Liberation of Western Europe GB

Nice work guys! 

I like the Wespe, including the scheme!  Don't see that one done very often. 

And nice Panther!  Really turned out great! 

thanks guys. i appreciate the kind words.

Bullet 21-Nice Panther!!  I luv that three tone camo!  Great work with the grills...looks like PE to me!

some assembly required - Great job on your Wespe!  I dig that gray/green camo job also!

So here's my 1/35 Tamiya M4A3 still in the assembly stage.  Had to add those darned sponsons...they were a pain in the !!  Some PE has already been added, Armorscale gun barrel and mantlet, Formations commanders cupola, AFV Club T-48 tracks on one side, kit vinyl on the other.  The vinyl doesn't look too bad!  I'm not sure which to go with....??? Also added a heavy cast texture to the turret....probably too heavy, but we'll see how it looks with some paint on it!

Still have a bit more to do before painting. 

 

Nice work on the Sherman Ernest!  Looking forward to watching your progress. 

Holy aftermarket, Batman!

Looking great, Buffle...I do notice that there's what appears to be an M5A1 (or 2) in the background, but no Panzer IV destined for LAH markings...should I be worried? Heheheh.

How'd you pull off the cast texturing? 

No worries Dupes!  The LAH Panzer IV is sitting next to that Stuart!  Getting her ready for paint! 

For the cast texture I used good ol Tenax 7R and a stiff nylon stubbie brush.

I bought a half dozen of these for a buck each at Michael's for the sole purpose of creating cast texture.  Tenax doesn't seem to hurt the nylon so hopefully these will last me a while.

 

 

Huh. I would have guessed you'd need something more stiff...but the results seem to prove me wrong pretty handily! Good stuff.

And that Pz.IV looks like she's saying "paint me". Hehehehhe.

M4A3 is getting closer and closer!!  The turret is done and I'm working on the last parts for the hull...primer tomorrow if all goes well!

I decided to add a serial# or whatever these #s are to the turret.  Probably not accurate but I thought it looked cool!!

Very nice Ernest, can't wait to see the next updates! 

Thanks Scott, and since you asked........

M4A3 practically done!!  When I was checking the photos I noticed that I forgot to install the wire periscope guards on the hull hatches....OOPS!!  And I should probably add a tow cable.  No problemo, I'll have those on in a wink (yeah, right!)  Tomorrow is primer day (I already primed the turret) and then maybe a basecoat of good ol' Olive Drab! 

To save time I decided to use the kit vinyl tracks which are really nice and to my amazement assembled with normal styrene glue (I used Tenax 7R).  I shortened each track by one link to get a better fit.  If I have time I'll add some stowage and assorted gear to give it that "lived in" look that Shermans were known for!  If not, its bare bones baby!!  More pics to come in day or two.

So nice! I WILL finish the Lodestar this month!

Looks awesome Ernest, looking forward to the paint shots! 

here is a follow up WIP of my super pershing

I'm not very familiar with the Pershing...what are those 2 large tubes on the top of the turret near the mantlet?

Looks good!

this is a SUPER Pershing, one of only 2 made. One was sent to ETO for a "trial by fire"

it got into it with a Tiger close range, and killed it, they also say it killed a Panther at a distance 

the tubes are recoil springs barrel, they also added armor in the field as they felt the tank needed more armor. 

  

" The Super Pershing (aka T26E4-1) was equipped with a new long-barreled T15E1 90mm gun that was designed to out-perform the German high-velocity 88mm on the King Tiger. In testing, this new U.S. gun had successfully penetrated 8.5 inches of armor at 1,000 yards at 30 degrees. Even more remarkable, it had penetrated 13 inches of armor at 100 yards. The special 90mm ammunition had produced a muzzle velocity of 3,850 feet per second, or some 600 feet per second faster than the 88mm of the King Tiger. The new 90mm round also proved to have superior range and accuracy over the previous version." 

