Early M50, based on late M4.

[Bullbasket]

Getting near to end of the IDF M1 build, so I thought that it would be an opportune moment to think about the next project. A few years ago, I built an early M50, based on an M4A4 using the Dragon kit as a basis, but for this build, it turned out to be a bit more difficult for me to source the parts. Posts will probably become a little sparse, as I expect to be back in the UK for while, but I'm laying this down as a marker.

The original M50's which had VVSS units, were based on a variety of hulls, large hatch M4's, M4A4's, large hatch M4A1's, M4A1 Hybrid/Composite and even an M4A2/A4 Hybrid, captured from the Egyptians. I have in my stash, the Dragon M50, which is an HVSS lower hull, that I was going to build for the recent M4 GB, until events cancelled that out. But also in my stash, I have a couple of Dragon kits which would allow me to build one of the more unusual versions. It was a toss up between the M4A1 (Hybrid) and the M4, and the latter won. For this build, I will be using the Dragon M4 (105mm), and a spare M50 turret that I have. The bustle will need altering as the one in the kit is shaped wrong, but I've done that before. I have the DEF 75mm main gun, but I will need to source a new set of T54E1 tracks, probably from Panda Plastics, and possibly a new, appropriate etched brass set. Decals are the other requirement, and fortunately Sabingamartin do three very nice sets.

 

Luckily, I've just found that I've got a set of T54E1 tracks, courtesy of Bronco Models. They are fiddly, but they'll have to do, as I looked on the Panda site and the T54E1 track set was $21.95. Good, but the postage was $24. Not good.

Like a lot of Sherman modellers, I'm always robbing kits of different bits and pieces, only this time, it's come back to bite me in the backside, as I'm missing some vital parts. I've got four Dragon Shermans which I would normally raid, but none of them had all of the parts for the VVSS units. Missing are the twin spring units which sit right in the middle, the two pieces which hold the wheels, and last but not least, no track skids. I overcame the first two by using some parts which get included in the kit, but are not for use in that particular build (they are also very old mouldings). But still no track skids, but I did find six on an etched brass set from ET Models, so these will be pressed into service.

So, on with the build. I'll be back when I've got something to show.

 

John.

[StuartH]

This should be an interesting build and I look forward to seeing it progress.

Always deflating when you find out that the postage costs more than the item itself 🤯

[Hamden]

 

I'll take a seat and wait patiently until your ready to continue

 

     Stay safe           Roger

[Cerberus]

Kit bashing, robbing peter to pay paul, for a good Sherman build, I'll follow along if you don't mind 

 

 Matt

[Bullbasket]

 

 

John.

On 17/07/2022 at 19:52, StuartH said:

This should be an interesting build and I look forward to seeing it progress.

Always deflating when you find out that the postage costs more than the item itself 🤯

 

On 18/07/2022 at 08:23, Hamden said:

 

I'll take a seat and wait patiently until your ready to continue

 

     Stay safe           Roger

 

14 hours ago, Cerberus said:

Kit bashing, robbing peter to pay paul, for a good Sherman build, I'll follow along if you don't mind 

 

 Matt

 

My thanks to each of you, and I'm glad to have you along. Progress is very slow, as I'm trying to sort out a lot of things before I travel back to Blighty, but I have made a start, and as soon as I get the chance to take some photos, I'll upload them.

 

John.

[Bullbasket]

I'm sort of closing this one down, in it's present form and restarting the whole process. The actual tank that I will be building is still the same, but the starting point will be different, namely, a different kit. There were just so many bits missing from the kits that I had intended to use, and the fit of various parts from one kit to another was not good in some cases. The kit which I picked up from my recent trip back to the UK, is this one.

 

It's the Meng kit of the M4A3 (76mm). There will still be some alterations needed such as the engine deck and the rear hull plate, but they shouldn't prove to be nearly as difficult as the original build. I'll still be using the Bronco T54E1 tracks as the ones in the Meng kit are T48 rubber chevron, and of course, ordering new decals from Sabingamartin.

I'll be back when I've got something to show.

 

John.

[Bullbasket]

First job was to attach the FDH and the engine firewall. At the back end , there was a cross piece which in the kit would have been used to attach the exhaust deflector to. It got in the way of attaching the rear hull plate/engine doors, so I removed it with a razor saw.

