ARMOR - Sherman Family Group Build

Ok guys, as I wind down my Panther I begin to think about the (abbreviated) time I have to build my early M4! Question -- anyone out there recall who the guy is that makes all those apparently very nice resin tread sets for Shermans? I need the early rubber ones, and Friuli doesn't make them. These are apparently made by a small outfit -- I think a guy in the Mid-west. They are supposed to be really terrific stuff, and quite easy to assemble.

Throw me a bone here people (said in best Martin Short impersonation)!

Chris in all my looking I couldn't find anything that said where the M10 took the hits. I'm pretty sure it took three hits before it was all over. I also read coflicting stories about who, if anyone was killed.
You should also take the details of that story with a grain of salt, because if you noticed it said that the 90mm shells bounced off the German armor ( and we know that the M10 didn't have a 90mm gun ) it makes you wonder if the author got all the other small details correct.

As far as the field phone goes, I have a hand set in my spare parts box and I plan on scratch building the rest.

Thanks for the link on TDs I hadn't seen that one.

Ga.Modeler,

I'm sure you'll get it all fixed up and it'll turn out just great!

Ron

Robert & Ron thanks for the pointers. was thinking of finding a cheap 105 for a breech. I plan to have figs in all hatches so not much interior will be visible but i need something otehr than an empty hole.

Larry - RHPS tracks are U.S. made and I believe they have the type you are looking for. Also I believe they are available from AFV Club too.

Derek - If you're having figs in the hatches ... the simplest of interiors is probably you're best bet. Once again, think of the old Italeri kits for the driver / co-driver areas.
I'll try to find a couple of pics to send you that may help.

Derek - Check out AFV Interiors ... here's a link to page 3 of the M4A3 Sherman which covers the 105 variant. http://afvinteriors.hobbyvista.com/m4a3/m4a3c.html

Almost done with the turret. Still going to sand the gun to eliminate the seams.

And that's all that I have for now, folks. He-he-he.

QUOTE: Originally posted by claymore68 Has anyone used AFV's working SUSPENSION? Looks right for the M4A3 (105) and I am quite tempted - maybe try their tracks too. Also: Are there detail sets avaliable for this kit (Tamiya) or doesnt it need them? I can't find much of anything. * EDIT *I would also like a basic interior to do the hatches open - I have a killer dio idea!

claymore,

Check out the pictures of the bogies I posted earlier. They are of the AFV suspension.

That one will be OK for the 105mm M4A3.

Oh yes ..... progress .... if you could call it progress.

Nearing the completion of the clean up of the resin indy tracks that come with the Ram. On that note I decided to take a bit of a break from them and started working the upper and lower hulls. This kit is ... well .... a challenge .. yes ... that's a good word for it.

On the lower hull - has the totally wrong rear plate for this vehicle so I need to rework an Italeri piece. The suspension sucks, but seeing as it was copied directly from the Tamiya Lee / Grant, I'll be replacing it with that. The idler assembly needs to be changed to the M4 configuration. Mufflers need to be added, plates need to be added, and the list goes on. And to add insult to injury ...... after nearing the completion of the tracks, after all the changes I have to make to this beast, it will be a different variation that uses the Tamiya Steel Chevron Tracks. So the resin tracks are relegated to the parts box.

Upper Hull - The early Rams had two very noticible access doors in the sides of the sponsons. One of these was missing from the kit. So the simplest approach here was to modify it to the newer version of the Ram. Sanding off all the door details on the hull and adding a couple of ventilators.

By the time I'm finished this kit .... I figure that there'll be as much plastic on it as there was resin.

Thank goodness for a large parts box.

You can handle it Robert!

That thing should be done within a week....Easy!


I hear you! Resin kits always seems to take longer.

I got your email Robert, thanks.
Thanks again guys. I think with the figs in there won't be much visible.
Latch: I may try the suspension just for a new challenge!

trevor- I noticed the part about the 90mm and started wondering about everything else. I think what i'll do is put a shell hit on the turret as well as bullet hits on it, and some smoke coming from somewhere. even if some tankers died I don't think adding the dead tankers would be a nice addition to this build, so I will leave that out.


but about the 90mm part, I think I'll have rebore the barrel.

just kidding

Not much done tonight on the BARV.

I had to bring "work" home.