from http://www.3ad.com/history/wwll/feature.pages/super.pershing.1.htm

dostacos, your Super Pershing is looking great!   Hoo-eeee!!  I can't believe how long that gun is!!   Last night I had to know more on the Super Pershing so I googled it and read the same thing about the long 90mm gun!!  Too bad they couldn't field them a lot earlier. 

bufflehead wrote:

dostacos, your Super Pershing is looking great!   Hoo-eeee!!  I can't believe how long that gun is!!   Last night I had to know more on the Super Pershing so I googled it and read the same thing about the long 90mm gun!!  Too bad they couldn't field them a lot earlier.

thanks and yeah it would have been wild to see these hit the beach on D day, of course I would have liked to see a couple flights of A10s then too.....

dostacos wrote:

this is a SUPER Pershing, one of only 2 made. One was sent to ETO for a "trial by fire" it got into it with a Tiger close range, and killed it, they also say it killed a Panther at a distance  the tubes are recoil springs barrel, they also added armor in the field as they felt the tank needed more armor.     " The Super Pershing (aka T26E4-1) was equipped with a new long-barreled T15E1 90mm gun that was designed to out-perform the German high-velocity 88mm on the King Tiger. In testing, this new U.S. gun had successfully penetrated 8.5 inches of armor at 1,000 yards at 30 degrees. Even more remarkable, it had penetrated 13 inches of armor at 100 yards. The special 90mm ammunition had produced a muzzle velocity of 3,850 feet per second, or some 600 feet per second faster than the 88mm of the King Tiger. The new 90mm round also proved to have superior range and accuracy over the previous version."  from http://www.3ad.com/history/wwll/feature.pages/super.pershing.1.htm

They are not recoil springs. I think the term you're looking for is equilibrator springs. These were used to balance the increased weight of the lenghtened gun tube (70" longer than the standard M3 90mm) and had nothing to do with recoil. It all boils down to simple physics. The added weight shifts the turret's center of gravity and puts additional strain on the elevation mechanism and the springs relieve that stress. The turret was counterweighted as well to shift the center of gravity back, keeping the turret traverse balanced too.

Check out Deathtraps by Belton Y. Cooper ISBN 0-89141-814-8. He was a maintenance officer with 3rd Armored and actually worked on this Super Pershing - engineering and installing the field applied additional armor plate and weapons testing. As far as firepower goes, Cooper relates that they set up a disabled Jadgpanzer IV for a head on shot and took aim from about a mile and a half away. The round pierced the frontal armor, went thru a 5" final drive, thru the engine compartment bulkhead, thru the engine's 4'' crankshaft, thru the rear plate armor and buried itself so deep in the dirt behind the vehicle they couldn't find it. Cooper probably also has the unenviable distinction of seeing more shot up Shermans than any other man. Overall the book is a really good read - Hollywood couldn't dream up better stuff.

-John

the Postman wrote:

dostacos wrote: this is a SUPER Pershing, one of only 2 made. One was sent to ETO for a "trial by fire" it got into it with a Tiger close range, and killed it, they also say it killed a Panther at a distance  the tubes are recoil springs barrel, they also added armor in the field as they felt the tank needed more armor.     " The Super Pershing (aka T26E4-1) was equipped with a new long-barreled T15E1 90mm gun that was designed to out-perform the German high-velocity 88mm on the King Tiger. In testing, this new U.S. gun had successfully penetrated 8.5 inches of armor at 1,000 yards at 30 degrees. Even more remarkable, it had penetrated 13 inches of armor at 100 yards. The special 90mm ammunition had produced a muzzle velocity of 3,850 feet per second, or some 600 feet per second faster than the 88mm of the King Tiger. The new 90mm round also proved to have superior range and accuracy over the previous version."  from http://www.3ad.com/history/wwll/feature.pages/super.pershing.1.htm They are not recoil springs. I think the term you're looking for is equilibrator springs. These were used to balance the increased weight of the lenghtened gun tube (70" longer than the standard M3 90mm) and had nothing to do with recoil. It all boils down to simple physics. The added weight shifts the turret's center of gravity and puts additional strain on the elevation mechanism and the springs relieve that stress. The turret was counterweighted as well to shift the center of gravity back, keeping the turret traverse balanced too. Check out Deathtraps by Belton Y. Cooper ISBN 0-89141-814-8. He was a maintenance officer with 3rd Armored and actually worked on this Super Pershing - engineering and installing the field applied additional armor plate and weapons testing. As far as firepower goes, Cooper relates that they set up a disabled Jadgpanzer IV for a head on shot and took aim from about a mile and a half away. The round pierced the frontal armor, went thru a 5" final drive, thru the engine compartment bulkhead, thru the engine's 4'' crankshaft, thru the rear plate armor and buried itself so deep in the dirt behind the vehicle they couldn't find it. Cooper probably also has the unenviable distinction of seeing more shot up Shermans than any other man. Overall the book is a really good read - Hollywood couldn't dream up better stuff. -John

