual subject. 

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Back home only to find out the wife has just tested positive for covid, so I have isolated myself well out of the way, do you think I should use 6 inch nails or screws to shut her into her bedroom?

I have had a look through my books for inspiration of what regiment to build this Sherman.  When they arrived in North Africa, just before the battle of El Alamein, the Sherman's had been painted an overall colour, depending on what references you read they could be either Portland Stone or desert pink as shown here:

Sherman tank sitting on a Scammell Pioneer tank transporter,

 

This colour must have been painted over olive drab as scuff marks show up as a very dark colour.  I don't want a monochrome painted tank even though that's much easier to do so I'm going for a Sherman of the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers.  These had a counter shading of white on the lower hull, and a disruptive, hard edged pattern of dark green on the hull, sandshields and turret.  Dragon supply the decals for one of these tanks plus 8 other choices, in fact the box art is of the 9th QRL tank, but they have some of the details wrong.  The barrel is of the smooth, tapered type the M34 gun mount is like on the photo above, without the side plates and the front and fear shackles are the plain 'U' type.  Unfortunately there are no photos taken from a high aspect showing the type of air recognition markings, Dragon indicate that the RAF type roundel was painted on both the turret roof and engine deck but I cannot find any proof of this, other schemes have the air marking only on one of these positions.  Does anyone have any knowledge of whether they carried just one or both?

I have fitted a metal barrel and now I'm replacing all the hatch handles with 0.45mm brass wire and doing some more track links, all the fiddley bits, then it's time to start work on the p/e.

Any advice or questions would be most welcome.  :winkgrin:

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Hi Bob. Sorry to hear about your wife catching Covid. I hope she is okay.

Looks like you had made good progress on your build by Friday and I hope the PE work goes well.

Kind regards,

Stix

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Todays update, all the plastic parts have been assembled, instead of fighting the p/e dust shields I used a set of plastic ones that I had spare from a Tasca Sherman so it's just the p/e brush guards over the lights and the sun shield/decoy rails that need adding then it's paint time.  Here it is along with another couple of Sherman's that I'm trying to finish, a Sherman M4 Firefly Mk.1c from Normandy and a Mk.III that is also from the North African battles:

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I have added the metal barrel, a brass m/g barrel and some spare Tasca sprockets as they are better than the Dragon ones.  Bending the p/e sandshields to get the curve at the front was a daunting prospect and they look rather 2D compared to the Tasca plastic ones, I just needed to fettle them slightly to fit the Dragon hull and add a section of plastic card to fill a gap over the transmission cover.

Any comments or questions are always welcome. :winkgrin:

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3 hours ago, diablo rsv said:

Great work Bob, that's an impressive line up, are you intending to paint them all at the same time?

No Wayne, they are all different camo's so I will paint them separately.  The priority is this El Alamein M4A1 and I need to finish off the painting on my dozer Sherman as well by the end of the GB.

I keep studying photos for details and finding new things I have to do, on the El Alamein M4A1 the instructions show the rear turret lifting lugs to be placed low down but photos show they were near the top of the turret on these early Sherman's also Dragon do not supply a rear light brush guard but photos show they were fitted.  Just got the last 40 track links to assemble and then both tracks are ready for paint. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been bogged down with life getting in the way of my modelling but I have managed to get all the p/e fitted and a coat of primer, then some desert sand paint sprayed onto the Sherman.  The individual track links are finished and given a coat of black primer, a couple of photos to show how it looks now.

Here are the rear light brush guards that I made from some thin brass strip, I copied the design from some photos of these early M4A1's.

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The sunshield frames were a bit of a pain to assemble but the Gorilla c/a glue seems to be keeping it all together.  The upper and lower hull parts are just pushed together, I will detail paint the running gear and attach the tracks before gluing the hull parts together.  I realise the GB finishes on Sunday but it's going to be close.

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Painted! :like:

Which paint did you use for the sand?

 

Looking at your B&W photo, what colour do you reckon for the inside of the hatches, sand, or green?

 

Good luck getting to the bench, modelling this time of year is a bit tricky I'm finding. 

 

Darryl 

 

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2 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Which paint did you use for the sand?

Hi Darryl, I tried Life Color Portland sand but as usual it kept blocking my airbrush even though it had been thinned right down so what you can see is Vallejo sand #71075, even though it was a bottle of 'air' airbrush ready paint I still had to add some thinner to keep it spraying smoothly.

2 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Looking at your B&W photo, what colour do you reckon for the inside of the hatches, sand, or green?

The hatch insides look much darker than the outer camouflage colour so I reckon they are still olive drab.

 

2 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Good luck getting to the bench, modelling this time of year is a bit tricky I'm finding. 

I know what you mean, nothing like some bad weather to give you some modelling time. 😬

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Hi Bob. I'm pleased you have managed to get the paint on successfully - it's looking superb. I'm really hoping you get the time to get this finished. It would make a fantastic addition to our Gallery. Good luck!

Kind regards,

Stix

 

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On 17/06/2022 at 09:57, Retired Bob said:

Hi Darryl, I tried Life Color Portland sand but as usual it kept blocking my airbrush even though it had been thinned right down so what you can see is Vallejo sand #71075, even though it was a bottle of 'air' airbrush ready paint I still had to add some thinner to keep it spraying smoothly.

The hatch insides look much darker than the outer camouflage colour so I reckon they are still olive drab.

I always struggled with Lifecolour paint, years ago my nearest, now sadly gone, model shop stocked Lifecolour, they had a great range of colours but the airbrush would constantly be blocking or suffer with tip dry, a real pain, I then found Vallejo!

Even though they claim to be airbrush ready I still thin them, just like Mig or AK. However I wouldn't even contemplate spraying Vallejo Panzer Aces no matter how much I thin them, that's just a way to waste a valuable modelling opportunity, never seen anything clog up an airbrush like Vallejo Panzer Aces. 

 

Thanks for the suggestion on interior hatch colour. 

 

As for modelling in May-June and probably into July, near impossible I'm finding, so frustrating!!!

 

 

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You are not the only one, I'm sorry I didn't get either of my Sherman's into the gallery but I'm sure those decals for the dozer M4 will turn up, I'm blaming SWMBO, she tidied up some of my modelling stuff while I was at my son's house looking after his dogs.  On the plus side, I have a new fence at the bottom of my garden to replace the one blown down in the various storms we had earlier this year and I've finished painting in the dining room and the tiled floor looks great.    :unsure:

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1 hour ago, Retired Bob said:

 On the plus side, I have a new fence at the bottom of my garden to replace the one blown down in the various storms we had earlier this year and I've finished painting in the dining room and the tiled floor looks great.    :unsure:

Sounds as if you're really into the swing of this DIY lark.....

So, if you've finished over there we've half a house worth of woodchip wall paper to strip, a new garage roof required along with a couple of garden sheds. Wouldn't want to think you might be bored....:winkgrin:

 

Wishful thinking aside, this time of year is never conducive to modelling as those outdoor jobs won't sort themselves, unfortunately. I'm sure both your Shermans will both get done and be none the worse for it, dont forget to post them in the RFI.

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

So, if you've finished over there we've half a house worth of woodchip wall paper to strip, a new garage roof required along with a couple of garden sheds. Wouldn't want to think you might be bored....:winkgrin:

WOODCHIP WALL PAPER, my advice, move house!

 

Don't worry about me being bored, my elderly neighbour asked me if I had a spare day to sand down her wooden doorsteps and repaint them. plus SWMBO is thinking of replacing the bathroom with new fittings and my shed needs some work doing.  People always ask now that I'm retired, don't you get bored?  Don't get the chance is my reply.

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