Sherman Firefly VC

[Stef N.]

Had to put the Tiger to one side for drying reasons and needed something reasonably easy to tide me over. So something British for a change.

This I bought a few weeks ago and looks a good culprit. Low parts count and a good looking tank and will give me some practice in painting green. I'm not sure what scheme it will be as there is a choice of two British and one Polish. We'll get to that at the end.

 

 

As mentioned the parts count is low, the largest number being for the tracks. RFM tracks are normally good to make although these look a bit more complicated than German ones.

 

 

So far it is going together easily. The flat pack tub is a tad tricky and another pair of hands would have come in handy. Some sprue goo was used to keep the sides in place, then proper glue was used to seal them together. No major problems to be found. A bit of cleaning up and some large plastic lumps had to be taken out from the ejector holes (all well away from sight), but nothing too complicated.

 

 

 

Anyway, this should be a decent out of the box build. If anyone can suggest what Tamiya green would be appropriate to use I am all ears.

 

Cheers all, have a good week.👍

[Bullbasket]

It'll come as no surprise that I will be following this build. Mike Starmer's Tamiya mix for SCC15 is as follows;

5 parts XF61, 2 parts XF62, 2 parts XF3, with just a tad more XF3 for scale effect.

 

John.

[Stef N.]

That's brilliant John, thank you. 👍

This should be a quicker build and it looks to be nicely detailed. If there are any glaring mistakes give me a shout. 

[Andy H]

Shermans? Nah! They'll never catch on...😉

 

Looking good so far - following with interest. 👍

[Jasper dog]

Nice choice Stef, be interesting to see how it works out.

So far so good!

 

Atb

Darryl 

[Keeff]

Ooh, an RFM Sherman!  Nice work so far Stef ..... tidy! 

 

I'll get my chair, a fresh brew and follow along .... 

 

Keith 😁 

[FrancisGL]

Hi Stef,

Excellent choice, it is a model that can look very very cool once finished.
It seems like a very complete and detailed kit, although at the same time complicated, I hope everything fits as it should.

Cheers

Francis.👍

 

[Stef N.]

1 hour ago, FrancisGL said:

Hi Stef,

Excellent choice, it is a model that can look very very cool once finished.
It seems like a very complete and detailed kit, although at the same time complicated, I hope everything fits as it should.

Cheers

Francis.👍

 

Thanks everyone.👍

So far the fit of parts is perfect with no filling necessary. Some PE is coming on the next stage so hopefully this doesn't slow things down too much or over complicate matters. 

[Hamden]

 

Nice project is there room for one more?

Looking forward to watching you work your magic on this one

 

         Stay safe              Roger

[Stef N.]

The more the merrier Roger. 👍😎

[edjbartos]

Good start Stef, looking forward to see what you do with it, all the best for the build...

 

Ed

[APA]

Nice start there Stef. This is quite a way off in the distance as a build for me but will watch with interest to see how it should be done 😁👍🏻

 

Andrew

[Retired Bob]

It looks a nice kit Stef, I've only built the Taska/Asuka Firefly Vc and with a couple more in the stash I've never bought any of the newer kits  Will be interesting to watch how this Ryefield model goes together.

[Stef N.]

14 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

It'll come as no surprise that I will be following this build. Mike Starmer's Tamiya mix for SCC15 is as follows;

5 parts XF61, 2 parts XF62, 2 parts XF3, with just a tad more XF3 for scale effect.

 

John.

Oh dear, I have a dribble of XF61 and no useable XF3. Looks like I'll have to visit a hobby shop.😁

 

Cheers Ed, Andrew and Bob.There's been a few fiddly bits to put on the back plate so I'll post an update once done with a couple of pointers.👍

 

[Jasper dog]

8 hours ago, Stef N. said:

Oh dear, I have a dribble of XF61 and no useable XF3. Looks like I'll have to visit a hobby shop.😁

 

What an absolute disaster,  visit a hobby shop....!

Can you remind me what one of those is please, haven't seen one for ages. Didn't realise it was possible these days to actually go into a shop to buy kits and stuff! 

