SEARCH FINESCALE.COM

Enter keywords or a search phrase below:

Tamiya 1/48th M4 Sherman - Early Production

3059 views
7 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    March 2010
  • From: Democratic Peoples Republic of Illinois
Posted by Hercmech on Monday, February 6, 2012 9:02 AM

Looks like a good size to build. The 1/72 is almost too small and 1/35 takes up a lot of shelf space.

You are doing a good job of it so far.


13151015

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by T26E4 on Monday, February 6, 2012 8:44 AM

That's a fun kit!  One thing that's not called out in the instructions is that you should fill in the gap above the hull MG port.  Have a look here and you'll see what I mean:

http://www.toadmanstankpictures.com/m4a375_10.jpg

Without filling that gap, it would cause a very dangerous shot trap.  Hope this helps.

Roy Chow 

Join AMPS!

http://www.amps-armor.org

 

 

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Monday, February 6, 2012 8:14 AM

HeyJoe

Very nice! I picked up this same kit and will try it soon, so it is good to see how you approached it.

One question: what is that thing you are using to hold the different parts of the model?

It looks like the one I have, a MicroMark Third Hand:
http://www.micromark.com/triple-grip-third-hand,6736.html

  • Member since
    November 2011
  • From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Posted by HeyJoe on Sunday, February 5, 2012 5:27 PM

Very nice! I picked up this same kit and will try it soon, so it is good to see how you approached it.

One question: what is that thing you are using to hold the different parts of the model?

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Sunday, February 5, 2012 9:40 AM

I built this kit when it first came out around 10 years ago (has it been that long?). Great weekend kit that puts joy back into model building. My only gripe is the diecast metal hull. More of a pain to deal with than if it was just plastic.

  • Member since
    March 2005
  • From: Lancaster, South Carolina
Posted by Devil Dawg on Saturday, February 4, 2012 3:12 PM

Alrighty, here are some photos of my almost-completed build. Let me know what you think. Don't be shy!

Over-all view of the major sub-assemblies. Building it in this manner made it very easy to paint. The reason that you see some of the wheel trucks not attached to the lower hull is because the hull fell of the aligator clips while I was painting it. Oh well - no biggie. Nothing broken; just some parts came off at the glue points. Easy to fix.

 

Another view of the major sub-assemblies. Another big plus for this kit was that I used NO putty!! Woo Hoo!! Try that with an aircraft kit. It's rare not to use putty on an aircraft kit (my opinion). The turret was completely built, excpet for adding the M2 .50-cal machine gun, and sprayed with Tamiya Olive Drab from a rattle can.

 

Lower hull. It's cast metal, which I really liked. It came pre-painted in a light gray primer. I attached all parts to it (except for the tracks), then gave it an over-all blast of Tamiya Olive Drab from a rattle can. I like easy.

 

 

Upper hull. I also blasted this with Tamiya Olive Drab after attaching all the necessary parts. Very simple and easy. No seams to worry about during the build. Test-fitting everything showed NO fit issues at all. Man, I love this little kit.....

 

Well, that's all for now. I'll post more pictures as soon as I get the decals and tracks on.

Devil Dawg

On The Bench: Tamiya 1/32nd Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 Zeke For Japanese Group Build

Build one at a time? Hah! That'll be the day!!

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Saturday, February 4, 2012 2:35 PM

That 1/48 Tamiya stuff got me started in armor,and I still build them as since diversion from the more complicated Dragon kits

  • Member since
    March 2005
  • From: Lancaster, South Carolina
Tamiya 1/48th M4 Sherman - Early Production
Posted by Devil Dawg on Saturday, February 4, 2012 2:31 PM

I usually build (ok, almost exclusively) 1/48th aircraft, but I couldn't resist buying and building this kit when I saw it on sale at Hobby Lobby for about $20 one day. Being a Tamiya, I figured I couldn't go wrong buying it. And I was right! I just started on it this past week, and I already have it painted, awaiting decals. I'll be doing that today (Saturday 04 February 2012), along with adding the tracks and attaching the top to the hull with the kit-provided screws. I am amazed at how much easier this kit was to build in comparison to an aircraft kit. I guess not having an interior to build made a huge difference, plus that fact that I chose the single-color paint scheme (over-all olive drab). I usually have to do some extensive planning on building and painting steps when building an aircraft, but I pretty much built this tank step-by-step according to the instructions, with the exception of the tracks (they are step 6, but I decided to make them next to last, so that I could paint them black before securing them to the chassis - attaching the top will be last). All-in-all, I'm very pleased with this kit, and would recommend it to anyone, beginner or expert. It's that good. I also like the fact that it has a metal hull. Gives it some realistic scale weight.

I'll post some pictures soon.

Gary Mason

 

Devil Dawg

On The Bench: Tamiya 1/32nd Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 Zeke For Japanese Group Build

Build one at a time? Hah! That'll be the day!!

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

SEARCH FORUMS
FREE NEWSLETTER
By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy.