Sherman M4A1 with cast in appliqué armor using photogrammetry

[PainlessWolf]

Good Afternoon,
This could be used to create a more accurate 'In The Mood' than the early MATO offering.
Following along,
Painless

[MonsieurTox]

Eric, Ad Lav, Painless Wolf thank you for your kind words !

Lets post some updates on this one !

Not a lot has been done, I've been mainly focused on the turret.

I've designed the cupola and hatches in 3D and printed them. Unfortunatly I forget to add a recess for the hatches thickness on my 3D model so I had to recreate it using the mill.

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While I was on the mill, I decided to mill a pocket on the top of the turret where the part number of the turret (D50878). The placement and some infos vary from a manufacturer to another, once again, like the hull, I chose the turret made by General Steel.

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I drew on the turret were I was going to mill the pocket :

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Pocket milled :

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I'm sure you are wondering what's the point with that ?

Let me explain, I filled the pocket with milliput then I used a stamp of the casting number I designed in 3D and that I 3D printed :

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I also made a stamp of the General Steel logo in order to recreate the foundry symbol on the back of the turret :

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I will add the cast mark around the logo later, and the split joint of the mold of the turret too.

[MonsieurTox]

Next is the additional armor on the right side of the turret. They add to grind the inside of the turret to make more room for the travel mechanism and that created a weak spot. A kit was provided to the crew with armor plates to weld on this spot to retrofit old turret and new turrets had those plate factory welded. Then they modified the mold to get that extra armor direclty cast. The Heng Long M4A3 Howitzer should get that turret, but it has the shape of the original turret, with late features on it, no extra armor which is wrong, not sure about the Tamiya turret but most manufacturers forget that detail even in 1/35.

I roughly outlined the position of th extra armor :

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Then I added a styrene plate and some milliput :

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After sanding :

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I spent a lot of time designing in 3D the rotor shield, the mantlet and the cupola :

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Not very happy with my cast texture, I may redo it !

[MonsieurTox]

I drilled a larger hole for the left periscope and inserted a 3D printed part.

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I then moved on the cupola splash guard (or whatever it is...). I cut a 1mm styrene stripe (not glued yet on the pic)

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I also add to modify the corner radius of the rotor shield opening (which were wrong on the Heng Long). Corners are cut and small styrene pieces with the correct radius are added.

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[MonsieurTox]

Some pics with primer, almost done with the turret !

Still have to add the cast texture.

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[MonsieurTox]

Some comparison pics between the stock HL turret and the modified one :

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And some pics with the M4A3E8 :

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[Herr Dr. Professor]

M. Tox est le maître du M4.

[Ad Lav]

Beautiful work!

[ColemanCollector]

Those are some cool evolution of species shots, love 'em!
Yet another masterpiece(s). Magnificent detail and accuracy!

Mike.

[tankme]

It's so funny how there are so many differences from one Sherman to the next, but every one of them is recognizable as a Sherman.