GB Feeler Semper Fi - War in the Pacific

Rob ????

         Very true Carl,,,    just a few,,,     

Just a few more hours ............................

WW2PSYCHO - Careful with that decal sheet had posted.  The M4A1 ones provided are for Army vehicles.  Had posted just to show what had found.  Have had no further luck on finding any other decal sheets.  Think the best bet for decals would be something like the Archer decal sheets for numbers, would have to look through there sheets though.

DEATTILIO - Nice that you received your kit.  Will be watching to see how you go about backdating your LVT-4.  Did you have any sort of conversion or update kit to do this or will you be creating your own parts (gun shields)?

Will update the roster.

I received the new Dragon 1/72 LVT-4’s and will be building one of these for the GB.  Their new LVT-4 is on par with their recent LVT-(A)1 and LVT-(A)4 releases.  Dragon’s 1/72 offering followed suit in choosing an incorrect finish as it is identical to the Cyber-Hobby 1/35 LVT-4 scheme.  I will be backdating the cab to an early armored variant as well as creating the round gun shields.  The below picture is how I plan on finishing my kit.

Thanks, its an M4A1. That decal sheet shows 2 options for an M4A1.

B - M4A1 Sherman, 767th Tank Battalion Enubuy, Kwajelin Atoll, 2nd February 1944
C - M4A1 Sherman, 603rd Armored Company, 41st Infantry Division Carolina Islands, summer 1944

Glad you were able to get your hands on the Sherman.  Let us know which one you picked up.  Have so far only found one decal sheet in 1/48 and it is for the later M4A2 and M4A3.  http://www.adalbertus.com.pl/en/shermany-z-wysp-pacyfiku.html

Will let you know if I find something else for the earlier Sherman's. One other option if you want decals is to maybe check out some Archer Decals sheets.   Also will go ahead and add you to the list of participants and am happy your in.

Ended up going to the shop this morning and picked it up, along with the finescale book on building shermans.

Thanks, I'll let you know if I pick the kit up or not. I wont get to the hobby shop that has it for another week and a half at the earliest.

WW2PSYCHO - Will take a look and see if can find something.  I say if your interested though, go ahead and jump in.  The M4A1 is a good candidate for the build and you should have a few options.  G gave you some great advice.  To further many of the vehicles had no stars at all all and normally displayed only the vehicle ID# and USMC stenciled on.  For the medium tanks the color of the numbers often was yellow with some being white.  The few that did have stars were often very small compared to Army vehicles or in case as G's had bars with it (that was Battalion specific).  Later war M4's would sometimes have large ID numbers painted on the turret, once again this was battalion specific.  One of my favorites was the M4A2's Company B, 4th Marine Tanks on Saipan.  They had yellow painted turret tops with large black air ID numbers.

Just take a look at some pics and find one you would like to do, join us.

DEATTILIO - Great info and it will be very helpful with my build, VERY appreciated   These are some things I was unaware of.  Will look more into those upgrade sets and your making it too easy for me with set #'s and all.  Would not want to put you through any trouble but that offer of being able to see some of the Tech Manual sounds to good to pass up   May ask later on when we get a little further along.

G - Like that Sherman and I love those wading trunks!  One other note with the trunks, if shown with the upper part of the trunk jettisoned, is that the lower had a grating or mesh covering.  This would help, in theory, from grenades / explosives being dropped down in there.

Hey guys, will have to catch up with y'all tomorrow, it's been a long day.

Have updated the first post with a list of USMC equipment and have also added all that are building.  Take a look at the vehicles and see if anyone has anything to add, need some help on artillery and was the Ford GPA "Seep" used by the Marines?  Have found only one source that kind of says they did but nothing reliable.

I never thought about the SeaBee's modifying them . The way the radiator grill sticks up several inches above the rear deck on the M4a3 does look vulnerable to shrapnal damage .Good points G .

G thats one cool Sherman . Those field modified barrels for wading trunks look like something the Marines would have to fabricate on their own to get the job done . I suppose all of the typical manufactured trunks went to the Army .

PANZERWAFFE

WW2PSYCHO - Many of the Sherman's had very little markings on them and you could get away with having few.  I or someone here could surly help you out in finding or creating something or just stencil or hand paint them.  I can take a look around and see if I could find you a decal sheet.  Are you only interested in 1/48? 

Yes, saves a lot of room on my already limited shelf space, and Ive only built a few models. They have an M4A1 and an M4 early version. Id probably do the M4A1.

WW2PSYCHO - Many of the Sherman's had very little markings on them and you could get away with having few.  I or someone here could surly help you out in finding or creating something or just stencil or hand paint them.  I can take a look around and see if I could find you a decal sheet.  Are you only interested in 1/48? 