 

Good luck!

[Stef N.]

27 minutes ago, Jasper dog said:

What an absolute disaster,  visit a hobby shop....!

Can you remind me what one of those is please, haven't seen one for ages. Didn't realise it was possible these days to actually go into a shop to buy kits and stuff! 

 

Good luck!

I have to test my self restraint occasionally. See if I can get in and out of the shop with only what I went in for. I maybe able to do it this time. 😁

[Kingsman]

I would perhaps re-scribe the joins down the flanges between the final drive assembly sections.  They rarely fitted with any great accuracy.

 

RFM give you 3 choices of drive sprocket, 2 of which are wrong for factory fit on any Chrysler-built Sherman.  You need these.

 

At the back you need to decide whether you want your tank to have been wading-equipped.  The majority were not so fitted, yet RFM configure the lower rear hull for one that was.   The items ringed in white, purple, green, yellow and blue in these pics below are all wading parts.  RFM don't give you the yellow tabs if you want to depict wading-fitted.  The purple-ringed parts are the mountings for the leaf spring towing attachment and the red-ringed parts are the mountings for the earlier vertical towing pintle. 

  

 

Early VCs had the barrel clamp centrally at the rear but this had to be moved to the left rear corner to clear the wading trunk, and this then became the norm.  IIRC RFM give you both choices.  This shows the original and revised locations.

 

 

[Retired Bob]

25 minutes ago, Kingsman said:

At the back you need to decide whether you want your tank to have been wading-equipped.

Those are the same parts as in the taska/Asuka Vc kit, guess they both used the same museum tank to make their models from.  (Bovington?)

 

12 hours ago, Stef N. said:

Oh dear, I have a dribble of XF61 and no useable XF3. Looks like I'll have to visit a hobby shop.😁

Just like Darryl @Jasper dog visiting an actual LMS is just a distant memory, I have to use the tinternet for my modelling needs.  Just tried this morning to get some No. 11 modelling knife blades, I had a pack of 100 that has finally ran out.  I might as well try to find unicorn poo!  Finally got some from air-craft.net in Scotland, evil-bay's suggestion was an I-phone cable 

[Stef N.]

Thanks @Kingsman. Those wading parts were the bits I fitted last night so it looks like I am doing the early wading version. Any appropriate markings/decals available? 

[Stef N.]

44 minutes ago, Retired Bob said:

Those are the same parts as in the taska/Asuka Vc kit, guess they both used the same museum tank to make their models from.  (Bovington?)

 

Just like Darryl @Jasper dog visiting an actual LMS is just a distant memory, I have to use the tinternet for my modelling needs.  Just tried this morning to get some No. 11 modelling knife blades, I had a pack of 100 that has finally ran out.  I might as well try to find unicorn poo!  Finally got some from air-craft.net in Scotland, evil-bay's suggestion was an I-phone cable 

 I am lucky in that where I live has a good selection of shops within decent driving distances. 2 in Stevenage and a Hobbycraft for instance. I have to remember that people don't have a single choice for many a mile. 

[Kingsman]

1 hour ago, Retired Bob said:

Those are the same parts as in the taska/Asuka Vc kit, guess they both used the same museum tank to make their models from.  (Bovington?)

RFM certainly copied the Bovington tank, right down to the rarely, if ever, seen in action Houseboat disguise fittings on the hull sides.  These interfered with the applique plates.  I would leave those off.  A Firefly with no applique plates at all was a rare thing, although not impossible and by no means all of them had the full set fitted.  Easily made from plastic card.  There is a dimensioned drawing of the hull plates on the Minutia site.  The turret patch is harder because of the shape, but I have made one.  The useful TWS applique set is sadly long OOP.

 

As for markings, any of the units landed during the first couple of weeks after D Day for certain.  But wading-equipped tanks carried on across NW Europe: the fittings weren't removed.  Vehicles were also moved around.  So I wouldn't worry too much about that. 

