1944 M4A3 105mm

[ALPHA]

Good Morning, Alpha,
Aye, the sculpture is pewter. Thank you, Sir. A very Happy set of Holidays to you and yours as well. It is difficult to get a day or even a couple of hours during the Holidays to set aside for a build. I'll do my best tho'. When all of the bustle is going on around me, it's mentally relaxing to be allowed to focus on one thing.
regards,
Painless

Do I know where you're coming from... the holiday season is probably the worst time to attempt to do anything...just because of how things or events sometimes clash with time outs for hobbies ...So glad you finally got your parts... that was one shopping list you had....looks like you're going to have a fun build

and don't worry... I think most of us understand how hectic this time of the year can be... take your time... savor the build ...

Take care buddy

ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

9th Day: No parts today but I'm sure the rest of the order will show up soon from it's various ports of origin. Like Alpha said, I already have plenty to work with. Tonight, I gave the rear deck Engine bay a break because I _really_ wanted to see if I could do a road wheel swap between the HL and Mato. Short answer, yes you can! The HL road wheel is drilled wide with a plastic sleeve and screw to hold it in place while it rotates. The Mato road wheel has a much tighter inner circumference drillout and rotates on a metal pin in a press fit plastic sleeve. The simple fix to swap the nicer, rubber rim Mato road wheel onto the nicer separate spring HL bogie is to drill out the Mato road wheel to match the HL one. ;o) Drop in the HL plastic sleeve (add a drop of plastic safe oil just for lubrication purposes) and screw the Mato road wheel into place in the HL bogie. I worried that the wider looking Mato road wheel would cause a rubbing issue but such was not the case. The HL road wheel is wider at the hub while the Mato road wheel has a vertical drop due to the rubber rim. They are surprisingly similar in width and the Mato is a perfect fit! Oddly enough, the HL road wheel without the plastic sleeve inserted is a pretty good fit on the Mato bogie. So for any tanker wanting to drop the height of his Mato M4A1 and not do a bogie swap, that's a possible solution (if you want to use the hollow backed HL road wheels that is). This fix will also work with the Mato metal road wheels but I would suggest a vice to hold the road wheel in place and some carbon drill bits. Pictures:

[Phil]

Thank you for being the tester on the wheel swop, I think this could be a good thing to do on my Sherman. Keep up the good work.

[ALPHA]

I can see why you like those MATO bogies ...if you don't mind Painless... what shop was that again? you mention Dave... is it forgebear? I've never seen anyone list the plastic bogie set... only the metal

ALPHA

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning,
Thank you, Phil. It was a weight off of my shoulders when I saw how it worked. The Mato road wheels lend themselves to modification and on the HL road wheels, the components used, the inner sleeve, etc, can be upgraded to other materials easily. The only weak point is how HL attaches the road wheel on their bogie. ( A screw into the plastic arm ) Even then, given the size of the 1\16 components, a drill through and use of a real nut and bolt is possible if desired. There is a lot of play in the HL road wheels on the HL bogie and I replicated this on the HL bogie with the Mato road wheels but am going to downsize the drill bit slightly and go for a tighter fit with the road wheels on the remaining five bogies. The HL inner plastic sleeve just needs enough gap to rotate freely and the original setup has too much space I think.
regards,
Painless

[PainlessWolf]

Good Morning,
Alpha, using the wheels off of the Mato bogie combined with the HL bogie body with it's superior suspension function makes for a great over all bogie for the HL Sherman. This setup eliminates the use of the HL hollow road wheels with their cast plastic rim. The Mato road wheel is beefy and has a front and back cast and a separate rubber tire. Makes for a much better road wheel. Yes, I got that set of Mato bogies from Forgebear. Dave had gotten in some of the Mato plastic components, hulls, etc. and I jumped on the chance to get some stuff for my Sherman.
regards,
Painless

[sassgrunt]

Painless, thank you very much for the tutorial on swapping roadwheels between the two Shermans. I wouldn't have thought to try and interchange the parts. I don't know if anyone makes a 2mm bolt that's long enough to replace the screw on the HL bogie arms (would have to be about 22mm long) but it sure would be nice to run that all the way through and put a self-locking nut on the back to hold the wheel in. The Mato wheels look just a bit oversized on the HL bogies, (to my eyes), but they ARE a lot nicer than the HL wheels, and worth the swap!

Alpha - I'll bring you a set of the Mato wheels the next time we get together. After reading Painless' greta posting about them this morning, I made two sets of them!

-Mike

[PainlessWolf]

10th Day: Thank you, Sassgrunt. Most of the previous threads had been about how swapping the complete bogies between the Mato and HL Shermans was a deal of work. I figured that it could not hurt to try something simpler. You can make up the Mato road wheels? I would like to see pics if possible? Back to tonight. No new parts shipments but no lack of work either. I returned to the rear deck Engine Bay doors and finished the cut and drilled and mounted them. They required that the handles be glued on which was no bother. They are slightly smaller than the originals and the hinges do not fall where the plastic hinges were which was again, not too much of an issue to resolve. I use the Dremel and made the last cuts. I cleaned them up with a file and Exacto and as I had wanted, the rear two mounting posts are still intact and in place. I have the day off tomorrow so I'm headed to the Hobby Shop to get some plasticard to build a center rest for the doors where they do not meet. Pictures:

[palepainter]

Looking great. Did the grills come with their own hinges to mount to the rear deck, or did you have to make them as well. Really nice work here.

[PainlessWolf]

Good Evening, Pale,
The grills came with their own hinges and handles. I'm going to research and see if they had mesh screen underneath and what sort of engine guard they came with. They are too far apart in the center when closed so that will be fixed tomorrow.
Regards,
Painless