Heng Long Sherman M4A1 (75)

[Estnische]

Likewise I am waiting for small hatches from Ludwig's, which will stall my front hull changes. Must be patient with small inconveniences when so much is at risk.

At this rate I will have to start another project before this one is done...

[Exhibitedbrute]

I have some other projects I could weather and I still have that is 3 to build but it waiting for the right weather to paint aswell

[Exhibitedbrute]

How are you planning on doing your exhausts and engine doors

[tankme]

I'm also waiting on some resin stuff from Christian...guess I should be patient...

[Exhibitedbrute]

I'm also waiting on some resin stuff from Christian...guess I should be patient...

Mine has been 3 weeks up to now but I have had an email saying it will be posted this week. From what I understand the lock down in Germany has made it difficult to get the supplies to make them for both Ludwig and his suppliers plus the postage delays in Germany itself. Then once they have got through all of that we then have our own lockdown issues for them to contend with

[Estnische]

How are you planning on doing your exhausts and engine doors

Funny you should ask, as that's my current work. I'll have them finished in a few days, so I'll post it up then. It's a bit ugly, as I tried to utilise existing parts, but once the upper hull is in place it should look like the real thing.

[Exhibitedbrute]

I decided to file off the existing door on mine and use a bit of plasticard and dolls house hinges. Granted they don’t function but they look ok and as you say once the top and air filters are on it will look better

[Estnische]

So here is the rear end. As Exhibitedbrute did, I ground off the Heng Long single door and replaced it with flat plasticard. I had considered making the doors functional, but there is no need as the upper hull engine door opens for access to switches etc. I also ground off the idler mounts and installed Mato adjustable versions. The doors are trimmed with a brass cover strip, brass bolt heads, a metal door handle and plastic hinges from an old PzIII upper hull.

The side protection plates were going to be easily broken off so I salvaged some brackets to support them at the top. You may recall that the functional exhaust outlets that came with the M4 were both right-sided, and they needed to be relocated upwards. I rebuilt them as a left and right sided pair, and moved them so that only the tails will show when the upper hull is on.
I wasn’t sure about the towing hitch provided by Heng Long, but looking at old photos it seems to be authentic enough.



Along side this work I was detailing my 3D printed air cleaners. I bought some cheap dangly ear rings to provide the ring-ended bolts and the rest is plasticard trim. The struts of the side plate supports get in the way of mounting them correctly, so I cut some recesses into the air cleaners.



With the upper hull in place it looks the part. Even with the recess cut-in, I am not entirely happy with the location of the air cleaners. They are currently held in place with blu-tack, so I will address that when I paint them.



Without delivery of my small hull hatches, I might be moving on to the turret next. I found this photo of a Sherman parking lot - I’m guessing it is at the end of the war in Europe. This M4A1 spec is a handy find as its configuration is where I want to head. It is a small hatch M4A1, with welded hull applique, a travel lock, track extensions, split commander’s hatch and cast-in turret cheek armour.

[Exhibitedbrute]

This is coming along nicely. I never thought about those rear plates till I saw yours

[Exhibitedbrute]

May I trouble you for you air cleaner file? I have some from shapeways for this build but with future plans for another a4 and the hybrid firefly I would sooner have my dad print some rather than needlessly throw money at stuff from shapeways

[Estnische]

Sure. I'm away from home for a few weeks, so it may take a while. Send me a pm with your email.

[Exhibitedbrute]

That’s fine. I’m having an issue deciding if the back of mine is right or not but I think it’s factory dependant so may get away with it