actually, no that is EXACTLY what I meant.... ah because the instructions called them "spring cylinders"

which of course explains my motto of "I may not always be right, but I am NEVER in doubt!"

at least I had the right idea of keeping from screwing up that nine mile long barrel

One more step closer!  Basecoat, postshading and highlighting done.  Need to do some touch up and then the markings, detail painting and weathering.  The OD seems light in the photos, but my lighting always does that....the OD shade is actually darker under normal lighting.

 

Hey man, looks great! The pre-shading is showing through very well. That turret casting you did is also quite swanky.

I have a few Shermies in my stash but haven't built any yet...it doesn't appear that there's any way to paint the roadwheels any time other than after the base coat has been applied (like on german vehicles), is there? Is it possible to paint all of the suspension pieces individually, then assemble?

Man I hate painting roadwheels by hand...

Thanks dupes!  Now that its at this stage I set it aside to work on the Pz IV for our Winter Warriors GB!  I'll get back to this in a day or two.  As for the roadwheels, I suppose you COULD paint them separately and then assemble the bogies, but then you'd have to mask off each wheel...???  I've seen some builders leave the bogies off the hull until painting and weathering are complete, but they still paint the wheels by hand.   The good thing is that there's only 12 wheels on each Sheman!!  Compare that to the Pz IV with 32 wheels!!!

well gentlemen,this is not finished but i felt obligated to show my progress on this update/conversion.this is the italeri kit no.217 panzerIV f1-f2/g as updated to a j series.the exhaust has been updated to the flammentoter,commanders hatch is of the rotating type.pilze sockets have been added to the turret roof.visors have been removed from the turret and hull sides.of course the mount for the a.a machinegun is added.pistol ports removed from turret doors,side mounted forward lift hooks on hull have been removed.loops added to the front of hull to replace lift hooks.the sprockets are dragon,the vehicle retains the four rubber tired return rollers,and tubular idler.the schurzen is mesh from the zwischen losung kit by dragon,although the patterns correctness is unknown.the top rails have not been added yet to facilitate the addition of tools and stowage.my only regret is it was not finished by the deadline.when it is completed i will post those photos.thanks for being a gracious host ww2 modeler, and the great group build.now i must try to complete the dicker max for the armor prototypes group build

I'm sorry I don't have pics, but I went out to the new shop and had a session replacing the missing landing gear leg for the Lodestar- funny thing a bit left over from a P3 Orion was almost perfect!!

I'll have her painted and done soon, she is a Liason a/c used by the RCAF during the building of Gander, Torbay and Tule AFB's which were crucial stepping stones in the bridge of supplies to Europe.

OK, I am finished with the build, better late than never.

RCAF Lodestar transport, used in 1943 to build the major AFB at Goose Bay, Labrador; a very important piece in the transference of materiel to Europe in the buildup for liberation.

She's the Classic Airframes kit in 1/72, a very difficult one that mostly had me stumped.