 

Star have some decal sets for VCs.  35-C1244 has markings for 3CLY, 13/18 Hussars and Northants Yeo.  The first 2 of those units were early landers, 13/18 on D Day itself.  35-890 has markings for 144RAC and other 33 Armd Bde Sherman Is.  I have spare sets of both of those if they are of use.  But the kit box art already shows 33 Armd Bde markings, apparently for Northants Yeo and pretty much the same as those in Star's 35-C1244.

Edited December 12, 2023 by Kingsman
addition

[Retired Bob]

18 minutes ago, Kingsman said:

RFM certainly copied the Bovington tank, right down to the rarely, if ever, seen in action Houseboat disguise fittings on the hull sides.

Here is one of my photos of the Bovington Firefly with its Houseboat fittings.

I have the book, British tanks in Normandy by Ludovic Fortin, there are a couple of photos in there of Firefly Vc's with the the brackets fitted.  They and the applique plates are supplied in the Tasca kits.  One of my Firefly Vc kits has the thickened cheek armour turret but I was informed that those turrets were not used for 17 pounder Firefly conversions.  It's a stalled build, but the turret has been sanded down to the normal shape.

[Kingsman]

The "thick cheek" itself was not an obstacle to Firefly conversion.  It was more likely either the coincident deletion of the pistol port, useful for reloading the large 17pdr rounds and ejecting the large "empties", or the type of traverse gear fitted to late production A4s.  Only 1 of the 2 types used was suitable for the extra turret weight.

 

But - if correct - that ruled out about 1,600 A4s from the last 5 months of production from Firefly conversion: about a fifth of total production.  Which seems decidedly improbable.  I must admit I had not heard of that exclusion before.  One thing that makes me disbelieve it is that almost all Sherman I Hybrids were built with the thick-cheek turret, and many of these were converted to Fireflies.  The same is true for late-production Baldwin-built Sherman Is.

 

Spotting this in photos is difficult.  But if you see a VC without a pistol port - perhaps a more commonly-seen view - it will have a thick cheek.

 

But here to prove the point is a VC with a thick-cheek turret.  Note the shadow of the bottom of the thick cheek bulge just above the turret splash rail.  This is a 4CLY tank knocked-out at Villers-Bocage, possibly the rear tank of A Sqn hit by Wittman first to block A Sqn's retreat from Hill 213.  Interestingly it also has the Houseboat fittings and a rail mounted in them.

[Retired Bob]

20 minutes ago, Kingsman said:

But here to prove the point is a VC with a thick-cheek turret.  Note the shadow of the bottom of the thick cheek bulge just above the turret splash rail.  This is a 4CLY tank knocked-out at Villers-Bocage, possibly the rear tank of A Sqn hit by Wittman first to block A Sqn's retreat from Hill 213.  Interestingly it also has the Houseboat fittings and a rail mounted in them.

Interesting, that is one of the decal options in the Tasca Firefly Vc (w/cast armour cheek) kit#35-011.  I haven't seen it from that angle before but you and Tasca are correct, (the chap on Britmodeller was wrong) it is a Firefly Vc with cast-in cheek armour.  The Star decals (35-892) show that Firefly, 'Allakeefek' with applique armour but as can be seen it just has Houseboat brackets.

I knew that the thicker cheek armour coincided with the deletion of the pistol port on the t'other side, I needed one for a Dragon kit I was building.

Here is the Dragon Sherman turret with the thickened armour (top) with the Tasca turret beneath.  I used the applique turret armour 'scab' and blended it in with sprue gloop.

 

[Stef N.]

A small update. The sides were glued on (1 and 2). These are a tad mishapen so need a bit of careful gluing. Tack both ends and then slowly hold and glue into the right position. Mr Hobby SP Black was good as it cured very quickly,

 

 

The back components were finished. Most are fine but the large box needs two holes drilled into the door. I forgot to do this so it's not brilliantly attached.

 

 

This is a good thing I've seen a few manufacturers do lately. Different sized plastic nuts that can be cut off and glued easily in place. So much easier than PE and 4 have been put around the towing hook.

 

 

Thanks all and next is going to be the running gear.👍