It's hard to do my school work while my M10 keeps staring at me.

Just remember ...... the better the school work .... the bigger and more M10's you can own !!!

CLAYMORE:

Yes, the old guy's memory isn't what it used to be. According to Charles Lemons (Curator of the Patton Museum), the M4 105mm has the half basket as you will find on the wet stowed tanks. The tank we're looking at is an M4 that has the later glacius plate and the 105mm in place of the 75mm... similar to Tamiya's M4A3 105mm... except this is an M4 with the radial. I'm sure the M4A3 would've been the same. Great idea about finding a 105mm breech for it. Hunnicutt's book shows the gun (recoil) guards that would go with it.

Worked on the turret on my composite M4 a bit last night, put in some wiring, did some more filling and attached mounting plates for the intercom boxes. Almost ready to start finishing it off, adding the interior and such.

Ron

QUOTE: Originally posted by shermanfreak Larry - RHPS tracks are U.S. made and I believe they have the type you are looking for. Also I believe they are available from AFV Club too.

That's it! Thanks. I'll contact the manufacturer right away.

Sorry I haven't been doing any contributing, but being as unfamiliar with armor as I am, I'm doing alot of reading and spending time trying to build. I almost have the lower hull built. One Major Question, Does anyone have a pic of what the interior of the Kangaroo looks like?? Found a couple of the Priest but having a trouble seeing it with out the gun and ammo racks. THANX

Now that's going to be a tough one to come up with accurate pics for Bob. It has to be one of the least photographed vehilces of W.W.II. I'll poke around and see what I can come up with though.

Not much to show at the moment... Just the basic Italeri/ESCI hull put together and the petrol cap (?) recess on the top of the hull, as well as the sink marks filled in with Milliput (no sanding required!). Next step, removing the mud guards at the back and start stretching the hull a little...

Bob - here's a site that you might be able to glean a little info from. Not a good pic of the Priest Kangaroo anywhere but some interesting info.
http://www.1cacr.org/index.html
Also a little info here:
http://web.inter.nl.net/users/spoelstra/g104/apckang2.htm
And here's a site that shows another modeller's work on his Kangaroo (hope you're up on your Italian)
http://www.mezzimilitari.it/modelli/page/page.php/page=69

My progress has slowed a little bit ( going to work tends to get in the way of building )
I've been digging through my parts box to find bits and pieces to make some kind of interior details for the turret.
Question, with the 76mm turret is the radio at the back of the turret?

Finally finished the turret and the big gun last night. However, got a heavy workload this coming two weeks so I need to put the work off for a while. But I'll catch up. This I am sure of.

It is nice to read about everyone's getting busy on their builds. Man the Sherman production lines are BURNING HOT. LOL.

Kudos to the production manager, Sherm.

My two Sherman's arrived today whopieeeeeeeeeeeeee! We start the build tomorrow night. Jacob is looking forward to doing snow all over everything on his Sherman

my line isn't too hot right now. those ready rounds don't want to cooperate with me.

no, its not that the rear wall wasn't square, they just don't want to fit on those little circles!! I got the first racks done, now I got to do the next ones. then it should be smooth sailing!!

Trevor - Yes, that's where the radio goes.

Dostacos - good to hear you're in position to start building.

Good to see some progress pics popping up on the thread. May have some later tonight too.

LOL,. Chris I would have to say that those ready rounds were my biggest headache. Besides the back wall not being square they were a pain to clean up and put together not to mention tring to get them all in the ready racks properly then getting the PE strap on.(I think that was the EZ part) a close second would be all those little bolt s on the outside of the hull. Oh, that's right you haven't got that far yet. Well, happy modeling.

Ok, few questions (again, new to armor). What color were the seat cussions in the tanks, both the actual chair type and the fold down circular ones? Also, what is the shade of white in the inside, or is it just "white"?
Tanks for all the help (pun intended)

I've actually seen two different colours used on the seats. Some I've seen in black and I've also seen a leather brown sort of colour.

The interiors were flat white and were quite dirty , greasy, oily, etc, etc, etc.

Just posted this out in the regular forum but it sure fits in here with the Sherman Group.

Review of Academy's new M4A2 kit.
http://pmms.webace.com.au/reviews/vehicles/academy/acd13010.htm