PANZERWAFFE,
                The Italeri kit is most definitely build into an accurate USMC hog.  Trakz produced couple resin sets for the LVT2 and LVT(A)2 to compliment the Verlinden conversion set.  It included small items such as the upper side armor, fire extinguisher, sand bags and the round gun shields.  If you can find them they are sets TKZ0070 and TKZ0071.  The cab is an easy fix, get rid of the vision blocks and machine gun mount and add a vision panel as found on Italeri’s LVT(A)2, (A)1 and (A)4 kits.  Another devil in the details is the mooring cleats.  Those are easily fabricated to replace the “t” versions on the kit, along with being located on all four corners of the earlier LVT-4s vice the three modeled OOB.  Also many of the early LVT-4’s headlights and shrouds were much shorter with the headlights being essentially right on the deck.  The skirt armor really depends on the vehicle you model as I have seen photographs of all the variants wearing the molded on sponson armor provided by Italeri while also seeing photos without armor or with patchwork armor, primarily bolted to only the corners.
                If you need any detail shots I have an original Technical Manual I scan needed illustrations from.  The cab itself would be of little help as they used an early unarmored cab variant when writing/producing the manual.

G - Thanks for the info about your kit, sounds good indeed.  Will there be any alterations to fit the Bronco tracks?  Have never done a Tasca kit but only hear great things about them.  Interested in seeing all of the parts and what you have to say about them when we get started.  Are you working from a certain picture of the Sherman?

Look forward to see you start her up

Jarheads................HMMmmmm

No crossovers? Whydat?

DEATTILIO - Wonderful, glad you joined in! February will be fine and for now will put you down for TBD.

Thanks for all of that information. Don't want to be incorrect for my own GB LOL. Really though I want this one (and all others) to be accurate so your input is very appreciated Luckily I had known about the incorrect markings (beach stripes) and had planned on remedying that. Might even put on markings of another vehicle. Not sure yet but that will be an easy fix. The MG shields I had known about also and hope to be able to scratch the rounded style shield from brass sheet (we will see).  Now the cab I was unaware of it's miss comings and will have to do some more research.  Will this kit, in your opinion, still build a USMC vehicle?  I certainly hope so.  What would need to be done to the cab?  Like I said, will research also but any pointers are very appreciated. 

Glad to have you aboard and will see ya on the beach

After researching, none of Tamiyas 1:48 Shermans come with pacific markings so it looks like Im out. Bummer

Rob , yes it'll be with the dozer . Alll i'll need to do is post a pic of a USMC Sherman dozer tank if there are questions . Dont be spillin my beer !

CARL - Have you down with the Blade addition.  That's one people may say that the USMC did not have but if so I will back you on that one.....because they did!  Will make a great and not seen much variant.

That dozer is going to come in useful around here for pushing all of the around.

BILL - The Willy's just opens the door for so many possibilities.  I cant wait to see what you come up with this time if you make the Dio   With the addition of the figures and accessories, it can really show the personal or human side of things.  Look forward to it.

I might be in, I dont want to over commit myself but Tamiyas 1:48 tanks are easy to build. Probably be a sherman. It doesnt say which markings it comes with so Im not sure if it will work or not.

Sounds very cool      G     !

Absolutely Carl,,  go for it,,,   Those Willys were all over the place.        I have some cool ideas for a scene and may incorporate some other additions as well.

Should be fun

Bill , that jeep kit has been around for a long time but its still a good little kit . I'm going to use was in my dio and load up the trailer . I noticed my kit has yellow USMC stenciling .

PANZERWAFFE

 

PANZERWAFFE,
                Count me in, I too will jump aboard with an LVT-4 but will not be able to start slapping some plastic together until February.  It may be the new Dragon 1/72 offering or may pull the older Italeri 1/35 I have in the stash or may pick up one of Cyber-Hobby’s 1/35 newer release.
                Word of caution with the Italeri/Cyber-Hobby kit in this GB as those kits represent a late-model armored cab variant and the gun shields provided may be incorrect.  Digging through my references, I have not been able to find examples of Marine LVTs with the flat gun shields, instead the common version was the rounded gun shield.  That is not to say several did not find their way onto Marine AmTracs but, finding a Marine LVT-4 from ’44-’45 mounting flat gun shields has thus far escaped my sights.  Also, all the photos I have acquired or come across of Marine LVT-4s between ’44-’45 have the early cab (not armored) or early armored cab as offered in AFV’s new release.  Cyber-Hobby’s most glaring fault with their offering though is the erroneous finish.  The news photo of Beautiful Queenie shows an early armored cab variant, she was with the 5th Amphibian Tractor Battalion of Company “B” (5B) and landed on Beach Blue One, although initially assigned Beach Blue Two a landing was not conducted on Blue Two meaning the beach markings on the kit should be blue, not yellow.  The Navy Historical Branch has some excellent color photographs to match colors and markings.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/i04000/i04318k.jpg

Carl,,,   the Sherm / Dozer is another solid pic....      more great options

Nice pic (LVT),,,,    some great possibilities

I am going to begin with a venerable softskin, Willys Jeep. I'll be coming up with a suitable scene, figs, accessories, etc.