Sherman M4A3E8 (I Love Kit, integral RC conversion)

[MonsieurTox]

Hello guys.

This is a build I've started a long time (June of last year) but never posted it as I'm only working on it from time to time. But I've decided to finish it this year (and because I'm going to receive the Andy's Hobby M10 in 1 day or two, so I really need to finish some models before starting new ones ).

I call it "integral RC conversion" because I'm using everything from the kit, including the tracks, sprockets, idlers, road wheels etc.
The tracks are great for RC but take forever to build. 1422 in total. They have steel pins which is great. Road wheels have rubber tires. A nice touch.

The boggies are designed to move, they have springs inside the fake springs but the horizontal shock absorber doest allow full movement the way they are designed, same regarding the horizontal volute springs, the parts have pins that prevent them to move once glued. All those parts have to be modified in order to get everything working like the original.

I milled a slot in the back of the horizontal shock absorber and added a brass pin so it doesnt fall apart.

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Each boggie assembly get 4 small ball bearing. I replaced the shaft with brass or aluminium tubing, I dont remember and forget to take pics of it.

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They now work as they're meant to.

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Building assembly line :

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[MonsieurTox]

The small return rollers are mounted on bearings too.

I milled the back of the return roller :

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A styrene roundel is made, OD match the hole I made in the back of the return roller, the ID matches the bearing OD (slighty smaller so I can press fit them).

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All the parts for the return roller :

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The support is drilled to accept an aluminium tubing which is the diameter of the bearing OD.

The bearing is press fitted on the aluminium tubing then the bearing itself is press fitted inside the return roller.

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[MonsieurTox]

I added some styrene parts to "close" the hinge holes of the front hatches so I can open and close them. Not sure why they designed it this way.

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I removed the small attachement points for the gun canvas because it was not fitted on early M4A3E8 (mine will be on European theater, even if the tracks wont match).

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I also carrefuly removed all molding lines all over the turret and recreate the casting texture.

The joint of the 2 halves of the turret is quite bad and need some brute force (and a lot of cyanocrylate ). Fortunatly that joint (which is not a weld on the original but the joint of the top and bottom part of the sand mold) is quite bad on the original and were very often grinded. I tried to recreate that on mine.

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I was almost done with the kit when I realize that I had bought the upgraded edition... and that I had several PE sheets for it ! Oh well. That's nice because I was going to build it straight of the box with no extra details, that's nothing really fancy but better than the stock plastic parts (not always though, I prefer the plastic front light guard that look better than the too thin PE counterparts, too bad the rear light guards are only available in PE...).

So, I'm starting to remove the plastic parts to replace them with the PE parts.
For once, Im soldering every parts and I should admit it's a lot easier, stronger and nicer than gluing them ! I'm going to solder all my PE parts from now.

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The ammo box and support are nice, not as good as the Aber set but still better than the plastic one. Everything is hinged and can be opened.

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[MonsieurTox]

Some general views of the model as it stands today. Yes I have to put the right track the correct way.

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One picture of the inside.

The geardboxes are screwed to the transmission cover on the front then this assembly is screwed to the chassis. I can remove transmission cover and gearbox as a whole unit, just like the original.

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And a short video of it on my trusted suspension tesbed (a cat scratching post) :

phpBB [video]

[SCHWEREPANZER]

Well, let me be the first of many who will say they are left rather speechless. A very fine example of tank modeling. Beautiful work in every respect and your descriptions of the modeling process could be a primer for this kit's build. Great work.

Ralph

[Ecam]

First off, 1422 pieces to build the tracks! I used to bad mouth the Tamiya Sherman for poor details but they did send assembled tracks.

Second, terrific work on modding the bogies for additional travel, looks like they came out great.

3rd, one of the issues I have of the Tammy Sherman is those return idlers. The wheels turn but are held on with a cap that doesn't (always irritated me).

4th, your PE work is amazing. If it were easy, everyone (including me) would try it.

Finally terrific (if not now expected of you) work on all of it. Wonderful job my friend!

I do have a question, were the drive sprockets set up for a transmission (HL, Tammy or other) or did you have to modify them for RC use?

[MonsieurTox]

Well, let me be the first of many who will say they are left rather speechless. A very fine example of tank modeling. Beautiful work in every respect and your descriptions of the modeling process could be a primer for this kit's build. Great work.

Ralph

Thank you very muc Ralph.
I'm trying to get this build as simple as I can and cheap. The idea was to have a HVSS Sherman, more reliable than the Hooben, more detailed than the Tamiya (no visible screws on the suspension parts etc), easy to convert, not time consuming (I failed with the tracks but everything else is straight forward) and cheaper than the other HVSS options.

I forget to mention that I am using the Mato Sherman track tensioner. I discarded the idler but kept and reuse the bearings on the Easy 8 idlers. I am very disappointed with the quality of the Mato Sherman track tensioner to be honest, metal is super soft...

I still have to figure the 4 bigger return rollers. I ran out of bearings, not sure if I wait a new order or if I just go with machined brass bushings.

[MonsieurTox]

First off, 1422 pieces to build the tracks! I used to bad mouth the Tamiya Sherman for poor details but they did send assembled tracks.

Second, terrific work on modding the bogies for additional travel, looks like they came out great.

3rd, one of the issues I have of the Tammy Sherman is those return idlers. The wheels turn but are held on with a cap that doesn't (always irritated me).

4th, your PE work is amazing. If it were easy, everyone (including me) would try it.

Finally terrific (if not now expected of you) work on all of it. Wonderful job my friend!

I do have a question, were the drive sprockets set up for a transmission (HL, Tammy or other) or did you have to modify them for RC use?

Hey Eric, thank you very much my friend !

Yeah that's a lot of parts for the tracks ! The track guides are 3D printed parts (the pink parts)

Yes the bogies work great, I had to put stronger springs on the front ones because of the gearboxes, I think the rear ones wouldn't say no for stronger springs too !

I don't have the chance to have a Tamiya Sherman, I'm not sure how it's made but I've heard bad things about stuck return rollers.

Well since I'm using solder flux paste, soldering PE is a breeze ! And believe it or not, but the solder flux paste I'm using, I bought it something like 15 years ago but I had never used it until now. I can assure you it's super easy, even soldering small flat piece on another flat piece, easier than using CA !

Regarding the drive sprockets, yeah sorry I haven't said a word about them, I don't take a lot of pics, I forgot to cover this part of the build. No they are not set up for an RC transmission (this is a static kit, hence the unbuilts tracks) so I had to modify them in order to fit the HL shafts.
It was quite easy, I used the CNC to cut several styrene roundel with a 8mm holes and some with a 8mm D shape (like the flat on the end of the HL shafts). I stacked them together and glued them inside the drive sprockets :

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[Herr Dr. Professor]

MonsieurTox is at it again! One miraculous build after another!
(Yes, my solder flux is over 40 years old, but it still works for me--so long as I can get the rusty can open.)

[MonsieurTox]

MonsieurTox is at it again! One miraculous build after another!
(Yes, my solder flux is over 40 years old, but it still works for me--so long as I can get the rusty can open.)

Thank you Herr Dr. Professor !

It as old as I am !

Continuing with the pioneer tools.

The parts are all molded with their brackets, so some surgery are required to remove them.

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After some reshaping :

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With the PE bracket, too bad the molded one was rounded and more accurate. Not sure if that kind of bracket existed :

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I decided to keep the pipe support of the wrench, but redoing the locking pin.

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New pin made with brass :

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Some general views of the pioneer tools and their new PE brackets :

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