 

My original thinking was that this would be a simple method of producing an M4 based M50, using an M4A3 as the base kit. Well, not so, due to a number of factors. Without going into the lengthy process of plan A being superseded by plan B, and then the whole lot ditched, I finally came up with a solution (and it had been there all the time, laughing at me). The upper hull from the Dragon M4 (105mm) fitted to the Meng lower hull like an hand in a glove. So this then overcame the problem of the different slope angle of the rear of the hull (the M4 is nearer to the vertical than the A3 is).

 

My initial thinking was to use either the rear hull plate from a Tamiya M4, or the one from the Dragon kit. Both produced a problem in that the Meng idler axle would not marry up with either the Tamiya nor Dragon mouldings on the respective rear hull plates. So it was time for Plan C. This would involve modifying the rear hull plate from the Meng kit (which is for an M4A3.......are you still following this??) Still got a load to add, but that's for a later date

 

Thanks for looking.

 

John.

[Jasper dog]

Another unique Bullbasket build.....

Sounds an interesting plan, not sure I entirely followed it but no doubt it'll all become apparent....

 

Good luck

Darryl 

[Bullbasket]

28 minutes ago, Jasper dog said:

Another unique Bullbasket build.....

Sounds an interesting plan, not sure I entirely followed it but no doubt it'll all become apparent....

 

Good luck

Darryl 

Darryl, I'm not sure that I follow it either. There have been so many twists and turns with this build, but finally, I think that it's all going to plan....at last! It's taught me one lesson, and that is to make sure that I have all of the relevant parts for a build. 

Oh, and BTW. I start thinking about Telford, round about the end of November I lead a sheltered life.

 

John.

[Bullbasket]

I extended the height with some plasticard, and filled in the engine door opening with the same material, only thicker. The four holes which are for attaching the A3's exhausts were filled with stretched sprue, and filler was applied where needed. The doors came from a Dragon sprue, with the hinges being made using strip, stretched sprue and punched rivets.

I had used all of the air cleaners from the Dragon kits, so I had to rely upon the ones in the Tamiya M4 kit. These were detailed with some etched metal fasteners, and glued in place.

 

In the upper reaches, between the air filters and around the exhausts, there should be a screen. I made one from a sheet of diamond mesh. It's not completely accurate, as the original should be slatted, but needs must. Last items were the towing hook and the lugs either side of it.

 

 

Lastly, the rear hull plate was glued in place. The exhaust deflector would be added later.

 

 

That'll do me for a few days. VVSS units next.

Thanks for looking and for any comments.

 

John.

[Hamden]

 

Very nice progress John loving your attention to the smallest detail!

 

   Stay safe           Roger

[Bullbasket]

15 hours ago, Hamden said:

 

Very nice progress John loving your attention to the smallest detail!

 

   Stay safe           Roger

Thanks Roger. Yes, even if they do add hours to the build. But I'm still enjoying it, and that's the main thing.

 

John.

[Jasper dog]

I don't know, Meng spend thousands developing and creating a tremendous kit and still someone comes along and butchers it! 

Its having the knowledge to know what to add that I find remarkable, I can read and examine pictures all day long but very little of it stays in the old noggin!

 

Great work too, by the way!

Darryl 

[Bullbasket]

Thanks Darryl. Don't get me wrong. The Meng kit is a very good one with some very nice features. It's just that it seems to me that manufacturers are trying to outdo each other. Another manufacturer came out with the pieces of foam to put into the VVSS units to make them "workable". Most people that I've seen seem to discard that particular novelty. And now we have Meng with actual metal springs to do the same job. What they don't seem to grasp is that you have to exert a lot of pressure on the model to get it to do just that. I'm just old school. I don't need gimmicks, just accuracy.

 

John.

[Jasper dog]

You are, of course, correct. Having built the Meng kit with the suspension workable it does seem pointless, just like the Tasca/asuka foam. I replaced it with a plastic card shim and then glued the swinging arms into position, otherwise, you in effect have a rocking chair.

Can't argue with the desire for accuracy but I might add Tamiya build quality coupled with RFM or Miniart levels of detail or am I being greedy??

In all fairness I do like RFM, the kits go together well and have bags of detail, can't really comment on the accuracy unfortunately.

 

Darryl 

[Bullbasket]

I agree 100% Darryl. I can't comment on RFM's Shermans, as I've never built one, although their T34/122 keeps glaring at me from where it sits on the shelf of doom, 50% built. One day, one day!

 

John.

[vytautas]

That is one very very nice build John, in fact, it all looks brilliant, with lots of lovely detail that you have done, really making this an excellent model.

 

Vytautas

[edjbartos]

Good work John, looks like another super build coming from you soon, lots of nice interesting detail you are putting into this, shall look forward to seeing more...

 

Ed

[Bullbasket]

12 hours ago, vytautas said:

That is one very very nice build John, in fact, it all looks brilliant, with lots of lovely detail that you have done, really making this an excellent model.

 

Vytautas

 

12 hours ago, edjbartos said:

Good work John, looks like another super build coming from you soon, lots of nice interesting detail you are putting into this, shall look forward to seeing more...

 

Ed

Many thanks to both of you for your supportive words. The build is starting to move along now after several false starts. Lessons learned.

 

John.

[Bullbasket]

Mud flaps added using .5mm card with punched bolt heads along the top. I couldn't use the ones from the kit as they are the wrong size. Also added the two small triangular fillets. There are two sets of slots each side on the upper rear hull plate. These are for the spare track brackets. I filled the ones on the right as there will be an infantry phone going in there.

 

Next up, the VVSS units. Considering that I made these up from parts from different kits, they went together surprisingly well. Once assembled, the four holes were drilled in the forward face. I messed up one, so had to cover it in thin card and the redrill the holes. Thin card squares added to the rear faces, plus the four attachment bolt heads.

 

I used the track skids from the Meng kit. They're reasonably thin and didn't need any additional attention. They even had the fixing bolt heads moulded on but weirdly, only three!! Easily fixed.

 

To glue the VVSS units in place I needed to remove the locating pins and a moulded bar so that the rear face was completely flat. Then they were glued into place without any problems. I left the idler wheels off until the tracks were ready to go on. This was because the idler axle pin has been produced so that you can turn it around to tension the tracks. Clever or what? We'll see when it comes time to fit the tracks.

 

Made a start on the upper rear hull by fitting the engine deck. Before gluing it in place, I removed the two small grab handles. These were depicted as running from side to side, but on checking the drawings in the Manasherob book, the grab handles actually run front to back. Every day's a school day. Anyway, they were replaced with .31mm nickel silver wire.

 

That's the state of play at the moment. Providing I'm not given another load of household jobs to do, I'll be back with an update in a couple of days time. Meanwhile, thanks for watching and for any comments.

 

John.

 

 

[edjbartos]

Very nice John, It's looking really good already, nice additions that you are adding...

 

Ed

[vytautas]

👍!

 

Vytautas

[Maddoxx77]

And here i am.... building kits OOTB and still struggling to get it to look somewhat descent.... 😁

You must be from another planet! You just slap parts together from different boxes, different companies, timelines etc like it's nothing. Scratchbuilding parts like some kind of wizard. And you make it all work!!! 

I have so much respect for not only your building skills but also your knowledge of the subject. It's always a treat to read your buildlogs. 

[Bullbasket]

16 hours ago, edjbartos said:

Very nice John, It's looking really good already, nice additions that you are adding...

 

Ed

 

11 hours ago, vytautas said:

👍!

 

Vytautas

Thank both.

 

John.

[Bullbasket]

10 hours ago, Maddoxx77 said:

And here i am.... building kits OOTB and still struggling to get it to look somewhat descent.... 😁

You must be from another planet! You just slap parts together from different boxes, different companies, timelines etc like it's nothing. Scratchbuilding parts like some kind of wizard. And you make it all work!!! 

I have so much respect for not only your building skills but also your knowledge of the subject. It's always a treat to read your buildlogs. 

Thanks Maddoxx. Coming from you, that is really very much appreciated. The one down side is that I now have something like seven different Shermans from different manufacturers, all of them missing sufficient parts to make one complete model. Still, it does make a very healthy spares box.

 

John.